Israeli air strikes kill 492 people in Lebanon

[Gunny]

Israeli air strikes kill 492 people in Lebanon (bbc.com)

[Kathianne]

Israel is now in control of military decisions:

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024...e-war-n3794927

Israel to Hezbollah: You Know How to Stop the War


Ed Morrissey 10:40 AM | September 24, 2024



AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Of course they do. But will enough of them survive this phase of the war to issue the order to stop firing missiles into Israel?

That question may be more acute than some realize. Thus far, Israel has not yet targeted Hezbollah's supreme commander Hassan Nasrallah, but they have eliminated nearly all of the next level of commanders in the organization. They took aim at one of the few remaining today in another strike on the group's stronghold in Beirut:

The IDF's likely target in Beirut on Tuesday afternoon was Hezbollah's rocket chief Amr Abdallah Dalsh.
Lebanese media claimed he survived, but the IDF has not yet commented.

Yesterday, they tried to take out the last remaining top commander besides Nasrallah himself:

On Friday, the IDF killed Hezbollah Radwan special forces commander Ibrahim Aqil and around 15 other sub-commanders, and on Monday, the air force attempted to assassinate Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s third in command, the last remaining living member of a triumvirate of top military advisers to Hezbollah chief Hassan Sayyed Nasrallah.

The word is that Karaki may have survived but is at least temporarily incapacitated. We don't have definitive word yet on Dalsh, but needless to say, he won't be popping his head above ground for a while even if he did survive the attack. The Israelis have excellent intel on these commanders and their movements, which they have proven repeatedly over the past week -- perhaps a sign that Operation Grim Beeper had more capabilities than we have yet learned.

The Israelis may just be warming up. They have expanded their sorties in the western Bekaa Valley, multiple media outlets report, in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah's strategic missiles and to cut off any more imports of them from Iran via Syria. They have also increased strikes in southern Lebanon, which has been interpreted by residents there as a sign of an imminent ground invasion. As NBC's Richard Engel reports this morning, Lebanese families are fleeing toward Beiriut rather than wait around to find out what happens:



The Israelis have waited 18 years since the last war with Lebanon for the UN to enforce its Security Council resolution forbidding Hezbollah operations in that region. The settlement of the 2006 war made the sub-Litani region only accessible to Lebanon's military, which UN forces (UNIFIL) were supposed to guarantee. Hezbollah quickly figured out that the UN had no stomach for enforcement and have militarized the region under their noses ever since, which has directly led to this new conflict.

That's important context for the latest fatuous emission from the White House. NSC spokesman John Kirby told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that Israel deserves security in the north, but that escalation isn't the way to achieve it:


Wee, gee, John, then what should Israel do? Allow Hezbollah to chuck missiles at them at whim? That seems to have been Joe Biden's plan in regard to Hezbollah, following up on 18 years of letting Hezbollah flagrantly violate UNSC resolutions and the settlement of the previous war with Israel. That strategy not only forced 60,000 Israelis into long-term displacement since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, but threatened to leave Israel vulnerable to another larger-scale invasion of Galilee.

Hezbollah committed acts of war continuously since October 8 by firing missiles at Israel. If people want "restraint," they are asking the wrong party in this war for it. Israel reminded the media and the world of that point today, warning that Hezbollah has to choose between de-escalation or even more intense warfare -- and they'd better make that choice quickly:

There are two overarching goals, says the official. The first is “to strengthen deterrence against Hezbollah and to create a situation where Israel can return residents to their homes.”

The second is to deter “the entire Iranian axis,” says the official.

Israel will stop its operations if Hezbollah meets Israel’s demands, primarily that it pull back from Israel’s northern border, says the official. “They know our demands.”
If Hezbollah doesn’t stop, however, “the next stage will come,” warns the official, without laying out what that would entail.

It doesn’t have to be a ground invasion, says the official. “Either they’ll stop firing, or they won’t be able to anymore.”

The message, in brief: The age of unilateral Israeli disarmament and concessions has come to an abrupt end. If Israel's enemies commit acts of war, they had better prepare for asymmetrical and overwhelming responses. Not only is that the only way to establish deterrence, it should be the doctrine for the entire West, rather than the mealy-mouthed appeasement tactics espoused by Kirby that only leads to perpetual conflict.

[Kathianne]

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...ets-in-lebanon

Israel strikes more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
By Seth Frantzman | September 23, 2024 | @sfrantzman
Smoke in southern Lebanon after IDF strikes
Smoke rises from a village in southern Lebanon after an Israeli airstrike on September 23. In the foreground, a field has been burned by Hezbollah rocket fire. (Seth Frantzman, LWJ)
On September 23, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out its largest and most wide-ranging strikes against Hezbollah in 11 months. The IDF said it struck more than 1,300 targets using 1,400 munitions. “Over the past day, we have been demolishing what Hezbollah has been building over the past 20 years. Nasrallah remains alone at the top—entire Radwan units were taken out of battle, and tens of thousands of rockets have been destroyed,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in the afternoon.


The strikes are part of an increasingly intense phase of operations that began with Hezbollah suffering losses due to thousands of exploding pagers on September 17. In the following days, more Hezbollah devices exploded, and the IDF carried out a strike in Beirut that eliminated 16 Hezbollah commanders. This set the stage for wide-ranging airstrikes against Hezbollah rocket launchers, followed by additional targets across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa Valley.


The IDF has increased the intensity of its strikes in stages. Hezbollah has sought to respond, launching rockets deeper into Israel on September 22. The Iranian-backed group followed up this attack by launching waves of rockets across northern Israel, with some reaching central Israel on September 23.


The IDF has trained for war against Hezbollah for many years, as the Iranian-backed group was seen as the major threat to Israel’s security before Hamas’s attack on October 7. The IDF had estimated that Hezbollah would be able to launch between hundreds and thousands of rockets per day at Israel in a conflict. However, throughout the first days of this new phase of the conflict with Hezbollah, the group has usually resorted to barrages of dozens of projectiles and hasn’t been able to launch more than several hundred per day.


Gallant conducted a situational assessment at the command center of the IDF’s Operations Directorate with Major General Oded Basiuk, commander of the Directorate, the Defense Minister’s office said on the afternoon of September 23. Gallant said Israel’s shift to the north has been in the process for weeks, and the September 20 strike in Beirut has left Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah isolated, with most of his key commanders removed below him. “Entire units were taken out of battle as a result of the activities conducted at the beginning of the week in which numerous terrorists were injured.”


Gallant estimates that tens of thousands of Hezbollah’s rockets have been destroyed, including its highly valued precision munitions. Out of a stockpile of more than 150,000 rockets and other projectiles, this appears to be a serious loss for the group. IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi shared similar sentiments in a statement on the evening of September 23. “We are striking targets and preparing for the next phases, which I will elaborate on shortly. Ultimately, everything is focused on creating the conditions to return the residents of the north to their homes,” he said. Around 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated since October 2023, when Hezbollah’s attacks began.


In northern Israel, the waves of IDF strikes could be seen from near the border. Smoke rose along a line of Lebanese villages where Hezbollah is present, such as Maroun al-Ras. Many of these areas were scenes of fighting in 2006, when the IDF also began the war with the use of air power, only later launching a ground assault. Asked about the possibility of ground operations, the IDF did not elaborate on the future phases of the conflict.


Hezbollah launched barrages of rockets targeting areas east of the Sea of Galilee, Haifa, and neighborhoods near the northern Israeli city. Israel canceled school for roughly 500,000 students on September 23. As the Hezbollah barrages reach closer to central Israel, new restrictions will likely be put in place across the country. In the Golan, the IDF briefly closed some roads due to rockets and fires caused by falling projectiles. Fires caused by Hezbollah rockets also raged near the Israeli community of Givat Avni.


Several Israelis were wounded by the attacks on September 23. The IDF put out several statements warning Lebanese to leave areas where Hezbollah is alleged to have stored weapons in civilian homes. The IDF also produced video and photographic material illustrating how Hezbollah has festooned villages with rockets and weapons stored in homes.

[Kathianne]

Summing up:

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2024...vages-n4932778

[revelarts]

Hmm, there are a lot of Palestinian supporters in the U.S., probably plenty of Hamas terrorist & "leadership" here too (maybe even in congress).
Israel should consider bombing a few targets in U.S. cities... just to be safe. some of these U.S. colleges are a hotbed of terrorist support.

Because bombing any other country that has any Israeli enemies there is always OK and should never be questioned.
Unless you SUPPORT terrorist.
Plus 911... J6... i mean... Oct7 justifies ANYthing. Women, Children, other countries. they shouldn't have voted for them!
it war .. sheesh.. if the Lebanese or the Americans don't like it they shouldn't be harboring terrorist in their country.
Not hard to grasp.

[Kathianne]

Hmm, there are a lot of Palestinian supporters in the U.S., probably plenty of Hamas terrorist & "leadership" here too (maybe even in congress).
Israel should consider bombing a few targets in U.S. cities... just to be safe. some of these U.S. colleges are a hotbed of terrorist support.

Because bombing any other country that has any Israeli enemies there is always OK and should never be questioned.
Unless you SUPPORT terrorist.
Plus 911... J6... i mean... Oct7 justifies ANYthing. Women, Children, other countries. they shouldn't have voted for them!
it war .. sheesh.. if the Lebanese or the Americans don't like it they shouldn't be harboring terrorist in their country.
Not hard to grasp.

You've lost it with this one. How many missiles has Hezbollah sent to Isreal? Kumbaya isn't working. Isreal needs to do what it needs to do. Delay has only caused more misery on all sides. Well nit Iran, they don't give a flying f.

[revelarts]

You've lost it with this one. How many missiles has Hezbollah sent to Isreal? Kumbaya isn't working. Isreal needs to do what it needs to do. Delay has only caused more misery on all sides. Well nit Iran, they don't give a flying f.

American weapons have been found in the hands of All sides.
Israel can't be too careful Kath.

America has been harboring Hamas Terrorist and 10s of thousands of supporters.
After Oct 7 I dont see how or why they should just stop at just sending bomb strikes to Lebanon... and Syria... and Iran... and Yemen, and to random cell phones and pagers anywhere in the world.

Israel is in a fight for it's life. they are not safe until every enemy is destroyed. Ive been told here.
Can you tell me the logical places where Israel should NOT strike at it's enemies? When they should stop attacking foreign countries?

So far you and gunny dont seem to have a problem with Israel's attacks on anyone or anything in anyway.
Is there are red line for you?

[Gunny]

American weapons have been found in the hands of All sides.
Israel can't be too careful Kath.

America has been harboring Hamas Terrorist and 10s of thousands of supporters.
After Oct 7 I dont see how or why they should just stop at just sending bomb strikes to Lebanon... and Syria... and Iran... and Yemen, and to random cell phones and pagers anywhere in the world.

Israel is in a fight for it's life. they are not safe until every enemy is destroyed. Ive been told here.
Can you tell me the logical places where Israel should NOT strike at it's enemies? When they should stop attacking foreign countries?

So far there you and gunny dont seem to have a problem with Israel's attacks on anyone or anything.
Is there are red line for you?

Sure. If Isael was practicing actual genocide and indiscriminately killing them all, that's a red line. Where's yours? When they murder your noncombatants at a picnic? Oh, wait ...

[revelarts]

Sure. If Isael was practicing actual genocide and indiscriminately killing them all, that's a red line.

And if they were, what would be the remedy?
Stoping All US aid?
more than that? Less?

[Gunny]

And if they were, what would be the remedy?
Stoping All US aid?
more than that? Less?

Why are you rehashing this? One breathing terrorist is one breathing terrorist too many in my book. And I WON'T negotiate for hostages/the civilians they hide behind. It sucks but it's that way or they own or kill you and your family and everyone else's.

Do try and recall Hamas/Hezbollah exist SOLELY to exterminate Israel, every man, woman and child. But that's okay, right? From the River to the Sea

Do you root for Emperor Palpatine watching Star Wars? Always siding with and making excuses for evil bad guys

[Kathianne]

American weapons have been found in the hands of All sides.
Israel can't be too careful Kath.

America has been harboring Hamas Terrorist and 10s of thousands of supporters.
After Oct 7 I dont see how or why they should just stop at just sending bomb strikes to Lebanon... and Syria... and Iran... and Yemen, and to random cell phones and pagers anywhere in the world.

Israel is in a fight for it's life. they are not safe until every enemy is destroyed. Ive been told here.
Can you tell me the logical places where Israel should NOT strike at it's enemies? When they should stop attacking foreign countries?

So far you and gunny dont seem to have a problem with Israel's attacks on anyone or anything in anyway.
Is there are red line for you?

If Israel had sent in troops to Gaza or Lebanon to slaughter, rape, and kidnap women, children, and the elderly, I'd be right there with the UN declaring a rogue nation, no problem.

They didn't. No excuses. Take no prisoners imo.

[revelarts]

If Israel had sent in troops to Gaza or Lebanon to slaughter, rape, and kidnap women, children, and the elderly, I'd be right there with the UN declaring a rogue nation, no problem.

They didn't. No excuses. Take no prisoners imo.

So the amount of raped women, dead women, children & elderly are acceptable at this point.
ok.
I see.

[Kathianne]

So the amount of raped women, dead women, children & elderly are acceptable at this point.
ok.
I see.

ok.

[revelarts]

All terrorist should be killed?
Or all enemies of Israel are legit targets?

[Kathianne]

All terrorist should be killed?
Or all enemies of Israel are legit targets?

Hello bells, everyone is free to hate on anyone or any groups, when you choose violence to express your hate, be ready for the consequences. Here or there.

Good idea to remember you don't get to call what is an "appropriate response" by your enemies.