WORLD BRIEFING: December 30, 2023
Israel - Gaza War
The IDF's Spokesperson's Unit said Friday that two projectiles had been fired at Israeli from Syrian territory and that the military had responded by opening fire at the source of the launches. The rockets landed in open areas on the Golan Heights. The statement also said that Israel earlier attacked Hezbollah assets in Lebanon, including a rocket-launching site - Haaretz
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has approved the potential sale to Israel of M107 155mm projectiles and related equipment for $147.5 million and skipped its review by the Congress, the Pentagon said on Friday. Blinken determined that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to Israel, thereby waiving the congressional review requirements, according to the Pentagon - Haaretz
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry: 21,110 killed, 55,243 wounded in Gaza
Ukraine War
Russia launched 122 missiles and dozens of drones against Ukrainian targets, officials said Friday, killing at least 30 civilians across the country in what an air force official called the biggest aerial barrage of the war. At least 144 people were wounded and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officials said. A maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools were among the buildings reported damaged across Ukraine. In the capital, Kyiv, broken glass and mangled metal littered city streets. Air raid and emergency service sirens wailed as plumes of smoke drifted into a bright blue sky - AP
Poland’s defense forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile. “Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from allies” in NATO, said Poland’s armed forces chief, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła. Poland’s defense forces said the object penetrated about 40 kilometers (24 miles) into its airspace and left it after less than three minutes. The defense forces said both its radar and NATO radar confirmed that the object left Polish airspace. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had spoken with Poland’s president about the “missile incident” and said NATO was vigilant and monitoring the situation “as the facts are established.”
More than a dozen people were killed by Ukrainian strikes on the Russian provincial capital of Belgorod, Russia's emergencies ministry said Saturday, with the Russian defence ministry vowing the strike "will not go unpunished". Earlier on Saturday, Moscow officials had reported shooting down 32 Ukrainian drones over the country’s Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions - France 24
Elsewhere
The campaign to have former President Donald J. Trump removed from the ballot over his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election has kicked into high gear, with decisions in two states, Maine and Colorado, barring him from the primary ballots. Challenges are still underway in many more states, based on an obscure clause of a constitutional amendment enacted after the Civil War that disqualifies government officials who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office. Over the years, the courts and Congress have done little to clarify how that criterion should apply, adding urgency to the calls for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the politically explosive dispute before the upcoming election. - NYT