Hamas launches war on Israel

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Dargo

In like "I watch your back you do the dying"?

That are good on their word until they renege on it.

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Calls for foreigners to leave Lebanon as war fears grow

Several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. Israel has not commented.

His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Western officials fear that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia and political movement based in Lebanon, could play a key role in any such retaliation, which in turn could spark a serious Israeli response.

Diplomatic efforts by the US and other Western countries continue to try to de-escalate tensions across the region.

A growing number of flights have been cancelled or suspended at the country’s only commercial airport in Beirut.

The US, the UK, Australia, France, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey and Jordan are among the countries to have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.

Fears of an escalation of hostilities that could engulf Lebanon are at their highest since Hezbollah stepped up its attacks on Israel, a day after the deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, in support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Most of the violence has been contained to border areas, with both sides indicating not being interested in a wider conflict.

Hezbollah, however, has vowed to respond to Shukr’s assassination, which happened in Dahiyeh, the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

It came after 12 children and teenagers were killed in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel blamed on Hezbollah. Israel said Shukr was the behind it.

Meanwhile there has been continuing firing between the two sides. Hezbollah said it launched drones at a military barracks in Ayelet HaShahar, northern Israel, in the early hours of Monday morning. The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded.

It came a day after Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at the nearby town of Beit Hillel. There were no reports of casualties from that attack.

Israel’s air force responded by striking targets in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah fighter and a paramedic were killed in a strike on the town of Mays al-Jabal, less than a mile from the border with Israel.

In a separate development on Sunday morning, two people were killed in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Holon. The attacker, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, was later “neutralised”, police said.

Also on Sunday, officials from the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza said an Israeli air strike had hit a tent inside a hospital, killing at least five people. The officials said 19 Palestinians had been killed across the day.

In a statement on Saturday, the US embassy in Beirut said those who chose to stay in Lebanon should “prepare contingency plans” and be prepared to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.

The Pentagon has said it is deploying additional warships and fighter jets to the region to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies, a strategy similar to the one adopted in April, when Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation to an attack on its diplomatic compound in Syria.

It blamed Israel for that strike.

Many fear Iran’s retaliation on this occasion could take a similar form.

The UK says it is sending extra military personnel, consular staff and border force officials to help with any evacuations.

It has urged UK citizens to leave Lebanon while commercial flights are running.

Two British military ships are already in the region and the Royal Air Force has put transport helicopters on standby.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the regional situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.

In a phone call with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani said Iran would "undoubtedly use its inherent and legitimate right" to "punish" Israel.

On Friday, an announcer on Iran's state TV warned "the world would witness extraordinary scenes".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis that "challenging days lie ahead... We have heard threats from all sides. We are prepared for any scenario".

Tensions escalated after a rocket strike on a football pitch in the occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers.

Israel accused Hezbollah and vowed “severe” retaliation, though Hezbollah denied it was involved.

Days later, Shukr, who was a close adviser to the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a targeted Israeli air strike in Beirut. Four others, including two children, were also killed.

Hours after that, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran, Hamas's main backer. He was visiting to attend the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said Israel will suffer a “harsh punishment” for the killing.

Haniyeh's assassination dealt a blow to the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, the main hope to defuse tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border.

The war began in October when Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

The attack triggered a massive Israeli military response, which has killed at least 39,480 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80xxeqel5po

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Israeli warplanes cause sonic boom flying low over Beirut amid growing fears of wider Middle East war

Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier three times flying low over Beirut in less than 30 minutes amid fears of an imminent escalation of war in the Middle East.

Loud booms from the aircraft flying at such speed over the Lebanese capital on Tuesday sent people in the city running for cover.

Witnesses said the planes could be clearly see with the naked eye.

The provocative flights came just hours before Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was set to begin an address at around 5pm (2pm GMT) to mark one week since the killing of the Lebanese terror group’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hezbollah has promised to respond to the killing, which came just hours before the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in an operation blamed on Israel but which Israel has not confirmed or denied undertaking.
The twin killings have pushed the region to the brink of war, with Iran also vowing a painful response.

America has deployed more warships to the region.

Britain and other countries are urging their citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible.

Two Royal Navy ships are in the eastern Mediterranean and the British government has been testing plans for a large scale evacuation.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the Cabinet on Tuesday that the Government stands “ready and prepared” should tensions further escalate in the Middle East.

Around 3,000 British nationals are estimated to have filled in a form to tell the UK Government about their presence in Lebanon, among a total of around 16,000 UK nationals in the country.

Military personnel and consular experts have been deployed to the Middle East to help them.

Evacuating UK nationals to Cyprus via a seabridge in an Operation Highbrow-style mission is thought to be among the solutions, if war begins.

Operation Highbrow saw 4,500 British nationals evacuated from Lebanon using warships during the 2006 Lebanon War.

Some airlines have suspended flights to Beirut and to Tel Aviv.

While some commercial flights from the Lebanese capital have sold out some places are still available.

As the Israeli planes flew low over Beirut, people at a cafe in the Badaro district scattered as the sound reverberated through the city.

Earlier, Hezbollah launched a series of drone and rocket attacks into northern Israel on Tuesday but warned that its much-anticipated retaliation for Israel’s killing of the top commander last week was yet to come.

The group, proscribed as a terror organisation by Britain and other countries, said it launched a swarm of attack drones at two military sites near Acre in northern Israel, and also attacked an Israeli military vehicle in another location.

The Israeli military said a number of hostile drones were identified crossing from Lebanon and one was intercepted.

Israeli medical officials said seven people were evacuated to hospital, to the south of the coastal city of Nahariya, one in critical condition.

The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the injuries were caused by an interceptor that “missed the target and hit the ground, injuring several civilians.” It said the incident was still under review.

Fears are rising that the Middle East could be tipped into full-blown war following the vows by Hezbollah to avenge Shukr’s killing, and by Iran to respond to the assassination in Tehran last week of Haniyeh.

Earlier on Tuesday, four people were killed in a strike on a home in the Lebanese town of Mayfadoun, nearly 19 miles north of the border, medics and a security source said.

Two additional security sources said those killed were Hezbollah fighters, but the group had not yet posted its usual death notices.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been trading fire for the last 10 months in parallel with the Gaza war, with the tit-for-tat strikes mostly limited to the border area.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...0caed691&ei=21

[Jimbuna]

Hamas says it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new leader

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.

The choice of Sinwar, a secretive figure who leads Hamas' hardliners and is close to Iran, was a defiant step. Sinwar is at the top of Israel’s kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the Oct. 7 attack in which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 250 as hostages.

Hamas said in a statement it named Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran last week in a presumed Israeli strike. Also last week, Israel said it had confirmed the death of the head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, in a July airstrike in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Unlike Haniyeh, who had lived in exile in Qatar for years, Sinwar has remained in Gaza. As Hamas' leader in the territory since 2017, he rarely appeared in public but kept an iron grip on Hamas' rule. Close to Deif and the armed wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, he worked to build up the group's military capabilities.

Sinwar has been in deep hiding since the Oct. 7 attacks, while Israel unleashed its campaign in Gaza and the death toll among Palestinians, now near 40,000, rose.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...236a555e&ei=31

[mapuc]

In a video I saw some days ago it was said that Iran would most likely attack Israel on their Tisha b'av day*, which is Aug. 12th

* The day of sorrow.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Those dangerous idiots can attack any day of the week but Israel will also be on alert every day of the week.

[Jimbuna]

Israeli military orders another mass evacuation in southern Gaza

The Israeli military has ordered another mass evacuation in large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian rocket fire.

Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier this year.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the 10-month-old war.

Gaza faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to crucial medical, food and other supplies.

The Health Ministry says the death toll in the territory is nearing 40,000.

Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran by a presumed Israeli strike on July 31, and retaliation has been expected.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call to do everything in his power to avoid a new military escalation that he said would do lasting damage to regional stability.

World leaders have been pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, and US President Joe Biden spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday about their hopes for a deal calming tensions in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet over the weekend that Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...5525c497&ei=59

[Exocet25fr]

[Jimbuna]

US and other frustrated mediators call on Israel, Hamas to resume Gaza talks, saying, 'no excuses'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar jointly demanded Israel and Hamas return to stalled talks on the war in Gaza next week, saying Thursday that “only the details” of carrying out a cease-fire and hostage release remain to be negotiated. “There is no further time to waste, nor excuses from any party for further delay,” they said in a joint statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday, “Pursuant to the proposal by the U.S. and the mediators, Israel will — on 15 August — send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement.”

President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani, mediators in indirect negotiations to end 10 months of devastating war in Gaza, set the talks for Aug. 15, to take place in either Doha, Qatar, or Cairo.
A senior U.S. official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the push by mediators, said only four or five areas of disagreement over implementation remained to be resolved between the two opponents.

The official cited the timing of a planned swap of Palestinian detainees held by Israel, and hostages held by Hamas, as an example.

Egypt, the U.S. and Qatar said they have a proposal ready to present at next week’s talks to resolve the remaining issues.

Critics of Netanyahu accuse him of slow-rolling talks to end the war in Gaza, which began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's offensive in Gaza since then has killed nearly 40,000 people.

There was no immediate response to the offer by Hamas. Last week’s killing of its top political leader in Tehran raised tensions across the region, an escalation widely seen as a blow to cease-fire talks. The killing was widely ascribed to Israel, although Israel has not commented.

U.S. officials have said they believe Hamas can resume negotiations despite the July 31 assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who had been presiding over the talks for Hamas.

Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be sheltering from Israeli attack in underground bunkers beneath Gaza, took over as the group’s political leader. Hamas had other representatives besides Haniyeh attending the talks who can step in for the slain official, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...5220910&ei=289

[Skybird]

There is speculation that Iran may not take military retaliation if Israel agrees a ceasefire in Gaza, something like this. Now, that would be extremely cleverly playing your cards. They would be able to maintain their base in Gaza which is a poisonous thorn in Israel's flank, and invest in rebuilding Hamas down there. Long termed perspective is such that this would be far more hurtful and punishing for Israel than to send a couple of hundreds of missiles of which most would be shot down. I say most, since I dont think Israel has the defence capacities to shoot down all missiles if Iran really means serious business and wants to over-saturate Israeli anti-missile systems. Its a question of quantities. Iran probabaly also is not yet ready for a big war in the region - and if they start a major strike against Israel, there is a realistic risk that this is what they would get.

So the question is who is in charge in Teheran: the cold-blooded long-time perspective strategists wanting to keep Gaza, or the hot-blooded laserbrains thinking with their testicles who want a great rodeo and do the boom-boom-bang with everything they have.

Its disastrous that Israel still has not overcome all Hamas resistence in Gaza. That they allowed to get delayed and at times acted with hesitation and self-restraint, now will boomerang against them.

[mapuc]

Skybird wrote:
"Iran probabaly also is not yet ready for a big war in the region"
I say you could be right-I think they wait until they got their nukes.



Markus

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Skybird wrote:
"Iran probabaly also is not yet ready for a big war in the region"
I say you could be right-I think they wait until they got their nukes.


Markus

If Iran gets nukes it does not need to fight wars, it can play the nuclear bully without sending any troops.

[Jimbuna]

Id Iran gets nuclear capability Israel will have to make up its mind on the ultimate question.......nuke or leave well alone.