Ben Gurion Airport Archives - CrossFireArarbia

Naim Qassem: Hezbollah ‘Regains Health’, Seeks to ‘Hurt’ The Enemy

CrossFireArabia
October 15, 2024

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said that the party is still strong despite the severe blows it suffered. He added it regained its wellbeing in the field and its capabilities, stressing the party set upon, a week ago, to implement a “new equation” to “hurt the enemy.”

He added, his 3rd speech since the assassination Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the resistance’s missiles reached Tel Aviv, disabled Ben Gurion Airport, and forced two million Israelis to take shelters.

He pointed out the party can target any point in the “Israeli entity” and will choose the appropriate point according to his expression.

He stressed that what the resistance achieved in the field in two weeks was better than expected, and its main mission remains to “pursue the enemy and carry out operations against it in any place it enters.”

He also sent a message to the Israeli home front, stressing the only solution is for a ceasefire, adding, “I say to Israelis, do not believe what your officials tell you but look at your dead in the war.”

Ceasefire

He stated Hezbollah called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to stop firing on Israel. This solution is an expression of “a position of weakness”, but if the Israelis do not want this, we will continue.”

He pointed out that after the ceasefire “according to an indirect agreement”, Israeli settlers will be able to return to the north and other steps will be determined after that, the nature of which he did not specify.

However, he warned if the war continues, “the uninhabited settlements in the north will increase and more than two million Israelis will be in danger.”

Al-Aqsa Flood

Qassem pointed out, in his speech, that the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack came after 75 years of occupation and is a “legitimate right” for the Palestinians.

He added, “the Palestinians have the right for such action to expel the occupation, shakes its presence and prevent it from continuing,” stressing “our support for the Palestinians is support for their right because they are the owners of the right, and must repel the danger from them and prevent the expansion of Israel.”

He also reiterated “Israel is an occupying usurping entity that poses a danger to the region and the world.”

He added, “Israel and those behind it are fighting and committing massacres, and we are in a situation that requires us to take a position,” noting that neither Lebanon nor the entire region can be separated from Palestine.

Expansionist Project

Qassem also stressed that Lebanon falls within an “Israeli expansionist project,” warning that Lebanon and the entire region “are facing the danger of a new Middle East designed in Israeli-American form.”

He added that Israel’s project in the region is “destructive and aim to eliminate the resistance and its people,” and that the world, Britain, France, and America are complicit with this “Israeli criminality.”

Resistance and Iran

Qassem stressed Iran supports the Palestinians in order to liberate Palestine, and this support is “a source of pride for Iran, which is exerting all its capabilities to strengthen and empower the Palestinians.”

He also mentioned that resistance to Israel is “legitimate and defensive” and its goal is to reject the occupation and liberate the land.

He added, “I say to the Mujahideen, you are the hope, so continue fighting and our confidence in you is great.”

A message to the Lebanese

Qassem stressed that the “Lebanese national solidarity” with the resistance is essential and that Hezbollah will remain despite its haters.

He added, “I say to the Lebanese, we must be patient to achieve victory and I promise you to return to your homes that will be rebuilt.. We will not leave you and you will not leave us and everyone will see the resistance with its great people.”

He also stressed that those who cause harm to Lebanon “are not those who defend people but those who kill them,” recalling that the Israeli occupation remained in Lebanon for 22 years and only left through resistance according to Al Jazeera.

News

Sirens Blast All Day in Israel

CrossFireArabia
October 14, 2024

Sirens blasted all over north and central Israel, all day Monday, creating much havoc with people running up-and-down ready-made shelters.

In total sirens sounded in more than 194 towns, cities and locations in Israel with graphic posts of the sound blasts as the army reported that up to two million Israelis went down to shelters.

⚡️BREAKING: Missile sirens sounded all across Tel Aviv, central and northern Israel. Initial reports of Explosions in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/Ww6rBZAeNJ
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) October 14, 2024

It started since early morning with the social media counting the number of sirens that went off registering first at 122, 182 and the latest being 194 and even 200.

In one case, videoclips showed Ben Gurion Airport; there, and at one point, flights were suspended and were not allowed to land. It was reported by Israel’s Channel 12 that one El Al flight had to quickly divert and continued circling over the Dead Sea.

And there was another videoclip of passengers on one plane huddling between the seats and the isles while the siren blast outside on the runway.

These siren blasts went off as Hezbollah rockets came in batches on different locations in Israel and at different times.

However big sirens blasts went off with warnings that ballistic missiles were being fired at the Tel Aviv area coming from Lebanon.

Everyone, Tuesday, is covering the missiles starting first with Israeli newspapers and websites like Walla which has been on the lookout to warn Israelis.

Missiles landing on Israel has never stopped since 23 September when Israeli warplanes begun to pound southern Lebanon up to the southern district of Beirut, seen as an Hezbollah stronghold and occasionally on the north of Lebanon.

Here, Tuesday, for example, Israeli warplanes bombed a building that was sheltering displaced people from the Christian village of Aitou were 18 people were killed.

Since the war on Lebanon where 1.2 million people have been displaced Hezbollah adopted a tit-for-tat strategy of “if you bomb us we will bomb you.”

The sirens and rockets have never stopped since Sunday night, reaching a new height when a squadron of missiles and drones landed on Haifa, including a military base south of the city in Binyamina where at least four were killed and 67 soldiers were injured according to Israeli army sources.

Today the number of missiles that have landed on Israel from across the border are register between 100 to 200 per day. It is estimated that 10,000 rockets and missiles were fired on Israel since 7 October, 2023 but the number could be much higher.

Features

Missiles, Sirens and Underground Shelters

CrossFireArabia
September 28, 2024

CROSSFIREARABIA – Despite their heinous war on Lebanon, Israelis today are gripped with fear and psychological problems in a cyclone of fear dominated by incoming missiles, drones and blasting sirens all over northern and central Israel.

The Israeli psyche is particularly acute these days because of the insistence of Prime Minister’s Netanyahu extension of the Gaza war to Lebanon.

Saturday was particularly eerie for the Israelis because of the never-ending sirens that started in Tel Aviv in the afternoon warning of an incoming ballistic missile all the way from Yemen.

Although the Israeli media told us the missile – appropriately named Palestine 2 – was shot down by Israel’s Iron dome, no doubt bringing down with it lots of shrapnel, it created much panic among ordinary Israelis.

Ballistic missile attacks targeting Israel are being launched from Yemen. Sirens have begun to sound in Tel Aviv, and residents are rushing to shelters. pic.twitter.com/SC5zgELYoQ
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) September 28, 2024

The social media video clips showed it all. People dropped whatever they were doing and hurried down to the underground shelters with the blasting sirens ready to give anyone a heart attack.

The video clips showed a city in different positions. First of all, it was empty, hardly any traffic on the roads, you can say a ghost town, just tall buildings with risk noise in the background.

Then there is a video clip of people on road pavements amidst cars, hurrying, running and then steadying their pace to beat the others to get to the underground shelters. But there is a sense of anxiousness to get to the door of the shelter whether they have to go steadily down.

On this occasion, there was no news of injuries, but on previous rocket attack sirens in the city, there were reports of injuries, people trampled upon to reach the shelters in what appeared as tight doors.

And then there was the Ben Gurion Airport on the outskirts of the city. People were taking no chances this time. Just the previous day sirens blasted all over the city warning of a missile attack from the Houthis of Yemen, all 2000-kilometers away.

Just like this one, the previous missile struck just six kilometers from the Ben Gurion Airport. In the latest video-clip, people were seen running towards the end of the wide corridor at the sound of “horrible” noise with a man on the loudspeaker in Hebrew, no doubt telling people to hurry down to the shelters.

BREAKING: Sirens sounded at Ben Gurion Airport after a ballistic missile was detected approaching from Yemen. pic.twitter.com/XhLJ6bScBl
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 28, 2024

For Israelis, this war, although on the periphery of their lives, has become an absolute nightmare!

Outside, there was more noise coming from the beach filled with swimmers and sunbathers. At the sound of the sirens they dropped everything and began scurrying to the nearest shelter.

Meanwhile, there was another video clip of the plane carrying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after making his speech to the almost-empty UN General Assembly, because of the mass walkout.

Just as he entered Israeli airspace an F-35 phantom appeared to escort the plane to the airport. This was due to two reasons, the killing of Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the previous day and which he ordered and the fact that incoming missiles and drones were coming in from Lebanon in a deadly war he insists on continuing.

News

Yemeni Tel Aviv Ballistic Shocks Israeli Psychology

CrossFireArabia
September 15, 2024

Dr Marwan Asmar

The Israeli government and army are in a shocked mood, Sunday morning, over the ballistic missile, all the way from Yemen – that landed in the east of Tel Aviv and just six kilometers from Ben Gurion Airport.

🚨 BREAKING

The Yemeni Armed Forces Successfully attacked a vital facility in Tel Aviv with a Ballistic Missile type Hatem-2.

The Israeli Air Defense Systems weren't able to intercept it. The missile reportedly traveled 2,000 kilometers in 15 minutes, impacting around 06h30 am pic.twitter.com/E5CWgtIaNy
— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) September 15, 2024

The defense missiles, some the best in the Israeli military, including the Iron Dome, the Arrow and David’s Sling, saw the route of the Hatem 2 ballistic missile but failed to intercept it as it crashed in the surrounding forest areas of Tel Aviv causing mass fires with its shrapnels reaching the airport and a train station on the outskirts of Modi’in in central Israel with reports of damage according to the Israeli Haaretz.

Social media video clips show a train was hit on a rail line with smoke billowing out of it with one suggesting it was a “direct hit to Israeli infrastructure” and that “Israel on fire.”

Shock psychology

The incoming surface-to-surface missile created havoc in the psychology of Israelis, most of whom were still asleep.

As they heard the sirens warnings triggered in all areas of the so-called Greater Tel Aviv, all Israelis – reported to be 2,365,000 by the Hadshot Bazman website – tried to get to the underground shelters as quickly as possible with nine people being injured as a result of the “stampede-like” situation and “crush” that happened for sirens started bellowing at 6 pm in the morning.

pic.twitter.com/yiomiZkuBB
— ibnf🔻dzil (@kamalfadzil1) September 15, 2024

Israeli security expert Yossi Melman said the single Yemeni missile breached the entire layered defense system of Israel as the Yemen missile was able to bypass 22 defense posts and whose counter-missiles were unable to shoot the single ballistic down, and turning Israel’s top-dollars defense systems into a laughing stock.

Israeli media reports say the military has already opened an investigation into the missile but they point also this is the third Yemeni success whose ballistic missiles targeted Tel Aviv, Eilat and now the Ben Gurion Airport.

The Houthis are saying nothing can stop us now for continually targeting Israel until the war on Gaza is stopped.

https://t.co/6Pg3BFqpq8
— Bart Pluymers (@BartPluymers) September 15, 2024

The Yemenis are saying this is just the beginning.

The Yemeni Defense Minister and Chief of General Staff in Sanaa issued, Saturday, a stern warning to the “enemies of the nation and the evil trio of America, Britain, and Israel,” stating what is coming will be “harsher and more severe than anything they have faced in the past,” as reported in the almayadeen website.

Israeli Army Radio reported “the ballistic missile launched from Yemen traveled a distance of approximately 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), taking around 15 minutes of flight time according to Anadolu. Yet it was not detected in time. The Israeli army says it is investigating why.

But this is surely to be a psychological blow to the Israeli military which is already under intense pressure from Hezbollah trajectories from the north to stop the war that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to.

Dr Marwan Asmar
E-mail: [email protected]

News

Israel’s Economy Sinks as Gaza War Deepens

CrossFireArabia
June 12, 2024

The Israeli economy is in the doldrums, going from bad to worse because of the country’s war on Gaza. The recent shock is the fact that the US technology giant Intel has halted the construction of its new $25-billion factory in Israel as reported by Anadolu.

The Israeli genocide has reflected badly on its economy in the last eight months. The massive war on the Gaza Strip has basically created an economic slump and a recession. It would take years for Israel to recover from.

Economic growth has shrunk by 20 percent in all economic sectors with construction and tourism taking the lead part. Thousands of stores are closing with Israeli companies suffering hundreds of millions of dollars. The figures are likely to be higher still today in June.

Israeli products have become so ashamed with the genocide its carrying out in Gaza, that companies are reverting to hiding the Israel tagmark on their products so they can be sold in other countries.

Companies suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from opponents of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Closing thousands of stores.

The Israeli economy drops 20%

Israeli products have to hide the “Israel” tag to be sold in other countries.

FAFO pic.twitter.com/UxwnDAzjaK
— The David (@IngenieroDavid) May 6, 2024

Israel is suffering massive losses from its war on Gaza

to the tune of $750 billion dollars. Around 50 percent of Israeli companies experienced a significant drop in their revenues.

This is because 11 percent of their workforce were called up for military service. And because of this only 37 percent of the Israeli companies operated with fewer than five of their employees in the past two weeks. These figures were up to 4 November, 2023, about one month into the war on Gaza.

So one imagine the economic situation in the country with Israel starting its nine months of war and genocide on Gaza.

As the war started 764,000 workers in the occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza became unemployed because they were no longer allowed to work in Israel. Palestinian workers form 18 percent of the total workforce in Israel. About 90,000 of these were working in the construction sector that is now at a standstill.

Economic losses for Israel because of the Palestinian Genocide.

Boycotting works.#ZionistTerror #GazaAttack #GazaGenocide #PalestineGenocide #BoycottMcDonalds #GazaUnderAttack #BoycottStarbucks #FreeGaza #FreePalestine #BoycottCocaCola #ICC4Israel #RegimeChange4Israel #BDS pic.twitter.com/GCjJH6ihl8
— Johann Spischak (@SDGMasterglass) November 3, 2023

The Houthi naval blockade through Bab El Mandeb registered huge economic losses for Israeli ports. The Eilat Port in south Israel has come to a complete standstill since December 2023 when the Houthis started to target ships carrying goods to Israel.

The hauthi naval blockade is exerting huge economic losses on the Israeli ports pic.twitter.com/6TXdadYtzD
— Africa is beautiful (@beuatifulAfrica) January 27, 2024

This immediately resulted in huge economic losses to the tune of $3 billion because it effectively put an to trade with Far East that included China, Japan, South Korea and India.

Eilat was seen as a critical trade port but ships carrying goods to Israel ceased operating to the port in fear that they would be targeted by Houthi missiles.

A Bloomberg report revealed that the losses in the Israeli economy due to the ongoing war on Gaza for the past seven months amounted to approximately 60 billion shekels… https://t.co/5L0i7179eA
— Afro-Nola / Afronola (@afronola) May 10, 2024

Quickly however the war on Gaza deepend Israel’s economic crisis. In a Bloomberg report in May, it was revealed economic losses amounted to $16 billion.

The war had created a 6.6 percent deficit in the financial budget which increased by 7 percent of the GDP while spending increased by 36 percent in the first four months of 2024. This was mainly due to the fact that defense expenditure accounted for a third of Israeli spending.

The Israeli Central Bank had estimated that the cost of the Gaza war would be about $64.4 billion but now the figures could well be revised because of the determination by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue with the conflict for the foreseeable future.

Finally, the Israeli economy is suffering billions of dollars from cyberattacks. The National Cyber Directorate revealed last May that Israel loses $3.3 billion annually because of cyber attacks.

Israeli Economy Suffers Multi-Billion Dollar Annual Losses From Cyberattacks.

A new report from Israel’s National Cyber Directorate reveals that the country’s economy suffers a 12 billion Shekel ($3.3 billion) annual loss due to cyber attacks.#OpIsrael https://t.co/jIzhmy5iFH
— Anonymous News 🌐 (@Anonymous_Link) May 10, 2024