News Digest — 9/15/26
Hezbollah Trying To Establish Footholds Within Gaps In Southern Lebanon’s Yellow Line, IDF Reveals
Hezbollah terrorists are attempting to establish a presence within the boundaries of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon, IDF Northern Command sources revealed on Tuesday (15th).
According to the sources, there are sections within the Yellow Line that for various reasons, the IDF never formally entered, often because they were surrounded by IDF-secured areas or posed no immediate threat.
Because the IDF never entered these areas, Hezbollah is trying more actively to establish a presence there and views them as easier targets, the sources explained.
The sources said the IDF has been aware of the threat and has been working to counter it for at least five weeks, despite only now making the information public. The timing may be linked to the battle at the Ali al-Taher Ridge having largely concluded, allowing the IDF to redirect additional manpower and resources toward securing areas considered more vulnerable.
Although Hezbollah may be targeting dozens of enclaves within the Yellow Line, one example cited by the sources was the village of Al-Mansouri, in the Majdal Zoun municipality. The sources also said these skirmishes have not involved IDF ground troops, with the IDF countering Hezbollah’s encroachment through IAF strikes, artillery fire and combat engineering units.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah on Monday (14th) that Israel would retaliate against any attacks.
“I say to our enemies: If you haven’t learned the lesson by now, and you choose to attack us again, you will suffer even heavier blows,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also celebrated the destruction of Hezbollah infrastructure on the Beaufort Ridge and the Ali al-Taher Ridge as a “massive victory.”
The IDF released new footage and details on Friday (11th) of its latest operation in southern Lebanon in which it secured and destroyed Hezbollah’s underground infrastructure on the Ali al-Taher Ridge.
Hezbollah attempted to build a heroic myth around the fighting on the Ali al-Taher Ridge, portraying in the style of the “Battle of Kabala.” However, at the conclusion of a determined military operation by fighters from the IDF’s 36th Division, the Commando Brigade, and the Yahalom special engineering unit, Hezbollah was defeated, and Israel captured and destroyed the organization’s most important facility in southern Lebanon.
The IDF said on Friday morning (11th) that what remains of the Ali al-Taher Ridge, beneath which Iran spent two decades building Hezbollah’s last and most significant line of defense in southern Lebanon, is “nothing more than a sandbox. Hezbollah and Iran suffered a major blow overnight.’ The operation to capture the ridge lasted months, as dozens of terrorists, estimated to number around 50, were entrenched inside the tunnels.
IDF Chief Orders Legal Action Review Over ‘NAZA,’ Condemns ‘Blood Libels’
IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir ordered the military on Monday (14th) to explore legal action over the documentary “NAZA” and investigate whether classified information was leaked to its creators, accusing the Venice jury prize-winning film of advancing false claims that could endanger Israeli troops.
The order followed an urgent meeting with senior IDF officials, including the deputy chief of staff, head of the Operations Directorate, Military Advocate General, Israeli Air Force Commander, Unit 8200 Commander and the IDF Spokesperson.
Zamir described the documentary as being “based on blood libels, a deliberate distortion of reality and false and grave accusations against IDF soldiers and commanders.”
“This is a campaign against Israel, not only against the IDF. It adopts the narratives of Israel-haters. This is a dangerous attempt to deny us the legitimacy to defend ourselves against the worst of our enemies— and to genuinely endanger IDF soldiers and commanders,” he said.
The IDF will establish a team to consider legal options involving the film and its participants, formulate responses to its allegations and examine whether classified materials used in its production were improperly disclosed.
The military also specifically rejected an allegation that it considered a Gaza strike in which approximately 500 civilians were expected to die.
“No strikes were ever planned, approved or carried out in which the IDF expected such a number of civilians, or even a number approaching it, to be killed,” the IDF said, adding that no credible allegation during the war involved an Israeli strike killing close to 500 people.
IDF Spokesperson BG Effie Defrin asked filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor to provide the military with access to the full documentary so it could address its claims individually.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar separately asked the Interior Ministry to determine whether Abraham and Szor could be stripped of their Israeli citizenship and to investigate whether the acquisition or publication of materials in the film could amount to treason or assistance to an enemy during wartime.
“NAZA” which the filmmakers say is based on testimony from 24 IDF soldiers and officers, won the jury prize at the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday (12th) after receiving a nearly 25-minute ovation at its premier last Thursday (10th).
Saudi Arabia Appeals To Israel For help Against Houthis – report
Saudi Arabia reportedly sought intelligence assistance from Israel as Riyadh scrambles to contain a rapid Houthi advance toward one of the world’s most important shipping routes, while the Trump administration weighs whether deteriorating conditions could eventually require direct US military intervention.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman approached Israel indirectly through US Central Command, requesting intelligence and other assistance that could help prevent the Iran-backed Houthis from closing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Israel Hayom reported Sunday (13th), citing diplomatic officials in the region.
The reported approach represents an unusual instance of behind-the-scenes cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which still do not have formal diplomatic relations.
According to the report, Riyadh has simultaneously appealed directly to Egypt and other Gulf states as it seeks regional support against the Houthis.
The Saudi effort comes after Houthi forces made their biggest territorial gains in years, seizing the strategic port of Mokha and Perim Island, also known as Mayun, which sits inside the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The advances have given the group an increasingly powerful position from which to threaten shipping between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The strait has become especially important because the continuing US-Iran War has already severely disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Saudi Arabia has increasingly depended on its East-West pipeline and Red Sea ports to bypass Hormuz and keep crude exports moving,
Houthi drone attacks prompted Saudi Arabia to temporarily shut its East-West pipeline, which transports crude from the kingdom’s eastern oil-producing regions to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Reuters reported Monday (14th) that the outage threatens as much as 4% of global oil supply, while inventories at Yanbu were estimated to be sufficient for only five to seven days of exports.
Brent crude climbed more than 3% Monday (14th) to roughly $108 per barrel, with the combination of attacks on Saudi infrastructure and threats to shipping around Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb fueling renewed fears over global supplies.
The Saudi crown prince has warned regional governments that a Houthi blockade of Bab al-Mandeb would be far more than a Saudi problem. Riyadh has argued that disruption there could inflict severe damage to international trade and the broader global economy.
Egypt has a particularly strong interest in keeping the waterway open because ships passing through Bab al-Mandeb continue north through the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal, a major source of revenue for Cairo. Israel’s southern port of Eilat also depends on access through the same shipping corridor.
US involvement could expand if the Houthis further militarize their new positions overlooking Bab al-Mandeb. The US is considering possible airstrikes if the Houthis deploy missile launchers and radar systems capable of threatening international shipping from the areas they recently captured.
The Houthis Sunday (13th) also claimed drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, including an assault on a military base near the Yemeni border. Saudi authorities sounded air-raid sirens in Abha and Khamis Mushair, while officials said a projectile blamed on the Houthis injured two people and damaged a mosque and other buildings near the border.
A former senior US official told Reuters that Saudi Arabia approached Washington to determine whether the US could increase military pressure so Riyadh would not have to confront the Houthis alone.
”So far, they’ve been told no, but watch that space,” the former official said.
Yehuda Aharon Widawski, Israel’s Oldest Holocaust Survivor, Dies At 107
Yehuda Aharon Widawski, Israel Holocaust survivor died at 107.
Widawski, a younger brother and an uncle were the only members of the family to survive the Nazi extermination of Jews.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog eulogized him in a Hebrew-language post, saying that he was saddened to hear of Widawski’s passing.
“When he was 104 years old, I had the privilege of hosting Yehuda at the President’s Residence together with his magnificent family,” the president said.
“Yehuda once said that his revenge against the Nazis was that they lost—and that we have the State of Israel. Indeed, his life was a magnificent testament to the victory of life, memory and revival,” Herzog added.
Widawski was born in 1919 in Turek, Poland, the second of four children in a traditional Zionist family, according to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. He subsequently moved with his family to Lodz.
The German occupiers created the Lodz Ghetto in 1940. The Widawskis were deported to Auschwitz in August 1944. Yehuda’s parents, Abraham and Leah, and his eldest brother, Gabriel were immediately murdered. Eight days later, Yehuda and his younger brother, Jehoszua, were transferred to the Friedland work camp, a sub-camp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp system.
The camp was liberated by the Red Army on May 9, 1945, a day after the Germans abandoned the site while locking in the inmates.
Widawski, his brother and an uncle were the only members of the family to survive.
Widawski married Lea Dobrysz and the couple had a son. During his time in Poland, after establishing a textile factory, Widawski helped the Zionist paramilitary organization Irgun in smuggling weapons to Israel. He immigrated to the Jewish state in 1950, where he founded several businesses.
In 1978, he decided to locate his brother’s grave, and traveled back to Lodz.
Widawski ended up identifying more than 3,000 graves of missing Jews over the course of decades. He also restored the Jewish cemetery in Lodz.
In 2012, the Holocaust survivor was chosen to light a torch at Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem.
Widawski leaves behind a son and a daughter, four grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.
(jns.org)
Security Concerns raised Over New Gaza Flotilla
Israel’s defense establishment has begun operational discussions ahead of an expected new protest flotilla from Europe to the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 news reported. Organizers of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) announced recently that they intend to launch another flotilla toward the Gaza Strip in October.
The planned voyage will first make stops in Spain, Portugal and Italy before proceeding toward Gaza. Organizers said the flotilla will seek to breach what they described as “the illegal and deadly blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza.”
Israeli intelligence officials currently assess that the initiative is relatively small in scale, involving just a few vessels and dozens of pro-Palestinian Arab activists.
However the defense establishment is preparing for the possibility that the flotilla could grow in size as its departure date approaches.
In response to the intelligence, the IDF has begun making preliminary preparations. Discussions on the matter established a clear policy that Israel will not allow the vessels to breach the maritime blockade.
If the participants refuse to comply with instructions and warnings issued by security forces, it is believed that Shayetet 13 naval commandos could be required to board and take control of the vessels.
In a previous flotilla attempt in June, the Global Sumud flotilla sought to breach the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Shayetet 13 naval commandos intercepted the vessels and arrested those aboard.
The Global Sumud flotilla consisted of 57 vessels and departed from Marmaris, Turkey, carrying hundreds of anti-Israel activists.
Among those detained was the sister of Ireland’s President Catherine Conolly, The Irish President subsequently said she was “very proud” of her sister.
