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Radwan Force’s Plans for Oct. 7-Style Massacre Mostly Thwarted

Illustrative. Mourners carry a coffin during the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher

JNS.orgThe Israeli Air Force significantly disrupted Hezbollah’s offensive plans targeting Israel’s northern communities by eliminating the leadership of the group’s elite Radwan Force on Sept. 20.

The strike, which killed the head of Hezbollah’s Operations Unit, Ibrahim Aqil, who also commanded the Radwan Force, and 15 other senior terrorists, including five Radwan sector commanders, targeted a Hezbollah basement in Dahiya, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut. However, despite the success of the operation, the threat posed by the Radwan Force has not been entirely removed.

The Radwan Force’s plan to infiltrate the Galilee and go on mass killing and kidnapping missions served as the blueprint for the elite Hamas Nukhba Force’s mass murder attack on the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7. Hezbollah’s plan involved infiltrating northern Israel to massacre civilians, kidnap soldiers and hold territory.

 “The senior Radwan terrorists were planning to achieve an attack and to carry out a terror attack on Israeli communities in the north, to massacre, murder, kidnap Israeli civilians. And we prevented that by that attack [on Hezbollah in Beirut on Sept. 20]” said a military official on Monday.

He continued, “We need to make sure that all the infrastructure that those Radwan Force members had built next to the border in Israel that are threatening the Israeli communities are destroyed.”

The IAF’s strike on Aqil and his commanders followed months of systematic efforts by the IDF to weaken the Radwan Force. Since the start of the war in October 2023, the IDF has consistently targeted Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Southern Lebanon, focusing particularly on Radwan’s military-terror capabilities.

The Radwan Force, which functions as Hezbollah’s special operations unit, was tasked with executing offensive operations, including the planned infiltration of the Galilee.

According to Israeli assessments, this unit had spent years refining its strategy to seize Israeli towns, hold civilians hostage and massacre Israeli civilians. In December 2018, the IDF uncovered tunnels running from Lebanon into Israel that were to be used by Radwan to inject thousands of its operatives into the Galilee. Since then, the unit appears to have switched to planning overground attacks.

The IDF’s large-scale deployment on the northern border also helps keep such threats under better control.

Chain of command

On Sept. 22, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the IDF General Staff, highlighted the significance of the IAF airstrike two days earlier.

“Last Friday, we struck the chain of command of Hezbollah’s elite force—the Radwan Force—and also its senior commander, Ibrahim Aqil, was eliminated. This was a very important capability in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, I know how much it shakes up the organization. For years these commanders had been making plans to conquer the Galilee, and they are responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians as well as soldiers over the years,” Halevi said.

“They were planning how to execute the next attack, and it is possible that they were working on that very plan in the meeting on Friday afternoon—working on how to infiltrate the State of Israel, murder civilians, kidnap IDF soldiers. We preempted them. It happened through the very good capabilities of the IDF, both in intelligence and in offensive capabilities,” the general continued.

“The IDF’s strike on Hezbollah’s chain of command is a clear message to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, it harms them greatly, and it is also a message to the entire Middle East and beyond it: We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” Halevi said.

Despite the successful elimination of Aqil and his immediate command structure, concerns remain that Hezbollah could still attempt smaller-scale infiltrations using the surviving junior commanders. As such, the threat of sudden, swift cross-border attacks from the Radwan Force persists, albeit at smaller scale.

Aqil was a long-standing senior Hezbollah commander with a history of leading terror operations against Israel and Western targets. He was responsible for several high-profile attacks, including the September 2019 anti-tank missile strike in Moshav Avivim on the Lebanese border and the March 2023 IED attack near the Megiddo Junction in the Jezreel Valley.

Aqil was also directly implicated in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people. The United States listed him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist due to his involvement in attacks that killed American soldiers and civilians, and offered up to $7 million for information leading to his capture.

Aqil had replaced Wissam al-Tawil, aka Jawad al-Tawil, as the commander of the Radwan Force after al-Tawil’s elimination in January this year.

Aqil was in charge of several key Hezbollah units, including its combat engineering forces, anti-tank units and air defense systems. He played a central role in the development of Hezbollah’s military strategy, which aimed to exploit the region’s terrain and population centers for future conflicts with Israel.

Aqil is believed to have been in charge of the plan to conquer the Galilee, which Hezbollah wanted to implement but was derailed by Hamas’s invasion on Oct. 7.

The original invasion plan was revealed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2012, and further detailed in a 2014 broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al Mayadeen satellite news television channel. The broadcast outlined the strategy for seizing Israeli territory and presented areas where Hezbollah planned to attack. Aqil played a leading role in the development of this plan, which remains a key part of Hezbollah’s strategic objectives.

The Radwan Force’s training and experience, gained during the Syrian civil war, has made it one of the most dangerous elements of Hezbollah’s military structure. The group’s use of civilian infrastructure to hide its forces and launch attacks poses a continued challenge to Israeli security.

The post Radwan Force’s Plans for Oct. 7-Style Massacre Mostly Thwarted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.

Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.

The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.

Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.

The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel

People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.

At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.

Mass prayers were later held in the square.

State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.

In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.

“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.

There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.

Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

TRUMP THREAT

Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.

Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.

A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.

According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.

Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.

Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.

The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival

Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

i24 NewsChants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.

One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.

This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.

The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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