Israel Intercepts Drones That Briefly Interrupted Airport Operations

People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Intercepts Drones That Briefly Interrupted Airport Operations

People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by a poster reading "Bring them home now" on a beach, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 20, 2024. (Reuters)

The Israeli military says it has intercepted five drones off the coast of Israel.

The incident on Monday caused a brief interruption of flights at Israel’s main airport lasting less than ten minutes, Israeli media reported.

The military said Israel’s air force has intercepted more than 30 drones over the past week.

Israel’s military has at times struggled to intercept drones, which are smaller, fly more erratically and are harder to track and intercept.

Last week, a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and wounded 67 others, the deadliest strike by the armed group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon three weeks ago.

In July, a drone launched from Yemen traveled some 270 kilometers (160 miles) from Israel’s southern tip, all the way to Tel Aviv, slamming into a downtown building and killing one person without it having been intercepted.

Overnight Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah-run bank branches Overnight strikes by Israel hit at least 15 branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution in Lebanon.

The strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern suburbs of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

Israel says the bank is used to fund attacks. But it is also where many ordinary Lebanese keep their savings.

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes. There were no reports of casualties.

One of the strikes in the Beirut suburbs was not far from the Lebanese General Security building. Another rocket landed on a road near Lebanon's only international airport.



US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Georgia's president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.
The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday's election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe, said Reuters.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday they had registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but they stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the ballot, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won.
In an address on Sunday, she referred to the result as a "Russian special operation". She did not clarify what she meant by the term.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, of which Zourabichvili is a fierce critic, clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the outcome and vote monitors reported significant violations.
Georgian media cited Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as saying on Monday that the opposition was attempting to topple the "constitutional order" and that his government remained committed to European integration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States joined calls from observers for a full probe.
"Going forward, we encourage Georgia's political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together," Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, the European Union urged Georgia to swiftly and transparently investigate the alleged irregularities in the vote.
"The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed," the European Commission said in a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
President Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally who won the 2018 presidential vote as an independent, urged Georgians to protest in the center of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening, to show the world "that we do not recognize these elections".
For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country.
Russia defeated Georgia in their brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
The election result poses a challenge to the EU's ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova earlier this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election, a claim denied by Moscow.