Global oil prices are falling sharply Monday after a retaliatory strike by Israel over the weekend targeted Iranian military sites rather than its energy infrastructure as had been feared.

Prices for crude spiked globally on Oct. 1 after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles into Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

We watch video after video, consuming the world on our handheld devices in bites of two minutes, one minute, 30 seconds, 15. We turn to moving pictures — "film" — because it comes the closest to approximating the world that we see and experience. This is, after all, 2024, and video in our pocket — ours, others', everyone's — has become our birthright.

But sometimes — even in this era of live video always rolling, always recording, always capturing — sometimes the frozen moment can entrance the eye like nothing else. And in the process, it can tell a larger story that echoes long after the moment was captured. That's what happened this past week in Beirut, through the camera lens of Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and the photographs he captured.

Voters in this year's presidential election are choosing between two conflicting visions of the United States offered by Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. The outcome will affect how the country sees itself and how it's viewed across the world, with repercussions that could echo for decades.

Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Harris has pledged to blaze her own path forward. But many of the vice president's ideas are well trod by Biden: middle-class tax cuts, tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, a restoration of abortion rights, a government that aggressively addresses climate change. and a commitment to uphold democratic values and the rule of law.

There is no doubt that the U.S. election will determine the trajectory of the war in Ukraine.

The status of military aid from Kyiv's chief international backer is dependent on who becomes president, as is any prospect for a cease-fire that could benefit Ukraine.

A Lebanese family was holding a Sunday gathering when an Israeli strike toppled their building.

It was Sunday, family time for most in Lebanon, and Hecham al-Baba was visiting his sister. She insisted he and their older brother stay for lunch, hoping to prolong the warm gathering in stressful times.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will respond to Israel “appropriately," after Israel openly attacked Iranian military sites for the first time this weekend.

“We are not seeking war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country and will respond appropriately to the Zionist regime’s aggression,” Pezeshkian was quoted by state TV on Sunday as saying.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the strikes “severely harmed” Iran and achieved all of Israel’s goals.

By Javed Ali, University of Michigan

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/israels-latest-strike-against-iran-may-actually-de-escalate-regional-tensions-for-now-at-least-242276

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid praised the work of the military but said Israel should have struck harder.

“The decision not to attack strategic and economic targets in Iran was wrong. We could and should have exacted a much heavier price from Iran,” Lapid wrote in a post on X.

Israel attacked Iran with a series of pre-dawn airstrikes Saturday in what it said was a response to the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities that Iran used to make missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missile sites. There was no immediate indication that oil or missile sites were hit — strikes that would have marked a much more serious escalation — and Israel offered no immediate damage assessment.