#IDF confirms strike on #Hezbollah commander in #Beirut, #Lebanon
The IDF said the commander is responsible for Saturday's strike that killed children playing soccer in #MajdalShams in the Israeli-controlled #GolanHeights.
#war #WarExpansion #WiderWar #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #GlobalSecurity #geopolitics #ForeignPolicy #Israel #Netanyahu
https://abc7.com/post/israel-lebanon-strike-idf-says-targeted-senior-hezbollah/15122507/
"The #IDF targeted in #Beirut the commander responsible for the murder of the children in #MajdalShams & killed many Israeli civilians," the #Israel Defense Forces told ABC News in a statement.
#Lebanon #Hezbollah #war #WarExpansion #WiderWar #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #GlobalSecurity #geopolitics #ForeignPolicy #Netanyahu
More from #TheIndependent:
#Israel launches air strike on #Lebanon’s capital #Beirut
Israel says the strike was targeting a senior #Hezbollah commander responsible for a fatal strike on the occupied #GolanHeights last weekend
#war #WarExpansion #WiderWar #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #GlobalSecurity #geopolitics #ForeignPolicy #IDF #Netanyahu
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-attack-beirut-air-strike-lebanon-b2588398.html
Footage from #Beirut the capital of #Lebanon shows the shells of several destroyed cars, as well as high-rise buildings gutted by the blast. Plumes of thick black smoke cloud the camera view as residents can be heard screaming.
…The alleged target of the strike was #FuadShukr, aka #alHajjMohsin, a snr advisor on #military affairs to #Hezbollah’s leader #HassanNasrallah. It is unclear whether the strike was successful.
#GolanHeights #Israel #war #WarExpansion #MiddleEast #geopolitics #Netanyahu
The #Iran-backed militia #Hezbollah, which has been attacking #Israel in solidarity w/their allies #Hamas in #Gaza, claimed they were not responsible for the #GolanHeights attack.
But PM #Netanyahu said they were under no illusion about Hezbollah’s role in the strike, vowing to issue a “harsh” response during a visit to site of the attack in the remote town of #MajdalShams, a majority #Druze village in a region annexed by Israel from #Syria in 1981.
#US officials also said they believed #Hezbollah was responsible, though the #Biden admin had urged #Israel not to escalate tensions too drastically in their response to the strike.
Diplomats had called on Israel to avoid targeting #Lebanon’s capital #Beirut, whose southern suburbs form Hezbollah's key #infrastructure. They hoped that by keeping Israel's response limited, additional retaliation by Hezbollah might be avoided.
#escalation #war #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #geopolitics #Netanyahu
Earlier, #Hezbollah rejected calls from #international envoys to avoid responding to an anticipated Israeli attack in retaliation for a deadly rocket strike on the #Israel-occupied #GolanHeights.
.…
"International envoys are indirectly raising w/us the idea that we should not respond to the expected aggression under the pretext of the need to avoid #escalation & sliding towards a comprehensive #war," the Hezbollah ofcl said.
#Beirut #Lebanon #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #geopolitics #Netanyahu
The #Beirut strike, which threatened to escalate hostilities between #Israel & #Hezbollah at a combustible moment, occurred around 7:45 PM local time in the suburb of Haret Hreik. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said the strike killed a woman & 2 children.
#Gaza #war #escalation #WarExpansion #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #geopolitics #Netanyahu
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/30/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-lebanon-hezbollah/
#IsmailHaniyeh, the head of Hamas’s #political operations, has been killed in #Iran, #Hamas announced early Wed. He was killed in #Tehran after participating in the inauguration of Iran’s new president, the group said in a stmnt. He led Hamas in #Gaza for over a decade.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps #IRGC said the cause of Ismail Haniyeh’s death is under investigation.
#geopolitics #MiddleEast
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/30/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-haniyeh/
Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs Gaza, for over a decade. Hamas said he was killed in Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iran’s president.
#IsmaillHaniyeh was the #political leader of #Hamas, the militant group that governs the #Gaza Strip.
#Haniyeh conducted much of his work from #Qatar’s capital, #Doha. His role, acc/to analysts, was to be the face of Hamas, spread the group’s political rhetoric & try to raise money to fund its operations. Haniyeh had been involved in the ongoing #CeaseFire negotiations w/ #Israel through Qatari & Egyptian mediators.
#war #escalation #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #Security #geopolitics
With the #political & #military leaders of #Hamas kept separate —geographically & organizationally— it is unclear to what extent political leaders such as #Haniyeh knew about the #Oct7 attack. Hamas took power in #Gaza in 2007, following an election* to determine who would preside over the enclave after #Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. No elections have been held since 2006. Haniyeh was chosen by members of the group to be president of its political bureau in 2017.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali #Khamenei, met w/ #Haniyeh on Tues in Iran. A #security breach at this level in #Iran raises questions about the safety of Iran’s top ldrs who were in close contact w/ Haniyeh hours before his #assassination.
While #Israel has not commented on the killing, it has in the past carried out a number of high-profile assassinations in Iran in recent yrs prompting a major security overhaul & ouster of a top security ofcl.
#Iran is holding an emergency meeting of its Supreme National Security Council #SNSC at the supreme leader #Khamenei’s residence, an event that happens during extraordinary circumstances, acc/to 2 Iranian officials. Gen Ghaani the commander in chief of the #Quds forces (#IRGC) who oversees the militant network of #miltiia is also at the meeting.
per Farnaz Fassihi
#Israel #Hamas #Hezbollah #Haniyeh #war #escalation #RegionalConflict #MiddleEast #GlobalSecurity #geopolitics
The targeting of 2 senior leaders of 2 #Iran-backed groups within a matter of hours would be an audacious #escalation in the region, which is reeling from months of high tensions since #Israel began waging a #war against #Hamas in #Gaza.
How either militant group responds is likely to determine the course of the conflict & whether it engulfs the region into a war on multiple fronts.
#Haniyeh #FuadShukr #Lebanon #Hezbollah #Netanyahu #MiddleEast #RegionalConflict #GlobalSecurity #geopolitics
#Israel’s Tues night strike on #FuadShukr, a snr #Hezbollah commander in #Beirut, was the first time during this #war that Israel has targeted such an influential Hezbollah leader in #Lebanon’s capital. Hours later, the killing in #Iran of #Hamas’s political leader, Ismail #Haniyeh, was considered the most brazen breach of Iran’s defenses since Oct.
#MiddleEast #geopolitics #escalation
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/world/middleeast/iran-lebanon-israel-war-assassination.html?smid=url-share
Taken together, the seniority of the targets, the sensitive location of the strikes & their near simultaneity were viewed as a particularly provocative #escalation that has left the region fearing an even bigger response from #Iran & its regional proxies, including #Hezbollah, the #Houthis in #Yemen & #militias in #Iraq. The scale of that reaction could determine whether the low-level regional battle between #Israel & the Iranian alliance tips into a full-scale, all-out conflict.
@Nonilex
#WaPo #GiftedArticle
[Feel free to update the original]
Once again the #Democratic party prepares to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
Yeah
Maybe send #Netanyahu another couple hundred 2,000 pound bombs
I'm sure he's running low
Pundits all week: "Oh, don't worry Netanyahu wouldn't attack Lebanon"
Nonilex
David Penington
FunGuy2PlayWith
FinchHaven infosec
Frances Larina