News Digest — 9/11/24
DM Gallant Signals Lebanon IDF Ground Operation As Gaza Action Wraps Up
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant oversaw the conclusion of the 9th Brigade’s exercises in northern Israel on Tuesday (10th), which involved simulating ground combat in Lebanese territory, and stated that the IDF would operate in Lebanon.
“I’m impressed by the determination and professionalism I’ve witnessed over nearly a year, both in the North and the South,” Gallant remarked.
“The center of gravity is shifting to the North. While we are wrapping up our missions in the South, an important task remains in the North: to restore security and allow residents to return to their homes.”
Gallant continued, “In the South, I gave the orders to proceed after three weeks. The same will happen here, and you must be ready to execute that mission when the time comes.”
He emphasized that the training aims to prepare all troops for a ground operation.
“The arrow is ready to be fired, and we will know when to release it,” he said. “Use this time wisely to prepare.”
“We will know when to activate you,” he warned before concluding, “You have everything you need to complete the mission.”
Gallant also thanked the commanders, soldiers and the families supporting them.
IDF Said It Killed Hezbollah Radwan Commander Behind Many Attacks on Israel
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday (10th) said it killed a commander in Lebanese terror group Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force with a drone strike deep in Lebanon.
According to the IDF, Muhammad Qassem al-Shaer was involved in many attacks on Israel. The military said his killing “is another blow to the ability of the Hezbollah terror organization to advance and carry out terror attacks from southern Lebanon against the Israeli home front from on the northern border.”
The IDF announcement confirmed earlier reports alleging a deadly Israeli drone strike in the Beqaa Valley.
Hezbollah also said that al-Shaer had been killed, but did not give any details of his role within the Iran-backed group.
It was the latest development in an escalating conflict that started when Hezbollah began attacking Israel along the northern border last October 8th.
Al-Shaer was targeted on a road near Lake Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley, some 24 miles from the Israeli border.
Al-Shaer’s death brings the terror group’s death toll in IDF strikes since October to at least 434, among them several commanders in the Radwan Force.
The Radwan Force is believed by Israeli officials to be tasked with potentially infiltrating the country.
On Monday (9th), Hezbollah launched explosive-laden drones and dozens of rockets at northern Israel, while Israel Defense Forces returned fire on terror targets in southern Lebanon. One of the Hezbollah drones impacted a high-rise residential building in the coastal city of Nahariya, causing damage but no injuries.
Hamas Attempts To Incite An Intifada In Judea And Samaria
A recent statement from Hamas downplays the importance of the IDF operation against the terror infrastructure in Tulkarm, which takes place ‘within the ongoing aggression against the West Bank districts.’
According to Hamas, the IDF operation ‘will not affect the determination of our people who stand firm and will not shake their strong will and adherence to the struggle, as the only way to get rid of the occupation.’
Hamas praised the ‘steadfastness and jihad of our people and the struggle organizations in the (West Bank) districts and especially in Tulkarm’ and the ‘heroes of the Al-Qassam Brigades and other resistance organizations.’
“We call on the brave residents of the West Bank to escalate the resistance and harm the occupation, with the burning rage since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood Campaign, which has been and will be a thorn in the throat of the occupier, and will deny the occupier and its settlers the taste of security and stability at any cost and sacrifices. This is Jihad, victory, or martyrdom in the way of Allah.”
From The Tunnel: Sinwar Congratulates Algerian President
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar managed to send a congratulatory letter from the tunnel from which he is hiding in Gaza to the President of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on the occasion of his election victory.
The letter states that “Sinwar reiterates his appreciation of the Algerian role in standing by the Palestinian people, and in defending their rights in international forums.”
In the unusual statement, Hamas said that the message to the Algerian president was sent in the shadow of the “heroic war of the Palestinian people and their brave and firm resistance in the Battle of Al-Aqsa, despite the genocide and barbarity of the Zionist occupation.”
Sinwar said in the statement that “the occupation is attacking our people in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and inside, in blatant violation and defiance of all international laws and conventions.”
Tebboune was declared on Sunday (8th) the overwhelming winner of Saturday’s (7th) election in Algeria, after official preliminary results gave him 95% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off. His main rivals were Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, who got 3% of the vote , and Youcef Aouchiche, who won 2% – turnout was 48%.
Tebboune, who was backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from his rivals, one a moderate Islamist, and the other a moderate secularist.
Algeria, like many Muslim states, does not have relations with Israel. In April of 2018, an Algerian court sentenced eight people to 10 years in prison over espionage for Israel.
Algeria has also been critical of Morocco for its decision to normalize ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords.
In 2020, the head of Algeria’s largest Islamist party labeled Morocco’s Prime Minister Saad Eddine El-Othmani a “traitor” over his country’s decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Swiss Parliamentarians Vote To Stop UNRWA Funding
The Swiss House of Representatives voted on Monday (9th) to immediately halt payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over its ties to terrorism.
The decision, which still needs to be approved by the Swiss Senate, was the latest back and forth between the two government chambers over funding to the agency, and mirrors similar moves taken last year.
The 99-88 vote to suspend funding was adopted along with a separate motion calling on Switzerland to directly support aid efforts by other organizations in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a very powerful signal and a continuing vote of no-confidence in UNRWA,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told JNS on Tuesday (10th).
Neuer, who testified before the Swiss parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee this spring, said the vote was a “slap in the face” to Swiss UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, who had lobbied furiously to prevent it from happening.
The head of the Geneva-based watchdog organization said that the dispute would not be resolved for several months yet, and would likely relate to next year’s funding.
An Israeli intelligence report released earlier this year showed that at least a dozen UNRWA employees actively participated in Hamas’ Oct.7 massacre and that the agency has hundreds of “military operatives” belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups on its payroll.
The revelations prompted 17 countries – led by the United States and Germany, UNRWA’s biggest donors – including Switzerland to suspend funding.
The United States – UNRWA’s largest donor, accounting for some 30% of the agency’s budget – has frozen its donations until at least next year.
Switzerland is UNRWA’s ninth-largest donor nation, contributing more than $21 million in funding in 2023.
The atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7 have placed renewed international focus on UNRWA’s terrorism ties, leading to calls from across the Israeli political spectrum to break with the organization and work with alternative aid groups.
Meanwhile, the heads of the agency – backed by the outgoing EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell – successfully appeased most international donors with a contested UN investigation into its alleged wrongdoing.
UNRWA, which the UN established in 1949 to carry out relief and work programs for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes during the 1948 War of Independence, defines refugee status as being hereditary.
As a consequence, the number of Palestinian refugees registered with the organization has mushroomed from 750,000 in 1950 to nearly six million today.
The main UN refugee agency, UNHCR, which cares for the rest of the refugees in the world, has no such policy.
Earlier this year, a former legal adviser to UNRWA told the Knesset that Israel can prevent the agency from operating in Gaza and should be using the current international spotlight on its malign activities to plan for its closure, regardless of any continued foreign funding it receives.
Three months ago, the Swiss House of Representatives also rejected a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood.
The Future Of Lebanon Under Hezbollah’s Control – Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
Today’s political reality in Lebanon does not resemble at all the situation that prevailed in 1990 when the Taif agreement signed between the three major communities ended the civil war that began in 1975. The main transformation involves the mounting power of Iran-founded Hezbollah and its growing grip on Lebanese politics. Hezbollah has made no secret of its ultimate goal of including Lebanon as the 32nd province of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Christian camp’s consistent criticism of Hezbollah revolves around the fear that Hezbollah’s potential to drag Lebanon into a war with Israel could lead to a catastrophic outcome for Lebanon. As a result, Hezbollah decided that the time had come to challenge the Christian dominance of Lebanese politics. This would mean that the Christian camp would lose significant positions such as the presidency, the army commander, and the parity between Christians and Muslims in the Lebanese parliament.
This means Lebanon would lose its identity as a multicultural republic and become another Arab state affiliated with Iran, where the process of the “Iranization” of Lebanon would be accelerated. Hezbollah could then “invite” Iran to send troops to Lebanon to be deployed in southern Lebanon, facing Israel, establishing a physical border between Iran and Israel that does not exist today.
The writer, a special analyst at the Jerusalem Center, was formerly Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.)
(jcpa.org)
The West Needs To Choose The Defeat Of Evil In The Middle East – Ivan Lewis
The removal of the threat posed by the Iranian regime has to become a strategic priority, as it poses an existential threat not only to Israel and the Gulf states but the wider world. The clock is ticking if we are to prevent a non-conventional world war that has the potential to wreak destruction on much of the civilized world.
If the US and NATO fail to take the necessary steps and the Iranian regime continues with its nuclear program, Israel will take whatever action is necessary to protect its own security. It will do so with the overt support of Arab allies and the covert support of other Arab countries that know a nuclear Iran will seek not only to destroy Israel but also take over the Arab world in order to impose its theological dogma.
A better way forward would be for the West to give the Iranians a final ultimatum on ending its nuclear program and sponsorship of global terrorism, backed up by a timeline to the toughest of sanctions. The 80% of the Iranian people who despise the regime need to know the West will no longer go “soft” on the regime and that when the time comes they will have our support to build a new Iran.
It is the Iranian regime that has the power to end both the war in Gaza and prevent a full-scale military conflict in Lebanon. They choose not to do so. It is perverse that the International Criminal Court is considering issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders. It is the leaders of Iran who should be facing such sanctions.
The writer served as the UK Minister for the Middle East, 2009-2010, and as MP, 1997-2019.
