ISRAEL REPORT
Thanks again to Mike Claydon for another masterful Israel Report. What a week, as we witness Israeli ingenuity being used to combat their mortal enemies – Hezbollah. Such a devastating blow against a terrorist group has never before been achieved.
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Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
Israeli Forces Kick Off ‘New Era‘ In Fight Against Hezbollah, Eliminating 20 of Terror Group’s Senior Commanders………
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says Israel has issued ‘declaration of war‘
Explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday as Israeli forces kicked off “a new era” in their fight against Hezbollah by eliminating at least 20 of the terror group’s senior commanders in an airstrike.
Israeli warplanes conducted precision strikes across Beirut’s suburbs, targeting Hezbollah strongholds as part of an operation that signalled the Jewish state is prepared for some of the most intense fighting on its northern front in years.
The Friday strikes marked the deadliest single-day attack on Beirut since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
They also confirmed that Israel is in full war swing against Hezbollah after spending nearly a year engaged in smaller, tit-for-tat exchanges with the terror group in the wake of October 7.
Senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil—who had a $7 million U.S. bounty on his head for his role in terror attacks dating back to the 1980s—was reportedly killed during the airstrikes, dealing a major blow to the terror group as it grapples with the fallout of this week’s mass pager and radio attacks.
Israel said it completely annihilated the command force behind Hezbollah’s Radwan group, a special operations unit run by Aqil.
Israeli officials say Aqil was meeting with other Hezbollah commanders in the basement of a residential building, discussing how to “use civilians as human shields,” when Israel bombed the structure, killing everyone.
The strike occurred after Hezbollah fired dozens of missiles into Israel, [above] killing two soldiers on Thursday as payback for this week’s surprise attacks.
Israel’s operation made clear that it would no longer stand by as Hezbollah launched firerockets and drones into its northern territory, forcing the evacuation of civilians from their homes.
It also capped a brutal week for Hezbollah, which was still reeling from a series of sophisticated strikes on its communications networks that saw pagers and handheld radios across the country simultaneously explode on Tuesday and Wednesday.
At least two residential buildings in Beirut collapsed as a result of Friday’s airstrikes, which followed a similar precision attack the day before on Hezbollah strongholds.
Thursday’s airstrike occurred just as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appeared on television to declare Israel’s surprise operation a “declaration of war” against his terror group.
Lebanese health authorities claim at least 12 were killed and another 60 wounded in Friday’s airstrikes.
The White House, which has been scrambling to thrust peace talks on Israel and Hezbollah, did not immediately respond to the Jewish state’s latest attack, with President Joe Biden only saying his team is working to foster diplomatic talks and achieve a ceasefire.
White House envoy Amos Hochstein [above] was in Israel on Monday to warn the country against an all-out war with Hezbollah. That worked?
“The secretary of state, secretary of defence, our whole team is working—and the intelligence community to try to get that done,” Biden said Friday before a meeting with his cabinet. “We’re going to keep at it till we get it done.”
Joe, you will never get this done?
Hours earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden-Harris administration has privately conceded that it will not secure a ceasefire before Biden leaves office. Ommitting to mention he left the building long ago?
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah said Thursday that Israel’s pager and radio attack dealt “a heavy, painful blow” to the terror group, sparking mass panic among its rank-and-file militants.
“These massacres amount to war crimes [along the lines if October 7 you mean?] or a declaration of war,” Nasrallah said, promising “a crushing response from the axis of resistance.”
Doesn’t seem up to resisting too much at the moment though.
Security Consultation now taking place in Tel Aviv….
The security consultation being convened right now in Tel Aviv is headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu with some ministers who would ordinarily observe Shabbat.
Since Sabbath may be broken when life is at stake, this must be a matter of life and death.
That means that whatever the topic is, it is essential and extremely time-sensitive!
Developing……
Drone attack kills Iraqi Hezbollah commander near Damascus………..
A commander in the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades (Kataeb Hezbollah) was killed and his escort wounded in a drone attack early Thursday morning near Damascus International Airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports.
The drone, believed to be Israeli, targeted the commander’s vehicle on a road leading to the airport.
“The car was seen catching fire around 5:00 a.m. local time, with ambulances rushing to the scene near the Sayeda Zeinab area,” SOHR said. The commander, whose identity has not been disclosed, reportedly maintained military headquarters and a rest house in the area.
SOHR noted that no loud explosions typical of Israeli airstrikes were heard in the vicinity, suggesting the drone attack was carried out with a precision-guided missile.
Kataeb Hezbollah [insignia below] did not confirm the incident.
The area where the attack took place hosts several military positions affiliated with Iraqi, Lebanese, Syrian, and Iranian-backed forces.
The Sayeda Zeinab district, in particular, where a Shia pilgrimage site is located, has long been a stronghold for Hezbollah and other Iran-backed forces supporting the Syrian government.
Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iranian-aligned armed group operating under the umbrella of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, has been actively involved in the Syrian conflict.
Alongside other Shia militias, it has provided significant support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, particularly in critical battles around Damascus and southern Syria.
The group, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, has also been linked to rocket attacks targeting US and coalition forces in Iraq to expel foreign forces from the country and in solidarity with the resistance and people in Gaza.
Israeli Airstrikes In Lebanon Intensify……..
Israel has launched its most intense airstrikes on Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war almost a year ago.
The raids, launched by Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft late on Thursday, and centered upon southern Lebanon and Beirut, follow the unprecedented series of explosions targeting electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah members in that country, earlier this week.
As more members of the international community call upon both sides for restraint, Israel and Hezbollah appear closer to all-out war than they have been at any point in the last 12 months or so.
This is only the third time that Beirut has been hit by an Israeli airstrike since the latest fighting began between Hezbollah and Israel.
Developing…
Israel Defence Forces………
Yesterday, IAF aircraft struck around 100 rocket launchers, plus other targets in southern Lebanon over a period of two hours, the Israeli Ministry of Defence said.
The ministry claims that these rockets were poised to be used against targets in Israel. More than 52 airstrikes hit Lebanon starting after 9:00 p.m. local time, according to Lebanon’s state news agency National News Agency.
The Israeli military has said attacks on Hezbollah will continue.
“At this moment, there are no changes in the home front command defensive guidelines,” the Israeli Ministry of Defence said.
“In the new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant risks,” said Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant.[above] “In the new phase of the war, there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue,” he added.
The Pentagon has announced that the the USS Truman aircraft carrier group [above] will depart for the eastern Mediterranean next Monday.
Massive Russian Weapons Depot Still Burning After Ukrainian Drone Attack…..
As we previously reported, strikes in the Tver region targeted warehouses full of rockets and missiles, reportedly including some delivered to Russia by North Korea.
A huge explosion has rocked the Tver region, in the west of Russia, with initial reports indicating that Ukrainian long-range attack drones targeted an ammunition depot there.
Videos and pictures on social media from the scene show an initial explosion, with a very large fireball, followed by a significant visible shockwave, then several minutes’ worth of secondary explosions illuminating the night sky.
Such was the power of the detonation that a light-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Tver region, registering at 2.8 on the Richter scale.
The target was a massive ammunition depot in the town of Toropets, around 236 miles northwest of Moscow, and roughly 300 miles north of the border with Ukraine. The town has around 13,000 residents.
A source in Ukraine’s SBU state security service confirmed that Ukrainian drones had caused an “extremely powerful detonation,”
Meanwhile, a deluded Andriy Yermak, [above] the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, acknowledged the attack, sharing a video of the explosion, commenting: “The demilitarisation of Russia is necessary to end terror.”
What are these people smoking?? There must surely be a strong reaction from the Kremlin soon to this unprecendeted attack within Russian borders??
Will Putin;s generals allow him to be ‘patient’ much longer?
Trump; If I lose Blame the Jews……
Trump Says Jewish Voters Would Have ‘Lot to Do With a Loss’
Republican nominee Donald Trump told an anti-Semitism summit that Jewish voters could be to blame if he ultimately lost the presidential election and complained that he had not “been treated right” after his support of Israel.
“In my opinion the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said at the event hosted by Republican donor Miriam Adelson. “It’s only because of the Democrat hold, or curse, on you.”
Trump went on to repeatedly suggest his backing for Israel should result in more political support among Jewish Americans, and at one point conflated Jewish Americans with the state of Israel itself.
“More than any people on Earth, Israel has to defeat her,” he said, adding that “there’s no way that I should be getting 40% of the vote — I’m the one who is protecting you.”
Hmmm….really? He needs to read the Bible his apostate religious advisors gave him when in office?
WORLD NEWS BRIEFING – with Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson – 19 September 2024
Israel Report
Editor; Mike Claydon