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IDF Adds Troops to Ground Op as Hezbollah Rains Rockets on Israel’s North
Illustrative: Israeli soldiers prepare to enter Gaza, April 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
JNS.org — The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday that another division, the 36th, was joining its ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as the Iranian terror proxy continued to launch rocket barrages across the border.
According to the IDF, some 100 rockets were fired at northern Israel during the morning hours, which followed Tuesday night’s second-ever direct attack on Israel by Iran.
In the latest barrage, around 10 rockets were launched at the Western Galiliee and Haifa Bay area.
No injuries were reported.
Also in the morning, Hezbollah fired a long-range rocket at central Israel, which fell in an open area, causing no damage and triggering no alarms.
Meanwhile, the IDF is intensifying its ground operations against Hezbollah.
“The 36th Division, including soldiers of the Golani Brigade, 188th Armored Brigade, 6th Infantry Brigade and additional forces are joining the limited, localized, targeted raids on Hezbollah terror targets and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon that began on Monday,” the IDF announced.
The Israeli Air Force and 282nd Artillery Brigade are supporting ground forces.
The 98th Division and the 7th Brigade’s armored units have been preparing for the ground invasion for several weeks. The 98th Division joined the Northern Command after months of fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The IDF on Wednesday for a second consecutive day called on people to evacuate villages in Southern Lebanon.
“Hezbollah’s activities are forcing the IDF to act against them forcefully. The IDF does not intend to harm you, and therefore, for your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Al-Awali River. Save your lives,” tweeted Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
“Anyone near Hezbollah members, their facilities, or their weapons is putting their life in danger. Any house used by Hezbollah for military purposes is likely to be targeted. Evacuate your homes immediately. Be careful not to head south. Any movement southward may put you at risk. We will inform you when it is safe to return to your homes.”
The directive is for 24 villages in southern Lebanon.
In addition to the ground operation in southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Wednesday morning that over the past few days Israeli Air Force fighter jets have conducted a series of targeted strikes in the Beirut area, targeting several weapons production facilities and terrorist infrastructure.
The IDF emphasized that civilians were given advanced warning to evacuate the area ahead of the precision strikes.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization has deliberately primarily embedded its weapons production facilities and weaponry beneath residential buildings in the heart of the city of Beirut, hiding them in populated areas,” the IDF said, adding that the strikes were conducted to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
Gallant: ‘We are eliminating Radwan forces’
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was briefed over the past several days on the IDF’s efforts to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon, his office said on Tuesday.
Gallant was shown Hezbollah weapons located and confiscated by Israeli forces.
“Everything you see here — the weapons, missiles, explosives, RPGs — they were found by the IDF in areas from where [Hezbollah’s] Radwan forces planned launch attacks to kill and kidnap Israeli citizens,” Gallant said while observing the seized weaponry.
“We are eliminating the Hezbollah terrorist organization in southern Lebanon and dismantling its Radwan forces along the entire border,” he continued.
“What we will do here is part of what it means to ensure the safe return of Israel’s citizens to their homes in the north. We are changing the security situation.”
The post IDF Adds Troops to Ground Op as Hezbollah Rains Rockets on Israel’s North first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.