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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bassil criticizes Hezbollah as ties hang by 'fine thread'
2024-05-25
[NAHARNET] Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
chief Jebran Bassil has criticized anew old FPM ally Hezbollah for opening a war on the southern border with Israel.

Bassil told Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai that 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...
has enough problems, from a refugee crisis to an economic collapse and a presidential void.

"I don't see that these festivities have done any good to Lebanon," Bassil said. "If others accept this war as a fait accompli, we will not accept it."

Bassil wondered if this costly war would return the Israeli occupied Shebaa Farms to Lebanon, the Paleostinian refugees to their land, or the Syrian refugees to Syria. "If it did or if it secured oil investments, I wouldn't have any problem."

"The problem is that Lebanon alone, of course in addition to Paleostine, is bearing this hefty cost, with no benefits in return," he added.

Bassil blamed Hezbollah for opening fire without consulting with other Lebanese forces, and called for keeping Lebanon away from the region's problems, but said that he would nevertheless live with Hezbollah and share with the group the same land, tragedies and achievements. "I do not want Hezbollah to lose this war," he said.

The FPM chief also criticized Hezbollah and Amal for trying to impose a candidate on Christians who does not represent them. "We support holding consultations, and we are in fact in constant communication with all parties, sometimes away from the spotlight and other times publicly," he said. "We are in consultation with everyone."

Bassil said that the FPM-Hezbollah understanding is hanging by "a fine thread". "It doesn't mean it is fragile but the points of agreements are that little," he explained. "When it comes to protecting Lebanon, the relation with Hezbollah is very strong," he said.

On a separate note, Bassil said he does not support opening the seas for migrant boats to reach Europe, an idea floated by Hezbollah chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
, amid soaring anti-Syrian sentiment and accusations the West is seeking to keep refugees in Lebanon.

The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
had announced earlier this month $1 billion in aid to Lebanon to help tackle irregular migration, as Cyprus, the EU's easternmost member, wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon towards its shores.

"If you want to close the sea, you should also close the land," he said.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Berri says Lebanon committed to 1701, decries 'over 30,000' Israeli violations
2024-05-25
[NAHARNET] Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
on Friday marked 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...
’s Liberation and Resistance® Day by calling for "preserving and defending" the country during the current period.

"The entire region, including Lebanon, is witnessing a genocidal war" by Israel, Berri said in a "message to the Lebanese."

"We renew our commitment and adherence to U.N. resolution 1701 and all its terms and stipulations," Berri added, noting that Israel has committed "over 30,000 violations" of the aforementioned resolution.

The Speaker added that Lebanon is "keen on its right to defend its land with all the available means in the face of the Israeli hostility," calling for the liberation of "the remaining occupied territory in the Kfarshouba Hills, the Shebaa Farms, the northern part of the Ghajar village, and the contested border points with occupied Paleostine all the way to the B1 point in Ras al-Naqoura."

"Lebanon is open to positive cooperation with any international effort aimed at reining in Israel’s hostility and its ambitions towards Lebanon and its resources," Berri went on to say.

The country is "unwilling to give up any of its sovereign rights," he underlined.

He also vowed that Lebanon "will resist any attempt from any side to impose any form of naturalization, whether for the displaced Syrians or the Paleostinian refugees."

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah launches multiple attacks on Israeli positions
2024-05-12
[GEO.TV] Hezbollah says it launched multiple attacks on Israeli targets in the past few hours, with the latest using rockets to hit a site in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

In Kfarchouba, southern 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...
, the Lebanese group said it hit the as-Summaqa site and achieved a direct strike with an unspecified weapon, Al Jazeera reported.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hezbollah attacks north Israel with suicide drones
2024-05-08
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Hezbollah attacked Tuesday northern Israel with suicide drones.
Aerial, not bipedal, right?
The group said its drones targeted soldiers in the Yiftah barracks, inflicting casualties, while other drones hit an Iron Dome platform in the Ramot Naftali barracks, damaging it.

Israeli media had earlier reported several "suspicious aerial targets" believed to be explosive-laden drones launched by Hezbollah.

The Israeli army claimed its air defenses downed one drone while another struck an area near Yiftah, causing a fire, and others caused minor damage at unspecified locations and open areas.

Israeli tanks meanwhile shelled the outskirts of Kfarshouba as Hezbollah targeted a post in the occupied Shebaa Farms, surveillance equipment in the occupied Kfarshouba Hills and soldiers in the al-Raheb post facing Ayta al-Shaab and in the Ramot Naftali barracks.

Israeli warplanes had carried out Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s on Jabal al-Rihan and Iqlim al-Toffah in south 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...
.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli army said that two soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah Monday attack on a post near Metula in northern Israel.
Related:
Yiftah: 2024-05-03 Latest updates of Operation 'al-Aqsa Flood' launched by Palestinian resistance
Yiftah: 2024-05-01 Two reservists killed in central Gaza were mistakenly hit by IDF fire ‐ probe
Yiftah: 2024-03-22 IDF jets strike Hezbollah cell in south Lebanon after projectiles hit northern town, 2 idiots who mapped Lebanese streets for ‘American tourism company’ arrested as Israeli spies
Related:
Ramot Naftali: 2024-03-22 IDF jets strike Hezbollah cell in south Lebanon after projectiles hit northern town, 2 idiots who mapped Lebanese streets for ‘American tourism company’ arrested as Israeli spies
Ramot Naftali: 2024-01-28 IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after rocket, drone attacks on north
Ramot Naftali: 2024-01-17 IDF says it struck several Hezbollah sites after terror group launched missiles into Israel
Related:
Kfarshouba: 2024-04-27 Israeli killed in overnight Hezbollah border 'ambush'
Kfarshouba: 2024-04-06 2 killed, 2 wounded in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
Kfarshouba: 2024-02-23 Lebanon receives official border solution paper from Paris
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Who is Lebanon's Jamaa Islamiya
2024-05-07
[AlMonitor] At least four people, including a child, were reportedly injured by stray bullets 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...
’s northern Akkar district during a funeral procession held by the Islamist group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya
...The Islamic Group. Sunni Islamist alignment in Lebanon. The group was founded in 1952 as the Leb branch of the Moslem Brüderbund. Its current leader is Faisal Mawlawi.
The party has a military wing known as the al-Fajr Forces. Currently they have 1 seat in the Lebanese Parliament...

over the weekend.

Members of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya held a funeral procession Sunday in the town of Bebnine for two of the group's fighters. They were killed two days earlier in an Israeli dronezap in the eastern Bekaa region. Heavy gunfire accompanied the procession.

Dozens of masked and gunnies were seen walking the town's streets, brandishing their weapons and firing in the air.

According to the local L’Orient Today news outlet, the stray bullets hit four people, including one woman, a man and a 10-year-old child who were inside their homes when the procession passed. Cars and property in the area were also reportedly damaged by the gunfire.

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya is a Sunni Islamist political group founded in 1964 as the Lebanese branch of the Moslem Brüderbund. The group is present in Sunni-dominated cities and towns in both the south and the north. It is seen as an ally of Hamas
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
and has carried out joint attacks with the group, one of its officials said last month.

Its military wing, al-Fajr Forces, was founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli invasion of Lebanon during the civil war at the time. Its relations with Hezbollah, the dominant Iran-backed Shia murderous Moslem group in Lebanon, have fluctuated. The two took opposite sides during the civil war and in the conflict in Syria, with Jamaa opposing Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
. Their relations have improved in the last two years and as Hezbollah-Hamas coordination increased inside Lebanon.

UNCONTROLLED ARMS
The videos and images of the gunnies in Bebnine sparked widespread outrage among civilians and politicians and renewed the debate about the spread of weapons in the country amid the deterioration of the Lebanese state.

In a post on X on Sunday, independent parliament member Mark Daou condemned the presence of militias as a violation of the country’s illusory sovereignty, calling for the state for arms control.

Ibrahim Mneime, another independent politician, said al-Jamaa al-Islamiya bears responsibility for the "military demonstration" and the fall of the maimed in Akkar. He also condemned what he described as the group maintaining control of these weapons through intimidation.

Gunfire at events like weddings and funerals is common in some parts of Lebanon. Supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah movement are known for firing bursts of bullets in the air when the group’s leader, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
, delivers his televised speeches.

The practice has killed several people over the years. Most recently, last August, a seven-year-old girl was killed when a stray bullet struck her in the head while she was at a summer camp in the town of Hadath near Beirut.

Arms possession in Lebanon is poorly regulated and many civilians along with Paleostinian and Lebanese factions own firearms. Hezbollah, which is heavily backed by Iran, owns a large arsenal of weapons that includes thousands of rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones.

Amid the controversy, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya issued a statement on its website saying it regretted "the armed convoy and shooting during the funeral procession from Tripol to Bebnine." The statement went on, "Any scene that raises panic and fear among the Lebanese is unacceptable," and "We affirm that the group is keen on the stability of the homeland and the security of citizens."

HOSTILITIES ON ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER
Since the cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in October, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya’s military wing has claimed several rocket launches toward Israeli territory.

On Friday, two senior commanders of the group were killed when an Israeli dronezap hit their vehicle on a road linking the villages of Sarira and Meidoun in the Bekaa region in the east of the country. The group identified the commanders as Mosab Saeed Khalaf and Bilal Mohammed Khalaf.

Israel confirmed the strike, saying it had killed Mosab Khalaf, who was behind a series of attacks against Israel in Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory in the south near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging heavy fire along the southern border since Oct. 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war in the Gazoo
Islamic 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. In October of 2023 Gazooks belonging to Hamas invaded Israel, killed over a thousand people, raped a bunch of women. Then they bitched and moaned about genocide when their butts handed to them in the entirely justified retaliation.
Strip broke out.

Several Paleostinian factions and allied groups inside Lebanon have since joined the battle in support of Hamas.

In a statement on Telegram, Hamas’ military wing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades grabbed credit for a barrage of rockets fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel on Monday.

The Israeli military told Agence La Belle France Presse that 20 rockets were launched toward Israel from Lebanon and that most of the projectiles were intercepted.
Related:
Faisal Mawlawi 03/31/2024 While diplomatic efforts go on, IDF is bracing for short but devastating war in Lebanon
Faisal Mawlawi 05/17/2022 Explainer: Who is Egypt’s Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya that the US is removing from its terrorism blacklist?
Faisal Mawlawi 11/12/2018 Egypt state gazette publishes names of 164 Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya members placed on terrorism list

Related:
Al-Fajr Forces: 2024-03-31 While diplomatic efforts go on, IDF is bracing for short but devastating war in Lebanon
Al-Fajr Forces: 2022-05-17 Explainer: Who is Egypt’s Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya that the US is removing from its terrorism blacklist?
Al-Fajr Forces: 2018-11-12 Egypt state gazette publishes names of 164 Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya members placed on terrorism list
Related:
Bebnine: 2021-02-20 Three Arrested for Smuggling Migrants to Cyprus
Related:
Akkar district: 2021-08-15 At least 20 people dead, several injured after fuel tanker explosion in Akkar
Akkar district: 2019-12-16 Lebanese burn ruling parties’ offices after night of clashes
Akkar district: 2014-12-31 Report: Fugitive Osama Mansour Still in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh
Related:
Mosab Khalaf 04/27/2024  Israeli military kills two militants in Lebanon's Beqaa area

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Berri says French proposal good as Hezbollah agrees to it
2024-05-04
[An Nahar] Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
met Monday evening with Hezbollah secretary-general's political aide Hussein Khalil and handed him a copy of the French paper suggesting a solution for the Israel-Hezbollah border conflict, MTV said.

According to MTV, Berri told Khalil that "the offer is good and deserves to be studied."

Hezbollah for its part was "satisfied with the French paper and with the use of the term 'redeployment' instead of Hezbollah's 'withdrawal' to the area beyond the Litani River which had been previously used by (U.S. mediator Amos) Hochstein," MTV reported.

"Hezbollah does not mind what is proposed in the French and U.S. papers, specifically (Israel's) full withdrawal from seven border points and partial withdrawal from other points while keeping the Shebaa Farms problem pending," the TV network added.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
2 killed, 2 wounded in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
2024-04-06
[An Nahar] An Israeli strike on the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab killed two people and injured one Friday, the National News Agency said, while another strike on Kfarkela injured one person.

One Israeli soldier and three Lebanese civilians were earlier maimed in overnight cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

The three Lebanese civilians were maimed in an overnight strike on the southern border town of Kfarhamam in the Arqoob region while the Israeli army said Friday that one soldier was maimed in a Hezbollah overnight attack on Metula.

Hezbollah said it attacked soldiers and military vehicles in the Malkia post and another military vehicle in Metula.

Later on Friday, Israeli warplanes raided Kfarkela, Tayr Harfa, Aita al-Shaab, the outskirts of Shebaa and houses in Zalloutieh and Yarin, while Hezbollah targeted the Hadb Yaroun post, a group of soldiers in Manara, and surveillance equipment in the Zar'it barracks.

An Israeli tank also shelled Kfarkela and al-Khiam.

On Thursday Hezbollah carried out five attacks on posts in northern Israel and the occupied Kfarshouba Hills and Shebaa Farms near Kfarhamam.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since Paleostinian krazed killer group Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering 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 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...
The cross-border hostilities have killed at least 349 people in Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them...
, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bassil walks fine line between supporting, opposing Hezbollah strikes on Israel
2024-03-10
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
chief Jebran Bassil is walking a fine line between supporting and opposing the ongoing war 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...
's south.

"The Lebanese have the right to defend their country but Paleostinians do not have the right to defend Paleostine from Lebanon [...] and self-defense is a legitimate right but the decision to attack requires a united Lebanese stance," Bassil said in a televised interview.

"I support the unity of the Lebanese arena, [...] but the decision of war was not taken by Lebanon, neither by Hezbollah," he added. "A Paleostinian faction took the decision of war, and I am against Hezbollah's decision to follow them."

"We support war if it will return the Shebaa Farms to Lebanon and secures offshore oil and gas exploration," Bassil explained. "But why are we linking Lebanon's fate to 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...
?"he asked. "Is Hamas
...not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
linking its fate to Lebanon?"

Bassil went on to say that he understands that Hezbollah was pre-empting a possible Israeli attack and that he is convinced that the group, unlike Israel, does not want a war, but warned the group against letting Israel drag the country into a war. "We shouldn't give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to destroy everything," he said.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: US fears Israel will launch spring offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon
2024-03-01
[IsraelTimes] Biden official says expanded air campaign could lead to ground op; IDF says ‘suspicious’ object downed after sirens blare in Haifa; IDF strikes Hezbollah rocket launchers

Officials close to US President Joe Biden are concerned that Israel is planning to launch a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the coming months, US media reported Thursday.

According to the CNN report, the Biden administration has held intelligence briefings on the matter, preparing for the possibility that the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group cannot be made to retreat from the border through diplomatic measures.

Speaking to the network on the condition of anonymity, one senior official said that the Biden administration was “operating in the assumption” that a ground operation would occur in the coming months

The official added that it does not expect an operation to be imminent “in the next few weeks” but “perhaps later this spring.”

“An Israeli military operation is a distinct possibility,” the official stated.

A US intelligence official said Washington feared deepening strikes in Lebanon will “grow to an expansive air campaign reaching much further north into populated areas of Lebanon and eventually grow to a ground component as well.”

Since October 8, Hezbollah has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which launched a devastating assault on Israel on October 7.

So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 219 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, 34 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.

The Biden administration has tasked special envoy Amos Hochstein to forge a deal between to end the fighting. Additionally, France delivered a written proposal to Beirut aimed at ending hostilities earlier this month. It included negotiations to settle the disputed Lebanon-Israel frontier and a withdrawal of Hezbollah’s Radwan elite unit 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.

Israel has warned that it will no longer tolerate the presence of Hezbollah along the Lebanon frontier, where it could attempt to carry out an attack similar to the massacre committed by Hamas in the south on October 7. A failure of international diplomacy to force Hezbollah away from the border would necessitate an Israeli offensive, the country has said.

“If Amos were to successfully negotiate a standoff arrangement, then the probability of a military operation later this year would decline considerably,” the senior official said.

In an overnight phone call Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel will not “tolerate threats against its citizens and violations of its sovereignty, and will take the measures required to ensure their security,” Gallant’s office said in a statement.

But even if there is an agreement, a ground incursion may be inevitable, according to the first US official, which would allow Israel to “mow the grass,” destroying Hezbollah’s vast infrastructure near the border to slow down any attempted resurgence.

“Whatever kilometer buffer is negotiated will not keep Hezbollah out forever but will provide at least some assurance that they’re not going to return immediately,” the official said, adding that if an invasion doesn’t happen, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force and Lebanese Army would need to be deployed in vast numbers inside the planned buffer zone.

“The State of Israel will not return to the pre-war status quo in which Hezbollah poses a direct and immediate military threat to its security along the Israel-Lebanon border.” the US embassy in Israel told CNN in response to the report.

SIRENS TRIGGERED IN HAIFA, ‘SUSPICIOUS’ TARGET DOWNED
Sirens sounded near the northern city of Haifa on Thursday due to an interceptor missile being fired at a “suspicious aerial target,” the Israel Defense Forces said, as fighting persisted along the northern border.

The IDF said the target appears to have been successfully downed. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Also on Thursday, the IDF said fighter jets carried out strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, including at rocket launchers. The targets in Jabal Blat included a complex where members of the terror group were gathered and several rocket launchers, the IDF said.

The IDF also said it shelled rocket launch sites following attacks this morning on the northern Israeli communities of Adamit and Shlomi.

There were no injuries in the rocket attacks.

Meanwhile, Syria’s pro-government Sham FM radio reported an alleged drone strike on a vehicle in the village of al-Nahariya, on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Qusayr, near the Lebanon border. Sham FM said a “civilian” was killed in the strike.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib urged for a deal for a disputed stretch of the Israel-Lebanon border, similar to the deal reached through US mediation in 2022 over the two countries’ disputed maritime border. He said the problem could be solved when Israel withdraws from disputed areas, including the Mount Dov area, also known as Shebaa Farms, that Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

“Israel would return all the Lebanese land to us and then the problem of Hezbollah and Israel will be at least partly solved,” Bouhabib said.
Uh huh. For some reason Lebanon has been trying to get that corner for ages.
Both Israel and the UN say that Mount Dov was not Lebanese land before its capture in the Six Day War.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah wages new attacks as 2 fighters killed in Israeli strike in Syria
2024-02-26
[An Nahar] Hezbollah announced launching two fresh attacks on Israeli military posts on Sunday morning.

In a statement, the group said it targeted with missiles a gathering of Israeli troops near the Ramim barracks, achieving "direct hits."

In another statement, Hezbollah said it fired two Falaq-1 missiles at the Zibdine barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

The Israeli army meanwhile fired artillery shells at the outskirts of the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab.

Hezbollah also mourned two more of its fighters, saying they were killed "on the road to Jerusalem," a phrase referring to fighters killed in Israeli strikes.

Media reports meanwhile said that the two fighters were likely killed in an Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
on a truck in Syria’s Qusayr.

Hezbollah had announced 10 attacks on Israeli posts on Saturday, saying they were in support of 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...
and in response to attacks on Lebanese towns and civilian homes.

Since October, at least 276 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might use bigger force against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon receives official border solution paper from Paris
2024-02-23
[NAHARNET] 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...
has received an official paper containing Gay Paree’ vision for resolving the border conflict with Israel, following the previous unofficial paper, media reports said.

"The new paper was submitted by the French embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday and is written in Arabic, French and English, knowing that the previous paper contained only an English text," the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday.

"The official paper mentions the Shebaa Farms and the Kfarshouba Hills and the need to discuss their issue in the future," the daily said.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who received the paper, will discuss with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati the official response that should be sent to the French side, the newspaper added.

Cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah have killed at least 271 people on the Lebanese side since October 8, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 42 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might use force against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli strike on Kfar Rumman kills 2 Hezbollah fighters including commander
2024-02-23
[An Nahar] At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed and three others maimed in an Israeli dronezap on a residential building in south 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...
on Thursday, a security source said.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas
...the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
war broke out on October 7.

An Israeli drone shot two guided missiles at the building in Kfar Rumman, near south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh, the security source said, declining to be identified as they were not authorized to brief the media.

Israeli reports meanwhile said the slain Hezbollah fighters included a commander of the group's elite Radwan force who was responsible for the Shebaa Farms area.

Kfar Rumman lies around 12 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Hezbollah said it later fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at two Israeli military barracks in response to the Kfar Rumman attack.

Hezbollah had claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and positions on Thursday, including several which it said were in response to "Israeli attacks on villages and civilian houses."

The violence on the border has sparked fears of another full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah like that of 2006.

Since October, at least 273 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 42 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Last week, Hezbollah chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
vowed that Israel would pay "with blood," after 10 civilians, including seven members of one family, were killed in Lebanon's largest single-day corpse count so far.

On Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed a woman and a girl, prompting retaliatory fire from Hezbollah.
The Times of Israel adds:
The Hezbollah terror group confirms the death of a second member killed today in an apparent Israeli strike.

He is named as Hisham Abdullah, and was reportedly killed in a strike in the southern Lebanon town of Kfar Remen, along with another operative, Hassan Saleh, whose death was announced earlier.

Abdullah’s death brings the terror group’s official toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 208.
More from The Times of Israel:
The Kan public broadcaster cites Lebanese reports as saying Saleh was a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, although the terror group does not refer to him as such in its announcement. Sky News Arabia claims he was a “prominent missile expert.”
Related:
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Hezbollah: 2024-02-20 Lebanon says 14 wounded in IDF strikes on alleged weapons depot near Sidon
Related:
Hamas: 2024-02-21 Army pushes back on reported fears Sinwar fled to Sinai, as battles return to Gaza City
Hamas: 2024-02-21 US vetoes Security Council resolution demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza war
Hamas: 2024-02-21 Israel’s Democrats Abroad board quits over umbrella group’s hostility
Related:
Nabatiyeh: 2024-02-20 Sister of slain Hamas leader Arouri charged with funneling money to terror group, incitement
Nabatiyeh: 2024-02-19 Nasrallah says Israel to 'pay in blood' for killing of Lebanese women and children
Nabatiyeh: 2024-02-16 Good Morning
Related:
Radwan force: 2024-01-09 Assassinated Hezbollah commander had role in raid that sparked 2006 war, fought in Syria
Radwan force: 2024-01-08 Senior Hezbollah commander killed by Israeli airstrike in Beirut
Radwan force: 2023-12-10 Hanegbi indicates war against Hezbollah likely after defeat of Hamas
Related:
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: 2024-02-19 Nasrallah says Israel to 'pay in blood' for killing of Lebanese women and children
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: 2024-02-16 Hezbollah commander among 10 dead in Israeli strike on Nabatiyeh
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: 2024-02-13 Hezbollah’s Nasrallah met with Islamic Jihad’s Nakhaleh, terror group says
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