English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 26/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good
things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 12/33-37
"‘Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its
fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you
speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the
evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day
of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter;
for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be
condemned.’"
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on September 25-26/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Iranian Terrorist Hezbollah Booby-Trapped
Shiites Villages, Cities, Institutions & Created a Landscape of Hatred and
Deception
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Urgent Call to Neutralize the Iranian Mullah Regime
Before It’s Too Late
Day 3 of carnage: 51 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon
Hezbollah is not Hamas. Can Israel afford another all-out war?
Israel intercepts Hezbollah ballistic missile near Tel Aviv in first such attack
Israel Widens Air Strikes After Hezbollah Fires at Tel Aviv
Terrified families flee their homes in Lebanon amid new Israeli airstrikes
Hezbollah fires a missile at Tel Aviv in deepest strike yet after Israeli
bombardment of Lebanon
Israel has landed heavy blows on Hezbollah. The victory it seeks could prove
elusive
Displaced Lebanese recount their ordeal of Israeli strikes and escape
David's Sling intercepts rocket from Lebanon for first time
Britain sends ships to Cyprus in preparation for potential mass Lebanon
evacuation
Britain urges nationals to leave Lebanon as Israel-Hezbollah tensions escalate
Hezbollah wants to maintain the illusion of a 'military vs military' war -
analysis
IDF commander urges readiness for possible Lebanon invasion amid Hezbollah
conflict
Hezbollah uses flexible command and tunnels to sustain operations, sources say
Calling Nasrallah's bluff: IDF strikes bring turning point in Israel-Hezbollah
war - analysis
Patriarch Al-Rahi issues an appeal regarding the current events and situations!
Monsignor Abdo Abu Kasm: "The Church calls on everyone to stand by our people"
Turkiye’s Erdogan tells Lebanese PM urgent international solution needed to stop
Israel
What will become of the Lebanese displaced by intensifying Israel-Hezbollah
conflict?
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 25-26/2024
UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears
Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before
burying them
China pledges ‘support’ for Iran says FM Wang
Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from Russia’s war instead of
true peace
Trump Has a Message for Iran About ‘Ongoing’ Assassination Threats
Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US election candidate
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on September 25-26/2024
Harris may love Israel but she doesn’t hate Iran - opinion/Shmuley
Boteach/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
Israel's War Is Against Hezbollah, Not The Lebanese People/Bassam
Tawil/Gatestone Institute./September 25, 2024
‘Pride Was Their Downfall’: The Collapse of Christian Unity Against Jihad
Occurred Today in History/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream./September 25, 2024
New UN needed to avert breakdown of law and order/MOHAMED CHEBARO/Arab
News/September 25, 2024
As UN General Assembly begins, Lebanon collapses under Israeli bombs/NATHALIE
GOULET/Arab News/September 25, 2024
Netanyahu and Nasrallah: two sides of the same coin/FAISAL J. ABBAS/Arab
News/September 25, 2024
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on September 25-26/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Iranian Terrorist
Hezbollah Booby-Trapped Shiites Villages, Cities, Institutions & Created a
Landscape of Hatred and Deception
Elias Bejjani/September 24/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/09/134845/
There is no shed of doubt that the terrorist Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, is
the one that has mined and booby-trapped the Shiites areas in occupied Lebanon
and placed them evilly on explosive barrels. It drowned its Shiites communities
with illusions, myths, hatred, arrogance, worshipping death, while belittling
its opponents and labeling them as traitors. In this context we are sadly
witnessing the ongoing tragedies inflicted on the civilian Lebanese Shiites'
communities.
In the recent wave of violence, only in one day over 600 innocent Shiite
civilians were killed and two thousand inquired and thousands forced to abandon
their homes and livestock's in fear for their lives because of devastating
Israeli air strikes targeting Hezbollah's weapon caches strategically hidden
among populated areas in South Lebanon, beeka valley, Dahea district in Beirut.
This tragedy underscores a painful truth and shows clearly that the real
perpetrators behind the suffering of these victims are not only the Israeli
forces, but rather Hezbollah and its Iranian backers.
For decades, Hezbollah has turned Lebanese neighborhoods, mainly the Shiites
villages, cities and institutions into battlegrounds, placing weaponry in
schools, religious institutions, and even homes, endangering the very people it
claims to protect. This reckless strategy has turned civilians into collateral
damage in a conflict driven by Iran's regional expansionist and denominational
satanic ambitions.
Compounding this situation, recently Iran has increasingly distanced itself from
Hezbollah and Hamas, opting instead to appease the United States. The Mullahs
have publicly stated that they do not seek to engage in direct conflict with
Israel, declaring a shift towards cooperation with the U.S. This pivot reveals a
significant change in Iran's approach, highlighting its desire to stabilize its
position rather than escalate tensions because its main aim is to keep its
regime in power.
The continuous threats from Hezbollah and Iran have put Israel in a precarious
position, where it feels compelled to act in self-defense. The recent bombings,
while devastating, are a response to a longstanding pattern of aggression and
provocation. It is essential to recognize that the chaos affecting the Middle
East, including the tragic loss of life among Shiite communities, is a direct
consequence of Iran's expansionist policies and Hezbollah's militant strategies.
As Lebanon grapples with this ongoing crisis, it is vital to hold accountable
those who have chosen to weaponries their neighborhoods. The suffering of
innocents must be acknowledged, but so must the responsibility of those who have
perpetuated this cycle of violence.
The massacre that the people of the south Lebanon are being subjected
falls on the terrorist Hezbollah, which is made up of Lebanese and
non-Lebanese mercenaries, as well as their masters the Iranian Mullahs.
Hezbollah has booby-trapped and mined the south villages and towns with weapons
depots among the people in schools, religious, educational and governmental
institutions, and even inside homes. Yesterday, Israel blew up a large number of
these depots, killing hundreds and wounding thousands of civilian victims.
Terrorist Hezbollah, the enemy of Lebanon and the Lebanese, has kidnapped the
Shiites communities and taken them hostage by force and terror. Hezbollah is a
mere slave to an expansionist Iranian agenda that has lured Israel into waging
its destructive war on Lebanon in general, and on the Shiite areas in the south,
the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut in general in a bid to defend its
people and existence of the Jewish state..
What do Hezbollah and its Iranian masters expect from the state of Israel, while
they have been shamelessly, immorally and promiscuously promoting the idea of
throwing their state into the sea, killing Jews, while raising their children
on a culture of ignorance, barbarism, hatred, reverence, sanctification of death
and crime, and at the same time demonize who oppose their Iranian ambitions, and
labeling them as traitors.
The killing, assassinations and destruction that Israel is doing currently in
Iranian occupied Lebanon are caused by the policy and culture of the mullahs of
Iran, as well as the Sunni and Shiite political Islam, leftist, nationalist
groups, and merchants of the so called resistance and liberation.
In conclusion, Iranian occupied Lebanon will not be saved or restore is
sovereignty, independence and free decision making process before uprooting the
criminal Hezbollah, arresting and putting on trial its Trojan and mercenary
leaders, and implementing the UN resolutions related to Lebanon; The Armistice
Accord, 1559, 1701 and 1680, which gives the Lebanese state full control over
all Lebanese territories by its own forces, and disarming all Lebanese and
non-Lebanese militias. At the same time arresting and putting on trial all
Lebanese politicians, officials and clergymen who conspired against Lebanon and
helped Hezbollah to fully occupy Lebanon.
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Urgent Call to Neutralize
the Iranian Mullah Regime Before It’s Too Late
Elias Bejjani/September 23/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/09/134766/
The Iranian mullahs’ regime stands as the head of the snake, a regime that,
unless decisively overthrown, will continue to be the central force of
instability in the Middle East. Under its leadership, with Hezbollah and its
vast network of terrorist arms, Iran foments division, incites conflicts, and
destabilizes Arab nations while exploiting the Palestinian cause and maintaining
a relentless hostility toward Israel.
The urgency of this threat cannot be overstated. The regime in Tehran, under the
guise of its so-called “jihadist revolution,” is working tirelessly to expand
its influence, with the ultimate goal of regional hegemony under the pretext of
reviving the Persian Empire. And now, Iran stands perilously close to acquiring
the world’s most devastating weapon: the atomic bomb.
In a critical analysis published recently by The Jerusalem Post, Israeli
policymakers, academics, and Western strategists have raised alarm bells about
the immediate and dangerous ramifications of allowing Iran to develop nuclear
weapons. This isn’t a distant hypothetical; it is an imminent crisis. Years of
debate within Israel and Western circles have highlighted two starkly different
perspectives on how to handle the Iranian threat.
On one side, some fear that any preemptive strike on Iran could ignite a
catastrophic global conflict, possibly even leading to Israel’s destruction.
This viewpoint, however, underestimates the catastrophic consequences of
inaction. The other, more pragmatic and visionary view—shared by many high-level
officials and supported by moderate Arab allies—argues that the only way to
prevent regional and global disaster is to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities
as swiftly and forcefully as possible. This faction believes that the survival
of Israel, the stability of the Arab world, and indeed, global security, depend
on a full-scale effort to dismantle the Iranian regime’s nuclear program.
Waiting for Iran to achieve nuclear capability would be a fatal miscalculation.
Once armed with a nuclear arsenal, Iran will not only solidify its stranglehold
over the Middle East but will also wield unprecedented leverage over the West.
Such power would embolden its terrorist proxies, particularly Hezbollah, and
ensure decades of unchecked Iranian aggression across the globe. The
consequences would be devastating, not just for Israel but for Arab nations that
have long suffered under Iranian interference.
The only viable solution is a coordinated military and diplomatic effort, led by
the United States, Israel, and moderate Arab nations, to strike the Iranian
regime at its core. This would involve not only destroying Iran’s nuclear
infrastructure but also empowering the Iranian people in their ongoing struggle
against the theocratic tyranny that has oppressed them for over four decades.
The Iranian people have demonstrated their thirst for freedom and democracy, and
the West must stand firmly with them.
The fall of the mullahs' regime would not only remove the immediate nuclear
threat but also dismantle the network of terror that Iran has carefully
cultivated. Hezbollah, already weakened by its entanglements in Syria, would
lose its primary benefactor, rendering the group vulnerable and ultimately,
powerless. Furthermore, the collapse of the mullah regime would restore the
chance for regional peace, allowing Arab nations to rebuild and pursue
prosperity without constant interference from Tehran.
In conclusion, the world is at a critical juncture. The decision to act against
the Iranian regime must be made now, before the window of opportunity closes.
Failure to do so will result in an irreversible shift in the balance of power in
the Middle East, with disastrous consequences for global security. The Iranian
people deserve better, the region demands stability, and the world cannot afford
to allow a nuclear Iran to become a reality. It is time to strike before it is
too late.
Day 3 of carnage: 51 killed in Israeli airstrikes on
Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/September 25, 2024
BEIRUT: The Israeli Air Force continued its airstrikes on dozens of towns in
southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region on Wednesday, the third day of its war
against Hezbollah. For the first time, the strikes
reached deep into Lebanese territory, targeting the predominantly Christian area
of Keserwan and the Druze-majority region of Chouf.
The bloody attacks resulted in dozens of civilian casualties and further
destruction. Health Minister Firass Abiad said at
least 51 people were killed and 223 wounded in the attacks. The UN High
Commissioner for Refugees said: “The devastating bombings in Lebanon are
claiming the lives of innocents and forcing thousands to flee,” adding that “the
losses inflicted on civilians are unacceptable.”The attacks have been intense
over the past 24 hours, with Israeli planes attacking first southern areas then
the Bekaa region. Many towns were shelled for the first time.
On Wednesday morning, Hezbollah escalated its rocket attacks on Israeli targets,
introducing a new phrase in its official statements, replacing “in support for
the Gaza Strip” with “in defense of Lebanon and its people.”Hezbollah targeted
the vicinity of Tel Aviv with a short-range ballistic missile, an action
previously unrecorded in conflicts between Israel and Lebanon.
It also targeted Israeli military bases and army headquarters, demonstrating the
effectiveness of its offensive weapons. On Tuesday, the Israeli army counted
more than 400 rockets fired by Hezbollah toward the Israeli side. It said the
assault was “the highest rate of shelling since the escalation began on Oct. 8,
2023.”On Wednesday, the army reported “detecting the launch of 40 rockets from
Lebanon toward the Upper Galilee, with some intercepted, while a house in Safed
was hit, causing a fire but no injuries.”
Municipal officials in Safed urged residents to stay near shelters, while the
Israeli Home Front advised the remaining residents of Kiryat Shmona in the Upper
Galilee to do the same.
An Israeli army spokesman said that “some rockets from Lebanon fell in the
Carmel area and Wadi Ara south of Haifa, with others hitting Zikhron Ya’akov and
Bat Shlomo, also south of Haifa, for the first time.”Israeli media reported that
three people were injured in the settlement of Sa’ar, near Nahariya, one of whom
was said to be in a critical condition. In an official
statement, Hezbollah said: “The ballistic missile ‘Qader 1’ was aimed at a
Mossad headquarters in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, which is responsible for
assassinating Hezbollah leaders and blowing up pagers and walkie-talkies.”The
missile traveled more than 100 km, but the Israeli army intercepted it using the
David’s Sling air defense system. Israeli Channel 13
reported that the surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon was directed
toward the Glilot base near Herzliya. The army spokesperson said “the Israeli
Air Force detected the surface-to-surface missile launch toward the greater Tel
Aviv area this morning and after locating its launch platform in the area of
Naffakhiyah in Tyre, it shelled it.”
The Israeli Northern Medical Center said Hezbollah’s attacks resulted in “12
people being lightly injured.”Hezbollah said it targeted the Hatsor settlement
and Dado base “with dozens of rockets.”Later, Israeli Army Radio reported that
about 100 targets in Lebanon were attacked in response to the assault on Tel
Aviv. Israel said its raids targeted Hezbollah
artillery sites, which it alleged were situated within residential buildings.
Israeli military resumed shelling villages that had previously been targeted,
including ones recently added to the target list in areas north of the Litani
line, including the Nabatieh region, Iqlim Al-Tuffah, Zahrani and western,
central and northern Bekaa. For the first time, an
Israeli airstrike targeted the town of Al-Maaysra located in the Keserwan
District of Mount Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil Defense reported an initial death
toll of three individuals, with nine others injured. Israel claimed the strike
was aimed at Sheikh Mohammed Amr, a Hezbollah official in Mount Lebanon and the
north. However, it was later revealed that he was not in the targeted residence,
which belonged to his nephew. The Ministry of Health said that four people were
killed and seven injured during an Israeli operation in the mixed-sect town of
Joun, located in the Chouf District, predominantly inhabited by Druze. The raid
targeted a three-story residential structure that housed both Lebanese and
Syrian residents. Israeli airstrikes targeted Civil
Defense personnel from the Muslim Scout Association in the town of Burj
El-Shemali while they were helping residents whose homes had been struck in an
earlier attack on the area. An airstrike targeting the border town of Bint Jbeil
resulted in the deaths of three people, while strikes in the Baalbek-Hermel
region killed four and injured 38.
Hezbollah mourned the death of three of its members: Abbas Ibrahim Sharaf
Al-Din, Hussein Ahmad Awali and Mohammed Hussein Al-Rabbah.
Kamel Karky, a media photographer for Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah,
was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his home in Qantara. The
Lebanese Red Cross issued repeated calls for blood donations following the
depletion of the stocks that had been collected in recent days. An intense
airstrike was carried out by the Israeli military late on Tuesday night against
a facility in the coastal town of Jiyeh, 28 km south of Beirut. The
repercussions were felt in Beirut, resulting in significant destruction and
causing debris and rocks to obstruct the Beirut-South highway for some time. The
Israeli army also conducted an airstrike near the oil facilities in Zahrani,
south of Sidon, for the first time. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported
that an “airstrike on the border town of Tebnine resulted in the deaths of two
and injuries to 27 others.”
The Israeli army reiterated in leaflets its request to the residents of the
Lebanese border villages who evacuated their homes not to return to them “for
your safety due to the presence of weapons or Hezbollah elements, so do not
return to your homes until further notice.”
Public education institutions in Beirut and its surrounding areas were
transformed into shelters for displaced people, with official agencies
estimating their number at about 40,000 since Monday.
There were many complaints regarding a severe shortage of blankets, bedding and
other essential supplies. Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair, chief of the Lebanese High
Relief Commission, said: “Our efforts are focused on meeting essential needs
with the resources at our disposal.”He appealed to “Arab and foreign countries,
international organizations and expatriate businessmen to assist the displaced
and provide aid to Lebanon during these challenging circumstances.”
Hezbollah is not Hamas. Can Israel afford another
all-out war?
Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN/September 25, 2024
After nearly a year of fighting in Gaza, Israel is ramping up hostilities with
Hezbollah in Lebanon, with covert operations targeting communications devices
and a ferocious bombing campaign that has left hundreds dead. The fight against
Hamas has strained the Israeli military, with soldiers receiving little respite,
officials citing army shortages, the economy facing its steepest decline in
years, and growing public pressure for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.
It is unclear whether Israel intends – or will feel compelled – to launch
a ground invasion into Lebanon. But the question looms: Can the country take on
a second front? Since October 8, the day after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel,
there has been regular cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli
military. Hezbollah first fired at Israel to protest the war in Gaza, demanding
a ceasefire there as a condition to end its attacks. The stakes were raised last
week when Israel injured thousands of people across Lebanon, detonating pagers
and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. Escalating exchanges of fire have
followed. Should Israel enter full-scale war with Hezbollah, experts say it will
face a much stronger threat than Hamas – and commensurate costs. “Hezbollah is
not Hamas,” said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for
National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv who served in Israel’s National
Security Council under three prime ministers. Hezbollah is “a state within a
state” with far more sophisticated military capabilities, he told CNN. Over the
weekend, the group launched one of its deepest strikes into Israel, with the
Israeli military reporting impacts in Kiryat Bialik, Tsur Shalom and Moreshet
near the port city of Haifa, around 40 km (25 miles) south of the border.
The cross-border exchange over the past year has already led to more than
62,000 residents being evacuated from their homes in Israel’s north, and the
deaths of 26 Israeli civilians and 22 soldiers and reservists, according to
Israeli media. Ahead of the weekend’s escalation, over 94,000 had been displaced
and more than 740 killed on the Lebanese side, including some 500 Hezbollah
fighters, according to Reuters. Israeli strikes since Monday alone have killed
at least another 558 people and led to the displacement of 16,500, according to
Lebanese authorities.
Here are some of Israel’s main challenges in a potential wider conflict with
Hezbollah:
A stronger enemy
Iran’s closest regional partner, the Shiite Islamist group has not only
showcased more sophisticated weaponry over the past year, but it also boasts
strategic depth through its allies and partners across the Middle East –
including in Iraq and Yemen. While Israel’s military capabilities have improved
since its last war in Lebanon in 2006 – when the Jewish state did not yet have
its Iron Dome defense system – so has Hezbollah’s arsenal. Military analysts
estimate Hezbollah to have between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, but earlier this
year its leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed it has more than 100,000 fighters and
reservists. The group is also believed to possess between 120,000 and 200,000
rockets and missiles. Its biggest military asset is the long-range ballistic
missile, of which it is estimated to have thousands, including 1,500 precision
missiles with ranges of 250–300 kilometers (155–186 miles). During the weekend
attack, Hezbollah said it targeted Israel’s Ramat David airbase with Fadi 1 and
Fadi 2 missiles, longer-range weapons that are believed to have been used for
the first time. The base is some 30 miles from the Lebanese border. The Israeli
military did not respond to queries about whether the base was impacted. Israeli
emergency services reported that three people were wounded in the attacks.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD) think tank in Washington DC who focuses on Iran and its
proxies, said that the “warhead weight of these projectiles is reminiscent of
the heavy Burkan IRAM (improved rocket assisted munition) first introduced last
winter against Israel by Hezbollah, but at considerably longer
range.”Hezbollah’s attacks using these projectiles “are likely a way the group
aims to save face without losing its head following the communications attacks
and strike on senior leaders last week by Israel,” Ben Taleblu told CNN. Orna
Mizrahi, a Hezbollah expert at INSS said that much of Israel’s ability to fight
a two-front war rests on US support. “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) can fight
both fronts for a long time, and we have the capabilities to do it if we have
the ammunition from the Americans,” Mizrahi said, adding that if there is a
full-scale war, the US will likely intervene to support Israel. Israel also has
a huge intelligence advantage, most notably seen in last week’s audacious
attacks on Hezbollah’s communications.
Stretched military
Israel is a small state and its military manpower is not limitless. As it gears
up for a possible second war, the IDF is diverting some of its key divisions
from Gaza to its northern border. “When you are
fighting more than one front, you cannot invest too much in every front,”
Mizrahi said. “So it will be a different way of fighting.”Israeli Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant last week said that “the center of gravity is moving
north,” and that “forces, resources, energy” are now being moved. Among those
units is Israel’s elite 98th Division. Also known as Utzbat HaEsh, this
paratrooper division is believed to consist of 10,000 to 20,000 troops,
according to Israeli media. Guzansky said that diverting resources toward
Lebanon does not mean the Gaza war is over, but that Netanyahu feels compelled
to deal with the northern front amid mounting domestic pressure to facilitate
the return of evacuees from the area. Analysts and army officials cited in
Israeli media have also repeatedly said the IDF is suffering from shortages. At
the outset of the war with Hamas, the military recruited about 295,000
reservists in an effort to boost its manpower. But that number is proving
insufficient. The fighting in Gaza and elsewhere has also taken its toll on
soldiers, of whom 715 have so far been killed since October 7, including in the
north. “This is the longest (war) of its kind in Israel’s history, longer than
the War of Independence in 1948,” Guzansky said, adding that this is Hezbollah
and Iran’s goal, “to weaken Israel gradually.”“To fire rockets every day, on a
low scale, and to occupy the IDF, to overstretch the IDF,” he said.
An economy in decline
Israel’s economy has been one of the biggest casualties of the war in Gaza,
taking a sharp blow from the early days of the October 7 attack. Thousands of
businesses suffered as reservists abandoned their civilian lives to take up
arms, and the country’s economy is shrinking at an alarming rate. “It’s
devastating on the Israeli economy, on Israeli society,” Guzansky said, adding
that the impacts will live on for years to come. Of all 38 nations in the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Israel showed the
sharpest economic slowdown between April and June of this year, the organization
said in its quarterly report. According to OECD data,
Israel’s economy shrank by 4.1% in the early months of the war, and continued to
contract, albeit at a slower rate, throughout the first and second quarters of
2024. The contracting economy comes as Israel’s military spending skyrockets.
Earlier this year, Amir Yaron, the governor of Israel’s central bank, warned
that the war is expected to cost Israel up to 253 billion Israeli shekels ($67
billion) between 2023 and 2025, Israeli media reported. That’s almost 13% of
Israel’s GDP, in addition to regular military expenditure, which has stood at an
annual 4.5% to 6.5% of GDP, according to World Bank data. An expansion of the
conflict has also impacted Israel’s credit rating, making it more expensive to
take on debt, with multiple rating agencies downgrading the country since the
war began. In a statement last month, credit ratings agency Moody’s warned that
an all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran could have significant “credit
consequences for Israeli debt issuers.”
A legitimacy crisis
A second front, especially one that could be far more damaging to Lebanon than
to Israel, could be the final straw for many countries already critical of
Israel’s war in Gaza, experts said. The global
sympathy that Israel received in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack
has turned into sharp criticism due to Israel’s devastating reaction, as it now
faces accusations of war crimes and genocide in international courts, which it
strongly denies. Domestically, while Israelis showed a greater appetite for
fighting at the outset of the Gaza war, polls show that domestic support has
waned over the last months. On support for a war with Hezbollah, Israelis appear
split on the matter. A survey published by the Israel Democracy Institute think
tank in July found that 42% of Israelis think their country should pursue a
diplomatic agreement with Hezbollah, despite the chances of an additional
conflict in the future, while 38% think Israel should pursue a military victory
against the group, even at the cost of significant damage to civilian areas.
Despite the split in opinion, there is now less support for war with
Hezbollah compared to responses in late 2023, the poll said. Guzansky said that
pressure for war is likely more palpable in northern Israel, where “people that
don’t have businesses anymore, families (are) broken apart… people (are) being
killed.” Many of these residents, who have lived close to the frontline for
nearly a year, believe that “only a full-scale war can change the reality in the
north,” he added.
Israel intercepts Hezbollah ballistic missile near Tel Aviv
in first such attack
Irene Nasser, Dana Karni, Helen Regan and Sophie Tanno, CNN/September 25, 2024
Israel intercepted a missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, an
unprecedented attack by the militant group that reached deep into the country’s
commercial heartlands and marked a new escalatory step in the conflict between
the two sides. People in Tel Aviv and the central city
of Netanya woke up to sirens on Wednesday as Israel said its air defenses
intercepted a surface-to-surface missile – the first time ever a missile fired
by Hezbollah has reached close to the city, the Israeli military said.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah confirmed it launched a Qadr 1
ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence service
Mossad, which it blames for attacks targeting its members, including the
coordinated explosions of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies last week. It
is believed to be the first ballistic missile to be launched by Hezbollah toward
Israel, and was fired “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza”
and in “defense of Lebanon and its people,” Hezbollah said. The Israeli military
said the missile was intercepted near Tel Aviv, a city of more than 4 million
people on the Mediterranean coast, and the air force struck its launcher in the
area of Nafakhiyeh, southern Lebanon. “Following the sirens that sounded in the
Tel Aviv and Netanya areas, one surface-to-surface missile was identified
crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” the
Israeli military said. Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani described
the missile as “heavy” and “long range.”“It’s the first time that Hezbollah has
fired toward Tel Aviv,” he said. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly
said that any Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital would prompt an attack on
Israel’s economic center.
Israel and Hezbollah’s exchange of fire continued Wednesday.
At least 10 people were killed in Lebanon on Wednesday, officials said,
as the Israeli military said it launched “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah in the
south and east of the country. The IDF told CNN it had
struck more than 100 targets in Lebanon on Wednesday so far.
Meanwhile, around 40 projectiles crossed from Lebanon into Israel on
Wednesday morning, according to the IDF. Several were intercepted but one hit an
assisted-living facility in northern Israel, with no injuries reported. Since
the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas
last October, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones from Lebanon
targeting northern Israel. About 60,000 people have been evacuated from Israel’s
northern region as a result of the cross-border fighting. Israel has maintained
that fighting will continue until it is safe for those residents to return home.
The missile intercept comes days after Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah
killed more than 500 people across Lebanon, including dozens of children. Monday
was the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly two decades. Flights at Tel Aviv’s
Ben Gurion airport continued as usual Wednesday, an airport spokesperson said.
Sirens were heard Wednesday in Netanya for the first time since October 7, 2023,
according to Israeli authorities.
Misery in Lebanon
In recent days, Israel and Hezbollah have traded waves of airstrikes and rocket
attacks, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure — which
it has said are embedded in residential areas — with one strike killing a senior
commander, Ibrahim Qubaisi, on Tuesday. The Israeli military said Qubaisi
commanded various Hezbollah missile units and was killed along with two other
commanders in southern Beirut. Residents who have fled their homes in Lebanon
said residential areas had been flattened and whole towns emptied. One man told
CNN he witnessed “non-stop bombardment from every direction” which he described
as “indiscriminate bombing.” The UN children’s agency (UNICEF) warned that many
children remain “missing under rubble” and caught “on dangerous roads” after
Israeli airstrikes. At least 558 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on
Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass
Abiad said. More children were killed in the country in one day on Monday than
in the entire past year, Ettie Higgins, UNICEF Deputy Representative for Lebanon
Ettie Higgins told a UN briefing. Meanwhile Lebanese hospitals are struggling
with the influx of wounded, and there are difficulties getting those in need to
hospital for treatment as roads were congested with people trying to flee from
Israeli strikes. British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah said the
healthcare system is “very, very fragile” as it cannot cope with more than 2,000
injuries in two days. “We have received children with
unfortunately, the same pattern of injuries that I used to see in Gaza,”
Abu-Sittah told CNN. “Blast injuries in the face, amputations to the limbs,
multiple shrapnel injuries, crushing injuries as a result of houses being
demolished on top of them.”An estimated half a million people have been
displaced in Lebanon, the country’s foreign minister said Tuesday, with that
number set to rise further. Om Hussein’s family were among the thousands who
fled the country’s south. They spent 14 hours on the road to Beirut, stuck in
congested roads, and said they didn’t have time to collect clothes or medicine.
“We had no food or water, but volunteers on motorcycles distributed water to
those stranded in cars,” she told CNN. On Wednesday, the Israeli military warned
displaced residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes as it vowed
to speed up its “offensive operations” against Hezbollah without reprieve.
Israeli troops held exercises simulating ground combat in Lebanon, which the
military has not ruled out.
Israel Widens Air Strikes After Hezbollah Fires at Tel Aviv
Henry Meyer/Bloomberg/September 25, 2024
Israel stepped up its heaviest air attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since
2006 after shooting down the first missile ever fired by the militant group at
Tel Aviv. Air sirens were activated in Israel’s
commercial capital early on Wednesday as the projectile flew over central parts
of the country, the military said. Hezbollah, an organization backed by Iran,
said it was aiming for the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s
external-intelligence agency, in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. The US, Europe and
Arab states are striving to calm the escalating fighting and prevent an Israeli
ground offensive on Lebanon, which would likely entail large human and economic
costs. Such a scenario could spiral into a region-wide war that risks dragging
Washington and Tehran into direct conflict. Around 570 people have been killed
since Israel started a massive bombardment of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa
valley in the northeast on Monday, Lebanese government officials said, a figure
that included at least 50 children. More than 1,800 people were wounded. Israel
broadened its targets on Wednesday, striking a town north of Beirut and carrying
out an attack south-east of the Lebanese capital.
Hezbollah fired about 300 rockets at northern Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli
army said. Israel Electric Corp., the country’s biggest power provider, said a
“strategic” facility was targeted without causing damage. On Wednesday, the
militant group fired a rocket at the northern town of Safed without causing any
casualties. Lebanon is on “the brink,” United Nations
Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday at the organization’s annual
summit in New York. “The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people
of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
US President Joe Biden, in his final address to the general assembly, reiterated
his call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as a way to
de-escalate tension in the wider region. Hezbollah started firing rockets at
Israel shortly after the start of that conflict in October, fighting in
solidarity with its fellow Iran-backed group. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are
considered terrorist organizations by the US.
The prospects of a Gaza truce any time soon look slim, however. Talks mediated
by the US, Qatar and Egypt have been deadlocked for several months and there’s
no indication of an imminent breakthrough. Saudi Arabia warned of the “dangers
of spreading violence across the region.” The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan
and Iraq, in a joint statement, said Israel “is pushing the region toward a
comprehensive war.”Israel says its attacks on Lebanon are aimed at Hezbollah
targets and meant to force the group’s fighters away from the Israel-Lebanon
border area. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s set to travel to New York
to speak at the UN later this week, is trying to enable tens of thousands of
displaced Israelis to return to their homes in the north of the country. A
similar number of people have had to flee southern Lebanon.
The Israeli strikes on Lebanon started days after an attack in which
thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies owned primarily by Hezbollah members in
the country exploded. Hezbollah and Iran blamed Israel, which neither confirmed
nor denied it was responsible. Israel later killed top military commanders in
Beirut in a bombing raid. Israel has killed “valuable”
Hezbollah members but this won’t dent the group’s strength, Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. The Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah “cannot
go unanswered,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech at the UN
meeting. Netanyahu and his generals appear to believe
they can force Hezbollah’s hand with an aerial campaign alone and avoid sending
troops into southern Lebanon. Still, Israeli officials say they are prepared to
move soldiers across the border if they deem it necessary.
Beirut hasn’t been the target of a major bombardment, but Israel has
struck it several times in the past two days in attacks seemingly aimed at
specific Hezbollah commanders. On Tuesday, the military killed Ibrahim Muhammad
Qabisi, head of Hezbollah’s missiles and rockets force, in one such operation.
“Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter will be destroyed,” Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant told Israeli troops, adding that Israel’s forces have been
hardened by fighting Hamas in Gaza for almost a year. Israel believes that in
the past week it has destroyed about half of Hezbollah’s short-range rockets,
which can fly up to 45 kilometers (28 miles), and their medium-range
equivalents, which can hit targets 125 kilometers away, according to an Israeli
official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The hostilities are likely to exacerbate the economic and political
turmoil that’s embroiled Lebanon for about five years. Inflation is running at
35%, and the country — under s caretaker government — is in default on tens of
billions of dollars of international bonds.
Terrified families flee their homes in Lebanon amid new Israeli airstrikes
Sky News/September 25, 2024
Emergency workers have been struggling to cope with the sudden spike of people
fleeing their homes in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli forces continued
their campaign of airstrikes across the country. The capital, Beirut, was struck
for the third time in five days as the Israeli military said it had targeted and
"eliminated" another key Hezbollah commander. He was
named by Israeli forces as Muhammed Qabisi - Hezbollah's commander in charge of
missiles and rockets - and comes days after the militant group buried another of
its top leaders. There were multiple Israeli
airstrikes across the south and in the east for a second day as huge swathes of
the population continued fleeing to the north of the country.
We saw terrified and worried families turning up at the emergency centre
in Tyre as Israeli jets flew overhead alongside the sounds of Hezbollah rockets
being fired into Israel. "We have nothing left," a
woman called Fatima told us. "We have no food, no water, nothing."
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said two of its workers had been killed in
airstrikes, including a young mother and her son. The
agency said it was "outraged and deeply saddened" at the deaths.
Dina Daarwiche and her family were at home in the Bekaa Valley when the
house was targeted. She and her youngest son were
killed and her husband and second child are critical in hospital.
The second UNHCR worker was named as Ali Basma, who had worked in the
agency's Tyre office for seven years. The Lebanese Ministry Of Health said the
number killed in Monday and Tuesday's airstrikes included children and many
women and had now risen to nearly 600. UNHCR said in a
statement: "The protection of civilians is a must. "We
reiterate the UN secretary-general's call for urgent de-escalation and calls on
all parties to protect civilians, including aid workers in line with obligations
under international humanitarian law." We've been witnessing multiple airstrikes
in the south throughout the day and evening with the constant sounds of blasts
and ambulance sirens going off. The head of Tyre's
emergency response, Hassan Dbouk, told us: "Half of the IDPs (displaced people),
they slept in the garden, on the beach, without any tent, any cover, any
blanket, in the streets and in their cars, that's a disaster. "And when you see
the eyes of the babies and the women, it's really a disaster."As desperate
people turned up at the disaster response centre in Tyre, one man told us his
was the only house still standing in his village.
"They hit them all," Abu Ali said.
The Israeli forces say they are targeting Hezbollah weapons stores, fighters and
commanders and said the militant group is hiding in residential areas and using
Lebanese people as human shields. But Abu Ali insisted: "That's not true. Not a
single target (in our village) was on a military position. "They're only hitting
civilians. We don't have military operations in our village."The astonishing
movement of tens of thousands of the Lebanese population from the south and
along the border comes on the back of nearly a year of Israel saying it wants to
create a buffer zone so Hezbollah cannot fire into its northern communities.
Even if the continuous Israeli bombardment of the south and the border is not a
deliberate tactic to ensure this happens, that certainly appears to be the
growing result. But despite a range of Israeli attacks on its military command
and supporters through the booby-trapped pagers and radios; despite its
targeting of key Hezbollah commanders; and despite its aerial bombardment of
multiple population centres and significant Hezbollah strongholds, the militant
group shows no signs of backing down. Last night, for
the first time, the group used a ballistic missile aimed at the suburbs of Tel
Aviv, they say targeting a Mossad building, and in the last few days they have
continuously fired their long-range Fadi rockets, which they have been launching
deeper and deeper into Israeli territory. The
Iran-allied group, which the UK and US have designated as a terror group, has
linked its attacks on Israel since last October to a Gaza ceasefire - and
insists it will continue until there is one. That's ensured its hero status
among its many loyalists and its Hamas allies. But
with a Gaza ceasefire unlikely soon, and with the Israeli forces vowing to
increase their onslaught on the militants, Lebanon looks set for a very rough
period ahead.
The Sky News team reporting with Alex Crawford from south Lebanon is camera Jake
Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producers Jihad Jneid
and Sami Zein.
Hezbollah fires a missile at Tel Aviv in deepest strike yet
after Israeli bombardment of Lebanon
Melanie Lidman, Tia Goldenberg And Kareem Chehayeb/TEL AVIV,
Israel (AP)/September 25, 2024
Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel early Wednesday, including a
missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group's deepest strike yet and
marked a further escalation after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed hundreds of
people. The Israeli military said it intercepted the
surface-to-surface missile, which set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across
central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The military said
it struck the site in southern Lebanon where the missile was launched.
The launch ratcheted up tensions as the region appeared to be teetering
toward another all-out war, even as Israel continues to battle Hamas in the Gaza
Strip. A wave of Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday killed at least 560
people in Lebanon and forced thousands to seek refuge. Fleeing families have
flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into
shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach. Some sought to leave
the country, causing a traffic jam at the border with Syria.
Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the
headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, which it blames for a
recent string of targeted killings of its top commanders and for an attack last
week in which explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of
people and wounded thousands, including many Hezbollah members.
The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from
Lebanon had reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an
intelligence base near Tel Aviv last month in an aerial attack, but there was no
confirmation. The Palestinian Hamas militant group in Gaza repeatedly targeted
Tel Aviv in the opening months of the war. Hezbollah's
latest strikes included dozens of rockets fired Wednesday into northern Israel,
the military said. Two people suffered shrapnel wounds in the agricultural
community of Kibbutz Saar, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue
service. Israel responded with its own new strikes on
Hezbollah. In Lebanon, at least three people were killed and nine wounded in an
Israeli strike near Byblos, according to the country's Health Ministry. The
coastal town is north of Beirut and far from Hezbollah's main strongholds.
The Israeli military has said there are no immediate plans for a ground
invasion, but it has declined to give a timetable for the air campaign.
Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group have steadily escalated
over the last 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones
into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas,
a fellow Iran-backed militant group.
Israel has responded with increasingly heavy airstrikes and the targeted killing
of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a wider operation.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Lebanon for
Wednesday at the request of France. Nearly a year of fighting between Hezbollah
and Israel had already displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of
the border before this week’s escalation. Israel has vowed to do whatever it
takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while
Hezbollah has said it will keep up its rocket attacks until there is a
cease-fire in Gaza, something that appears increasingly remote.
The rocket fire over the past week has disrupted life for more than 1
million people across northern Israel, with schools closed and restrictions on
public gatherings. Many restaurants and other businesses are shut in the coastal
city of Haifa, and there are fewer people on the streets. Some who fled south
from communities near the border are coming under rocket fire again.
Israel has moved thousands of troops who had been serving in Gaza to the
northern border. It says Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles,
including some capable of striking anywhere in Israel, and that the group has
fired some 9,000 rockets and drones since last October. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani,
an Israeli military spokesperson, said the missile fired Wednesday had a “heavy
warhead” but declined to elaborate or confirm it was the type described by
Hezbollah. He dismissed Hezbollah's claim of targeting the Mossad headquarters,
located just north of Tel Aviv, as “psychological warfare.” The Iranian-made
Qader is a medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile with multiple types
and payloads. It can carry an explosive payload of up to 800 kilograms (1,760
pounds), according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies. Iranian officials have described the liquid-fueled
missile as having a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). Cross-border fire
began ramping up Sunday in the wake of the pager and walkie-talkie bombings,
which killed 39 people and wounded nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. Lebanon
blamed Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny responsibility. On Sunday,
Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel.
The next day, Israel said its warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets,
destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones,
including weapons concealed in private homes. The strikes racked up the highest
one-day death toll in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising
monthlong war in 2006. An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Ibrahim
Kobeisi, whom Israel described as a top Hezbollah commander with the group’s
rocket and missile unit. Military officials said Kobeisi was responsible for
launches toward Israel and planned a 2000 attack in which three Israeli soldiers
were kidnapped and killed. Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
It was the latest in a string of assassinations and other setbacks for
Hezbollah, which is Lebanon's strongest political and military actor and is
widely considered the top paramilitary force in the Arab world. Lebanon’s Health
Ministry said six people were killed and 15 were wounded in the strike in a
southern Beirut suburb, an area where Hezbollah has a strong presence. The
country’s National News Agency said the attack destroyed three floors of a
six-story apartment building. The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees in
Lebanon said one of its staffers and her young son were among those killed
Monday in the Bekaa region, while a cleaner under contract was killed in a
strike in the south. Hezbollah fired 300 rockets on
Tuesday, injuring six Israeli soldiers and civilians, most of them lightly,
according to the Israeli military. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least
564 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, including 50
children and 94 women, and that more than 1,800 have been wounded, a staggering
toll for a country still reeling from the deadly pager and walkie-talkie
bombings last week.
Israel has landed heavy blows on Hezbollah. The victory it
seeks could prove elusive
Joseph Krauss/The Associated Press/September 25, 2024
It has been a devastating week for Hezbollah and the people of Lebanon.
Bombs hidden in the group's pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of
people and wounded thousands — many of them Hezbollah members. Israeli strikes
on Beirut killed two of Hezbollah's top commanders. And Israel has bombed what
it said were 1,600 militant sites across large parts of Lebanon, killing
hundreds of people and displacing thousands. Israel
says its objective is to secure the border so that tens of thousands of people
who fled under Hezbollah fire nearly a year ago can return to their homes. But
it's far from clear that its recent operations — as tactically successful as
they were — will bring that about. “No one either in
or out of the defense establishment has any clue as to how to translate these
brilliant operational achievements into political benefit, into a real victory
that will stop the war in the north,” columnist Nadav Eyal wrote in Israel’s
Yediot Ahronot newspaper. “As long as Hezbollah
retains any firepower, the northern border will not be able to return to
normal.”Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack
triggered the war in Gaza. Its stated aim was to pin down Israeli forces in the
north to help its ally Hamas, which — like Hezbollah — is backed by Iran. The
Lebanese militant group has said it would cease the attacks if there is a
cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly unlikely.
Hezbollah's response to the past week's escalation has seemed meager. The
hundreds of rockets and drones it has fired into northern Israel — including
areas much farther from the border than it hit previously — have caused few
casualties and only scattered damage. The militants
fired a longer-range missile early Wednesday that targeted Tel Aviv for the
first time, marking a clear escalation. The Israeli military said it intercepted
the projectile, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.
Experts say Hezbollah is holding more such weapons in reserve.
Israeli air power has its limits
The footage on Monday of Israeli strikes sending up plumes of dust and smoke
seemed grimly familiar. The American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the NATO
campaign in Libya in 2011, and the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State group
in 2014 all began with massive airstrikes lighting up the sky. In each case, the
war dragged on for months or years, and ground forces played a crucial role.
Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza began with nearly three weeks of heavy
airstrikes across the territory, followed by a full-scale ground invasion.
Nearly a year later, Hamas is still putting up a fight and holding scores of
hostages.
With Hezbollah, Israel has so far adopted narrower objectives — not the
disarmament or defeat of the Lebanese militant group, but a new arrangement in
which militants retreat from the border and halt their attacks. But even that
may not be possible without a ground invasion.
There's also the risk of mission-creep, as America discovered after its wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan ground on for years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein
and the Taliban. NATO airstrikes initially aimed at preventing a feared massacre
in Benghazi morphed into a seven-month campaign of regime change from which
Libya has yet to fully recover. Hezbollah likely has
capabilities we haven't seen yet. Israel's Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant boasted that Monday's strikes alone had taken out tens of
thousands of Hezbollah's rockets and missiles. “This is the most difficult week
for Hezbollah since its establishment," he added. "A blow has been dealt to the
chain of command, to the terrorists themselves on different levels, to their
shooting capabilities and to their morale.”Hezbollah has acknowledged suffering
heavy blows, but even if Gallant's assessment is correct, it still has
considerable resources. “The rocket unit is still active, Hezbollah has absorbed
the initial shock, and the battle has only begun,” said Qassim Qassir, a former
Hezbollah member who wrote a book about the group. “Hezbollah has only used a
small part of its capabilities."The militant group was established with the help
of Iran following Israel's 1982 invasion and occupation of Lebanon, and it seeks
Israel’s destruction. It has survived countless battles with Israeli forces,
replaced several slain commanders over the years and rearmed after a monthlong
war in 2006. Hezbollah claims to have some 100,000 fighters. Before the latest
hostilities, it was believed to have some 150,000 rockets and missiles,
including long-range projectiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, and
some precision-guided missiles. Its more sophisticated
weapons are likely being held in reserve as it seeks to avoid triggering an
all-out war. Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli military intelligence analyst and
founder of the Alma Research and Education Center, a think tank focused on the
northern border, said Hezbollah has concealed its weapons in different parts of
the country, including in areas close to Beirut where it has a strong presence.
“Hezbollah was building redundancy, so they spread their munitions and
infrastructure all over, and that’s why that many targets are being attacked,
because it’s everywhere,” she said. Hezbollah is far more advanced militarily
than Hamas. Hezbollah also has a far larger area in which to operate, extensive
supply lines linking it more directly to Iran, and networks of tunnels
potentially even more extensive than those in Gaza. In
the event of a ground invasion, Hezbollah fighters could be joined by thousands
of fighters from fellow Iran-backed groups from Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere in the
region.
Neither side has good options
Israel says it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion but is prepared for
one, and has sent thousands of battle-hardened forces from Gaza to the northern
border. If the air campaign fails to bring Hezbollah to heel, Israeli leaders
will be tempted to send them in.
Even if the goal is only to carve out a buffer zone to better secure the north,
the risks are great. Most Israelis are insulated from
the air war by distance and Israel's missile defense systems, but a ground
invasion would mean more casualties and protracted fighting for soldiers and
reservists already weary from a year of war in Gaza. Hezbollah waged an
18-year-long insurgency against Israel the last time it occupied Lebanon,
eventually forcing it to withdraw, and another prolonged occupation could be
similarly costly. Israel has already faced international outrage over the war in
Gaza, including ongoing investigations by top world courts, and risks even
greater isolation if it launches a similar campaign in Lebanon.
Hezbollah also has few good options.
Halting its rocket fire on the north in the face of Israeli pressure would
likely be seen by its supporters — and its patron Iran — as a humiliating
capitulation and an abandonment of the Palestinians. Escalating its attacks,
either by launching more sophisticated rockets or targeting major cities like
Tel Aviv, could bring an even more crushing Israeli response or an all-out war
that devastates Lebanon — with Hezbollah at risk of being blamed. Hezbollah
leader Hassan Nasrallah already faces criticism from many Lebanese who accuse
him of tying their country’s fate to Iran and inviting war at a time of
financial ruin. That leaves it stuck with the status quo, in which Israel
carries out increasingly heavy strikes while Hezbollah makes do with a
relatively restrained response. For Hezbollah, and the Lebanese people, that
might make the coming weeks even worse.
Displaced Lebanese recount their ordeal of Israeli strikes and escape
Emilie Madi/September 25, 2024
BEIRUT (Reuters) - After evacuating her family from the village of Seddiqine in
southern Lebanon, Feryal Mehsen went back to fetch belongings. It was then that
an Israeli airstrike hit close by. Now in a shelter in Beirut, she sits
scrolling through messages from friends and relatives checking if she survived
the blast. "Are you still alive? I heard that you’re dead," one man asked her in
a voice recording. Israel's bombardment of southern villages in Lebanon,
striking what it says are sites linked to the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, has
driven tens of thousands of people like Mehsen, 58, from their homes. Seddiqine
residents had grown used to sporadic bombardment of the area near their village
over months of cross-border fire triggered by the war in Gaza that began a year
ago, but were not prepared for Monday's sudden escalation.
"All the people rushed out but I don't panic easily so I helped my
neighbours get out. Then I came inside again and helped my family to leave with
me," Mehsen said. She left with her daughter and
grandchildren, taking them to the southern city of Tyre before returning to
Seddiqine to collect their belongings. That was when the airstrike hit.
"The rocket landed in front of me. I was shocked. I couldn't hear or see
after that. Dust was everywhere. So I drove off quickly," she said. As Israeli
strikes intensified across southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah firing at targets in
northern Israel, the family joined the throng of displaced people seeking refuge
in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. They ended up in the same shelter that Mehsen had
used during the last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in July 2006.
"Now the situation is much harder," she said.
'ATMOSPHERE OF WAR'
In the same shelter, 63-year-old Souad Mahde was registering her name after
fleeing her own southern Lebanese village of Qsaibah. "The day before yesterday
strikes started getting closer and planes were in the sky. We were scared," she
said. As the strikes started to creep closer into the village from the fields
outside, Qsaibah's residents fled. "The first thing I thought of was to take
some clothes so I could change if we got somewhere. Just the basics, and
medicine of course. Nothing more than that. No one cares any more about things
like the house because fear takes over," she said. As people across southern
Lebanon headed north, the roads filled with crawling traffic. A journey that
would normally take two hours turned into a day-long journey.
"Our way out was very slow. The traffic was horrible. It was really hard.
We moved for a bit and stopped for a bit. There were strikes here and there
until we reached Beirut. It took us until evening," she said. Reaching her
destination did not bring her a sense of peace. "Even
in Beirut, there is an atmosphere of war. Of course, we are in a war," she said.
David's Sling intercepts rocket from Lebanon for first
time
Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
The IDF used David's Sling to intercept a rocket from Lebanon, triggering sirens
across central Israel due to safety precautions.
The IDF used the "David's Sling" system in an operational interception of a
rocket launched from southern Lebanon over the skies of central Israel, Israeli
media reported on Wednesday morning. Despite identifying a single rocket
targeting the center of the country, sirens sounded across multiple cities. “Due
to uncertainty about where it will land and risk of interception shrapnel,
sirens may sound in more distant places,” former Defense Array System Commander
Ilan Biton explained, according to KAN. The David's Sling system, formerly known
as the "Magic Wand," is designed to intercept advanced threats, including
ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft, and drones. The was jointly
developed by the US and Israel under the directive of the “Homa” Missile
Directorate at the Defense Ministry. David's Sling is
intended to intercept very advanced threats, which is why the cost of each
interceptor is very high, amounting to over one million dollars, Israeli media
sites explained. About a year ago, the system intercepted a missile launched
from the Gaza Strip toward central Israel. David's Sling is the third layer in
the national missile and rocket defense system, above the future laser system
"Iron Beam" and Iron Dome, and below the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 missiles. The
system was developed by Rafael and the American Raytheon. Along the flight path
of an aerial threat, there are designated zones where the missile is expected to
fall, according to KAN’s report. “Therefore, there are areas along the flight
path where a siren may blare for a more distant area,” even though the
interception may occur in an earlier zone along the missile’s path, explained
Biton. Hezbollah had intended to target a Mossad base near Tel Aviv, according
to a report on Reuters on Wednesday. The attack was in response to Israel’s
responsibility for assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, as well as blowing up
pagers mid-September. The missile which triggered the sirens in central Israel
fell into the sea off the coast of Herzliya and Tel Aviv, Home Front Command
announced.
Finland's $345M purchase
David’s Sling’s development began in 2006 with US funding, and the system began
operating in 2016. Its interceptor missile has a unique structure, and it is
equipped with a radar and an optical sensor. The control system was developed
and supplied by Elbit. The radar was developed by Elta, which is a division of
the Israel Aerospace Industries. In 2018, two years after its introduction,
David's Sling failed in its first operational interception attempt, targeting
two Syrian missiles. It is possible that due to that failure, the Air Force's
air defense system decided to use the system this time, to test it again and
evaluate the improvements made to it. In addition to Israel, one foreign
customer purchased the defense system: Finland. The country bought David’s Sling
as part of its efforts to enhance military readiness following Russia's invasion
of Ukraine. Finland announced in 2023 that it would purchase the system in a
deal worth $345 million, with an option to increase it to $600 million.
Britain sends ships to Cyprus in preparation for potential mass Lebanon
evacuation
Reuters/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
Britain is deploying 700 troops to Cyprus to assist nationals leaving Lebanon
amid escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah. Britain is moving troops
to Cyprus to help its nationals leave Lebanon, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer
warned that the escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah was pushing
the region towards the brink. The government said in a statement late on Tuesday
that 700 troops would travel to Cyprus, bolstering its presence in the area
where it already has two Royal Navy ships, aircraft and transport helicopters.
"Events in the past hours and days have demonstrated how volatile this
situation is, which is why our message is clear, British nationals should leave
now," said Defence Secretary John Healey. "Our
government is ensuring all preparations are in place to support British
nationals should the situation deteriorate." Fierce fighting this week between
Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah has increased fears that nearly a
year of conflict will explode and destabilize the Middle East, where a war
between Hamas and Israel is already raging in Gaza.
Starmer urges ceasefire
Starmer said he was very concerned that the region was spiraling out of control.
"All parties need to pull back from the brink," he said in an interview with LBC
radio. "I'm obviously going to New York to the UN General Assembly to talk to
colleagues and allies, but my message will be very much ceasefire. Pull back
from the brink. De-escalate the situation." Israel's
offensive since Monday morning has killed 569 people, including 50 children, and
wounded 1,835 in Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad has said.
Thousands of displaced people who fled from southern Lebanon were
sheltering in schools and other buildings. Israel has said it is shifting its
focus from Gaza to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing
rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.
Britain urges nationals to leave Lebanon as
Israel-Hezbollah tensions escalate
Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
The Defense Ministry also announced that 700 troops will be sent to the region
to assist in evacuation. Britain has announced that its nationals should leave
Lebanon and continued to advise against all travel to the country amid the
escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Isarel, the Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office said on Tuesday. "The Government continues to prepare its
contingency plans following significant escalation between Israel and Lebanon in
recent days," the office said in a statement. “Events in the past hours and days
have demonstrated how volatile this situation is, which is why our message is
clear: British nationals should leave now,” Defence Secretary John Healey said.
Hezbollah wants to maintain the illusion of a 'military vs military' war -
analysis
Seth J.Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
Hezbollah escalated attacks on Israel, targeting near Tel Aviv with ballistic
missiles on September 25 in response to Israeli strikes.
Hezbollah, on September 25, sought to target an area near Tel Aviv with a
ballistic missile. Later, the group also targeted an area near Zicron Yaakov.
This represents the furthest extent of Hezbollah's attacks since it began its
attacks on Israel on October 8. Hezbollah’s strikes on September 25 is
apparently in response to Israel’s increased attacks on Israel that began over
the past week and culminated in strikes on 1,600 targets on September 23.
This is not the first time Hezbollah has sought to target areas close to
Tel Aviv. On August 25, a month before the September 25 ballistic missile
launch, the group also claimed to target an area near Tel Aviv. Hassan Nasrallah
claimed Hezbollah targeted the IDF’s 8200 unit at Glilot.
However, Hezbollah was frustrated in its August 25 attacks by an IDF
preemptive strike that destroyed many Hezbollah launchers and prevented a larger
attack. Instead, Hezbollah was able to launch several hundred rockets. Now
Hezbollah is back to targeting central Israel. It is doing this to expand the
“equation” of its attacks. It usually targeted only Israeli border areas. When
Israel struck the Bekaa valley, Hezbollah would usually claim to target other
IDF sites in the Galilee, launching rockets at Mount Meron or areas near the
Golani junction.
Ongoing military engagement following Israeli strikes
When Israel struck Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah commander, in Beirut in July,
Hezbollah responded with the August 25 attack. Now, Israel has eliminated
numerous Hezbollah commanders and carried out more strikes in Beirut. Hezbollah
has responded by claiming to target the Ramat David airbase in the Jezreel
valley. Now, Hezbollah is upping its claims and its targets. Hezbollah appears
proud of using a single ballistic missile in the September 25 attack. Hezbollah
supposedly has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets, but some have been destroyed by
Israel’s airstrikes. It has lost some of its medium and long-range missile
capacity. It has also lost the ability to launch some of the rockets. Hezbollah
still has precision-guided munitions and large numbers of drones. It appears
Hezbollah is not ready to unleash a large barrage against central Israel. It
prefers small attacks using one missile, as in today’s case, or barrages of five
or ten rockets targeting areas east of Haifa. Hezbollah also continues to keep
up the image of targeting IDF sites and thus carrying on a “military vs
military’ war. It wants to show it can go toe-to-toe with the IDF.
This is an illusion, but Hezbollah wants to maintain the illusion. For
now, it has sought to increase the equation of launching deeper attacks into
Israel as a new normal to confront Israel’s increased attacks in Lebanon.
IDF commander urges readiness for possible Lebanon invasion amid Hezbollah
conflict
Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
IDF Northern Commander urges readiness for potential Lebanon invasion amid
escalating conflict with Hezbollah as Operation Northern Arrows intensifies. IDF
Northern Commander Maj. Gen. Uri Gordon on Wednesday told his forces that "we
need to be very ready to go into action and to invade" Lebanon in the rising
escalation against Hezbollah. Speaking to Brigade 7, he emphasized that their
actions must change the security reality for Israel's 60,000 northern residents
who have been evacuated from their homes for nearly a year.
In addition, Gordon said, "We have entered a new phase in the conflict, and now
we are fighting as part of Operation Northern Arrows.""The operation began with
very harsh strikes against Hezbollah's capabilities, with an emphasis on its
[long-range] firepower, as well as significant harm to its commanders and
operatives."
Weaken Hezbollah with airstrikes
Earlier on Wednesday, former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said that the
IDF should wear down Hezbollah with air power for two weeks before beginning a
ground forces invasion.
However, other sources have told the Jerusalem Post that the key parts of any
ground invasion should be wrapped up by around the start of November to avoid
major maneuvers in Lebanon's mountainous winter weather. Western powers are
still hoping to convince Israel to forego a ground invasion in favor of
diplomacy. Meanwhile, all IDF political and defense officials have acknowledged
that even in the event of a ground invasion, diplomacy will eventually be needed
to solidify any long-term gains from the use of military force.
Hezbollah uses flexible command and tunnels to sustain
operations, sources say
Reuters/September 25/2024
A Hezbollah official, said the attack on communication devices put 1,500
fighters out of commission because of their injuries. Hezbollah's flexible chain
of command, together with its extensive tunnel network and a vast arsenal of
missiles and weapons it has bolstered over the past year, is helping it weather
unprecedented Israeli strikes, three sources familiar with the Lebanese militant
group's operations said. Israel's assault on Hezbollah
over the past week, including the targeting of senior commanders and the
detonation of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies, has left the powerful
Lebanese Shiite militant group and political party reeling.
On Friday, Israel killed the commander who founded and led the group's
elite Radwan force, Ibrahim Aqil. And since Monday, Lebanon's deadliest day of
violence in decades, the health ministry says more than 560 people, among them
50 children, have died in air barrages.
The Israeli military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said on Sunday that Aqil's
death had shaken the organization. Israel says its strikes have also destroyed
thousands of Hezbollah rockets and shells. But two of the sources familiar with
Hezbollah operations said the group swiftly appointed replacements for Aqil and
other senior figures killed in Friday's airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an Aug. 1 speech that the group
quickly fills gaps whenever a leader is killed. A fourth source, a Hezbollah
official, said the attack on communication devices put 1,500 fighters out of
commission because of their injuries, with many having been blinded or had their
hands blown off. While that is a major blow, it
represents a fraction of Hezbollah's strength, which a report for the U.S.
Congress on Friday put at 40,000-50,000 fighters. Nasrallah has said the group
has 100,000 fighters. Since October, when Hezbollah began firing at Israel in
October in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, it has redeployed fighters to
frontline areas in the south, including some from Syria, the three sources said.
It has also been bringing rockets into Lebanon at a fast pace,
anticipating a drawn-out conflict, the sources said, adding that the group
sought to avoid all out war. Hezbollah's main
supporter and weapons supplier is Iran. The group is the most powerful faction
in Tehran's "Axis of Resistance" of allied irregular forces across the Middle
East. Many of its weapons are Iranian, Russian or Chinese models. The sources,
who all asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, did not
provide details of the weapons or where they were bought. Hezbollah's media
office did not reply to requests for comment for this story.
Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at
King's College London, said that while Hezbollah operations had been disrupted
by the past week's attacks, the group's networked organizational structure
helped make it an extremely resilient force. "This is the most formidable enemy
Israel has ever faced on the battlefield, not because of numbers and tech but in
terms of resilience."
Powerful missiles
Fighting has escalated this week. Israel killed another top Hezbollah commander,
Ibrahim Qubaisi, on Tuesday. For its part, Hezbollah has shown its capacity to
continue operations, firing hundreds of rockets towards Israel in ever deeper
attacks. On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli intelligence
base near Tel Aviv, more than 100 km (60 miles) from the border. Warning sirens
sounded in Tel Aviv as a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by
air defense systems, the Israeli military said. The group has yet to say whether
it has launched any of its most potent, precision-guided rockets, such as the
Fateh-110, an Iranian-made ballistic missile with a range of 250-300 km (341.75
miles). Hezbollah's Fateh-110 have a 450-500 kg warhead, according to a 2018
paper published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
Hezbollah's rocket attacks are possible because the chain of command has kept
functioning despite the group suffering a brief spell of disarray after the
pagers and radios detonated, one of the sources, a senior security official,
said. The three sources said Hezbollah's ability to communicate is underpinned
by a dedicated, fixed-line telephone network - which it has described as
critical to its communications and continues to work - as well as by other
devices. Many of its fighters were carrying older models of pagers, for example,
that were unaffected by last week's attack. Reuters could not independently
verify the information. Most injuries from the exploding pagers were in Beirut,
far from the front. Hezbollah stepped up the use of pagers after banning its
fighters from using cellphones on the battlefield in February, in response to
commanders being killed in strikes. If the chain of command breaks, frontline
fighters are trained to operate in small, independent clusters comprised of a
few villages near the border, capable of fighting Israeli forces for long
periods, the senior source added. That is precisely what happened in 2006,
during the last war between Hezbollah and Israel, when the group's fighters held
out for weeks, some in frontline villages invaded by Israel.
Israel says it has escalated attacks to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities
and make it safe for tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their
homes near the Lebanon border, which they fled when Hezbollah began firing
rockets on Oct. 8. Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu's government has said it
prefers to reach a negotiated agreement that would see Hezbollah withdraw from
the border region but stands ready to continue its bombing campaign if Hezbollah
refuses, and does not rule out any military options. Hezbollah's resilience
means the fighting has raised fears of a protracted war that could suck in the
U.S., Israel's close ally, and Iran - especially if Israel launches, and gets
bogged down in, a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
Israel's military did not respond to a request for comment for this
story. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Monday of "irreversible"
consequences of a full blown war in the Middle East. A U.S. State Department
official said Washington disagreed with Israel's strategy of escalation and
sought to reduce tensions.
Underground arsenal
In what two of the sources said was an indication of how well some of
Hezbollah's weapons are hidden, on Sunday rockets were launched from areas of
southern Lebanon that had been targeted by Israel shortly before, the two
sources said. Hezbollah is believed to have an underground arsenal and last
month published footage that appeared to show its fighters driving trucks with
rocket launchers through tunnels. The sources did not specify if the rockets
fired on Sunday were launched from underground. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav
Gallant said Monday's barrage had destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah
rockets and munitions. Israel's military said long-range cruise missiles,
rockets with warheads capable of carrying 100kg of explosives, short-range
rockets, and explosive UAVs were all struck on Monday. Reuters could not
independently verify the military claims. Boaz Shapira a researcher at Alma, an
Israeli think tank that specializes in Hezbollah, said Israel had yet to target
strategic sites such as long-range missiles and drone sites. "I don't think we
are anywhere near finishing this," Shapira said.
Hezbollah's arsenal is believed to compromise some 150,000 rockets, the U.S.
Congress report said. Krieg said its most powerful, long-range ballistic
missiles were kept below ground. Hezbollah has spent
years building a tunnel network that by Israeli estimates extends for hundreds
of kilometers. The Israeli military said Monday's air strikes hit Hezbollah
missile launch sites hidden under homes in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said
it does not place military infrastructure near civilians. Hezbollah has issued
no statement on the impact of Israel's strikes since Monday.
Tunnels
The group's arsenal and tunnels have expanded since the 2006 war, especially
precision guidance systems, leader Nasrallah has said. Hezbollah officials have
said the group has used a small part of the arsenal in fighting over the past
year. Israeli officials have said Hezbollah's military infrastructure is tightly
meshed into the villages and communities of southern Lebanon, with ammunition
and missile launcher pads stored in houses throughout the area. Israel has been
pounding some of those villages for months to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities.
Confirmed details on the tunnel network remain scarce. A 2021 report by
Alma, an Israeli think tank that specializes in Hezbollah, said Iran and North
Korea both helped build up the network of tunnels in the aftermath of the 2006
war. Israel has already struggled to root out Hamas commanders and self-reliant
fighting units from the tunnels criss-crossing Gaza.
"It is one of our biggest challenges in Gaza, and it is certainly something we
could meet in Lebanon," said Carmit Valensi, a senior research fellow at the
Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, a think-tank. Krieg said
that unlike Gaza, where most tunnels are manually dug into a sandy soil, the
tunnels in Lebanon had been dug deep in mountain rock. "They are far less
accessible than in Gaza and even less easy to destroy."
Calling Nasrallah's bluff: IDF strikes bring turning point in Israel-Hezbollah
war - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
It’s possible Iran will enter the conflict or push the Houthis to increase
attacks. Many things can happen in war. It is likely that Israel’s decision to
turn the tables on Hezbollah and call its bluff via massive airstrikes against
it this week will be seen as a turning point in the conflict. It is important to
understand how these events unfolded, especially since, for many years, an
ingrained fear of Hezbollah was built up in Israel. On Monday, the IAF launched
airstrikes on more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets. They included numerous waves of
airstrikes across southern Lebanon and deeper into Lebanon. Lebanese civilians
were called upon to flee areas where Hezbollah is present in southern Lebanon
and the Bekaa Valley. Many things occurred on Monday
that illustrate how Israel is turning the tide against Hezbollah. Calling on
civilians to leave areas in Lebanon where Hezbollah is present is one example.
The IDF provided details on how Hezbollah has used civilian homes to store arms.
This is important information that could have been provided earlier, although
this might have tipped Israel’s hand about its plans to turn the tables on
Hezbollah. Another key aspect of the turning of the tide against Hezbollah was
calling the terrorist group’s bluff. Hezbollah has always threatened to rain
down thousands of missiles a day on Israel and also use numerous new
capabilities it had acquired over the last years. For instance, Hezbollah
acquired precision-guided munitions and also drones. It threatened to use these
capabilities to target Israeli infrastructure.
Hezbollah was seen as so powerful that any war with it would be devastating for
Israel. In past years, the description of war with Hezbollah always made it seem
almost apocalyptic. According to those predictions, it would mean civilians in
shelters across the country for days or weeks on end, widespread destruction,
and large numbers of casualties. The Hezbollah
bogeyman was conjured up because of fears of what a major conventional-style war
would mean. This model for what war would look like emerged slowly and wasn’t
typical in the years after the 2006 war. Instead, in the years after 2006, the
main concern was that Hezbollah had proven itself tougher to fight than Israel
assumed. The IDF had to put in place reforms for its ground forces after the
war. Training was a key element intended to redeploy the IDF from fighting
terrorism in the West Bank to being a conventional military force again.
The fear of another 2006 war haunted Israel, and fear soon became an overarching
narrative that Hezbollah was some kind of all-powerful monster. Hezbollah
increased its capabilities, and it became typical to talk of the group as
possessing 150,000 or 200,000 rockets. The rocket arsenal soon came to include
precision-guided munitions. Over the past year or two, it became clear that the
terrorist group had also acquired thousands of drones.
Hezbollah's weaponry
This huge arsenal painted a picture of a war in which thousands of rockets would
rain down across Israel, threatening most of the country. This is because
Hezbollah was assumed to have a large number of long-range rockets as well.
Hezbollah benefited from the Syrian civil war. Even though it suffered losses in
Syria due to its involvement from 2012-2018, it also achieved a lot. Its
fighters gained experience fighting as a conventional ground force. It also was
able to penetrate Syria deeply and knit itself in with other Iranian-backed
militias. Hezbollah sought to expand the threat to Israel to include the Syrian
side of the Golan Heights. Iran also used Hezbollah to
expand its own concept of a multifront or multi-arena war. This is what gave
Hezbollah the sense it could get involved in the war against Israel after
October 7. Hezbollah broke through any sense of Israel’s ability to deter it by
beginning its attacks on Israel on October 8. Hezbollah forced Israel to
evacuate the North. Fears that it could carry out an October 7-type attack led
to the evacuations. In addition, there was hesitancy about creating a larger war
with Hezbollah. The limited proportional war began to take shape, which
benefited Hezbollah.
Israel called Hezbollah’s bluff on September 23. It was able to do this by
eliminating Hezbollah’s commanders in an airstrike on September 20. In addition,
Israel was able to accomplish this via other means. The exploding pagers hurt
Hezbollah and caused numerous casualties. Hezbollah struggled to respond, but it
found itself in chaos. Hezbollah was seen as a major
bogeyman, but it’s possible it never put in place an ability to launch thousands
of rockets a day. Hamas had achieved this on October 7. Hezbollah may not have
actually been able to do what Hamas did. In addition, the chaos that emerged
after September 18 also enabled Israel to increase its strikes on Hezbollah
launchers. The lessons of August 25, when Hezbollah sought to launch thousands
of projectiles at Israel, also helped Israel understand how Hezbollah would
react.
The overall story here is that Hezbollah became arrogant and complacent. It also
came to overly rely on Iran and Iran’s multifront strategy. This reined in
Hezbollah. This restrained it and turned it into a kind of secondary front for
Iran. Iran wants to preserve Hezbollah, and therefore, it is afraid of Hezbollah
entering a major war. This left Hezbollah open to the kinds of attacks it
suffered from September 17-23.
It’s possible Hezbollah will be able to get its house in order and carry out
large-scale attacks against Israel. It’s possible Iran will enter the conflict
or push the Houthis to increase their attacks. Many things can happen in a war.
Once you decide to go to war, there is contact with the enemy, and one cannot
know how the war will unfold. Israel will also have to
decide what to do. Israel shaped the battlefield in strikes on September 20-22.
That is why September 23 will ring out as a major shift in this conflict. Israel
has sought to turn the tide on the Iranian-backed terrorist group. It has called
Iran’s bluff and pushed away the bogeyman of Hezbollah. Now, the sum of all our
fears about Hezbollah’s capabilities has been deflated a bit. I drove along the
border of northern Israel on September 23 and expected to see wide-ranging
Hezbollah rocket fire. I expected to see the enemy launch anti-tank-guided
missiles along the border. As I drove home at sunset, after most of Israel’s
1,300 airstrikes had been carried out, I saw numerous barrages of Hezbollah
rockets over my head. But it appeared that Hezbollah’s capabilities to launch
its arsenal of rockets had been degraded to a similar level that Hamas had in
October 2023. It’s still a major threat, but the fear of Hezbollah has now
diminished.
Patriarch Al-Rahi issues an appeal regarding the current
events and situations!
Sawt El Mehabi website/September 25, 2024 (Translated from
Arabic by Google)
Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi issued an appeal regarding the current
events and situations that the country is exposed to, including destruction and
war. This is what it said:
In light of the horror of the national disaster in southern Lebanon, Baalbek and
the suburbs, where civilians are homeless or have left their homes and migrated
to other safe places in Lebanon, we can only direct this appeal:
1. Thanks to all those in safe areas who receive our afflicted people in their
homes.
2. Thanks to the public schools and others that have opened their doors to
receive them.
3. Thanks to the humanitarian organizations that seek to secure their needs of
food, medicine, mattresses and basic household needs.
4. Thanks to the hospitals that receive the wounded, and to the Ministry of
Public Health and other ministries.
It is the Lebanese family that unites in the face of the disaster. However, we
call on those concerned to cease fire immediately, to avoid more victims,
wounded and homeless people. We appeal to the United Nations and the Security
Council to intervene effectively to compel those concerned to stop the war and
go to negotiations, and to compel the Parliament to elect a President of the
Republic, as there is an urgent need for him to be at the head of the country.
We pray to God to inspire everyone with the means to achieve a just and
comprehensive peace.
Monsignor Abdo Abu Kasm: "The Church calls on everyone to
stand by our people"
Sawt El Mehabi website/September 25, 2024 (Translated from
Arabic by Google)
Monsignor Abdo Abu Kasm, Director of the Catholic Media Center, said in a
statement regarding the recent events that have swept Lebanon: "The teachings of
the Church are the teachings of Christ and the Gospel, and they are to be with
everyone, close to everyone through good deeds for the homeland, all of the
homeland, without discrimination. This has been the role of the Maronite Church
since its presence in Lebanon 1600 years ago, in preserving Lebanon, all of
Lebanon, with its rich diversity mentioned in the Holy Books. Certainly, God has
given this Lebanese people a love that distinguishes them from others, and this
love is what protects Lebanon and its people. The Church calls for peace, and
the rejection of war, hatred, and animosity. But since the war has occurred, and
what the Church has always warned against has happened, we now have no choice
but to stand by our people, and to provide all the support and giving we can.
Caritas Foundation Lebanon has been and continues to be a pioneer in offering
giving from the hands of the able to the gates of heaven, by providing full
support. Many blessed people also carry out charitable activities, and we urge
those who can give to give, for goodness is available to all. Today we are
facing a test and an opportunity to confirm what Patriarch Al-Rahi said: “Thus,
Jesus left us an approach in our approach to every human being, especially to
everyone who is in physical, material, spiritual or moral need. With this
approach, we build human brotherhood, peace and unity among people. How much the
world and our Lebanese society need these basic values to strengthen the bonds
of the national family.”
Turkiye’s Erdogan tells Lebanese PM urgent international
solution needed to stop Israel
REUTERS/September 25, 2024
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib
Mikati on Wednesday that the international community must urgently implement a
solution to stop Israel’s aggression, the Turkish presidency said, adding he had
also voiced support for Lebanon.
A NATO member, Turkiye has denounced Israel’s devastating military offensive in
Gaza prompted by Palestinian militant group Hamas’ cross-border attack last Oct.
7. Turkiye halted all trade with Israel and applied to
join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court. Israel has said the
genocide accusations are baseless and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.
Erdogan has previously condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory,
which Israel says are targeting Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, and has
called for international steps to halt Israel’s war in Gaza and cross-border
fire with Hezbollah.
Turkiye’s presidency said Erdogan told Mikati in a meeting on the sidelines of
the UN General Assembly in New York that the international community must
urgently implement a solution to stop “Israel’s aggression.”“President Erdogan
said Israel was disregarding fundamental human rights, committing a genocide in
front of the world, noting that stopping this and the humanitarian crisis that
emerged as a result of the attacks was a humanitarian duty,” the presidency said
in a statement. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister
Hakan Fidan told Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in New York that
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon were “unacceptable” and meant to “drag the region
into chaos,” according to the Turkish diplomatic source.
Bou Habib thanked Fidan for a Turkish shipment of medicine that arrived
in Lebanon on Wednesday, the source added, and also briefed Fidan on the latest
developments in Lebanon.
Separately, Fidan told a G20 foreign ministers meeting in New York that it was
unclear whether the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would spread further,
though the world was facing a wider conflict. Fidan
also reiterated Ankara’s long-standing call to reform the UN Security Council to
make it “fully effective,” adding Turkiye wanted to see a structure in which
“one country’s veto does not determine another’s destiny,” the source added.
The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain are the permanent,
veto-wielding members of the Security Council. There are 10 non-permanent
members that serve two-year terms.
What will become of the Lebanese displaced by
intensifying Israel-Hezbollah conflict?
ANAN TELLO/ROBERT EDWARDS/Arab News/September 25, 2024
ANALYSISWhat will become of the Lebanese displaced by intensifying
Israel-Hezbollah conflict?
LONDON: Nearly half a million Lebanese civilians have been displaced from their
homes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley since Israel intensified its air
campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia this week, raising the
prospect of a major humanitarian emergency.
In a country already grappling with a profound economic crisis, the exodus of
thousands of civilians from towns and villages bordering Israel is stretching
Lebanon’s limited resources and further destabilizing its fragile society. The
most pressing question on the minds of those fleeing, however, is whether their
displacement will be temporary or permanent.
Indeed, villages closest to the border have been the most heavily damaged, with
entire areas reduced to rubble. Israeli forces have been accused of creating a
“dead zone” as a buffer between the two countries. “We don’t think this is going
to last only for a short duration,” Tania Baban, Lebanon country director of the
US-based charity MedGlobal, told Arab News. “Some people may not be able to go
home if their home is no longer standing.”
Since Hezbollah began rocketing northern Israel in solidarity with its Hamas
allies following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza,
southern Lebanon has been transformed into a battleground, with Israel mounting
retaliatory strikes. The region, a stronghold for Hezbollah, has faced near
daily bombardment, leaving towns and villages in ruins and devastating forests
and farmland. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, has said that
about 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced since Israel’s offensive against
Hezbollah ramped up, with more than 110,000 fleeing prior to the recent
escalation. Areas such as Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh have experienced a mass
exodus. Some 70 percent of Tyre’s population has evacuated, according to the
city’s mayor, Hassan Dbouk. “People could not tolerate it anymore,” he told the
Washington Post. Baban believes the official number of displaced is an
underestimate. “We started distributing some much-needed basic items to the
shelters on Tuesday, such as mattresses, towels, pillows, water and personal
hygiene kits,” she said.
“We went to several schools to get their information and do our assessment, and
there were displaced people flooding in, and this is only in Beirut.
“They’re mostly from the south. I’m sure Bekaa as well, but we don’t have those
types of details yet, because people are still flooding in.”
The exodus of thousands of civilians from towns and villages bordering Israel is
stretching Lebanon’s limited resources
Safa Kosaibani, 21, who fled from Nabatiyeh to the coastal city of Sidon with
her daughters and sisters-in-law, said that she heard Israel was telling
civilians to leave southern Lebanon, but did not trust the warnings.
“We thought it was just psychological warfare,” she told the Washington Post.
“That they were just trying to push us to leave our land, because we pushed them
away from their land in the north. They want to do the same to us.”
An estimated 60,000 or so Israelis are internally displaced from the other side.
On Sept. 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu updated his government’s
war goals to include returning those people home.
Nour Hamad, a 22-year-old student in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, described
living “in a state of terror” all week. “We spent four or five days without
sleep, not knowing if we will wake up in the morning,” she told the AFP news
agency.
“The sound of the bombardment is very frightening, everyone’s afraid. The
children are afraid, and the grown-ups are afraid too.”
Israeli forces have struck multiple targets across Lebanon, leading to the death
of almost 600 people, many of them civilians.
As civilians tried to escape the conflict zones this week, they found highways
from the south clogged with traffic. Roads to safety were so busy that many
spent 12 hours or more on a journey that previously took just one or two.
While some have found refuge with friends or relatives, the sheer volume of
displaced people is overwhelming Lebanon’s capacity to provide accommodation,
with schools, community centers and unfinished buildings quickly being converted
into temporary shelters.
Lebanon’s government is in no position to mount a significant relief effort. In
recent years, it has been paralyzed by political deadlock and financial
collapse, with its currency losing more than 90 percent of its value.
“Lebanon has been dealing with multiple crises and has still not recovered from
the devastating of the Aug. 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion, as well as the
economic crisis that engulfed the country starting in late 2019,” Hovig Atamian,
director of programs at CARE International in Lebanon, told Arab News.
“Humanitarian organizations have been preparing for the worst case scenario of a
very significant escalation for months now, but the reality on the ground,
including access constraints due to the security risks will always remain a
challenge.
“We call on the parties to the conflict to uphold the provisions of
international humanitarian law, including taking measures to avoid and minimize
loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects as
well as protecting all humanitarian personnel and operations.”
With international funding already stretched due to crises in Gaza, Ukraine and
other conflict zones, there is a fear that Lebanon could be overlooked in terms
of humanitarian assistance.
Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, has allocated a $24
million emergency aid package from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund to address the
urgent needs of those impacted by the hostilities. Those needs are now likely to
grow rapidly, however.
Lebanon is “grappling with multiple crises, which have overwhelmed the country’s
capacity to cope,” Riza said in a statement.
“As the escalation of hostilities in south Lebanon drags on longer than we had
hoped, it has led to further displacement and deepened the already critical
needs.”
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had hit 1,500 “terrorist
infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon and deep inside Lebanese territory.”
Charities such as MedGlobal are now mobilizing to deliver essential items to the
temporary shelters. “We are going to distribute food that is pre-prepared,
because they don’t have cooking supplies, but also mattresses, winterization
kits, blankets — because winter is on the doorstep, so they need to be
prepared,” Baban said. “The people who are coming into
the shelters, a lot of them are elderly people who left their medications, who
left their money, who need to get their medicine for their chronic illnesses as
well. “We’re talking about diabetes, heart problems, hypertension, and some
patients are on dialysis. Some patients are maybe on chemotherapy, and we
haven’t even begun to speak about the risk of communicable diseases.
“These are going to be overcrowded school turned shelters and winters coming,
and we haven’t even discussed flu, COVID-19 and all of that. So it’s a very grim
situation.”
Synchronized Israeli attacks last week on Hezbollah’s communication devices,
which killed 39 people and injured more than 3,000.
Israeli forces have struck multiple targets across Lebanon, leading to the death
of almost 600 people, many of them civilians. The strikes followed a
synchronized attack last week on Hezbollah’s communication devices, which killed
39 people and injured more than 3,000.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had hit 1,500 “terrorist
infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon and deep inside Lebanese territory.”
“Hezbollah today is not the same Hezbollah we knew a week ago,” Defense Minister
Yoav Gallant said, claiming that the group “has suffered a sequence of blows to
its command and control, its fighters, and the means to fight.”
INNUMBERS
• 500,000 People displaced across Lebanon. • 600 Fatalities, including 50
children and 94 women.
• 1,700 People injured by strikes across Lebanon.
• 60,000 Israelis evacuated from border areas since October.
The violence escalated on Wednesday when Hezbollah said it had launched a
ballistic missile at Tel Aviv. Although Israel intercepted the missile, it
represents an unprecedented move and a dangerous new phase in the conflict.Early
on Wednesday, Hezbollah confirmed that the commander of its missile unit,
Ibrahim Muhammad Qubaisi, had been killed, hours after the Israeli military said
that he had been “eliminated” in an airstrike on Ghobeiri in Beirut’s southern
suburbs. An estimated 60,000 or so Israelis are internally displaced from the
other side.
The escalation comes nearly a year after Hezbollah began launching attacks
shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on
southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 240 taken hostage. Israel
responded by invading the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, leading to a conflict
that has claimed more than 41,000 lives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict have so far
failed. US President Joe Biden, addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday,
warned of the dangers of full-scale war in Lebanon, urging for restraint from
all sides. “Full-scale war is not in anyone’s
interest,” Biden said. “Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic
solution is still possible.”For Baban of MedGlobal, the unfolding humanitarian
emergency could have serious implications for the wider region.
“Something needs to be done to stop this, to prevent this catastrophe from not
only hitting Lebanon but becoming a regional catastrophe.”
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on September 25-26/2024
UN Security Council urges peace amid mounting Mideast war fears
CASPAR WEBB/Arab News/September 25, 2024
NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council has issued a statement warning against
the “scourge of war” amid heightened fears of regional conflict in the Middle
East. It follows a significant escalation between Israel and Hezbollah this
week, with Israeli strikes killing more than 500 Lebanese citizens and injuring
thousands. The UNSC’s focus is also on the Russia-Ukraine war and conflict in
Sudan, with representatives from all three countries present in New York City
this week for the 79th UN General Assembly. “The Security Council recalls that
the UN was established to save mankind from the scourge of war,” the statement
said. “The need to strengthen resolve to maintain
international peace and security, consistent with the UN Charter, is more
pressing than ever.” Issued by the UNSC president for September, Samuel Zbogar,
the statement described the UN Charter’s principles as “universal, indispensable
and irreplaceable foundations of a more safe, peaceful, just, equal, inclusive,
sustainable and prosperous world.” Achieving and sustaining global peace
requires a “comprehensive approach,” it added. The UNSC highlighted its “strong
support for the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The council calls
upon all parties to armed conflict to comply fully with their obligations under
international humanitarian law, in order to respect and protect civilians,
including humanitarian personnel, and reiterates its commitment towards
accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and
international human rights law.” Alongside the
permanent five members of the UNSC — the US, UK, France, Russia and China —
there are 10 non-permanent members: Algeria, Japan, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan,
Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland. The
statement added: “The Security Council reaffirms that development, peace and
security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. “The
council recognizes that the spirit that guided the creation of the UN should
prevail and inspire mankind to persist on the path of peace.”
Israel sends scores of bodies to Gaza; Palestinians demand details before
burying them
REUTERS/September 25, 2024
CAIRO: Israel returned the bodies on Wednesday of 88 Palestinians killed in its
military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the territory’s health ministry
refused to bury before Israel discloses details about who they are and where it
killed them. The bodies were brought into Gaza in a container loaded on a truck
through an Israeli-controlled crossing, but, according to Palestinian officials,
there was no information provided about the names or ages of the victims or
locations where they died. Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
refused to receive them and bury them, urging the International Committee of the
Red Cross ICRC to seek details from Israel. “The health ministry halted the
procedures to receive the container (carrying the bodies) until the completion
of the full data and information about those bodies so their relatives can
identify them,” the ministry said in a statement. The
head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said health ministry
officials told the driver of the truck to bring the bodies of dead Palestinians
back to the Israeli crossing from which he had arrived. The truck then left the
hospital. “They must act according to the
international humanitarian law and in a way that preserves the dignity of the
martyrs and their families,” Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters.
The Red Cross said it wasn’t involved in the transfer process.
“We reiterate that all families have the right to receive news about
their loved ones and bury them respectfully and in line with their traditions,”
said a statement issued by the ICRC. Under
International Humanitarian Law, those who have died during an armed conflict
must be handled with dignity and be properly managed. The law requires that they
be searched for, collected and evacuated, which helps ensure that people do not
go missing, the ICRC statement added. The Civil Emergency Service tasked with
finding people missing under rubble, on roads and in ruined buildings in Gaza
says it has been notified of around 10,000 people missing during the near
year-long Israeli assault on Gaza. Gaza health authorities list more than 41,000
Palestinians confirmed killed in the assault, which Israel launched after Hamas
fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and
capturing around 250 hostages. In recent days the
conflict has spread to another major theater, with Israel launching the biggest
airstrikes on Lebanon in nearly two decades, targeting the Hezbollah movement,
which has been rocketing Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.
MORE STRIKES IN GAZA
War in Gaza has not let up, even as the conflict in Lebanon has escalated. Many
months of diplomatic efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire have yielded little
progress, with Israel refusing any deal to halt the fighting without the total
defeat of Hamas. Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least
14 Palestinians on Wednesday, medics said. In Rafah, near the border with Egypt,
Israeli forces continued their operations in different areas of the city, amid
clashes with Hamas-led fighters, according to residents and statements posted by
militants. Medics said at least eight Palestinians were killed in two separate
Israeli strikes on two houses in Rafah. One of those strikes killed a woman and
her children, they added. In another attack in Bureij, one of the Gaza Strip’s
eight historic refugee camps, five Palestinians were killed in a house hit by an
Israeli missile, medics said. Israel has also sent
tanks into the eastern area of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, and
medics said a woman was killed in an air strike on a house in the town earlier
on Tuesday.
China pledges ‘support’ for Iran says FM Wang
AFP/September 25, 2024
BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi pledged to support Iran in safeguarding
its security against “external forces” in a meeting with the country’s new
president in New York, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Wednesday. Wang met
President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly,
Beijing said, as Israel launched more strikes against Tehran’s ally Hezbollah in
Lebanon. The top diplomat promised China would “always be a trustworthy
partner.” “China will continue to support Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty,
security, territorial integrity, and national dignity,” Wang said on Tuesday,
according to a foreign ministry statement. Beijing
also opposed “external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs and
imposing sanctions or pressure,” he added. Conflict between Israel and
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant movement backed by Iran, has intensified
in recent weeks. Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on
Monday — the deadliest day of violence in the country since its 1975-90 civil
war. Iran, regarded by Israel as its archenemy, is an influential player in the
Middle East, supporting armed groups in the region including Hamas in Gaza and
Hezbollah in Lebanon. China is a close partner of
Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.
Both countries have often faced Western pressure in the form of
sanctions, most recently because of their stance on Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from
Russia’s war instead of true peace
AP/September 25, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: Ukraine’s president urged global leaders Wednesday to stand with
his country and not seek “an out” instead of a “real, just peace” more than two
years into Russia’s war. At a time when he faces growing pressure from Western
allies and some of his fellow Ukrainians to negotiate a ceasefire, President
Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly there’s no alternative to the
“peace formula” he presented two years ago. Among other things, it seeks the
expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes.
“Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are, in fact, efforts to
achieve an out instead of an end to the war,” he said. “Do not divide the world.
Be united nations,” he implored. “And that will bring us peace.” Russia hasn’t
yet had its turn to speak at the assembly’s annual gathering of presidents,
prime ministers, monarchs and other high officials. Low-level Russian diplomats
occupied the country’s seats in the huge assembly hall during Zelensky’s speech.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending this year’s high-level
meetings at the General Assembly. The war in Ukraine
was center stage the last two times that world leaders convened for the UN’s
signature annual meeting. But this year, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the
escalating developments along the Israeli-Lebanese border have gotten much of
the spotlight. Ukraine and Russia, with one of the
world’s most potent armies, are locked in a grinding fight along a
1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. The war began
when Russia invaded in February 2022 and has killed tens of thousands of people.
Russia has gained momentum in Ukraine’s east; Ukraine, meanwhile, startled
Russia by sending troops across the border in a daring incursion last month.
Zelensky argued Tuesday at the UN Security Council that Russia needs to ”
be forced into peace,” saying there’s no point in pursuing peace talks with
Putin. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
responded Wednesday that the Ukrainian president’s call for compulsion was “a
fatal mistake” and “a profound misconception, which, of course, will inevitably
have consequences for the Kyiv regime.” Zelensky is
expected to present a victory plan this week to US President Joe Biden.
Trump Has a Message for Iran About ‘Ongoing’ Assassination Threats
Dan Ladden-Hall/The Daily Beast./September 25, 2024
Donald Trump was given a briefing Tuesday by intelligence officials about “real
and specific threats” from Iran to assassinate him, his campaign said. In a
statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence informed the former president about the
Iranian plots, which aim to “destabilize and sow chaos in the United States.”
The briefing comes after the FBI foiled an alleged Iran-linked plot to kill
Trump earlier this year that authorities said was not believed to be related to
the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally shooting, which wounded the Republican nominee
in July. Cheung said intelligence officials “have
identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the
past few months.” It’s not clear if the briefing concerned threats already known
to U.S. intelligence or if new plots from Iran have been detected.
“Big threats on my life by Iran,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth
Social platform after the campaign statement. “The entire U.S. Military is
watching and waiting. Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but
they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone.”
He added that he is “surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever
seen before,” and praised lawmakers for backing bipartisan legislation
increasing Secret Service protection for presidential candidates in the days
after the latest apparent attempt on his life at his West Palm Beach golf
course. “Nice to see Republicans and Democrats get together on something,” Trump
wrote, adding: “An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the
attacker!” The briefing came after Iranian hackers targeted the Trump campaign,
sending unsolicited stolen secrets to reporters and President Joe Biden’s
campaign team. Authorities said there’s no evidence that recipients responded to
the hacked materials, however, and said the Biden-Harris campaign was also
targeted by Iranian hacking efforts. A report Tuesday said Trump’s camp had been
hacked again within the last 10 days, with sensitive campaign files again
reportedly sent to journalists. Despite both campaigns being targeted, Trump
spokesman Cheung claimed without evidence that Tehran wants Kamala Harris to win
the November election. “Make no mistake, the terror regime in Iran loves the
weakness of Kamala Harris, and is terrified of the strength and resolve of
President Trump,” Cheung said. “He will let nothing stop him or get in his way
to fight for the American people and to Make America Great Again.”
Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US
election candidate
AFP/September 25, 2024
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said Wednesday Iran should be blown “to smithereens” if
the Islamic republic is involved in the harming of a US White House candidate or
ex-president.
The provocative remarks come after American intelligence warned of threats from
Tehran against the Republican’s life after two apparent assassination bids in
recent months. “As you know, there have been two
assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not
involve — but possibly do — Iran,” Trump said at a campaign event in North
Carolina. “If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in
this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to
blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he added.
Trump went on to say he and the United States have been “threatened very
directly by Iran” and that a firm message needed to reach Tehran that there
would be the most severe consequences should it be involved in plots to kill or
hurt an American president or candidate. “The best way
to do it is through the office of the president, that (if) you do any attacks on
former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to
smithereens, as we say.”Trump also said it was “strange” that Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian was in New York this week and accorded substantial protection
as he attends the United Nations General Assembly even as news of the threats
emerged. “We have large security forces guarding him,
and yet they’re threatening our former president and the leading candidate to
become the next president of the United States,” Trump said.
The remarks come as world leaders scramble to try to avert hostilities
between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel escalating into a wider regional war.
Iran has rejected accusations it is trying to kill Trump this summer,
shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13,
killing one person and wounding the presidential candidate. Days later, Trump
posted on social media that if Iran did kill him, “I hope that America
obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth.”
On Wednesday, the 78-year-old Trump suggested the would-be assassin in
Pennsylvania had used “potentially foreign-based apps,” and that the alleged
gunman in Florida had multiple mobile phones that Trump said US authorities have
been unable to open. “They must get Apple to open
these foreign apps (and) open the six phones from the second lunatic,” Trump
said. “Because we have a lot at stake.”
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on September 25-26/2024
Harris may love Israel but she doesn’t hate
Iran - opinion
Shmuley Boteach/Jerusalem Post/September 25/2024
While acknowledging that Harris does not hate Israel, Trump emphasized that her
failure to confront Iran’s aggressive actions, including its support for
terrorist proxies, has emboldened the regime.Last week, at the IAC Conference in
DC, former president Donald Trump made two comments that angered many American
Jews. The first, let’s be clear, was highly inappropriate. Without him, he said,
Israel would be done for in two years. Now, I’m not doubting for one moment that
Trump would be better for Israel as a US president than Vice President Kamala
Harris, given the control that people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib exert
over the Democratic party. But Israel finished in two years? That definitely
wasn’t the wisest thing to say to a people who just 80 years ago experienced one
Holocaust. And wasn’t the whole point of Zionism that Jews – even accepting that
we need strong allies – defend themselves? That we don’t rely on popes, princes,
or even the benevolent presidents to protect us? The second Trump comment was
even more incendiary. He said that were he to lose the election, it would be
ungrateful Jews who would be to blame. Now, I’ve always believed that the
American Jewish community should show far greater gratitude to the most
pro-Israel president in history. But to suggest that they can control the
election? In swing states such as Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and
Arizona where their numbers are tiny? Come on.
Yet, with all that, a recent poll in Israel reflected that if Israelis could
vote in the US elections, Trump would beat Harris by well over 60%. I believe it
would be much higher.
Why? It all comes down to Iran.
Only Trump, Israelis know, is strong enough to stop Iran, which is not only the
most evil government on Earth but the source of all mayhem in the Middle East.
Firstly, Iran’s plots to assassinate a former US president (Yes, we’re back to
Trump), confirmed by Attorney General Merrick Garland – who was appointed by
President Joe Biden – is a declaration of war against the US and fundamentally
undermines the social and democratic fabric of America. How has Biden not struck
Tehran militarily when they are actively trying to murder a former and possibly
future American president? Talk about weakness! I believe that Trump would
handle things differently. Yes, Trump is always railing against the forever
wars. I know he’s an isolationist. But Iran also perceives him as crazy. It’s
back to the Nixonian madman theory so expertly cultivated by Henry Kissinger.
And besides, Trump got close to bankrupting the mullahs while Kamala and Joe
have allowed them to sell over $150 billion in oil revenue to nefarious
governments like China. When Trump was president, we all witnessed firsthand how
effectively American strength and resolve held back Iranian aggression. This hit
its apogee when Trump decided to send Qassim Soleimani, the world’s foremost
terrorist, to roast forever on a spit in hell. Now, with the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting president Trump and Israel besieged
by Iran’s terrorists in the Middle East, we’re seeing American weakness set the
world aflame. As is always the case with presidential misconduct, innocents are
paying the price. Israel, our most vital ally in the Middle East suffered the
deadliest terrorist attack in its history at the hands of bloodthirsty Hamas
death squads paid for and trained by Iran. One thousand two hundred men, women,
and children were butchered, and 251 people were taken hostage by an Iranian
proxy army, while 100 remain in the brutal captivity of terrorists loyal to the
ayatollah.
Iran's active proxies
Since then, Iran has activated its Axis of Resistance, using its terrorist
militias in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen to pound Israel and US bases
with thousands of rockets, while sinking ships and blocking trade routes. These
countries are plagued by the predictable symptoms of Iranian dominance: Women
are persecuted; food is scarce; people wait in lines to fill jerry cans with
water; and political persecution is all-encompassing.
But this is all child’s play. Iran might soon fuel conflict and chaos far beyond
the Middle East because, according to the best estimates of American
intelligence, the murderous mullahs are on the very brink of obtaining the means
to launch a nuclear world war. Iran’s resurgence provides the context of its
plots to assassinate president Trump – and the motive: when Trump enters the
Oval Office, Iran’s reign of terror comes to an end. Much of the world believes
that Trump is crazy. The ones who fear that the most are Iran. What Iran most
fears is a non-rational actor who will utterly destroy a nation that regularly
engages in asymmetrical warfare. While Biden and
Harris are content to play charades and let the mullahs hide behind heinous
hired guns like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, Trump held Iran rightly
accountable for the actions of its blood-soaked proxies. He understood that
funding, arming, directing, and protecting terrorist activity constitutes
complicity. Angel of Death Qasem Soleimani visited his militias in Iraq days
after they murdered an American and expected the US to just play along. He
turned out to be dead wrong, literally.
Trump also left the mullahs too broke and isolated to sponsor proxies,
understanding that the path to preventing Iran’s pursuit of regional dominance
passed through their purse. China, he made clear, could buy Iranian oil or do
business with the United States. It could not do both.
President Biden, with his vice president at his side, instead paid handsome
ransoms and provided sanctions waivers, letting Iran export 1.7 million barrels
of oil a day – more than five times the 300,000 barrels they were selling daily
under Trump. The influx of cash to Iran explains the influx of regional terror.
Trump also understood that a nation that believes kidnapping and murder pass for
prudent policy cannot be trusted with fighter jets and advanced missile systems.
Former US ambassadors to the United Nations Nikki Haley and (my close friend)
Kelly Craft personally led the Trump administration’s tooth-and-nail fight at
the UN to extend the international arms embargo on Iran, one that is crumbling
under the Biden-Harris administration. Under Biden and
Harris, crucial restrictions on Iranian missile and drone imports were allowed
to quietly expire last November, and Putin provided advanced air defense and
radar equipment to Iran just last month. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has been too
busy defending Joe Biden’s decision to block essential arms shipments needed for
Israel’s war of survival.
Harris would argue that these concessions to Iran will reduce tensions and may
achieve peace. How then to explain that President Biden – just this month – sent
thousands of US troops, carrier groups, a missile submarine, and a squadron of
F-22s to the Mediterranean? Policies of appeasement don’t mitigate the chance of
conflict. On the contrary, war with Iran appears closer today than ever before.
Donald Trump understood that when deterrence fades the risks will only escalate
and that, especially in the Middle East, weakness leads to one outcome: war.
But gripped by global stage fright, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden seek to achieve
security by showing insecurity and to avert conflict by making enemies love
instead of fear us. Their timidity has only bred contempt – and the expansion of
Iran’s infernal reach.
Iran’s reckless adventurism in targeting a presidential nominee shows they don’t
fear Harris – even while she serves as second-in-command of the United States of
America. But, like Ronald Reagan, who secured the release of 52 American
hostages from Tehran hours before entering the Oval Office, Trump is striking
fear in Iran before he even takes the reigns, which is why they are literally
trying to kill him. Let me be clear. Those who
say that Harris hates Israel – as Trump has said – are, of course, completely
wrong. She is married to a very proud Jew and a mensch, Doug Emhoff, who has
valiantly, proudly, and publicly fought antisemitism as second gentleman for the
last three years. Rather, the problem with Kamala is not that she doesn’t love
Israel, it’s that she doesn’t hate Iran.
**The writer is the international best-selling author of The Israel Warrior, a
newly-published guide to fighting back for Israel. Follow him on Instagram and
Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
Israel's War Is Against Hezbollah, Not The Lebanese
People
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./September 25, 2024
On October 8, 2023, the very day after Hamas attacked, Hezbollah opened a
"second front" against Israel to help Hezbollah's brothers in Hamas.
On September 19, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah promised that his
organization's terrorist attacks on Israel would continue until the war in Gaza
ended. Hezbollah, he said, will continue supporting the Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip "no matter what the consequences are, what the sacrifices are, what
scenarios will unfold." Nasrallah further threatened that Israelis who have
evacuated from their homes will not be allowed to return, implying that
Hezbollah might be planning to invade and occupy Israel's north.
The war in the Gaza Strip could end tomorrow if Hamas would lay down its weapons
and release the 101 Israelis hostages it is still holding, only about half of
whom are thought to be alive. Hamas, nonetheless, seems to have chosen to fight
to the last Palestinian. Hamas evidently does not care if thousands of
Palestinians are killed in the war. Its main objective is to hold onto power.
How would the US respond if a terrorist organization in Mexico began launching
hundreds of missiles and drones into American cities?... How would France
respond if its cities came under attack from terrorists based in neighboring
countries... Would the French call for negotiations with the terrorists, or
would they practice their right to self-defense?
Hezbollah has decided to destroy Lebanon and sacrifice a large number of
Lebanese civilians to keep Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip. It has left
Israel with no choice but to wage a counterterrorism offensive to defend its own
citizens. After Hamas brought a nakba (catastrophe) to the Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip, Hezbollah is bringing the Lebanese people another.
How would the US respond if a terrorist organization in Mexico began launching
hundreds of missiles and drones into American cities? Would the US tolerate such
attacks for nearly a year? How would France respond if its cities came under
attack from terrorists based in neighboring countries? Would the French call for
negotiations with the terrorists, or would they practice their right to
self-defense?
Some in the international media are misrepresenting the recent round of fighting
between Israel and the Iran-backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah, as a war
between Israel and Lebanon. This, however, is not a war between Israel and the
Lebanese people. Rather, it is a war between Israel and a heavily armed
terrorist group that has created a state within a state in Lebanon and is acting
on orders from the mullahs in Tehran to advance their goal of destroying the
"Zionist entity." This war was initiated 11 months ago by Hezbollah in support
of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, another Iran-backed proxy based in the
Gaza Strip.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and thousands of "ordinary" Palestinians launched an
attack on Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip, murdering
1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 240 others. Israel responded by sending
troops into the Gaza Strip with two objectives: to release the Israeli hostages
and destroy the military capabilities of Hamas, a group whose charter openly
calls for waging Jihad (holy war) with the purpose of killing Jews and
eliminating Israel.
On October 8, 2023, the very day after Hamas attacked, Hezbollah opened a
"second front" against Israel to help Hezbollah's brothers in Hamas. On October
13, 2023, after the Israeli military offensive in Gaza began in earnest,
Hezbollah terrorists began firing hundreds of rockets, drones and guided
missiles at Israeli communities along the border with Lebanon. As a result,
Israel was forced to evacuate tens of thousands of residents from northern
Israel. Since then, the displaced Israeli families have been unable to return to
their homes, some of which have been severely damaged or completely destroyed by
Hezbollah's missiles and drones.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have displayed
incredible self-restraint in the face of Hezbollah's war of attrition. Netanyahu
and his government have tried their utmost to avoid a full-scale war with
Hezbollah, mainly to avoid harming innocent civilians in Lebanon. The Israel
Defense Force (IDF) have repeatedly warned Lebanese civilians to flee north out
of harm's way. The Israeli military's response to the unremitting daily barrage
of rockets and drones fired by Hezbollah over the past 11 months was restricted
to airstrikes targeting Hezbollah terrorists and their military installations in
southern Lebanon.
How would the US respond if a terrorist organization in Mexico began launching
hundreds of missiles and drones into American cities? Would the US tolerate such
attacks for nearly a year? Would the US accept a situation where tens of
thousands of its own citizens are forced to flee their homes and become refugees
in their own country? How would France respond if its cities came under attack
from terrorists based in neighboring countries such as Belgium, Spain or
Germany? Would the French call for negotiations with the terrorists, or would
they practice their right to self-defense?
On September 19, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah promised that his
organization's terrorist attacks on Israel would continue until the war in Gaza
ended. Hezbollah, he said, will continue supporting the Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip "no matter what the consequences are, what the sacrifices are, what
scenarios will unfold." Nasrallah further threatened that Israelis who have
evacuated from their homes will not be allowed to return, implying that
Hezbollah might be planning to invade and occupy Israel's north.
The Hezbollah leader is evidently more worried about the well-being of Hamas
than the safety of the Lebanese people. He seems to believe that the war he
waged against Israel 11 months ago would save Hamas and allow it to continue
ruling the Gaza Strip. Nasrallah and his patrons in Iran are willing to destroy
Lebanon and sacrifice many Lebanese citizens to keep Hamas in power. They seem
determined to prevent the downfall of one of Iran's Palestinian terror proxies
in the Middle East. Hezbollah, it seems, has made the decision to hold the
entire Lebanese population captive to shield the Hamas murderers and rapists who
carried out the massacres against Israelis on October 7.
Earlier this week, Israel published photographic evidence of Hezbollah weaponry
placed inside of homes in southern Lebanon. Among the weapons siloed in Lebanese
homes were cruise missiles, rockets with enormous warheads, and drones. In one
instance, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed pictures showing a long-range
missile, mounted on a hydraulic launcher, sitting in the attic of a Lebanese
family's home.
This is the same tactic used by Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past two
decades. Like Hezbollah, the Palestinian terror group has also been placing
weapons and missile launchers in densely populated areas throughout the Gaza
Strip, in homes, hospitals, mosques, United Nations facilities and schools.
Israel's war primarily aims to prevent Hamas from launching another October
7-style attack against Israelis in the future. Shortly after the attack, senior
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad declared that his group is prepared to repeat the
October 7 attack time and again until Israel is annihilated:
"The Al-Aqsa Flood [the name Hamas uses to call its October 7 attack] is just
the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have
the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. We must teach
Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. Israel is a country that
has no place on our land."
The war in the Gaza Strip could end tomorrow if Hamas would lay down its weapons
and release the 101 Israelis hostages it is still holding, only about half of
whom are thought to be alive. Hamas, nonetheless, seems to have chosen to fight
to the last Palestinian. Hamas evidently does not care if thousands of
Palestinians are killed in the war. Its main objective is to hold onto power.
The war in Lebanon could end tomorrow if Hezbollah stopped its rocket and drone
attacks on Israeli towns and cities. Hezbollah, however, has so far indicated
that it has no intention of halting them. Many Lebanese people are strongly
opposed to Hezbollah's attempt to drag their country into a war on behalf of
Hamas and Iran. Addressing the Hezbollah secretary-general, Lebanese journalist
and political analyst Dr. Ghassan A. Bou Diab wrote:
"You have plunged your community and people into a confrontation whose extent
only God knows, with the state of Israel, a state that is truly one of the
foremost nations in terms of technological and military advancement, enjoying an
extensive network of international relations, all under the pretext of
supporting the Gaza front. "The day after the
terrorist organization Hamas began its fateful operation, you initiated gunfire
into Israeli territory, causing dozens of innocent civilians to flee their
homes. You supported the terrorist organization in its horrific crime of
kidnapping hostages and using civilians as human shields. "This was preceded by
your constant threats that you would 'keep the Israelis on one and a half feet,'
and that you were ready to 'destroy Israel in seven and a half minutes.'
"Your misguided bets have characterized your journey. You gambled that Israel
could not withstand a prolonged war, but Israel surprised everyone, and the war
has continued for nearly a year. You bet on the collapse of the political,
security, and military institutions if fronts were opened, yet Israel has proven
to be cohesive. In fact, it forged a new social contract in Israel following the
events of October 7, centered around fighting for existence...
"You gambled on direct Iranian intervention in the battle, only to see Khamenei
retreat and limit himself to prayer and seeking safety as soon as he witnessed
American aircraft carriers, equipped with fifth-generation technologies, sailing
with terrifying weaponry capable of annihilating half the globe. You relied on
international diplomatic pressure and protests around the world, yet you failed
because your axis initiated the aggression."
Hezbollah has decided to destroy Lebanon and sacrifice a large number of
Lebanese civilians to keep Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip. It has left
Israel with no choice but to wage a counterterrorism offensive to defend its own
citizens. After Hamas brought a nakba (catastrophe) to the Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip, Hezbollah is bringing the Lebanese people another.
**Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made
possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to
remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20968/war-against-hezbollah
‘Pride Was Their Downfall’: The Collapse of Christian
Unity Against Jihad Occurred Today in History
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream./September 25, 2024
On September 25, 1396, a major military encounter with Islam that demonstrated
just how disunited Christendom had become (and still is) took place.
Two years earlier, the Ottoman Turks had been “doing great injury to Hungary,”
causing its young king, Sigismund, to appeal “to Christendom for assistance.” It
came at an opportune time. The hitherto quarreling English and French had made
peace in 1389, and a “crusade against the Turks furnished a desirable outlet for
the noble instincts of the Western chivalry.”
Matters were further settled once “men of all kinds” — pilgrims, laymen, and
clerics returning from the Holy Land and Egypt — told of
the miseries and persecutions to which their Eastern coreligionists were
subjected by the ‘unbelieving Saracen,’ and . . . appealed with all the
vehemence of piety for a crusade to recover the native land of Christ.
Western knights everywhere — mostly French but also English, Scottish, German,
Spanish, Italian, and Polish — took up the cross in one of the largest
multiethnic crusades against Islam. Their ultimate goal, according to a
contemporary, was “to [re-]conquer the whole of Turkey and to march into the
Empire of Persia . . . the kingdoms of Syria and the Holy Land.” A vast host of
some 100,000 crusaders — “the largest Christian force that had ever confronted
the infidel” — reached Buda in July 1396.
But numbers could not mask the disunity, mutual suspicions, and internal rancor
that was evident from the start.
Hubris at Work
Not only did the French spurn Sigismund’s suggestion that they take only a
defensive posture, but when the king suggested that his Hungarians were more
experienced with and thus should lead the attack on the Turks, the Frenchmen
accused him of trying to take away their glory and set out to take the field
before him. They easily took two garrisons before
reaching and besieging Nicopolis, an Ottoman stronghold on the Danube. Victories
and still no response from Sultan Bayezid led to overconfidence and complacency.
Suddenly, on September 25, as the Western leaders were feasting in a tent, a
herald burst in with news that Sultan Bayezid — who only three weeks earlier had
been far away besieging Constantinople — had come. Without waiting for
Sigismund’s Hungarians, who were still trailing behind, the Westerners instantly
formed rank and made for the first, visible line of the Ottoman force, the
akinjis (irregular light cavalry).
Although they made quick work of them, the Muslim horsemen had “veiled from the
sight of the enemy a forest of pointed stakes, inclined towards the Christians,
and high enough to reach the breast of a horse.” Many charging horses were
impaled and fell as volleys of arrows descended upon man and beast, killing
both.
The initial loss inflicted on the Christians was considerable. A young French
knight called on the men “to march into the lines of the enemy to avoid a
coward’s death from their arrows and the Christians responded to the marshal’s
call.” Although the Muslim archers harrying them were scattered along a sloping
hill, the unhorsed and heavily armored crusaders marched to it on foot.
Fallen Banner
As they ascended,
the Christians struck vigorously with axe and sword, and the Ottomans retaliated
with sabre, scimitar and mace so valiantly, and packed their lines so closely,
that the issue remained at first undecided. But as the Christians were mailed,
and the Ottomans fought without armor, the bearers of the Cross . . . butchered
10,000 of the infantry of the defenders of the Crescent, who began to waver and
finally took to their heels.
As the latter fled, another, larger host of Islamic horsemen became visible. The
unwavering crusaders “hurled themselves on the Turkish horse, effected a gap in
their lines, and, striking hard, right and left, came finally to the rear,”
where they hoped to find and kill Bayezid with “their daggers [which they used]
with great effect against the rear.” Startled at this unusual way of fighting —
reportedly five thousand Muslims were slaughtered in the melee — “the Turks
sought safety in flight and raced back to Bayezid beyond the summit of the
hill.”
At this point, the Western leaders called on their knights to stop, recover, and
regroup; yet despite “their exhaustion, the weight of their armor, and the
excessive heat of an Eastern summer day,” the berserkers pursued “the fugitives
uphill in order to complete the victory.” There, atop the hill, the full might
of the Muslim host finally became visible: 40,000 professional cavalrymen
(sipahi), with Bayezid grinning in their midst.
Instantly and to the clamor of drums, trumpets, and wild exclamations of “Allahu
Akbar!” they charged at the outnumbered and now-exhausted Christians. The latter
valiantly fought on, “no frothing boar nor enraged wolf more fiercely,” writes a
contemporary. One veteran knight, Jean de Vienne, “defended the banner of the
Virgin Mary with unflinching valor. Six times the banner fell, and six times he
raised it again. It fell forever only when the great admiral himself succumbed
under the weight of Turkish blows.” His “body was found later in the day with
his hand still clutching the sacred banner.”
Large Piles of Martyred Heads
Still, no amount of righteous indignation or battle fury could withstand the
rushing onslaught. Some crusaders broke rank and fled; hundreds tumbled down the
steep hill to their deaths; others hurled themselves in the river and drowned; a
few escaped and got lost in the wood (a handful made it home from their odyssey
years later, in rags and unrecognizable).
The Hungarians arrived only to witness the grisly spectacle of a vast Muslim
army surrounding and massacring their Western coreligionists. Sigismund boarded
and escaped on a ship in the Danube. “If they had only believed me,” the young
king (who lived on to become Holy Roman Emperor 37 years later) reminisced; “we
had forces in plenty to fight our enemies.” He was not alone in blaming Western
impetuosity: “If they had only waited for the king of Hungary,” wrote Froissart,
a contemporary Frenchman, “they could have done great deeds; but pride was their
downfall.”
Though it failed, the crusade caused considerable damage to Sultan Bayezid’s
forces: “for the body of every Christian, thirty Muhammadan corpses or more were
to be found on the battlefield.” But the Islamic warlord would have his
vengeance:
On the morning after the battle, the sultan sat and watched as the surviving
crusaders were led naked before him, their hands tied behind them. He offered
them the choice of conversion to Islam or, if they refused, immediate
decapitation. Few would renounce their faith, and the growing piles of heads
were arranged in tall cairns before the sultan, and the corpses dragged away. By
the end of a long day, more than 3,000 crusaders had been butchered, and some
accounts said as many as 10,000.
Whether because hours of this “hideous spectacle of mutilated corpses and spilt
blood horrified [even] Bayezid,” or whether because his advisors convinced him
that he was needlessly provoking the West, “he ordered the executioners to
stop.”
When news of this disaster spread throughout Europe, “bitter despair and
affliction reigned in all hearts,” writes a chronicler. Never again would the
West unite and crusade in the East. “Henceforward it would be left to those
whose borders were directly threatened to defend Christendom against the
expansion of Islam.” All of this was a sign of the times, of a burgeoning
secularization that prioritized nationality over religion in the West. As
historian Aziz Atiya notes in his seminal study of the battle:
The Christian army consisted of heterogeneous masses, which represented the
various and conflicting aspirations of their countries and nascent spirit of
nationality therein. The sense of unity and universality that had been the
foundation of Empire and Papacy in the early Middle Ages was passing away, and
in its place the separatism of independent kingdoms was arising. This new
separatist tendency demonstrated itself amidst the crusading medley before
Nicopolis. There was no unity of purpose, no unity of arms and companies, and no
common tactics in the camp of the Christians.
If such a judgment was applicable then, how much more is it now?
*Raymond Ibrahim is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone
Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Portions of this article were excerpted from his book, Sword and Scimitar.
New UN needed to avert breakdown of law and order
MOHAMED CHEBARO/Arab News/September 25, 2024
Nothing could have offered a worse backdrop to the opening of the 79th UN
General Assembly in New York this week than the news of the massive bombing
campaign by Israel against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah in Lebanon. The pictures
and live streaming clearly showed Israeli shells and missiles raining down on
southern Lebanon — strikes that, in their first 24 hours, killed more than 500
people and injured hundreds more.
This backdrop of yet another flare-up of violence means the risk of an all-out
war in the Middle East can be added to the list of other conflicts, adversities
and challenges that are raging in our world. It maybe proves that the
international order is broken and organizations such as the UN are becoming
increasingly redundant, with trust between the big powers at an all-time low. We
are now living in a more divided world that is split between the Western
countries and their allies on one side and Russia alongside many countries in
the so-called global majority, including China, on the other.
All diplomats are most probably working around the clock in New York in an
attempt to de-escalate this and other conflicts, but the international
organization, it seems, has become entangled in the global rift and therefore
has little or no impact, either on Israel or Hezbollah.
It is unclear what progress can be made to defuse the situation in Lebanon, as
efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel has relentlessly pounded
since October last year, have come to nothing over the past 11 months.
The UN, it seems, has become entangled in the global rift and therefore has
little or no impact
It has become clear over the past two decades that the UN as an organization,
despite the crucial work of several of its agencies, is becoming irrelevant due
to its failure to orchestrate, design and even impose peace.
The last time the world came together to solve a crisis was maybe the financial
meltdown of 2008 and those efforts were led mainly by the G20, assisted by
several UN agencies and other groupings. There were two key subsequent crises
that indirectly sowed the seeds of discord within the international order.
Firstly, the Libyan revolution against Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 and the
subsequent UN resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilians,
which left key powers, namely Russia, feeling cheated. Moscow viewed the
UN-authorized Western airstrikes on Libya as the catalyst that led to the
downfall of Qaddafi’s regime. Secondly, the inability of the UN and global
powers to present a united front against the Syrian regime in that same period,
even after the evident use of chemical and nonconventional weapons against its
own people. That was another calamity that may have led to the further erosion
of trust in the organization. The strong words of UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who this week warned that impunity,
inequality and uncertainty were creating an “unsustainable world,” will no doubt
go unheeded by states and people alike. The deepening geopolitical divisions,
wars with no end in sight, climate change, nuclear threats and unregulated tech
continue to push humanity toward the “unimaginable — a powder keg that risks
engulfing the world,” Guterres added.
But it is not just Israel’s war to dislodge Hamas from Gaza and its
ramifications that are threatening peace and stability today. The Iran-backed
“axis of resistance” in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria have entered the fray and
targeted Israel as a means of supporting Hamas. The Houthis of Yemen have been
attacking shipping in the Red Sea with impunity, while the world has again
failed to put forward a unified deterrence to help secure supply chains and
world trade. The conflict in Sudan, which was high on last year’s UNGA agenda,
continues to burn, alongside the Ukraine war, without any end in sight.
And that is just part of the usual story delegates at this annual meeting are
shackled with, as global humanitarian needs continue to grow and the funds to
meet them shrink, meaning some 2 billion people live in conflict-affected areas.
Many of these decide to search for a better life as refugees or migrants in more
stable countries, where they often become a burden and risk instability as a
result of their large inflow.
It is not unreasonable to demand a summit or a meeting that reviews the essence
of the UN Charter
Even the two-day “Summit of the Future,” held before the UNGA meetings, which
was supposed to offer some respite and hope from the doom and gloom of our
world, was nonbinding and lacked the impetus to rally nations to tackle the
challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change, artificial intelligence,
equality and women’s rights. Like many other initiatives, its blueprint is
likely to become yet another document filed in the UN’s archives.
However, all is not lost just yet. While the world continues to hurtle toward
greater discord and more conflicts like a train without any brakes, it is not
unreasonable to demand a summit or a meeting that reviews the essence of the UN
Charter. This document was endorsed at the San Francisco conference in 1945, but
maybe it is time to see if those foundations, which served humanity after the
Second World War, are still relevant today.
At the time the UN was born nearly 80 years ago, US President Harry Truman’s
reversal of “might makes right” into “right makes might” was enshrined in the UN
Charter. But such noble principles no longer feature in a world torn between its
ultra-liberal and despotic forces, amid a clear return to “might makes right” as
the dominant narrative. If the UN, multilateralism and the craft of diplomacy
are to have a second wind as a force for good, world leaders must renew their
trust in the organization as a vehicle for ensuring peace, not just talking
about it.
Most of the 8 billion inhabitants of the planet today would likely agree that we
are witnessing the worst decline in the world order and governance since the
establishment of the modern state system. The UN has, for the best part of eight
decades, been a talking shop for competing forces. To avert global conflicts and
their catastrophic consequences today, an effective world body is needed to
promote peace and prosperity. The aging UN could renew itself if the superpowers
reached such a conclusion.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of
experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He
is also a media consultant and trainer.
As UN General Assembly begins, Lebanon collapses under
Israeli bombs
NATHALIE GOULET/Arab News/September 25, 2024
France is the only country speaking in favor of Lebanon, but unfortunately it is
only speaking.
Last week’s captivating statements by French President Emmanuel Macron had no
effect and neither did the visit of his special envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who
was once a great minister of foreign affairs. France’s voice has not been heard
in Lebanon for a long time, either on security issues or on the vital question
of fighting corruption. We all remember the French
president’s statements on governance, whether delivered from Beirut or Paris.
Upon arriving in Beirut on Aug. 6, 2020 — two days after the devastating
explosion at the city’s port — Macron said: “The priority today is aid,
unconditional support for the population, but it’s (also) the demand that France
has been making for months, if not years, in fact, for essential reforms in
certain sectors. Energy, public procurement, the fight against corruption. If
these reforms are not carried out, Lebanon will continue to sink. This is
another discussion that we must have and that I also wish to conduct
today.”Three days later, Macron told the International Conference on Support to
Beirut and the Lebanese People: “I told them a few days ago in Beirut, and
President (Michel) Aoun, whom I greet here, knows it: there are reforms to be
made in the energy and public procurement sectors and in the fight against
corruption. There is the audit of the central bank and the financial sector to
be carried out, and the full involvement of the IMF and all international
players.”France’s diplomacy has become nothing more than a display of authority,
and this is regrettable
The same declarations were reiterated by the French president at the Pine
Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, on Sept.
1, 2020.
With France, however, the Lebanese experience disappointment after
disappointment. France’s diplomacy has become nothing
more than a display of authority, and this is regrettable. Long gone are the
days when Jacques Chirac imposed his vision of peace in the region. Long gone
are the days when France was expected and listened to in the Middle East. The
voice of “Dr. Chirac,” as Yasser Arafat called him.
So, unfortunately, one resolution will not change the situation of the martyred
Lebanese people, caught between their Israeli neighbors and Hezbollah — Iran’s
armed wing in the region — which has just undergone an elimination operation,
thanks to the pager explosions, worthy of the most sophisticated spy series.
While many applauded the Israeli secret services’ technical prowess —
which, despite having reasons to be admired, was worth questioning — we forgot
that this act of retaliation on Lebanese soil was also an act of war and that it
resulted in civilian casualties. What would the world think if Vladimir Putin
were to use the same methods against his opponents in Russia, Ukraine or
elsewhere? Our system of international law has deteriorated to such an extent
that nothing can lead to condemnation, let alone sanctions or restitutions.
France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier this week said that “the
question of Israel’s security is nonnegotiable,” foreshadowing his position and
that of the government. As the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, pogrom
approaches, the regional chaos is such that nothing seems able to stop the
spiral of violence and the conflagration of the entire region.
The chaos is such that nothing seems able to stop the spiral of violence and the
conflagration of the entire region. As the world
gathers in New York for the UN General Assembly, the voice of the Gulf states
must be heard. Perhaps it would be important for the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation or the Gulf Cooperation Council to try mediation? They are Lebanon’s
financial supporters and have no interest in seeing Hezbollah continue its work
of destabilizing the region. The Abraham Accords are
yet another reason for the UAE, in particular, to act as a mediator. Oman also
has a long history in this field. As for Saudi Arabia, it can also be a driving
force. It is not in the Arab countries’ interest to allow the possible
metastasis of this ongoing chaos.
The world cannot allow the situation to deteriorate like this; we have to act,
and fast. Faced with the impotence of the international community, including
Europe, who will stand up for the Lebanese and for peace, which must begin with
an end to hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon and the return of the Oct. 7 hostages
held prisoner for a year?
The situation arising from the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 has led many Israelis
to take to the streets, demanding an end to hostilities and the return of the
hostages. The Israeli government seems to have turned a deaf ear to these
protests and continues to pursue its worst-case scenario policy. This is a
policy for which Lebanon and the Lebanese are still paying the price today, in
front of an international community that is watching the disaster unfold.
This time, it was not the port of Beirut that exploded, but all of
Lebanon and soon the whole region.
**Nathalie Goulet is a French senator for the Orne department in Normandy and
the author of “An ABC of Terrorist Financing,” published by Cherche-Midi. X:
@senateur61
Netanyahu and Nasrallah: two sides of the same coin
FAISAL J. ABBAS/Arab News/September 25, 2024
Military escalations are always worrying, but as we have witnessed on and since
Oct. 7 last year, the gloves in the Middle East are now well and truly off. It
is like a Royal Rumble match with no referee, and with none of the wrestlers
willing to end the fight when they hear the bell.
This becomes even more worrying when, as Ireland’s trade minister Simon Coveney
cautioned several months ago, Israel has chosen to “behave like a monster in
order to defeat a monster.”
Indeed, Israel is undeterred by any amount of global condemnation, protests or
threats from the International Criminal Court. It appears not to see the
contradiction between its ability to eliminate some of its targets with maximum
precision and minimal collateral damage (such as Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran), and
its insistence on indiscriminate airstrikes that cause maximum damage — which,
as army spokesman Daniel Hagari admitted last year, was the aim in Gaza.
To protect himself, and remain in power, Netanyahu is willing to turn his
country into a pariah. His coalition of far-right lunatics, who have called for
nuking Gaza, are no different from Daesh (and those words are not mine, but
those of a prominent Israeli journalist to whom I spoke last January in Davos).
However, responsibility for the recent deaths of at least 1,300 men, women and
children in Lebanon, more than 620 of those in the past three days alone, and
the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, does not lie solely with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has
blood on his hands too.
That is because there is a difference here: Lebanon is not Palestine. In 2000,
Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon, and Hezbollah’s role as a resistance
movement should have stopped right then and there while the whole region was
applauding. In contrast, despite Israel’s unilateral withdrawal of troops and
settlers from Gaza in September 2005, all of the Palestinian Territories
including Gaza continue to be considered occupied under international law. This
of course does not justify what happened on Oct.7: any civilian life lost is one
too many.
Lebanon could have charted another course, and reclaimed its title as the
“Switzerland of the Middle East.” Instead, Hezbollah refused for 24 years to lay
down their weapons and become a purely political party: a demand that cost
former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri his life. Hariri distinguished his time in
office by obtaining huge support for Lebanon from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and the
international community, but that ended with his assassination in February 2005
in a bombing carried out by a Hezbollah operative.
Since then, coinciding with the rise of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon has
been in steady decline. They dominated politics, took over Beirut by force, and
dictate to the country when it goes to war and when it doesn’t.
Worse, Hezbollah ruined Lebanon’s relations with fellow Arabs by exporting drugs
and meddling in their affairs. They have supported the Assad regime in Syria
through 13 years of civil war, and Hezbollah commanders helped the Houthi
militia in Yemen to launch missiles into Saudi Arabia — where up to 300,000
Lebanese expatriates live and work, remitting funds to their families back home.
Hezbollah has pledged that its resistance will continue until the liberation of
Jerusalem: but the last time I checked, the route from Beirut to Jerusalem
passed through neither Damascus nor Sanaa!
In Israel’s war on Gaza, Hezbollah showed its true colors (which, ironically,
are yellow). What did Nasrallah do to prevent the slaughter of more than 41,000
Palestinians in the enclave? Instead, Hezbollah’s rhetoric invariably points the
finger at the axis of moderation, namely Saudi Arabia, for “betraying the
cause.”Yet, as an eternal believer in the adage that actions speak louder than
words, I prefer to compare Hezbollah’s futile waffle with the diplomatic effort
on behalf of the Palestinian people led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal
bin Farhan. These efforts have been crowned by Palestine taking a seat at the UN
General Assembly and the recognition by 146 countries of a Palestinian state.
As for Lebanon, the main difference between the Saudi influence and that
of the Iran-backed Hezbollah was most eloquently put in a 2018 interview with
the Kingdom’s Defense Minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, who said: “We send
tourists to Lebanon, Iran sends terrorists.”
• Faisal J. Abbas is the author of 'Anecdotes of an Arab Anglophile,' published
by Nomad Publishing.