Transcript
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey. Israeli attacks on Lebanon continued today even as the US has asked Israel to back off its invasion, which threatens to derail wider Mideast ceasefire talks set for this weekend. Israel says it hit 120 Hezbollah sites across Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Lebanon's government says at least 65 people were killed today. NPR's Lauren Freyr reports from Beirut.
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Lebanese state media say the city of Nabatiya and surrounding villages came under a barrage of Israeli attacks, destroying homes and shops and killing 13 state security officers at the main government building there. Hezbollah's leader, Naim Qasem issued a statement ahead of unprecedented Israel Lebanon talks urging Lebanese authorities to, quote, stop offering free concessions. Lebanon's prime minister has pledged to disarm the Iran backed group, something Israel says it would appreciate. Qasem also said he won't accept a ret return to the previous situation, a reference to when before the current invasion. The United nations says Israel continuously violated a previous ceasefire. Lauren Fryer, NPR News, Beirut.
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Israel's attacks on Lebanon have forced more than a million people from their homes. David Miliband is head of the International Rescue Committee, which aids people in war zones worldwide. He visited Beirut last week.
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And the situation in Lebanon is a new scale of catastrophe. One in five people forced from their homes, only 150,000 of the million plus people displaced in government shelters. So people sleeping on the floors of relatives, the floors of friends, a few thousand also in tents in Beirut. It's an extraordinary city. You can drive past the Beirut Yacht Club and outside the Beirut Yacht Club, there are people in tents who've been forced from their homes.
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Miliband says there's widespread fear that the attacks will continue despite efforts to keep the ceasefire holding in other parts of the Middle East. Former Vice President Kamala Kamala Harris is not ruling out a run for president in 2028. As NPR's Diva Shivaram reports, Harris is set to kick off a tour of southern states, including South Carolina.
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At the National Action Network convention in New York, Harris told Reverend Al Sharpton that she might run for president again. Listen, I might, I might.
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I'm thinking about it.
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It's by no means a commitment to launch what would be her third bid for the White House. And Harris has said before that she would possibly run for president again. But her recent comments come as the former vice president and California native is about to embark on a series of stops to key election states, including North Carolina and Georgia. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News.