CrossFireArabia
Lebanon’s National News Agency says the people of in the southern district of Beirut experienced their most horrific night since the start of the Israeli occupation’s aggression on the country, as the Israeli army pounded several places with more than 30 airstrikes.
marwan
Dr. Muhammad Turki Bani Salama
In light of the ongoing brutal Israeli aggression on Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, the Arab and Islamic media arenas are crowded with official statements of condemnation and denunciation yet the situation remains the same. These expressions of concern and repeated warnings have become, in essence, part of a farcical and repetitive political play that does not provide any tangible support or actual assistance to the afflicted peoples. Rather they are empty words to alleviate popular pressures without any actual intention to take effective steps on the ground.
It is ironic these Arab and Islamic countries do not miss an opportunity to declare their support for Palestine and Lebanon in international forums. They are content with a monotonous diplomatic theatrical performance of statements of condemnation and warning without taking any real steps on the ground.
This is despite the number of dead, wounded and displaced who are increasing daily. These countries, especially the ones who normalized with Israel, are not even bothering to sever relations with Jewish state, or even think of imposing any significant economic sanctions on the entity.
On the contrary, some of these countries have increased the volume of trade and economic exchange with Israel since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle since last October, as if they fear upsetting their new trading partner, while continue to present themselves to the world as protectors of Arab, Islamic and humanitarian principles and values.
This blatant contradiction between political rhetoric and action on the ground cannot but arouse the astonishment of the Arab and Islamic peoples. How can these countries claim to adhere to the values of Arabism, Islam and humanity, while they turn a blind eye to Israeli violations against the Arab populations of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen?
How can this support and these hollow words be considered real solidarity? The Arab peoples are asking: Where are the actions that reflect these resonant statements on the ground?
What is even more bizarre in this absurd scene is that even the drug dealers in the Maghreb have taken a more serious stance than those countries. By their decision to stop drug smuggling to Israel, they have demonstrated a greater understanding of effective action than many of the nation’s leaders.
Those who operate in an illegal field have taken a stance that shows that real action can be more effective than any diplomatic statements at Arab summits. If only Arab leaders would learn a lesson from the drug dealers on how to provide support, relief to the distressed and rescue the oppressed.
As for banking on international law and the international community to stop the Israeli aggression, it is a losing bet by all standards. Israel is fully supported by the West, led by the Zionist United States, the head of the snake, and which no longer hides its explicit loyalty to the Zionist project.
While Washington sings the praises of human rights on every occasion, it adopts double-standard policies, turns a blind eye to the flagrant violations of Arab rights, and supplies Israel on daily basis the latest lethal weapons to continue its aggression against the Arab people without deterrence.
Relying on the Security Council or the United Nations for justice and/or stop the aggression is just an illusion and a mirage, closer to waiting for the impossible, because these institutions have proven time and again, they are unable to take any serious position when it comes to Israel.
So the fundamental question here is: Will the Arabs continue to play the role of spectators or will they decide to take serious positions to protect themselves and their interests first before thinking about protecting the rights of the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon?
And can the Arabs ever go beyond mere statements and take actual steps that restore balance in the face of Israeli arrogance? Or have the Arabs left history, geography and the entire political equation, and no benefit can be expected of them?
Only the coming days will reveal the answer but what is for certain now is Arab peoples can no longer tolerate more empty promises and hollow statements. They are waiting for real action that embody a strong political will capable of bringing about change.
In the end, the aggression continues, and with it the official Arab and international silence remains, at a time when the suffering of the Arab peoples in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere increases. These people have no choice but to resist, without expecting someone to appear in this lunatic world to take bold positions and truly stand for justice and humanity, in the face of the Zionist-American barbarism, brutal aggression and ongoing injustice.
The author is a Jordanian academic and a full professor who contributed this opinion in Arabic to Raialyoum.com
marwan
Hezbollah announced it killed 17 Israeli officers and soldiers in battles in south Lebanon., Thursday. In contrast, the Israeli army stated an officer and a soldier were killed in battles in southern Lebanon, Wednesday, while rockets from southern Lebanon caused fires in the border town of Matla in northern Israel.
Hezbollah also announced more than once, Thursday, Israeli forces detonated explosive devices during their attempts to infiltrate southern Lebanon. Israel’s Golani Brigade detonated explosive devices while it tried to go around west of Marun al-Ras in southern Lebanon.
Israeli media reported that helicopters rushed to the areas of clashes on the border with Lebanon to transport dead soldiers, indicating it was a dangerous and unusually difficult security task.
The Israeli army admitted the death of an officer at the rank of captain in the 202nd battalion of the paratroopers brigade and a soldier in battles in southern Lebanon Wednesday, but avoided mentioning any of the deaths in today’s skirmishes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Fire and Rescue Authority announced that a fire broke out in the town of Matla after rockets were fired from Lebanon and said that its crews were working to put it out.
The Israeli Home Front asked the residents of the northern Golan towns to stay near underground shelters and not to congregate and to reduce movement. It also asked the residents of the city of Safed to stay near the fortified areas and refrain from getting together.
As well, the settlement municipality of Nahariya, in Israel’s northwest, asked all residents to stay near the fortified places and not to go out except in cases of extreme necessity.
This comes amid a continuous escalation with the continuation of heavy Israeli raids on villages and towns in southern Lebanon and on the southern suburb of Beirut amid attempts to invade the country by land, and in the light of Hezbollah’s response to them and the firing of dozens of rockets a day towards barracks and settlements in northern Israel as reported by Al Jazeera.
CrossFireArabia
In his first comments following the death of eight Israeli officers and soldiers in battles in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv is in the “middle of a tough war.”
“I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video post on X.
“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us,” he added.
Netanyahu concluded his remarks by saying: “We will rescue our hostages in the south (Gaza); we will return our residents in the north; we will guarantee Israel’s eternity.”
Earlier, the Israeli army said that eight of its troops, including three officers, were killed and seven others, including one officer, were injured, some seriously, in battles in southern Lebanon according to Anadolu.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the first confrontation erupted in the early hours of Wednesday in the village of Odaisseh, where an Israeli force was ambushed at the entrance of a house.
The report said that Hezbollah fighters fired on the Israeli unit from close range and also engaged them from a close distance using machine guns, anti-tank missiles, and mortars.
The evacuation process lasted a long time due to the topographical conditions and severe weather during the early morning hours, with six soldiers killed and five others from the Egoz Commando Unit sustaining varying injuries.
In a second incident, a unit from the Golani Brigade was hit by mortar fire launched by Hezbollah fighters from both close and distant ranges, resulting in the death of two soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that the ambush set by Hezbollah in a house in southern Lebanon, where face-to-face confrontations occurred, resulted in the deaths of six Israeli officers and soldiers from the Egoz unit, with 30 others injured.
Israel has launched massive airstrikes since Sept. 23 against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon that have killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,950, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The top leadership of Hezbollah was killed in the Israeli assaults, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,700 people, most of them women and children, following an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, last October.
The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli military acknowledged, Wednesday, the Iranian missile strike on Tuesday evening caused damage to its air bases, but downplayed its significance and did not disclose their locations.
Israeli Army Radio said several air force bases were damaged in the Iranian attack, but “there was no damage to their infrastructure.”
Israeli news platforms also quoted the military as saying that there were no injuries to aircraft or weapons, and the military denied Iran had fired supersonic missiles in its attack on Israel.
Anadolu Agency quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the missiles “caused damage to administrative buildings (inside the air bases)… in the shell, not in the core.”
The source refused to disclose the damaged sites, saying: “There is no damage to continuity or follow-up plans, and the evidence is that the aircraft landed and took off from all the bases.”
The same source also denied that any Israelis were injured in the Iranian attack.
Targeting Mossad Headquarters
Earlier, the American website Axios quoted an Israeli military official as saying that dozens of Iranian missiles were fired at the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad) in Tel Aviv, but he said none of them fell inside the complex.
Also, CNN said that an analysis of video clips showed that an Iranian missile exploded less than one kilometer from the Mossad headquarters.
Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, Tuesday evening, in an attack it said was in response to the assassination of the head of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Abbas Nilforoushan.
Following the strike Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned: “if the Zionists make any mistakes, they will receive a stronger and more destructive response.”
Iranian Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri revealed that the strike targeted three main air bases and a Mossad headquarters.
He said among them were the Nevatim base, which houses F-35 fighter jets, and the Hatzerim base, which he said was responsible for the assassination of Nasrallah, adding that the attack targeted radars and a gathering of tanks and armored personnel carriers in the Gaza Strip.
Israel imposes strict media censorship on what is published about its losses, in light of its war on Gaza, which has been ongoing for about a year, and its current attack on Lebanon, which is the largest since the 2006 war according to Al Jazeera.
