News Digest — 11/1/24
Two UAVs Intercepted In The Red Sea Area, No Siren Sounded
Residents of Eilat reported hearing explosions in the area early Friday morning (1st), with no warning sirens sounded beforehand.
The city of Eilat stated that “security forces in the area reported a successful interception of an aerial target that did not cross Israeli territory, therefore no siren was activated.”
Later, the IDF’s Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed that two UAVs that approached Israeli territory from the east were intercepted by the IAF in the Red Sea area.
The UAVs were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, the IDF statement stressed.
On Thursday evening (10/31), close to midnight, sirens were sounded in the Central Galilee and the Jezreel Valley, warning of an infiltration of a hostile aircraft. Later, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit stated that a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory was intercepted by the IAF.
Hezbollah Rockets Kill Seven In Northern Israel
Seven People were killed and one person was seriously wounded on Thursday (10/31) in two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel’s north.
The first attack triggered sirens at 11:37 a.m., and two projectiles from Lebanon landed in an open area outside the largely evacuated Upper Galilee city of Metula, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The fatalities were an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, and the seriously wounded individual was another foreign worker, Mutual council head David Azoulai told Israel’s Kan News.
Later on Thursday (10/31) another attack from Lebanon killed two people, while lightly wounding another, in a field off Route 79 near the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Ata, Magen David Adom first responders reported.
“Paramedics provided medical treatment and CPR, following which a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were pronounced dead. A 71-year-old man was evacuated to Rambam Hospital due to minor shrapnel wounds,” the emergency service said in a statement.
Another 70-year-old man was slightly wounded when rocket shrapnel hit his car in the Upper Galilee, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. The victim suffered a head wound and was evacuated to Ziv Hospital in Safed.
An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon this week killed a Hezbollah regional anti-tank missile commander, the IDF confirmed on Thursday (10/31)
Muhammad Khalil Alian was eliminated in an attack in the southern Lebanese village of Burj Alawiyah according to the IDF.
He led the Iranian proxy’s anti-tank missile array in the Hajir area as part of the terrorist group’s “Nasser” unit, which is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region.
According to the Alma Research and Education Center, Nasser is one of three geographic units operating under Hezbollah’s southern front command.
“Since Oct. 8, 2023, the Nasser unit has been a very central element in the fighting against Israel. Its operatives (the vast majority of whom live in southern Lebanon) are responsible for many of the rocket, mortar, UAV and anti-tank missile launches into northern Israel,” the Alma article continued.
Over the past 24 hours, 150 Hezbollah and Hamas targets were hit in Lebanon and Gaza, respectively according to the IDF.
‘We’re Still In The Eye Of The Storm,’ Netanyahu Says Amid Lebanon Ceasefire Deal Hopes
Israel is “still in the eye of the storm,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said amid increased hope that a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in the north might soon be within reach.
“There are still great challenges ahead,” he told soldiers at an officer’s graduation ceremony after meeting with US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, who are in the region to advance a deal to end the year-long IDF-Hezbollah conflict.
Netanyahu has given a nod in the direction of a deal but has clarified that Israel’s security rests ultimately on the IDF’s military might.
He clarified to Hochstein and McGurk that any deal must allow the military freedom to thwart any threats from Lebanon. Later in his speech to the soldiers, he underscored this point. “I want to clarify that with respect to an agreement with Lebanon,” he said, “the agreements, the papers, the proposals, the numbers (1559, 1701), – all these have their place, but they are not the main thing.”
“The main thing is our ability and our determination to enforce security, thwart attacks against us, and act against the arming of our enemies as much as necessary, despite all the pressures and constraints – that is the main thing,” he said.
Israel wants to maintain the ability to re-enter Southern Lebanon if necessary and to conduct aerial strikes against Hezbollah’s infrastructure.
Netanyahu spoke on Thursday (10/31) a day when seven civilians were killed in the north by Hezbollah fire and a month into Israel’s revved-up military campaign against the Iranian proxy group.
Israel’s objective has been to push Hezbollah out of the southern Lebanon area by Israel’s border and to the Litani River as mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. It has, in particular, targeted Hezbollah terror infrastructure by the border.
Sources previously told Reuters that talks were centered on a 60-day pause to allow for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which would entail Hezbollah withdrawing its armed presence from south of the Litani River.
The US and Israel have spoken about the necessity of ensuring that any deal would include a mechanism for the implementation of Resolution 1701. That Resolution, which set the ceasefire terms that ended the Second Lebanon War was actually never implemented.
Report: Iran Planning ‘Painful’ Attack On Israel Before US Election
Iran is reportedly gearing up to strike the Jewish State in the near future, despite initially signaling that it would not respond to Israel’s recent attack on military and weapons manufacturing sites.
According to a CNN report, Iran is expected to attack Israel in the coming days, before the US presidential election on November 5th.
Later on Thursday (10/31) , a New York Times report, citing three Iranian sources, said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had already on Monday (28th), ordered Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to prepare to strike Israel again. According to the report, Khamenei’s decision came after an examination of the scope of the damage sustained by Iran’s missile production infrastructure and air defense systems as a result of Israel’s retaliatory strike last week.
Notably, Israel was said to have scaled back its retaliatory strike on Iran – which came after an October 1st attack by Tehran which saw 200 ballistic missiles launched at Israel – due to concerns that a major campaign targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and oil sites would influence the outcome of the election.
“The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Zionist regime’s aggression will be definitive and painful,” an Iranian source, who was said to have direct knowledge of the plans, told CNN.
According to an Axios report, Iran is planning to leverage its proxy groups in Iran to launch a large number of ballistic missiles and explosive drones at Israel.
Iran is likely launching the attack from Iraqi territory in the hopes of preventing an Israeli response on Iranian soil.
Israel warned Iran that any future attacks would see a serious escalation in the response from the Jewish State, which has so far been restricted to military sites.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday (10/30) that should Iran attack Israel once again, the Israeli Air Force will target sites that it had previously avoided – likely the country’s nuclear development program and oil assets.
Biden administration officials warned that Washington would fully back Israel in escalating the conflict, in the event of an additional Iranian attack.
“Iran should not respond to Israel’s retaliation. They should not,” said White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre at a recent media conference.
“If they do, we will support Israel in defending itself, but they should not,” she said at a news briefing. The remarks were echoed by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
“As we have stated publicly, and Iran clearly knows this, they must not escalate this conflict,” Miller said.
Russia Says ‘Comprehensive’ Treaty With Iran Will Include Defense Cooperation
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday (10/31) that Russia and Iran intend to sign a “comprehensive” treaty, which will include closer defense cooperation.
“The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations,” Lavrov told state television.
He said the agreement was being prepared for signing “in the near future.” Russia has said it expects Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian to visit Moscow before the end of the year. “It will confirm the parties’ desire for closer cooperation in the field of defense and interaction in the interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels,” Lavrov said, He did not specify what form the defense ties would take.
Deepening ties between the two authoritarian powers is seen as a threat to Israel, which has been fighting a war against Iranian-backed terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah for over a year.
Israel and Iran have also engaged in direct hostilities, including ballistic missiles fired by Tehran on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on military sites in Iran in retaliation.
Closer cooperation between Iran and Russia is also seen by the West as a serious threat to progress in the war in Ukraine, which is entering its third winter of intense fighting.
The United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, and imposed sanctions on ships and companies it said were involved in delivering Iranian weapons.
Tehran denies providing Moscow with the missiles or with thousands of drones that Kyiv and Western officials have said Russia uses against military targets including to destroy civilian infrastructure including Ukraine’s electrical grid.
The Kremlin declined to confirm its receipt of Iranian missiles but acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran included “the most sensitive areas.”
Russia has also deepened its ties with Iran and North Korea, which are both strongly antagonistic toward the United States since the start of its war with Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a similarly titled “comprehensive” treaty in June, including a mutual defense clause, and the US and NATO say Pyongyang has sent some 10,000 soldiers to Russia for possible deployment in the war.
Russia has not denied their presence, and says it will implement the treaty as it sees fit.
How America Benefits From Its Security Partnership With Israel – Bradley Bowman
• In the Middle East, America’s most reliable, capable and motivated ally is Israel. Years ago, a U.S. military colonel assigned as an attache to the Israeli military told me that we Americans get far more than we give in the relationship with Israel.
• All of Israel’s enemies are America’s enemies. Last weekend, Israel severely degraded Iran’s strategic air defense capabilities and destroyed a significant portion of its missile production capabilities. If Iran decides to make a sprint for a nuclear weapon and leaves the U.S. no choice but to intervene, Israel just made the mission for the Department of Defense easier.
• In addition, Israeli pilots just demonstrated the superiority of American aircraft and weapons over Russian air and missile defense systems. That could increase orders for American weapons, employ more Americans, bolster our economy, and help revitalize our defense industrial base. Thank you, Israel.
• Israel is a technology superpower. It consistently creates world-class weapons and capabilities and exhibits an impressive ability to field them quickly. For example, technologies that Israel developed to detect, map, and destroy Hezbollah and Hamas tunnels were shared with Americans. The U.S. then used these Israeli technologies to find and neutralize drug-smuggling tunnels under our southern border.
• Understanding the value of working with Israel, the Department of Defense established the U.S-Israel Operations-Technology Working group in 2021. Its six subgroups include artificial intelligence/autonomy, direct energy, counter-unmanned aerial systems, biotechnology, integrated network systems-of-systems, and hypersonic capabilities.
The writer, a former Black Hawk pilot and assistant professor at West Point, is senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
For 75 Years, UNRWA Has Sought To Undermine Israel – Seth J. Frantzman
While many have condemned the Israeli Knesset decision to block the activity of UNRWA in areas under Israeli control, what is most interesting about UNRWA is that it exists at all. It began its work in 1950 to provide relief and work programs for the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who had fled the fighting in British Mandate Palestine and areas that became part of the State of Israel in 1948.
UNRWA was created to thwart the establishment of Israel. It took a significant portion of the Palestinian population under its wing as a kind of state in the making for Palestinians. UNRWA camps served as the foundation for the majority of Palestinian political and militant and terrorist activities.
Many refugee camps became known as bases of various groups and gunmen, and the rejection of Israel’s existence comes primarily from the UNRWA camps. This means that UNRWA was organized to destroy Israel and use the refugees as the main engine of this destruction.
The concept of UNRWA is to keep Palestinians dependent, living in refugee camps generation after generation, while using its young men as foot soldiers to fight Israel. Winding down the camps and having the people live normal lives could have potentially resulted in peace.
