To be fair to Sra Sheinbaum, her selection for head of the Mexican Army (SEDENA) doesn't take place until a week after inauguration. by Olga Kuznetsova
[REGNUM] The newly elected President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, assumed the relevant powers in early October, but was immediately forced to immerse herself in local realities. As you might guess, connected with crime.
As it turned out, on the day of Sheinbaum’s inauguration, an extremely unpleasant incident for any pro-government political strategist occurred on the southern borders of Mexico.
Thirty-three migrants piled into a pickup truck and tried to sneak across the Mexican border from Guatemala. Along the way, they encountered a squad of Mexican soldiers, tried to play Fast and Furious and ride off into the sunset, but failed.
*Happy sigh* What gorgeous writing! The circumstance is sad, but the writing needs to be celebrated.
The soldiers opened fire and as a result, sixteen migrants went to a completely different place than they had planned: six to the next world, and ten to the hospital. The rest, apparently, are also in a state far from normal.
I am green with envy right now. Green! (It would be blue if we were speaking German, but we aren’t.)
And everything would be fine, because in these latitudes it is not customary to count and pity migrants, but not this time. All the dead were not just foreigners, but residents of a completely different hemisphere: immigrants from Egypt, Nepal, India, Pakistan. There were, of course, also Cubans, but they were not the ones at the center of the scandal.
The killing of several foreigners, mostly Egyptians, by government forces on the day of the new leader's inauguration was not the narrative with which Sheinbaum assumed the powers of the presidency.
CONDEMNED EVERYTHING
The story predictably led to an international scandal, although it was a completely manageable scandal.
No one really listened to the babble of the soldiers who claimed that they opened fire in response to the “sounds of explosions” coming from the pickups; everyone was suspended from duty, some were placed under arrest, and an investigation was opened.
Sheinbaum personally condemned the incident and demanded that those responsible be severely punished. The hospital where the wounded illegals were taken was placed under heavy guard, and psychologists and consuls were brought in for a "careful interrogation."
The Egyptian embassy and the government of Guatemala, where the migrants arrived from other Latin American countries to subsequently cross the Mexican border with the aim of storming the US border, were involved in the investigation.
Even the Peruvian authorities, from whose territory some of the victims flew to Guatemala, allowed themselves to express their “fie” on the occasion.
Many social and opposition activists, as well as Mexican Catholic bishops, expressed their indignation.
The latter called the shooting of migrants a “disproportionate use of lethal force” and added that it did not arise as an isolated event, but as a result of the militarization of migration policy and the strengthening of the military presence on the southern borders.
RECIPES FOR FIGHTING
There was no direct criticism of the new Mexican president's team in the Western media, but some indicated that the country is under significant political pressure from the United States and is forced to take measures to limit migration flows through its territory.
This was discussed most actively during the presidency of Donald Trump, who at one time insulted the top officials of Mexico City in every possible way, demanded that American troops be deployed in the border area, a wall be built, and all migrants be sent far away.
However, these initiatives never came to fruition. An unfinished wall, on which hundreds of thousands of dollars were laundered, does not count.
However, an agreement was reached under which Mexico would send some of its own armed forces to ensure security on the border with Guatemala. To put it simply, the Mexican authorities forced the migrants to be driven away at the very beginning of their route. And how exactly they would be “driven” was left to the discretion of those who carried them out.
Those who periodically follow the news reports on what is happening on the US-Mexican border, or simply watched the TV series “Breaking Bad”, understand that most often illegal immigrants are simply killed and buried in a kind of “mass graves” somewhere in the desert.
This is not officially advertised and is most often done by the hands of ubiquitous cartels, whose activities have long gone beyond the smuggling of prohibited substances.
Some suggest putting illegals in prison, but there is a nuance: many of them are minors, pregnant, or otherwise do not fit into the Mexican reality with its overcrowded prisons.
The saying “it’s cheaper to kill than to feed” seems to be taken literally in the context of the fight against illegal migration in the Western Hemisphere.
Deportation is not that simple either. Migrants from Venezuela and Cuba (who are the most numerous) or from other countries under American sanctions are very difficult to return home, and in some cases simply impossible. And in the end, it is still necessary to allocate money for their humanitarian support, and from one's own budget.
It is also proposed to create an NGO through which funds would be channeled to help refugees. Some of them will certainly end up in the pockets of expensive jackets, but that is a slightly different story.
Murders and mysterious disappearances in the American borderlands are often written about, but not very actively investigated. The case is complicated by different jurisdictions and the fear of being targeted by various activists who will not be of much use to migrants, but will ruin the reputation of local officials and security forces.
So the situation is limited to major scandals once every few years or cases of abuse of power during arrests a couple of times a year.
The situation on the border with Guatemala is special.
The migrants there are much more aggressive, and they can break through the border crossing in droves. And there are no American officials, whose presence sometimes really does ennoble the events a little, precisely "on the ground". And these territories rarely come to the attention of human rights activists.
In essence, it is a free rein for all sorts of lawlessness. The morals of the Mexican patrol officers are also not sweet, and the entire surrounding environment is not conducive to softening them.
Of course, there are secret paths through which people are led who have paid the cartel, the military and other "guides" in advance. And sometimes, as a deterrent, those who try to bypass the local "system" are punished.
The shooting of a pickup truck full of illegals fits into something similar. Another question is that in normal times they would have turned a blind eye to what happened, but not on the day of the inauguration and general celebration.
CENTRALIZATION AND CONTROL
Naturally, the Mexican opposition media savored the situation in every possible way. Immediately, information began to appear about how the police and the army were kidnapping and executing people all over the country, mainly in such problematic states as Sinaloa and Colima.
Commentators criticized the ruling party officials, but in the end, Sheinbaum, although she was unable to turn the situation completely to her advantage, did strengthen her team.
The murder of the migrants occurred not only on the day of the inauguration, but also at a time when the new head of the Mexican state traditionally presents his own strategy for security and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
Claudia Sheinbaum's strategy consists of strengthening centralized control over law enforcement agencies (the prosecutor's office, the police, and the army) and deepening international cooperation (mainly the US Drug Enforcement Administration).
It is expected that uniform standards will be introduced that prosecutors, police officers and military personnel will have to meet, as well as additional control over the leadership of the security forces of individual states, who are traditionally elected by governors.
In theory, this should limit abuses at the local level. In fact, such an approach may indeed strengthen the central government, but will it help deal with abuses and crime? The question is still open.
At the same time as the news of the crimes committed by the security forces, news came of the murder of the mayor of the municipality of Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero, who had been in office for only six days. The severed head of Alejandro Arcos was simply left on the roof of his own car near his home.
And in the state of Sinaloa, a war has been going on between factions of the cartel of the same name since July.
Against this background, the introduction of a new security strategy – one that is tougher on potential enemies, of which any person in power has more and more each year – will be perceived, if not positively, then at least with understanding.
But whether this will actually help turn the tide against crime in Mexico is something that few people really care about.
Indeed, such deep cynicism is justified. But the writing — the writing was worth every moment spent getting to the bottom of the article.
[IsraelTimes] Zachary Allen Kam, 24, is at least third person charged with crimes over July 24 protest as PM addressed US Congress; Kam said to have scraped, bruised officer
An Illinois man was arrested Thursday on charges that he attacked two coppers during protests in Washington, DC against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress in July.
Zachary Allen Kam, 24, of reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... , was arrested in Illinois on assault charges and was expected to make his initial court appearance later Thursday.
Kam is at least the third person charged with crimes related to a July 24 demonstration at Columbus Circle, in front of Washington’s Union Station.
The protest featured antisemitic and pro-Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... slogans and signs, the vandalism of property, the torching of an effigy of Netanyahu, and the burning of an American flag.
US Park Police officers were arresting somebody who pulled down a flagpole in Columbus Circle when Kam approached one of the officers, pulled him down and dragged him several feet, leaving the officer with scrapes and bruises, according to a police affidavit.
After disappearing into the crowd, Kam returned seconds later, grabbed another officer and pulled that officer to the ground, the affidavit says. Police initially arrested Kam approximately four hours later, near John Marshall Park.
"Assaulting a federal officer during the course of a protest is not constitutionally protected speech, it is a federal crime," Mathew Graves, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.
Protesters had a permit to demonstrate in front of Union Station, but the US Park Police said it revoked the permit after it couldn’t reach protest organizers that afternoon. The National Park Service estimated it cost more than $11,000 to clean up and fix damage at the site.
Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, 26, of Richmond, Virginia, was arrested last Friday on a charge that he spray-painted "Hamas is coming" graffiti on a monument during the same protest near Union Station. Isabella Giordano, 20, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested last month and charged with spray-painting "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 a rusty 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... " on a fountain in front of Union Station.
#1
Chicago Police need to remember proper handling of idiots caught attacking police. There is plenty of video footage from the 1968 Riots to re-educate them.
[Ynet] Foreign worker struck by anti-tank missile, two others hurt; IDF says it killed the Hezbollah commander responsible for anti-tank missile fire on Israel in a strike on South Lebanon; rockets hit Haifa suburb industrial zone earlier
One man was murdered on Friday after a missile attack on the Upper Galilee. He was a foreign worker who was driving a tractor when the anti-tank missile hit. At least two others were injured in the attack. The IDF shot down two attack drones the entered Israeli air space from Lebanon. Hezbollah rockets continued to target the Galilee throughout the morning.
The military said its jets killed Hezbollah's commander of the anti-tank missile force in South Lebanon. The strike came after forces operating on the ground directed the jets to where terrorists were in battle with them.
A Hezbollah-affiliated news site said the IDF once again fired at a UNIFIL position in South Lebanon after condemnations of Israel in the United Nations on Thursday following previous incidents of fire. Two members of the peacekeeping force were reported to be lightly hurt.
The Al Akhbar newspaper reported that Israel hoped to remove UNIFIL from South Lebanon and replace the peacekeepers with an alternative international force. According to the report, there is an American initiative to bring major alterations to UN resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War and to the deployment of international forces on Lebanon's borders with Israel and Syria.
In an earlier rocket strike on the coastal areas in the north including the city of Acre and the northern suburbs of Haifa, some 25 projectiles were fired, one landing in an industrial zone in Kiryat Bialik, causing damage but no injuries.
The military said it had also shot down an attack drone targeting Ashkelon in the early morning. Sirens warned of the attack in the city and its surrounding areas but no damage or injury were reported.
May we all be written in the Book of Life for a year of health and happiness.
[IsraelTimes] Israel shuts down for Holy Day, but residents urged to employ special alert systems in place; 120 rockets fired at start of holiday; war-zone soldiers instructed not to fast
Israel shut down late on Friday afternoon for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, with the country embroiled in an active war on the Holy Day for the first time since 1973.
The country was on high alert, with troops continuing combat operations in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently 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... and 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 a rusty 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 special alert systems in place to warn the population amid near-constant rocket fire and spiraling tensions with Iran. More than 120 rockets were fired at Israel in the first hours of the holiday.
The day also marked a period of introspection as the country reflected on a year of immense pain and suffering following the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... attack that plunged the country into a year of war that shows no signs of abating.
In light of the security situation, the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command urged residents to ensure that they had access to special warning systems put in place to alert them to specific dangers like rocket and missile attack, or to broader warnings in case of a further outbreak of war.
People can activate a broadcast station on radios and televisions that will transmit in silence with the exception of rocket warning sirens, which will be aired out loud, in real time.
The Home Front Command will also continue to use warning systems to cell phones and through its app, warning of incoming rockets.
More than 120 rockets were fired at northern Israel in the hour ahead of the fast, with most being intercepted. Several fell in open areas and sparked fires. There were no reports of injuries.
As sundown approached, all local radio, television and internet broadcasts and news sites gradually fell silent. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... several noted they were prepared to resume operations in the event of major events.
For religious and traditional Jews, the 25-hour period of fasting and praying began at 5:31 p.m. in Jerusalem and 5:51 p.m. in Tel Aviv. It will end on Saturday at 6:46 p.m. and 6:48 p.m., respectively.
On Thursday, newly appointed Chief Sephardic Rabbi David Yosef affirmed existing IDF protocols prohibiting soldiers engaged in active combat from fasting on Yom Kippur.
The chief rabbi wrote that it was "clear" that IDF combat soldiers actively involved in fighting are prohibited from fasting on Yom Kippur. They are also not to limit the amount they eat and drink, but to consume food and liquids as they normally do."
In Jewish law, saving human life takes precedence over adhering to religious strictures, including the prohibition against eating on Yom Kippur, a day of fasting dedicated to introspection and repentance.
Troops are currently fighting in the Gaza Strip and in southern Lebanon.
The IDF also said Friday it was bolstering its West Bank presence with several additional combat platoons to guard settlements and the security barrier, following a recent situational assessment.
Israel police were also on high alert across the country amid a recent spate of terror attacks.
Hospitals across the country were also operating on an emergency footing with teams ready to respond to any events.
This year marks the first time Israel has been in a state of active war on Yom Kippur since 1973, when it suffered a surprise attack on the Holy Day by the armies of Egypt and Syria.
Despite the ongoing war, much of the country shut down in accordance with traditions.
All flights in and out of Ben Gurion airport ceased at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. The airport will reopen Saturday night, with arrivals starting at 10:30 p.m., while departures will resume an hour later. During this period Israel’s air space is also closed to flights passing through.
Border crossings were also shut and will reopen late Saturday.
Trains stopped operating at 1:00 p.m. and will only resume on Sunday morning, as inner-city buses and inter-city transport also halted their routes starting at 2:00 p.m. They will gradually restart Saturday evening.
Roads were largely clear of cars by early Friday evening, as is the national tradition.
In normal years they are usually replaced with multitudes of people on bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles. Driving during the Jewish Day of Atonement is considered taboo, and many secular Israelis have turned the day into a biking holiday, taking advantage of the car-free roads.
For the Magen David Adom Rescue service and other paramedics, this Yom Kippur will provide additional challenges as they remain on high alert to deal with incoming rocket fire in addition to the extra missions of the day.
Yom Kippur is one of the busiest days of the year with hundreds of extra medics, paramedics, ambulances and volunteers deployed across the country.
Most injuries over Yom Kippur come from accidents on the roads as tens of thousands of children and teens take advantage of the deserted streets to ride their bicycles. Other common Yom Kippur injuries are caused by parents leaving children unattended outside synagogues and, of course, dehydration and complications from fasting.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF’s Central Command, responsible for overseeing the military’s operations in the West Bank, will be reinforced with several additional combat platoons following the findings of a recent situational assessment.
In a statement, the military says that the additional troops will ensure the "defense of the settlements in the area and the security barrier, and prepare the forces for various scenarios in the sector.”
Amid escalating Middle East tensions, Iran faced major cyberattacks Saturday, disrupting its government branches and targeting nuclear facilities. The massive cyberattack followed Israel’s pledged response to Iran’s October 1 missile barrage, as regional conflicts intensified in Gaza and Lebanon.
Abolhassan Firouzabadi, former secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for Cyberspace, told local media Iran suffered a cyber attack. Firouzabadi also added that threat actors stole sensitive information from targeted infrastructure.
“Nearly all three branches of Iran’s government – the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive branch – have been hit by heavy cyberattacks, and their information was stolen,” said Firouzabadi, the former secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, was quoted as saying by the Iran International. “Our nuclear facilities have also been targeted by cyberattacks, as well as networks like fuel distribution, municipal networks, transportation networks, ports, and similar sectors. These are just part of a long list of various areas across the country that have been attacked,” he added.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization banned pagers and walkie-talkies on flights following sabotage attacks in Lebanon involving these devices, which killed 39 Hezbollah members.
“Iran’s civil aviation has banned carrying pagers and walkie-talkies on all flights, the spokesman for the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran said. Jafar Yazerlo, cited by local media.” reported Agenzia Nova. “The decision was made more than three weeks after sabotage attacks against members of the Iranian-allied Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, which saw pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 39 people.”
Posted by: 3dc ||
10/12/2024 01:48 ||
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Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/12/2024 10:16 Comments ||
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#6
Israel plays dirty. I LIKE that!
Now cause EVERYTHING to crash -- air traffic control, nuclear systems, ship control, whatever else they can find back doors to. And yes, zero out bank balances. In fact, crash the entire banking system. If that reaches other countries. . . oops!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/12/2024 10:20 Comments ||
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#7
OH NOES!!! Anyway ..... LOL
Posted by: Ulang Ulalet4662 ||
10/12/2024 10:48 Comments ||
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#8
If you use bootlegged Microsoft software with Russian cyber security software, you might get hacked. I always thought Stuxnet was a master stroke and now they're doing it again. Cool.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/12/2024 11:47 Comments ||
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#9
#4 hits the nail on the head. Val Jar is an Iranian plant.
#11
Stuxnet A combined effort of USA and Israel. So this was the plan proposed by our military visit I believe last week. I expect Russian developments in related efforts. Guaranteed efforts now maximized.
#17
as of just now there is very little on this event in Times of Israel or ynet or JPost
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/12/2024 20:30 Comments ||
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#18
clearly the Saudis want a war with Iran and have managed to manipulate the US warmachine.
Otherwise why would Israel be targeting Iran instead of Qatar, looking for every reason and the kitchen sink for why they are to blame for Sunni Muslim Brotherhood violence.
it seems to me an extension of the old problem. Britain installed "Their Man" in Jordan/Iraq after World War 1 since they couldn't be in the empire game anymore and that was the Arab Muslim hashemites, with the Saudis also being "their Man in Arabia"
Iran was not "their man" and has allied with Russia/Syria axis. so therefore they must be fought
But for us the common people, Islam is at war with us and it was the Muslim Brotherhood that did October 7, not Iran. It's the Muslim Brotherhood that has infiltrated our societies to destroy them from within. The Iranian theocracy is itself a problem because Islam took over. But they haven't got the reach the Muslim Brotherhood has.
Al Jazeera broadcasts here. Muslim Brotherhood "Islamophobia" narrative is here. They are the ones - it's them!
This is like having Sunni Islamists from Saudi fly planes into buildings on 9/11 then blaming the secular Sadam in Iraq who crushed the Islamists.... and getting rid of him. And getting Islamic State.
#19
Anon1, the entire Al Qaeda Shura Council and about three quarters of Osama Bin Laden’s family moved to Iran immediately following 9/11. They were there sheltered by the government of Iran — and most are still there, still being sheltered by the Iranian government.
And it’s not Saudi Arabia that wants war with Iran — the Saudis simply don’t have the manpower to fight a serious war — but Iran causing problems. In 1987 Shiite pilgrims from Iran rioted during the hajj, causing a stampede that killed at least 400, half of them Iranians, following which Iranians attacked the Saudi and Kuwaiti embassies. Then starting in 2012 Iran instigated protests among Saudi Arabia’s Shiite population in the Eastern Province, leading to years of crackdowns.
Following that Iran instigated the Houthi uprising in Yemen, which quickly led to Houthi raids and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s strongest response was to block Iran from partaking in the Hajj for a few years.
[Ynet] In an open Humvee through southern Lebanon, every anti-tank missile or mortar leaves little chance of survival; yet, since the war began, the IDF has cleared out thousands of terrorists, uncovering vast weapon stockpiles; Lebanon now faces a Gaza-like reality
Almost two weeks into the IDF's ground incursion into southern Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently 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... , I accompanied the forces into the Shiite villages on Thursday.
Looking left out of the Hummer, I see the nearby Lebanese village. My first thoughts are that from such a distance, one mortar or anti-tank missile, and my chances of surviving are slim.
We’re still traveling along the Israeli side of the border along a rickety road, once used for patrols. A thin fence, full of sensors, separates us from Lebanese territory, and I’m thinking about Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, which this fence was supposed to delay, or at least warn us about, minutes before reaching the nearby Israeli community.
I can’t detail the location or the village we’re going to as Hezbollah reads, watches and listens to everything published by Israeli media, and an explosive-laden drone may well find its way here tomorrow. It’s no longer theoretical. This is reality, but it’s going to change.
While traveling, we see the houses at the front of the village, out of which short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles have been launched over the past year. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit them very well indeed.
The IDF breaks through the border fence, and we start bouncing along a path that had been used by Lebanese farmers tending the terrace orchards. The old and familiar scent of Lebanon at the summer’s end kicks in: sage, thorns, yellow grass and a lot of burning. Over the past year, no Israeli has set foot here on our side of the border, less still on the Lebanese side.
These villages served as Hezbollah’s firing bases. But no more. We’re driving along here in open Hummers because the 91st Division has pushed Hezbollah’s anti-tank missiles back a few ridges north and west of here. Even if they were to put their mind to it, they couldn’t target us directly as they could have done up to only a few days ago.
The 91st Division, however, is still fighting in the villages near the border, and cleansing one house after the other. Every now and then, you hear a kaboom, followed by a long round of gunfire, followed by silence.
The ambushes set up by the IDF along the border fence lead us, out of Hezbollah’s line of vision, to a bone-racking windy route straight into the village. To our left, a reserve duty unit takes cover in a half-ruined house. To our right, there’s an excavator with a huge arm breaking the walls of a rather stubborn house built of concrete, natural rocks and hard dolomite, the most plentiful rock around here: The "Dahieh doctrine" in action.
THOUSANDS OF RADWAN FIGHTERS AWAITED THE ORDER TO STORM INTO ISRAEL
A Radwan Force numbering 4,000—6,000 men was supposed to include six brigades and 16 battalions intending to invade Israel all at once along six routes. The plan was for Radwan operatives to live in the villages and dug-out compounds in the tangled terrain, waiting for the day the order would be given. They would then come out of the villages and the thicket and, under the cover of rocket and artillery fire, break through the fence and storm Israeli civilian communities and IDF outposts.
The plan was for the Radwan force and Hezbollah men to ordinarily walk around unarmed, as innocent villagers, and then, when the order was given, descend to the subterranean bunkers in the thicket on the village outskirts, come out with the equipment and charge toward Israel. The equipment prepared for that day includes vests, AK-47s, helmets and explosives to break through fences and smash walls.
Radwan Forces would cross the Israeli border following fire from forces stationed on the front line by the Israeli border covering them. Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> was so sure he could implement the element of surprise that he didn’t even bother concealing the plan’s outline.
Brig. Gen. Shai Kleper, 91st Division commander, whom we accompanied for our tour in southern Lebanon, shows us an arsenal prepared for the day the order is given. "This storehouse serves Hezbollah and Radwan attack forces who come here and equip themselves," he says.
"Here, you can see hundreds of vests packed full of cartridges alongside sniper rifles, AK-47s and machine guns. Here, at the side, there are mortars, here landmine explosives and here you see bags of RPDs, Dragunovs, Steyrs and hand grenades.
It means that an operative leaves Bekaa in jeans and sandals, gets here, gets his combat equipment, a map, the plan he’s already prepared for, and with it knows how to get in. That’s this line. The next line is where Hezbollah deployed rocket launchers aimed toward Israeli territory. They’re deployed here, in apparently civilian orchards; this, apparently civilian, village is, in fact, a military village used as a springboard into the territory of the State of Israel."
Thursday evening, the IDF revealed some details regarding the weapons found so far by the 91st Division in southern Lebanon, which we accompanied, that raided various areas, destroyed Hezbollah terror infrastructure and weapons and conducted face-to-face battles with terrorists.
"The 3rd Brigade’s combat team found 800 military vests and hundreds of weapons including grenades, bombs and AK-47s," the army said. "The 8th Brigade combat team found crates of weapons in civilian homes, including magazines and long-range Kornet anti-tank missile launchers aimed at the communities in the Galilee and the surrounding area and dozens of ready-for-launch missiles."
We have to be honest: Had Nasrallah implemented his plan on October 8, 2023, the day following the Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... attack, it would have likely been a catastrophe. But the IDF reservists rushed here, some without even being called up, positioned themselves here to defend the border. Now, those same reserve duty units, the 228th Brigade, ex-Nahal men, the 769th Brigade and ex-Golani men, along with further brigades are here for defensive (offensive?) purposes.
Bless them all for their courage, and for heading out to the border instead of awaiting orders. Because if Iran’s plan had been properly implemented, there would have been no Jewish homeland days later, nor most of the Jews living there, either.This Sunday, these same brigades crossed into southern Lebanon on foot via crossings, pathways, and unanticipated routes. Before entering the villages, however, the 91st Division elite vanguard at the front, commanded by Brig. Gen. Kleper, seized controlling ridges miles away to neutralize the anti-tank missile threat. Hezbollah was relying on these missiles and, in his last speech, Nasrallah even mocked IDF forces, inviting them to come in to taste Hezbollah’s missiles.
But the Northern Command, with very few exceptions, has surprisingly dismissed Hezbollah’s ability to make use of its key weapons. Simply because the IAF has preemptively taken out anti-tank missile launchers and anti-tank fire positions, with frontline ground forces quickly taking control of them. The main forces then entered the villages accompanied by tanks.
HEZBOLLAH HOMES PACKED WITH WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION
We walk among the houses. Here and there, we hear forces cleanse a house. Thursday afternoon, the day before the eve of Yom Kippur, there were no altercations. None of our forces were hurt, and most of the earth-shattering kabooms were those of houses blown up by the IDF, in which Hezbollah and Radwan forces operatives were staying.
We’re now in the village. Bint Jbeil is not far from here. The little mountain village that had turned into a large, flourishing community, has mostly been reduced to ruins. During the War of Attrition in the 1970s and the Second Lebanon War a decade later, when I was here, the enemy were Paleostinian terrorists, most of whom fled after the first round of gunfire, or surrendered to our forces without a fight. This time, the enemy’s different.
"Yesterday, we had an altercation," says 29-year-old Alaa from Usfiya, who has served over 300 days in reserve duty since October 7. "We got close to here, and they suddenly started shooting at us from all directions. At first, we thought it was friendly fire, but we soon realized that turbans were firing at us from those two houses," he added, pointing at a burned-out house with walls perforated by bullet holes and another house with a few destroyed walls beside it.
"In addition to shooting at us, they also used bombs, but we didn’t fall into the trap. We had eight maimed, not seriously, and we managed to kill the turbans who ambushed us from the houses."
Alaa says that serving for so long in reserve duty isn’t hard for him. "We haven’t had so many altercations. They’re like mice, trying to run away underground, attacking us with all kinds of devices, but we’re crushing them," he says.
Shalev, 22, from Ashkelon has also been serving on the northern border for many months. "We’ve been here both for defense and offense. The offensive part feels much more important. We’re destroying the enemy" he says.
Hezbollah is still in these little villages, intermittently taking the IDF by surprise. The extensive experience garnered during the 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 a rusty 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... plays a crucial role. The work put in by the Northern Command, the IAF and special forces who operated here covertly before the ground operation, made their message clear: Most of the Radwan Force was pushed north, some even beyond the Litani River. This likely explains the relatively meager resistance and the rather low number of casualties, that were not severe, suffered by the four divisions dealing with these villages.
Even before the ground operation in southern Lebanon, the IDF worked extensively to prepare the area. "We peeled Hezbollah and cooked it very slowly in a pot, here in this area, from Dahieh all the way to Bekaa," says IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
"We gradually eliminated the commanders of the main units. We peeled away their capabilities. Thousands of turbans who should have been here now, have been repelled, killed."
Hagari says, that now, that we’re "after a strong aerial campaign and have assassinated the senior command, we’re comprehensively dismantling the infrastructure and weapons that Hezbollah had prepared here to conquer the Galilee."
"Even, as you stand here now, the threat is still present," he says. "There’s the threat of mortars and anti-tank missiles. We’re not in a sterile environment. Terrorists are lurking here too. We’re cleansing. It’s not sterile — but this isn’t what should have been here.
"The element of surprise afflicted on the enemy stems from an orderly process conducted by the Northern Command and the IDF over the past year: An orderly and systematic degradation of Hezbollah’s command capabilities, repelling the enemy far away from here, eliminating important cells, while working on Hezbollah’s strategic capabilities and going in with a ground operation after training, at a time that the enemy is in an inferior state. This is the operation that was built and this is what we’re doing.
"We’re going house to house finding piles of Radwan Forces’ personal equipment, or cannons pointing at Israel lying around the yard. We see flimsy electric wires leading from the houses to rocket launchers with mortar barrels positioned on the edges of the orchards, and obviously, above all, dozens of Kornet anti-tank missiles, as well as older models."
Only when you see this vast arsenal and notice the up-to-date night vision equipment lying in the corner of the room do you realize that there was an army here — a terrorist army ready to charge at our communities. I prefer not to think about what would have happened if the IDF, primarily the reservists, hadn’t rushed to position themselves on the defense lines in such a way that made Nasrallah and his field commanders not want to try us. Now, Lebanon is living the Gaza experience.
"How long have you been on reserve duty?" I ask Lt. Avi Goldberg from Jerusalem. "Three hundred days, I think. Maybe more," he says without batting an eye. "We’ll be here and do the work for as long as it takes. We have to bring the residents of the north back to their homes."
I try testing him saying, "I’m hearing that cliché over and over. Do you really mean it?" This provocation doesn’t even make him blink. "No. That’s what I, and everyone you see here around you, thinks exactly. It’s not a cliché. It’s reality. This is what we’re supposed to do and this is what we’ll do and we won’t leave here until we’ve done it," he asserts.
I’m not giving up. I go up to one of the soldiers and ask him the same question. Believe it or not, I get the exact same answer, word for word, despite this reservist being a father of four nearing 40.
Yaniv Berliner, a reservist living on Kibbutz Or Haner near the Gaza border, has served a whole year in the reserves. "Only a few days ago, a year passed since that horrific day. I have friends, acquaintances and relatives still in captivity. I hope that what we’re doing here will help bring them back home as quickly as possible," he says.
"We’re doing everything we can, and we’ll serve as long as we need, to genuinely restore security to the country and its borders. There are reservists here risking their lives day and night, 24/7. I hope that everything we’re doing here will be worth it."
For now, it seems to be working, and it looks like without cleansing this strip of the vast quantity of weapons, the infrastructure for launching attacks into Israel and the arsenals above and below ground, no one living on the northern border will be going back home. Moreover, the State of Israel won’t be able to let them back before totally cleansing the sector - not only due to the absent sense of security — but also due to security itself.
[Ynet] Just 72 hours after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah a new command was constructed to run the war, sources said adding Hezbollah forces fighting IDF in the South take orders from new commanders, precision missiles kept for later use against Israel
Hezbollah appointed a new military command in preparation for a long war of attrition in South Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently 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... 72 hours after Israel wiped out its top leadership, Rooters reported on Friday citing two sources familiar with its operations. Hezbollah denied the report.
”Ain’t nobody here but us chickens.”
According to the report, the Iran-backed group still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles which it has yet to use, four sources familiar with its operations said, despite waves of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that Israel says has severely depleted its arsenal.
The new command center has kept functioning despite subsequent Israeli attacks, meaning fighters in the south were able to fire rockets and fight according to centrally issued orders, according to the sources, who asked not to be named in order to discuss sensitive matters. A third source, a bigwig close to Hezbollah, said the group was now waging a war of attrition.
Another source familiar with Hezbollah's operations said the group's dedicated, fixed-line phone network was "essential" to current communications. Sources have said the network survived attacks on the group's communications in September.
Hezbollah possesses an extensive tunnel network in southern Lebanon, constructed for the fighting force against Israeli troops and is estimated to be hundreds of kilometers long.
The Hezbollah field commander told the news agency that the tunnels "are the foundation of the battle". Hezbollah had toiled for years to build them, he added. "Their time has come," he said adding that the tunnels found and destroyed by the IDF were built for the Radwan special forces units to one day enter the Galilee region of northern Israel. The source said Israel did not know the full extent of the tunnels.
Hezbollah says it has stepped up fire in recent days but some Israelis wonder why they launch hundreds and not thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel including their arsenal of power precision missiles. Israeli officials said it indicates the Iran-backed group's difficulty after the devastating blows inflicted on it.
Prior to the latest conflict, the World Factbook of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
…one of my regular sources for statistics, though it relies too heavily on numbers reported by untrustworthy governments, like Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and because it is the CIA I expect it to be politicized…
said Hezbollah possessed upwards of 150,000 missiles and rockets.
Elsewhere we’ve seen 200,000 claimed, though of course all such numbers are estimates unless like Mossad one has been listening to Hezbollah emirs reporting to one another for the past two decades or so…
The two sources said Hezbollah had chosen not to use its most potent rockets - including precision-guided missiles - to keep something in reserve for a long war and to avoid giving Israel a pretext to widen its strikes to Lebanese infrastructure, such as Beirut airport, roads and bridges.
A wise choice. Probably not what their masters in Tehran would have preferred, but Tehran is as yet far from falling Israeli airstrikes.
The third source said the group had not targeted Israel's cities, such as Tel Aviv, with its most powerful weapons because such a move would give Israel a reason to hit Lebanon even harder.
More wisdom. Where was that wisdom when they decided to start — and then keep on — shooting missiles at Israel?
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar visited the troops operating in South Lebanon on Thursday. "We are fighting not just to bring security to the north now but also with a look toward the future," Halevi said. "If someone tries to rebuild these villages, he may consider it wrong to build terror infrastructure that would only be destroyed by the IDF."
Bar said Israel cannot defend its citizens by building shelters and must fight where the turbans are. "In a peaceful border, you guard your side of the frontier. Where there is war, you operate on both sides," he said. "We've observed Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... entrenching in Lebanon and they will grow in number when turbans leave 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 a rusty 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... . We will keep hunting them wherever they are," he said.
[IsraelTimes] The commander of an anti-tank missile unit within Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces has been killed in an Israeli airstrike, the IDF says in a statement.
According to the IDF, Ghareeb Alshuja’a had overseen the firing of anti-tank missiles toward the Ramot Naftali area.
An airstrike targeting Alshuja’a was carried out in the Meiss Ej-Jabal area, in coordination with troops of the IDF’s 91st Division, the military says.
In addition, over the last day, IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon uncovered and destroyed rocket launchers aimed at Israel, and several gunmen were eliminated while operating in a building close to where Israeli forces were located, the military says.
It adds that the Israeli Air Force also carried out multiple strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon over the last day, including weapons warehouses, an observation post and rocket launchers.
[IsraelTimes] The 205th Reserve Armored Brigade moves into southern Leb, and has destroyed Hezbollah tunnels, prepared defensive positions, and other enemy infrastructure, says the IDF.
"The brigade eliminated a number of faceless myrmidons and destroyed dozens of terrorist targets from the air, from the ground and with artillery," according to the IDF.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The US Armed Forces opened fire from artillery guns on the positions of the Syrian army allies in the province of Deir ez-Zor. A source from the scene told RIA Novosti about this.
According to the publication, US artillery fired four times at positions of the Syrian army's allies in the areas of Huweija Saqr and Maryi, located on the northern outskirts of the city of Deir ez-Zor.
US military helicopters are actively patrolling the area around the Koniko gas field base, which is regularly hit by missile attacks from militias.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the geography of the Middle East conflict is expanding, which is leading to the destruction of civilian infrastructure and catastrophic consequences for the region, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, on October 10. This is how he responded to a request to comment on the likely ground operation of Israel in Syria. The Israeli army previously began a "limited ground operation" in Lebanon, and, according to some reports, may begin a similar operation in Syria.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Middle East was on the brink of a major war and that there are forces that really want such a war. The minister also accused Israel of violating Lebanon's sovereignty by carrying out airstrikes on the country.
The United States is directly involved in Israel's aggression against Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Bashar Jaafari said earlier. Israel, with the support of the American side, crossed all red lines, which led to an escalation of the situation in the region, the diplomat emphasized.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
