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IDF: Hassan Nasrallah Is Dead
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – Terror master Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israel Defense Forces strike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, the military confirmed on Saturday.
There was no immediate official reaction from the Lebanese government, but a source close to Hezbollah said contact with him had been “lost.”
Several hours later, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death.
The Israeli Air Force conducted the massive airstrike targeting the headquarters, built underground beneath residential buildings, in the heart of the Dahiyeh district of the Lebanese capital on Friday evening.
The operation to assassinate Nasrallah was named “New Order.”
The commander of Hezbollah’s terror activities in Southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Karaki, the Iranian proxy’s No. 3 terrorist, had narrowly evaded an Israeli targeted killing attempt earlier this week.
On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was transferred to a location with heightened security, Reuters reported, citing two regional officials.
Beforehand, Khamenei called on Muslims to “stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the … wicked regime [of Israel],” according to a statement carried by Iranian state media.
“The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” he added.
Khamenei convened on Friday night an emergency session of the Supreme National Security Council to discuss a response, according to The New York Times.
Iran’s embassy in Lebanon condemned the strike on Nasrallah and vowed to “bring its perpetrator an appropriate punishment.
“This reprehensible crime … represents a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game,” stated the mission.
In a separate strike, the IDF killed Mohammed Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile array in Southern Lebanon, the military announced on Saturday. He was responsible for numerous attacks, including Wednesday’s ballistic missile launch at Tel Aviv.
“The is not the end of the tools in the toolbox,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi of the targeted killings. “The message is simple, to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel, we will know how to get to them.”
War against Hezbollah rages
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF called on Lebanese civilians to evacuate from several buildings in Dahiyeh, a known Hezbollah stronghold, as the Israeli Air Force carried out waves of strikes across Lebanon.
Among the targets were weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, along with a Hezbollah command center, in Beirut, as well as other terrorist infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley in the country’s east.
“The terrorist organization Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah joined the war against the State of Israel on Oct. 8. Since then, Hezbollah has continued its attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel, and has dragged the State of Lebanon and the entire region into escalation,” the IDF said in a statement released on Saturday.
“The IDF will continue to harm anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel,” it added.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah continued on Saturday to pummel the Jewish state with rocket fire, with a surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon hitting an open area in central Israel, the IDF said.
In accordance with protocol, air raid sirens were not triggered, as the projectile was not headed for populated areas.
Hezbollah also fired a volley of Fadi-1 rockets at Kibbutz Kabri in the Western Galilee, as well 10 rockets towards Safed in the Eastern Galilee.
Additionally, a long-range missile struck in Samaria, reportedly hitting a Palestinian home in Hawara, near Nablus.
There were no reports of injuries.
U.S.-led ceasefire push
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delivered a defiant speech on Friday morning in New York City during the 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly, cut his trip short and was en route back to Israel, making the exceedingly rare decision to fly on Shabbat.
Netanyahu has urged Lebanese citizens to rise up against Hezbollah while warning that the military would not hesitate to strike anywhere in Lebanon.
“I say to the people of Lebanon: Our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. Nasrallah is leading you to the edge of the abyss,” said Netanyahu on Tuesday after a visit to an intelligence base somewhere in Israel.
“I told you to evacuate homes in which there is a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage,” he said. “Whoever has a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage will no longer have a home.”
Nevertheless, Netanyahu said on Thursday that he “shares the aim” of the U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the intensifying war with Hezbollah, speaking hours after insisting that the IDF would not back down amid reports of an imminent ceasefire.
The United States, Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar called jointly on Wednesday night for an “immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement.”
Before the statement went out, U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron stated that “it is time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that ensures safety and security to enable civilians to return to their homes.”
Neither statement mentioned Hezbollah.
IDF in escalation mode
On Thursday, the IDF killed the head of Hezbollah’s aerial forces in an airstrike in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district. Senior terrorist Muhammad Hossein Sarur commanded numerous attacks with “cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles launched at the Israeli home front,” the IDF said.
On Tuesday, Israeli Air Force jets carried out another strike in Dahiyeh, killing Ibrahim Qubaisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile array.
Last week, the IDF took credit for strike in Dahiyeh that killed more than a dozen senior Hezbollah terrorists, including Ibrahim Aqil, whom Washington also wanted for his involvement in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Jerusalem has escalated strikes on Hezbollah since adding the return of evacuated Israeli civilians to the north as an official war goal on Sept. 17.
Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing some 9,000 rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain displaced internally due to the violence.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.