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Hezbollah Unlikely to Attack Cyprus and East Med
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech in June with threats aimed at the East Mediterranean, causing concern in Israel that the Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon could try and copy Houthi tactics in the Red Sea.
Nasrallah emphasized potential attacks on Israeli assets in the Mediterranean, highlighting the vulnerability of military and commercial shipping, as well as offshore gas facilities.
Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told JNS that if Hezbollah shuts down the Eastern Mediterranean to ship traffic, it could impact Israel’s trade and the economy “almost as negatively as attacks on Haifa itself, since this port is a major Israeli lifeline and hub.”
Ruhe said it would “impose yet more strains on the U.S. Navy, which is already extending its deployments and burning through costly, precious munitions as it tries to maintain freedom of navigation across the region.”
“More broadly,” he added, “it could scare off much-needed energy production and exploration in the East Med that benefits the U.S., Israel and their European partners.”
In his speech, Nasrallah referenced past conflicts where Hezbollah surprised Israel with naval strikes, suggesting similar tactics could be employed again.
During the 2006 Second War in Lebanon, Hezbollah damaged the INS Hanit, a Sa’ar 5-class corvette of the Israeli Navy’s 3rd Flotilla, after attacking it with a C-701 anti-ship missile.
Israel apparently did not have the appropriate defensive systems activated at the time.
Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of more than 150,000 missiles, including long-range and precision-guided ones that could reach anywhere in Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, dismissed the idea that Hezbollah could block naval traffic in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“I’m not sure Hezbollah has the capability,” he said, unless it coordinates with the Turks.
He suggested that Hezbollah could try to use precision-guided munitions against ships, but pointed out that Israel has defensive capabilities against such threats.
At the end of the day, according to Inbar, Israel isn’t worried that Hezbollah can achieve this.
Nasrallah also warned that Hezbollah would target Cyprus if it allows Israel to utilize its military facilities in any future conflict with Lebanon.
Hanin Ghaddar, Farzin Nadimi and David Schenker of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote in June that Nasrallah’s threat toward Cyprus was not arbitrary, but rooted in longstanding ties between Nicosia and Jerusalem, which have included joint military exercises focused on countering threats from Hezbollah and Iran.
Cyprus has affirmed its neutrality despite hosting British military bases, including RAF Akrotiri, which contribute to regional security. The 1960 Treaty of Establishment grants Britain sovereignty over these bases, with obligations for Cyprus and cooperation mandates for Greece and Turkey in its defense. Cyprus’s E.U. membership could potentially trigger collective defense measures if Hezbollah attacks the island.
Currently, Cyprus lacks a robust air and missile defense network, although plans to acquire Israeli Iron Dome systems have been discussed.
The vulnerability of the island to Hezbollah missile attacks underscores concerns, particularly given its significant allied military presence, including British and U.S. forces and logistical support during regional conflicts.
If Israel lost access to its runways due to Hezbollah bombing and were to launch attacks out of RAF Akrotiri, for example, then it would essentially be launching from British soil, and this would apply if Hezbollah attacked that base, as well.
But according to Inbar, the U.K.—certainly under the current government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer—would not allow Israel to use its bases in Cyprus, and Hezbollah would not target its bases.
Ruhe agreed, though he cautioned “Never say never about anything after October 7, but likely never.”
Ruhe said the British “have been admirably ready to use their Cyprus bases to help defend the region against missiles and drones, and to resupply Israel.”
But, he noted, these are “indirect moves” and “can be framed as defensive, unlike letting Israel use those same bases for offensive operations against Hezbollah, even if Hezbollah fires the first shots in that larger war.”
Israel has no real alternative options if its airfields are neutralized in a Hezbollah strike, and for this reason, according to Ruhe, “the IDF is expected to prioritize its air defenses to protect its airbases in a major war with Hezbollah, even at the cost of leaving much of the rest of country exposed.”
Even if Israel wanted to use Cyprus to attack Hezbollah, Ruhe said, there are complications involved.
“There’s the potential diplomatic blowback of risking a conflict that the E.U., and even NATO via the British bases, want no part of,” he said. “This would be especially true if it looks like Israel launches ‘unprovoked’ attacks from the island, given the world’s eagerness to unfairly and prematurely condemn anything Israel does at this point.”
Ruhe also said that using Cyprus “complicates the Israeli Air Force’s ability to generate the massive number of sorties it’d have to conduct in a big war with Hezbollah, given that the island is farther from Lebanon and wouldn’t have the logistical setup, amenities, etc., of IAF bases at home.”
Ruhe said that if Hezbollah did attack Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus, “it would mean bringing a NATO member into the mix, and threatening an E.U. member, as well.”
He noted that it could “quickly widen a conflict that Hezbollah (and Iran) would rather wage against an Israel that is isolated diplomatically and encircled militarily.”
In addition, Ruhe said, attacking Cyprus “would pose a tradeoff for Hezbollah.”
“Every long-range missile and drone they send toward Cyprus is one less they can use to threaten catastrophic damage on Israel, which is the force-planning construct around which Iran assiduously built Hezbollah into the world’s best-armed non-state actor,” he said.
Ruhe stated that Nasrallah’s threat against Cyprus “underscores two big priorities.”
The first, he said, is that the U.S. “needs to be urgent and serious when it comes to ensuring Israel can wage a major conflict as decisively and swiftly as possible.”
The second, and in tandem, is that “the U.S. needs to clearly warn Tehran and its proxies against trying to broaden any conflict with Israel.”
There are reports that U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein is close to brokering a deal between Israel and Lebanon.
According to Ruhe, the British, like the Americans, “don’t want to assume any more risk in the Middle East, and currently their thinking appears to be that they could still avert, or at least avoid, a major Israel-Hezbollah war.”
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Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that in addition to striking the airport, it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks.
There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attacks that Israel will continue its mission until it is complete: “We are determined to sever this terror arm of Iran’s axis.”
The prime minister has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons.
The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were also reported by Al Masirah TV.
Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff detainees and to assess the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel‘s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.
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Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Photo: Alchetron.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for casting doubt on a new report claiming that famine has gripped northern Gaza.
The controversial Muslim advocacy group on Wednesday slammed Lew for his “callous dismissal” of the recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report accusing Israel of inflicting famine on the Gaza Strip. The organization subsequently asserted that Israel had perpetrated an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.
“Ambassador Lew’s callous dismissal of this shocking report by a US-backed agency exposing Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in Gaza reminds one of the old joke about a man who murdered his parents and then asked for mercy because he is now an ‘orphan,’” CAIR said in a statement.
“To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling, and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza,” the Washington, DC-based group continued.
On Monday, FEWS Net, a US-created provider of warning and analysis on food insecurity, released a report detailing that a famine had allegedly taken hold of northern Gaza. The report argued that 65,000-75,000 individuals remain stranded in the area without sufficient access to food.
“Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate” has resulted in mass starvation among scores of innocent civilians in the beleaguered enclave, the report stated.
Lew subsequently issued a statement denying the veracity of the FEWS Net report, slamming the organization for peddling “inaccurate” information and “causing confusion.”
“The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report,” Lew wrote.
“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew continued.
Following Lew’s repudiation, FEWS NET quietly removed the report on Wednesday, sparking outrage among supporters of the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We ask FEWS NET not to submit to the bullying of genocide supporters and to again make its report available to the public,” CAIR said in its statement.
In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has been repeatedly accused of inflicting famine in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the allegations, there is scant evidence of mass starvation across the war-torn enclave.
This is not the first time that FEWS Net has attempted to accuse Israel of inflicting famine in Gaza. In June, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected claims by FEWS Net that a famine had taken hold of northern Gaza. In rejecting the allegations, the FRC cited an “uncertainty and lack of convergence of the supporting evidence employed in the analysis.”
Meanwhile, CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the onset of the Gaza war last October.
CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the Oct. 7 atrocities. The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage across southern Israel.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
The post Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Civil Rights Group Representing Amsterdam Pogrom Victims Slams Dutch Court for ‘Light Sentences’
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
The international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack on Israeli soccer fans that took place in Amsterdam last month has joined many voices in lambasting a Dutch court for what they described as a mild punishment for the attackers.
“These sentences are an insult to the victims and a stain on the Dutch legal system,” The Lawfare Project’s founder and executive director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement on Wednesday. “Allowing individuals who coordinated and celebrated acts of violence to walk away with minimal consequences diminishes the rule of law and undermines trust in the judicial process. If this is the response to such blatant antisemitism, what hope is there for deterring future offenders or safeguarding the Jewish community.”
On Tuesday, a district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men for their participation in the violent attacks in the Dutch city against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. The premeditated and coordinated violence took place on the night of Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov 8, before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch soccer team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The five suspects were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community service and up to six months in prison.
The attackers were found guilty of public violence, which included kicking an individual lying on the ground, and inciting the violence by calling on members of a WhatsApp group chat to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. One man sentenced on Tuesday who had a “leading role” in the violence, according to prosecutors, was given the longest sentence — six months in prison.
“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences,” added Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project. “The violent, coordinated attacks against Jews in Amsterdam are among the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe. These light sentences fail to reflect the gravity of these crimes and do little to deliver justice to the victims who are left traumatized and unheard. Even more troubling, they set a dangerous precedent, signaling to future offenders that such horrific acts of violence will not be met with serious consequences.”
The Lawfare Project said on Wednesday that it is representing over 50 victims of the Amsterdam attacks. It has also secured for their clients a local counsel — Peter Plasman, who is a partner at the Amsterdam-based law firm Kötter L’Homme Plasman — to represent them in the Netherlands. The Lawfare Project aims to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world through legal action.
Others who have criticized the Dutch court for its sentencing of the five men on Tuesday included Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell; and The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.
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