Over 100 dead in six states after Hurricane Helene – National & International News – MON 30Sep2024

Over 100 dead in six states after Hurricane Helene.

Israel invades Lebanon. Reports of strike on US base in Syria.

NATIONAL NEWS

Over 100 dead in six states after Hurricane Helene 

Five days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and plowed its way inland, the current nationwide death toll stands at 120 people. Forty of these deaths are from Buncombe County in North Carolina, where Asheville is located. These numbers are likely to rise in the coming days. About 600 people remain unaccounted for. Many areas remain too inaccessible or too dangerous to search. However, some of those missing people may report in when communications are restored.

Helene’s heavy rains brought powerful flooding that swept away homes, some of which contained people. Floods also washed out highways making them unusable. Additionally, landslides in mountainous areas have blocked roads with debris and downed trees. This has rendered parts of western Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina inaccessible except by air.

The picturesque mountain town of Asheville, NC, is in a particularly dire situation. Few people in the town of over 90,000 people evacuated ahead of the storm, as few expected such massive devastation so far inland. While the area is in a flood plain, residents are not accustomed to such catastrophic flood events. Because the surrounding roads are currently impassible or washed out, there is no way of bringing in food by land. There is also no running water and no electricity except for those lucky enough to have generators (if they can find fuel). The National Guard along with FEMA and rescue organizations are bringing in food and water by air. 

Where possible, mobile telecommunications assets are also being brought in, which may make it possible for those who have lost touch with loved ones to check in. As of today, over 2 million homes and businesses throughout central and southern Appalachia remain without power.

In Erwin, TN, (the same town were 58 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital on Friday), at least 6 employees of Impact Plastics are dead or missing. The company issued a statement offering condolences to the family and denying reports that workers were told they would be fired if they left. Family members and survivors have claimed otherwise. Impact employee Robert Jarvis says that by the time employees were told they could leave, it was too late. The roads were impassible. Jarvis himself had to be rescued after his truck was swept away. Jarvis said he reacted to the company’s statement with “Anger, hurt. It was lies”.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israel invades Lebanon 

Israel has launched what it calls “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” and what US officials call a “ground operation” into southern Lebanon. This is otherwise known as an invasion. 

In recent days, Israel has called up reserve regiments for “operations in the North,” referring to the border it shares with Lebanon.

Last Friday, Israel dropped more than 80 bombs, about 15 of them 2,000-lb American-made bunker buster bombs, on a residential block in a Beirut suburb. The attack leveled about six apartment buildings and left massive craters. It’s not clear just how many people were killed. Israel’s own, very conservative, estimate is at least 300 people. The strike was carried out to kill one man, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. It was confirmed the next day that they had in fact killed Nasrallah, and several other high-ranking members of Hezbollah in subsequent bombings. 

Having carried out what it calls a “decapitation strike” taking out the leadership of Hezbollah, Israel is now seizing on the opportunity to launch a new invasion into Lebanon. In the past, Hezbollah’s forces have successfully repelled such attempts by Israel, but it is unclear how quickly they will be able to mount their defenses amidst the chaos. 

Israel is also enacting a de facto siege of parts of Lebanon, having bombed roads in and out of Syria and blockading the civilian airport. Israel’s bombing campaign has displaced over 1 million people, about 1/5 of Lebanon’s population. Israel has continued carpet bombing across Beirut and its suburbs, as well as southern Lebanon. The devastation is already drawing comparisons with the nearly year long campaign in Gaza, which some have called genocidal.

Strike on US base in Syria reported 

International media is reporting that a US base protecting a Conoco oil field in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor governate was hit with rockets on Sunday. The attack reportedly scored a direct hit on the headquarters building. Local sources have reported “casualties” resulting from the attack. However, it is not clear if any US personnel were killed or injured. US officials have not commented on the reports. There are believed to be about 900 members of the US military occupying parts of Syria. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is likely a group affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of militias. IRI has carried out dozens of attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria (including the Conoco base) in solidarity with Gaza and the people of Palestine. These attacks, and rocket attacks by Hezbollah, stopped completely during the brief Gaza ceasefire in November of last year.

The attack on the base may have been retaliation for an earlier attack by US forces. A strike on a home believed to belong to an official of Iran’s Islamic revolutionary guard corps (IRGC), also in the Deir Ezzor region, is believed to have killed 18 people.

Without Nasrallah’s moderating influence, these groups and other Iran-affiliated groups will now be much more difficult to rein in. While they are armed and supported by the IRGC, these groups operate independently, each according to their own interests. With Israel’s assault on Lebanon, some of these groups have apparently decided that their interests outweigh Tehran’s calls for restraint.

Last week, following Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah, President Biden ordered US forces in the region (roughly 40,000 strong) to “assess and adjust as necessary“. This order seems to anticipate blowback and a much more chaotic situation in the Middle East moving forward.