World
Hezbollah's neighbors: Israeli border community under constant attack from terror group
Six months after Yulia Bar-Dan and her family fled their home on a kibbutz in northern Israel fearing a possible Hezbollah assault following the horrendous Hamas attack of Oct. 7, she returned to gather what she could from a lifetime of memories she’d left behind.
One hour was all she had. “We were given a chance, under the cover of darkness, to return home for the first time,” she told Fox News Digital. “I cried the whole time.”
When she arrived, Kibbutz Manara, once home to close to 300 people, looked like a war zone. “We heard explosions above us and hurried to our house – the one closest to the Lebanese border. There was no electricity, and we couldn’t open the windows,” she said.
HEZBOLLAH RELIES ON ‘SOPHISTICATED’ TUNNEL SYSTEM BACKED BY IRAN, NORTH KOREA IN FIGHT AGAINST ISRAEL
A soldier walks amid the rubble of a house damaged in a strike by Hezbollah terrorists in Kibbutz Manara, in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, on Nov. 27, 2023. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
With a flashlight in hand, she went room to room, gathering as much as she could in a large trash bag. The family of five is now living in a single room and there’s not much space for extras. “My daughter wanted her dollhouse, but I couldn’t bring it. The happiest moment was finding our cat alive. Seeing him brought real joy to the kids,” she says.
Not long after she collected her belongings and left the kibbutz, a Hezbollah missile hit her house. The strike added her home to the staggering 75% of kibbutz structures in the north that have been damaged by Hezbollah’s relentless bombardments.
Since Hezbollah joined the war as a “support front” for Hamas on Oct. 8, over 7,500 rockets have been fired from Lebanon into Israel, and more than 200 drones have crossed the border. The toll: 44 people have been killed, 271 wounded and 62,000 evacuated from dozens of communities in northern Israel. Those who have left have no idea when – or even if – they will ever return. The damage to agriculture and tourism has reached billions of dollars, and there is widespread fear that this conflict will escalate further.
With Lebanon in the background, Yulia Bar-Dan and her husband Nadav during quieter times at Kibbutz Manara. (Yulia Bar-Dan)
The decision to evacuate most northern communities immediately after Oct. 7 didn’t come from the government, which was slow to respond. It came from the residents themselves. “It’s sheer luck that Hezbollah’s Radwan forces didn’t join Hamas in the massacre; if they had, nothing would have stopped them,” says Yochai Wolfin, the community director of Kibbutz Manara. “We are right on the border and at high risk. We’ve known for at least 10 years that Hezbollah’s Radwan forces have a plan they’ve been training to invade the Galilee, seize multiple communities and do here exactly what we saw happen in the south.”
ISRAEL WARNS US DEFENSE CHIEF IRAN AGGRESSION HAS ‘REACHED ALL-TIME HIGH’
A picture taken from Kibbutz Manara on Dec. 20, 2020, shows a Lebanese man holding a Hezbollah flag in the southern Lebanese village of Hula. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
Naor Shamia, who has lived with his wife and three children on Kibbutz Manara since 2011, doesn’t sugarcoat the response of people living near the northern border following Oct. 7. “We ran away. We were terrified they would slaughter us, just like they did in the Gaza envelope,” he recalled.
Since Oct. 7, Shamia, who typically would spend his days teaching math and physics, has been focused on leading the kibbutz’s rapid response unit – a band of community members with combat experience – which has been tasked with defending against terrorist infiltrations, rocket fire and even wildfires ignited by hot shrapnel or missile impacts. “Much of Kibbutz Manara is visible from Lebanon, which makes our situation even more challenging,” Shamia says. “You can walk through parts of the kibbutz and be fully exposed to Hezbollah.”
A house in the kibbutz damaged by Hezbollah rockets. (Kibbutz Manara Rapid Response unit)
In December, when members of the rapid response unit rushed to a blaze that had been sparked by an anti-tank missile, Hezbollah fired three more missiles, injuring two members of the unit. “Manara sits on a high ridge, making us an easy target for anti-tank missiles,” Shamia says. “We’re exposed.”
Established in 1943, the kibbutz economy has been primarily based on agriculture, including a famous vineyard, cherry and apple orchards, and poultry farming. Today, much of that has been destroyed by Hezbollah’s rockets. The vineyard was burned and the orchards, located in frequently targeted areas, were abandoned.
An aluminum business, which Yulia’s husband, Nadav, ran, was also destroyed by a missile strike. Since then, he has been serving with the rapid response unit, while Bar-Dan and their three children live in a single room on a kibbutz in the north but away from the border.
This photo taken from a position in northern Israel shows a Hezbollah UAV intercepted by Israeli air forces over northern Israel on Aug. 25, 2024. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
“There’s no official declaration of war here, but we’re living as if there is a war, constantly bombarded by drones and missiles,” she says. “The children go to school, but they spent two hours in a shelter today because of missile fire. People might ask, ‘Why don’t you move somewhere else?’ But this is our home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
She continued, “What would happen if she and others pulled up roots and abandoned the northernmost regions of Israel? Manara is on the border. If we’re not there, who will be? We have to come back.”
Terrorists from Hezbollah carry out a training exercise in southern Lebanon in May 2023. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
She says she hopes for the day when the government comes to understand what’s at stake “and does what’s necessary to change the situation in the north. While the world’s attention is focused elsewhere,” adding, “the war between Israel and Hezbollah has left northern Israel in a state of devastation.”
MADRID (AP) — A large wildfire in the south of France prompted Tour de France organizers to ban fans on Monday from attending the finale of the third stage of the cycling showpiece race.
After a couple of days in Spain, the race entered France with a stage to the Pyrenees town of Les Angles, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from a fire that has burned almost 1,821 hectares (4,500 acres) of land.
Tour de France organizers said the large wildfire currently in the Pyrénées-Orientales required a large mobilization of wildfire-fighting resources, internal security forces, and other government agencies.
“The top priority remains the protection of people, property, and natural areas, as well as bringing the fire under control,” authorities said.
As a result, organizers decided that once the peloton reaches France for the last 40 kilometers (25 miles), the publicity caravan — a 10-kilometer (6-mile) procession of sponsor vehicles that precedes the race — would not be able to operate.
Only riders and vehicles essential to the race would be allowed on the route, and spectators were asked not to gather on the roadside or at the finish area.
Stage 3 started from the Spanish town of Granollers, where temperatures reached around 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), race organizers said, quoting the Spanish Meteorological Agency.
Nearly 700 firefighters were battling the blaze, which led authorities on Sunday night to order the evacuation of more than two dozen villages.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing severe heatwaves across Europe.
Scores of wildfires break out in Greece
In Greece, 96 wildfires had broken out over the past 48 hours, the country’s government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Monday. The vast majority were quickly brought under control before they could spread, he said.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.
The most significant fire broke out Sunday afternoon in the Mandra area west of the capital, Athens. Authorities deployed 29 aircraft and more than 200 firefighters in a race to tame the blaze before nightfall, when firefighting planes can no longer operate. By Monday, the fire had abated, although it had not been fully extinguished.
Several parts of the country were listed as being at a high or very high risk of wildfires on Monday due to strong winds. One wildfire that broke out in the southern island of Crete triggered evacuation orders for a village near the town of Ierapetra. The blaze, which was burning through mainly agricultural land, was being fanned by strong winds, the fire department said.
Another heatwave in Spain and Portugal
In the Iberian Peninsula, another surge in heat spread across Spain and Portugal, where hundreds of firefighters were also working to contain wildfires.
Spain’s weather agency AEMET warned that a heatwave that began Sunday would endure at least until Thursday, bringing elevated daytime and nighttime temperatures. Across much of Spain, including the capital Madrid, daytime highs were expected to range between 37 C and 42 C (99 F and 108 F) on Monday and Tuesday.
Overnight conditions were also forecast to be uncomfortably hot, with temperatures easily exceeding 20 C (68 F) — which scientists refer to as ‘tropical nights’. This means people might not be recovering properly from daytime heat in the overnight hours.
In Portugal, inland locations saw temperatures soar Monday, while coastal Lisbon also baked under temperatures reaching 33 C (91 F). Temperatures were expected to drop later in the week.
___
Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report
World
Zelenskyy pressures US and Europe for more ‘air defense’ assistance amid ongoing war with Russia
Former NATO ambassador credits Trump for historic NATO defense spending
Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker discusses the upcoming NATO Summit in Turkey, which President Donald Trump will attend. Volker highlights Trump’s focus on increased defense spending from allies and the challenges of promoting unity within the alliance, especially following the Iran operation. He emphasizes NATO’s historical role in deterring aggression and its support for the U.S. after 9/11.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pressuring the U.S. and Europe to provide more missiles to help Ukraine defend against Russian attacks.
“Last night, Kyiv came under a massive Russian attack. Russia launched 68 missiles and 351 attack drones,” Zelenskyy noted in part of a Monday post on X.
President Donald Trump is slated to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.
Zelenskyy is calling for the U.S. and European allies to emerge from the meeting “with strong decisions in support of” Ukraine’s “air defense.”
TRUMP CALLS OUT NATO AHEAD OF SUMMIT, CALLING IT ‘RIDICULOUS’ FOR US TO PERSIST ON ‘ONE SIDED PATH’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference after meetings with the heads of the EU and Ireland, in Dublin on July 1, 2026. (Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images)
“Our warriors performed well today in intercepting drones and cruise missiles, but unfortunately not Russian ballistic missiles. And the reason lies in the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles. It is critically important that the world – first and foremost the United States and our European partners – come out of the NATO Summit in Ankara with strong decisions in support of our air defense, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives,” he noted in the post.
WORLD LEADERS, DIGNITARIES PAY TRIBUTE TO AMERICA ON HISTORIC 250TH BIRTHDAY
President Donald Trump walks to Air Force One as he departs Bismarck Municipal Airport on July 1, 2026, in North Dakota. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he asserted.
Zelenskyy’s comments come amid the years-long war between Russia and Ukraine.
RUSSIAN GENERALS’ ASSASSINATIONS EXPOSE GROWING RIFT INSIDE PUTIN’S SECURITY APPARATUS
Large banners on an office complex near the Presidential Palace, the venue for the NATO summit, in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, July 6, 2026. (Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Reuters reported that Zelenskyy, new South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to have dinner with NATO leaders on Tuesday.
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Hungary’s opposition Fidesz party has called for a demonstration on Thursday after Prime Minister Péter Magyar submitted a constitutional amendment to remove the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok.
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Magyar, who won a landslide victory in April’s election, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, has repeatedly called for the removal of the official appointed by his predecessor, whom he calls “Orbán’s puppet”.
Magyar’s amendment, filed on Saturday, states that “the mandate of the incumbent President of the Republic shall terminate on the day following the entry into force of the amendment to the Fundamental Law”.
The governing Tisza Party holds a supermajority in parliament, meaning the amendment is expected to pass. According to sources in the Hungarian parliament, the vote could take place as early as next week, but this has not been officially confirmed.
The constitutional changes would also remove four constitutional judges by setting their retirement age at 70, and limit parliamentary deputies to a 12-year mandate.
President Sulyok has said he has no intention of resigning, describing Magyar’s move as a threat to democracy.
“The question is whether this force will sweep away internationally recognised and required principles of the rule of law, as well as genuine representative democracy,” Sulyok said in a statement on Sunday.
Magyar pledged repeatedly during his election campaign to remove the president from office. He argues that Sulyok failed to fulfil his constitutional duties and did not stand up for opposition supporters during Orbán’s time in power.
“Viktor Orbán failed the Hungarian people, and Tamás Sulyok, whom he appointed, failed the Hungarian Republic,” Magyar said in June.
Fidesz has said the president’s removal would pave the way for tyranny, and has called for a demonstration on Thursday in support of Sulyok.
“The Tisza Party crosses all boundaries – human, moral and legal,” said Orbán. “Hungarian voters did not authorise this.”
The opposition argues that Sulyok was elected in accordance with the constitution, and that his removal would amount to personalised legislation.
A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, an advisory body specialising in constitutional affairs, visited Hungary last week and met both the president and government officials. Its findings have not yet been made public.
The European Commission has said it is monitoring the constitutional amendment process in Hungary.
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