Israel targets Hezbollah intel HQ in Lebanon, Iran says it will not back down

Israel said it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage on Friday after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group that Iran's Supreme Leader dismissed as counterproductive.

Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza.

The air attack on Beirut, part of a wider assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes, was reported to have targeted the potential successor to the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel a week ago.

Hashem Safieddine's fate was unclear and neither Israel nor Hezbollah have offered any comment.

A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, as the Israeli military issued three alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate.

The first alert warned residents in a building in the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood and the second in a building in Choueifat district. The third alert mentioned buildings in Haret Hreik as well as Burj al-Barajneh.

In a statement early on Saturday, Hezbollah also said the Israeli army was trying to infiltrate the Lebanese southern town of Odaisseh and that clashes there were ongoing.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Biden was asked at a White House press briefing if he thought that by not engaging in diplomacy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence the Nov. 5 U.S. election in which Republican former President Donald Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Whether he is trying to influence the election, I don't know but I am not counting on that," Biden said in response. "No administration has done more to help Israel than I have."

The government in Lebanon says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the toll on civilians “totally unacceptable.”

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. It has not broken down the overall figure between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

The U.S. State Department said that an American was killed in Lebanon this week and Washington was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.

Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the U.S. congresswoman representing his district.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the department was "alarmed" by the reports, and added: "it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."

The latest bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict stems from an attack by Palestinian Hamas militants' Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly Gaza's entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

The Israeli military said some 70 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Friday evening and were either intercepted or fell in open land.

Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon this week after the Iranian missiles attacks. It has said its ground operations are "localized" in villages near the border, but has not specified how far into Lebanon they would advance or how long they would last.

Israel says the operations aim to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after Hezbollah bombardments that forced them to evacuate from its north.

IRAN VOWS NOT TO BACK DOWN

Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary-general Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a huge crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies would not back down.

Israel's adversaries in the region should "double your efforts and capabilities... and resist the aggressive enemy," Khamenei said in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, at which he mentioned Nasrallah and called Iran's attack on Israel legal and legitimate.

He said Iran would not "procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel.

The semi-official Iranian news agency SNN quoted Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi as saying on Friday that if Israel attacked, Tehran would target Israeli energy and gas installations.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited three Israeli officials as saying that Hezbollah official Safieddine, rumoured to be Nasrallah's successor, had been targeted in an underground bunker in Beirut overnight but his fate was not clear.

Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters.

Earlier the Israeli military reported that it had killed the head of Hezbollah's communication networks, Mohammad Rashid Sakafi. It declined to comment on the report that Safieddine was targeted.

Hezbollah made no comment on the fate of Sakafi.

Khamenei said assassinations would just spur more attacks.

"Every strike launched by any group against Israel is a service to the region and to all humanity," he said, adding that Afghanistan should join the "defence".

FLATTENED BEIRUT BUILDINGS

In Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, many buildings have been reduced to rubble. Nearly all the storefronts in the main market street, Moawad Souk, were damaged and the road filled with broken glass.

"We're alive but don't know for how long," said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man already displaced from the south.

The Islamic Health Authority, a civil defence agency linked to Hezbollah, said 11 medics had been killed in three separate Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon on Friday.

The Israeli military said that in the past day it had struck several weapons storage facilities, command and control centres, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Beirut area.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Beirut and meeting with top Lebanese officials, said Tehran supported efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon provided it was backed by Hezbollah and was simultaneous with a Gaza ceasefire.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia knocked out most infrastructure in Ukraine's Pokrovsk, local official says

Russia knocked out around 80% of critical infrastructure in the town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in Ukraine's east, as Moscow's troops inched forward, a local official said on Friday.

Serhiy Dobriak, Pokrovsk's military administration head, said Russian forces were at about 7 km (4 miles) from the town, which is at an intersection of roads and a railway that makes it an important logistics point for the military and for civilians in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia forces have focused some of their heaviest assaults in recent weeks on Pokrovsk, which could allow it to consolidate and advance the front line in the region.

"The enemy is leaving us without power, without water, without gas. Prepares us for the winter, so to say," Dobriak said on national television.

Some 13,050 residents remain in the town and Ukrainian officials are pressing on with an evacuation plan that has been going on for some weeks. Just a month and a half ago, the town hosted more than 48,000 people, he said.

Russia continued to pummel the town on Thursday, launching a total of nine glide bombs and injuring four people in two attacks which damaged infrastructure, Dobriak said.

He said the daily attacks targeted energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. Almost half of Pokrovsk, 10 nearby villages and one smaller town were without power, he said, adding the energy infrastructure was "almost impossible to repair".

He put the level of the destruction at about four fifths of the town's critical infrastructure.

Russia denies targeting civilian infrastructure.

More than 31 months since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces are on the defensive and Kyiv ordered the pullout of its troops from Vuhledar, another town in the east. Kyiv's top commander this week ordered defences strengthened on the eastern front.

In a Friday morning report on the battlefield situation, Ukraine's military said that its forces repelled 30 attacks on the Pokrovsk front over the past day as Russia pushed towards the villages of Mykolaivka and Selydove.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian military targets Ukrainian position in powerful strike – MOD

A successful missile strike hit the position of a company-sized Ukrainian tactical unit not far from the Russian border, the defense ministry in Moscow announced on Friday. The Russian military also published a video showing the moment of the strike.

Black-and-white footage apparently taken from a drone hovering over the area at first showed some vehicles moving along a road towards a small wooded area amid fields. The location is then struck by a Russian missile, with a powerful blast rocking the area. Around a dozen burning objects can then be seen at the target location after the strike.

According to the defense ministry, 12 armored vehicles as well as five pickup trucks were destroyed and some 80 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated in the attack. Kiev has not commented on the development.

The attack was carried out using an Iskander-M missile system, the statement said. According to Russian media, the strike targeted an area near the village of Frunzenka in the Ukrainian northeastern Sumy Region. Frunzenka is located less than about ten miles (15 km) away from the Russian border.

Sumy Region borders Russia’s Kursk Region, where Kiev’s troops launched an incursion in early August. They made some initial progress but were eventually stopped, according to the Russian defense ministry. Russian troops have since been successfully preventing any further advance by the Ukrainian military and also managed to win back some territory, along with a dozen settlements close to the border. Fighting in the region continues.

Ukrainian officials have stated that the main goals of the incursion were to sway public opinion in Russia and to gain a better bargaining position ahead of possible peace talks with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow has never ruled out negotiations, but only after all Ukrainian forces have left Russian territory.

Earlier on Friday, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, said that Ukraine’s Kursk operation has failed to distract Russia from its successful offensive in Donbass.

Ukraine has lost almost 20,000 soldiers in the incursion, according to the Russian defense ministry’s estimates.

Reuters/RT

Choi Soon-hwa, an 80-year-old woman from South Korea, recently shocked the world by qualifying as a finalist in the annual Miss Universe Korea competition.

Choi, a grandmother of three who turns 81 next month, never dreamed of being in the running to represent her country in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, but thanks to changes made to the contest’s selection rules, she was able to do just that. Before this year, participants were required to be between the ages of 18 and 28, but due to growing pressure to become more inclusive, Miss Universe scraped the rule, thus allowing pretty much anyone to participate. Apart from the age ban lifting, pregnant women, and women who had children or had ever been married were also allowed to compete. Now, Choi hopes to inspire others by showing that health and vitality can be maintained well into old age.

“Now that the age restriction has been lifted, I said, ‘I should give it a try.’ Whether I get through or not, I was determined to try and get this opportunity,” Choi said. “Looking beautiful on the outside is important, but I think you need to be at ease in your mind as well and know how to respect others.”

Interestingly, while this is the 80-year-old’s foray into beauty pageantry, she has been working as a senior fashion model for years, securing collaborations with magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, as well as commercial campaigns with various Korean brands. It all started at age 72 when one of the patients at the hospital she was working at as a nurse recommended she give modeling a chance.

“One of my patients told me to try modeling,” Choi said. “I thought it was nonsense… but at the same time, it awoke my old dream of becoming a model, wearing pretty clothes and doing photo shoots. So, I said, ‘Yes, I used to dream of that before, I should try it.’”

Choi Soon-hwa took some modeling classes and practiced her walking during breaks at work, and by age 74 she was making her debut at the Seoul Fashion Week.

“Becoming a model was like opening a door to a new path for me, so I planned in my mind. I said, ‘I will be successful and work hard’… When my dream came true, I thanked God and kept working hard. It’s so fun and I love it,” she told CNN.

On September 30th, during the final of the Miss Universe Korea pageant, Choi Soon-hwa fell short of her goal of representing her country in the global Miss Universe contest in Mexico, but she gave the other contestants, many young enough to be her granddaughters, a run for their money, just like Alejandra Marisa Rodríguez did in Argentina earlier this year.

Oddity Central

We recently shared a Reddit thread about where people's former childhood bullies ended up later in life. This prompted BuzzFeed Community users to tell us about what happened to their former school bullies once they became adults. The stories were pretty interesting. Here's what people shared:

1. "I was bullied throughout school, all the way from elementary through high school. One particular bully called my parents one day out of the blue, apologizing for what he'd done. It turns out he went into the military, and I guess getting bullied during training made him realize what an a-hole he was. However, in my opinion, it was too little too late. The damage was already done. No amount of apologizing will fix what was broken."

—Anonymous
2. "One of my former bullies is a stand-up comedian/actor. He apologized, invited me to one of his shows, and said I could heckle him if I wanted to."

—Anonymous
3. "She always made fun of me and turned my two best friends against me. I saw her at a reunion a few years ago. She approached me with that familiar nasty look on her face, like she was going to make some snide comment with the intent to humiliate me. I pretended to have no idea who she was, then hit her with, 'Oh!! You're the one who got pregnant in 10th grade!' Then, I walked away before she could respond. We graduated almost 30 years ago."

—ponygirl79
4. "I sold her my childhood home. Why? Because we grew up. A family needed a home, and I had one I didn't use."

—Anonymous
5. "There was a girl who decided to start a rumor that I asked her to prom, thus making me a 'giant lesbian.' I got spit on, hit, and pushed around, and I eventually dropped out in the 10th grade because of her. One of the girls who instigated the worst of it later tried to friend me on Facebook when I had one. I looked at her profile, and it turns out she has a wife. I never did get an apology."

—pullhandlesupnotout
6. "I was bullied a lot. I was very tall, skinny, and awkward. Not a cool look in the early '80s. When I was divorced in my early 30s, I ran into two of the boys who were the worst of the lot. Neither of them had grown taller than about 5'7 and didn't recognize me when they offered me a seat at their table and offered to buy me a drink. I looked at them, smiled, held my hand to the top of my head, and told them, 'You need to be this tall to ride this ride.' I'm 5'9. It was a win for my tall, skinny, awkward 13-year-old self."

—laurenebannister
7. "I was viciously bullied by multiple people through my childhood and teens for all my 'weird traits,' which eventually got diagnosed as autism. Also, I was really tall and, therefore, an easy target. One of my bullies actually became a social worker. I don't know if she's changed, and I don't care. This woman used classic abuser tactics on me, isolating me from my family and friends, telling me nobody would care about me like she did, and taking me on her dates so I could see 'what it looked like to be desired.' She was evil. Now she's a social worker?"

"I served her dad in my store a while ago and didn't realize it was him until he gave me some details for his receipt. He said his daughter was supposed to have come in to help him but couldn't. Once he'd left, I had to hide around the back of the store, throw up, and sob because I was so shaken up. I hadn't spoken to her in 20 years but never recovered."

—garebehr

8. "My bully won the lottery and retired early. I'm not kidding. I hope his life was a mess after that, like most lottery winners. Sorry, not sorry."

—ericr1
9. "A couple of years ago, I reconnected with a girl I knew in high school, and she invited me to a small holiday get-together with some other people we went to school with. No one there had really bullied me, but they were all aware it was happening at the time and were close with the girls who were really leading it. It came up that high school was a bit rough for me, but the conversation quickly moved on, and we had a nice night. The next day, the girl who invited me texted to thank me for coming and apologized for not being a better ally in high school."

"She'd known what people were saying about me, and even though she wasn't the problem (she was always very lovely and friendly and still is), she felt bad and wished she'd done something more to support me back then. It was an unnecessary apology. I never blamed her and had processed and moved on from the rest long ago, but it was still very kind of her to say, and it made me feel nice."

—dalyaz

10. "My bully is a nurse in the NICU at our local children's hospital. I had a baby in February who had to spend a week in the NICU. I was TERRIFIED that I would see her and she would be the nurse to my baby. I seriously wouldn't have put it past her to neglect my baby over her hatred for me. I spoke to my husband and mother about it when I went into labor, knowing (because my baby was coming early) that she would end up in the NICU, and I wanted to know if I had the right to ask for a new nurse. They both told me not to be dramatic and get over it because a nurse couldn't be so cruel. Little do they know ALL the things she did to me over many years."

"Luckily, I did not have to see her face once. I don't know if she doesn't work there anymore, was on vacation, or just saw my name and knew it would be a bad scene. Regardless, I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief whenever I remember my baby being discharged from the NICU!"

—leahm491b1c910

11. "I was bullied/ostracized by a group of five boys when I was 15 years old and in the 10th grade. There was never any physical violence, however. The ringleader of the group was very scarred by his parents' very acrimonious divorce when we were both 14. He was jealous of kids like me who lived in loving and stable homes. At some point, he started using drugs to cope with the difficulties he had dealing with his parents' divorce. He resorted to burglary to help fund his drug habit and was sentenced to prison multiple times. As far as I know, he is still in prison in his senior years, although it's possible that he was released at some point."

"Bottom line: His parents' divorce basically ruined his life. I had no experience with divorce and didn't understand what he was going through. Looking back on this experience, if I had better understood it, maybe I could have done something to support him, and the bullying wouldn't have occurred."

—sidneykaler

12. "My high school bully wasn't a bully in the traditional sense, but she was a compulsive liar who had our school administrators wrapped around her little finger and would make up these grandiose stories about how we (her classmates) had wronged her in an attempt to get us into trouble. She targeted me because I had been nice to her when she transferred into the district midway through eighth grade. She harassed me (and many others) over text and via social media as well. Everyone knew she was a pathological liar, but it didn't matter because the principal and deans believed her. The only time I got sent to the principal's office in all my years attending school in this district was because of her alleging that I was 'bullying her' in 11th grade. Last year (six years after graduating high school), I met a guy who grew up a few towns away from me and attended the same state college as her. He had even been roommates with her -ex-boyfriend."

"I told him that the summer between first and second year of college, she came back to our hometown and told everyone that she had a boyfriend, but of course, nobody believed her because you couldn't believe a word she said, and that I was shocked to hear that that was actually true. His response was, 'That actually explains so much.' From what he told me, she hadn't changed much. At college, she was always in other people's business, always had to be the center of attention, and blackmailed several people (including the guy I met). Last I heard, she moved out to the Pacific Northwest (from the Northeast), and even though it's been seven years since I last saw or interacted with her, I still have her blocked on every platform in case she still wants to harass me."

—cristinas437192d57

13. "She was a friend who turned into a bully. After graduating high school, we went our separate ways, and I haven't reconnected even though she's in the area and runs into members of my family and friends occasionally. I think she's had a chance to mature since then, as she went to college and was exposed to more than just the strict family she grew up with. She does children's book illustrations now and recently got married. I know that at least some of the bullying was in response to stress at home, especially because her mom was going through some pretty serious medical stuff at the time. I hope she's doing well, but I won't contact her. The things she did and said affected me for a long time, and I still have trouble trusting friends to be friends."

—torbielillies
14. "One of my worst ones is now a judge in Texas. I shudder to think about it."

—wonkobox
15. "One of the boys who made it his life goal to bully me came from a nice upper-class family, but he was totally low-class. In sixth grade, we had a class swim party, and he convinced all of the kids that I'd poison the pool and that I wasn't wanted there. I spent the rest of the party in the house, waiting until the end for my mom to come get me. I never told my parents about it. By the time we got to high school, he'd dropped off of the social map. I just found out that the bully died last year. He spent his entire adult life as a stoner, jumping from odd job to odd job. He had lots of chronic health problems related to his lifestyle choices. He lived in an old traveler trailer on his cousin's farm."

—Anonymous
16. "I was a huge nerd and was bullied by a few girls in elementary school. A few years ago, one of them, out of the blue, messaged me to apologize and told me that she was just really jealous. I didn't realize, but I was reading way ahead of my grade level, and she revealed that she was essentially illiterate at that point and was miserable. I hadn't thought about her in a decade, but she said it bothered her, and I appreciated it!"

—skybluedays
17. "For four years, every day in high school, this guy relentlessly verbally bullied me. I pretended not to hear him. Fast forward 50 years when I walked into our 50th high school reunion. There he was. He followed me everywhere, and every time he spoke, I said something like, 'You were awful to me in high school.' I couldn't get away from him. Everywhere I went, there he was right at my side. Finally, the event was over, and we were leaving, and once again, he was right there. I said, 'You were awful,' again, and to my surprise, he said, 'I'm sorry.' I was able to say, 'I forgive you.' This was the best part of the reunion!"

—Anonymous
18. "I was bullied by a lot of kids in elementary school because I was small and quiet. One girl and her mother bullied me. Her mom was the Girl Scout leader. They were social-climbing snobs and even made fun of my mom's accent. They excluded me from activities. She approached me at our 40th class reunion and acted like I was her long-lost best friend. She was getting over cancer, which I wouldn't wish on anyone. We talked for a while, but I was pretty puzzled. Maybe her brush with death made her think about her choices. At earlier reunions, I just got the stink eye from her. Her besties, who were also bullies, also acted all sweet with me. I guess success is the best revenge because they were all surprised at how well I turned out. They're all doing fine, which is great. Sounds like they grew up. They were just following the lead of their snobby, social-climbing moms."

—Anonymous
19. "One was a guy who, for some weird reason, used to tease me relentlessly when we were in elementary and middle school. I have no idea why. He's now in prison for murdering someone. He became homeless, lived in an encampment, and got into it one night with some other guy and killed him. Another one was this awful girl from high school who, I swear, inspired Mean Girls. At some point, she was in an accident and is now paralyzed from the waist down, in a wheelchair, and lives alone in government housing. You'd think that would humble someone, but no. Her Facebook is still super rude, so I guess she hasn't changed."

"Finally, just based on my own experiences as a parent, I'm pretty sure most bullies grow up and end up being parent bullies in the PTA. I quit doing volunteer work at the schools because I am too old to deal with people who peaked in high school and are still doing the same crap."

—j4287b3497

20. "I'm on good speaking terms now with one of mine now. She was also the only one at my 10-year reunion that gave condolences for my dad's passing. Ironically enough, though, she recently made a post about how her daughter is being bullied in school, and she just can't believe people would be so cruel. I kept my mouth shut."

—m4eed64e13
21. "One of my main bullies is now in the Army and posts pictures of himself with guns all too frequently."

—triiipi
22. "She was so cruel to me for years in high school. From the first day we met, she called me names and told horrible stories about me. She was absolutely awful! Especially about my weight because she was thin and popular, and I was the chunky nerd. Fast forward 25 years. I took a job as a teacher, and unbeknownst to me, she worked as an administrator in the gifted/talented department at the same school. We didn't interact much; she had gotten married, so she changed names and also looked very different. She knew it was me for over a year but never said a word until, one day, I realized who she was."

"I still marvel at the fact that she bullied me relentlessly as a kid and then acted like we were strangers when she knew exactly who I was."

—Anonymous

23. "He's a real estate agent in our area. I looked at his reviews, and they're all written by his friends from high school."

—jessethecowgirl
24. "I had one 'friend' bully me for my sexuality. She is now a mental health nurse."

—woofshoe
25. "My bully and I ran into each other at an AA meeting that set all animosity aside. We are very close now."

—kmpbnjelly
26. "We wound up becoming friends online. She had dropped out of school and gotten her GED. She's raising a child with her partner and has felt genuine remorse for middle school."

—Anonymous
27. And: "Nothing special happened to mine. As far as I know, they continued living in my hometown, got married, and had kids like most people did. When they made my life hell, people said, 'Karma will get them back one day. They'll end up sad and alone,' but it doesn't always work like that. Sometimes, they end up happy and fulfilled. But I don't begrudge them that. I hope they grew up emotionally and realized that being cruel wasn't conducive to happiness."

—emmak26

Buzzfeed

Since President Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, Nigeria - according to Nigeria Security Report by Beacon Consulting, a firm that specialises in security risk management - has experienced a dramatic surge in violence. In just over a year, 13,346 people have been killed and 9,207 abducted across 667 local government areas, with deaths resulting from terrorism, banditry, farmer-herder clashes, and other forms of violence. This sharp rise in fatalities and kidnappings underscores the country’s deteriorating security situation and provides a grim context for understanding the entrenched socioeconomic and political crises that fuel this unrest.

The worsening insecurity in Nigeria is a direct consequence of deep-rooted issues, and several core factors contribute to the persistence and escalation of violence, making it unlikely to abate soon.

1. Deep-rooted Socioeconomic Disparities

With 133 million Nigerians living in multidimensional poverty and over 50 million out-of-school children, Nigeria's socioeconomic landscape is ripe for violent conflict. Poverty creates conditions where citizens, especially young people, are easily recruited into criminal and insurgent groups. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State highlighted how Boko Haram recruits spies for as little as N5,000, showing how economic desperation pushes people toward violence. The lack of opportunities in regions like the North-East and North-West drives many into criminal activities like banditry and terrorism.

2. Perceived Marginalization and Regional Grievances

The rise in violence in regions such as the South-East and South-South stems from long-standing grievances of marginalization. The South-South resents the extraction of its oil resources to benefit other regions, while the South-East agitates over political exclusion. These perceptions of injustice foster militancy and separatism, with local communities providing support for insurgents. As long as these grievances remain unaddressed, the violence in these regions will likely continue.

3. Farmer-Herder Conflicts

In the North-Central and North-West, clashes over farmlands between farmers and herders, exacerbated by climate change and resource scarcity, have intensified. These conflicts, often framed in ethnic and religious terms, are driven by competition over increasingly scarce arable land. The absence of effective conflict resolution mechanisms leads to escalations, resulting in retaliatory violence, banditry, and mass displacement.

4. Weak Security Infrastructure and Personnel Shortage

As noted by Army Chief Taoreed Lagbaja, Nigeria's security forces are insufficiently staffed and equipped to manage the country's security crisis. With only 2 million security personnel tasked with protecting over 200 million people, and 90% of military equipment imported, the security apparatus is stretched thin. The inadequate funding and reliance on external defense imports cripple the military’s ability to effectively combat insurgencies, even as insurgents adapt and shift their operations to new areas. This security vacuum allows violence to persist and spread.

5. Economic Hardship and Materialism

In the South-West, the combination of economic hardship and extreme materialism fuels criminality, including ritual killings and kidnappings. With high levels of poverty and wealth inequality, many are driven into crime as a means of survival or quick wealth acquisition. This materialism, alongside shrinking economic opportunities, creates a volatile environment in which violent crime thrives.

6. Cross-border Infiltration and Weak Border Control

Nigeria’s porous borders, particularly in the North-East and North-West, allow foreign insurgents and criminal elements to infiltrate the country. The lack of effective border security enables the smuggling of arms and the spread of extremist ideologies. As security experts have pointed out, better control of these borders is essential to prevent external destabilization of local communities.

7. Corruption and Governance Issues

Corruption within Nigeria’s security and governance structures continues to undermine efforts to tackle insecurity. Misappropriation of funds, lack of accountability, and the absence of political will to address critical reforms enable insurgents and criminals to exploit weaknesses in the state. Additionally, unresolved issues related to political exclusion and resource control fuel regional discontent and lawlessness.

8. Child Poverty and Vulnerability

With 90% of children in the North-East and North-West living in poverty, these regions are facing a generational crisis. Children deprived of basic services such as education and healthcare are easily exploited by criminal and insurgent groups. The Almajiri system, in particular, has become a ready recruitment pool for extremists, as vulnerable children are left without proper social or educational structures to integrate them into society. Addressing child poverty is critical to breaking this cycle of violence.

Outlook: Why Insecurity Will Persist

The staggering death tolls and abduction numbers in 2023 and 2024 — 13,346 killed and 9,207 kidnapped — reflect the deepening security crisis in Nigeria. Without addressing the root causes of insecurity, such as poverty, political exclusion, economic deprivation, and governance failures, violence will continue to rise. Military operations alone, while necessary, are insufficient. The government at all levels must invest in social, economic, and political reforms that tackle these underlying issues if it hopes to stem the tide of insecurity. Until such reforms are carefully designed and implemented, the prospects for lasting peace remain grim.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has pledged 272,500 barrels per day of crude oil through a series of crude-for-loan deals totalling $8.86bn.

By pledging 272,500 barrels daily, it means that about 8.17 million barrels of crude will be used for different loan deals by the national oil firm on a monthly basis.

This is according to an analysis of a report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the NNPC’s financial statements.

Under these deals, notable projects include Project Panther, Project Bison, Project Eagle Export Funding (Original, Subsequent, and Subsequent 2 Debts), Project Yield, and Project Gazelle.

According to The PUNCH’s findings, NNPC has already fully repaid $2.61bn in loans, representing 29.4 per cent of the total credit facility, while $6.25bn or 70.6 per cent, remains outstanding.

Also, out of the $8.86bn credit facility, only about $6.97bn has been received from seven crude-for-loan deals.

One of the key projects, Project Panther, involves a joint venture between NNPC and Chevron Nigeria Limited, backed by international and local banks.

The project secured a $1.4bn loan facility, with 23,500bpd pledged to service the debt. Repayment is set to commence after a moratorium, with financing terms including an SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) plus 5.5 per cent margin and a liquidity premium.

Another significant deal is Project Bison, tied to NNPC’s attempt to acquire a 20 per cent equity stake in the Dangote refinery. However, the national oil company only acquired a 7.25 per cent stake.

The project secured a $1.04bn loan from Afrexim Bank, with 35,000 bpd pledged as collateral. NNPC fully repaid this loan in June 2024.

Project Eagle Export Funding comprises three separate loans aimed at meeting various financial obligations.

The original loan, secured in 2020 for $935m, was serviced with 30,000 bpd and was fully repaid by September 2023.

A subsequent loan of $635m was also fully repaid by the same period. The third tranche, known as Project Eagle Export Funding Subsequent 2 Debt, was secured in 2023 for $900m, with 21,000 bpd pledged. Repayment is scheduled to begin in June 2024, and the loan will mature in 2028.

Project Yield, designed to support the Port Harcourt Refining Company, involves a $950m loan, with 67,000 bpd pledged for repayment.

The repayment of the loan, secured in 2022, will begin in December. This seven-year facility is crucial to refurbishing the refinery and enhancing domestic refining capacity.

However, despite this crude-for-loan arrangement, fuel production at the Port Harcourt refinery has yet to commence, despite multiple postponements as of August. Promises from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPC have repeatedly fallen through.

More recently, there was the Project Gazelle deal, which aimed to stabilise Nigeria’s foreign exchange market.

In December 2023, NNPC secured a $3bn forward sale agreement, pledging 90,000bpd from Production Sharing Contract assets to cover future tax and royalty obligations.

As of the end of 2023, $2.25bn had been drawn from this facility, with repayments scheduled to begin by mid-2024.

These crude-for-loan deals come at a time when Nigeria is struggling to boost its oil production.

The NEITI 2022-2023 report revealed a significant decline in crude oil output, reaching the lowest levels in a decade. In 2022, the country produced 490.94 million barrels of crude oil, a steep drop from the peak of 798.54 million barrels in 2014.

Although production slightly improved to 537.57 million barrels in 2023, this still represents only 67.16 per cent of the country’s peak production capacity.

One of the major challenges facing the sector is production deferment. In 2023, Nigeria deferred 110.66 million barrels of crude oil, down from 153.44 million barrels in 2022.

The deferment was primarily due to unscheduled maintenance, repair issues, and oil theft.

Despite government efforts to curb these issues, including initiatives to reduce theft and sabotage, operational inefficiencies persist.

NEITI reported that oil theft and sabotage resulted in the loss of 5.25 million barrels in 2023, exacerbating production struggles.

The House of Representatives Special Joint Committee recently directed NNPC to halt further crude-for-loan agreements.

This directive follows reports that the company is planning to borrow an additional $2bn in oil-backed loans amid efforts to settle a $6bn backlog owed to international oil traders, particularly following the removal of fuel subsidy.

The PUNCH earlier reported that the NNPC was in talks for another oil-backed loan to boost its finances and allow investment in its business, according to the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC, Mele Kyari.

Kyari said the company wanted the new loan against 30,000-35,000 barrels per day of crude production, though he declined to say how much money it sought.

Nigeria’s government finances rely on oil the NNPC exports, which provides the bulk of crucial foreign exchange reserves. However, pipeline theft and years of underinvestment have sapped oil production in recent years, and the cost of fuel subsidies has further depleted cash reserves.

On August 17, 2023, the NNPC announced that it had secured a $3.3bn emergency crude oil repayment loan from the African Export-Import Bank.

It explained at the time that the oil company would use the loan to support the Federal Government in stabilising Nigeria’s exchange rate.

The facility, among other things, would help the Federal Government attend to some of its dollar obligations, assist the Central Bank of Nigeria in stabilising the foreign exchange market, and provide funding for NNPC.

Providing details about the deal in the document titled, “Everything you need to know about the NNPC Limited’s $3.3bn loan, also known as Project Gazelle,” NNPC said, “This is a financing agreement secured by NNPC Limited to prepay future royalties and taxes to the Federal Government.”

The company also stated that it adopted a lower price benchmark for the $3.3bn crude-for-cash loan to reduce the risk of default and ensure financial stability.

Giving details on the benchmark oil price, the company said the facility used a conservative crude price of $65/barrel to calculate the allocated crude to be produced and sold.

NNPC also said repayments were strategically planned and tied to future oil sales, with conservative pricing in oil sales contracts mitigating the risks associated with oil price volatility.

Punch

The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order barring the Directorate of Road Traffic Services otherwise known as Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) from further stopping vehicles on the road, impounding vehicles, or imposing fines on motorists.

The judge, Evelyn Maha, issued the order in a judgement on a fundamental rights enforcement suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023 filed by a human rights activist and lawyer, Abubakar Marshal of Falana and Falana chambers.

Other respondents sued in the case are the Director of Road Transport, the agency’s Area Commander, Jabi, and the Team Leader, Jabi, and the Minister of the FCT.

In the judgement delivered on 2 October, Maha upheld Marshal’s argument that no law empowers respondents to stop, impound, confiscate, seize, or impose fines on motorists.

The judge declared that the first to the 4th respondents, who are under the control of the 5th respondent (Minister of the FCT) are not empowered by any law or statute to stop, impound, or confiscate the vehicles of motorists and or impose fines on motorists.

She proceeded to issue an order restraining the 1st to 4th respondents either through their agents, servants, and or assigns from impounding, confiscating the vehicle of motorists, and or imposing a fine on any motorist as doing so is wrongful, oppressive, and unlawful by themselves.

Maha further made an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents whether by themselves, agents, privies, allies or anybody acting on behalf of the 1st respondent from further violating the rights of Nigerians to freedom of movement, presumption of innocence and right to own property without lawful justification.

Wednesday’s judgement is the latest judicial decision curtailing the excesses of VIOs and their powers to impose illegal levies and fines on motorists.

In March 2021 judgement, the Court of Appeal in Asaba, Delta State, affirmed the verdict of the Delta State High Court nullifying the powers of the Delta State Government, through its VIOs, to demand the payment of levy and issuance of Road Worthiness Certificate in respect of private vehicles.

Delivering the lead judgement of the three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Joseph Eyo Ekanem, said, “The Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) went beyond the powers vested in them by the Law and the RTR by violently stopping the private vehicle of the Respondent on a public highway using menacing tactics and dangerous implements to demand a certificate of roadworthiness which the said vehicle is not required to have. Such conduct sends a wrong signal to the citizens who may adopt such strong-arm tactics as a means of settling disputes.”

PT

How might Israel strike back against Iran?

Israel has sworn it will retaliate for Iran's missile barrage on Tuesday, which involved more than 180 ballistic missiles and was largely thwarted by Israel's air defense systems.

Below are some ways Israel, backed by the United States, could strike back.

GO AFTER IRAN'S MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

Some analysts believe Israel is most likely to respond by targeting Iranian military installations, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like the ones used in Tuesday's attacks. It could also take out Iranian air defense systems and missile-launching facilities.

Washington has accused Tehran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. Both countries deny that allegation.

Analysts said that would be seen as the most in-kind response to Iran's attack.

ATTACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES

Strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities could delay Tehran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran's nuclear program is spread over many locations, only some of which are built underground.

However, a major attack on its nuclear infrastructure would likely provoke serious consequences, potentially including a sprint by Iran to build a nuclear weapon. Washington has said it would not support such an action by Israel.

Richard Hooker, a retired U.S. Army officer who served in the U.S. National Security Council under Republican and Democratic presidents, said it was a "distinct possibility" that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities but not a probability "because when you do something like that you put the Iranian leadership in a position to do something pretty dramatic in response."

The Islamic Republic denies ever having had a nuclear weapons program or planning to have one.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Iran pursued a coordinated nuclear weapons program until 2003, and experts say that with the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, it could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in a matter of weeks.

ATTACK IRAN'S PETROLEUM PRODUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

Israel could also hit Iran's petroleum industry, which would hurt its economy. Such an attack could provoke Iran in turn to strike oil production facilities in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states. That could send the price of fuel, always a major U.S. campaign issue, soaring before Americans pick a new president and Congress in the Nov. 5 elections.

"I'm not sure that (a hike in world oil prices) would restrain the Israelis," said David Des Roches, a former Department of Defense official involved in Gulf policy now with the U.S. National Defense University’s Near East-South Asia Center. Israel, he added, might view a hike in world oil prices as a benefit for former President Donald Trump's re-election campaign.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently has been more aligned with Trump's Republicans than with Democrats.

ECONOMIC, CYBER OPTIONS

A military response is considered the most likely, but there are options that do not involve missile strikes or commando raids.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he would impose more sanctions on Iran. Washington's sanctions on Iran already ban nearly all U.S. trade with the country, block its government's assets in the U.S. and prohibit U.S. foreign assistance and arms sales.

Analysts said Israel could also use its cyber warfare abilities to respond to the Iranian strikes.

Israel's recent mass pager attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon turned the spotlight on its secretive Unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces' specialist cyber warfare and intelligence unit, which Western security sources said was involved in planning the operation.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Powerful Russian bomb destroys Ukrainian ammunition depot – MOD

The Russian military has dropped one of the most powerful bombs in its arsenal on a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the southern part of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the nation’s defense ministry said on Thursday as it published footage from the scene.

Moscow’s troops have struck an ammunition storage facility located in the village of Razliv, the statement said. The settlement is located some 23 kilometers to the West from Kurakhovo – a major logistics hub used by Kiev’s forces in the area. The village is also situated some 20 kilometers to the northeast from Velikaya Novoselka – a Donbass town turned into a fortress by the Ukrainian troops.

A short clip published by the Russian ministry on Telegram shows a bomb being dropped on a cluster of buildings on the outskirts of the village. A massive explosion rocks the area sending thick plumes of grey smoke into the sky.

According to the ministry, a FAB-3000 bomb was dropped on the target. The FAB-series bombs were designed to destroy an enemy’s defenses or fortifications as well as military industrial facilities. Their strong hull is capable of penetrating ceiling joists in multistory buildings while keeping the bomb relatively intact.

A FAB-3000 is one of the most powerful bomb types in the series, with just a few other models having higher destructive capacity. Weighing more than 3 tons, the bomb carries explosives equivalent to almost 1.4 tons of TNT.

This year, the Russian military started outfitting their larger bombs with the Universal Correction and Guidance Modules (UMPK). The winged upgrade kits were designed to turn older free-fall bombs into high-precision weaponry.

The UMPKs were initially used with smaller high-explosive bombs of the FAB series such as FAB-250 or FAB-500. The first FAB-3000 bombs fitted with UMPKs were employed in mid-June.

The video came as the defense ministry also confirmed the liberation of the town of Ugledar - a strategically important position located on a high round and featuring high-rise buildings overlooking the surrounding plain. Located some 40 kilometers to the southeast from Razliv, Ugledar has been an arena of fierce battles on several occasions in the past as the Russian forces sought to take control over the town.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian defence ministry confirms capture of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine

Russia's Defence Ministry on Thursday confirmed reports that its forces had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, crediting what it called decisive action taken by units in its "East" military grouping.

The town, which Russia calls Ugledar, had resisted Russian assaults for more than two years.

** Russia intercepts drone near Kursk, no damage to nuclear plant, governor says

Russian forces intercepted a Ukrainian drone on Thursday near the Russian town of Kurchatov but there was no damage to the nearby Kursk nuclear power plant, the regional governor said.

Governor Alexei Smirnov said debris from the drone caused explosions in a building unrelated to the plant.

Several Russian Telegram channels earlier reported the alleged Ukrainian attack, which they said had been thwarted by air defences but had resulted in a fire several miles from the nuclear plant.

The plant's operator, Rosenergoatom, said the facility was operating as usual and radiation levels remained within normal limits.

In a post on X, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi denied that Ukraine had fired weapons at or near the plant.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Ukrainian forces entered Kursk region in a surprise cross-border incursion on Aug. 6 and remain there even as the Russian military tries to eject them.

Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, visited the nuclear plant on Aug. 27 and said it was especially vulnerable to a serious accident because it lacks a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery.

Several good things happen in the bedroom, often the place of rest and renewal. Sometime in 2004, Sam Nda-Isaiah and his wife Zainab conceived the idea of a newspaper there. 

She told the story before of how her husband got up in the wee hours, scribbled a few things in a jotter, and asked what she thought of the names and the sketch. That was not the day the newspaper started, of course. But it was only a matter of time.

That idea, which later became LEADERSHIP, has evolved from the feisty flimsy of decades ago into a news content company with a stable comprising some of Nigeria’s most fearless and authoritative news brands. Let’s walk back through the years that fostered this growth.

The pharma’s lab

Sam, as the founder was fondly called, was a journalist who happened to be a pharmacist. His father, Clement, was one of Northern Nigeria’s most durable newspaper deskmen with a strong interest in sports. He worked in New Nigerian Kaduna, but his influence and reputation went far and wide. 

His son, Sam, branched off into journalism after studying Pharmacy at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ife and working briefly at Pfizer. The transition might have been a vocational accident. I think, more appropriately, it was a triumph of the genes. He first joined Daily Trust, then in its infancy, as one of the newspaper’s columnists. 

After years of column-writing, he compiled his selected works into a book, Nigeria: Full Disclosure, before launching a newspaper. It took a lot of work, though. Before the newspaper, he started a newsletter, 

LEADERSHIP Confidential, a highly-prized window on life, politics and powerplay among Abuja’s high and mighty, patronised by embassies and the political glitterati. 

Confidential mafia

Mahmood Yakubu, Abba Kyari, Adamu Adamu, Mamman Daura, Abba Mahmood, and Adamu Suleiman, people who knew the dark secrets of government, were among the most valuable anonymous contributors. But the newsletter wasn’t enough for Sam, the man of big ideas. He wanted to do more. 

He gathered the money from the launch of Full Disclosure, which was about N20m then. With a small team comprising Nnamdi Samuel, Abraham Nda-Isaiah, Uche Ezechukwu, Demola Abimboye, Winifred Ogbebo, Douglas Ejembi, Audee Giwa, Kingsley Chukwu, among his earliest staff, he released a preview towards the end of September 2004, before the maiden edition on October 4, dedicated to God and country. 

God and newspapers

I’m not sure God reads newspapers. But countries pay attention. A few notable newspapers have significantly affected the course of their countries for ill or for good. When Rudolph Hearst started the New York Journal, his motive was clear: how to run Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World out of town. 

That rivalry inflamed one of the most hysterical eras in American journalism, including Hearst’s use of his press to instigate deadly conflicts with Spain.

However, the US press also had its unlikely heroes, one of the most remarkable being Katherine Graham, daughter of the founder of The Washington Post. 

Whatever Jeff Bezos may have unmade of the brand today, ThePost, on Katherine Graham’s watch, was the newspaper that defied the US government to publish the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate story, two of the most consequential scoops of the 21st century. 

Loaded gun

I’m not saying LEADERSHIP is The Post. Not yet. I’m saying that newspapers can affect their countries’ trajectory one way or the other. Lord Beaverbrook eloquently said, “[Press power] is a flaming sword, which will cut through any political armour…that is not to say that any great newspaper or group of newspapers can enforce policies or make or unmake governments at will, just because it is a great newspaper.

“Many such newspapers are harmless because they do not know how or when to strike. They are in themselves unloaded guns. But teach the man behind them how to load and what to shoot at; they become deadly.”

The youngest and longest-serving Former British Labour Party Prime Minister, Tony Blair, knew this. For most of his years in Number 10, whenever the media mogul Rupert Murdoch called once, Blair answered twice.

But again, LEADERSHIP is not SUN or Times of London. Nor is Olusegun Obasanjo, Blair. Yet, Nigeria’s President Obasanjo would not forget LEADERSHIP in a hurry. In Too Good to Die: Third Term and the Myth of the Indispensable Man, the epic catalogue by Chidi Odinkalu and Aisha Osori, we read about the daring ambition of the former president to wrest an illegal third term. 

Beacon, always

Even in its infancy, LEADERSHIP was perhaps the most consequential newspaper that frustrated Obasanjo’s ambition. It has remained just as much a scourge of crooked leaders as a champion of Nigeria’s unity. 

For example, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi came to the limelight after the company’s awards and conference subsidiary recognised the cleric for sheltering Christians in his mosque at the height of the deadly sectarian violence of 2018 in Jos. 

Again, this year, Auwalu Salisu, a Kano-based tricycle rider awarded by the newspaper for returning N15m to the owner, received an avalanche of praise, including a cash award of N250m by the Niger State government, which Governor Mohammed Umar Bago has redeemed and kept in the care of the Sam Nda-Isaiah Foundation.

The newspaper remains fervent in its fight for press freedom, regardless of which Witchfinder General wants to undermine the press. Its dogged pursuit of the “unidentified” persons who murdered Nigerian journalist James Bagauda Kaltho in 1996, for example, led it through a labyrinth of minefields from Durbar Hotel, Kaduna, where he was bombed, through the trail of one Russell Hanks believed to have been a US envoy in Nigeria, and back to the US Embassy. The murder is still unresolved.

Neighbour-to-neighbour

There is another moment that bears retelling. In the heady days after the 2015 general elections, when the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, besieged INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega and threatened hell as the final results were being announced, the rogue economic wing of the PDP under the auspices of Neighbour-to-Neighbour, offered publishers vast sums of money to publish an advert that President Goodluck Jonathan had won the election. 

An unsuspecting LEADERSHIP staff collected the money and gleefully called the publisher to inform him that the newspaper’s bread had been buttered. Sam, whose fury, even at the best of times, was like a raging storm, was on another level of fury. He ordered that the bag of cash be returned immediately. Not long after the money was returned, Muhammadu Buhari was announced the winner, and Jonathan conceded defeat within the hour. 

Ghana-Must-Go!

In these 20 eventful years, LEADERSHIP readers have had an unfailing companion – Ghana-Must-Go, the irreverent cartoon strip on the back page. In my time here, I can only remember once when GMG was stricken and bereft of wit: December 11, 2020, when Sam passed. The cartoon character was, understandably, devastated: Its life, the life of the newspaper and many who depended on it, was suddenly hanging by a thread!

The last twenty years have been quite an odyssey, with the fast-changing media ecosystem, the increasing adoption of generative Artificial Intelligence, Big Tech's abuse and misuse of content, rising costs, and changing audience demographics forcing the industry to recalibrate. 

Overall, though, the journey that started in the bedroom over twenty years ago has made significant strides for God and country!

And long may it live!

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It.