Sunday, September 29

Hassan Nazrallah, Hezbollah's primary leader, was killed on Friday in a round of Israeli airstrikes that has heavily affected to Lebanon and its people.

Israel has been striking Lebanon for the entire week, aiming to obliterate Hezbollah just as they are trying to bring down Hamas in Gaza. It began with Israel's pager attacks around two weeks ago, which killed scores of people and injured thousands of others. This week, Israel has repeatedly struck Hezbollah bases across Lebanon, primarily in the country's densely-populated capital of Beirutwhich is home to around 2.5 million people.

Hundreds of people are dead, and many citizens are sleeping on the streets in fear that their homes will be bombed. Many others have already lost their homes to Israel's attacks, and now have nowhere to go. Some residents reported that they were contemplating a temporary move to Syria until the fighting comes to a stop, but they were scared of being hit by airstrikes. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the airstrikes, which have primarily impacted the southern portion of Beirut where Hezbollah is headquartered. Hezbollah attempted to respond with multiple strikes on Israel this past week, but they did minimal damage, and many were intercepted.

Then, on Friday, Israel conducted a massive bombing of Hezbollah's primary operations center in Beirut, located under several residential buildings. The dangerous blast killed many innocent locals as well as numerous Hezbollah operatives, one of which was the Iran-backed group's chief, Hassan Nazrallah. While Israel warned residents ahead of the attack, they did not give locals enough time to evacuate before Israel's strikes hit the buildings. Hezbollah aimed missile launchers towards Israel's northern region after the attack, prompting air raid sirens to go off across the area, but Israeli fighter jets were able to take out most of the launchers before they fired.

Nazrallah's death is sure to stir things up in Hezbollah, and they will now begin the search within the organization to find a new leader. However, Israel has identified that this is the prime time to strike again and take out Hezbollah once and for all-- it seems that Israel may be planning a brief ground invasion into Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah, as they have moved a large number of troops to the Israel-Lebanon border in recent days. Iran may interfere with those plans, though, as they strongly support Hezbollah and other groups like Hamas-- Iran could supply Hezbollah with the necessary weapons to fiercely respond to Israel's attacks, which could turn the conflict into an all out-war.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Hawaii is made up of 137 islands, including atolls and islets, but there are eight main islands: Ni'ihau, Kauai, O'ahu, Lanai, Moloka'i, Kaho'olawe, Maui, and the Big Island.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Avatar (noun)- An avatar is an electronic image (as in a video game) that represents, and can be manipulated by, a computer user. Avatar can also refer to the embodiment of something (such as a concept or philosophy) often in a person, or to an incarnation of a deity—especially a Hindu deity, such as Vishnu.

In a Sentence: Before they started playing the game, Maeve and Sanaa customized their avatars.