SECRET documents have exposed how Hamas plotted to get Iran to launch strikes on Israel during the October 7 terror attack.
Minutes of the terror group’s secret meetings have been obtained by the New York Times and show its leader trying to persuade the Islamic Republic to join it.
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Hamas attacked the Supernova Music Festival during the terror attackCredit: Getty
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Hamas terrorists released body cam footage of the October 7 attack
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Hamas’ Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar wanted to draw Israel into a regional warCredit: Getty
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Iran’s Ayatollah decided not to directly support Hamas’ terror attackCredit: Rex
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Two British sisters and their mum were killed by HamasCredit: Ian Whittaker
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Hamas kidnapped hundred of IsraeliCredit: Getty
The documents reveal Hamas sought to deceive Israel and draw it into a wider regional war which its leader, Yahya Sinwar, thought would destroy it.
It code named the attack “the big project” – which ultimately wound up killing 1,200 Israelis.
Months before the October terror attack, Hamas officials met a senior Iranian commander in Lebanon and requested help with striking sensitive sites at the start of the assault.
The Iranian commander said it supported helping in principle, but needed more time to prepare.
Iran ultimately did not strike Israel as part of the October 7 terror attack, but did so in April and October this year.
Hamas struck when it did as it decided it needed to attack before a new air-defence system was rolled out by Israel.
Hamas also sought to disrupt efforts to normalise the relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the entrenchment of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The documents were discovered on a computer found in January by IDF soldiers as they searched an underground Hamas command centre.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has denied Iran had any role in the October 7 terror attack.
American officials say they have intelligence showing Iran too was caught by surprise.
Israel foiled Hamas plot to launch October 7 anniversary attack as heartbroken families paid tribute to massacre victims
Following the terror attack, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to turn Gaza to “rubble” for what he dubbed was “Israel’s 9/11”.
Israel is still fighting to get dozens of hostages home a year after Hamas’ attack.
The terror group’s bloody assault on Israel sparked a year of bloodshed, with the Middle East now teetering on the brink of all-out war.
Israel is still razing much of Gaza as its troops look to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages still being held by Hamas thugs a year on.
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Rockets fly in the sky after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel two weeks ago
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And Israel’s archenemy Iran has been using its terror proxies to do its dirty work.
Hezbollah has fired rockets from Lebanon in solidarity with Hamas, while the Houthis in Yemen have terrorised the Red Sea by attacking any ships they deem to be connected with Israel.
Meanwhile, another front has also opened in Lebanon after Israeli troops and tanks last week poured over the border on a mission to wipe out Hezbollah’s war machine.
It’s left the region on the cusp of seeing an all-out war erupt as leaders across the world call for an end to hostilities.
CIA boss Burns said the region could be teetering on the cusp of a dramatic escalation as clashes could spread across the Middle East.
He said that while the US intelligence community believes neither Israel nor Iran wants “all-out conflict”, there is a huge risk of miscalculation.
Burns added: “We face the very real danger of a further regional escalation of conflict.”
He said Israel is “weighing very carefully” how it would respond to Iran’s unprecedented missile barrage last week – but warned “misjudgements” could lead to an escalatory spiral.
How Hamas’ Oct 7 bloodbath plot eluded Israeli spies & sparked year of bloodshed
HAMAS’ horror October 7 massacre plot escaped Israeli spies in a catastrophic security failure that sparked a year of unprecedented chaos, experts say.
It was the catalyst that plunged four nations – Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Iran – into war, killing tens of thousands and marking a historic shift in the Middle East.
Experts have branded the spiralling situation in the Middle East as “one of the biggest human rights crises in the world right now” – triggered by the October 7 atrocity.
Bruce Riedel, who spent 30 years in the CIA including a stint in Israel at the Tel Aviv embassy, said Israel is now “fighting a war on multiple fronts”.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in Israeli history,” he said.
Since October 7, Israel’s archenemy Iran has used its terror proxies to do its dirty work.
Hezbollah has fired rockets from Lebanon in solidarity with Hamas, while the Houthis in Yemen have terrorised the Red Sea by attacking any ships they deem to be connected with Israel.
Israel is also still razing much of Gaza as its troops look to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages still being held by Hamas thugs a year on.
Another front has also opened in Lebanon after Israeli troops and tanks poured over the border on a mission to wipe out Hezbollah’s war machine.
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Israel bombarded Khan Yunis in its attack on HamasCredit: AFP
The federal government says it has been dealing with an unprecedented number of rumors surrounding the recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton. CBS News immigration and politics reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez speaks with the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection about one of those false claims. Then, CBS News national security contributor Sam Vinograd joins with further analysis.
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Credit: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment warns that, “Over the next year, the terrorism threat environment in the Homeland will remain high.”
It’s expected to remain high because of “a confluence of factors, including potential violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments – particularly the 2024 election cycle – and international events like the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat. Meanwhile, foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al Qa’ida, maintain their enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland,” DHS said in a Wednesday announcement.
The report notes that DHS officials are “particularly concerned” about “domestic and foreign violent extremists” who will use the U.S. November election or the Israel-Hamas war “to justify or encourage attacks in the Homeland. Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat of carrying out attacks with little to no warning.
“Meanwhile, foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and their supporters will maintain their enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland.”
Looking into 2025, the threat of violence from US-based violent extremists – including domestic violence extremists (DVEs) and foreign terrorist organization-inspired homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) – will remain high, DHS says.
Between September 2023 and July 2024, DVEs conducted at least four attacks in the US; several were disrupted by law enforcement. Two HVE attacks occurred related to the Israel-Hamas war and law enforcement disrupted at least three HVE plots, DHS says.
It notes that over the past year, DVEs focused on a range of targets whereas HVEs targeted faith-based organizations.
“HAMAS’s terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent conflict between Israel and HAMAS and its regional allies have spurred violent extremists across the ideological spectrum to promote attacks against Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Arab communities in the United States,” it notes.
The report was released after a Florida-based international rescue group issued a warning for Americans to remain vigilant in the likelihood that terrorist attacks could occur ahead of the Jewish holidays, leading up to the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, and the U.S. November election, The Center Square reported.
The 46-page DHS assessment evaluated threats related to terrorism, “increasing complexities straining the immigration system, transnational organized crime, proliferating cyber threats, and geopolitical strategic competition.”
DHS says the U.S. “will face threats to public safety from state actors using subversive tactics in an effort to influence and divide the American public and undermine confidence in our institutions,” including the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It says the PRC is targeting “political dissidents and journalists in the United States to silence and harass critical voices, violating our sovereignty and the rule of law.”
It notes that the 2024 election cycle “will be an attractive target for many adversaries.”
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has so far been hacked by Iranian actors, and three assassination attempts have been foiled, including by a Pakistani man with ties to Iran. He was also recently briefed on an Iranian assassination plot.
DHS states that some domestic violent extremists may have identified targets for violence with the goal of “instilling fear among voters, candidates, and election workers, as well as disrupting election processes leading up to and after the November election. Nation-state-aligned foreign malign influence actors almost certainly will continue to target democratic processes with the aims of affecting US voter preferences, exacerbating social tensions, and undermining confidence in our democratic institutions and the integrity of the electoral process.”
It also notes that U.S. adversaries “almost certainly will continue to threaten the integrity of our critical infrastructure with disruptive and destructive cyber and physical attacks,” including by the PRC, Russia, and Iran. These countries “will remain the most pressing foreign threats to our critical infrastructure,” the report states, adding that DHS expects the PRC “to continue its efforts to pre-position on US networks for potential cyber-attacks in the event of a conflict with the United States.”
DHS warns that China will likely “remain our greatest economic security threat because of its aggressive use of anticompetitive, coercive policies and theft of US intellectual property, technology, and trade secrets” and supply chains will remain vulnerable to foreign manipulation abroad.
The report was also issued after the U.S. House Committee on Oversight subpoenaed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for information about Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz’s alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Credit: Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
Twenty-three years after Islamic terrorists used airplanes to conduct the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the federal agency created to protect Americans from national security threats “cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country.”
The potentially high-risk noncitizens are being flown on domestic flights without identification, creating a public safety risk, according to the latest Office of Inspector General report assessing several federal agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The OIG has repeatedly published reports identifying potential national security risks created by Biden-Harris policies identified within DHS and its subagencies.
In the latest redacted report that has “sensitive security information,” the OIG expressed concerns about Americans’ public safety to the administrators of the Transportation Security Administration, US Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The report states the agencies didn’t assess risks to public safety by releasing non-citizens into the United States without identification and putting them on domestic flights.
The OIG requested data on the number of noncitizens without identification who were released into the United States from fiscal years 2021 through 2023. “Because immigration officers are not required to document whether a noncitizen presented identification in the databases,” the data the OIG obtained “may be incomplete.”
“Therefore, neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported biographic information was accepted,” the report states. CBP and ICE officers interviewed by the OIG “acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without identification into the country, yet neither CBP nor ICE conducted a comprehensive risk assessment for these noncitizens to assess the level of risk these individuals present and developed corresponding mitigation measures,” the report states.
One of the primary responsibilities of CBP and ICE is to verify noncitizens’ identities prior to seeking entry; TSA is responsible for screening everyone who boards domestic flights. The OIG audited them to determine to what extent CBP and ICE policies and procedures confirmed individual’s identities “for the documents TSA accepts for domestic travel and whether TSA ensures noncitizens traveling on domestic flights provide proof of identification consistent with all other domestic travelers.”
As Border Patrol officials have explained, the majority of illegal border crossers are not vetted and released with DHS papers. The OIG confirms this, stating CBP and ICE officers accept “self-reported biographical information, which they use to issue various immigration forms. Once in the United States, noncitizens can travel on domestic flights.”
The OIG also notes that noncitizens do not have TSA-acceptable identification but “are allowed to board domestic flights.” TSA requires them “to undergo vetting and additional screening,” which involves running their information through systems to validate information on DHS–issued immigration forms and conducting additional screening procedures like pat downs.
“TSA’s vetting and screening procedures do not eliminate the risk that noncitizens who may pose a threat to fellow passengers could board domestic flights,” the OIG report says.
It gets worse, the OIG says.
“Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country. Additionally, TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”
The 37-page redacted report details the procedures that must be followed according to federal law and notes in bold: “CBP and ICE have policies and procedures for screening noncitizens, but neither component knows how many noncitizens without identification documents are released into the country.”
Security issues also exist with the CBP One app, which has been used to fast track over 813,000 inadmissible illegal foreign nationals into the country, The Center Square reported.
These issues are redacted. “Because of CBP’s and ICE’s process for inspecting and releasing noncitizens, TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights,” the OIG warns.
It also points out that it has released previous reports where its office “documented similar weaknesses in CBP’s screening processes that allowed high-risk individuals into the country,” including those on the terrorist watchlist.
It concludes, “If CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens – whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm – to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks.”
The agencies did not concur with the OIG’s findings. In response, the OIG, as prescribed by a DHS directive, gave them 90 days to respond and provide corrective action that would be taken as well as a target completion date for each recommendation.
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.
In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.
The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent confirmation.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.
The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider war.
The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.
Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
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Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following strike in Beirut, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using phosphorous bombs, without providing evidence. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah has an armed wing with tens of thousands of fighters but it also has a political movement and a network of charities staffed by civilians.
In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched two drones at Tel Aviv overnight. The military said it identified two drones off the coast of the bustling metropolitan area, shooting one of them down while the other fell in the Mediterranean Sea.
The escalating violence in Lebanon has opened a second front in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militants that began nearly a year ago with Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago. It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israelis strikes in Lebanon have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of his top commanders. Hundreds more airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon since mid-September have killed at least 1,276 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said Thursday that it had struck around 200 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts. It said the strikes killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters. There was no independent confirmation.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, as Israel has warned people to evacuate from around 50 villages and towns in the south, telling them to relocate to areas that are around 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and considerably farther north than a U.N.-declared buffer zone.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after nearly a year of rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 and have displaced some 60,000 Israelis from communities in the north. Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes over the past year that have displaced tens of thousands on the Lebanese side.
The vast majority of recent strikes have been in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the southern suburbs of Beirut known as the Dahiyeh. But Israel has also carried out strikes in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and a strike in central Beirut earlier this week killed three Palestinian militants.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are part of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which also includes armed groups in Syria and Iraq. They have launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing retaliation in a cycle that has repeatedly threatened to set off a wider war.
The region once again appears on the brink of such a conflict after Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday, which it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who was with him, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.
Both Israel and the United States have said there will be severe consequences for the missile attack, which lightly wounded two people and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The United States has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
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Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press staff writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Zeina Karam in London contributed to this report.
Southern Israel — Ahead of the Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashanah, Efrat Machikawa helped prepare food for dinner at her home in southern Israel. Her family eats Tunisian food to mark the occasion, and her mother made a number of delicacies, including spinach glazed in honey.
But Machikawa told CBS News that this year’s holiday — one of the most significant in Judaism — wouldn’t be the celebration it usually is, because one of her family members is still being held hostage in war-torn Gaza.
“We know it’s a holiday, but it’s nothing to celebrate. Nothing,” she said. “They should have been here.”
CBS News last visited Machikawa at her home in southern Israel almost a year ago, just days after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks. Six members of her family had just been killed or taken hostage from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz — among the 1,200 people massacred and the 251 kidnapped that day.
Chanon Cohen and his daughter Efrat Machikawa are seen days after a number of their relatives were killed or taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks.
Duarte Dias/CBS News
“It’s very hard to describe this past year, because it really doesn’t feel as if a year has been… I say, it’s one long day,” Machikawa said.
One of her relatives was killed and four were eventually released by Hamas, including her aunt Margalit, who had serious health issues when she was abducted.
Finally freed from captivity, it was hard for Margalit to accept what had happened on Oct. 7.
Margalit Moses, a released Israeli hostage, walks with an Israeli soldier shortly after her return to Israel, Nov. 24, 2023.
IDF via AP
“It wasn’t easy for her to realize what really happened to her house, to her community, to her friends, to people she loved, to the other kibbutzim, to the whole country,” Machikawa said.
Since we last met her, she’s been working tirelessly to get her uncle Gadi Moses, the last member of the family still held in Gaza, back home.
She’s been among the families and friends of hostages pushing Israel’s government hard to accept a deal with Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Machikawa has traveled the world, appealing to foreign leaders to mount pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle Gadi Moses is in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, is seen at the Gaza border, in Kibbutz Nirim, southern Israel, in a Jan. 11, 2024 file photo.
Maya Alleruzzo/AP
“Everyone that is connected to the negotiation table and the army — the security and the army — are amazing, amazing people. But if I talk about my government… I don’t think they did what a government, what my idea of government, would do,” Machikawa said. “The feeling that it’s on us, on the families, to maintain the national and international interest in releasing these 101 hostages is quite hard to take.”
Israeli officials believe 64 of the hostages are still alive.
Machikawa said that, despite the difficulties, she will continue working to bring her uncle, and the other hostages, back home.
“There must be a hope. I am hopeful,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able not to be hopeful. I don’t have the capacity not to be hopeful.”
RAF Typhoons taking off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in FebruaryCredit: AFP
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RAF Typhoons helped shoot down Iranian missilesCredit: EPA
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RAF Voyagers are able to refuel other planesCredit: UK MOD Crown copyright
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Sirens blared as the rockets arrived to hit the countryCredit: AFP
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Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets in AshkelonCredit: Reuters
Last night, Defence Secretary John Healey said: “British forces have this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East.
“I want to thank all British personnel involved in the operation for their courage and professionalism.”
No further details were provided by the Ministry of Defence about how British forces were involved.
In April, the RAF shot down Iranian drones bound for Israel, with then PM Rishi Sunak saying the action had helped save Israeli lives.
In a statement from Downing Street on Tuesday evening, Sir Keir Starmer said Iran has “menaced the Middle East for far too long” and it must stop the attacks.
It comes as…
He said: “We stand with Israel and we recognise her right to self-defence in the face of this aggression.
“Together with its proxies like Hezbollah, Iran has menaced the Middle East for far too long, chaos and destruction brought not just to Israel, but to the people they live amongst in Lebanon and beyond.”
The Pentagon said the blitz was twice the size of Iran’s April attack, while a key adviser slammed the strike as “defeated and ineffective”.
Early warning systems detected the launches at around 7.30pm local time and skies above Israel began lighting up within minutes.
Red tracers from Iron Dome and David’s Sling interceptions were seen blasting the incoming munitions sending white flaming debris crashing earthwards.
Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as people right across the country were told to shelter themselves for protection.
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Bright orange streaks of fire could be seen above Israel’s citiesCredit: Reuters
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The vast majority of the incoming rockets were intercepted but videos showed a number hitting the country, including near a mall, Mossad HQ, and an airbase.
Following the barrage, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Iran for making a “big mistake” and threatened “it will pay for it”.
He said: “There is also a deliberate and murderous hand behind this attack – it comes from Tehran.
“We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us – we will attack him.”
Iran said it launched the strikes in retaliation for the killing of the leaders of its proxy forces over the past few months.
The escalation came after Israel began a ground invasion in Lebanon on Monday night, carrying out what it described as “limited, localised” operations.
What is Israel’s Iron Dome & how does it work?
ISRAEL’S air defence system is one of the best in the world having successfully intercepted thousands of rockets.
The mobile all-weather Iron Dome is at the forefront of that and was central to fending off Iran’s recent missile and drone attack.
Here’s the lowdown on the high tech system.
What is Israel’s Iron Dome?
Iron Dome is a counter rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) short range air defence system.
It is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 2–43 miles away.
It intercepts rockets that are travelling in the direction of urban areas and brings them down – the first system of its kind in the world.
Israel hopes to increase the range of the dome’s interceptions to 250km and make it able to stop rockets coming from two directions.
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, it can be operated in all weather conditions including fog, dust storm, low clouds and rain.
From 2011 to 2021, the United States contributed a total of $1.6billion to the Iron Dome defence system, befor another US$1billion was approved by the US Congress in 2022.
How does it work?
The dome is made up of missile batteries which are shaped like giant match boxes and are tilted in the direction of Gaza.
The Iron Dome monitor detects a target using radar and monitors its trajectory.
A control centre then calculates an interception point and then commands a rocket to launch if the foreign missile is heading towards an urban area.
Once in contact with the missile, the rocket explodes and brings it down.
Each launcher contains 20 Tamir Missiles with proximity war heads and there are several batteries positioned around the country.
Since being implemented in 2011 the computer systems have been updated, improved and upgrades to improve the accuracy of the rockets.
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Israeli media shared an image of one rocket that struck a building but did not explodeCredit: X/@GLZRadio
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities brought a nurse they said was arrested over the weekend before state-run media on Wednesday to answer questions about her alleged suicide bombing attempt. The government-organized interview in Balochistan province was broadcast on national and local television channels.
The southwestern Balochistan province has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with several separatist groups staging attacks that target mainly security forces in their quest for independence. The province also has an array of militant groups that are active there.
Pakistan’s government has also long battled militants and insurgents of various groups across the entire country — fighting that has killed hundreds, both civilians and members of the security forces.
Authorities are likely eager to show that they are gaining the upper hand in the fight.
In Wednesday’s interview in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, the nurse identified herself as Adeela Baloch and said she had worked at a government hospital in the district of Turbat before she was “misguided by terrorists” and recruited to carry out a suicide attack.
She said she was arrested before she could carry out the attack.
It was not clear if she spoke under duress. She did not name the group that had allegedly enlisted her or describe the target of the planned attack.
The Associated Press could not independently confirm her identity or verify her claims. Officials contacted by the AP declined to provide details and only said she would not be prosecuted because she did not carry out the attack.
Hundreds of walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon on Sept. 18, a day after thousands of pagers used by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah blew up. Despite what social media users have said, iPhones were not among the devices targeted in the attacks.
U.S. officials said Israel was behind the walkie-talkie and pager attacks that targeted Hezbollah members, although Israel has not publicly taken responsibility. The explosions killed at least 37 people, including 2 children, and injured more than 3,000 others.
“iPhones exploding in Lebanon blowing up random people,” said an X post accompanied by what looks like an exploded iPhone.
Screenshot of X post
Another X user posted the same image of the iPhone alongside video footage from a mobile shop in Lebanon where a hand-held radio exploded, with the caption, “New batches of electronic devices: iPhones, Notebooks – are exploding right in the stores.”
But the image of the damaged iPhone is not from the Lebanon attacks. Using a reverse image search, we found the image in a 2021 article about an iPhone explosion in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt.
Credible news reports about the exploding devices in Lebanon did not mention iPhones.
We reached out to Apple spokespeople to ask if there has been any evidence that iPhones or other Apple devices exploded during attacks in Lebanon, but did not receive a response.
We rate the claim “iPhones exploding in Lebanon blowing up random people,” False.
Credit: David Lienemann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
Retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said he was instructed by the Biden administration to not publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “Significant Interest Aliens” with ties to terrorism.
Heitke testified before a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday about how Biden-Harris “open border policies have undermined our safety and security.”
“We had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens … with significant ties to terrorism,” illegally entering in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Sector, he said.
Prior to the Biden-Harris administration, the sector averaged 10 to 15 SIAs per year. “Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023 and more than that this year,” he said.
“These are only the ones we caught,” meaning the number likely is higher because of the volume of gotaways, those who illegally cross the border and are not apprehended.
“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIA’s or mention any of the arrests,” Heitke testified. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”
His testimony came as the greatest number of individuals on the U.S. federal terrorist watch list have been apprehended under the Biden-Harris administration of 1,856 since fiscal 2021 through August, The Center Square reported.
None of this would have happened if current federal laws enacted by Congress were enforced, he said.
“The only true consequence we have to slow down and discourage people from coming to the United States illegally is sending them back to their country of origin,” required under current law, he said.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Border Patrol agents were instructed to do the opposite, he said. In three and half years, “I saw a steady decrease in countries we could send people back to.
“For the first time in my 25 years and under five different administrations, whether through neglect or on purpose, I saw a large-scale lapse in our ability to return people to their country of origin. The inability to send people home meant that most people being arrested for illegal entry would either have to be detained or released.”
Since January 2021, “on day one,” the Biden-Harris administration “made a point of decreasing the amount of detention space available nationwide,” noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s funding for detention space has steadily been cut and private detention eliminated.
The “open border policies” and “the fact that so many illegal aliens were being released into the United States spread worldwide very quickly,” he said, resulting in an unprecedented influx of illegal entry into the country.
“The impacts to me and my agents were significant. Sectors were ordered to take in and process all the illegal aliens encountered on the border. The Border Patrol saw groups of hundreds and thousands coming into the United States and turning themselves in.”
The result was “80% to 90%, sometimes 100% of the agents on duty [were taken] away from” the southwest border. There were miles of the border unmanned in Texas, Arizona and California, he said, where there was “no agent presence for weeks and months at a time.”
Foreign nationals “who did not want to be caught could simply walk in,” he said, referring to gotaways. They total at least more than 2 million since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.
“We have no idea who and what entered our country over this time. Throughout 2022 and 2023, I sent agents to Texas and Arizona to count gotaways. Those sectors could not even put enough agents in the field to see what they had missed.”
U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-NY, then asked him, “What information do we have on the millions of known gotaways that have entered this country?”
“Zero information of millions of people – some of which have been found to be on the terror watchlist – we have zero information?” D’Esposito asked.
“Correct.”
Heitke was previously interviewed by the committee last year and described the level of national security threats that existed because they were forced to close checkpoints after an influx of illegal border crossers shifted to California. Agents were then required to shift manpower from the field to process and release into the country illegal border crossers, The Center Square reported. With their agents being pulled from the field, Heitke and others said Americans were unsafe and transnational criminal organizations were exploiting the open border to smuggle people and an unprecedented amount of fentanyl.
“Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears,” he said.
ROWLEY — A man using a metal detector Thursday in the state forest off Route 1 uncovered a box of explosives that authorities say had been buried there for years.
The explosives, including a box TNT, were found in a metal container near the Newbury town line, prompting the man to call Rowley police about 2:30 p.m., acting Chief Stephen May said in a release. The container also included a small amount of plastic explosives, he said.
The explosives appeared to have been in the ground for “an undetermined number of years,” the release said.
Rowley police and the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad responded to the woods and destroyed the explosives in a series of three blasts.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI also responded. The Rowley Fire Department and Action Ambulance assisted.
No one needed to be evacuated since the box was found in a remote part of town far from homes and businesses
Due to the age of the explosives and how long they were buried, authorities determined that no further investigation was needed.
“They don’t trust their smartphones, so they reach back to these more archaic devices, and those blow up. What’s next?” says Schneier. “Everything becomes less efficient, because they can’t communicate well.”
Schneier describes the paranoia-inducing effect of the operation as a kind of ongoing “tax” on Hezbollah as an organization. “There are a lot of things you can’t do if you can’t trust your comms,” he says. Schneier compares the end result to the nearly incommunicado state of a hunted figure like Osama bin Laden, who in his final years was reduced to sending messages only via the human couriers who visited his secret compound in Pakistan.
That paranoia, in fact, has been seeded among Lebanon’s population for years. Israel’s pager- and walkie-talkie-based attacks follow repeated public warnings from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah about the surveillance dangers of smartphones, given Israeli intelligence’s well-known hacking prowess. “Please break it, bury it, lock it up in a metal box,” Nasrallah said in one speech. In another, he appeared on Lebanese television next to an image of an iPhone circled in red with a slash across it. “These are deadly spies,” he warned. Cell phones were reportedly banned from Hezbollah meetings in favor of pagers.
Now the older, alternative devices Hezbollah has fallen back to carry even greater fears of injury or death. And that fear has come to encompass communications electronics more broadly: At Wednesday’s funeral for victims of Tuesday’s attack, for instance—an event that was itself the target of another attack—attendees were asked to remove the batteries from their phones.
Creating distrust of communication devices within Hezbollah may well be Israel’s purposeful tactic of “preparing the battle space” ahead of impending Israeli military operations against Lebanon, says Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University and author of Active Measures, who specializes in disinformation and influence operations. He compares the operation to cyberattacks or physical attacks on “command-and-control” infrastructure at the beginning of a conflict, such as the United States’ efforts, documented in former NSA chief Michael Hayden’s book Playing to the Edge, to destroy the Iraqi military’s fiber-optics-based communications in 2003 in order to “herd” the enemy’s military toward more easily intercepted radio-based communications.
“This is taking attacks on command-on-control to a whole new level,” Rid says. “They sent the message: ‘No, we’re not just penetrating these devices and bugging them, we’re literally blowing them up, taking away the confidence you might have had in your command-and-control and also in any future devices that you might procure.’”
For Israeli intelligence, Rid notes, the attack also represents a stunning reassertion of its power and public image following its disastrous failure to prevent Hamas’ attacks of October 7. “This operation goes a long way in terms of demonstrating that they are, perhaps, the most creative and the most ruthless intelligence establishment on the planet right now,” he says.
Thanks to the collateral damage of Israel’s brazen offensive, however, its effects—both physical and psychological—have by no means been limited to Hezbollah operatives. The French-Lebanese security researcher Kobeissi, who now works as the founder and CEO of Paris-based tech firm Symbolic Software, says he’s already seen false rumors and misleading videos spread among Lebanese people, suggesting for instance that iPhones, too, are exploding. “People are losing their minds, because it’s scary as shit, and that’s the point,” he says. “It’s impossible to think about this as limiting Hezbollah’s communications and capabilities without realizing it’s also going to have a terrorizing effect on the adjacent population.”
Kobeissi argues that the attack’s collateral damage will shape how a generation of people think about Western technology in Lebanon and beyond. “The average Lebanese person doesn’t have a specific understanding of what it means to conduct a supply chain attack,” he says. “What they see is that a device made by an American ally, a device they rely on, may blow up. And it’s unfortunate that the Israeli intelligence community didn’t consider the knock-on effects that this could have globally.”
Aside from that issue of trust, Israel’s attack also represents an escalation, says Harvard’s Bruce Schneier—a new kind of attack that, now that it’s been demonstrated, is sure to be seen again in some form, perhaps even in an act of retaliation against Israel itself.
“It’s not just Hezbollah that should worry. If I were Ukraine, I’d be worried. If I were Russia, I’d worry. If I were Israel, I’d worry. This doesn’t just go one way,” he says. “Now we all live in a world of connected devices that can be weaponized in unexpected ways. What does that world look like?”
The AP-900 runs on two AAA batteries, which, like any battery, could be induced to explode, but likely not with such force and scale as the explosions depicted in alleged videos of the blasts. If the pagers used by Hezbollah are the AR-924 or another model that runs on lithium-ion batteries, which can cause more dangerous explosions, it’s still unlikely that a regular pager battery alone could produce blasts that could injure multiple people.
“Those explosions aren’t just batteries,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “Based on the reporting, these pagers were likely interdicted by Israeli authorities and modified with explosives. This highlights the risks of supply chain security, especially in places where technology is harder to ship to.”
Gold Apollo did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Williams points out that such an operation would likely involve operatives on both the tech distribution side and the Hezbollah procurement side. “You compromise the supply chain, but you don’t want thousands of explosive pagers running around Lebanon,” he says. “The mole gets them to exactly the right people.”
Some reports on Tuesday indicate that Hezbollah recently expanded its use of pagers in an attempt to secure communications after other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. The Associated Press reported that an anonymous “Hezbollah official” said the group had recently adopted a “new brand” of pagers that “first heated up, then exploded.”
“It’s unlikely that hacking was involved, as it’s likely that explosive material had to be inside the pagers to cause such an effect,” says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and visiting senior research fellow at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies. “Reports mention the delivery of new pagers recently, so perhaps the delivery was compromised.”
Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Middle East and North Africa risk management company Le Beck International, says if the attack is supply-chain-based, then it could have taken years to prepare and involved infiltrating a supplier and placing explosives inside new pagers.
“This is a major security breach, particularly if we’re talking about a charge that was placed inside the devices—which, in my opinion, is the most likely scenario,” Horowitz says. “This would mean that Israel has managed to infiltrate Hezbollah providers to the point of delivering hundreds (if not thousands) of devices used for secured communication.”
The incident comes amid escalations of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months, raising fears of a full-blown war. In the hours before the explosions on Tuesday, Israel said its war goals would include allowing 60,000 people to return to Northern Israel after they were evacuated following Hezbollah attacks, and it would not rule out military action.
Horowitz says the incident could be a “prelude to a broader offensive” and possibly meant to disrupt Hezbollah’s communications networks. It is likely that replacing a large number of pagers would take some time to organize. Alternatively, Horowitz says, the attack could also have been conducted to show the “scale of Israel’s intelligence penetration.”
“This is a high-value operation that you wouldn’t use just to cause injuries,” Horowitz says.
Even if the blasts were not caused by a cyber-physical attack that induced the pager batteries to explode, it’s still possible that explosives planted in the pagers were detonated using a remote command, possibly even a specially crafted pager message. Some footage appeared to show users checking their pagers right as the explosions occurred, though this could have been coincidental.
The operation could have a psychological impact on Hezbollah given that bombs may have been lurking undetected in such an unassuming device. And though Tuesday’s attacks were notably aggressive, it would not be the first time Israeli intelligence has reportedly planted explosives in electronics.
Updated at 3:25 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about potential ways the attack could have been carried out.
Updated at 3:40 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about the pager model that may have been used in the attack.
IT is the first far-right party to win German state elections since the Nazis – and the success of Alternative for Germany is down to younger supporters.
Paramedic Severin Kohler says that it is now trendy among Generation Z TikTokers to back the organisation known as AfD, which is led in the state of Thuringia by a man who has been labelled a “fascist”.
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AfD fans Severin Kohler and Carolin LichtenheldCredit: Paul Edwards
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AfD MP Torben Braga — who, curiously for a German anti-immigration party, was born in Brazil and is of Brazilian and Welsh ancestryCredit: Paul Edwards
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Professor Reinhard Schramm, who lost 20 close family to the Nazi extermination camps, has had death threats and bullets sent to him in the postCredit: Paul Edwards
Severin, 28, a leader of the party’s youth wing Junge Alternative, told me: “It’s a matter of a rebellion against their parents. Being from the right is punk now.”
Almost 40 per cent of 18 to 24-year-old voters backed the AfD in Thuringia, central Germany, last week. In neighbouring Saxony, 31 per cent did the same.
Yet the local branches of the party in the two states have been classified as “right-wing extremist” by the nation’s domestic intelligence agency.
On the Instagram page of Carolin Lichtenheld, who leads Thuringia’s Junge Alternative, the 21-year-old trainee pharmacist is shown brndishing a megaphone at a rally, with the caption: “Ready to fight for the preservation of our homeland and for our future. We are the youth who are ready to resist a woke society.”
The image is hashtagged with the word “reconquista” — a reference to the recapture by Christian kings of Spain and Portugal from the Muslim Moors.
Felix Steiner, from German far-right monitoring group Mobile Consulting, agrees that young voters are attracted to the AfD.
The activist told The Sun: “Almost no other party is so active on social media platforms, especially TikTok. The message is, ‘Young people, come to us. We are the next movement’.”
Youth campaigner Severin wears a T-shirt bearing the name Bjorn Hocke — the AfD’s leader in Thuringia who has twice been convicted this year of using Nazi slogans.
Former history teacher Hocke harnessed the power of TikTok to target the youth vote during the election.
Incredible story of Nazi hunter and holocaust refugee
In one post he leads a cavalcade of motorcyclists riding models made by Simson — a brand associated with national pride by the far right — in the old Communist East Germany.
Yet critics say that behind Hocke’s glossy social media campaigning is a man who is a political “danger”.
In 2019 a court in Thuringia ruled it was not libellous to call Hocke a “fascist” as the opinion had a “verifiable, factual basis”.
Thin-lipped and greying, Hocke once described Berlin’sHolocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame” and demanded a “180-degree turn” in Germany’s culture of remembrance.
The father-of-four once spoke of the Germans “longing for a historical figure” who would “heal the wounds of the people”.
Ulrike Grosse-Rothig, leader of Thuringia’s left-wing Die Linke party, told The Sun: “Hocke is a die-hard fascist. He’s a danger for German society, its voters and to democracy.”
Former AfD Thuringia MP Oskar Helmerich has called Hocke “a dangerous man”.
Little wonder Thuringia’s small Jewish community has been fearful.
Professor Reinhard Schramm, who lost 20 close family to the Nazi extermination camps, has had death threats and bullets sent to him in the post from unknown sources.
Speaking at a synagogue in Thuringia’s largest city Erfurt, the 80-year-old Holocaust survivor told me: “The Jewish community is insecure and some are afraid. They are quite allergically against the AfD. This is not a normal party.”
Of Hocke’s demand for a “180- degree turn” in Germany’s culture of remembrance, the grandfather-of-three says: “So does this mean that I am not supposed to speak about my grandmother who was gassed to death in a German gas chamber?”
‘Some are afraid’
Severin insists the AfD is “against political violence”, adding: “We don’t have anything in common with people sending bullets to synagogues.”
The AfD won Thuringia — a largely rural state in central Germany — with just under 33 per cent of the vote.
It’s the latest European convulsion of the far right which has seen rampaging thugs attempt to torch migrant hotels in Britain and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally topping parliamentary elections in France.
In Germany — as elsewhere — the touchstone issue has been immigration.
Days before the Thuringia vote, a Syrian asylum seeker went on a knife rampage, killing three in the west German city of Solingen.
It emerged that the man — linked to Islamic State — had previously had his claim for asylum turned down but he had not been deported because the authorities could not find him.
Germany’s lame duck premier Olaf Scholz promised to speed up deportations and other mainstream parties followed suit with tough talk on immigration, including the conservative Christian Democratic Union.
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Andreas Buhl, a Thuringian MP for Merkel’s CDU, concedes that the former Chancellor’s open border policy was wrongCredit: Paul Edwards
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A CDU poster calling to stop illegal migrationCredit: Paul Edwards
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An anti-multicultural bannerCredit: Paul Edwards
Yesterday, it was reported that Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser has told the EU that controls will be brought in on all the country’s land borders, to deal with the “continuing burden” of migration and “Islamist terrorism”.
Britain, where populists Reform won four million votes at the General Election, will be watching whether moves towards the AfD’s turf will win back voters.
As well as a hardline stance on immigration, the AfD is also against what it says are over-zealous green policies, and it wants to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine.
At the Thuringian parliament in Erfurt, I met key Hocke lieutenant Torben Braga — who, curiously for a German anti-immigration party, was born in Brazil and is of Brazilian and Welsh ancestry.
The 33-year-old Thuringia MP says: “Bjorn Hocke doesn’t have a single fascist vein in his body.”
‘Political firewall’
Of his boss’s infamous “shame” reference to the Berlin Holocaust memorial, Braga says he meant it was “a shameful part of our history”.
Braga believes the security services are monitoring him and suggests “provocateurs” from those agencies were behind the “two or three cases” of people doing the Hitler salute at a recent rally in Erfurt.
Picturesque Erfurt is, at first glance, perhaps an unlikely setting for a far-right upsurge. Half-timbered town houses crowd flower-bedecked medieval squares where tourists enjoy beers on its many restaurant terraces.
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A far-right mob gather at a demonstration in Solingen last monthCredit: EPA
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Far-right AfD supporters wave German flags, including one adorned with an Iron CrossCredit: Getty
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The AfD party’s slick TikTok videosCredit: tiktok/@afd
This summer the England squad had their Euro 2024 training base a short drive away and Three Lions star Jude Bellingham was spotted having coffee in the city of 215,000.
Yet Thuringia has seen too much history in the 20th century.
After the Americans liberated Thuringia, it fell under Soviet control.
From 1949 to 1990 it was part of the Communist state of East Germany.
Post-German reunification, Thuringia and other eastern states struggled economically, with many youngsters heading to western Germany.
Immigration became a key political battleground after conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders to a million refugees in 2015 and 2016.
Last year around 334,000 people claimed asylum in Germany — more than France and Spain combined. In the UK the figure was just under 85,000 people.
The AfD — formed in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party — has seen its fortunes rise as it hammered home its anti-immigration stance.
No other party is so active on social media platforms, especially TikTok.The AfD post pictures of demonstrations. The message is: ‘Young people come to us. We are the next movement’
It called for a ban on burqas, minarets, and call to prayer using the slogan, “Islam is not a part of Germany” in 2016.
In Thuringia, Hocke led a radical AfD faction called The Wing, deemed beyond the pale even by many in his own party.
Andreas Buhl, a Thuringian MP for Merkel’s CDU, concedes that the former Chancellor’s open border policy was wrong.
He told me: “In hindsight, it should have been clearer that you can also push people back at the border who have already entered another European country.”
He pledged, as other mainstream parties have, not to work with the AfD, creating a political firewall likely to block it from taking power.
It raises the spectre that those who voted for it may come to believe that democracy is failing them.
But anti-far-right activist Felix Steiner says only around half of AfD supporters are wedded to their hardline doctrines, with the rest supporting them as a protest vote.
He added: “The AfD result could be halved if voters were satisfied with other parties’ policies.”
The fight for the political soul of Germany’s Generation Z goes on.
It’s a battle of ideas that may be won or lost on the feeds of TikTok and Instagram.
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the communication app Telegram, was arrested in France on Saturday as part of an investigation into his and Telegram’s alleged failure to moderate illegal content on the platform, among other allegations. After being detained for four days, he was charged on Wednesday evening, barred from leaving France, and released on the condition of posting a €5 million ($5.5 million) bail and reporting to a French police station twice a week. The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that Durov faces complicity charges related to child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, as well charges for importing cryptology without prior declaration, and a “near-total absence” of cooperation with French authorities.
“Nudify” deepfake websites that generate images of people’s naked bodies without their consent have been incorporating mainstream single sign-on authentication systems into their websites, a WIRED investigation found. Discord and Apple are terminating some developers’ accounts over this usage.
Microsoft published research on Wednesday about a new multistage backdoor that the notorious Iranian hacking group APT 33 or Peach Sandstorm has been using to target victims in sectors including satellite, communications equipment, and oil and gas. And Google researchers found that suspected Russian hackers compromised Mongolian government websites between November 2023 and July 2024 and then infected vulnerable users who visited the sites with malware. Crucially, the attackers compromised targets using exploits that were identical or very similar to hacking tools created by the commercial spyware vendors NSO Group and Intellexa.
And there’s more. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.
The US Central Intelligence Agency provided Austrian law enforcement with crucial intelligence that led to the arrest of suspects who were allegedly plotting to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Austria at the beginning of the month. All three of the singer’s planned concerts were canceled at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium because of the threat. CIA deputy director David Cohen said at the Insa intelligence conference on Wednesday, “Within my agency and others there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley and not just the Swifties in my workforce.”
The central suspect is a 19-year-old Austrian of North Macedonian background who reportedly made a full confession. Austrian law enforcement also arrested an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old in relation to the plot. Cops also reportedly interrogated a 15-year-old. The plot was allegedly inspired by the Islamic State and included plans to attack fans outside the venue with knives or explosives. Earlier this month, Austrian interior minister Gerhard Karner said foreign intelligence agencies contributed to the investigation because Austrian law bars text message surveillance.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans, and were quite advanced in this,” the CIA’s Cohen said at the conference. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”
Hackers who may be backed by the Chinese government have been exploiting a recently patched vulnerability in network management virtualization software known as Versa Director to compromise at least four US-based internet service providers and steal authentication credentials used by their customers. Researchers from Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs, said on Thursday that the attacks began as early as June 12 and are likely still going on. Hackers exploit the Versa Director vulnerability to install remote access malware that Lumen dubbed allow “VersaMem.”
“Given the severity of the vulnerability, the implications of compromised Versa Director systems, and the time that has now elapsed to allow Versa customers to patch the vulnerability, Black Lotus Labs felt it was appropriate to release this information at this time,” the researchers wrote in a blog post. “Lumen Technologies shared threat intelligence to warn appropriate US government agencies of the emerging risks that could impact our nation’s strategic assets.”
The movie studio coalition known as the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment said on Thursday that Hanoi police have investigated and taken down the Vietnam-based pirate streaming service Fmovies and its affiliates. The working group said it collaborated with law enforcement and provided information about Fmovies, which it called “the largest pirate streaming operation in the world.” The group added that Fmovies and its affiliate sites—which included bflixz, flixtorz, movies7, myflixer, and aniwave—had more than 6.7 billion visits between January 2023 and June 2024. The law enforcement operation also led to the takedown of video hosting provider Vidsrc.to and its affiliates because these services were allegedly “operated by the same suspects.” Hanoi police have arrested two men in connection with the case.
Following a digital attack against dozens of French museums during the Olympic Games earlier this month, the ransomware gang known as Brain Cipher has claimed responsibility for the hacks and is threatening to leak 300 GB of stolen data from the museums. Le Grand Palais and dozens of other French national museums and cultural organizations are overseen by Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais and reportedly all use some shared digital infrastructure, which the attackers targeted.
The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Vienna earlier this month wanted to kill “tens of thousands” of the artist’s fans, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said Wednesday at a security conference in Maryland.
“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I am sure, many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said, according to The Associated Press. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”
Swift’s Vienna concerts, which would have begun on Aug. 8, were canceled by the events’ organizers, Barracuda Music, when they were informed of the foiled plot by Austrian authorities.
Fans of singer Taylor Swift gather in Vienna, Austria, on August 8, 2024, after concerts were canceled at the last minute.
ROLAND SCHLAGER/APA/AFP/Getty
The move left tens of thousands of Swift’s fans, many of whom had traveled to Vienna from elsewhere in the country or abroad specifically to see a show, devastated.
“I won’t be able to see Taylor again with these resale prices so I am pretty devastated,” one social media user named Caroline said shortly after the shows were canceled. “This was supposed to be my ‘you beat cancer’ trip so losing it hurts.”
Another social media user named Sarah wrote that she had been “waiting to see taylor in my home country since i was 9 years old, i’m now 25… to have all this taken away by some men being so fueled by hatred for no reason at all makes me so beyond angry i can’t put it into words.”
The main suspect in the alleged plot, along with a 17-year-old, were taken into custody on Aug. 6, the day before the cancelations were announced. Austrian officials said the primary suspect, who they have not named due to Austrian privacy laws, was inspired by ISIS. They said he had planned to attack outside the stadium with knives or explosives.
A third suspect, who was 18 years old, was arrested on Aug. 8.
At the security conference Wednesday, CIA Deputy Director Cohen praised the CIA’s work, saying counterterrorism “successes” often go unheralded, according to the AP.
“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley,” he said, referring to the location of the CIA headquarters in Virginia. “And not just the Swifties in my workforce.”
French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged Monday that authorities had arrested the founder and CEO of the widely used messaging app Telegram, saying it was “not a political decision at all” and that Pavel Durov’s fate was in the hands of France’s independent judicial authorities. French media said Durov was detained Saturday over Telegram’s alleged failure to moderate criminal activity on the platform, which has also been used by pro-democracy activists worldwide.
French police did not immediately confirm Durov’s arrest, which was reportedly carried out at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, but in his own Monday post on social media platform X, Macron said he was “reading false information here” about the detention.
Macron said France remained committed to the tenets of “freedom of expression and communication, to innovation and entrepreneurship,” but added that “freedoms are exercised within a framework established by law to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
“It is up to the justice system, in total independence, to enforce the law. The arrest of the president of Telegram on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron said. “This is not a political decision at all. It is up to the judges to decide.”
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov delivers his keynote conference during day two of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira Gran Via complex in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 23, 2016.
Manuel Blondeau/AOP.Press/Corbis/Getty
In a statement issued later Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s office also confirmed Durov’s arrest and said the case had been referred “to the Centre for the Fight against Digital Crime (C3N) and the National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) for the continuation of the investigations.”
The prosecutor’s office said Durov’s detention was extended on Monday for up to 96 hours, meaning he could remain in custody until at least Wednesday for questioning.
The statement confirmed that the tech CEO he was detained as part of an investigation into alleged complicity in a wide range of cybercrimes, including links to organized crime and the transfer and creation of imagery of child sexual abuse and of narcotics.
Durov, thought to be worth more than $15 billion, was reportedly detained shortly after touching down in his private jet at the Le Bourget airport.
Macron did not offer any detail of the ongoing investigation, but it comes after years of criticism that Telegram has allowed anyone, including those linked to organized crime, terrorism and far-right extremism, to use the app without scrutiny. Communications via the app are encrypted, meaning governments cannot censor or regulate what is said or shared on it.
Asked about ISIS members’ use of Telegram in the wake of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, and whether law enforcement should be allowed a backdoor into the app, Durov defended the platform, saying: “The interesting thing about encryption is it cannot be secure just for some people.”
Telegram said in a statement that it abides by EU laws, including the 2022 Digital Services Act that seeks to stop the flow of disinformation online, adding that “its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.”
The company said Durov “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe” and called it “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams said she could personally attest to the wide use of Telegram during the war in Ukraine, which she has covered extensively. She said the app was relied on heavily by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and by journalists reporting from the front lines since Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion in February 2022.
It has also been used as a vital tool by pro-democracy protesters in Russia, as well as Hong Kong and Iran.
Durov was born in Russia but left the country in 2014, after refusing to shut down anti-government content on a previous app that he launched.
Holly Williams is a CBS News senior foreign correspondent based in the network’s CBS London bureau. Williams joined CBS News in July 2012, and has more than 25 years of experience covering major news events and international conflicts across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The dad-of-six had owned five pharmacies which closed down when his marriage broke up.
He was subject to a domestic violence protection court order in 2016 to protect his wife, the Preston inquest heard
Coroner James Adeley recorded that he had “detained hostages and died after being shot by federal agents”.
Associates in Blackburn said he became increasingly religious and had quarrelled with his wider family in the months before his death.
He had spent much of the year before the attack in Pakistan.
It emerged after the kidnap drama that Akram had previously been the subject of a low-level investigation by MI5 but the case was closed after a month.
He travelled to New York on December 29 2021, and then on to Dallas, where he purchased a black market handgun.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the framework of a ceasefire deal to stop the Gaza war, pictured with US Secretary of State Antony BlinkenCredit: EPA
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Israeli soldiers patrol along the border with the Gaza StripCredit: EPA
But terror group Hamas — whose October 7 massacre and taking of Israeli hostages triggered the conflict — has yet to accept the deal after branding peace moves “an illusion.”
Mr Blinken, who will now lead further talks in Cairo, said he had a “very constructive meeting” with Mr Netanyahu.
The deal had been held up by Hamas demands that Israeli troops must leave the 25-mile coastal strip where it claims 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by the military bombardment in the past ten months.
Israel had advocated its forces stay in two corridors of territory to stop Hamas receiving arms from its backers Iran.
But it appeared to have moved first on the plan.
Mr Blinken said Mr Netanyahu had “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal” first offered by the US last week in Doha.
He added: “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.”
He said there was an urgency to get it agreed as it is “the best way to make sure the conflict doesn’t spread”.
Mr Netanyahu said he appreciated “the understanding the US showed toward our vital security interests, amid our joint efforts to bring about the releases of our hostages”.
Benjamin Netanyahu Congress speech LIVE – Israel’s PM to speak as ring of steel erected before ‘day of rage’ protests
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IDF troops conducting a military operation in Gaza StripCredit: Rex
