News Digest — 6/4/24
Fires Rage Overnight Across North After Hezbollah Rocket And Drone Attacks
Firefighters early Tuesday (4th) battled blazes across northern Israel, as they continued to rage after being sparked the day before by rockets and drones that Hezbollah launched from Lebanon. Most had been brought under control by the morning.
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services said overnight the over 30 firefighting crews were working to extinguish the fires, which led to the closure of several main roads in the Galilee area.
A statement from the fire department stressed there was no threat to lives or homes at this time, while adding that it was “working hard to protect communities and property.”
In Kiryat Shmona, firefighters spread throughout the mostly-evacuated city to control the flames and keep them from reaching homes. The fire service said earlier that several yards, pergolas and the roof of at least one home were in flames.
In Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, north of the city, video footage shared on social media showed a local security team battling flames encroaching on the community.
Fires also broke out in the areas of Mount Adir and Amiad, where firefighters reported their main focus was on preventing the blazes from jumping to the moshav of Kahal.
The fire service said the blazes had raged since Monday afternoon (3rd), while noting the intense heat wave blanketing the area.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was assisting in the firefighting efforts, adding that six reservists lightly hurt from smoke inhalation were taken to the hospital.
Ziv Medical Center in Safed said it had treated five citizens who were also lightly hurt from smoke inhalation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying the premier had held an assessment with senior security officials “about the developments in northern Israel” and was updated about the firefighting efforts.
On Tuesday morning (4th), the fire service said most of the blazes were brought under control, including the fire near Amiad, which it estimated burned some 990 acres.
The fire department also said it was still fighting to gain control of a fire that broke out the day before in Keren Naftali.
The fires came amid intensifying firing by Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah of numerous barrages of rockets and drones at the Galilee and Golan Heights in recent days. According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, a series of rockets and drones on Sunday (2nd) caused brush fires that consumed over 2,470 acres of foliage in open areas, including nature reserves.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, as a show of support for Hamas and the war in Gaza.
Israel has expressed openness to a diplomatic solution to the conflict, but has threatened to go to war against Hezbollah to restore security to the north of Israel, where tens of thousands of civilians are currently displaced.
Iran’s Acting FM Visits Lebanon For Talks On ‘Resistance Front’ Against Israel
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister arrived in Lebanon Monday (3rd), his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died in a helicopter crash last month, in an accident that also killed Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Ali Bagheri Kani would visit Lebanon and then Syria “to meet with the two countries’ officials as well as the officials of the resistance front to discuss ways to counter the Zionist regime, referring to Israel.
The Islamic Republic of Iran backs a number of proxy forces throughout the Middle East, of which the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah is widely seen as the most powerful.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the Israel-Lebanon border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against Hamas there.
Iran also supports the Houthi rebel group, as well as militias in Iraq and Syria, all of which have been involved in attacks on Israel and US forces since the outbreak of the war with Hamas.
Bagheri Kani, on Monday (3rd), met with his Lebanese counterpart , Abdallah Bou Habib, and praised the “close relations between Lebanon and Iran. He told reporters that “resistance is the basis for stability in the region.”
“We agreed that all countries in the region, especially the Islamic countries, should adopt a joint movement in order to counter Israeli aggression and protect the Palestinian people, especially in Rafah,” he said.
Israel began operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which it says is Hamas’ last major stronghold, last month. The Israel Defense Forces have since seized control of the corridor that connects Gaza and Egypt, discovering tunnels. Hamas has been known to use such tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza, something the IDF believes it can no longer do as the military controls the area.
Bou Habib said Lebanon, for its part, wants to avoid a wider war and is looking for “sustainable solutions that restore calm and stability to southern Lebanon.”
The danger of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel has also risen since October 7.
On April 1, an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus killed two Iranian generals, including the country’s top commander in Syria, along with other Iranian-aligned militants.
In response, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, an unprecedented attack that marked the first time Iran had openly fired at Israel from its own territory, rather than through a proxy force.
Report: Israel Readying For ‘Imminent’ All-Out War Against Hezbollah
The Lebanese government was informed by numerous international sources that Israel is gearing up for a full-scale military operation against Hezbollah, aimed at stopping the terror group’s incessant bombing of the north of Israel and restoring Israel’s deterrence, according to a new report.
Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which has close links to Hezbollah, said that representatives from several countries warned Beirut that Israel is preparing to take decisive action against the terror organization.
According to the group, the UK government even cited mid-June as the time in which the Lebanese government can expect the operation to begin.
The report said that the Israelis had warned the Qataris and Egyptians that “Hezbollah is pressing hard on the northern front” and that Jerusalem cannot continue to “bear the pressure” without strong military response.
“There are many demands from the army leadership and the political level that Israel carry out major deterrent action against Hezbollah,” the Al-Akhbar report quoted Israeli officials as saying.
The news of a shift to a large-scale war comes after 8 months of aerial attacks from southern Lebanon towards communities along the northern border.
Since October 8th, Hezbollah has launched daily attacks against civilian and military infrastructure in northern Israel, and recent incidents suggest that the terror group has escalated its methods.
A large-scale conflict with Hezbollah will likely see extensive damage in both Lebanon and Israel.
The terror group is equipped with advanced missiles, rockets, and drones, which can reach all areas within the Jewish state.
Son Of Slain Hostage: ‘Hamas Abducted Them, And Hamas Was Responsible For Their Lives’
Guy Metzger, the son of Yoram Metzger, who was announced on Monday (3rd) to have been killed in captivity, clarified on Tuesday (4th) in an interview with Galei Tzahal radio that he sees Hamas responsible for his father’s death.
“The circumstances of death aren’t important. They were abducted by Hamas and Hamas was responsible for their lives. Everything that happened to them is Hamas’ fault,” said Metzger.
He related that, “everyone of us had a lot of time to prepare for the news. We weren’t optimistic, but when we got the news, it was painful and difficult. We prepared our children for the possibility.”
On Monday (3rd), IDF representatives informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7, that they are no longer alive and that their bodies are held by the Hamas terror organization.
The decision to pronounce the four hostages dead was based on intelligence and was confirmed by a Ministry of Health expert committee, in coordination with the Ministry of Religious Services and the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
The four were killed while being held by Hamas terrorists, apparently in the Khan Yunis area. The circumstances of their death in Hamas captivity are still under examination by all the relevant professionals.
The IDF estimates that the four were held together at the same location, and were killed in the same manner, which the IDF is currently investigating.
Israel Foils Hamas Terror Plot Masterminded From Turkey
Israeli authorities thwarted a deadly terror attack directed from Hamas’ offices in Turkey, it was cleared for publication on Monday (3rd).
The Shin Bet first learned of the plot from other Hamas terror suspects arrested in counter-terror raids in Samaria.
Abas Shurman was arrested by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) in Nablus on March 15, with agents seizing a 12-kilogram explosive device.
Shurman, who is originally from Tulkarm and had lived in Jordan, was recruited into Hamas by Imad Ebid, a Hamas operative based in Turkey in December 2023.
In preparation for the attack, Shurman trained to drive a motorcycle, took a photograph of his will, and received funds and instructions to carry out the attack using a bomb which Hamas hid for him near a spring in the Samaria region. Next to the bomb, which was placed inside luggage, was a letter with further instructions.
The Shin Bet first learned of the plot from other Hamas terror suspects arrested in counter-terrorism raids in Samaria. The investigation revealed some of them had been involved in preparing and delivering the bomb to the hiding place under the guidance of Hudifa Salaima, another Hamas operative based in Turkey.
An indictment was filed against Shurman and five other residents of Nablus (Shechem) in the military court of Judea.
Turkey’s ruling AKP Party is ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas, which is the Brotherhood’s Palestinian affiliate. Several senior Hamas operatives are based in Turkey with the blessings of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Since October 7, Israeli security forces have arrested around 4,000 wanted Palestinian terror suspects in Judea and Samaria, of whom, 1,700 are associated with Hamas.
Japanese Christians Donate Ambulances To Replace Those Destroyed In October 7 Attacks
Japanese Christians donated ambulances to replace those destroyed in Oct. 7 attacks, according to the Magen David Adom Spokesman.
The Japanese group is led by Masanao Shibahashi, the Mayor of Gifu, which is the birthplace of a diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis during World War II.
The Japanese political leaders are donating two ambulances to Israeli communities along the border with Gaza, in a show of faith-based support.
The symbolic move by the group from across Japan comes at a time of surging international censure of Israel over the nearly eight-month war against Hamas in Gaza.
The first of the two fully equipped ambulances was presented to Israeli rescue officials this week during a visit to Israel by the Japanese delegation in a donation made via the Jerusalem-based evangelical organization Bridges for Peace.
The Japanese group visited the Israeli communities near the Gaza borders which came under attack during the Oct. 7 massacre, met with President Isaac Herzog and then presented Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services with a $150,000 mobile intensive care unit ambulance last week to replace one of the 14 ambulances destroyed during the Hamas attack. The second ambulance will be delivered later this year.
Gifu is the birthplace of Chiune Sugihara who was recognized by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Center as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ for his courageous actions which helped more than 6,000 Jews escape war-torn Lithuania in the summer of 1940.
“Today, 84 years later, the Jewish people once again are facing a tidal wave of anti-Semitism, and as the mayor of Gifu City, I am deeply honored to continue in Chiune Sugihara’s legacy of standing with our Jewish brothers and sisters,” said Mayor Masanao Shibahashi in a written statement.
“As propaganda and slanders threaten to sway public opinion against the Jewish state, it is our honor to remind Israel that it is not alone, that its Christian brothers and sisters in Japan stand with it, support it and pray for it,” Shibahashi said.
“We know that Israel is at the forefront of a battle between light and darkness and that the sons and daughters of Abraham are leading the charge on the side of light,” he said.
