Shootout in Beirut

This episode covers a dramatic incident where a gunman attacked the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, amid a backdrop of regional conflict and political tension.

1. The attack highlights the volatile security situation in Lebanon and its significant role in Middle Eastern geopolitics.
2. The identity and motives of the gunman, potentially linked to ISIS, underline the ongoing concerns about extremist activities in the region.
3. Lebanon's historical and current ties with militant groups like Hezbollah continue to influence its political and security landscape.
4. The incident reflects the broader implications of Israel's conflict with Hamas, showing how regional conflicts can have wide-reaching effects.
5. The response to the attack, including the swift action by Lebanese forces, illustrates the complex interplay of local and international security efforts.

1: Attack on the U.S. Embassy

A detailed recount of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut by a gunman, analyzing the immediate reactions and security measures. Martha Raditz: "This was in broad daylight. And there is video that Lebanese officials have confirmed that you can see this gunman outside this heavily fortified U.S. embassy."

2: Regional Implications

Exploration of the regional implications of the embassy attack, especially in relation to ongoing conflicts and political tensions in the Middle East. Martha Raditz: "Lebanon has always been sort of the center of the group Hezbollah. And violence there seems to be ticking up in recent days."

1. Stay informed about regional conflicts and their potential to escalate into international crises.
2. Support diplomatic and peacekeeping efforts in conflict-prone regions.
3. Advocate for robust security measures at diplomatic missions worldwide.
4. Educate others about the complex political landscapes of regions like the Middle East.
5. Encourage critical analysis of media reports on international incidents to understand broader contexts.

A gunman opens fire on the American embassy in Lebanon, as Israel escalates its fight with Hezbollah. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul puts an anticipated “congestion pricing” plan on hold. And after several postponements, Boeing successfully launches its Starliner space capsule.

People

Martha Raditz, Brad Milke

Companies

ABC News

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

None

Shopify
This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Brad Milke
It's Thursday, June 6. Lebanon was already dangerous. Then our embassy came under fire. We start here.

A gunman attacks the american embassy in Beirut.

Martha Raditz
On his ammunition vest, you see IsIS.

Brad Milke
This is just the latest development that could put Lebanon at the center of the mideast war. We'll break it down. America's most revolutionary traffic plan gets railroaded. This is a betrayal. Why? The New York governor has slammed on the brakes. And SpaceX has a new competitor in orbit.

Ginas and Sari
And liftoff of Starliner and Atlas V.

Brad Milke
The Boeing launch that finally got off the ground.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

When Israel declared its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it had to understand that it wasn't just going to war in a 25 miles strip of land against the terrorist group that had killed 1200 of its citizens and taken hundreds of hostages. Gaza would not be the only battle zone here. After all, the plight of Palestinians is a lightning rod across the Middle east, in part because Palestinians have been displaced so often. They live everywhere. They live in Gaza to the west. They live in the West bank, which to Israelis is actually east. And hundreds of thousands of palestinian refugees live in Lebanon. To the north of Israel has always been a source of concern to the israeli military. The militant group Hezbollah, which is listed as a terror group but is also a political party there, is based in Lebanon. And since this war began, there have been lots of firefights along these disputed areas between two countries.

This doesn't just affect Israel. Yesterday, in a sign of just how charged this conflict is in the region and how central Lebanon is to it all, a gunman walked up to the us embassy in Beirut and open fire. ABCS chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raditz starts us off. Martha, what happened here?

Martha Raditz
Well, it was a very dramatic day. This was in broad daylight. And there is video that lebanese officials have confirmed that you can see this gunman outside this heavily fortified us embassy. Of course, us embassy employees inside. The ambassador was not there. But you see this gunman going back and forth with an automatic weapon. You hear the gunfire, shot ripping out throughout the neighborhood, and you hear these horrified onlookers in Arabic shouting where is the security? What is happening? The embassy is under attack.

Well, within about ten minutes, lebanese army officials had shot this gunman, the suspected gunman lying on the ground. He's bloodied. He is expected to survive. They arrested him. But the most amazing part of this is across his chest on his ammunition vest, you see ISIS.

ISIS. And there was other insignia, although they are not certain whether that was actually the motive. They're not exactly sure who this man was at this point, other than they say he was a syrian national.

Brad Milke
So I see. So is it clear whether this was like one random guy on his own or whether this was part of a bigger plot at all?

Martha Raditz
That is exactly what they're looking into, Brad, to see how many others are involved. Now, they had some rage. Shortly afterward, they arrested five other people, members of his family. But still, we don't know what if there was a plot beyond that? That seemed quite typical, that you'd go out and you'd see if family members are involved or his friends are involved and they have arrested those and are surely interrogating them now to see if this was in fact a wider plot.

Brad Milke
Okay, so, and then ISIS. And again, we don't know if sort of ISIS proper was involved or this guy was a sympathizer. But in the meantime, you got Lebanon itself has always been sort of the center of the group Hezbollah. And violence there seems to be ticking up in recent days. Right. Is Israel essentially at this point fighting kind of a two front war?

Martha Raditz
They are. And Benjamin Netanyahu made that clear. He was up in the north and said the fighting is intensifying there and that Israel was prepared for very strong action in the north.

Reports that theyve called up 50,000 reservists. So that has been a flashpoint for decades and decades. And certainly since October 7 when weve seen exchange of fire there in the north. Now, whether thats about to intensify, well have to see. But given what Benjamin Netanyahu said, that is certainly a possibility. And Hezbollah, you know, Brad, you mentioned they have been a problem for decades.

There was a bombing of an embassy decades ago that was blamed on Hezbollah. So I think that was the first reaction when the embassy was under attack yesterday.

Shopify
Yeah.

Brad Milke
And you've got members of Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, war cabinet saying like, we should go to war with Hezbollah. Hezbollah came back being like, yeah, we're ready. So you worry that this could intensify even more. All right, Martha Raditz, thank you so much.

Martha Raditz
You bet, Brad.

Brad Milke
Next up, on start here. Whats worse than congestion? Well, political heartburn. An environmental proposal unravels after the break.

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Brad Milke
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Brad Milke
For the last several months, an argument has been roiling in New York City. And I know what you're gonna say, right. New Yorkers love to argue, which is true. But this argument could very well, very well be coming to a city near you. Now that it's June, we have less than a month until the MTA congestion pricing plan is set to go into effect. Congestion pricing is a fancy way of saying charging a toll on cars for the right to drive in the most crowded parts of town. They've done this in cities like London, but no american city had ever attempted it until New York announced it would cost $15 to drive into lower Manhattan. This was supposed to go into effect later this month. Well, yesterday, in a dramatic turnaround, the state's governor stepped in and called it off. Let's bring in Kristen Thorne. She's an investigative reporter for our station WABC here in New York. Kristen, what is the latest here? What's going on?

Kristen Thorne
Well, just as you said, brad, I mean, really a stunning reversal here. There were really no signs that this was even coming. We've been hearing about a congestion pricing program in Manhattan since 2018. The idea is to charge drivers who come into the city below 60th Street $15. And of course, for trucks, there would be different fees as well. They would have higher fees. The idea is to reduce environmental impacts in the congestion zone.

So there's some belief that with all these cars and trucks around it is causing environmental damage. What also is going on here is that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is so badly in debt that it was sort of seen as a price grab, the.

Unknown
$1 billion a year from congestion pricing, just a 5% fraction of the MTA's.

Kristen Thorne
Overall budget, that this was a way to charge drivers and to make up for many years of fiscal mismanagement.

Either way, this program was approved. It was supposed to go into effect in just 24 days, June 30.

Kathy Hochul
I have directed the MTA to indefinitely pause the program.

Kristen Thorne
So the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, came out yesterday and said that she is putting an indefinite pause on this program.

Kathy Hochul
This decision is about doing what's right for the people who make our city thrive.

Kristen Thorne
She said that this program will have unintended consequences and she can't allow it to continue.

Brad Milke
What are the unintended consequences? Cause this is a huge flip flop, right? Like, there was a lot of money already being invested in the cameras and the license plate readers. You had signs like they are up right now warning commuters like, hey, this is going to start costing $15. So what changed?

Kristen Thorne
The governor says that she is concerned about New Yorkers getting hammered on costs.

Kathy Hochul
A $15 charge may not seem like a lot to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a hardworking or middle class household.

Kristen Thorne
She is worried about the economic vitality of the city, and she was concerned that this type of toll was not going to be something that Manhattan could, could absorb.

Kathy Hochul
Right now, office attendance is down compared to before the pandemic, with many workers only commuting in two or three days a week at most.

Kristen Thorne
You have to understand that since the pandemic, commercial real estate is down in Manhattan, many people have left this city. And she is saying that that is, you know, part of the reason why she thinks this program needs to be paused for now.

But, Brad, there also is politics at play here. There was some concern on behalf of some vulnerable Democrats in some swing districts that the congestion pricing program could actually be harmful to them in the fall.

Kathy Hochul
Republicans are expected to use the plan as an issue to attract suburban voters in the upcoming election.

Kristen Thorne
And also, the state is facing a lot of lawsuits here, eight of them, in fact, because of this congestion pricing plan. There were also allegations that this toll would be burdensome to people who have to drive into the city and pay this toll.

Brad Milke
People like a nurse or an electrician who have to work very hard and work at different hours or have no option, have to drive in. They have no choice.

Kristen Thorne
And part of these lawsuits, Brad, also had to deal with the concerns from surrounding communities. Were they going to see an increase in traffic as people try to avoid the toll? Governor Phil Murphy saying it will just displace pollution from Manhattan into New Jersey. In New Jersey, the entire state filed a lawsuit because they were concerned that their communities were going to have increased pollution, increased noise and air pollution because of people trying to avoid these tolls.

Brad Milke
Well, and it's interesting because, like, yeah, the short term effect, everyone can agree, is that drivers will be furious, right? Because it would cost an extra $15. However, you've also got all these environmentalists who are like, we need to start disincentivizing driving, especially in these crowded areas. Somehow it makes quality of life worse for the people that live there. It makes the air worse for people in surrounding communities. So, I mean, as we start to see this concept go to perhaps other cities or maybe not now, like, is it going to be impossible for local politicians across the country to reconcile these issues?

Kristen Thorne
I will tell you, Brad, the groups that were really pushing for congestion pricing have come out and issued various statements how disappointed they are.

Brad Milke
Keep your promise.

Kristen Thorne
There's a group here in the city called the Riders alliance, and they called these lawsuits that were trying to shut down congestion pricing selfish and cynical.

Brad Milke
This is a betrayal. We know congestion pricing generates the revenue that we need for our buses and.

Kristen Thorne
Trains because they say this is what New York City needs. New York City needs to make these improvements to its infrastructure, its public infrastructure, which, by the way, let me be clear. The money from congestion pricing was going to go to improve the public transportation system in New York City. And if you've been here, I'm sure you can attest to the fact that it is not the most beautiful nor safest nor most accessible transit system.

Brad Milke
Most working class New Yorkers take public transit.

Shopify
It's normal to live here and not have a car.

Kristen Thorne
So you have groups that are very disappointed by this move by the governor.

Brad Milke
Well, and that seems like the whole issue, right?

In a dream scenario, you got more and more people taking mass transit. Everything's much cleaner and nicer. However, the question is, do you need a better mass transit system before you start charging people an arm and a leg to drive into the city? Or is it so urgent, is it such a big deal that you got to do something drastic now? Well, apparently nothing happening in the next few weeks. Kristin Thorne at WABC. Thank you.

Kristen Thorne
Thank you, Brad.

Ginas and Sari
Three, two, one. Ignition.

And liftoff of Starliner and Atlas five, carrying two american heroes.

Brad Milke
The third time appears to be the charm for the launch of Boeing's space program. For years now, this country's largest planemaker has been trying to break into the space race. Its crowning achievement so far is called the Starliner. It's a reusable capsule that sits atop a rocket and can be launched into space. Its development, though, has been anything but easy. There were setbacks when they were designing it. There were setbacks when they were trying to. Tess launched the thing. Well, this year, Boeing was finally ready to send NASA astronauts up to the space station inside of it. And yet this Starliner took several tries to get off the launch pad. It's finally up there. ABC's Ginas and Sari, who covers space for us, is in Florida, where she watched it take off. Gina, what can you tell us about this pretty historic maiden voyage?

Ginas and Sari
This is four years late. It's $1.5 billion over. NASA was patiently waiting to launch. The astronauts have tried to launch three times now.

Brad Milke
Go, Starliner.

Godspeed.

Ginas and Sari
Butch and Sonny, they successfully launched.

They are on their way to the International Space Station this morning. They're waking up. They're gonna knock on the door of the ISS and say, let us in now.

Unknown
Butch and Sonny do what they do best.

They're test pilots, and they're going to test this thing from Izzard to Gizzard.

Ginas and Sari
Both of these astronauts, Sonny Williams and Butch Willemore, they're test pilots, and this is an eight day test mission. They're going to be putting Starliner through its paces. They want to see what can do. And will it be safe to dock this at the space station for a real crewed mission that lasts like, six months or so?

Brad Milke
Why did this take so long, Gina? Because, like, we've spent months here, right, talking about Boeing aircraft and, you know, the door plug popping out on a flight. And they were, were concerns from the federal government. And Boeing says it's addressing all this. Well, in the middle of all that, you've got this spacecraft that you'd think could give you some positive press, but it still kept getting held up. So what happened?

Ginas and Sari
They've had computer problems. They've had parachute problems. They've had fluttering valve problems. They've had computer sync problems. It seems like the problems, small as they might have been, just kept piling on and on and on.

Tory Bruno
I'm coming up on 450 personal launches. Pretty sure I'd seen everything.

But I have to tell you, there is absolutely nothing like this.

And we are very, very proud to join this human space flight community.

Ginas and Sari
This was the first time United launch alliance has launched humans in 60 years. It was the Gemini program the last time they did it. So Tory Bruno, the head of the United Launch alliance, was very, very cautious.

Tory Bruno
And throughout this process, we kept focused on Sonny and Butch, because that is a more precious payload than we have ever flown before.

Ginas and Sari
He did not want to take risks he might take with a satellite, but wasn't willing to take with human beings.

Mark Nappy
You know, a lot of people say, I need to smile more, and I'm smiling, believe me, but it's a little bit of controlled emotion because there's a lot of phases of this mission, and we just completed the first one.

Ginas and Sari
You could see Boeing literally breathe a huge sigh of relief. Mark Nappy said, this was a great day for Boeing. My boss was here. My boss's boss was here. My boss's boss's boss was here.

Brad Milke
Why was this so important in the grand scheme of things? Cause, like, SpaceX has already been doing this, right? They're doing another launch this week. So, I mean, having starliners now going up, how important is that, I guess, to the, to the grand scheme?

Ginas and Sari
Well, I could be philosophical and say, do you want one human being in charge of all of our transportation to space? And I think the answer is no. But NASA really wants redundancy.

Mark Nappy
We don't see it as a competition. We've got two providers that are going up to the International Space Station, and I sit on my front porch and I watch every SpaceX mission, and I root for them, too.

This is something that's great for the entire country.

Ginas and Sari
That's why they want SpaceX and Boeing to both have the ability to take humans and cargo back and forth to the space station.

Brad Milke
And then you've talked in the past about how NASA, like, governmental groups, they're thinking about the moon, right? Like, that's where their focus is. So these private companies are really getting good at going up to the space station. The space station is supposed to go away in, like, less than a decade, right? They're going to sunset the ISS.

So after all of this expense, like you said, all these delays, you've created entire companies who've basically been preparing for years to go up to the space station. What happens when it finally goes away?

Ginas and Sari
Well, the point is you've got an astronaut corps who needs to go someplace, and the space station is a good place to go. It's a research platform. They're doing all the sites to learn how do we live in space if we go to moon and Mars? And the only place we can do that is the space station.

There are about five companies proposing new space stations. Axiom wants to build theirs, blue origin. And other companies want to build something called orbital reef. Vast wants to build a space station. People see a market in space stations, but space stations that would be accessible to, like, you and me, if we ever had that money. They want to make space more accessible.

You know, NASA's space station is government regulated, and we've got 15 other partners who cooperate in the space station with us. Commercial space wants to take that platform over.

Brad Milke
I see. So. And that's the opportunity that SpaceX and the Starliners and the blue origins of the world see is like. They're like, if you're building all these new, like, ports in space, it really pays to be one of the two or three best trucking companies in the universe. All right. Genus and Sari. Thank you so much.

Ginas and Sari
You're welcome. Thank you, Pratt.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, the menu who made D Day what it was have gone back to the beaches of Normandy. One last thing is next.

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And one last thing. Today marks 80 years since D Day, since american troops, along with allied forces, stormed the beaches of Normandy. This is the day for which free.

Tory Bruno
People long have waited.

Brad Milke
This is D Day. This week, a charter flight carrying dozens of those veterans arrived in France.

They were greeted by cheers, yet students holding french and american flags. The first lady of France visited with them to offer thanks. And you think about how much weve heard about D Day over the years. Well, the youngest of these veterans are now 98. Most who are left are over 100 years old. The Department of Defense tells us only about 1% of these men who stormed the beaches are still alive, and they've still got perspective you rarely read about.

Unknown
I have been members like yesterday.

Brad Milke
This is Bob Padigo, who was flying over the scene in a bomber as the boats started landing, thousands of them.

Unknown
It looks like you can walk across the water using the boats of stepping stones.

Brad Milke
David Yoho was in one of those boats and describes just kind of being pushed into chaos.

Unknown
The front drop sound like a tailgate. And when those guys hit that water, they had anywhere from 80 to 112 pounds of equipment on them. They died before they ever hit the beach.

Brad Milke
And this is really the kind of complicated thing about this day, right? We talk about it as the stuff of legends. A great military victory. These men will tell you there was no glory on those beaches right then. This was the pure terrifying reality that is war. Like Floyd Blair, he's 103 years old. He was a fighter pilot from Georgia and said, from above all this, you could see the water changing color.

Unknown
One of the saddest things I've ever seen.

The color of the water's changed.

Brad Milke
Some of these soldiers still describe waking up in the middle of the night terrified. And yet when they heard there was a gathering on this beach, a reminder of what they all went through, they jumped at the chance to be there.

Unknown
Oh, this is my third trip over here, probably my fourth one. I'll be over here.

Brad Milke
This is Robert Gibson. He's 98, and he's cracking jokes about being buried here at the cemetery for service members.

Unknown
I was going to bring a pick and shovel. I didn't have that.

Brad Milke
He was born in Hamilton, New Jersey, before birth certificates were even standard practice in his town, save the war. He had never been outside the US, so he didn't have a passport for this. His family toiled for a year to get him one. It's not even just the men who stormed the beach that have come out for this.

I feel like we started something. Marjorie Stone was in her early twenties in Amherst, Massachusetts, when the us military decided to begin accepting women to fill out its ranks as clerks, as drivers, as instructors. Marjorie became a Navy machinist. There were no women in it at that point, and we started it. She's one of three women on this trip. The others are so called riveters. She's making history, working for victory Rosie. Civilians who put their lives on hold, changed their professions, and supported the war effort in their work. Jean Gibson was a teenager dreaming of life as a nurse in Minnesota when instead she went to a Seattle shipyard to become a welder. It takes somebody who can say, I can do it to do it. This group of 65 men, three women, also share more in common. Many of them kept describing the parallels between what they saw then and what they're seeing in the world now.

There is once again a war ravaging Europe. There are once again conversations about hate crimes about fascism. One vet said, we seem to be heading backwards. Love is the answer. They also all say they were the lucky ones here. G three fifth corps.

I ran Omaha beach every night. Jake Larson from Minnesota who got into uniform when he was just 15 years old. He lied about his age to do it. Says the real legacy of D Day is a story of numbers, of willpower, of allied forces, simply overwhelming nazi gunners through sheer determination. The ones who are alive to tell the story, he says, they weren't stronger or smarter. They're simply alive. And because of that, they still have a duty to their country to remind us what's at stake. I'm a hero, people say. What is a hereto?

I says, I'm here to tell you I'm not a hero.

It's those guys that.

So that I could make it through.

What incredible voices. Hey, someone to keep your eye on today. Our own David Muir will be interviewing President Biden in France, as Biden is there to mark this anniversary. Keep your eyes on world News Tonight, along with all ABC platforms. For that, I'm Brad Milke. I'll see you tomorrow.

Kristen Thorne
We've got the exclusive view behind the table. What is happening here? It's just beautiful chaos every day. Right after the show, while the topics are still hot, the ladies go deeper into the moments that make the view the view.

Ginas and Sari
To be honest, I was thinking about asking him for a foot massage, and then I just froze. This is the best gig on tv.

Kristen Thorne
And, you know, anything can happen.

Brad Milke
That is what we do here.

Martha Raditz
I'm not gonna lie. The chair's a little small from my.

Kristen Thorne
Behind the views behind the table podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.