[IsraelTimes] US imaging capacities played secondary but crucial role in recent rescue op, say officials, with Israel’s lackluster data underscoring its pre-Oct. 7 human intel failure
The United States made plans early in the war for a potential operation to rescue eight American-Israeli hostages held by Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... in Gazoo
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#1
Israel has gradually increased its cache of human intelligence as the war goes on, including by interrogating detained Hamas operatives and scouring documents and digital files discovered during ongoing operations in the Strip.
Intelligence gleaned from such sources was used in Saturday’s hostage rescue operation, as well as in previous operations to recover bodies of hostages, the Post reported.
A process commonly referred to as 'All-Source Fusion' which can include:
[IsraelTimes] Initial probe finds armored combat engineering vehicle attacked after night of fighting; soldier wounded earlier in the week succumbs to wounds, raising ground op toll to 309
Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in southern the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip’s Rafah on Saturday morning, the military announced, in what marked the deadliest incident for the Israel Defense Forces in the enclave since January.
Six of the soldiers were named as of Sunday morning:
Cpt. Wassem Mahmoud, 23, from Beit Jann.
Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21, from Beit Shemesh
Sgt. Itay Amar, 19, from Kochav Yair
Sgt. Stanislav Kostarev, 21, from Ashdod
Sgt. Or Blumovitz, 20, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur
Sgt. Oz Yeshaya Gruber, 20, from Tal Menashe
The troops all served in the Combat Engineering Corps’ 601st Battalion. Mahmoud was a deputy company commander.
The families of the other two slain soldiers were notified, and their names were due to be released later, the military said.
According to an initial IDF probe, the troops were all killed inside a Namer armored combat engineering vehicle (CEV). There were no survivors.
The soldiers had been driving in a convoy at around 5 a.m. on Saturday following an overnight offensive against Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... in the northwestern areas of Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, during which troops under the 401st Armored Brigade killed some 50 button men, according to the IDF.
The convoy was heading to buildings captured by the army, for the troops to rest following the overnight operation.
The Namer CEV was the fifth or sixth vehicle in the convoy, and at some point, it was hit by a major explosion.
It was not immediately clear if it was a bomb planted ahead of time or if Hamas operatives had approached the vehicle with an bomb and directly placed it on the CEV, the probe found.
Later Saturday, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military was also investigating the possibility that the CEV was hit by an anti-tank missile.
The military was also investigating the possibility that explosives stored on the outside of the CEV contributed to the massive blast. Normally, the mines and other explosives stored on the outside of a CEV would not manage to cause injuries to troops inside if they detonated.
There was no gunfire amid the incident, and the vehicle was not at a standstill when the blast occurred, the probe found. The disabled CEV was later towed to a safe location in the Strip.
"Following this difficult incident, a team of experts of the Defense Ministry and IDF will examine the armored vehicle and all the details of the incident, until we reach findings," Hagari said in a presser.
Separately on Saturday, an IDF soldier seriously maimed earlier in the week in Rafah succumbed to his wounds, the military announced.
He was named as Sgt. Yair Roitman, 19, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Karnei Shomron.
Roitman was maimed in a blast in a booby-trapped building on June 10, in an incident that killed four other soldiers and maimed six others, including four seriously.
The incidents brought the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border to 309. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.
The deadliest incident for the IDF in Gaza occurred in January, during which 21 soldiers were killed in a blast following Hamas RPG fire that collapsed two buildings.
Elsewhere in Rafah, the IDF said Saturday that troops of the Commando Brigade raided sites belonging to terror groups, killed several button men and located weapons above and below ground.
Additionally, the military said a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip, striking an open field in the Eshkol Regional Council, and causing no injuries.
Hamas and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... claimed to have launched a barrage of rockets at a military base near the community of Sufa. Sirens had sounded in Sufa and the adjacent towns of Sdei Avraham, Holit, Pri Gan, and Talmei Yosef.
On Friday night, Hamas snuffies launched five rockets at southern Israel. According to the military, the barrage was launched from the Israeli-designated "humanitarian zone" in the Strip. Two of the rockets crossed the border, impacting open areas near Kibbutz Kissufim. The other three fell short in the Strip, the IDF said. Hamas claimed to have targeted a military base in the area.
In a statement, the IDF said Hamas’s use of the humanitarian zone to launch rockets at Israel is "a further example of the cynical exploitation of humanitarian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip for their terrorist attacks."
Also Friday night, two rockets more were launched from the Gaza Strip toward the Sderot area, setting off sirens in the Nir Am shooting range. According to the IDF, both rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries or damage. The Islamic Jihad grabbed credit for the attack.
[IsraelTimes] 12 arrested in Tel Aviv as tens of thousands rally to urge a deal with Hamas, demand elections, decry Haredi draft exemptions, and fume at attacks on the north
Police arrested 12 demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday night at the tail end of hours of protests in support of a hostage deal and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition’s policies. Tens of thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv, and numerous protests were held around the country, with some speakers declaring that complete victory over Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... is impossible and therefore the war should be ended to secure the hostages’ release.
Idiots at best, bought and paid for traitors profiting from their Bibi-hate at worst.
The weekly protests took place against the backdrop of deadlocked negotiations on a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, hours after eight IDF troops were killed fighting in southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s Rafah, and amid government moves toward passing a bill that aims to maintain the broad exemption of Haredi men from military service. Some protesters on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street also burned tents to highlight what they saw as government inaction in the face of relentless Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel, while a representative of the hostage families — at a rally held by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum a few blocks away — asserted that Israel will never be able to fully win the war against Hamas.
The protesters on Kaplan Street skirmished with police soon after setting the fires, and there were also skirmishes when demonstrators sought to block the city’s main Ayalon Highway. Police said they arrested 12 people for alleged violations of public order, including blocking roads and demonstrating beyond the permitted time period.
Police were filmed arresting a photographer for the Haaretz daily, Itay Ron, despite passersby telling the officers that he is a journalist. According to Hebrew media reports, he was released an hour later.
Why should journalists be above the law when they misbehave?
Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Na’ama Lazimi were present at the scene of one arrest, where they were met with jeers from right-wing demonstrators.
National Unity MK Benny Gantz also attended a demonstration, his first since withdrawing his National Unity party from the government last Sunday, at Sha’ar Hanegev near Gaza, calling for the return of the hostages.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid addressed the anti-government demonstrators on Kaplan, deriding the recent Knesset decision to revive a bill that, if passed, would lower the age of exemption from mandatory service for yeshiva students from 26 to 21.
RESCUED HOSTAGE PLEADS: ’MAKE A DEAL’
In Hostages Square, a few blocks away from the Kaplan protest, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum took an unusually critical position towards the Israel-Hamas war, as one of the spokespeople emceeing its weekly rally told the crowd that Israel will never achieve Netanyahu’s promised total victory against Hamas.
"We all know the heavy losses that the Americans had in Vietnam and even the Germans did not snuff out the partisans," Rami Beja told the thousands who gathered in Hostages Square. "Hamas are like cockroaches: spray pesticides on them and they will keep returning. We need to strike them, but don’t tell me we can win. You can’t win here entirely."
In a recorded message, rescue hostage Andrey Kozlov said he and the other three hostages rescued by Israeli troops from Hamas on June 8 saw images from weekly rallies for their return while in captivity.
"Nearly every Saturday night they showed us rallies from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I didn’t count how many people were there but we saw many," Kozlov said. "I remember how Almog [Meir Jan] saw his picture for the first time [on a poster at the rally] and it was like a breath of fresh air for him. You put in so much effort and time into getting us back home and it gave me hope. You are heroes."
He called on the government to "make a deal" with Hamas, which is demanding a permanent ceasefire, among other demands, as a prerequisite for returning the 120 hostages still held in Gaza, many of whom are not alive.
Earlier on Saturday evening, a number of hostage families demanding an end to the war as part of a hostage deal addressed the media at their routine spot near the Begin Gate of the IDF’s Kirya Headquarters, voicing similar sentiments.
By contrast on Saturday evening, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a continuation of the fighting in Gaza after the eight soldiers were killed in Rafah, stating that "we are in a war for our existence."
JOINT PROTESTS IN JERUSALEM
In Jerusalem, in light of the late ending of the Sabbath, the Jerusalem branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum split the stage with the anti-government protest group "Safeguarding our Shared Home," resulting in one large, unified protest in Gay Paree Square, calling for both a hostage deal and the toppling of Netanyahu’s government.
Tom Barkai, an organizer with the Jerusalem Hostages and Missing Families Forum, accused Netanyahu of torpedoing a prospective hostage deal.
[JNS] Americans expected Osama bin Laden to be found in a cave in Afghanistan. In reality, he was living comfortably in a military town in Pakistan under the protection of local authorities. Similarly, Israeli hostages, including the four who were rescued last Saturday, have come home telling stories of being kept captive in "civilian" households.
Many in the West fundamentally misunderstand what Islamic terrorism is. It’s not a "fringe group of extremists," as politicians and the media describe it, but an ethnic and religious movement. The religious values of Islamic terrorists are universally shared by the vast majority of Muslims, while the ethnic ones ground Islamic warfare in the interests of specific clans and families. Hamas is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and has a widespread base of support across the Muslim world, which is dotted with branches of the Brotherhood. But its ethnic power base is also grounded in the key clans and families that control Gaza. That is why Hamas still retains the support of the majority of the Muslim colonists currently occupying Gaza. It’s also why those same "civilians" held Israeli hostages prisoner and could be trusted not to inform on them.
The latest Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll shows that 71% of Gazans support the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and 56% expect Hamas to win the war. Some 62% in Gaza are happy about Hamas’s performance during the war, and 59% want Hamas to stay in power. That’s because they are Hamas and the terror group is also them.
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[IsraelTimes] Blacklisting Tzav 9 for disrupting aid deliveries, State Department vows no tolerance for ‘acts of sabotage and violence targeting this essential humanitarian assistance’
The Biden administration on Friday announced sanctions against a far-right Israeli group that has been behind attacks on humanitarian aid convoys en route to the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip. The sanctions target Tsav 9, a group with ties to Israeli army reservists and Israeli settlers, over activities including blocking, harassing and damaging aid shipments.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Mothers share accounts of their children’s captivity at conference, with one saying girls forced to clean and cook
The mother of Liri Albag, a 19-year-old female soldier kidnapped on October 7, shared information Friday about her daughter that she said came from freed female hostages and also matched the account of Noa Argamani, who was rescued from Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... captivity in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... last week.
"As Noa Argamani said, they were slaves, and so were the [female soldiers], including Liri. They cleaned the yard, did dishes, and prepared food that they were not allowed to eat," Shira Albag told a conference of female municipal leaders in Ganei Tikva, south of Tel Aviv.
Shira Albag said that as far as she knew from accounts, her daughter was initially moved between some four homes, among them a luxury villa, and was only allowed to shower a month into her captivity. After 40 days, according to Albag, Liri was moved into Hamas’s network of underground tunnels, where there was little food and no light, and the water was salty and rationed.
Argamani was rescued in an Israeli security forces operation on Saturday, along with Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov, who were held separately from her.
Meir Jan’s mother Orit Meir also spoke at the conference on Friday, sharing information about her son’s conditions in captivity.
"Almog was in a wealthy home. He received food once or twice a day, not always tasty, not healthy, but he didn’t starve," said Meir. "He also had company: Shlomi and Andrey, who were rescued with him. He wasn’t alone."
Liri Albag was one of five female surveillance soldiers kidnapped from the Nahal Oz military installation during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when thousands of bully boyz stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take over 250 hostages, mainly civilians.
Three of the other surveillance soldiers’ mothers also spoke at the event on Friday: Meirav Berger, mother of Agam Berger; Orly Gilboa, mother of Daniella Gilboa; and Ayelet Levy Shahar, mother of Naama Levy.
Orly Gilboa said little was known about her daughter and another of the kidnapped soldiers, Karina Ariev, who she said were held separately from the others.
"One of the Thai [workers who were kidnapped] who got out of there said he saw them in transit, they were covered from head to toe," said Gilboa.
A video taken by Hamas of the abduction of five female soldiers was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in May. All five are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] The Israeli Air Force is carrying out massive strikes on southern Lebanon after an escalation of fighting between the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and Lebanese Hezbollah on the border of the two countries. The activity of modern Israeli aviation is complemented by the unexpected use by ground forces of medieval catapults and trebuchets to throw incendiary mixtures. The seemingly strange medieval tactic was probably the only way IDF commanders could think of to set fire to the bush on the Lebanese side where Hezbollah fighters might be hiding. This may also indicate the beginning of preparations for an Israeli ground invasion of Southern Lebanon and the creation of a safe pre-field for the deployment of larger forces directly along the border.
The escalation began on Tuesday, June 11, when an Israeli strike killed Taleb Abdullah,
…alternative spelling Taleb Abdallah, killed with three henchmen in Jouaiyya, 15 km from the Israeli border …
commander of the Nasr Division, one of Hezbollah's three main formations. In response, Hezbollah launched rocket attacks into northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
The Iran-backed group, whose name translates to "Party of God," fired 170 rockets at Israeli positions on Wednesday. The attacks continued on Thursday.
In particular, the strikes hit six Israeli military targets, and the arsenal of weapons used was supplemented by a squadron of drones that hit three Israeli bases. The targets included the main intelligence center in northern Israel.
The current escalation between Hezbollah and Israel is the largest since October 7, 2023, when Hezbollah came out in support of Palestinian Hamas allies and now threatens to escalate into a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon.
HIKE TO THE NORTH
It is worrying that the current round of confrontation occurred immediately after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on June 5, during a visit to border villages on the Lebanese-Israeli border, said that the Israeli army was ready “for very powerful actions” in the north of the country, and the government announced an additional conscription of 50 thousand reservists into the army.
Why worrying? Israel warned —> Israel acts. Otherwise, why bother?
Back in April, Israel's Channel 13 reported that the IDF had completed preparations for a potential military campaign in the north. According to him, the military’s initial plan is to push back Hezbollah fighters 8-10 kilometers deep into Lebanese territory. De facto, this would be consistent with the essence of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006, which ordered Hezbollah to withdraw its military to the Litani River.
It should be borne in mind that Hezbollah itself did not set out to launch an invasion of Israel, only supporting its Hamas allies with rocket attacks and strikes on IDF positions in the border area. The red line after which the Party of God will be ready to move on to full-scale operations will be the threat of the complete destruction of Hamas. However, this has not happened so far.
The limiting factor for Hezbollah’s more active involvement in the conflict is its position in Lebanon.
The “Party of God” is primarily a Lebanese political force, represented in the country’s government and parliament, and only secondarily a member of the “axis of resistance” led by Iran.
Therefore, Hezbollah will correlate any of its steps with how the Lebanese themselves will perceive it, who are by no means eager to be drawn into the conflict and, to one degree or another, share the fate of the Palestinians of Gaza who are dying under bombs. Naturally, such a scenario will have a negative impact on Hezbollah’s popularity in Lebanon.
Based on this, Hezbollah itself is inclined to act from the position of not a “spear”, but a “shield” against Israel, and if Israel itself launches an invasion of Lebanon, then here the “Party of God”, acting as a defender of Lebanon, on the contrary, can strengthen positions. Especially if, as in 2006, the group manages to emerge victorious from the confrontation. Or at least not lose.
It’s the not losing that’s key. Kind of like getting a pension from the CIA.
Although it should be noted that, despite the success in 2006, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was still forced to make excuses to the Lebanese who suffered from the conflict, claiming that he did not expect such harsh and cruel actions by Israel, which decided to invade.
STRONG OPPONENT
For Israel, Hezbollah will still remain the “sword of Damocles”, which does not allow its residents to be safe.
The events of October 7 have already demonstrated how vulnerable Israeli defenses are. Now Israeli leaders need to reassure their population that this time the intelligence services can anticipate any attack and the military can stop it.
This is a difficult task given Hezbollah's capabilities, and the discreditation of military and intelligence officials following the Al-Aqsa Flood has made it even more difficult.
The Lebanese Party of God has a much higher military potential than the Palestinian Hamas. And if they decide to invade, the group’s DRGs could penetrate much deeper into Israeli territory, threatening large cities, such as Haifa.
In this context, the only option for the Netanyahu regime may be a preventive invasion of Lebanon. Until a buffer zone is created in southern Lebanon, the threat of a breach of the border line and a Hezbollah invasion of Israel will be a constant risk. This risk will also prevent the return of temporarily displaced Israelis, of whom there are more than 100 thousand, to the north of the country.
The Netanyahu government is already facing criticism for what happened on the northern border.
Thus, according to Avigdor Lieberman, a former finance minister who heads the opposition party, the Israeli government was weak in the north: “The red line turned into a white flag - the war cabinet surrendered to Hezbollah and lost the north.”
AT THE PEAK OF FORM
Israel does have something to fear, as Hezbollah is now at the peak of its military form.
The Party of God was able to fully recover from the losses it suffered during the Syrian civil war. The core of the most experienced fighters who went through the Syrian campaign remained in the ranks; appropriate conclusions were drawn and the experience of Hezbollah’s participation in that conflict was generalized.
Good job, guys! You’re now thoroughly trained in fighting low tech, semi-trained jihadis specializing in mobile mass attacks, where the most important skill, as far as I can tell, is to hold your position as a unit and not flee in terror. Fighting the IDF requires you not to be a recognizable target or at/near a target location, a very different skill. But perhaps Allah will at some point change his mind and help you survive what’s to come…
At the same time, the group received new modern weapons from Iran, which it did not yet have during the Syrian war. In addition, as a result of the Syrian conflict, the “Party of God” was able to acquire a fleet of armored vehicles, forming mechanized units equipped with T-72, T-62 and T-55 tanks. According to some reports, Hezbollah was also able to obtain the Pantsir air defense missile system.
Oooohhhh…. is that one of the ones that is no help whatsoever against the IAF?
The elite of Hezbollah’s armed wing is the Al-Haj Radwan regiment, a special forces assault unit that can be classified as “commando”, numbering 2.5 thousand fighters in its ranks.
But the backbone of Hezbollah’s forces remains the light infantry, which includes about 30 thousand active fighters, distributed across three infantry divisions “Nasr”, “Badr” and “Aziz”, and up to 20 thousand trained reservists. However, in a short time, the number of armed formations of the “Party of God” and allied forces can be increased to 100 thousand people.
Do they come pre-trained, ready to fight as a unit? Because if not, what use are they in this kind of war?
Some Lebanese Sunni factions are already operating in the ranks of Hezbollah, for example, the Dawn Forces, which represent the military wing of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood (banned in the Russian Federation).
The group can also count on fighters from its allied Lebanese Shiite movement Amal, which is capable of deploying up to 15 thousand people, using them under the Hezbollah flag. And this despite the fact that about 3 thousand Amal fighters are already forming the 6th brigade of the Lebanese ground forces.
It is obvious that help for Hezbollah will also come from Syria, where numerous units operating under the auspices of the “Islamic resistance” (the military wing of Hezbollah), consisting not only of Lebanese, but also of Syrians, as well as Iraqis, are deployed, and are known as "Syrian Hezbollah".
Hezbollah uses modern methods of warfare, its fighters and commanders are trained in stealth, mobility and autonomy, and its tactics are based on a concept that NATO calls “mission command”.
Under this methodology, subordinates are given the opportunity to make independent decisions on the battlefield only based on the general intentions of the commander. This force structure allows Hezbollah to operate effectively in small groups in the face of overwhelming Israeli firepower.
After the 2006 war, Hezbollah continued to exploit the strengths of this approach as it continued to decentralize its command and reorganize itself.
In the event of hostilities, it is capable of forcing the IDF to fight in mountainous or urban areas, where movement fighters can take advantage of hidden fortified positions and operate from ambushes in small groups.
ROCKET FIST
Hezbollah’s missile potential is also impressive, including various versions of the Soviet OTR SCUD, numbering up to 50 units with a range of 300–500 kilometers. In addition, a similar class of missiles is represented by the more modern Iranian Fateh-110, capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 kilometers. The group has an arsenal of 400 such missiles.
Hezbollah is also armed with thousands of Iranian Zelzal-1 and Zelzal-2 missiles with a 600-kilogram warhead and a range of up to 200 kilometers.
Finally, the “Party of God” has more than 100 thousand MLRS missiles Fajr, Falaq, Raad, Shahin, Burqan, etc., which can be used from various non-standard launchers with high mobility and stealth. Many launchers are designed on light vehicles or are generally portable. It may take only half a minute to dismantle them and cover them after a shot.
This arsenal is complemented by more than 2 thousand drones, among which there are modern Iranian-made UAVs of the Mohajer-4/Mirsad-2 (equipped with ATGM), Shahed-129/Ayoub (with two 34-kg bombs), Samed (KAS-04), Karrar (two 125-kilogram bombs, ATGM or anti-ship missiles), Saegheh and others. Hezbollah UAVs have already successfully overcome Israeli air defenses, hitting military targets on its territory after October 7, 2023.
The “Party of God” has the real ability, if necessary, to overload Israeli air defense and hit strategically important targets throughout Israel with the most effective and heaviest missiles.
That has, indeed, been the key threat thus far. Though at one point the claim was that Hezbollah had 150,000 rockets and missiles. Where did the last third of them go?
In general, Hezbollah's use of more advanced weapons, including missile-equipped UAVs, kamikaze drones and a new Iranian-made ATGM known as the Almas-4, which has proven highly effective, has already caused alarm among the Israeli military.
The IDF like getting alarmed. It helps them focus beyond the immediate needs of the moment.
Here we can also recall the Tharallah ATGM, created specifically to overcome the active protection of Israeli Merkava tanks.
All this is superimposed on the difficult terrain, where in the event of an invasion the Israeli army will have to advance along narrow mountain roads, exposing armored vehicles to attacks from ATGMs and remote mines.
THE HISTORY OF WARS IS NOT IN FAVOR OF ISRAEL
Israel has fought Hezbollah several times since its creation in the early 1980s, mostly unsuccessfully.
They’ve fought to mow the grass thus far, not to win definitively. Looking at the war in Gaza, that seems to have changed.
The first success of the “Party of God” was the withdrawal of the IDF from southern Lebanon and the defeat of the local pro-Israeli puppet government in 2000.
Since early 1999, the group has intensified attacks against the Israeli military and its proxies in occupied Lebanon. The commander of the Israeli Golani brigade and an entire platoon of Israeli paratroopers were killed in the ambushes.
One of the commanders of the puppet forces of Southern Lebanon, Akl Hashem, was blown up in his own home. Israeli territory was periodically fired upon by Hezbollah rockets, which led to American strikes on the group’s positions.
In the spring of 2000, Hezbollah became significantly more active, operations were accompanied by constant attacks on Israeli military posts in the occupied territory of Lebanon. On May 24, Israel announced that it would withdraw all troops from southern Lebanon. His entire force left Lebanon by the end of the next day, more than six weeks before the deadline.
The IDF withdrawal led to the rapid advance of Hezbollah forces and the defection of the pro-Israeli army from southern Lebanon. This was seen as a landslide victory for Hezbollah and greatly increased its popularity in the country, especially after Lebanese Muslims were able to return to liberated territories from which they had previously been expelled by pro-Israeli Christian militias.
Despite Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah continued to attack it from time to time under the pretext that the small area at the intersection of the Lebanon-Syria-Israel border, Shebaa Farm, remained occupied. Hezbollah claimed that the farms were Lebanese territory and thus the Israeli occupation continued.
A low-intensity conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into full-scale war in 2006 following a cross-border kidnapping operation by Hezbollah against Israeli military personnel.
It is significant that at that time the “Party of God” deflected the blow from Hamas, against which an invading army had already been deployed. As a result of Hezbollah's actions, it was transferred to the north and began an offensive in southern Lebanon.
Many Israelis considered the war a disaster due to the high death toll and huge losses of armored vehicles. Then the brigade set was knocked out, in particular 52 Merkava tanks, most of which, however, were restored and returned to service after the conflict. The IDF's performance on the battlefield was widely criticized.
The 2006 war ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, according to which Israeli troops were forced to leave Lebanon again. A buffer zone was created between the Blue Line (border) and the Litani River along the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
Hezbollah, however, rejected such language, saying its troops would not leave. Despite this, the IDF was still forced to leave Lebanon, unable to effectively confront Hezbollah and push it out of the buffer zone.
The lessons of the Lebanese wars are well remembered in Israel, which is why many politicians point out the risks that the IDF will face if the “Third Lebanon War” breaks out. Up to forecasts about the defeat of Israeli units in Southern Lebanon.
However, on the other side of the scale lies the risk of Hezbollah invading Israel itself, which forces the country to live under constant threat. In any case, Israel now has no good solutions.
[GEO.TV] At least 37,296 Palestinians have been killed and 85,197 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
…or possibly 25,000, a shockingly high percent of which are jihadis for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2024 00:00 ||
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[GEO.TV] The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Saturday the only way to return Israeli hostages is through Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, ending its attacks and reaching a deal for exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas politburo member in Beirut Osama Hamdan denies rescued hostages were subjected to abuse in Gaza; claims WSJ report that Sinwar praised Gazan civilian deaths is ‘fake message’
“No one has any idea" how many of the 116 remaining hostages in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... who were kidnapped from Israel on October 7 are still alive, senior Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... official Osama Hamdan told CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... on Thursday.
"I don’t have any idea about that. No one has any idea about this," he said, while denying that the four hostages rescued by Israeli forces last weekend had been abused during their more than eight months in the terror group’s captivity.
"I believe if they have mental problems, this is because of what Israel has done in Gaza," Hamdan told CNN in Beirut, upon being pressed on the testimony of a doctor who treated the rescued Israelis and said they were beaten "almost every day" and suffered from malnutrition.
The status of the remaining hostages is a key topic in negotiations for a potential deal between Israel and the terror group, which triggered the war on October 7, when thousands of faceless myrmidons poured into southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Hamas has refused to provide a list of the hostages still living, and has only sporadically provided signs of life for some captives, mainly in the service of propaganda.
As part of a potential deal, Israeli negotiators have demanded that living hostages be released before dead bodies, while Hamas negotiators have sought deals that would allow them to release an indeterminate number of bodies in place of living captives.
Hamas is "ready for a comprehensive deal which entails a ceasefire, withdrawal from the Strip, the reconstruction of what was destroyed, and a comprehensive swap deal"
[GEO.TV] Hezbollah on Saturday kept up retaliatory attacks on military positions in northern Israel, and one person was killed in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , days after an Israeli strike hit a senior commander from the Iran-backed group.
Senior Hezbollah commander Taleb Abdallah was killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Jouaiyya on Tuesday, alongside three comrades, a source close to the group had told AFP.
Hezbollah said Saturday that it targeted the Meron base in northern Israel with "guided missiles", and sent "attack drones" towards another Israeli base "as part of the response to the attack and liquidation carried out by the enemy in Jouaiyya".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Yea, well, when Libanese Shia are living as refugees in Syria, don't tell me you weren't warned.
[GEO.TV] Artillery strikes have been launched on several areas southwest of Gaza City, as per the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli naval vessels bombarded the Tel al-Hawa and Sheikh Ajlin neighborhoods, while Israeli military vehicles also opened heavy gunfire in the areas, Wafa said, reported Al Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2024 00:00 ||
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As long as the dinner is good and the servers shapely, what matters it that no progress will be made toward a hudna none of them want? And anyway, Israel isn’t suicidal to agree to whatever idiocies Hamas demands.
[GEO.TV] White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday that mediators for Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and Egypt plan to engage Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... soon to see if there is a way to push ahead with a Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire proposal offered by US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... Sullivan spoke to news hounds on the sidelines of a Ukraine peace summit and was asked about diplomatic efforts to get an agreement for Hamas to release some hostages held since Oct 7 in exchange for a ceasefire lasting at least six weeks.
Sullivan said he had spoken briefly to one of the main interlocutors, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and that they would speak again about Gaza on Sunday while both are in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... for the Ukraine conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2024 00:00 ||
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Significant Brush and Forest Fires are Burning tonight on both Sides of the Border in Northern Israeli, with the Fire near the Towns of Bar'am and Yir'on in the Galilee Panhandle reported to be Out-of-Control. While across the Border in Southern Lebanon, an ongoing Large Brush… pic.twitter.com/QCct6PXICe
8 Soldiers with the Combat Engineering Corps of the Israel Defense Force were Killed earlier today, after a Massive Explosion in the City of Rafah caused the Total Destruction of their “Namer” Armored-Personnel Carrier (APC). The Cause of the Explosion is currently Unknown,… pic.twitter.com/WQ2mzMrR7w
The Israel Defense Force has released the Identity of one of the Soldiers that was Killed in this morning’s Explosion near the City of Rafah; Captain Wassem Mahmoud, a 23-Year-Old Officer and a Deputy Company Commander in the 601st “Asaf” Battalion of the Combat Engineering Corps… pic.twitter.com/QkLvnHPJM9
The Israeli Defense Array is reported to have utilized the “David’s Sling” Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile Interceptor to Down an “Unknown Aerial Projectile” this morning that was coming from the Northeast, with the Projectile being Successfully Intercepted outside of Israeli… pic.twitter.com/291zBKkxGS
… Airspace. At the same time, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched an Advanced Version of the Iranian “Al-Arqab” Long-Range Cruise Missile at the City of Haifa in Northwestern Israel.
That sounds like it didn’t get anywhere near Haifa, or even Israel.
U.S. Central Command has announced that the Temporary-Floating Pier off the Coast of Central Gaza, which had just Resumed Humanitarian Aid Operations this Week after being Damaged on May 28th in Severe Weather, will be Partially-Dismantled and Towed to the Port of Ashdod in… pic.twitter.com/ZqCK4VwM9h
…in Southern Israel due to Rough Seas, which have been Forecasted for the Weekend. They further state that the Pier will be Reinstalled once Weather is Permitting.
UN, aid agencies say transfer of goods from pier to Gazans remains suspended due to perception Israeli military used area during last week’s hostage rescue.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the pier would likely be moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod until sea conditions improve.Aid began arriving via the pier on May 17, and the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... said it transported 137 trucks of aid to warehouses, some 900 metric tons, before the US announced on May 28 that it had suspended operations so repairs could be made.
The UN said on Friday it had still not resumed transportation of aid from the pier to UN World Food Program warehouses.
"Our security colleagues are still working to ensure that secure conditions for humanitarian work can be re-established," said deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
UN officials also said they were reassessing the use of the pier, claiming that Israeli military activity nearby had jeopardized the perceived neutrality of the aid route.
Rushing out a mortally maimed Israeli commando after last week’s hostage rescue raid, Israeli rescuers opted against returning the way they came, across a land border, Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told news hounds. Instead, they sped toward the beach and the site of the US aid hub on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s coast, he said. An Israeli helicopter touched down near the US-built pier and helped whisk away hostages and the commando, according to the US and Israeli militaries.
Israel and the US deny that any aspect of the month-old US pier was used in the Israeli raid. They say an area near it was used to fly home the hostages.
However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the UN World Food Program, which works with the US to transfer aid from the pier to warehouses and local aid teams for distribution within Gaza, suspended cooperation as it conducts a security review. Aid has been piling up on the beach since.
The UN has to look at the facts as well as what the Paleostinian public and gangs believe about any US, pier or aid worker involvement in the raid, Haq said.
"Humanitarian aid must not be used and must not be perceived as taking any side in a conflict," Haq said. "The safety of our humanitarian workers depends on all sides and the communities on the ground trusting their impartiality."
Rumors have swirled on social media, deepening the danger to aid workers, humanitarian groups say.
"Whether or not we’ve seen the pier used for military purposes is almost irrelevant. Because the perception of people in Gaza, civilians and gangs, is that humanitarian aid has been instrumentalized" by parties in the conflict, said Suze van Meegen, head of operations in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Oxfam International and some other aid organizations said they are waiting for answers from the US government because it’s responsible for the agreements with the UN and other humanitarian groups on how the pier and aid deliveries function.
Questions include whether the Israeli helicopters and security forces used what the US had promised aid groups would be a no-go area for the Israeli military around the pier, said Scott Paul, an associate director at Oxfam.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2024 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
