Israel launched a major military operation in multiple areas of the northern occupied West Bank early Wednesday, with Palestinian health authorities saying at least nine people have been killed.

The Israeli military confirmed Wednesday it had launched a large counter-terror operation overnight with the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarem in the West Bank.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has been operating since tonight with great force in the refugee camps of Jenin and Tul Karm to thwart Islamic-Iranian terror infrastructures installed there,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X.

Additional footage released by Israel’s military showed what it said was a strike on a militant operations room in Nur Shams, a refugee camp near Tulkarem.

Katz accused Iran of operating in the West Bank by “funding and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced weapons via Jordan.”

“We must address this threat just like we’re handling the terror infrastructure in Gaza, including temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and any step necessary. This is a war just like any other [war], and we must win it,” he wrote.

Palestinian deaths were reported in the towns of Tubas and Jenin, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

At least two of those killed in Jenin were as a result of Israeli military fire and three others were killed in a drone strike on a vehicle on the outskirts of Jenin, according to the PRCS. It added that one person was critically injured in the strike.

Earlier, a joint total from the PRCS and the ministry put the death toll at at least 10.

The Islamic Jihad militant group condemned the Israeli military’s “comprehensive aggression” on areas of the occupied West Bank, referring to it an “open and undeclared war.”

In a separate statement, the group’s military wing the Al-Quds Brigades, said it targeted and shot down an Israeli drone near Jenin. The group said its fighters are targeting Israeli forces with “heavy volleys of direct bullets.”

Israel has occupied the West Bank since seizing the territory from Jordanian military occupation in 1967. In the decades since, Israel has expanded Jewish settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal under international law, despite signing a series of peace agreements with the Palestinians in the 1990s.

Israel’s current war against Hamas in Gaza, which began after the October 7 attacks, has increasingly spilled over into the West Bank with Israeli military raids, settler attacks and clashes killing hundreds of Palestinians.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

American tourist Scott Stevens and his daughter Wylde, 10, believe they were moments away from being killed in Iceland’s cave collapse on Sunday.

Stevens, visiting from Austin, Texas, was taking photos of his daughter in the Breiðamerkurjökull ice cave and almost stayed a few extra minutes to take pictures with an additional lens.

About a minute after they left the cave, there was a loud “boom” and they heard the cave “break.”

“It felt like if you were to actually grab that other lens, then you’d 100% be dead right now … We’d be dead. We were standing in that exact spot,” Wylde Stevens said. “I’m trying not to – I don’t want to think about it.”

One American man was killed, and an American woman was injured in the cave collapse. A group of 23 tourists from several countries were exploring the attraction, located in the southeast of the country, when the incident occurred, according to public broadcaster RUV.

“She was very concerned that I would, I would have died taking her picture … I guess it felt like it could have very easily been us,” Scott Stevens said about his daughter. “And you know, I was thinking of that poor guy. He’s just here on his holiday, and I’m sure he thought he’d be going home today or tomorrow or the next day. And you know, he’s not going home.”

The elder Stevens said there were two separate groups visiting the cave. He was in the first group and the deceased and injured were in the second, he said.

The groups traveled together, but each had about a dozen people with separate tour guides.

When Scott Stevens heard the loud boom, he was talking to his group’s tour guide.

“He kind of looked at me. I looked at him. We kind of had that like ‘That’s not good’ look,” he said.

Stevens and his guide ran down into the ravine to see what was happening and saw a woman in pain.

“I saw the woman with my own eyes. I know she was hurt,” he said.

The tour guides and a doctor who happened to be on the tour were assisting her, he added.

Stevens said his tour guide was distraught.

“He was in tears. … He came back. He had blood on him, I think from the deceased gentleman. And the other tour guide was equally destroyed. … traumatized beyond belief, both of them,” Stevens said.

Stevens said he later learned from the news that the American tourists were a couple. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed the death of one US citizen and the injury of another, saying they were “ready to provide consular assistance.”

Ice caves are a popular destination for visitors to Iceland, an island nation in the north Atlantic that sits on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle. Glaciers cover about 11% of the country.

With the success of Beyoncé’s newest album, “Cowboy Carter,” and the rise of artists like Nigerian American singer Shaboozey, Black country music is having a moment. Tapping into that energy is Dusty & Stones.

Cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi grew up working together on their grandparents’ farm in the rolling southern hills before forming their country music band. Theirs may sound like the archetypal country band origin story, but rather than the southern United States, this duo hails from Mooihoek, in the tiny African country of Eswatini (formerly called Swaziland).

The concerns of rural America might seem a world away from southern Africa, but when Dusty’s older brother introduced him to the music of Donny Williams and Dolly Parton, he recognized in their ballads about small-town life a story like his own. The duo’s grandfather was a pastor who played the harmonica in his youth and taught them the values of patience and hard work, key elements of a country star’s upbringing.

Dusty & Stones’ songs tell stories of their community and personal experiences. “Mooihoek Country Fever,” their debut album from 2022, touches on subjects ranging from family to faith.

“I also have stories, I also have experiences I’d like to share with people. I feel like I’m able to share those things way better through a country song,” Dusty said.

The pair play guitar and write their own songs, catering to local music tastes by making their music easy to dance to and singing in their native language of siSwati as well as English. Despite these differences, the duo insists their music is still firmly country.

International breakthrough

After getting their break at a local music festival, Dusty & Stones have gone on to receive international recognition, winning the Texas Sounds International Country Music Awards Duo of the Year award in 2017, the first Africans to claim that accolade.

Since their win, another artist from Eswatini, Cleopatra Methula, has gone on to claim three awards at the same event. More artists, including Zwelly Masuku, Sbutjas Dlamini, Cousinwhy and Alfred Gama have entered the Swazi country music scene in recent years.

Dusty & Stones reached new heights in 2023 when they performed at the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tennessee, the pinnacle of success for country musicians. Founded in 1925, the radio station and associated music venue has seen performances from scores of country legends.

The duo has been playing for years, but their recognition comes with country music at an inflection point. With the release of Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” Black country artists are clamoring to be heard, and for their contributions to the genre to be acknowledged.

Black artists have influenced country music since its inception in the early 20^th century, emerging from a background of folk, blues and gospel. Artists like Charley Pride, whose career began in the 1960s, and Ray Charles with his hit country album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” are just two Black musicians who have influenced the genre.

Today, both African American and African musicians play country. The careers of artists like Willie Jones, Breland and Rvshvd from the United States, and Esther Konkara and Sir Elvis of Kenya and Ogak Jay Oke of Nigeria testify to the presence of Black artists in the genre.

Stones pointed out that country music existed in Eswatini before Dusty & Stones, too. They were inspired and guided by Zombodze Dlamini, the late president of their local country music association, which staged a country festival in 2018 and continues to support jamborees and country music shows.

Despite their historic and current contributions, Black country artists often say they face challenges in an industry that is predominantly White. A documentary about Dusty & Stones’ experience at the 2017 Texas Awards captured the hostility they faced from a member of the local backing band, and numerous Black country artists have come forward to share their experiences of racism in the industry.

Dusty & Stones want to see more opportunities for country artists in Eswatini. At the same time, they want people to know that country music already lives beyond the borders of the United States, especially in Africa, and that is nothing new.

“Country music is no longer an American genre. Yes, that’s where it started, but it’s a global genre right now,” Dusty said.

The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion that was recently attacked by Yemen’s Houthis is still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Sounion was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous regions, said they attacked it in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said a third party had tried to send two tugs to help salvage the Sounion, but the Houthis threatened to attack them. He said the tanker was carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil.

“These are simply reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize global and regional commerce, put the lives of innocent civilian mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis’ own backyard,” Ryder said.

He added that the US military was working with other partners in the region to determine how to help the vessel and mitigate potential environmental impact.

The Iran-aligned group has sunk two ships and killed at least three crew members in their 10-month campaign, which has upended global ocean shipping by forcing vessel owners to avoid the Suez Canal shortcut.

The Houthis said they attacked the tanker in part because Delta Tankers violated its ban on “entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree had said in a televised speech.

The Sounion was the third vessel operated by Athens-based Delta Tankers to be attacked in the Red Sea this month. The attack caused a fire onboard, which the crew extinguished, Delta Tankers said in a statement.

The largest recorded ship-source spill was in 1979, when about 287,000 metric tons of oil escaped from the Atlantic Empress after it collided with another crude carrier in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Tobago during a storm, according to International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.