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The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday morning it was conducting retaliatory strikes against the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This comes after the IDF says Hezbollah launched about 115 aerial attacks towards civilian areas in northern Israel over the span of a few hours.

The IDF said its defensive arrays are deployed in northern Israel and are on high preparedness to thwart threats targeting the area. Air defense systems had intercepted multiple projectiles over Haifa, Israel.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES CONTINUE ON TERRORIST TARGETS, ROCKET LAUNCHERS IN SOUTHERN LEBANON

The military said strikes will continue and will intensify against Hezbollah.

The IDF also said the Israeli Air Force conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists in a compound in the northern Gaza Strip.

Before the strike, the IDF says numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information.

HEZBOLLAH IDENTIFIES SECOND TOP COMMANDER KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN LEBANON

Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant spoke with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin several times over the weekend about developments in northern Israel.

Gallant briefed Austin on the precise operation conducted by the IDF to take out the head of Hezbollah's operations unit and commander of the Radwan Forces, Ibrahim Aqil, who is a senior Hezbollah leader and planner of several terror attacks against Israel and who is also wanted by the U.S. for the killing of its citizens. 

The minister also talked about Israel's defensive position and operations against the ongoing strikes by Hezbollah against northern cities and civilian areas in Israel. He said the goal is to ensure Israel's northern communities can return to their homes.

Gallant additionally told Austin about the IDF's ongoing activities in Gaza against Hamas and emphasized his commitment to freeing the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas.

He expressed his appreciation to Austin and U.S. leadership for reaffirming their commitment to Israel.

Fox News' Yael Kuriel contributed to this report.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said it was continuing to extensively attack terrorist targets in southern Lebanon for a second day after detecting that Hezbollah was preparing to fire on Israeli territory. 

"Dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft are currently striking terrorist targets and rocket launchers to remove the threat to Israeli civilians," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday in a translation of a press briefing. 

The strikes have killed at least two top Hezbollah commanders and more than a dozen members of the group. 

ISRAELI'S WAR FRONT SHIFTS DRAMATICALLY TO NORTH AGAINST IRA-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS

"We are methodically targeting and degrading Hezbollah’s launching capabilities, eliminating commanders and terrorists, as we did throughout the day," Hagari said. "Overall, today we struck approximately 400 Hezbollah launchers, including thousands of rocket launcher barrels."

Hagari said to Israelis: "Rockets and other threats may be launched toward Israeli territory in the near future. We ask you to strictly follow the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines. We are in the midst of a time of warfare, so it is important to remain vigilant and alert."

IDF SAYS HAMAS OPERATIVE, OTHER TERRORISTS KILLED AS IT CARRIES OUT ‘INTELLIGENCE-BASED’ STRIKES IN GAZA 

On Friday, he said the IDF killed Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah's Operations Unit, along with 15 commanders of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit.

Ahmed Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of Hezbollah’s Radwan special forces unit until early 2024, was also killed in the attack. 

"They met to plan terror attacks and infiltrations into Israeli territory, but we knew where they were, and preempted them - eliminating them in a precise and powerful operation conducted by the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Air Force," Hagari said. 

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also called for an emergency meeting Saturday night of the special Security Cabinet at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv over the Lebanon strikes.

Fox News Digital's Ben Evansky contributed to this report. 

Oktoberfest is open.

Mayor Dieter Reiter officially started Oktoberfest at noon Saturday when he inserted the tap into the first beer keg, signaling the 189th start of the festival. Thousands of beer lovers celebrated in the Munich fairground as the first to clink their mugs during the world’s largest folk festival.

ORIGINAL FESTIVAL BEER FOR OKTOBERFEST FOUND ONLY IN USA EVEN AS MUNICH TAPS FIRST KEG OF 2024

Servers immediately began ferrying trays — each carrying up to 8 glass mugs — to tables. Revelers started clinking their mugs and taking deep gulps of beer in the stuffy heat of the tent.

The celebration runs through Oct. 6 in 18 large tents covering the Theresienwiese fairground.

This year’s festival includes stepped-up security in the wake of a deadly knife attack in Solingen, a city roughly 470 kilometers (292 miles) northwest of Munich. The violence on Aug. 23 left three people dead and eight more wounded, and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, without citing evidence. As a result, organizers added metal detectors to the security lineup for the first time in Oktoberfest’s history, but said there were no concrete threats.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets early Saturday to watch the opening parade as others raced to claim tables inside the tents. They gossiped, played cards and walked around the fairgrounds to check out the food options and amusement park rides to kill time before they could start drinking.

Revelers sprinted through the fairgrounds at 9 a.m. as soon as the entrances opened, despite security officers’ attempts to keep the procession orderly. They laughed despite the morning chill — someone could be heard shrieking "why are we running!" — and raced to get in line again, but this time to be first inside the tents.

Some 6 million visitors are expected over the festival's 16 days — up to 600,000 each day — and can expect to shell out between 13.60 and 15.30 euros ($15.12 to $17.01) for a 1-liter mug of beer (33 fl oz). This year's prices are roughly 3.87% more than in 2023.

Mikael Caselitz, 24, was born and raised in Munich and has attended Oktoberfest for years. He said everyone should travel to Munich for the festival at least once in their lives.

"It can get really crowded and disgusting when people puke on the side of the road," he joked, "but overall it’s a really fun experience."

Ollie Standen woke up at 6 a.m. to get in line early for Oktoberfest, where the beer starts flowing at noon. The 21-year-old from England is in Munich this year for a university exchange program and a local friend told him he had to join the festivities. He said he’s looking forward to trying different German beers that aren’t usually found in the United Kingdom.

"It’s a great German tradition, and I’m excited to be here," he said.

The event was skipped in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with COVID-19, but returned in 2022.

The first Oktoberfest was held Oct. 17, 1810, to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Theresa of Saxony. The venue, a meadow on the edge of Munich at the time, was called "Theresienwiese" to honor the bride. While that name remains, the start date has moved up to September, when the temperatures in Bavaria are usually warmer.

The United States should resist the proposed United Nations' (U.N.) "Pact for the Future," which aims to recenter the global forum as a driving force on issues that it has, thus far, failed to effort any change, according to an expert. 

"The Summit of the Future, where U.N. member states are expected to endorse the Pact for the Future, is an attempt by the Secretary-General to ‘reinvigorate global action’ and ‘further develop the frameworks of multilateralism so they are fit for the future’," Brett Schaefer, research fellow in International Regulatory Affairs in the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said. 

"He should instead be calling for reassessment, retrenchment, and refocus," argued Schaefer, who served on the U.N.’s Committee on Contributions between 2019 and 2021. "The international response to COVID-19, for example, was highly flawed; peacekeeping is in retreat; negotiations flounder on divergent priorities; and human rights violators hold sway in the Human Rights Council and General Assembly."

The Summit for the Future will take place ahead of the High-Level week at the United Nations General Assembly. Schaefer argued that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres worked toward this summit over the past three years through his annual reports, which focused on climate and pollution issues.

UN RESOLUTION DEMANDING ISRAEL EXIT ‘OCCUPIED TERRITORIES’ CAN HURT ‘HIGHLY VOLATILE’ SITUATION, EXPERT SAYS

The pact would expand that scope and focus on "global shocks," such as "disrupting activity in cyberspace" or "disruptions to global flows of goods, people or finance." 

The pact also seeks to change the way nations discuss wealth and productivity, proposing the development of new measures beyond GDP and decentralizing financial governance and voting power from organizations such as the IMF and World Bank to help scale up developing nations. 

Guterres showed great concern and interest for how the world will govern "global commons," such as the high seas, the atmosphere, Antarctica and outer space, as well as global public goods, namely initiatives of shared interests between nations. 

Schaefer warned that these initiatives, while seeming altruistic, would instead prove too much for the organization to handle – citing its lack of success with such initiatives in the past – and would instead end up handing the U.N. another tool to browbeat dissenting nations such as the United States. 

UN AMBASSADOR CRITICIZES ISRAELI MILITARY, CALLS FOR ‘FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES’

"The Pact would bestow additional responsibilities on an organization that cannot handle its current remit instead of focusing on areas like humanitarian assistance where the U.N. can make unique and valuable contributions," Schaefer said. 

"The Pact for the Future will join a long list of U.N. declarations that have served as diplomatic and rhetorical cudgels with which to attack the United States," he added. "The prudent path for the U.S. would be not to support the Pact for the Future in the upcoming Summit."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield raised concerns about the pact during a press conference on Wednesday, when she warned that member states still have concerns about the pact. 

"We have seen the entire U.N. Member State system engage over the course of the past few months in putting together a Pact for the Future that all can agree to, and I do know that we’re not quite there yet," Thomas-Greenfield said. 

IT'S ABOUT TIME THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TAKES ACTION AGAINST IRAN: DANNY DANON

"As I noted, the negotiations are still taking place as we speak," she said. "I think we’ve accomplished a lot and brought a lot of common priorities together on the table. There are still some major differences."

Thomas-Greenfield warned that no agreement that requires consensus will ever lead to "100% happy" members, and the pact will contain elements "that we all disagree with," which she believed members would raise during the vote on the pact itself. 

"I am still hopeful that we will get there," she said, noting that the U.S. was "disappointed that some countries broke silence on a number of issues yesterday because we were so close."

"The G77 had agreed not to break silence," she revealed. "The E.U. agreed not to break silence. We agreed not to break silence. But unfortunately, there are a few others who are still trying to put things into the pact that they know will be difficult to achieve."

"I think you’re probably aware that the Russians broke silence on probably 15 different issues," she said. "They don’t like, of course, any reference to sanctions. I understand Saudi Arabia broke silence on issues related to climate, that others broke silence on issues related to IFI reform."

"We had issues on that language, but we were able to come to a place that we could accept the language, although we didn’t think it was perfect, so all of those negotiations are continuing right now," she added.

The Irish government is dropping parts of its controversial hate speech laws which have been criticized by free speech advocates around the world, including X owner Elon Musk who vowed to fight the legislation in court.

Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee says that components of a proposed hate speech bill that deals with incitement to hatred or violence have been removed, per RTÉ News.

The measure would have allowed for the jailing of citizens for merely possessing material that criticizes certain protected characteristics, ranging from gender identity to national origin. Some critics have compared it to the concept of punishing people for "thoughtcrime," a term popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984." 

HERE'S WHY IRELAND IS AT A BOILING POINT OVER MASS IMMIGRATION

The move comes as a general election in Ireland looms large, with the current coalition government rapidly approaching the end of its current five-year term. A date for an election has yet to be announced. 

The legislation, the Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences bill, has already passed through the Dáil, Ireland's lower chamber, but it had stalled in the Senate, the upper chamber. 

McEntee says that most controversial provisions of the bill are being removed and that legislation aimed at bringing forward tougher sentences for physical hate crimes under the bill will proceed.

"The incitement-to-hatred element [of the bill] does not have a consensus, so that will be dealt with at a later stage," McEntee told RTÉ News. 

"This will send a very pure message, if you attack a person, if you commit a crime against a person or a group of people, simply because of who they are, the color of their skin, where they have come from that there will be a tougher sentence, a harsher sentence at the end of the day," McEntee said.

"I am adamant that hate crime legislation will be enacted," she said.

The scrapping of the incitement measured in the bill is being viewed as a partial victory for free speech advocates. 

The hate speech bill had faced mounting criticism even from government backbenches and some of those in opposition. Ireland's main opposition party Sinn Féin voted in favor of the bill but later called for it to be scrapped. 

According to many online users, the legislation was kept intentionally vague and suggests that people could be jailed for having certain memes saved to their phones or for merely being found in possession of books or videos deemed politically offensive. 

IRELAND ANTI-HATE LAW PUSHED IN WAKE OF DUBLIN RIOTS COULD CRIMINALIZE MEMES, POSES FREE SPEECH CONCERNS

Musk had helped shine a global spotlight on the legislation and promised to fund the legal fees of Irish citizens who wanted to challenge the bill.

The billionaire said that X had standing in Ireland, given that its European headquarters is located in Dublin, the nation’s capital. Musk’s group of investors bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 and took the company private. 

"You have to be able to speak your mind within the context of the law: without that you don’t have a real democracy," Musk told Irish media outlet Gript. "We'll make sure that if there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the Irish people that we do our absolute best to defend the people of Ireland and their ability to speak their mind."

Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor backed Musk’s efforts. 

"We, the people of Ireland, will never tolerate any draconian/corruptible bills being passed into law here. We will not tolerate the attempted removal of our freedom to speak our minds and engage in fair, honest debate," McGregor said.

"A silly and weak attempt to silence opposition opinion is what this is and WE SAY NO! We will fight this all the way if it is attempted to be pushed forward. We will fight it and we will win. Thank you Elon, as we say in Ireland, fair play!"

Senator Pauline O’Reilly of the Green Party, a coalition partner in the government, sparked fury when she said the hate speech bill was about restricting freedom "for the common good." A video of her speech went viral. 

"You will see throughout our constitution, yes, you have rights, but they are restricted for the common good. If your views on other people's identities go to make their lives unsafe, insecure and cause them such deep discomfort that they cannot live in peace, then I believe that it is our job as legislators to restrict those freedoms for the common good."

The Irish government said it felt emboldened to act on the hate speech legislation following riots in Dublin in November. The riots were sparked after an Algerian-born man was arrested and accused of stabbing a woman and three children outside a primary school in the city. The stabbing came amid concerns over migrant-related crime in the country.

Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International and author of the book "Censored," said, "It is the responsibility of governments to protect, not squash, free speech."

"In any democracy, there must be space for disagreement. Ireland’s draconian proposal to ban 'hate speech' — something the government refuses to define — will have severe implications for the basic human right to free expression in the public square," Coleman said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"It’s clear that where ‘hate speech' laws have been introduced, the result is a severe crackdown on peaceful expression." 

Coleman argued his point, citing a case in Finland, for example, where parliamentarian and grandmother Paivi Rasanen faced a four-year legal battle and three criminal charges for voicing her faith-based beliefs about human sexuality and posting a Bible verse on X that supported her views. 

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy, Danielle Wallace and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

A New Zealand pilot has been freed from captivity after being abducted early last year upon landing at a remote Indonesian airport, where separatist rebels set his small plane on fire.  

Phillip Mehrtens, a 38-year-old working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air at the time of his abduction in Papua on Feb. 7, 2023, told reporters on Saturday, "Today I finally got out. … I am so happy to be back home with my family soon." 

"Thank you to everyone who helped me get out safely and healthy," Mehrtens added during a news conference in the mining town of Timika, which is located west of the remote airstrip in Paro where he had been taken captive. 

Television news earlier showed an emaciated, long-haired Mehrtens, wearing a dark-green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by police officers and local officials, according to The Associated Press. He sobbed while talking to his family via video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his back. He was later flown to Jakarta to be reunited with his family. 

PHILIPPINES DEPLOYS NEW COAST GUARD SHIP TO SABINA SHOAL, DEFYING CHINA’S DEMANDS FOR WITHDRAWAL 

"I’m grateful Phillip Mehrtens has been released after more than 19 months in captivity," New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X. "My appreciation to all those in Indonesia and New Zealand who have supported this positive outcome for Phillip and his family." 

The AP reports that rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. 

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham, the news agency adds. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered. The conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed. 

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES FRESH WAVE OF ‘TRASH’ BALLOONS TOWARD SOUTH KOREA 

At the time of his abduction, rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom was quoted as saying that "we will never release the pilot we are holding hostage unless Indonesia recognizes and frees Papua from Indonesian colonialism." 

However, on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, issued a proposal for freeing Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release, according to the AP. 

Indonesian police spokesperson Bayu Suseno said Saturday that Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists through a local church and community leaders as well as youth figures. 

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters also said that a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release of Mehrtens for the past 19 1/2 months. Officials were also supporting Mehrtens’ family, Peters said. 

"This was through a very long negotiation process and our patience not to do it repressively," added Indonesia President Joko Widodo. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Kremlin’s top doctor this week encouraged all Russians to engage in a "sex-at-work" scheme in a move to back President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to counter a growing population crisis.

Despite cash incentives, tax breaks, a nationwide push to discourage abortions and Putin’s years-long attempt to encourage procreation across the country, Russia saw its lowest birth rate in the last quarter-century for the first six months of 2024, reports said following UN findings on worldwide population rates.

Speaking during a Eurasian Women’s Forum on Wednesday, Putin encouraged women’s role in the workplace, but he also reiterated his push for higher birthrates.

RUSSIA SEES HISTORIC POPULATION DROP SPURRING DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS AMID WAR IN UKRAINE

"Proper conditions are being created for women to succeed professionally while remaining guardians of the hearth and lynchpins of large families with many children," he said, according to report by Newsweek.

The Kremlin chief reportedly said that women can cope with the load of being both a career-woman and a mother because they "possess a secret that men are unable to fathom."

When pressed by a female reporter about when women are supposed to find the time to manage a family, Russia’s Health minister Dr. Yevgeny Shestopalov said, "Being very busy at work is not a valid reason, but a lame excuse."

RUSSIA PLANS DIGITAL DRAFT AFTER THOUSANDS DODGE MILITARY SERVICE, FLEE COUNTRY

"There are people who work 12 to 14 hours – when do they make babies?" Shestopalov was asked, according to a report by Metro. 

"You can engage in procreation during breaks," he replied before adding, "Life flies by too quickly."

Female Russian lawmakers, including politicians Anna Kuznetsova and Zhanna Ryabtseva joined in on the push by encouraging women to maximize their childbearing years by starting families once they turn 18. 

One Russian Member of Parliament, Tatyana Butskaya, even encouraged employers to monitor the birth rates of their female staff members, reported Sky News Australia. 

Women in Moscow between the ages of 18 and 40 are also being encouraged to receive fertility testing.

"This new push for more Russian babies is consistent with the Russian government’s previous initiatives to improve demographics and increase the size of the future workforce,"  former DIA intelligence officer and author of "Putin’s Playbook," Rebekah Koffler, told Fox News Digital. "While the Kremlin portrays Russia’s declining birth rates in Russia as ‘disastrous,’ in reality Russia’s demographics is not much different from those of most industrial countries."

The UN estimates that Russia’s population, which currently sits around 140.8 million, will fall by 10 million by 2054.

The United States Census Bureau reports that the number of children per woman in Russia is currently 1.5, though a birth rate of 2.1 is needed to sustain its current population rate, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, as reported by Newsweek.

The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah announced Saturday that another one of its top commanders was killed in Friday’s targeted Israeli airstrike on the country’s capital of Beirut. 

Ahmed Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of Hezbollah’s Radwan special forces unit until early 2024, is among the 16 members of the group who were eliminated in the strike, Reuters cited Hezbollah as saying. 

The development comes as the Israel Defense Forces said it was carrying out more airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon on Saturday. 

Friday’s strike also killed Ibrahim Aqil, another commander of the Radwan special forces who served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, according to the U.S. State Department. 

ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES CONFIRM ‘TARGETED STRIKE’ ON BEIRUT, KILLING TOP HEZBOLLAH OFFICIAL 

"During the 1980s, Aqil was a principal member of Hezbollah’s terrorist cell the Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 U.S. personnel," the State Department says. 

Hezbollah released a statement describing Aqil as "one of its top leaders" who was killed in a "treacherous Israeli assassination," Reuters reports. 

Israel said Friday following the airstrike in southern Beirut that "We can now confirm that Ibrahim Aqil was eliminated together with other senior terrorists in Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces." 

The overall death toll from the airstrike is 31, including seven women and three children, Lebanon's health minister said on Saturday. 

IDF SAYS HAMAS OPERATIVE, OTHER TERRORISTS KILLED AS IT CARRIES OUT ‘INTELLIGENCE-BASED’ STRIKES IN GAZA 

The airstrike reportedly knocked out an eight-story building that had 16 apartments and damaged another one adjacent to it. The missiles destroyed the first building and cut through the basement of the second where a meeting of Hezbollah officials was being held, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. 

Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters 68 people were also wounded of whom 15 remain in the hospital, adding that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise. 

The Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie told reporters at the scene that 23 people are still missing. 

Fox News’ Yael Kuriel and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

JERUSALEM - Signs of a third full-blown war between Israel and the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hezbollah, which runs a state-within a state in Lebanon, are rapidly solidifying. Israel has fought two previous wars against terrorist forces embedded in Lebanon, in 1982 and 2006, and a third war appears to be looming. 

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) re-deployed its elite and battle-tested 98th Division from the southern war theater in Gaza against Hamas to the north, in a possible prelude to what some say could be a ground invasion to root out Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

IDF Reserve Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi told Fox News Digital, that war in the north against Hezbollah is around the corner. "A few weeks ago it was clear that due to the fact that Israel had destroyed most of Hamas' forces, Hamas does not pose a serious threat to Israel anymore. This was a moment to decide to change the strategy and move the center of gravity from the south to north." 

ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES CONFIRM 'TARGETED STRIKE' ON BEIRUT

The rapid-fire movements unfolding in Israel—a country the size of New Jersey—come amid the Jewish state’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, allegedly detonating Hezbollah operatives’ electronic devices in a scene out of a John le Carré espionage novel. Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding some 2,800 others.

Another wave of electronic devices detonated on Wednesday, killing at least 25 and wounding more than 450. Hezbollah officials said the devices included walkie-talkies and solar equipment.

HEZBOLLAH BIGGER CHALLENGE THAN HAMAS TO ISRAEL: ‘CROWN JEWEL IN THE IRANIAN EMPIRE OF TERROR’

Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in heavy aerial warfare over the last 48 hours. Israel’s war cabinet declared the return of as many as 100,000 Israelis who were forced to flee the north because of Hezbollah attacks as a key war objective.

Avivi, who is the head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, noted that there is no way to bring back the displaced Israelis safely to their homes in the north "without pushing Hezbollah out of south Lebanon and hitting Hezbollah hard—all of their capabilities all throughout Lebanon." 

He said the chances of securing a diplomatic solution are "extremely low due to lack of international pressure and unwillingness of the U.S. to pose a credible military threat against Iran and Hezbollah."

The United Nations has failed to enforce U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 that required Hezbollah to be disarmed after its 2006 war against the Jewish state. 

ISRAEL DEGRADES IRAN-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS IN SPECTACULAR PAGER EXPLOSION OPERATION: EXPERTS

In another devastating setback for Hezbollah, an IDF strike on Friday took out members of the elite Hezbollah Radwan force in Beirut.

IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani announced on Friday on X  that, "We eliminated Ibrahim Aqil earlier today in a precise strike in Beirut, Lebanon. At the time of the strike, Ibrahim Aqil, and the approx. 10 Radwan commanders who were eliminated with him, gathered underground—under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood, hiding among Lebanese civilians—using them as human shields."

Aqil was a wanted global Islamist terrorist with the blood of American military personnel on his hands. He was wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983. He is also believed to be linked to the taking of American hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s.

Shoshani added "They were in the middle of planning more terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Terror attacks like the 200 rockets fired today at Israeli civilians and many more. These commanders also planned Hezbollah’s "Conquer the Galilee" attack plan, in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians."

Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8—a day after its ally Hamas invaded Israel and slaughtered nearly 1,200 people. Hezbollah’s attacks have killed more than 40 people in Israel, including 12 Israeli Druze children on packed soccer field in July.

Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman told Fox News Digital "Had Israel wanted to launch a full-blown offensive against the Iranian proxy in Lebanon, it wouldn’t have waited more than 11 months to do so. The IDF is striking launchers and military infrastructure in Lebanon, after having delivered a stunning and demoralizing blow by causing communication devices to explode, in what perhaps is the last effort by Israel to apply pressure on Hezbollah to agree to a diplomatic deal that can prevent a war."

Conricus, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added "If Hezbollah cares about the future of Lebanon, it would do right by withdrawing from the Israeli border and ceasing its aggression against Israel, and decouple its artificial connection with Hamas’ war against Israel. At the end of the day, the Israeli authorities are obliged to facilitate the safe return of evacuated Israelis to their homes, either by a diplomatic deal or by military action."

Rami Mortada, Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.K., told The Times of London that an Israeli invasion "is a doomsday scenario for everyone. It’s definitely a doomsday for Lebanon." He warned that Lebanon will not suffer alone in a fresh war.

Israeli war planners have spent 17 years since the last war against Hezbollah in 2006 preparing for the doomsday conflict in the north. 

Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.

SRI LANKA — Following a major economic crisis in Sri Lanka marked by protests that culminated in the overthrow of the government in 2022, voters in the island nation go to the polls Saturday to choose among 38 candidates for president.

Located to the south of India, many voters in the Buddhist majority country of 22 million people — approximately the same size as West Virginia — feel disgruntled with the country's political culture as the nation climbs slowly out of its economic crisis. 

Reuters reports that after the 2022 collapse due to a severe shortage of dollars, the economy is one of the biggest issues, with inflation reaching as high as 70%. It added that inflation has since cooled and growth in GDP is forecast "for the first time in three years."

"Across the island," there was a "lot of confusion" and people are "uncertain" who to vote for. 

SRI LANKAN LAWMAKERS FIGHT OVER PM DISPUTE

"Entire segments don’t even want to vote," Vinod Moonesinghe, a voter, told Fox News Digital. 

He predicted "turnout could be lower" than in previous years due to disillusionment with many factors — dynasty politics, the candidates being surrounded by corrupt figures themselves and a general distrust toward the political class after years of corruption and empty promises. 

The top candidates in the field of 38 include incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the UNP; a right-leaning party opposition leader Sajith Premadasa of the newly created SJB party; Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the socialist, Marxist-leaning NPP; and nationalist Namal Rajapaksa of the SLPP.

The current government, headed by Wickremasinghe has been in power since 2022 and negotiated with creditors and secured an extended fund facility (EFF) program with the country’s major debtor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Namal Rajapaksa, son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa from the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Perumana) told Fox News Digital, "We are the only party that is nationalistic in orientation this time." 

When asked how he will overcome the challenges associated with his party’s history, he replied, "We will continue where my father’s term ended in 2015." 

He dismissed criticism his party was pro-China as a global security concern. 

"Nobody will use Sri Lanka’s land air or sea to launch an attack on another country," Rajapaksa said, predicting U.S.-Sri Lankan trade will boom if he wins.

CHINA'S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE PLAGUED BY CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL BACKLASH

Rohan Gunaratna, professor of security studies at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore, said ties with the U.S. would remain strong regardless of the outcome. 

"The U.S.- Sri Lanka [partnership] will not be affected by whatever candidate or party that will come to power. Sri Lanka’s foreign policy is multidirectional and will work with the East and the West to build Sri Lanka."

Presidential candidate Dilith Jayaweera, media mogul and businessman head of the newly formed Mawbima Janatha Party (MJP) told Fox News Digital "Sri Lanka’s landscape [has] completely changed". He said that "traditional politicians" lack "management skills." 

He believes voters want a new approach to politics, including new candidates. He noted the popular chant of protesters to "reject all 225," the number of seats in parliament, hinting that people wanted fresh new political figures. 

Another voter, Usama Ibrahim, told Fox News Digital, "We stood in [lines] for hours during our worst economic crisis in 2022 and, yes, Ranil Wickremasinghe has got us out of it, but he restructured the debts to pay off later. But will we get back to square one if the winner of this election does not have a solid long-term plan".

The communist JVP party, which is part of the NPP coalition, seems to have garnered support, according to recent opinion polls. Nihal Fernando, a taxi driver, told Fox News Digital "the other traditional politicians have a culture of jumping sides and, as we say, playing ‘musical chairs’ or leapfrogging. So, we now view many of the mainstream parties as being different sides to the same coin. He complained that since independence in 1948, the same political families have been in power and, after three generations, "change is welcome." 

"Could things get any worse for the working class like myself?" he asked. 

Senaka Seneviratne, a Sri Lankan who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, told Fox News Digital many in the diaspora want to see Sri Lanka prosper because they are "concerned about their family members back home." He noted the general uncertainty about the election among diaspora members is not dissimilar to those in Sri Lanka, noting that some "may return home to vote."  

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Political analyst Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, told Fox News Digital, "Many are angry and frustrated. This anger and desperation is translating into voting for the JVP, who are the new kids on the block in terms of having never captured wholescale political power."  

He noted that the JVP has not gained traction among minorities as much as Premadasa and Wickremasinghe have. 

He noted that "Wickremasinghe restored a certain amount of political stability" during his two years in office. He said that the presidential election might go to a ‘second round’ if there is no majority.

Reutes contributed to this report.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday morning that it has killed a Hamas operative and other Hamas terrorists amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

The IDF said it used an intelligence-based strike to take out Muhammad Mansour, a Hamas operative who acted as a source of technological knowledge in Hamas' military intelligence system.

Several Hamas terrorists who led terror attacks against IDF soldiers were also killed, the IDF said.

This comes as the IDF says it continues to eliminate terrorists and strike dozens of terror infrastructure sites in the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

ISRAEL REVIEWING INCIDENT OF SOLDIERS TOSSING BODIES OFF ROOFTOP IN WEST BANK

IDF troops are conducting "precise, intelligence-based operational activity" in southern Gaza, the IDF said.

Over the past day, troops discovered weaponry, killed armed terrorists and dismantled a large amount of terror infrastructure in southern Gaza, according to the IDF.

Troops are also continuing operations in central Gaza, the IDF said.

ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES CONFIRM 'TARGETED STRIKE' ON BEIRUT

The troops killed several terrorists and directed an Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft to dismantle Hamas terror infrastructure in central Gaza. 

The IAF struck roughly 20 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terror infrastructure sites, military structures and terrorist cells, according to the IDF.

A Canadian woman was arrested after she was captured on doorbell video pretending to be interested in a Porsche and stealing the car, running over the vehicle's owner in his driveway as she fled, police said.

Sarah Badshaw, 18, was arrested on multiple charges, including dangerous operation causing bodily harm, theft of a motor vehicle, failure to remain after an accident resulting in bodily harm and driving without a license, according to Peel Regional Police. She turned herself in on Thursday as police were searching for a suspect in the case.

The incident happened at about 2 p.m. on Sept. 6 near Winston Churchill and Eglinton Avenue in Mississauga.

Video footage captured the woman ringing the victim's doorbell and saying she was interested in purchasing the 2022 Porsche Cayenne he had listed on Autotrader, police said.

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As she was inside the vehicle to view the interior, Badshaw quickly reversed and exited the victim's driveway, hitting the victim on the way out before driving away with the stolen car, police said.

The victim had exited the passenger side door before walking around the front of the vehicle and reaching for the driver’s side handle, which appeared to be locked, video footage showed.

The car appeared to jump slightly as the victim attempted to enter the locked car before walking towards the back of the vehicle. The suspect then quickly pulled out of the driveway, running over the victim and dragging him violently into the street.

The man was injured in the incident, police said. He required medical attention after he sustained injuries to his elbow, hands and legs, he told CTV News Toronto.

HIKER MAULED BY BEAR, HOSPITALIZED WITH 'EXTENSIVE' INJURIES: OFFICIAL

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An accomplice, parked across from the victim’s home in a gray Bentley Bentayga, was also involved in the theft, police said.

The stolen Porsche was located on Wednesday after it was found abandoned in Mississauga.

Police said Badshaw has also been charged with prior fraud related offenses in the Peel region and is wanted by other GTA police agencies in connection with separate investigations.

Since the devastating fire that broke out at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France on April 15, 2019, an enormous restoration project has been underway. 

In addition to rebuilding, archaeologists have explored the site, unearthing thousands of ancient findings. 

When artifacts are discovered, answers aren't always uncovered with them. It often takes more research and investigation in order to grasp a better understanding of the story behind the find.

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Back in 2022, archaeologists discovered two lead sarcophagi under the transept crossing of the cathedral. Sarcophagi were containers used to hold a coffin. They were reserved for the burying of wealthy individuals and leaders. 

One of the deceased was quickly identified as Antoine de La Porte, a canon of the cathedral who died in 1710. 

The other remained unknown, but has recently been hypothesized to be the famous French poet, Joachim du Bellay, who died in 1560, according to a September 17, 2024, news release from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP).

ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER UNIQUE ARTWORK IN ENGLAND DATING BACK TO THE EARLY 2ND CENTURY

Du Bellay was believed to have been buried in the cathedral beside his uncle at the request of his family, but his grave was never found.

Éric Crubézy, professor of biological anthropology at Toulouse 3 University and research director and his team put forth the hypothesis based on evidence such as the fact that an autopsy revealed that the individual suffered from bone tuberculosis and chronic meningitis, which was rare at the time, and parallels the medical history of du Bellay. 

Additionally, the femur structure of the man was in line with someone who spent a lot of time riding horses, according to Euronews. This detail, again, is in line with the life of du Bellay. 

RARE ANCIENT CELTIC ARTIFACT UNEARTHED IN POLAND, 2,300-YEAR-OLD METAL OBJECT EXCAVATED FROM CHARCOAL PIT

"He matches all the criteria of the portrait: he is an accomplished horseman, suffers from both conditions mentioned in some of his poems, like in ‘The Complaint of the Despairing,’ where he describes 'this storm that blurs (his) mind,' and his family belonged to the royal court and the pope's close entourage," Crubézy said, per La Croix International. 

Even though there is evidence to support the hypothesis, there are still researchers who have their doubts. 

"Certain elements do not support this hypothesis: isotope analysis of the teeth indicates that the individual lived in the Paris region or Rhône-Alpes until he was 10 years old. However, we know that Joachim du Bellay grew up in Anjou," Christophe Besnier, an INRAP archaeologist and excavation leader, told the outlet. "Additionally, just because his grave wasn't found during the 1758 excavations of the Saint-Crépin chapel, doesn't mean his remains weren't there."

Since the fire of 2019, there have been more than 100 burials identified, and 80 excavated in the cathedral, according to INRAP. 

More than 50 archaeologists have been on site, working on the 14 operations that have taken place, the source notes. 

As of now, reopening of the cathedral is planned for December 2024. 

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed a targeted missile strike was made Friday on Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon.

Security officials claim the airstrike was targeting Ibrahim Aqil, a member of terrorist group Hezbollah's Jihad Council. 

"Today, Israel eliminated [Aqil] with a surgical airstrike in Beirut," the Israeli government posted on social media. "Justice is served."

ISRAEL STRIKES HEZBOLLAH TARGETS IN LEBANON AFTER TWO ROUNDS OF DEVICE EXPLOSIONS

Aqil is wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut in 1983. He is also believed to be linked to the taking of American hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s.

Israeli officials released an announcement hours later stating that the "IAF aircraft conducted a targeted, intelligence-based strike in the area of Beirut, and eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, the Head of Hezbollah's Operations Unit and the Commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, who was also in charge of Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan."

Hezbollah officials have confirmed the missile struck a Dahiya district building that Aqil is believed to have been in.

ISRAEL DEGRADES IRAN-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS IN SPECTACULAR PAGER EXPLOSION OPERATION: EXPERTS

The strike killed at least nine individuals and wounded approximately 60 others, according to Lebanese health officials. Two apartment buildings were flattened by the blast. 

"During the strike, senior operatives in Hezbollah's Operations Staff and commanders from the Radwan Unit were eliminated alongside Aqil," the announcement continued. "Ibrahim Aqil and the Radwan commanders who were eliminated today were planning Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians."

It's only the latest in Israel's increasingly aggressive campaign against Hezbollah — the IDF fired on several infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon yesterday, including areas of Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela.

Earlier in the week, Israeli security forces remotely detonated hundreds of electronic devices used by Hezbollah members to communicate, killing 12 and wounding over 2,800 others.

A 10-year-old Japanese student who was stabbed near his school in southern China has died, officials in Tokyo said Thursday, asking Beijing to provide details of the stabbing and take preventive measures. A suspect is in custody.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa expressed condolences and noted that the attack occurred despite Tokyo's requests for caution and enhanced safety as China marks a key anniversary of its war with Japan.

The student was stabbed on Wednesday about 220 yards from the gate of the Shenzhen Japanese School, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said in a daily briefing. Lin said the attacker was arrested on the spot and the case was still under investigation.

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In a statement released Wednesday, Shenzhen police said a 44-year-old man with the surname Zhong had been taken into custody in connection with the knifing of a minor.

No motive for the attack was immediately clear.

Kamikawa noted that Japan had asked China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for increased security around Japanese schools ahead of the Sept. 18 anniversary of the Mukden Incident in 1931, which China marks as the beginning of Japanese invasion of Manchuria, now northeast China.

An explosion on a Japanese railway in the northern city of Shenyang caused by Japanese soldiers but blamed on the Chinese was used as a pretext for the invasion.

"I find it extremely regrettable that the attack occurred despite that," Kamikawa said, adding that such an attack "should never occur in any country." Japan takes the attack "extremely seriously" and will renew its request to Beijing to do more to ensure safety of the Japanese citizens, she added.

Kamikawa said she had also advised Japanese schools in China to review their safety measures, and requested Beijing to provide details of the killing and do its utmost to prevent similar attacks on Japanese citizens.

Lin on Thursday expressed condolences and sadness over the boy's death. "Our hearts go out to his family," he said, adding that China will provide necessary assistance. He identified the boy as a Japanese citizen with parents from Japan and China.

Following an earlier knife attack at a bus stop for a Japanese school, the ministry has urged Japanese school operators in China to review their safety measures, said Masashi Mizobuchi, the ministry’s assistant press secretary, and officials will discuss how they can better secure the safety of Japanese students.

On June 24th, a knife attack at a school bus stop for a Japanese school in the southeastern city of Suzhou killed a Chinese national who was trying to stop the attacker and injured a Japanese mother and her child.

Lin denied any link between the two incidents, saying "similar cases may happen in any country" and denied the attacks will harm China's relations with Japan.

"China and Japan are in communication on the case. We always welcome people from all countries, including Japan, to come to China for traveling, studying, business or living," Lin said, pledging to take effective measures to protect their safety while in China.

"We believe individual cases will not affect the exchanges and cooperation between China and Japan," he said.

While the news of the Japanese boy's death was not reported on by Chinese media Thursday, people posted condolences on the social media platform Weibo and condemned the attack.

In an email sent to Japanese citizens living in China, the Japanese Embassy warned residents to be vigilant and take precautions, citing knife attacks in recent months. The Japanese Consulate in Guangzhou, which is responsible for Shenzhen, called for measures to prevent such incidents.

Earlier in June, a Chinese man stabbed four U.S. university instructors at a public park in Jilin in the northeast and a Chinese person who tried to intervene. The four instructors from Cornell College were teaching at Beihua University. Their injuries were not critical.

The Israel Defense Forces tells Fox News Digital that it is reviewing an incident in which soldiers were filmed apparently heaving lifeless bodies off a rooftop during a military operation in the West Bank. 

The scenes allegedly unfolded on Thursday in the town of Qabatiya, where the IDF says its troops "eliminated four terrorists during an exchange of fire." 

"This is a serious incident that does not coincide with the IDF values and the expectations from IDF soldiers," the military agency told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The incident is under review." 

In a video captured of the incident, three soldiers can be seen picking up what appears to be a stiff body and then dragging it toward the edge of a roof as troops stand on the ground below, according to The Associated Press. The soldiers on the roof peer over the edge before heaving the body off. 

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In another instance, a soldier kicks a body toward the edge before it falls from view, the AP reports. 

The identities of the bodies were not immediately clear. 

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Photos captured by AP during Thursday’s military operation show an Israeli army bulldozer moving near the buildings where the bodies were dropped. 

"There is no military need to do this. It’s just a savage way of treating Palestinian bodies," Shawan Jabarin, the director of Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, said to the news agency after watching the footage. 

Israel said its troops had killed seven militants in total on Thursday -- four during operations in the gun battle and three in an airstrike on a car carrying militants who the military said had fired at troops. As of Friday, no militant group had claimed any of the dead as its fighters. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The U.S. is "sleepwalking" into a global war against its top adversaries united under an axis of "malign partnerships," and experts are sounding the alarm that neither the U.S. military nor the public are prepared for World War III.

In late July, a body of non-governmental national security experts, first tasked by Congress in 2022 under the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, released an evaluation of the U.S.’ overall security strategy put forward by the Biden administration two years ago.

The commission found that after decades of post-Cold War policies that cut defense spending and reduced investments in the security sector, Washington, D.C., is "not prepared" to counter Beijing in open conflict, let alone a multi-front war against China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.

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The commission, which included four Republicans and four Democrats who served under the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations, looked to make clear the lack of preparedness was not the fault of a single administration, but rather the failure of a generation of leaders to identify and counter the growing danger posed by authoritarian nations, as well as to adequately explain the threat to the American public.

The experts explained the U.S. and its allies are facing a threat not seen from global powers since WWII, as Europe is witnessing the largest land war on the continent since 1945 – a war in which Russia is receiving aid from China, Iran and North Korea. 

The threat of a major war between nation states, not just rogue militants or terrorist groups, looms in the Middle East, and the potential for open conflict in the Indo-Pacific also remains a serious concern.

"There's been a generalized failure across our political class in educating the American public of the severity of these threats and the danger that they represent," Amb. Eric Edelman, who served as vice-chair for the 2024 commission as well as co-chair or vice chair for prior commission reports, said during a briefing to reporters hosted by JINSA this week.

"Historically, I'm sad to say, that when we're faced with these kinds of challenges, we have typically responded after a catastrophe," he added, referencing events like Pearl Harbor and 9/11. "Perhaps we can draw from some different lessons in history."

The experts pointed to the decrease in defense spending – which has been in a downturn since 1952 when the U.S. allocated nearly 17% of its GDP for defense compared to the 3% allocated today – and warned this investment in security is not enough to adequately counter adversaries like China.

After reviewing unclassified war games, the commission found that even with Washington’s efforts to ramp up weapons stockpiles following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. would likely still exhaust its munitions inventories within three to four weeks if it were to engage in open conflict with Beijing.

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Some munitions like anti-ship missiles are estimated to last only a few days, and once expended, it will take years to replace the munitions.

Edelman pointed out that this is not a justification for ceasing military aid to Ukraine and highlighted that a direct war against an adversary like China or Russia would be substantially more expensive, let alone a global conflict not seen since the 20th century. 

"Preparing ourselves for defense is essentially an effort to deter conflict," Edelman said. "Whatever the cost of defense is going to be, it's going to be paltry in comparison to what the cost of a war would be."

Near the end of World War II, the U.S. allocated more than 40% of its GDP for its defense budget in 1943 and 1944, and the commission warned that modern wars, as seen in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Ukraine, are lengthy engagements.  

"The United States must therefore ready its forces and its industrial base for the potential of protracted conflict," the commission’s report said. 

However, the experts also warned that preparing the U.S. for a global power struggle cannot be remedied by just throwing money into the defense budget, there also needs to be a "shift in culture."

Mara Rudman, commissioner and former deputy assistant to the president for National Security Affairs during the Clinton and Obama administrations, pointed to steps China has been taking over the last several decades that have given it an edge over the U.S., including in its technology sectors and relationship building in Latin America, Africa and recently, the Middle East.

"They spent the last 20 years building the Belt and Road Initiative, making sure that they control processing and mining for most of the critical minerals that we need for a range of different weapon systems we have, but also for our phones and for the kinds of cars we need to build, and for the batteries that we need to have across the board," she told reporters this week. "That's something we need to overcome."

There has been an increasing push in Republican circles in the U.S. to move away from international involvement, contributing to a rise in isolationism that is similar to U.S. sentiments ahead of World War II, and experts are sounding the alarm that this needs to change if Americans do not want to find themselves embroiled in another global war. 

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"It's going to require leadership, and it's going to require educating the American public," Edelman, who served under the Bush administration, said. 

The experts on the bipartisan commission were in agreement that the American people not only need to be better educated by their leadership but trusted that they can decide what is best for their nation when properly informed.

Both the Biden-Harris administration and the Trump campaign were briefed by experts on the results of the commission. 

While the White House and Harris campaign have not publicly commented on the findings, the former president’s response to the report seemed to run counter to what the commission urged, as former President Donald Trump called it "stupid" during a rally in late August – prompting the experts to question whether Trump had been properly briefed by his campaign.

"I really think it's impossible to read the report that they've delivered and not believe that we are as a nation…sleepwalking into a great and potentially historic catastrophe," host of the event and JINSA’s Charles & Randi Wax senior fellow, John Hannah, said. "We are not on the brink of a national crisis – in many ways, we're already deep into a crisis.

"And we do not have our Churchill at the moment," Hannah, who also served during the Bush administration, added. "The commission on the National Defense Strategy has fulfilled its mission. Now we need everybody else to play their part around the country and in the halls of power in Washington."

The U.S. will host an artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit in November, aiming to further align top nations on their tech goals and priorities of collaboration among the international community. 

"AI is the defining technology of our generation," U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a press release. 

"With AI evolving at a rapid pace, we at the Department of Commerce, and across the Biden-Harris administration, are pulling every lever. That includes close, thoughtful coordination with our allies and like-minded partners," she said. 

"We want the rules of the road on AI to be underpinned by safety, security and trust, which is why this convening is so important."

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The U.S. AI Safety Summit will take place after November's presidential election and is separate from the series of safety summits hosted by the U.K. and South Korea. Another summit is planned for France next year.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Raimondo will host the summit in San Francisco between Nov. 20-21, convening the International Network of AI Safety Institutes, which nations aimed to establish after the South Korea summit. 

The network so far includes Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to Reuters. 

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Chief among their concerns remains the use of generative AI to create forgeries in a variety of materials, including election-related items such as ads and pictures. A recent example included Taylor Swift AI-generated images that prompted her to speak out and declare her pick for president. 

Deepfake videos have also proven a prevalent and complicating factor in elections, such as when a Turkish presidential candidate last year claimed a leaked sex tape was actually an AI-edited video with his face placed over an actor's face in a pornographic video. 

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Blinken touted the AI network as a step toward greater safety and security, as well as the potential to harness AI to achieve greater goals. 

"Strengthening international collaboration on AI safety is critical to harnessing AI technology to solve the world’s greatest challenges," Blinken said in a press release. "The AI Safety Network stands as a cornerstone of this effort."

The summit will also invite experts from related fields, including academia and the tech industry, to join certain events and weigh in with "robust" views and developments to help keep officials up to date on the rapidly evolving sector. 

The White House and Department of Commerce referred Fox News Digital to the joint department statement on the summit when asked for comment.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

Israeli officials on Thursday were warning residents in the north to stay inside or remain near bomb shelters after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck hundreds of Hezbollah military targets inside Lebanon. 

The IAF, using intelligence from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), struck some 100 launchers and additional "terrorist infrastructure sites" comprising about 1,000 barrels. 

Israeli officials said these barrels "were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory." 

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. 

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The strikes come after two days of attacks targeting thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies that have been widely blamed on Israel.

Speaking for the first time since back-to-back attacks Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described the mass bombing of devices as a "severe blow" and threatened retaliation. 

During his speech, Hezbollah struck at least four times in northern Israel, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike earlier in the day. Israeli warplanes flew low over Beirut while Nasrallah spoke and broke the sound barrier, scattering birds and prompting people in houses and offices to quickly open windows to prevent them from shattering.

Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah said it had targeted three Israeli military positions near the border, two of them with drones. Israeli hospitals reported eight people lightly or moderately injured. 

The attacks have heightened fears that 11 months of near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel will escalate into an all-out war. Hezbollah says its strikes on Israel are a show of support for Hamas. Israel's nearly year-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

ISRAEL DEGRADES IRAN-BACKED HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS IN SPECTACULAR PAGER EXPLOSION OPERATION: EXPERTS

Israel has responded to Hezbollah's attacks with strikes in southern Lebanon and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital, Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.

Israeli leaders have stepped up warnings in recent weeks of a potential larger military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group's fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border. 

In a briefing Thursday, the Israeli defense minister said Hezbollah would "pay an increasing price" as Israel seeks to make conditions near its border with Lebanon safe enough for residents to return.

"The sequence of our military actions will continue," he said.

Excavations at Wroxeter Roman City in Shropshire, England, have unveiled an ancient mosaic dating back to the early second century. 

The 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic depicts dolphins and fish on colorful white, red and blue tiles, according to a news release from English Heritage. 

The ancient city was established in the 90s AD, according to the news release, and was once a thriving city the size of Pompeii. It's believed that the city once held over 200 houses, a civic bath house, a marketplace and more. 

RARE ANCIENT CELTIC ARTIFACT UNEARTHED IN POLAND, 2,300-YEAR-OLD METAL OBJECT EXCAVATED FROM CHARCOAL PIT

Though there are a very small number of buildings that remain today, there is still plenty to be discovered, as this recent find has shown. To date, much of the city remains unexcavated.

Excavations of the city were done in an effort among English Heritage, the University of Birmingham, Vianova Archaeology & Heritage Services and Albion Archaeology, according to the news release. Thirty archaeologists were involved in the excavations. 

Excavations were originally started in order to locate a potential destination for the city's Civic Temple, but much more was found than was expected. 

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A large monumental building located close to the main road of the city was found, as well as a possible shrine, neither of which was a particularly surprising find. 

The mosaic found was a "rare" discovery that archaeologists were "amazed" to uncover during excavations. 

The artwork was created very shortly after the city was originally established, and "must have been commissioned by a wealthy and important person," the news release noted. 

Other artifacts that have been found at the site include coins and pottery fragments.