[IsraelTimes] John Reardon, 59, made phone calls to local synagogues, Jewish community organization in January, saying, ‘If you can kill the Palestinians, we can kill you’
A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty in federal court to threatening to kill members of the state’s Jewish community and bomb local synagogues.
John Reardon, 59, of Millis, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, one count of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure a person, and one count of stalking using a facility of interstate commerce.
"This defendant’s threats to bomb synagogues and kill Jewish children stoked fear in the hearts of congregants at a time when Jews are already facing a disturbing increase in threats," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "No person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence."
He can’t be bothered to do anything at all about “activists” physically attacking college students for being Jewish for over a year, but he is proud of going after a hoax threat.
Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Field Office, said the guilty plea sends a message that "you cannot call and threaten people with violent mostly peaceful physical harm and not face repercussions."
"People of all races and faiths deserve to feel safe in their communities," she said.
You’re in Boston. Next do Harvard.
In January, Reardon called Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and left a voicemail making several threats to kill congregants and bomb the synagogue, including that "if you can kill the Paleostinians, we can kill you," federal authorities said. Ten minutes later, he allegedly made a call to another local synagogue and a Jewish organization.
Reardon was arrested days later.
"We’re thankful that Mr. Reardon has admitted responsibility for his actions," said Rabbi Talya Weisbard Shalem of Congregation Agudas Achim. "What he did was shocking and disturbing to those in our community who had to experience it. I am heartened that Mr. Reardon has apparently recognized the harm he caused and wishes to make amends."
Reardon faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000 on the three charges. No sentencing date had been set.
A phone number could not be found for Reardon and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
[ShabelleMedia] Abbas Ibrahim Gurey, the commander of Jubbaland’s Dervish forces, survived an liquidation attempt on Monday when a landmine detonated near the Somali-Kenyan border, according to local reports.
The explosion, which occurred in the Gedo region, caused significant damage to Gurey’s vehicle but left him and his lover companions unharmed. Gurey, who heads the local security forces in this volatile part of southern Somalia, directly blamed the attack on al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... , the holy warrior group affiliated with al-Qaeda. "Al-Shabaab was behind this attempt to kill me, but God saved me," Gurey stated in an interview with local media, expressing his relief and gratitude.
The incident underscores the persistent threat from al-Shabaab in the Gedo region, where the group has been known to carry out frequent attacks against government officials and security forces. The area’s proximity to the Kenyan border makes it a strategic target for al-Shabaab, aiming to destabilize the local administration and disrupt cross-border security cooperation.
Security has been a major concern in Gedo, with the region witnessing numerous violent mostly peaceful incidents. In a particularly tragic example, Abdirahman Abdullahi, known as Bakal Kooke, who was the regional commander for Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), was killed by a landmine in December 2022, in what was one of several deadly attacks targeting local officials.
This latest attack on Gurey reflects the ongoing challenges faced by Somali security forces in maintaining control over regions like Gedo, where al-Shabaab maintains a significant presence despite concerted efforts by the Somali government and international partners to dismantle their operations. The attack also highlights the holy warriors’ continued ability to execute sophisticated operations, including the use of improvised bombs (IEDs) in areas thought to be under secure control.
Local forces are now likely to intensify efforts to secure the border areas, enhance intelligence gathering, and possibly launch counter-offensives to prevent further incursions by al-Shabaab holy warriors. Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... the survival of Gurey could serve as a morale boost for the Dervish forces, reinforcing their resolve in the fight against the holy warriors.
Russian security forces raided the Northern Mosque in Khabarovsk during Friday prayers and forced all Muslim worshippers to lie face down with their hands behind their backs.
… This is this third time the mosque has been raided. Due to the safety of the Muslims, the mosque administration has temporarily suspended Friday prayers.
[IsraelTimes] Activists at demonstration led by Extinction Rebellion and other groups daub slogans on premises of Christians for Israel, intimidate staff arriving for work with ‘genocide’ claims
Anti-Israel demonstrators vandalized the offices of a Christian organization in the Netherlands that supports Israel, daubing the site Monday with slogans that accused its members of supporting genocide and killing babies.
The protest at the Christians for Israel Center in the central Dutch city of Nijkerk came weeks after the country was the site of attacks on Jewish Israeli soccer fans by pro-Paleostinian activists in what officials described as an antisemitic pogrom.
Protesters in Nijkerk defaced a building where Christians for Israel is based, spray-painting slogans that accused Christians for Israel members of "supporting genocide" and being "child murderers" and "complicit in the events 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... ," it said.
"The protest occurred precisely as most staff members were arriving at work, catching many off guard," the group said in a statement.
Climate justice organization Extinction Rebellion
…another tentacle of the Antifa/Black Bloc anarcho-Communist syndicate, stood up in England in 2018 to address climate change, but now turning its hand to Jew hate for more immediate gratification…
grabbed credit for the protest in a post to its X social media account, listing the local branches of Christian Collective and Justice Now as fellow participants.
"The vandalism created a distressing and hostile environment for staff and disrupted the organization’s daily activities," Christians for Israel said.
Frank van Oordt, executive director of Christians for Israel Netherlands, said the group was "shocked that this is happening in our country" and more so that the action was taken by other Christians.
Think of them as “Christians” — cosplayers, not the real thing. Exactly like Jewish Voice for Peace and the rest of that lot.
The incident came days before Christians for Israel planned to hold a major rally in Amsterdam in support of the Jewish community, after Israeli soccer fans and tourists were hounded through the streets amid violent mostly peacefulfestivities when Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv played the local Ajax soccer club earlier this month.
There has been continuing violence against Jews in Amsterdam by anti-Israel protesters in the weeks that f
And before, too, according to reports.
The planned support rally "seems to have drawn the ire of organizations opposing Israel’s policies, some of whom have resorted to disruptive and destructive tactics," Christians for Israel said.
Though staff immediately alerted police, the group said officers took three hours to disperse the demonstrators.
How many of the police officers were Moslem colonists or Jew-hating sympathizers?
A Christians for Israel spokesperson said that staff tried to speak with the protesters but "instead of engaging with facts and constructive dialogue, they resort to yelling, vandalizing, and spreading misinformation."
I am shocked that lot were so impolite.
Christians for Israel was particularly dismayed since it also provides financial aid to Paleostinian communities, the group said.
Perhaps it’s time to discontinue that.
"For many years, we have contributed hundreds of thousands of Euros to organizations that aid Paleostinians and foster cooperation between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel," it said in the statement. "Accusing us of complicity in genocide ignores these facts."
There were no injuries in the incident. Christians for Israel said it was the latest in a series of "targeted actions" against the group including similar vandalism of the building last summer.
The organization said it was working with authorities to ensure the safety of staff and the premises.
"Christians for Israel vows to continue its work undeterred, standing firm in the face of hostility and misinformation," it said, adding that the incident serves to show the importance of the upcoming rally "which aims to foster solidarity and support for the Jewish people."
On Tuesday, Justice Now protesters blocked the entrance of Dutch broadcaster NOS’s building in Hilversum accusing it of biased reporting in favor of Israel.
[Rudaw] Iraqi security forces on Monday announced the arrest of three suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in the northwestern Nineveh province.
The military intelligence directorate of the Iraqi security forces said in a statement that they carried out two separate anti-ISIS operations in Nineveh province.
“These operations led to the arrest of three terrorists wanted by the Iraqi… in the towns of Zummar and Rabia, west of Nineveh province. The detainees were identified as members of the terrorist organization ISIS and were handed over to the relevant authorities in accordance with proper procedures,” read the statement from the security forces.
Iraqi officials have said that the threat from the terror group is contained, but the armed forces continue to carry out regular operations against suspected militants.
On Saturday, Iraqi army announced that its fighter jets killed five suspected ISIS members in a strike on the group’s hideout in Kirkuk province.
Last week, ISIS planted an improvised explosive device on a road in the Tuz Khurmatu district of Salahaddin province that exploded, killing three members of a joint Kurdish-Iraqi brigade.
[IsraelTimes] Druze leader mourns Sgt. Tamer Othman, says state must ensure community held as ‘equal partners’; sister of Sgt. First Class Yona Betzalel Brief says heart ‘shattered’
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed during fighting in the northern 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... Strip while another died from wounds sustained during Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... ’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military announced Tuesday.
The slain soldier, named as Sgt. Tamer Othman, 21, of the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion, from Kafr Yasif was killed in battle on Tuesday, the IDF said in a statement.
His death brings Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 381. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif mourned Othman’s death in a statement, saying his community continued to pay a "heavy price" in the ongoing war, losing the best of its youth.
He urged the country’s leaders to "get up and take action," and ensure Druze soldiers are held as "equal partners" in the country, in an apparent allusion to grievances between the community and the government, among them over the controversial 2018 Jewish Nation-State Law.
The Druze community has charged that the 2018 law that designates Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish People is exclusionary and has called for it to be amended.
The military also announced Tuesday the death of Sgt. First Class Yona Betzalel Brief, 23, a combat medic with the Duvdevan commando unit, from Modiin, who had been critically maimed fighting murderous Moslems who burst across the border on October 7.
Hamas-led murderous Moslems killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during the brutal onslaught, while taking 251 hostages to Gaza and starting the ongoing war.
A service to pray for Brief’s recovery, which was meant to be held at the Western Wall Tuesday night, was canceled after the announcement.
His sister Libby wrote on Facebook that God had caught up to Brief after a year of him trying to flee his fate.
"Someone wake me up from this nightmare, my heart has been shattered into millions of pieces," she wrote.
Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas wrote in a post that Brief "fought for his life with the same strength and determination that distinguishes him as a soldier."
Separately on Tuesday morning, a reservist noncommissioned officer with the 8163rd Combat Engineering Battalion was seriously maimed in central Gaza, the military said.
Later on in the day, one rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip struck an open area near Kfar Aza, the military said. There were no injuries.
HEAD OF HAMAS ROCKET UNIT KILLED
The IDF announced Tuesday that the head of Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion’s rocket unit was recently killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the military said that the Israeli Air Force carried out the strike against rocket unit head Ahmed Abd Halim Abu Hussein in cooperation with the 215th Artillery Regiment, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet.
It said that Abu Hussein was "responsible for planning numerous rocket and mortar launches toward Israel and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.
Several other Hamas operatives were killed in the attack, the IDF says, including one who "participated in the murderous massacre on October 7."
A separate airstrike in southern Gaza killed Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terrorist Basel Kamel Salim Nabahin, who also participated in the massacre, the IDF said Tuesday.
A recent airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip killed a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught, the IDF says.
The PIJ operative is named as Basel Kamel Salim Nabahin.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Tuesday that 22 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling of the Paleostinian territory, including 11 killed by a strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced civilians.
The army said it struck "Hamas murderous Moslems who were operating inside a command and control center in Gaza City," adding that it "was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ’Al-Hurriya’ School."
Earlier on Tuesday, the agency said 11 people were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling.
In the northern city of Jabalia, seven people were killed and several maimed in an airstrike on a residential building, civil defense front man Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Another person was killed in a strike on a house in nearby Beit Lahia, which along with Jabalia has been the focus of a major Israeli military operation since October 6.
The attacks come amid Israel’s offensive in the northern Gaza areas of Jabilia and Beit Lahia, launched on October 6 to stop Hamas from regrouping. The military has said that tens of thousands of residents have complied with orders to evacuate the areas.
Additionally, on Tuesday, two people were killed in shelling at the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Bassal said.
In the southern city of Rafah, an airstrike killed one person and maimed several, he added.
Amid the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave, Jordanian military planes dropped aid to northern Gaza for the first time in five months, an official source said.
Two C-130 planes belonging to the Jordanian air force dropped nearly seven tons of food and essential relief to areas the UN agencies identified as most in need and facing hunger, the source told Rooters.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that at least 44,249 people have been killed in more than 13 months of war, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 murderous Moslems inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Adding to the miseries of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, most of whom have been repeatedly displaced, heavy winter rain flooded hundreds of tents across the enclave, spoiling food and sweeping away plastic and cloth sheeting that had protected them against the elements.
The Paleostinian Civil Emergency Service said thousands of displaced people were impacted by the seasonal flooding and demanded new tents and caravans from aid donors to shield them.
[IsraelTimes] Elderly woman seriously hurt in Nahariya, soldier injured at Mount Hermon; army limits gatherings, closes schools in north, with Netanyahu set to convene cabinet to okay ceasefire
Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel seriously injured two elderly people and a soldier, and warplanes carried out strikes on the terror group’s Lebanese strongholds, as international efforts to secure a truce between the Iran-backed terror group and Israel appeared to near completion.
With concerns high over the possibility that fighting could ramp up as a ceasefire deal nears, the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command issued new restrictions in several areas of northern Israel.
The IDF said Monday evening it was putting communities across the Golan Heights and along the northern frontier under "limited activity" rules, tightening them from "partial activity."
The restrictions bar most schools from opening and also forbid large gatherings in the area.
While near the restive borders with 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 Syria, the Golan Heights has largely been spared the brunt of rocket fire on northern Israel, though a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Golan town of Majdal Shams in late July killed 12 children.
The changes reflected fears in Israel that Hezbollah will ramp up rocket attacks before a ceasefire comes into effect, as the sides seek to maximize gains before laying down arms.
Israel’s high-level security cabinet was slated to convene later Tuesday to decide on whether to sign off on a 60-day ceasefire halting more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which flared into all-out war in late September.
Throughout Monday evening and into Tuesday morning, rocket warning sirens blared in Israeli communities near the Lebanon border and the Galilee region as rockets arched from Lebanon into Israel.
A barrage of 10 rockets targeting the coastal city of Nahariya and nearby areas Monday night saw some projectiles and shrapnel impact in inhabited areas.
A 70-year-old woman was hospitalized at death's door following the rocket volley, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. A man in his 80s was also lightly hurt in the attack. The two were both maimed by shrapnel, medics said.
Several others were treated for acute anxiety.
A video appeared to show a building in the city on fire after being struck by shrapnel.
The IDF says a barrage of 10 rockets was launched from Lebanon at the Western Galilee a short while ago.
Several of the rockets were intercepted and impacts were also identified, the military says.
Early Tuesday morning, the IDF said it downed a drone that crossed into the Golan Heights "from the east," referring to Iraq, where Iran-backed terror groups have launched attacks on Israel from.
Hours later, an IDF soldier was seriously maimed in a Hezbollah drone attack on the Mount Hermon area, the military said, adding that it was investigating the incident.
The servicewoman was taken to a hospital for treatment after a drone launched from Lebanon went kaboom! near soldiers in the Hermon.
In Kiryat Shmona, a home suffered significant damage after being hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, police and the Fire and Rescue Services said. There were no reports of injuries in that incident.
In Lebanon, the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people across the country on Monday, most of them in the south, though the figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Airstrikes continued Tuesday, with the IDF warning civilians to stay away from six buildings in Hezbollah’s southern Beirut stronghold where it was thought to be hiding assets, followed by Lebanese reports of strikes there.
The IDF earlier said fighter jets struck 25 sites belonging to the Hezbollah executive council, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh, the northeastern city of Baalbek, the Beqaa Valley, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and the outskirts of the Lebanese capital.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency earlier reported Israeli strikes on Tyre and Nabatieh after Israel issued evacuation warnings for parts of the main southern cities.
Israel later announced that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in a recent Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre. Ahmed Subhi Hazima, head of operations in Hezbollah’s coastal region of southern Lebanon had advanced numerous attacks against Israel from the western sector of southern Lebanon, including infiltrations and anti-tank missile attacks, the IDF said.
NNA also reported "a dronezap that targeted a residential complex" in a Druze-majority town on the outskirts of Beirut, without prior evacuation calls.
Lebanon’s Druze community follows an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and its heartland around Mount Lebanon has largely been spared in the current hostilities.
The Lebanese education ministry suspended classes in schools, technical institutes, and private higher education institutions in Beirut and a number of surrounding areas, citing "the current dangerous conditions." The ministry has taken similar measures in the past during the fighting.
Also, the IDF confirmed launching evening airstrikes on the Syria-Lebanon border, targeting what it said were routes used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said the strikes damaged several bridges in the al-Qusayr area, and maimed two people.
The Israeli military said the strikes were part of efforts against Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its proxies to Lebanon, via Syria and Iraq.
Israel has carried out airstrikes on Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah via Syria since at least 2013, according to foreign sources and occasional details released by military officials.
Israel and Hezbollah last fought a direct war in 2006, but the fragile ceasefire that held calm along the Israel-Lebanon border was shattered on October 8, 2023, as Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones on a near-daily basis over the border in support of allied terror group Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... .
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s Red Crescent says that a volunteer was killed and another was injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes on two locations along the Lebanon-Syria border on Tuesday night.
The medical organization says the volunteers were “performing their humanitarian duty of rescuing the wounded early on Wednesday.”
The reported strike is said by the Syrian Red Crescent to have damaged several ambulance and work points.
According to Syrian state media, some 18 people were injured in the strike on the Arida border crossing, while an unspecified number of casualties were reported in the alleged Israeli strike on the Dabousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
[IsraelTimes] Damascus has upped the death toll to six in alleged Israeli strikes on Syrian border crossings with Lebanon which took place just after a ceasefire with Hezbollah was announced late Tuesday.
Syria’s state news agency reported four civilians and two soldiers were killed, and 12 people were wounded including children, women and Syrian Red Crescent workers.
Israel has not commented on the strikes, but has indicated it will keep up efforts against attempts to smuggle arms to Hezbollah via Syria even after the ceasefire takes effect.
“At 05:00 after midnight, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon in the western countryside of Homs,” Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said, citing a military source.
Israel has carried out 157 strikes on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year, killing 284 combatants and wounding 245 more, according to data from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor. The strikes have also killed 55 civilians.
[IsraelTimes] Streams of cars seen heading toward southern Lebanon even as IDF warns civilians to not yet return to villages; IDF strikes in Beirut continue until hour before start of truce
A ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah 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... came into effect at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, bringing an end to almost 14 months of Hezbollah-initiated fighting across the northern border, which began the day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... terror onslaught in southern Israel.
The agreement, which Israel’s national security cabinet approved in a vote of 10 ministers to one on Tuesday night, will reportedly provide for a 60-day transition period, during which the IDF will withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army will deploy some 5,000 troops south of the Litani river, including at 33 posts along the border with Israel.
Hezbollah forces will leave southern Lebanon, and its military infrastructure will be dismantled. The US has also reportedly provided a side letter specifying Israel’s rights to respond to violations of the ceasefire, should there be any. Give it an hour after the 4AM EDT start. There will be
A copy of the ceasefire deal was not published before it came into effect.
While Hezbollah has said that it accepts the ceasefire proposal, a bigwig with the terror group said Tuesday that it had yet to see the agreement in its final form.
"After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials," Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.
"We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the illusory sovereignty of the state." of Lebanon, he said. "Any violation of illusory sovereignty is refused."
Nevertheless, the ceasefire appeared to hold early Wednesday morning, with signs of celebration in Beirut, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in the Lebanese capital since the start of the fighting.
As the ceasefire came into effect, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, warned Lebanese civilians to not yet return to villages in southern Lebanon.
"With the ceasefire agreement coming into effect, and in accordance with its provisions, the IDF continues to be prepared in its positions in southern Lebanon," Adraee said. "Do not move towards the villages that the IDF evacuated or towards IDF forces in the area. For your protection and the safety of your families, avoid reaching the area."
He added that the IDF would inform them "of the safe date to return to your homes."
Nevertheless, Rooters reported that streams of cars carrying people displaced by the months of fighting were seen heading south, just over an hour after the ceasefire took effect.
Bursts of gunfire could be heard across Beirut after the ceasefire took effect, although it was not immediately clear if the shooting was celebratory, as gunfire has also been used in recent weeks to alert residents who may have missed Israeli evacuation warnings.
Both Israel and Hezbollah continued fighting in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, and earlier on Tuesday, the IDF said it had struck 20 sites within two minutes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after issuing evacuation warnings.
Seven buildings targeted in the strikes were used by Hezbollah for the management and storage of funds, the IDF said, including headquarters, vaults and branches of the al-Qard al-Hasan association, known to be used by the terror group as a quasi-bank.
The other 13 sites included a Hezbollah aerial forces center, an intelligence division command room, weapon depots, and other military infrastructure, the IDF said.
Hezbollah too, continued to launch rockets and drones at Israel in the hours leading up to the ceasefire, setting off alarms across central and northern Israel.
Long-range rocket fire at around 10:20 p.m. on Tuesday set off alerts in Pardes Hanna, Hadera, Harish and several nearby towns, as well as communities close to the Lebanon border. The IDF said a short while later that air defenses had successfully downed three missiles. There were no reports of injuries as a result of the missile fire.
Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... the IDF continued to issue evacuation warnings for additional buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs ahead of airstrikes against Hezbollah assets, and air strikes were reported in the capital less than an hour before the truce came into force.
At the same time, the Syrian Red Islamic Thingy reported that a volunteer had been killed and another had been injured in alleged Israeli strikes on the Lebanon-Syria border.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, Israeli warplanes had hit the Arida and Dabousiya border crossings with Lebanon, in the Tartus Governorate.
Some 18 people were maimed in the strike on the Arida border crossing, SANA reported, and an unspecified number of people were maimed at the Dabousiya crossing, as well.
In a statement, the Red Islamic Thingy said that its volunteers had been "performing their humanitarian duty of rescuing the maimed early on Wednesday" when the strikes were launched.
The strikes were said by the medical organization to have damaged several ambulances and work points.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF regarding the reports.
[IsraelTimes] Biden and aides highlight beefed up enforcement mechanism, led by US and capable of responding immediately to violations, unlike after 2006 war.
#6
3^
Yes Iran didn't sign. Neither did Hezbollah.
What I think will matter a lot is the intra Shiite conversations. A lot of Shiites hate Hezbollah for a number of reasons (extortion of businesses, getting their kids killed, etc.) but have been silenced by Hezbollah's prestige and goons. Not sure if the south of the Litani population will now be 'bye Hezbollah, don't come back' or not.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/27/2024 9:24 Comments ||
Top||
[Rudaw] The United States military announced on Wednesday conducting Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on a weapon storage facility belonging to Iran-backed groups in Syria, adding that the attack was in retaliation to a prior attack by the militia groups.
US forces "conducted a strike against an Iranian-aligned militia weapons storage facility in Syria," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
"The strike is in response to an Iranian-aligned attack against U.S. forces in Syria yesterday," it added.
CENTCOM said that the strikes targeted the Iran-backed groups’ weapon storage facilities "to degrade their ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces," as part of the anti-Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) operations in the region.
No details were provided on the precise location of the strikes.
An assessment is underway, according to the statement, to determine details on the extent of damages, adding that they "currently do not assess there were any civilian casualties."
The UK-based war monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), reported on Tuesday that Iran-backed militias fired two rockets at al-Shadadi military base, which houses US troops in Hasaka province.
US aerial defense systems intercepted the two rockets before they could hit their targets, according to SOHR.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against ISIS, which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared devoid of territorial control in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria have increased since the Paleostinian Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... group carried out a cross-border attack on southern Israel in October 2023. The pro-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... groups accuse the US of supporting Israel in the fight against Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement - another Iran-backed group.
[IsraelTimes] Military confirms it has been attacking Iran-backed Lebanese terror group’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with weapons delivery
In what has been an open secret for years, the Israeli military confirmed Monday it has been operating against Hezbollah’s weapons smuggling unit in Syria to prevent Iranian arms from reaching the terror group 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... A series of strikes during the ongoing war with the Iran-backed terror group have targeted Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its proxies to Lebanon.
One such strike hit an area at the Syria-Lebanon border on Monday night.
According to the Israeli military, Unit 4400 was established in 2000 and built numerous "strategic routes" along the Syria-Lebanon border with Iranian support.
Thousands of trucks and hundreds of planes carrying missiles and other components for Hezbollah have traveled from Iran to Syria, and later to Lebanon, in recent years, the IDF said.
The strikes against Unit 4400 during the war have included the liquidations of the head of the unit, Muhammad Ja’far Qassir, in Beirut in early October, and his replacement, Ali Hassan Gharib, in Damascus, several weeks later, alongside other top commanders.
The IDF said that it has been striking Hezbollah’s smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon "not only in the last few months, but in a years-long effort."
Reports of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah weapons shipments began to emerge in early 2013, with Israel officially keeping mum to avoid blowback. It has increasingly opened up in recent years about the sorties, which have complemented a long-standing aerial campaign aimed at keeping Iran from gaining a foothold near Syria’s border with Israel.
The IDF says its series of strikes against Unit 4400 have "damaged the ability of the Hezbollah terror organization to strengthen its stockpile of weapons and thus to fire at the citizens of the State of Israel."
One strike in early October destroyed a 3.5-kilometer-long tunnel that crossed between Lebanon and Syria, which the IDF said was used by Hezbollah to smuggle and store Iranian weapons.
Construction work on the major tunnel began in 2009 and was completed a decade later, according to the IDF.
On Monday evening the IDF confirmed launching Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the Syria-Lebanon border, targeting what it says were routes used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said the strikes damaged several bridges in the al-Qusayr area and maimed two people.
Israel has carried out several airstrikes in the al-Qusayr area in recent months, targeting border crossings and other weapon smuggling routes used by Hezbollah to bring arms into Lebanon.
Israeli jets also bombed Unit 4400 command centers amid other strikes on Hezbollah in Beirut on Monday.
[IsraelTimes] Extensive wave of strikes on Hezbollah assets comes hours before ceasefire is expected to be okayed; IDF troops reach Lebanon’s Litani River for first time since 2000
Israel launched a wave of simultaneous Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s Tuesday afternoon on 20 Hezbollah targets in the terror group’s Dahiyeh stronghold in southern Beirut, shortly before the security cabinet was set to convene and approve a ceasefire 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... Additionally, the Israel Defense Forces said that for the first time in 24 years, its soldiers had reached a portion of the Litani River, where it runs relatively close to the border.
After issuing an unusually broad evacuation warning for 20 buildings in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, the IDF said that within two minutes, it had struck all 20 sites.
The swift and extensive wave of airstrikes was carried out by eight fighter jets, according to the military.
Seven buildings targeted in the strikes were used by Hezbollah for the management and storage of funds, the IDF said, including headquarters, vaults and branches of the al-Qard al-Hasan association, known to be used by the terror group as a quasi-bank.
The other 13 sites included a Hezbollah aerial forces center, an intelligence division command room, weapon depots, and other military infrastructure, the IDF said.
The military released footage showing the strikes.
An extensive wave of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in a video released by the IDF on November 26, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office said he was approving "the continued IDF offensive operations on the northern front" during an assessment with the military’s top brass and other defense officials.
The meeting approving the battle plans was attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, head of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, head of the Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, head of the Strategy Directorate Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir, and head of the ministry’s Political-Military Bureau Dror Shalom.
A short while before the major wave of strikes, Lebanese media outlets reported an additional Israeli airstrike in central Beirut — outside the Hezbollah stronghold — without an evacuation warning being given, indicating the strike was an attempted liquidation and not the regular targeting of Hezbollah infrastructure.
Later on Tuesday, in a warning to Lebanese civilians, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, said the military would be striking numerous branches of the al-Qard al-Hasan association.
"Iranian funding and Hezbollah’s independent sources of income are deposited at the association’s branches, and it is used in practice to manage and store the terror assets of the organization," Adraee said.
The front man said the strikes "will be another blow to the Iranian financing chain of Hezbollah, which uses an association under a civilian guise to finance assets for the storage of weapons, the establishment of launch sites, the payment of wages to its Lions of Islam and the build-up of its criminal terrorist organization, on the backs of the people of Lebanon."
Earlier, in the late morning, the IDF said it had struck six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs used by Hezbollah’s coast-to-sea missile unit and as command centers. In that case, too, evacuation warnings were issued for the sites.
The military said 26 airstrikes were conducted in Beirut on Tuesday, with the total for this week standing at 50.
According to the IDF, some 330 Hezbollah sites have been struck in Beirut’s southern suburbs since the beginning of the ongoing fighting. In the 2006 Second Lebanon War, for comparison, some 140 sites were struck.
TROOPS REACH LITANI RIVER
Earlier, the IDF said its 91st Division had reached the Litani River in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, as well as the Wadi Saluki area, adding that troops located dozens of Hezbollah weapons and sites in both areas.
It was the first time since 2000 — when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon — that IDF troops have reached the Litani River.
In the Wadi Saluki area, troops of the Commando Brigade raided several Hezbollah sites. The IDF said the commandos located and seized hundreds of weapons, and found dozens of bunkers and dozens of primed rocket launchers.
At the Litani River, troops of the Alexandroni Brigade, 769th "Hiram" Regional Brigade, Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, and the Israeli Air Force’s Shaldag unit raided numerous Hezbollah sites in the area.
The IDF said the troops battled Hezbollah button men in the Litani River area, and located and destroyed dozens of rocket launchers, hundreds of rockets, weapon depots, and other weapons hidden in the mountainside.
Wadi Saluki is around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Israel’s border, and the Litani River in the eastern sector is around four kilometers from the northern Israeli town of Metula.
The chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, visited the Litani River amid the operations.
The proposed truce deal that Israel is expected to agree to on Tuesday, which would halt the fighting on the northern front, calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence south of the Litani River, which in most areas runs some 29 kilometers north of the border with Israel.
HEZBOLLAH COMMANDERS SLAIN Meanwhile,
...back at the saw mill, Scarface Al had tied Little Nell to the log and was about to turn on the buzz saw... the military said two Hezbollah commanders were killed Tuesday in separate airstrikes, one in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre and one in an unspecified area in southern Lebanon.
The military named the commander slain in Tyre as Ahmed Subhi Hazima, head of operations in Hezbollah’s coastal region of southern Lebanon.
Hazima, who replaced the previous commander after he was killed in a strike on November 17, had advanced numerous attacks against Israel from the western sector of southern Lebanon, including infiltrations and anti-tank missile attacks, the IDF said.
The military described his killing as another blow to the terror group’s capabilities.
Later, the army said an airstrike on southern Lebanon killed a senior Hezbollah field commander.
It said fighters from the Commando Brigade — who have been operating in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, under the 98th Division — spotted a cell of Hezbollah button men in their area of operations, and directed strikes against them.
Among the dead was the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the sector where the troops have been operating, according to the IDF. The military did not name the exact sector, as troops were still operating there.
The IDF said the troops have also located numerous weapons, including long-range anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and other equipment belonging to Hezbollah.
Also Tuesday, the military said fighter jets struck several Hezbollah weapons depots in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil that were being used to store anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft equipment and other weapons.
In total, the military said 30 airstrikes had been conducted Tuesday in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel, in support of its fellow Iran-backed terror group, drawing Israeli reprisals and leading to the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. Fighting intensified in late September, with Israel killing much of Hezbollah’s leadership and launching a limited ground incursion on October 1.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah fired several barrages at northern Israel, including an evening attack of five rockets at the port city of Haifa, which were intercepted.
Earlier in the day, an IDF soldier was seriously maimed in a Hezbollah drone attack on the Mount Hermon area, the military said, adding that it was investigating the incident.
The servicewoman was taken to a hospital for treatment after a drone launched from Lebanon went kaboom! near soldiers in the Hermon.
In Kiryat Shmona, a home suffered significant damage after being hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, police and the Fire and Rescue Services said. There were no reports of injuries in that incident.
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.
... the personification of Somali state failure...
[IsraelTimes] Activists at demonstration led by Extinction Rebellion and other groups daub slogans on premises of Christians for Israel, intimidate staff arriving for work with ‘genocide’ claims
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...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...
