--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Israel says its ground invasion into Lebanon is limited. Will it stay that way? That's the question on many people's minds as Israel crosses into southern Lebanon, striking roads and villages. It says it's targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): I'm Leila Faldin, and this is Up First from NPR News. It's a dramatic escalation after nearly a year of Israel and Lebanon trading fire across the border that's already displaced tens of thousands from their homes in both Israel and Lebanon.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Now more than a thousand Lebanese have been killed and more than one million are displaced, many sleeping in the rain right now. Both Israelis and Lebanese are wondering when they might return home.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): In the U.S., tonight's vice presidential debate may be the last before the election this fall. We'll tell you what to watch for as Tim Walls and J.D. Vance face off for the first and probably only time.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Instead, get guidance from a licensed therapist online with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
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--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Israel has launched what it's calling limited incursions into southern Lebanon. This comes after Israeli airstrikes killed top Hezbollah officials and more than a thousand people, including women and children.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Joining us now from Beirut is NPR's Jane Araf and from Haifa in northern Israel, NPR's Kat Lonsdorf.
--:-- Jane Araf: Thank you both for being here.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Thank you.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): So, Jane, I want to start with you. What just happened?
--:-- Jane Araf: Well, the short answer, Leila, Israel has invaded Lebanon, not for the first time, but the first time since 2006.
--:-- Jane Araf: Late last night, there was heavy Israeli shelling across the border, and that was followed by Israeli troops moving in.
--:-- Jane Araf: The Lebanese army withdrew from checkpoints and pulled back. An army official called it repositioning.
--:-- Jane Araf: There's now extensive damage in border villages, the main road to some of them now impassable.
--:-- Jane Araf: We have to remember that the Lebanese army is much weaker than Hezbollah, which has been fighting across the border in support of Palestinians in Gaza since that war began a year ago.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Right, and that was in both South Lebanon and in Beirut.
--:-- Jane Araf: Now, Cal, what is the Israeli military saying about this operation?
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Well, the Israeli military is calling these, quote, limited and localized raids.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: But we've heard them use this language before in parts of Gaza, and Israel is still fighting a war there nearly a year later.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: So there are some real questions about what that really means.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: They also put out a statement saying that the troops that went into Lebanon first were the same brigades that have been operating in Gaza, noting that these troops gained skills and operational experience that they are going to be using in the north.
--:-- Jane Araf: You know, Gaza has been a brutal war with more than 41,000 Palestinians killed in the fighting there.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Israel officials say that the point of this incursion is to push Hezbollah back from the border.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And that's so that the tens of thousands of Israelis that have been displaced from the north can return home, which is something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been promising.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Now, you've been up in the north for the past week, and you spent yesterday talking to Israelis still living close to the Israel-Lebanese border.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: What are they saying?
--:-- Jane Araf: Yeah, so yesterday before this incursion started, we spent all day driving around to cities and towns near the border.
--:-- Jane Araf: It's an area that has been increasingly militarized in the past few months.
--:-- Jane Araf: Since the last time I was up here, there have been a lot of checkpoints added, evacuated.
--:-- Jane Araf: Kibbutzim have been turned into makeshift military bases.
--:-- Jane Araf: And there's just lots and lots of military equipment being moved up.
--:-- Jane Araf: Driving around, you'll see tanks, jeeps, soldiers all mobilizing.
--:-- Jane Araf: And there's still a lot of sirens and rockets, too.
--:-- Jane Araf: You know, yesterday we had to find cover at least three times.
--:-- Jane Araf: We went to the town Rosh Pina.
--:-- Jane Araf: It's in an area that's been targeted by Hezbollah rockets a lot in the past week, several times a day.
--:-- Jane Araf: And I talked with Yehud Yotam.
--:-- Jane Araf: He was sitting in a small cafe.
--:-- Jane Araf: He actually fought in the Israeli military in Lebanon back in the 90s when Israeli troops occupied southern Lebanon, like you said, for 18 years.
--:-- Jane Araf: And I asked him how he was feeling, knowing that a similar situation might be about to happen.
--:-- Jane Araf: It's going to be tough.
--:-- Jane Araf: It's not going to be easy.
--:-- Jane Araf: But still, it's necessary.
--:-- Jane Araf: It must be if you want to defend the border of Israel.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: So, Jane, what about what you're hearing from Lebanese civilians?
--:-- Jane Araf: I mean, we've seen these Israeli airstrikes across the country and in central Beirut.
--:-- Jane Araf: It's really hard to describe how surreal it is.
--:-- Jane Araf: I mean, here in Beirut, in many senses, a sophisticated city, they go through the day with drones overhead, Israeli drones, the sound of sirens.
--:-- Jane Araf: You can hear the airstrikes from different parts of Beirut.
--:-- Jane Araf: This is already a damaged country, and what's happening now has left people lost in many senses.
--:-- Jane Araf: Israel had been focusing its attacks in Beirut, in the southern suburbs where Hezbollah has bases.
--:-- Jane Araf: But this week, in its first attack in years, it struck central Beirut, an apartment building targeting commanders of a major Palestinian faction.
--:-- Jane Araf: We had been there just two days before, and people displaced by the attacks in the suburbs were sleeping on the streets.
--:-- Jane Araf: When we went back yesterday, a lot of people were trying to leave the city entirely.
--:-- Jane Araf: It was close to a depot for minibuses.
--:-- Jane Araf: A bus driver called out the destinations.
--:-- Jane Araf: The driver Hassan everyone afraid of giving full names had himself been displaced from the south of Lebanon where part of his neighborhood has been destroyed
--:-- Jane Araf: I asked him about the future about a country without Hassan Nasrallah
--:-- Jane Araf: He said, no, we're not without him.
--:-- Jane Araf: He left hundreds behind like him.
--:-- Jane Araf: We all know this.
--:-- Jane Araf: So imagine this small country, six million people, a million displaced, many with no possessions and nowhere to go.
--:-- Jane Araf: So those who can leave the country are trying hard.
--:-- Jane Araf: But if you look at the airport departure list at Beirut Airport, it's just cancellation after cancellation.
--:-- Jane Araf: And that has become much, much tougher.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And what about how Hezbollah is responding?
--:-- Jane Araf: Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was an immense blow.
--:-- Jane Araf: So last night, Hezbollah continued to shell Israeli positions across the border.
--:-- Jane Araf: And Nasrallah's deputy, Naim Qasem, addressed followers as well.
--:-- Jane Araf: Across Beirut, people were listening on their phones and car radios.
--:-- Jane Araf: Qasem said they would continue the battle in support of Palestinians and to defend Lebanon.
--:-- Jane Araf: He ended with a Quranic verse that cancelled patience while rebuilding strength for the fight.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And meanwhile, Israel has expanded from its main target of Hezbollah, Lebanese but Iran, back to militant Palestinian leaders.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Including a strike yesterday on a Palestinian refugee camp.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Now, Kat, all of this, of course, is happening and maybe overshadowing what continues, which is the war in Gaza.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And it seems the scale of the conflict is only expanding.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: Yeah.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: I mean, Israel is now fighting on several fronts.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: The war in Gaza is still very much happening.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And now this expanded front up north in Lebanon, and there are also nearly daily Israeli military raids happening in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: And Israelis generally seem supportive of a lot of this.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: There's one question that everyone is asking here, though.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: It's that, like I said earlier, the Israeli leadership justified this operation up north with a pledge to return the displaced people their home.
--:-- Kat Lonsdorf: But now as this conflict expands, there's no guarantee this will end.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): That's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Haifa, northern Israel, and Jane Araf in Beirut, Lebanon.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Thank you to you both and be safe.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Thank you, Lou.
--:-- Host (Leila Faldin): Thank you.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Tonight, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walls will face off for the first and only time in the vice presidential debate.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Republican Vance and Democrat Walls both need to help their respective tickets win over undecided or perhaps indifferent voters in several crucial swing states, even as voting is already underway in parts of the country.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben is here to help us set up what tonight might look like.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Good morning, Danielle.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): So let's start with the Republican candidate. What are you expecting from J.D. Vance?
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Well, he's smart. He went to Yale Law School after all, and he does a lot of interviews.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And he isn't shy in those about arguing with his interviewers.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So I imagine he might be an aggressive debater tonight.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: But he also does have some low favorability ratings to overcome.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So we may well see him try to be as likable and approachable as possible.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Now, in a call yesterday with the Trump campaign, reporters got a taste of what Vance might say tonight.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: They really emphasize that despite Walls' casual demeanor on the trail, he is still a longtime politician.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And they also cast Walls as super liberal.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer who has been playing Walls in Vance debate prep he called Walls Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): So what about Tim Walls?
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: You know, we haven't heard as much from the Harris side about his debate prep, but a source familiar told my colleague Tamara Keith that they're really trying to let, quote, the governor be the governor and let him stay true to who he is, not turn him into a slick debater like Vance.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: He's really the one, remember, who really popularized calling Vance and Trump weird and while casting Democrats as common sense.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: That's one of his big philosophies in this race.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): OK, I have to ask, though, how much this debate actually matters.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: As we point out, I mean, early voting has started in parts of the country.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: There's already been this big debate between Trump and Harris.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Right.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: I mean, vice presidential debates don't have a history of swinging polls meaningfully.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Now, I'm not going to say that they don't matter, especially in a tight race like this.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And also these two, either one would be a heartbeat from the presidency, as we say.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: I mean, generally, I think the idea of a vice presidential debate is first, do no harm.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: These guys need to not make any big flubs and just sell the person at the top of the ticket.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: The two things I would add is that, you know, this is a unique debate in some ways.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Like you said, we've had one matchup, but it's only been one between Harris and Trump.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: We're not expecting another.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So this is only going to be the second debate that voters are going to see.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Besides that, you know, Harris has only been a candidate for two months.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So Walls is defending a record that many voters might not even be very familiar with.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And Vance, meanwhile, might be trying to make up for a presidential debate that went badly for Trump.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): OK, so tonight seems to not so much be about winning individually as it's about sticking to the presidential candidate's message.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: But both Vance and Walls are new to a lot of Americans.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: How much is tonight about the message versus the messenger?
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Well, like you said, a lot of Americans are just getting to know these two guys.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So people watching may well learn something new about them.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Moreover, Walls and Vance are both the everyman halves of their respective tickets.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: Trump, after all, is a billionaire.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And Kamala Harris has been well known as a politician for years.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And moreover, she is something new in a presidential candidate.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: She's a woman of color.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: So both of these guys very much may try to just be as relatable as possible.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: That's something they do a lot.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: And I imagine that's what we'll see from them tonight.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Thank you, Danielle.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): There's one more story we're following.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Dock workers at ports from Houston to Boston are on strike.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Who are we?
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): At the Port of Baltimore, a picket line formed just after midnight when workers' contracts with shipping companies and port operators expired.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): They're demanding better wages and job protections.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): The standoff could ensnare billions of dollars in imports and exports.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): And that's Up First for Tuesday, October 1st.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): I'm Leila Faldin.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Join us tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern for live special coverage as we simulcast the CBS News vice presidential debate.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Listen live on many local NPR stations or the NPR app.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): And come back tomorrow for coverage and analysis right here on Up First.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Today's episode of Up First was edited by Vincent Nee, Megan Pratz, Ali Schweitzer, and Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): It was produced by Iman Ma'ani, Paige Waterhouse, Nia Dumas, and Ana Perez.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Zach Coleman.
--:-- Host (Michelle Martin): Join us again tomorrow.
