Today is Wednesday, February twenty sixth, the 57th day of 2025. There are still 308 days a yr.

Today in history:

On February 26, 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded within the parking garage of the North Tower of New York World Trade Center, killed six people and injured greater than 1,000 others. (The bomb couldn’t fall into the south tower of the north tower, because the terrorists had hoped; each structures were destroyed eight years later within the attack on September eleventh.)

Also on this date:

In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba and sailed to France to regain power.

In 1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Great Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

In 1987 the Turm Commission, which the Iranian affair had examined, published its report, the President Ronald Reagan not stood as much as not control his national security personnel.

In 1998, a jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected a lawsuit of 11 million US dollars, which was submitted by Texas Cattlemen, which Oprah Winfrey's talk show blamed for a prize after a prize on food safety that had a discussion about crazy Cow diseases included.

In 2012, the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, was shot George Zimmerman during a discussion of the volunteer of neighborhood statement, who said he had acted in self-defense. (Zimmerman was later acquitted resulting from the second degree murder.)

In 2013, a hot balloon broke up over the old Egyptian city of Luxor during a sunrise after which fell to the earth of 305 meters and killed 19 tourists.

In 2017, three Oscars, including one of the best picture of 2016, won the Oscar Award. In astonishing gaffe, the musical “La La Land” was wrongly announced as one of the best image winner before the error was corrected.

Today's birthdays:

• Singer Mitch Ryder is 80.
• Singer Michael Bolton is 72.
• The Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Mullen is 68.
• Actor Greg Germann is 67.
• Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA., Is 67.
• Singer Erykah Badu (Ehr'-Ih-Kah-Kah Bah-Doo ') is 54.
• The filmmaker Sean Baker is 54.
• The football hall of Famer Marshall Faulk is 52.
• Jenny Thompson, gold medalist of the Olympic swimming, is 52.
• Singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 46.
• Tennis Hall of Famer Li Na is 43.
• Singer Natalia Lafourcade is 41.

Originally published: February 26, 2025 at 1:00 a.m.

MASNAA BORDER CROSSING, Lebanon – Powerful recent explosions rocked Beirut's southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also hitting a Palestinian refugee camp deep within the north for the primary time because it targets each Hezbollah and Hamas militants took.

Thousands of individuals in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the region's worsening conflict, while rallies took place world wide to mark the upcoming anniversary of the beginning of the war in Gaza.

The powerful explosions began around midnight and continued until Sunday after the Israeli military urged residents to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite cluster of suburbs on Beirut's southern edge. AP video showed the explosions lighting up the densely populated southern suburbs where Hezbollah has a robust presence. They followed a day of sporadic attacks and the just about constant buzz of reconnaissance drones.

The Israeli military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon and a few were intercepted.

The attacks reportedly targeted a constructing near a road resulting in Lebanon's only international airport, in addition to one other constructing formerly utilized by the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar broadcaster. It was claimed on social media that one in all the attacks hit an oxygen tank warehouse, but this was later denied by the corporate's owner, Khaled Kaddouha.

Shortly afterwards, Hezbollah claimed in a press release that it had successfully attacked a bunch of Israeli soldiers near the Manara settlement in northern Israel “with a large volley of rockets, hitting them precisely.”

An Israeli attack on the northern Beddawi camp on Saturday killed an official from Hamas' military wing along together with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian militant group said. Hamas later said one other member of its military wing was killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley. The aftermath showed destroyed buildings, scattered bricks, and stairs resulting in nowhere.

Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon for the reason that start of the Israel-Hamas war, along with most members of the senior leadership of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, as fighting sharply escalated.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million displaced from their homes in lower than two weeks. Israel says it desires to expel the militant group from shared borders in order that displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon's strongest force, began firing rockets at Israel almost immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and the Israeli military engage in firefights almost day-after-day.

Last week, Israel launched a so-called limited ground operation in southern Lebanon after a series of strikes killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The fighting is the worst since a transient war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the bottom fighting, which Israel said killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.” The minister said the unnamed countries proposing initiatives include regional states and a few outside the Middle East .

Araghchi spoke a day after Iran's Supreme Leader praised his recent rocket attacks on Israel and said he was able to do it again if vital.

On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so.” Regarding Lebanon, he said: “We are not done yet.”

Escaping Lebanon on foot

The Israeli military said earlier Saturday that about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell within the northern Arabian city of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were barely injured.

At least six people were killed in greater than a dozen Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon overnight and into Saturday, based on the Lebanese state news agency National News Agency.

According to a Lebanese government committee, almost 375,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria in lower than two weeks.

Associated Press journalists saw tons of continuing to cross the Masnaa border crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters on the road leading there on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah's weapons are believed to come back from Iran via Syria.

“We were traveling for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one in all many Syrian refugees in Lebanon now returning. “The streets were very crowded… it was very difficult. We almost died when we came here.” Some children whimpered or cried.

Other displaced families are actually searching for refuge along Beirut's famous Corniche, their windswept tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at Netanyahu’s hands,” Om Ali Mcheik said.

The Israeli military said special forces carried out ground attacks against Hezbollah's infrastructure in southern Lebanon. It said troops had dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

Further evacuation orders in Gaza

Nearly 42,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in the course of the war, based on the health ministry there, which doesn’t distinguish between civilian and militant deaths. Nearly 90% of Gaza's residents are displaced as a result of widespread destruction.

Palestinian medical officials said not less than nine people were killed in Israeli strikes within the northern and central Gaza Strip on Saturday. An attack within the northern city of Beit Hanoun killed not less than five people, including two children, based on Gaza's health ministry. Another attack hit a house in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing not less than 4 people, Awda Hospital said.

An Israeli airstrike killed two children within the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, based on the Civil Defense First Responder Group, which operates under the Hamas-led government.

The Israeli military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, which was on the core of obstacles to a ceasefire agreement. The military urged people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has declared a humanitarian zone.

It is unclear what number of Palestinians are in these areas. Israeli forces have often returned to areas within the Gaza Strip to attack Hamas militants who’re regrouping.

Mroue reported from Beirut and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr.who died on March 20, 2024 on the age of 95, was considered Legend for his heroism in battle.

But despite his military success, Gray, who served because the twenty ninth commandant of the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991, will all the time be related to one in all the darkest days in U.S. military history: the Bomb attack on a barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983. The terrorist attack killed greater than 300 people, including 241 US soldiers under Gray's commanddespite being within the United States on the time of the attack.

As a Scientist currently researching a project on this attackI can't help but notice that Gray's death happens right in the center a wave of violence In Lebanon This comes at a time when US troops stationed within the Middle East are once more being targeted by Islamist groups financed by Iran.

Marines in Lebanon

Gray's experience with U.S. involvement in Lebanon underscores the hazards American troops face when stationed in unstable areas.

On June 4, 1981He was given command of the 2nd Marine Division and all battalions that invaded war-torn Lebanon from 1982 to 1984.

At this point, the civil war within the country had already been raging for six years. It began on April 13, 1975and very like the rise in violence in Lebanon now, it was fueled by events south of the country's border.

Palestinians expelled or fleeing the territory that later became Israel in 1948 ended up as refugees in neighboring countries, including Lebanon. In 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded to represent the Palestinian people and fight Israeli occupation. Over within the mid-Seventies 20,000 PLO fighters were in Lebanon and launched attacks on Israel.

But their presence in Lebanon led to violence between Lebanese Christians and Lebanese and Palestinian Muslims. While some in Lebanon wanted peace with Israel, others desired to fight for the Palestinian cause.

Several cruel massacres marked the primary five years of the Civil War. In 1982 Israel began Operation Peace for Galileeinvaded Lebanon and occupied Beirut with the intent of destroying PLO forces.

The Lebanese authorities appealed to Western powers for help. In August 1982, the governments of the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom established a multinational peacekeeping force The aim was to revive peace and end fighting between Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis.

It was not the primary time Lebanon asked the United States for help. At July 15, 1958As hostilities broke out between Christians and Muslims, 1,700 Marines arrived in Beirut able to fight. However, in contrast to 1958, the fighting within the Eighties was much fiercer and the war had already been raging for over five years.

While most Lebanese welcomed the foreign peacekeepers, many rejected them, viewing them as Western colonial interference in Muslim-majority countries.

Day of the attack

Then, on October 23, 1983Witnesses reported seeing a yellow Mercedes truck speeding toward the barracks where the American soldiers were housed. It carried 10,000 kilos of explosives, and the force of the explosion leveled the constructing, killing 220 Marines, 18 U.S. Navy sailors, and three U.S. Army soldiers.

A number of minutes later, an analogous attack occurred within the French Quarter, leaving several people dead 58 French paratroopers.

To this present day, this event stays the identical deadliest attack in sooner or later for the United States Marine Corps because the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Islamic Jihad, a pro-Iranian Shiite group, took responsibility for the attacks.

Gray, a two-star general, was alerted to the attacks shortly after midnight. The Beirut barracks bombing was a private matter for Gray; His troops were in Lebanon and he had visited them just months before the attack.

After the bombing, Gray got here over 100 funerals of the military personnel killed. He also offered his resignation in regards to the incident – ​​the one senior official to accomplish that. His application was rejected.

Lessons from 1983

One could draw many parallels between the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983 and current events.

In August 1982 President Ronald Reagan expressed grave concern about Israel's behavior in Lebanon and warned Israel against the offensive use of American weapons. In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Reagan called Israel's siege of Beirut a “Holocaust.”.”

To reply to this human crisis, the Multinational Peacekeeping Force was tasked with doing so Evacuation of PLO fighters outside Lebanon to Tunisia. With that mission achieved, U.S. troops withdrew from Lebanon.

However, the escalation of violence led to their return. In fact, their families stayed behind while Palestinian fighters were evacuated. Then, after that Assassination of elected Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel On September 14, 1982, the Christian Phalangist militia entered the 2 refugee camps Sabra and Shatila and killed over 2,000 Palestinian civilians. Israel was considered not directly answerable for these massacres.

From that moment on, US troops were not noticed Muslim militias as peacekeepers, but as allies of Israel and partners in crimes against Muslim civilians.

Forty years later, American troops within the Middle East are still a goal for much the identical reason. And because of this, US soldiers saw increased hostility against them within the region.

There is one other parallel: just like the group that claimed responsibility for the attack in Beirut in 1983 financed by IranThis also applies to the groups answerable for attacks on US bases throughout the Middle East today.

Spurred by failures surrounding the 1983 bombing, Gray attempted reform the Marine Corps after the tragedy, with greater emphasis on intelligence gathering and understanding enemy groups.

And while it is correct to acknowledge a senior military officer who has dedicated his life to service, it’s equally essential to contemplate the causes that led to the deaths of those under his command – and the indisputable fact that lots of the aspects The terrorist bombings of 1983 still occur today.