International
On Lebanon’s line of fire, Spanish troops patrol between alerts and destruction
Early in the morning of what would be one of the most intense days in eight months of hostilities between the Lebanese Shiite group Hizbulá and the Israeli forces, a patrol of Spanish blue helmets receives the warning that a level 2 alert has been activated.
As mandated by the protocol, the group immediately goes to the position of the nearest UN peace mission in Lebanon (FINUL), something that they have to do quite often in the midst of the escalation that since October has hit their area of operations in the south of the Mediterranean country.
Another Spanish patrol arrives to take refuge at the same base, less than two kilometers from the border with Israel, where the hours go by while from the heliport you can observe in the distance the smoke of some impact on the mountain.
From time to time, you can hear the buzzing of the drones or a few distant explosions. “Another greeting,” jokes one of the military.
Well into the afternoon, eight hours after its activation, the alert that weighed on the entire East sector is lifted and the blue helmets can finally leave the facilities to continue their activities.
According to them, it was by far the most prolonged alert of that type since they arrived in Lebanon last month, when the last rotation of Spanish troops took place.
During the wait on Wednesday morning, the Israeli Army announced the arrival of at least 160 rockets to different parts of the north of the country, including the Lower Galilee region, further from the common border where its crossfire with Hizbulah is usually concentrated.
And in the previous hours the Shiite formation had lost an important commander, his loss of higher rank since the beginning of the clashes, which led him to launch a total of 19 attacks throughout the day, many of them of great magnitude, as confirmed in a series of statements.
The head of one of the Spanish patrols that took refuge at the base, Lieutenant Jesús Sánchez Burgos, explained to EFE that the frequency of the alerts does not follow any specific pattern and that “it depends on the day.”
“When we go on patrol we have (…) our area of responsibility divided into security zones, and they activate them depending on the probability of impact on those areas. When it touches level 2 or level 3, we have to welcome the nearest position,” he said.
“In this case, we were on patrol, they have touched level two and we have had to accept position 966, the position of the Serbs,” added the section chief.
Each patrol consists of two vehicles with a boss, driver, shooter and operator in each of them, which try to ensure compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbulah.
“Our mission here is to monitor the cessation of hostilities between the two States, support the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and we are patrolling for that (…) But the situation right now is a little complicated, so that surveillance of that cessation is a little more complicated,” Sánchez acknowledged.
Before the alert was activated, the group that EFE joined was able to develop part of its patrol through the de facto divide between the two countries, also passing through ghost towns dotted with destroyed houses or businesses, and mountains of debris, such as Kafr Kila.
In other areas of the Spanish area of operations, such as the so-called “Christian corredor”, life “is normal” and a good part of the population continues in the area despite the outsping of violence, the lieutenant explained.
In southern Lebanon, about 700 Spanish soldiers are deployed, the vast majority in this contingent part of the Eastern sector, with a total of 3,500 blue helmets of different nationalities.
Its spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel José Irisarri Antón, told EFE that the forces keep a count of the security incidents, recording the type of projectile, the weapon used and the estimate of the damage caused.
But he recalled that the main objective of the patrols is to comply with resolution 1701, that is, “to try that there are no militias or armed personnel in the area that does not belong to the Lebanese Armed Forces,” in his words.
In this sense, the lieutenant colonel stressed that, in fact, they try to make about 25% of their patrols joint with the troops of Lebanon.
“In case we locate something that may involve a missile or mortar launch point, the LAF is informed, they are responsible for controlling that there is nothing and if there is something to seize it, and then destroy it,” he concluded.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
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