Monday Briefing: Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Major Attacks

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged major cross-border fire

Israel’s military and Hezbollah fired back and forth in one of the largest cross-border barrages since the war in Gaza began. Here’s the latest.

Israel said that roughly 100 of its fighter jets bombed more than 270 targets connected to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon yesterday, a figure which could not be independently verified. Hezbollah said it had answered with more than 320 rockets at nearly a dozen Israeli military bases and positions.

Both sides claimed that their actions had been a success. Israel said its attack was a pre-emptive defense against Hezbollah rockets, and Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the killing last month of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in Beirut.

For now, at least, the exchange of attacks fell short of the major escalation that many had feared after Shukr was killed. Both sides later appeared to signal that they did not intend to escalate further. This timeline shows how the attack unfolded.

Telegram’s top executive was detained, French media said

The top executive of Telegram was detained in France on charges related to the spread of illicit material on the platform, according to French news reports.

Pavel Durov, 39, a Russian-born entrepreneur, was reportedly arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget Airport near Paris after landing from Azerbaijan. His detention could not immediately be confirmed, and the Russian Embassy in France said it had asked for clarification. French authorities would not comment and redirected questions to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which also declined to comment on what it called an open investigation.

Telegram has more than 900 million users. The platform’s light oversight of what people say or do there has helped people living under authoritarian governments communicate and organize. But it has also made the app a haven for disinformation, far-right extremism and other harmful content.

Stabbing in Germany may be linked to the Islamic State

Friday’s attack at a festival in Solingen, Germany, which left three dead and eight wounded, is being investigated as a terrorist attack with possible connections to the Islamic State, authorities said.

The suspect, a 26-year-old man from Syria, was living in a refugee shelter only a few hundred meters from where the attack took place, the police said yesterday. He was wearing bloodstained clothes when he turned himself in on Saturday night.

Politics: The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is poised to make significant gains in three state elections next month, was quick to react. Before the suspect’s identity was confirmed, one of the party’s leaders called for changes to “migration and security policy.”

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The DMZ is an unhealed wound between North and South Korea, littered with land mines and sealed by razor wire. The area is also an excellent source of honey. But for some of the farmers who work this land, it’s about more than just a sweet business.

A TV series asks: What if China invades?

The new series “Zero Day” from Taiwan imagines how China could mount a blockade and then try to overrun the island, a possibility that many experts see as increasingly plausible. The tone is somber. Characters wrestle with whether to flee or stay, and whether to collaborate or resist.

Cheng Hsin-mei, the producer, said she wanted to jolt people out of what she sees as widespread complacency about the possibility of war. “I think it’s the biggest fear in each Taiwanese person’s heart,” she said.

The show won’t release until next year, but the trailer has set off heated debates. Some think it helps to confront an increasingly possible scenario; others say the show is alarmist and a tool of the government.

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