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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hamas says commander killed in Israel strike in Lebanon's Bekaa
2024-05-20
[An Nahar] Paleostinian Death Eater group Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
said that a "commander" was killed in an Israeli strike on an eastern district of Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
near the Syrian border.

Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that "commander" Sharhabil Sayed was killed "after he was targeted by Israeli occupation aircraft" in Lebanon's West Bekaa area.

A source close to the Paleostinian Death Eater group, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, had earlier told AFP that Sayed was a Hamas official responsible for Lebanon's Bekaa region and "was killed in an Israeli strike that targeted his vehicle."

Lebanon's civil defense agency reported "one martyr and two maimed due to an Israeli air strike" on a vehicle near Majdal Anjar, a town around five kilometers from the Syrian border and around 60 kilometers from Lebanon's border with Israel.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported one dead and two maimed in an "enemy strike" that targeted a vehicle in the same area.

An AFP photographer saw a vehicle that had been destroyed in the raid.

The strike came after Israeli strikes earlier in the day killed a Hezbollah fighter and two children, according to the Lebanese Death Eater group and official media.

After Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces across the border.

The attacks have been intensifying, with Israeli forces increasingly striking deep into Lebanese territory, while Paleostinian factions and other allied groups in Lebanon have also claimed cross-border attacks.

Hezbollah earlier this week announced that its chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
had met with senior Hamas member Khalil al-Hayya.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran 'gives Hezbollah the green light to escalate attacks along Israel's northern border' and launch 'large-scale assault' amid warnings of an 'October 7, part two'
2024-03-01
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] It comes after it was made aware of 'Israeli plans to invade southern Gaza city'

Iran has reportedly given Hezbollah the green light to escalate attacks along Israel's northern border.

The country allegedly ordered the terror group to launch a 'large-scale assault' on Israel in a new wave of terror described in Israeli media as 'October 7, part two'.

Iran's order was made after it became aware of Israeli plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The regime under leader Ali Khamenei fears that southern Lebanon 'will be next', mirroring US warnings that the Israeli military is planning to launch a ground operation in Lebanon in late spring or early summer.

Thus far Israel exchanged near-daily missile fire with Hezbollah, hitting locations in Lebanon - but the IDF has refrained from a full-out ground invasion.

Hezbollah allegedly called for the meeting with Iran after 'information was obtained' that Israel was due to launch a ground assault and the secretary-general of the terror group, Hassan Nasrallah, asked for 'complete freedom in how he intends to attack'.

Meanwhile Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Tuesday that Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas could use the upcoming Muslim holiday month of Ramadan to provoke Palestinians in the West Bank and Muslims across the region to escalate tensions and attack Israel.

Hamas-ally Hezbollah has been fighting with the Israeli army since war erupted between Israel and Hamas in October, displacing tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents from their homes.

Just last night Israeli strikes killed two people in Lebanon's south, according to Lebanon's state-run national news agency.

There was also fire in the other direction, as Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement Wednesday morning that it targeted two Israeli military sites with two barrages of 'Grad rockets'.

The attack from south Lebanon came in 'response to Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip and the assassination of martyred leaders and their brothers in the southern suburbs' of Beirut, the statement by the agency added.

The Israeli military said in a statement that 'approximately 10 launches which crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel were identified', adding that sirens had sounded in north Israel's Kiryat Shmona area.

Air defences 'successfully intercepted a number of the launches,' the statement said, adding that the army 'struck the sources of the fire in Lebanon'.

Israeli police reported property damage in the Kiryat Shmona area but no wounded.

Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel army says raided Hamas compound used to train for October 7
2024-02-05
[GEO.TV] Israel’s army said Sunday its forces had raided a Hamas
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
training facility in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
where fighters prepared for the October 7 attack on Israel.

The facility in the Paleostinian territory’s main southern city of Khan Yunis contained models of Israeli military bases, armoured vehicles, as well as entry points to kibbutzim, the army said in a statement.

Soldiers also raided the office of Mohammad Sinwar, a senior commander in Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

During the raid on the al-Qadisiya compound in Khan Yunis, the forces encountered several fighters who fired at them, the army said.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Saudi-French Plan Proposes Exile For Hamas Leadership
2023-12-25
[ZeroHedge] The French newspaper Le Monde published details this week of a Saudi document containing a plan to end the war in Gaza, which stipulates the transfer of Hamas’ military and security leaders to the Algerian capital.

The newspaper stated that the document was prepared by the head of the Gulf Research Centre, Abdulaziz bin Saqr, after a meeting on November 19 in Riyadh with the head of the North Africa and Middle East Department at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anne Greux. The document was then transferred to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Le Monde pointed out that the evacuation of Hamas leaders to Algeria most likely refers to the leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Deif, and the leader of the movement in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar.

Algeria was reportedly chosen as a potential place of exile for the movement’s leaders because of the north African nation’s good relationship with Qatar and Iran, the main supporters of the Hamas movement, and because of its security capabilities that would allow it to tightly control their activities.

Le Monde contacted the Algerian ambassador in Paris, but he did not wish to comment on the matter.

The plan also calls for the deployment of an Arab peacekeeping force in Gaza under UN auspices and the establishment of a "joint transitional council," including the main factions in Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Fatah. The council would be responsible for managing the enclave for a period of four years, and for organizing presidential and parliamentary elections.

The newspaper noted it is unclear if the plan had been approved by the Saudi authorities, or whether it was a purely personal initiative of the Gulf Research Centre head.
More importantly, has anyone checked to see if the prime minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, is even slightly interested? If not, this will have the same lead balloon impact as that Tom Friedman proposal set before his Saudi host at an embassy dinner back in the early 2000s.
The document stated only: "It appears that the search for a Saudi-French consensus could contribute to the crystallization of a common vision acceptable to all parties, and have an impact on the decision to end the war."

Egypt submits proposal to end war, free all hostages, form PA-Hamas government to rule Gaza

[IsraelTimes] Israeli officials confirm to several Hebrew media outlets that Egypt has placed on the table a new proposal for a truce and a further release of Israeli hostages held by Gazook terrorists, with some indicating Jerusalem isn’t flat-out rejecting it and that it could lead to negotiations.

According to the Saudi news website Asharq, which quotes a source who participated in the talks between Egypt and Hamas
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
in Cairo last week, the Egyptian initiative is a plan to end hostilities and release all the remaining hostages, in three stages.

The first stage would be a two-week halt in fighting, extendable to three or four, in exchange for the release of 40 hostages — women, minors and elderly men, especially sick ones.

In return, Israel would release 120 Paleostinian security prisoners of the same categories. During this time, hostilities would stop, Israeli tanks would withdraw, and humanitarian aid would enter Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
The second phase would see an Egypt-sponsored "Paleostinian national talk" aimed at ending the division between Paleostinian factions — mainly the Paleostinian Authority and the Hamas terror group — and leading to the formation of a technocratic government in the West Bank and Gaza that would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and pave the way for Paleostinian parliamentary and presidential elections.

The third stage would include a comprehensive ceasefire, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, including soldiers, in return for a to-be-determined number of Paleostinian security prisoners in Israeli jails affiliated with Hamas and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group — including those arrested after October 7 and some convicted of serious terror offenses. In this phase, Israel would withdraw its forces from cities in the Gaza Strip and would allow displaced Gazooks from the enclave’s north to return to their homes.

Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
returned to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
yesterday after a four-day visit to Cairo to discuss the Egyptian proposal with the terror group’s political bureau. In parallel, a delegation of the Islamic Jihad has arrived in Cairo today for talks with Egyptian officials.

It is believed that 129 hostages kidnapped from Israel by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed the deaths of 22 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas says Israel's goal of eliminating it 'doomed to fail'
2023-12-22
[GEO.TV] Hamas's military wing on Thursday said Israel's objective to eliminate the militant group in Gaza was "doomed to fail", more than two months into war triggered by attacks on Israel.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also said in an audio recording that any further release of hostages held in Gaza depended on a "cessation of aggression".

Neither Israel's continued offensive nor "direct military operations" would bring the hostages home, he said.

"It is not possible to release enemy prisoners alive except by entering into negotiations."
Related:
Hamas: 2023-12-20 Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), an Accomplice of Hamas?
Hamas: 2023-12-20 Berlin summons Iran envoy after court finds ties to 2022 synagogue arson plot
Hamas: 2023-12-20 Hundreds of US synagogues receive bomb threats as spree continues despite arrests
Related:
Israel: 2023-12-19 Colonel Douglas Macgregor and renowned economist Michael Hudson offer their insider experience of the deep ethnic animus driving the people like Victoria Nuland who compose America's deep state.
Israel: 2023-12-20 Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), an Accomplice of Hamas?
Israel: 2023-12-20 Berlin summons Iran envoy after court finds ties to 2022 synagogue arson plot
Related:
Gaza: 2023-12-20 Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), an Accomplice of Hamas?
Gaza: 2023-12-20 Poll indicates most Americans oppose Biden’s handling of Israel-Hamas war
Gaza: 2023-12-20 Beleaguered Red Cross chief calls continued Gaza conflict a ‘moral failure’
Related:
Abu Obeida: 2023-10-10 Death toll rises to 1,560 as Netanyahu orders to starve Gaza
Abu Obeida: 2023-02-23 Palestinians say 11 killed, 102 hurt in Nablus clashes between gunmen, Israeli forces
Abu Obeida: 2022-07-19 4 Ex-Opposition Militants Killed In Syria’s Daraa
Related:
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades: 2023-10-30 More than 30 Israeli military vehicles have stormed the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades: 2023-10-28 Hamas says intense ground fighting with Israeli forces underway in Gaza
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades: 2023-10-20 Hamas attack masterminds Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar top Israel's hit-list
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
More than 30 Israeli military vehicles have stormed the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin
2023-10-30
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Hamas
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...
said Sunday its fighters were engaged in "heavy fighting" in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
where Israel has escalated ground operations, as calls multiply to deliver aid to the Paleostinian territory after weeks of siege and bombardment.

World leaders underlined the urgency of increasing aid into the Hamas-controlled territory and protesters worldwide rallied for a ceasefire, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steeled his nation for a "long and difficult war".

Despite calls for a humanitarian truce
..The purposes of a truce are twofold: 1.) bring up more arms, ammunition, and reinforcements; and 2.) get the enemy to relax his vigilance. A truce is not the same thing as a ceasefire, and a ceasefire doesn't mean you have to stop shooting...
, international outrage and the potential risk to hostages held in Gaza, Israel has intensified the war triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack.

Hamas snuffies stormed across the Gaza border on October 7 in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 239 others including many migrant workers, according to the latest figures provided Sunday by army front man Daniel Hagari.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli bombardment has killed more than 8,000 people, mainly civilians and half of them children.
...none of whom would be dead had they evacuated as directed by the IDF two weeks ago. But Hamas blocked the roads and bullied as many as they could into staying a being human shields, so all those deaths are on Hamas.
Panic and fear have surged inside the Paleostinian territory, where the UN says more than half of its 2.4 million residents are displaced and thousands of buildings destroyed.
Golly, It was only 2.3 million as of a few days ago... and the reality may be as little as half that — the Palestinians have been exaggerating birth rates and ignoring deaths and emigrations since they took over keeping the statistics.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday its fighters were "engaged in heavy fighting... with the invading occupation (Israeli) forces in northwest Gaza."

Israel’s army said a new "stage" of the war started with ground incursions since late Friday, an escalation from two brief operations earlier in the week.

AID ’ACCELERATION’
In a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday, US President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. We get to suffer the consequences...
"underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza", according to a readout of the conversation from the White House.

And in a separate call with President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi of Egypt, which borders Gaza to the south, the two leaders "committed to the significant acceleration and increase of assistance", the White House said.

UN chief António Guterres
...Portuguese politician and diplomat, ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, he was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015. He was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002. He served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005. In both a 2012 and 2014 poll, the Portuguese public ranked him as the best Prime Minister of the previous 30 years...
said the situation was "growing more desperate by the hour" as casualties increase and essential supplies of food, water, medicine and shelter dwindle.

Top Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk in a statement Sunday called on Egypt to take "decisive" action to speed up aid to Gaza.

"Egypt should not remain a spectator. We expect a decisive stance by Egypt allowing aid to enter Gaza as soon as possible," he said.

The Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy Society said Israel was repeatedly bombing around al-Quds hospital in central Gaza, causing damage and putting civilians at risk.

Mohammed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza’s biggest hospital Shifa, said "the ground shook" with intense Israeli raids.

The UN agency for Paleostinian refugees, UNRWA, said "thousands of people" broke into several of its warehouses and distribution centres in Gaza, grabbing basic items like flour and hygiene supplies.

"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down," it said.

A US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said earlier Israel was committed to allowing 100 to aid trucks into Gaza daily -- a figure the UN has said was needed to meet the most basic needs.

’ALL AREAS ARE DANGEROUS’
On Sunday Israel’s military said it had struck hundreds of Hamas targets and increased its ground forces in Gaza. Military front man Hagari vowed to "chase down" Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

The army said troops had "confronted" snuffies who emerged out of a tunnel in north Gaza, highlighting challenges in Hamas’s vast underground network to Israel’s ground operation.

In a late-night televised address on Saturday, Netanyahu announced a "second stage of the war" to "eradicate" Hamas, the Paleostinian militia that has governed Gaza since 2007.

Communications were down in Gaza after Israel cut internet lines ahead of the intensification of its operations, although connectivity was gradually returning on Sunday.

The "burden" lies with Israel to distinguish between snuffies and innocent civilians in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
television.

Hagari again urged Paleostinian civilians to go south "to a safer area", but residents remained wary as air strikes continue.

Ibrahim Shandoughli, a 53-year-old from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, told AFP he and his family went nowhere.

"Where do you want us to evacuate to? All the areas are dangerous."

’PSYCHOLOGICAL GAMES’
In Israel, sympathy has swelled for the families whose loved ones were kidnapped by Hamas and are at heightened risk as the war intensifies.

Hamas has released four hostages, but this week said "almost 50" had been killed by Israeli strikes, a claim that was impossible to verify.

"We demanded that no action be taken that endangers the fate of our family members," said Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of hostage Romi Gonen.

After Hamas said it was prepared to release the hostages if Israel freed the Paleostinian prisoners it was holding, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused the group of playing "psychological games".

"Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us -- they understand the pain and the pressure," Gallant told relatives of hostages, according to a statement released by his office.

Ifat Kalderon, whose relatives are believed held in Gaza, told AFP she supported the idea of a prisoner release in exchange for the hostages.

"Take them, we don’t need them here," she said, referring to Paleostinian detainees.

The ground operations have heightened fears that Israel’s other enemies -- the Iran-allied "axis of resistance" forces in Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
, Syria, Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
-- could enter the conflict.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned on X, formerly Twitter, that Israel’s "crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action".

Top ally the United States has warned Israel’s enemies to stay out and strengthened its military presence in the region.

Skirmishes have intensified on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Iran-backed Hamas ally Hezbollah, raising fears of a new front.

On Sunday snuffies in south Lebanon fired rockets towards Israel, which has responded with strikes, in a fresh escalation along the border.

Violence has also spiked in the occupied West Bank since the October 7 attacks, with more than 110 Paleostinians killed, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas says intense ground fighting with Israeli forces underway in Gaza
2023-10-28
[GEO.TV] The armed wing of Hamas
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
said late Friday its fighters were battling Israeli forces inside Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, after Israel said it would expand its ground operations against the Paleostinian krazed killer group in the territory.

"We are confronting an Israeli ground incursion in Beit Hanoun (in the northern Gaza Strip) and in east Bureij (in the centre) and violent mostly peaceful engagements are taking place on the ground," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Israeli military front man Major Nir Dinar told AFP: "Our troops are operating inside Gaza as they did yesterday."

Israeli ground forces made limited ground incursions on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas attack masterminds Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar top Israel's hit-list
2023-10-20
[GEO.TV] Two accused criminal masterminds of Hamas
...a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
's October 7 attacks, Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar, sit at the top of Israel's hit list as it threatens that every member of the bully boy group faces death when it invades Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
.

Military strategist Deif and political leader Sinwar have already spent time in Israeli or Paleostinian jails and been the targets of multiple liquidation attempts.

The hunt for the two most Hamas big turbans in the beleaguered Gaza Strip will be fierce this time. Israeli military front man Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht called Sinwar the "face of evil" and declared him a "dead man walking."

Over 1,400 people, the majority civilians, have died since the October 7 attack in Israel, which has responded with an aerial bombing campaign on Gaza that has killed over 3,700 people, also mostly civilians.

"Hamas murderous Moslems have two options: Be killed or surrender unconditionally. There is no third option," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Hamas spokesmen have responded that the Paleostinian group is "not scared."

Security sources outside Gaza say Deif and Sinwar have been embedded in the enclave's network of tunnels, built to resist Israel's air assault since hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed the border to hit kibbutz communities, towns, and military bases.

But even before the latest Hamas assault, the pair spent years operating in the shadows.

Israel has particularly singled out the 61-year-old Sinwar, who was elected Hamas leader in Gaza in 2017 after Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
went into exile.

Sinwar was one of the founding members of Hamas during the first Paleostinian intifada, or uprising, in 1987 and rose through the ranks as a fierce advocate of armed struggle. A graduate of the Islamic University in Gaza, Sinwar learned Hebrew while spending 23 years in Israeli jails.

He was serving four life terms for the killing of two Israeli soldiers when in 2011 he became the most senior of 1,000 Paleostinians released in exchange for the French-Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Much less is known, however, about Deif, Israel's number one public enemy for the past two decades during which he has been accused of organising suicide kabooms, kidnappings, and other raids.

There is only one known full-face photo of the chief of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, which is at least 20 years old. The others show him either in a mask or standing in the shadows to avoid identification.

An audio message from Deif was transmitted by Hamas media on the morning of the attacks which were dubbed "Operation al-Aqsa Flood." "The rage of our people and our nation is exploding," he said.

Deif was born Mohammed Diab al-Masri in 1965. His assumed name means "Guest" in Arabic, and he reportedly never spends more than one night in the same place. Enemies have dubbed him the "cat with nine lives" as he has faced at least six failed liquidation attempts. Deif's wife and at least one child were killed in an Israeli air strike during the 2014 Gaza war.

Deif has reportedly lost one eye and been disabled by the various attempts, but it has not weakened his influence. He has been involved with Hamas since the 1980s and was arrested at the start of the second intifada but escaped, or was released, from a Paleostinian Authority prison in 2000. He became head of the Hamas military wing in 2002 and has been Israel's bete noire ever since.

Israel has sent a firestorm of warnings to the Hamas leaders on top of the thousands of Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s since October 7. "Every member of Hamas is a dead man," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
experts say that eliminating Sinwar and Deif would severely weaken but not crush Hamas, which is Israel's declared aim.

"Sinwar and Deif are clearly first priority leadership, the loss of which would damage Hamas, but one presumes that the group has contingencies about their loss," said H A Hellyer, an international security specialist at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah says Hamas attack message for Arab nations seeking normalisation
2023-10-09
[GEO.TV] Glorifying the Paleostinian freedom movement Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",'s "heroic operation" against Israel that killed over 150 Israelis, Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
's Hezbollah Saturday said this attack was a message for Arab nations seeking to normalise ties with Israel.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday saying they were closely following the situation in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and were in "direct contact with the leadership of the Paleostinian resistance."

The group also said the Hamas operation was "a message to the Arab and Moslem world and the entire international community, especially those seeking normalisation".

Is it meant for Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
?
Saudi Arabia is determined to secure a military pact requiring the United States to defend the kingdom in return for opening ties with Israel and will not hold up a deal even if Israel does not offer major concessions to Paleostinians in their bid for statehood, Rooters reported quoting sources.

According to Rooters, agreements giving the world’s biggest oil exporter US protection in return for normalisation with Israel would reshape the Middle East by bringing together two longtime foes and binding Riyadh to Washington after China’s inroads in the region.

For Biden, it would be a diplomatic victory to vaunt before the 2024 U.S. election.

The Paleostinians could get some Israeli restrictions eased but such moves would fall short of their aspirations for a state.

As with other Arab-Israeli deals forged over the decades, the Paleostinian core demand for statehood would take a back seat, the three regional sources familiar with the talks said.

"The normalisation will be between Israel and Saudi Arabia. If the Paleostinians oppose it the kingdom will continue in its path," said one of the regional sources. "Saudi Arabia supports a peace plan for the Paleostinians, but this time it wanted something for Saudi Arabia, not just for the Paleostinians."

Israel declares war
Israel said it was at war with Hamas following the surprise dawn attack from the blockaded Gaza Strip.

"Hezbollah congratulates the resisting Paleostinian people," the Lebanese movement said in a statement, hailing Hamas and its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, for the "large-scale, heroic operation".

Hezbollah said its leadership was following the developments and "in direct contact with the leadership of the Paleostinian resistance at home and abroad".

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Arabia
Puppet government official assassinated in Taiz province
2023-06-08
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] An official of the government loyal to the Saudi-led coalition was killed in a mysterious liquidation operation near Bab al-Mandab, west of Taiz province, on Tuesday.

This comes one day after a prominent military commander in the armed factions loyal to the UAE was injured in the same area.

There were conflicting reports about the details of the liquidation, as local residents reported that the director of al-Kadha’s electricity facility, Saleh Rabah, was killed in a kaboom that targeted his car while he was in the Thubab area in Bab al-Mandab, which is under the control of the UAE-loyal factions.

Local media loyal to the coalition reported that Rabah was assassinated by button men affiliated with the so-called "Guardians of the Republic" faction led by Tariq Saleh, a member of the "Presidential Leadership Council" formed by the coalition.

In a related context, the engineering staff officer of the "Second Tihama Brigade", Muhammad Jarmesh, and his son Ezzedine, were maimed by the earth-shattering kaboom of a landmine left over from the war between the districts of Hays and al-Khokhah of Hodeida province.

Link


Africa North
Libyan MP's Call to Replace Ageela Saleh
2022-11-23
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Monday, 22 Members of the Libyan Parliament called to replace Speaker, Ageela Saleh from his position as Parliament Speaker, and to elect a new speaker from the southern region.

In a joint statement, the MP’s said: "We demand a new Parliament Speaker from the Southern region to be elected. Given that the eastern region is represented by the Head of the Presidential Council, while the western region is also represented by the Head of the Government."

According to the statement, the Advisory Committee of the Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva confirmed that the Presidency of the Parliament should be given to the least densely populated region.

The statement was signed by 22 MP’s including, "Misbah Ouhida — Muhammad Matoug Ajdid — Muhammad Ibrahim Tamer — Rahma Abu Bakr — Nasr Youssef Muhammad — Khadija al-Zarooq — Mahdi Masoud al-Awar — Abu Salah Shalabi — Moaz Rafi — Ahlam al-Lafi — Hassan al-Barghouti."

"Ali al-Takali — Misbah al-Badawi — Muhammad al-Raidh — Omar Tantoush — Aisha al-Tublaqi — Hamad al-Bundaq — Saad al-Marimi — Omar al-Arabi — Ali Kashir — Aisha Shalabi — Ezzedine Qwerb," also signed the statement.

Notably, the Libyan Parliament began a session on Monday, devoted to the law on the unified salary scale for state officials.

Last week, Saleh held a meeting with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Abdoulaye Bathily.

Saleh and Bathily discussed the latest developments in Libya, and ways to get out of the current impasse and advance the political and security tracks.

They also stressed the importance of paving the way for holding Presidential and Parliamentary elections as soon as possible.

Bathily reiterated his calls for Libyan leaders to come together to accelerate the political process toward elections, and put Libya on the course to peace, stability, and prosperity.

Notably, Libya is politically torn between Fathi Bashagha, who was elected by the Libyan Parliament to lead the country in February, and the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, who refuses to relinquish power.

Tensions have been rising for months in Libya as the two Prime Ministers vie for power; rising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce.
Related:
Ageela Saleh: 2022-11-21 Greek FM: Dbaiba Usurping Power in Libya
Ageela Saleh: 2022-11-13 Libya's Muslim Brotherhood. Where Do They Stand?
Ageela Saleh: 2022-10-23 Haftar Holds Talks with British Ambassador
Related:
Abdoulaye Bathily: 2022-10-24 UN Envoy Holds Talks with Haftar
Abdoulaye Bathily: 2022-10-23 Haftar Holds Talks with British Ambassador
Abdoulaye Bathily: 2011-07-25 Massive show of force for Senegal's Wade
Related:
Fathi Bashagha: 2022-11-13 Bangladesh Arrests Suspect in Libya's Migrant Massacre
Fathi Bashagha: 2022-11-08 Who is Libya's new Interior Minister?
Fathi Bashagha: 2022-10-26 Libya, Turkey sign defense deals building on 2019 maritime border agreement
Related:
Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba: 2022-11-21 Greek FM: Dbaiba Usurping Power in Libya
Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba: 2022-11-20 Libyan Experts Stress Turkey-Libya Deal 'Illegal'
Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba: 2022-11-16 Turkish Exports to Libya Exceed $2 Billion in 2022
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Africa North
Turkish and Qatari Intelligence Operations Rooms Infiltrate Libya's Security
2020-09-01
[ALMARSAD.CO] Ezzedine al-Falih, in exclusive statements to the Russian Sputnik agency on Wednesday, said: "As a government, our position is clear, we support everything that is in the best interests of Libya and Libyans. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
this should be within the logical context that guarantees Libya’s territorial integrity"

"How can there be elections in a country while its west is occupied and its security is compromised by the Ottoman Turkish and Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i intelligence operations rooms," added al-Falih.

The Libyan government front man confirmed that the government counts on the Russian "positive and important" position and role in Libya, calling for continued contacts between the two countries in various fields.
Link



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