News Digest — 3/11/26
Netanyahu’s Message To The Iranian People: ‘Be Ready To Act’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a direct message to the people of Iran, calling on them to seize what he described as a historic opportunity to remove the ruling regime and gain their freedom.
“People of Iran, we are waging a historic war for liberty,” Netanyahu said in the message. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to remove the Ayatollah regime and gain your freedom.”
Netanyahu said that Israel, together with the United States, is intensifying strikes against Iranian regime targets. “Together with the United States, we are hitting the tyrants of Tehran harder than ever.”
According to Netanyahu, Israeli forces have struck numerous regime assets and personnel during the operation. “We have hit countless regime targets,” he said. We have taken out thousands of IRGC thugs and hundreds of their missile launchers.”
The Prime Minister emphasized that the campaign is directed at the regime rather than the Iranian population. “We have focused on regime targets and are doing our best not to harm the people of Iran,” Netanyahu stated. “We are your ally. Your best ally.”
He added that Israel respects the Iranian people’s identity and traditions. We fully respect your sovereignty, culture and heritage.” he said. “You asked for help and help has arrived.”
Netanyahu said the strikes will continue as Israel increases pressure on Iran’s leadership. “We will continue to hit with growing force the tyrants who terrorized you for decades,” he said.
He also claimed that the regime’s leadership is fleeing. “The Ayatollahs and their henchmen are on the run – but those cowards have nowhere to hide.” Netanyahu said.
Concluding his message, Netanyahu urged Iranians to prepare to act when the opportunity arises. “In the coming days we will create the conditions for you to grasp your destiny,” he said. “Your dreams will become a reality.”
“When the time is right, and that time is fast approaching, we will pass the torch to you,” Netanyahu added. “Be ready to seize the moment,”
Iran Claims Four Diplomats Killed As Israel Renews Strikes On Hezbollah In Lebanese Capital
Four Iranian diplomats were killed in Lebanon on Sunday (8th) in an Israel attack, Iranian state media claimed on Tuesday (10th) citing Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani.
The Iranian report follows the IDF confirmation earlier on Monday (9th) that it had renewed its strikes against Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure in Beirut.
The military also stated it had identified a cell of Hezbollah terrorists, directing an aircraft to carry out a strike on Monday (9th).
Additionally, the IDF struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning (10th) and began conducting raids in southern Lebanon, and identified terrorists who entered a structure near the soldiers. Following the identification, an IDF tank opened fire, killing the terrorists, the military stated.
A structure belonging to commandos from Hezbollah’s Radwan Force was also struck, as well as a weapons storage facility belonging to the terrorists, the military added.
Additionally, the IDF identified suspects operating near IDF soldiers, posing a threat, and the Israel Air Force conducted a strike to kill the suspected terrorists.
Further, the IDF found numerous weapons and propaganda materials belonging to Hezbollah terrorists.
Early on Tuesday (10th), the IDF announced that it had carried out attacks on Hezbollah command centers during the overnight hours.
These centers were near Ansar, a village in south Lebanon where rockets were fired towards Israel, the military said.
Before the strike, the IDF Arabic -language Spokesperson’s office issued an evacuation warning to village residents.
Amid this, the IDF continued to carry out strikes against assets of the Al-Qard Al-Hasan terror financing organization, noting that approximately 30 assets were attacked the past week.
IAF fighter jets, guided by Israeli military intelligence, completed a round of strikes on Monday (9th) against the financing organization which funds Hezbollah’s terrorist activities, including the purchase of weapons, production equipment, and payment of terrorists salaries.
‘Roaring Lion’: 1,000 Tons Of Military Equipment Lands In Israel
About 50 cargo aircraft carrying over 1,000 tons of weaponry, military equipment, and various types of munitions have landed in Israel since the start of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28, the Israeli Mimistry of Defense said in a statement on Monday (9th).
As part of the war effort carried out in Iran and Lebanon, the large-scale shipping operation is conducted under “fire” to serve operational needs of the Israel Defense Forces and in preparation for the next phase of the military campaign, the military said.
The air lift is expected to scale up in the coming period, the MOD added.
This logistics operation is led by the MOD Defense Procurement Directorate (DPD) through its International Shipping Division, the MOD Missions to the United States and Germany, and the IDF’s Planning Directorate, the statement read.
The Israel Airports Authority and Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority are also partners in the operation.
On Saturday (7th), Reuters reported that the Trump Administration has invoked emergency authority to expedite the sale of more than 20,000 bombs to Israel worth approximately $650 million, bypassing Congressional review.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined an emergency existed requiring immediate action,waiving standard oversight.
The Reuters report came on the backdrop of a MOD announcement the previous day that the Israeli government was set to acquire Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) from the United States as part of its comprehensive support for the ground forces of the IDF, valued at approximately $36 million.
How Long Will Britain Let Israel And The U,S Fight Our Battles For Us? – Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp
The recent strike on the runway at RAF Akrotiri Cyprus was delivered by an Iranian-made Shahed suicide drone. It has been assessed that it was fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy. RAF Akrotiri is not just another military base on foreign soil. It is British sovereign territory, one of two areas retained by the UK under the 1960 treaty establishment that created the independent Republic of Cyprus. British territory had been deliberately attacked by the Iranian axis.
Meanwhile, Israel is doing our fighting for us by going in against Hezbollah. Israel is defending its own citizens, of course, but its expanding assaults against the terrorists in Lebanon will also be protecting us. Can we expect to see a word of thanks to a country that is putting its own soldiers’ lives on the line and has consistently supported Britain with lifesaving intelligence and defense technology over many decades?
Hezbollah and Iran were directly responsible for murdering and maiming dozens of British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during the conflicts there. And Hezbollah and Iran have been involved in at least 20 potentially lethal terrorist plots in the UK orchestrated by Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK’s national crisis management committee, COBRA. (Telegraph-UK
North Korea Backs Moijtaba Khamenei, Condemns U.S.-Israel Strikes
North Korea said on Wednesday (11th) that it supports the Iranian people’s choice of Moijtaba Khamenei as its new Supreme Leader, state media said.
Moijtaba Khamenei was officially named earlier this week as the successor to his father, who was eliminated in joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran on Saturday (2/28).
According to North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, the country’s foreign ministry also said it strongly denounces what it described as the US and Israel’s “illegal” attacks against Iran, saying they destroy peace and escalate instability worldwide.
Iran and North Korea are known to have cooperated in the past on their respective ballistic missile programs.
In 2013, it was revealed that the two countries had promised one another to continue cooperating on nuclear missile development.
In 2021, a UN expert panel reported that the two countries resumed cooperation on long-range missile projects the previous year, including transfers of critical components.
Israel Didn’t Drag The U.S. Into War With Iran – They Enabled Us To Fight – Mark Lubowitz
A dangerous lie has taken hold in Washington that Israel somehow pressured the U.S, into war with Iran. Both President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have said this is wrong. Rubio said the U.S.faced “a threat that was untenable.”
Iran has spent years building nuclear weapons, developing long-range ballistic missiles and encircling Israel with a terror army stretching from Lebanon to Gaza to Yemen. It has fired ballistic missiles directly at Israeli civilians. No Israeli government could ignore that. Jerusalem’s decision to join a combined American-Israeli operation targeting Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities drew near-universal support across Israel’s political spectrum. It was a national security imperative.
When Netanyahu met Trump at Mar-a- Lago last December, the president had already green-lighted an Israeli strike on Iran’s missile infrastructure. When they met again at the White House, Washington knew exactly what was coming and decided to lead the war. The claim that Israel pressured the U.S. president into war is not just factually hollow – it veers dangerously close to antisemitic fringe narratives.
But the bigger point that keeps getting buried is that Iran’s missiles and nuclear program and terror are America’s problem. The missiles are being fired right now at U.S. forces, American bases, our embassies, and our Gulf Arab allies. Iran is actively developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could one day reach the American homeland. Dismantling that regime’s nuclear, missile, and terror infrastructure is core American national security.
Israel didn’t drag us into the war. It enables us to fight it smarter, faster, and at far less cost than we ever could have alone.
The writer is CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (New York Post)
We Must Eliminate The Islamist Threat – Melanie Phillips
In Israel,the public are having to run repeatedly into the shelters day and night under barrages of missiles and drones, including banned cluster bombs, from Iran and more barrages from its proxy army in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Most missiles are being intercepted, but the fragments that hurtle down from the sky can be as big as a bus, destroying houses and killing people.
The Gulf states, whose defenses are less sophisticated than Israel’s have been attacked by even heavier barrages of missiles from Iran. Despite this, both the Israelis and the Gulf rulers want the war waged by America and Israel to continue until the Iranian regime has been destroyed. The Gulf states – including Iran’s erstwhile ally, Qatar – are astounded and outraged that Iran has turned on them.
The Israelis – who for more than four decades have been attacked by Iranian proxy terrorism and rockets, and have shuddered at the regime’s steady advance towards nuclear capacity and mass production of missiles designed to wipe them off the face of the earth – are united in support of the war.
There is little understanding in the West of the Tehran regime’s particular kind of fanaticism. It’s dominant members are Shia, “Twelvers,” who believe that an apocalypse will bring to earth the Shia messiah, the “Twelfth Imam.” Anyone who thinks there can ever be any compromise with such fanatics is on a different planet.
The Iranian threat can never be totally neutralized unless the regime itself is brought down. This war could be seen as utterly reckless unless the alternative is fully understood. Then, it becomes utterly imperative and essential that it is pursued until the Iranian Islamic regime is no more.
