Hamas Attacks Israel

[RTH10260]

now we know why those pagers and other electronic devices were triggered.
The Israeli army gave a two hours warning to residents who ought to have known that Hezbollah was storing weapons, eg missiles and launchers, in residential buildings.

Israeli air strikes kill 492 people in Lebanon

5 hours ago
David Gritten BBC News

At least 492 people have been killed in intense and wide-ranging Israeli air strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says, in the deadliest day of conflict there in almost 20 years.

Thousands of families have also fled their homes as the Israeli military said it hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets in an operation to destroy infrastructure that the armed group had built up since the 2006 war.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched more than 200 rockets into northern Israel, according to the military. Paramedics said two people were injured by shrapnel.

World powers have been urging restraint as both sides appear to be spiralling closer towards all-out war.

Lebanon's health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among the dead, while 1,645 others had been wounded.

It did not report how many of the casualties were civilians or combatants.

Health Minister Firass Abiad said thousands of families had also been displaced by the strikes.

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed alarm at the escalating situation and said he did not want Lebanon to “become another Gaza”.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the "escalation is extremely dangerous and worrying" ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the UN in New York, adding "we are almost in a full-fledged war".

President Joe Biden said the US was “working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return home safely”, while the Pentagon announced it was sending “a small number” of additional troops to the Middle East "out of an abundance of caution".

Nearly a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah sparked by the war in Gaza has killed hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the frontier.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas and will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Both groups are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3wy8kpy3eo

[RTH10260]

Israel releases new footage showing strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Sun
24 Sept 2024

AT LEAST 490 people have been killed after a day of devastation across Lebanon.

Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes on over 1,000 Hezbollah targets earlier today as thousands of civilians were forced to flee the war-torn border.

Bombs were launched in the south by the Israeli military with 492 killed and over 1,600 injured in the precision assaults, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Thirty-five children are also among the dead, the Lebanese government claims.

Another of those killed was Hamas field commander Mahmoud Al Nader, the terror group also currently at war with Israel announced.

The deaths - which are expected to continue rising - mark Lebanon's deadliest day in conflict since the end of its civil war in 1990.

in the clip note those secondary explosions.

[RTH10260]

Is Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar Dead?
Reports Emerge About Killing Of Top Israeli Target In Gaza Strike

Curated By: Rohit News18.com
Last Updated: September 23, 2024, 15:00 IST

Jerusalem, Israel

Israel is reportedly investigating the potential death of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar following a deadly rocket strike that targeted a school in Gaza City. The Israeli military said that the strike was aimed at a Hamas command center, while Palestinian health authorities reported that 22 people were killed in the attack.

Israeli officials are now looking into the possibility that Sinwar may have been killed during the Israeli Defense Forces operations in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. “In Israel, they are investigating the possibility that Haya Sanwar is no longer alive. This possibility was raised in Amn, by some of the experts dealing with the Palestinian arena, although it has no support or evidence on the ground,” journalist Ben Caspit said in a post on X.


https://www.news18.com/world/is-hamas-l ... 59967.html

[RTH10260]

Revealed: Iran's ambassador 'lost an eye when his ''Hezbollah-issued pager'' exploded in his face' during 'Israeli pocket bomb attack'

By Emily Jane Davies and Elena Salvoni and Perkin Amalaraj
Published: 14:11 EDT, 18 September 2024 | Updated: 04:55 EDT, 19 September 2024

Iran's envoy to Lebanon reportedly lost an eye when a pager exploded in his face during a deadly pocket bomb attack which tore through the country.



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ttack.html

[RTH10260]

Note w/o link:

According to an item in a news clip the pagers were not "upgraded" but were a wholy Israeli manufactured product, insered via the Hungarian companny mentioned upthread. The company was a licenseholder permitted to use the Japanese brand. Production was to fulfill an order of 5000 units. Deal is said to go back to 2022 when Hizbollah distrusted other communication forms cause they realized that Israel was listening in. The news clip suggested the explosives were implannted for some later large scale attack on Hezbollah, but the government became wary that the explosives may get detected, so they used the devices at this time.

[RTH10260]

[RTH10260]

IDF conducts massive strike on Hezbollah HQ in Beirut; Nasrallah’s fate unclear
Israeli and US officials say strike targeted Hezbollah chief; reports of many casualties in multiple blasts that shook Lebanese capital; IDF says plans ready for Lebanon ground op

By Emanuel Fabian, Follow Agencies, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid Follow
Today, 8:25 pm

The Israeli Air Force carried out massive targeted airstrikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday evening, with the military saying it had struck Hezbollah’s main headquarters.

The attack shook the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke over the city. There were reports of many casualties in the multiple strikes.

Unconfirmed Hebrew media reports said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was targeted, leading to widespread speculation and conflicting reports as to his fate. The New York Times quoted multiple Israeli and US officials saying Nasrallah was targeted.

A source close to Hezbollah said the Israeli strikes flattened six buildings. It was the heaviest attack in Beirut in almost a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah’s top officials are usually gathered at the site that was targeted.

Underlining the extraordinary nature of the strike, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari gave an on-camera statement minutes after the strike. Hagari said the main command center was built underneath civilian buildings in the Dahiyeh suburb, a known Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.

He did not mention whether Nasrallah was a target or was believed to be present at the site.

Footage from Beirut showed extensive destruction at the site.



https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-condu ... en-target/

[RTH10260]

Israel says it has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
IDF says southern front commander Ali Karki and other senior leaders killed in bombing of Beirut headquarters

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem and William Christou in Beirut
Sat 28 Sep 2024 14.33 CEST

Hezbollah’s veteran leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who led the group for more than three decades, was killed by Israel in a series of strikes on Friday on the group’s underground headquarters in Beirut, Israel and Hezbollah have confirmed.

The announcement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday morning came after overnight speculation about the fate of Nasrallah, following the strikes in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.

Later on Saturday Hezbollah, backed by Iran, which considers the Lebanon-based group one of its most significant assets, confirmed his death, saying Nasrallah “had joined his fellow martyrs” and adding the group would “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine”.

The statement, however, did not mention who would succeed Nasrallah, or how the group would respond to the assassination.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... -nasrallah

[RTH10260]

Deep intelligence penetration enabled Israel to kill Hassan Nasrallah
The success of Israel’s operation stands in sharp contrast to its misjudgment of Hamas’s intentions before 7 October

Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor
Mon 30 Sep 2024 00.00 EDT

A hundred munitions – including, it is believed, US-made 2,000lb bombs – were used by the Israeli air force in Friday evening’s overwhelming air raid that killed the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an underground complex hidden in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh.

Nasrallah, who was careful to the point of paranoia about his security arrangements and only rarely appeared in public, would have given little notice of his plan to undertake the fateful trip to the meeting.

But the intelligence penetration of Hezbollah was so deep that Israel knew Nasrallah and other surviving members of Hezbollah’s already decimated leadership would be meeting at the supposedly secret location – and that an order to bomb them could be given.

Benjamin Netanyahu was required to give permission to undertake the attack from New York, where the Israeli prime minister had given a bellicose speech at the UN general assembly. There was, presumably, felt to be little time to wait.

According to an unsubstantiated report in the French newspaper Le Parisien, the mole who informed the Israelis that Nasrallah was on his way to the bunker was Iranian. If true, it would be eye-catching, given that Iran is Hezbollah’s principal backer.

The reports of the planning behind the attack indicate that Israel had an eye on the location for some time. The commander of the 69th Squadron of F-15I jets that carried out the attack, named in Israeli media only as Lt Col M, said the aircrews involved were preparing for “several days”, though they were told of the intended target only a few hours before. The F-15I jets were armed to strike and destroy below ground, requiring a large amount of explosive, capable also of eliminating the buildings above.

Video released by the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday of the jets “taking off for the strike from Hatzerim airbase” showed eight US-made F-15Is. One taking off is laden with multiple missiles, under the wings and at the rear. Experts said they appeared to be American-manufactured BLU-109 2,000lb bombs, of the class the Biden administration had decided to withhold from Israel in the summer amid concerns about their use in densely populated Gaza.

Justin Bronk, an aviation expert with the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) thinktank, said the Israeli air force would have probably used 2,000lb joint direct attack munition guided missiles fitted with penetrating fuses designed to explode after a building or the ground is struck. Israeli air force officers said that during the attack, named Operation New Order, about 100 munitions were used and that bombs were dropped “every two seconds”.

Four residential buildings were hit, three destroyed utterly, leaving behind only smouldering craters, and two more were damaged in the strike. Initial estimates on the ground suggested that 300 people may have been killed, although Lebanon’s official count was that 11 were killed and 108 wounded. Israel said it had killed more than 20 members of Hezbollah and that the strike was justified because “Nasrallah intentionally built Hezbollah’s central headquarters under residential buildings in Dahiya”.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... -nasrallah

[Flatpoint High]

and Israel hit the Houthi terrorists. and, I hope the pilots were Yemenite Jews who were expelled. Houthi controlled Yemen is Yahoodim Free

[Flatpoint High]

and Israel hit the Houthi terrorists after they fired missiles at Tel Aviv. and, I hope the pilots were Yemenite Jews who were expelled. Houthi controlled Yemen is Yahoodim Free

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/world/vi ... tto-digvid

[Foggy]

I suppose y'all see, Israel is about to launch a major invasion of Lebanon.

[p0rtia]

I'll take the counterpoint on that, Foggy!



ETA. And MSNBC says Israeli forces are invading.

[Foggy]

"UTA" has multiple meanings, including:

Unable to apply: A common abbreviation in banking
¡uta!: A Spanish slang term that means "oh no!"
¡uta mano!: A Spanish slang term that means "goddammit!"
United Talent Agency: A global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California that represents artists and other professionals in the entertainment industry
Urinary tract abnormalities: A medical term
Unit training assembly: A term used in the military to describe a type of regular inactive duty training
Uta: A type of cancer that is more dangerous than verugas

[p0rtia]

lol

It's a typo.

ETA

[sugar magnolia]

lol

It's a typo.

ETA

So the University of TX at Arlington hasn't announced they are invading Lebanon??

[RTH10260]

My imho as built from news media over the last week, and as such no linky for Rikker.

Israel had this invasion prepared as a longterm strategy since Hezbollah started skirmishes following the Hamas attack out of Gaza. But they took only baby steps until recently. First they attacked the launch points that Hezbolla used. Then they observed from where those launch points were receing their ammuniton, determined the bunker entries and turned them to rock piles. Those bunkers are, different to Gaza, hewn into bedrock and cannot be destroyed per se. It is known that these bunkers are well connected with tunnels, it is said that one is over 40 km, and reaches the outskirts of Beirut. Israel will now be tracking down the tunnels and attempt to lock them up and destroy all weaponry kept safe in them. From earlier wars in Lebanon the Litani river was considered a magic boundary. I assume that Israel will attempt to "clear" the area south to their border.

As for the fighting, over the last couple of months Israel has been taking out leaders of various Hezbollah factions. From a number of tables showing their command structure (source: Israel) they have succeeded in removing all and any leadership personality. With Nasrallah and his top commanders gone it looks that no knowlegable leader remains. The knowhow of the organization has been erased. What fighting will happen from now on is low level local groups trying guerilla approaches against the Israeli incursion.

Re the most advanced Iranian rockets in Hezbollah storage, it seems that these weapons were to be operated by a limited number of specially trained members of Hezbollah. The source I did see mentioned that programming and launch codes to use this rockets were kept very restrictive, and that the leaders knowing them have been expired.

[RTH10260]

Syrians celebrate killing of Hezbollah 'Butcher of Madaya' in IDF strike

i24NEWS English
23 Sept 2024

Hussein Ali Ghandour, a major Hezbollah commander responsible for the brutal siege of Madaya in Syria, was killed along with other top commanders last Friday.

► Show Spoiler

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-01/ ... /104410558

The Israeli military says it has started a 'limited' and localised ground operation in southern Lebanon.

IDF officials said targeted raids against Hezbollah were being conducted in the border area of Lebanon and Israel.

It comes as huge blasts were heard across the Lebanese capital overnight, local time, as the Israeli military carried out strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Follow the latest updates in our live blog.

[neeneko]

Israel had this invasion prepared as a longterm strategy since Hezbollah started skirmishes following the Hamas attack out of Gaza.

LIkely long before that though. I think the baby steps have included seeing how far they could push the US before they lost support, and since that has not happened, they are finally trying to build more 'strategic depth' in their north. The interesting question will be if they simply scorch the region so that anyone still there is a target for decades, or if they will take it and start putting down settlements which then have to be protected american style.

[Suranis]

That area is outside the Biblical borders or Israel afaik, so the usual suspects in the goverment probably wouldn't go along with throwing down settlements.

Plus, the rest of the regional powers know Israel does not have any territorial ambitions outside the 3000 year old borders, so thats why they have been slowly making peace moves with Israel. Throwing down settlements would screw that notion sideways.

[RTH10260]

Israel had this invasion prepared as a longterm strategy since Hezbollah started skirmishes following the Hamas attack out of Gaza.

LIkely long before that though. I think the baby steps have included seeing how far they could push the US before they lost support, and since that has not happened, they are finally trying to build more 'strategic depth' in their north. The interesting question will be if they simply scorch the region so that anyone still there is a target for decades, or if they will take it and start putting down settlements which then have to be protected american style.

I do not expect a scorched earth approach. Different than in Gaza the fortifications of Hezbollah are generally outside of the villages, apart from hiding a certain number of rocket positions in civilian houses. In Gaza there is only city space, so no way of separating the Hamas infrastructure.

This will be a slow campaign finding and eliminating all bunker systems, although my belief is that the Israeli have by now exact charts. First reports indicate that there is no resistance. Considering the pager explosions one can assume that survivors have fled together with their families. Communication for coordination has been lost. I expect that this will be a more slow move northwards, and getting well into next year to complete.

[neonzx]

Associated:

Dubai’s Emirates Airlines has banned passengers from carrying pagers and walkie-talkies on its flights, following last month’s attacks on Lebanese group Hezbollah involving communication devices that exploded.

“All passengers traveling to, from, or via Dubai are prohibited from transporting pagers and walkie-talkies in checked or cabin baggage,” the airline says in a statement on its website. It adds that any prohibited items found will be confiscated by Dubai Police as part of heightened security measures.

In the deadly September attacks, thousands of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers and hundreds of radios exploded – attacks that were widely blamed on Israel but which it has not claimed.

[keith]

Hadn't thought of that. Is it just luck that that none went off in the air on the day? Or is in the air too far away from a cell tower which doesn't broadcast up anyway?

[johnpcapitalist]

Hadn't thought of that. Is it just luck that that none went off in the air on the day? Or is in the air too far away from a cell tower which doesn't broadcast up anyway?

Eons ago, when I carried a pager, I was on an airplane and received pages several times. While they typically used FM subcarrier frequencies to transmit (at least in the US), and while those are somewhat directional (IIRC, and open to be corrected by those who know for sure), I guess enough leaked through to be received at 37,000 feet. So it could conceivably be a problem.