News Digest — 10/21/24
IDF Confirms: We Targeted Hezbollah Banks In Dahieh
On Sunday night (20th), the IAF conducted a series of targeted, intelligence-based strikes against dozens of facilities and sites used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to finance its terrorist activities against the State of Israel. The strikes were conducted in the areas of Beirut, southern Lebanon, and deep within Lebanese territory.
“These funds, which Hezbollah used for terrorist activities, were stored by the Al-Qard al-Hassan association, which directly funds Hezbollah’s terrorist activities, including the purchase of weapons and payments to operatives in Hezbollah’s military wing,” the IDF stressed. “The Hezbollah terrorist organization stores billions of dollars in the association’s branches, including money that was directly held under the name of the terrorist organization.”
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including advanced warnings issued via different platforms to the civilian population in the area.”
These strikes are part of the IDF’s ongoing efforts to degrade Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure, its military capabilities and ability to rebuild.
The al-Qard al-Hassan association is operated by Hezbollah, and functions as a network of banks. It serves as part of the social services infrastructure Hezbollah provides to the Shiite community in Lebanon, while at the same time serving as a pathway for money laundering.
According to Kan News, al-Qaed al-Hassan offers no interest loans, in accordance with Sharia law. Throughout the years, this service drew the Shiite community in Lebanon to the Hezbollah terror group. For many years, the “charity fund” allowed Hezbollah to hide the source of the funds transferred to it. However, in 2007, the US imposed sanctions on the group, naming its funding for terror as the reason for the sanctions.
‘Closer To Completing The Mission:’ Gallant Addresses Troops As IDF Engages Hezbollah
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called to enter into the next stage of the war during a Sunday (20th) situational assessment with the 98th Division at the northern border, the Defense Ministry reported.
The meeting came as the IDF reported ongoing operational activity in southern Lebanon.
During the situational assessment, Gallant and the 988th Division reviewed the progress of the IDF up until now.
”We are essentially moving from a situation of defeating the enemy in all the contact villages to a state of destruction – blowing up tunnels, blowing up ammunition depots, dismantling Hezbollah,” Gallant said.
“We are getting closer to completing the mission, although there is still more to do. The IDF is preparing for further tasks, but first and foremost, it is carrying out this operation properly,” the defense minister added.
Additionally, Gallant discussed the Hezbollah terrorists that Israel had taken captive and reportedly noted that in interrogations, they disclosed the fear felt within the terror group.
“We have captives with us, and they are telling us what is happening. What they are telling us is that they are in tremendous fear,” Gallant explained.
“They are afraid because they understand that there is something here they cannot handle – neither in strength, nor in the quality of the fighters, nor in precision, nor in determination,” Gallant said when reportedly emphasizing the capabilities of the IDF in its battle against the terror group.
“This large network they call Hezbollah is crumbling, both along the contact lines and under the severe blows we are delivering to them in Beirut, Nabatieh, Tyre, and Sidon,” he reportedly explained.
Gallant also reportedly expressed his determination to return residents from Israel’s North to their homes.
The 98th Division that Gallant addressed eliminated terrorists and significant weapon caches between Saturday (19th) and Sunday (20th). The weapons destroyed by the division included grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, magazines, and combat equipment, the IDF noted. The forces also destroyed several launchers prepared to fire at Israeli territory. Also during the operation, the IDF identified an armed terrorist squad and attacked it from the air.
The IDF also noted the 146th Division’s activity on Sunday (20th), as it struck over 100 military targets used by Hezbollah. The targets hit reportedly included booby-trapped military structures and a weapons storage facility.
Furthermore, soldiers from the 36th Division, conducting operations in southern Lebanon, reportedly discovered an underground tunnel and hideout used by Hezbollah terrorists.
Dramatic Testimony Suggests UN Peacekeepers Bribed By Hezbollah
Hezbollah operatives captured during recent Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground operations in southern Lebanon have disclosed during interrogations that the organization paid-off UNIFIL personnel to use their positions in the region, according to security sources who spoke to Israel Hayom.
These forces, privy to the details, revealed that Hezbollah also took control of UNIFIL cameras in compounds near the Israeli border and utilized them for their own purposes. In light of these revelations and UNIFIL’s glaring failure to prevent Hezbollah’s entrenchment along the border, Israel plans to rely primarily on commitments from the Lebanese Army in any future agreement with Lebanon, rather than on UNIFIL, which has proven ineffective over the years and is now accused of frequently collaborating with Hezbollah operatives.
UNIFIL, a UN peacekeeping force, was deployed in southern Lebanon under a UN Security Council resolution following Operation Litani in 1978 and has operated under various mandates. Initially lacking enforcement powers until the Second Lebanon War, its mandate was expanded in 2006 from peacekeeping to limited enforcement authority.
UN Resolution 1701, adopted at the war’s conclusion, authorized UNIFIL soldiers to stop Hezbollah operatives from engaging in terrorist activities south of the Litani River. However, the UNIFIL force has failed spectacularly in its mission, with Israel claiming in some instances that it even facilitates Hezbollah’s plans under its watch.
Even as the IDF recently entered Lebanon for ground operations near the border to dismantle Hezbollah’s terror network, UNIFIL adamantly refused Israeli pleas to evacuate their positions and withdraw from the border area.
The organization insists on maintaining its presence in the line of fire, thereby endangering foreign soldiers from various countries serving in the force. UNIFIL’s refusal to evacuate its personnel caught Israel off guard, prompting attempts through multiple channels to persuade the organization to retreat from the danger zone.
Israel suspects that UNIFIL’s insistence on staying is partly an attempt to obscure its ongoing failure to prevent Hezbollah’s arms buildup and blatant violations of resolution 1701. Compounding the issue, UNIFIL has recently leveled accusations at the IDF, claiming that Merkava tanks forcibly entered one of the organization’s village positions, destroying the gate.
The IDF explained that the incident occurred during heavy anti-tank missile fire on its forces, which wounded several soldiers. To evacuate the wounded, tanks had to reverse in an area where they couldn’t advance due to the threat of fire.
Furthermore, the IDF reports that in recent months, Hezbollah has been launching missiles and rockets at Israel from sites adjacent to UNIFIL positions, with some projectiles landing close to their outposts.
The friction between the IDF and UNIFIL is drawing international condemnation, undermining the IDF’s efforts to build international legitimacy for its operations in southern Lebanon and causing significant diplomatic damage with European countries.
Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, recently stated, “Hezbollah terrorists use UNIFIL outposts as hiding places and set up ambushes nearby. The UN’s insistence on keeping UNIFIL soldiers in the line of fire is incomprehensible.”
Israeli sources indicate that the UN currently intends to maintain UNIFIL’s presence in the sector even after the war ends. However, given the organization’s abject failure, Israel plans to rely more heavily on the responsibilities it hopes the Lebanese army will assume, and less on the UN force that failed to enforce its mandate.
401st Brigade Commander Col. Ehsan Daxa Killed In Northern Gaza
The commander of the IDF’s 401st “Iron Tracks” Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daxa, was killed in combat in northern Gaza, the military announced on Sunday evening (20th).
Col. Daxa was 41 years old and came from Daliyat al-Karmel, the largest Druze community in Israel. He leaves behind a wife and three children.
According to a Walla report, Col. Daxa was killed in combat after his tank hit an explosive device. He is considered to be the highest-ranking officer to die in ground combat since the start of the war, the report added.
Israel’s military said that during the incident in which Col. Daxa fell, an additional officer from the 52nd Battalion of the 401st “Iron Tracks” Brigade was severely wounded.
During the Second Lebanon War, Col. Daxa fought as a tank commander in the 75th Battalion of the 7th Brigade against Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon villages.
Daxa was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 2020 when he was given command of the 205th “Iron Fist” Brigade.
Daxa received command of the 401st Brigade earlier this year during the Israel-Hamas war.
Following the announcement of Daxa’s death, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog expressed his condolences. In an X/Twitter post.
“Together with the entire house of Israel, I received with sorrow and pain the bitter news of the fall of the late Col. Ehsan Daxa, who fell today in the battles of Jabaliya,” Herzog wrote.
“Ehsan – is a hero of Israel, a brave, humble and valuable warrior – and his fall is a loss to the State of Israel and to Israeli society as a whole,” Herzog added.
Furthermore, Herzog addresses the Druze community of which Daxa was a part, mentioning the many lives lost in the Druze community throughout the war.
“I salute him and hug his family, the community of Daliyat al-Karmel, and our sisters and brothers from the Druze community who have lost many precious sons since the beginning of the fighting with devotion, a sense of mission, and shared destiny. May his memory be blessed,” the post concluded.
Sinwar Planned Israel’s Annihilation – Nadav Shragai
• According to Hamas documents, Yahya Sinwar’s plan included overrunning 221 southern Israeli communities and enlisting Iran and Hezbollah to conquer the Galilee and topple Tel Aviv’s skyline. The Oct. 7 atrocities were merely a fraction of what was planned. Sinwar and Hamas’ meticulously crafted strategy aimed at Israel’s complete annihilation within two years.
• Sinwar saw the world in stark binary terms: Dar al-Islam, the areas under Islamic control, and Dar al-Harb, regions yet to be conquered. Sinwar’s Hamas believed it had a divine mandate to wage war, expanding Dar al-Islam’s frontiers “to the utmost limits.” Israel’s very existence was seen as an intolerable affront. It also represented a perversion of the natural order, where Jews dared to govern Muslims instead of being subservient under Islamic law.
• The Hamas Charter unequivocally commits to the conquest of all Palestine as its ultimate objective. Their rallying cry of “from the river to the sea” is a clarion call for a world without Israel. The Oct. 7 atrocities represented merely the opening salvo in Sinwar’s diabolical master-plan. He declared on November 30, 2023, that the massacre was a “dress rehearsal” for the final, more devastating act to come.
• Sinwar’s toxic ideology indoctrinated a significant portion of Gaza’s population. Many Gazans actively participated in the Oct. 7 massacre and subsequent looting. The majority of Gaza’s residents chose Sinwar and Hamas as their leaders, with hundreds of thousands entangled in Hamas’ intricate web of terror. Gaza was transformed into a land singularly focused on the slaughter of Jews and, ultimately, the obliteration of Israel.
Israel Fights Alone, Carrying The West – Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
How many of the world’s most vicious terrorists has Israel liberated the world from in a few short weeks? Little Israel is showing the world how to win again – and saving civilization and a free way of life in the bargain. The multi-front war that Israel is currently waging against the Iranian regime and its numerous terrorist proxies is a battle that the West should have taken on long ago.
Western nations, through diplomatic miscalculations, cowardice, and a fear of conflict, have essentially outsourced their responsibilities for maintaining global peace to Israel, watching from the sidelines as the conflict ramps up. Israel, smaller than New Jersey, is left grappling with the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, as well as the well-armed proxies that the Iranian regime uses to protect itself from retaliation. Instead of helping Israel defeat Iran’s terrorism and towering abuses of human rights, or even just thanking it, the West goes out of its way to defame, sabotage and attack Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran, which is in the final stages of producing an atomic bomb, is arming Russia in its war on Ukraine, arming terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and is deeply intertwined with other enemies of the West – Russia, China and North Korea. It is a grotesque reflection on the international community not to be offering unequivocal support to Israel, whose struggle is not just for its own survival but for the security and peace of the Free World.
The writer is president of the International American Council on the Middle East (Gatestone Institute)
