Defense officials: It was a mistake not to have said this during the Second Lebanon War in 2006; IDF has significantly boosted its ‘target bank,’ which is now said to contain thousands of Hezbollah targets.
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Tag Archive for Hezbollah
IDF considering interceptors for sea-based gas platforms
Fearing missiles, Navy seeking budget for 4 new vessels to improve defense coverage of Mediterranean Sea; Israel concerned Hezbollah will try to attack platforms.
The IDF is considering the deployment of missile interceptors on gas rigs that Israeli companies plan to construct in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in the coming years, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Israel’s concern is that Hezbollah will try to attack the platforms with anti-ship missiles or explosives-laden vessels.
Leviathan holds 453 billion cu.m. of gas – Photo: Albatross
The navy is particularly concerned about Syria’s recent purchase of the Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile, which could be transferred to Hezbollah and used to target the gas rigs. Continue Reading »
Israeli officials see Syria falling into battle between al-Qaida, Iran
Israeli officials are also concerned about reports showing Syrian weapons falling into Hezbollah’s hands, though it is still unclear whether the Shi’ite organization has gotten hold of chemical weapons.
Israeli officials are very skeptical the Syrian government and opposition will stick to the cease-fire that UN envoy Kofi Annan hopes will take hold on Tuesday.
Funerals in Syria. Photo by: AP
Annan, a former UN general secretary, has been traveling to Syria for several weeks in an attempt to broker a truce between President Bashar Assad and opposition forces, after many months of unrest.
Human rights reports show that more than 100 civilians have been executed so far this year, and the opposition says more than 150 civilians – including 17 children – were killed on Monday alone.
Ex-Argentina president to face Iran terror cover-up trial
Carlos Menem, several former officials will be tried for allegedly protecting accomplices of Hezbollah, Iran, who are believed to have been behind 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85.
Continue Reading »‘Hamas, Hezbollah helping Iran in Yemen’
US envoy to Sanaa tells ‘al-Hayat’ that Washington believes Tehran working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen.
Washington believes that Hezbollah and Hamas are helping their backers in Iran to expand its influence in Yemen at the expense of Yemen’s Gulf neighbors, the US envoy to Sanaa told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.
In a London interview, Gerald Feierstein was quoted as accusing Hezbollah and Hamas of helping their backers in Shi’ite Iran at the expense of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc in which Sunni-led oil giant Saudi Arabia’s influence is dominant.
Iran is working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen and secessionists in the country’s south to expand its influence, Feierstein said.
Report: Iran planned to bomb Israeli ship in Suez Canal
Egyptian paper Al-Ahram reports that two Egyptian citizens received instructions from Iranian agents to attack an Israeli ship, and offered a third man 50 million Egyptian pounds to carry out the act.
Iran had planned to bomb an Israeli ship while it crossed the Suez Canal, the prosecution in Egypt’s state security court said, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Saturday.
According to the report, two Egyptians were recently arrested and investigated for allegedly planning an attack on an Israeli ship in the Suez Canal.
The investigation of the two found that they had received their instructions from Iranian agents, and that the two asked a third person, by the name of Mohamed Zakri, to carry out the act in exchange for 50 million Egyptian pounds.
Iran rebukes Azeri envoy over terror plot
Azeri ambassador summoned to Iranian Foreign Ministry following arrest of 22 suspects allegedly connected to Revolutionary Guards: ‘Zionist agents attempt to incriminate Iran’
Azeri Ambassador to Iran, Avanshir Akhundov, was summoned to Iranian Foreign Ministry offices on Saturday for a reprimand over the Azeris’ arrest of 22 people allegedly hired by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks against US and Israeli embassies. The suspects were trained in Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, an Azeri announcement said.
According to a report by Iran’s IRNA news agency, it was suggested in the meeting that agents of the Zionist regime were trying to incriminate Iranians. Continue Reading »
Israel concerned UNIFIL heading toward collapse
Concern follows France, Italy decide to withdraw significant number of troops from the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
Israel is growing concerned that UNIFIL, the multi-national peacekeeping force in Lebanon, is headed toward collapse with a French decision this week to withdraw a significant number of its troops.
Following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel succeeded in getting a number of European countries to contribute soldiers to the peacekeeping force, whose mandate was also beefed up as part of an international effort to prevent Hezbollah’s rearmament. The force was bolstered to include 12,000 soldiers in comparison to the few thousand it consisted of before the war. Continue Reading »
Nasrallah, Hamas: Israel ‘tested’ Gaza factions ahead of possible Iran strike
Hezbollah leader meets top Islamist group figures in Lebanon; according to local newspaper, they claimed Israel instigated latest round of violence in south to gauge terrorists’ readiness to take part in regional conflict |
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah met with senior Hamas figures on Monday to discuss regional developments, Lebanese newspaper Al-Sapir reported.
Hassan Nasrallah - Photo: EPA
According to the report, published Wednesday, Hamas’ delegation was headed by Deputy Politburo Chief Moussa Abu Marzouk. The meeting in Lebanon focused on the latest round of violence between Israel and Gaza, the uprising in Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood’s ties to Hezbollah and Iran. Continue Reading »
Hezbollah is in trouble
OPINION: With Iran and Assad sinking, Lebanese terror group faces existential concerns
With Iran plummeting and Assad sinking, Hezbollah is also going down. The days of its intoxication with power are gone. The Shiite axis is fighting for its life and Hezbollah has become the most hated organization in the Arab world. Those betting on the Syrian president, who butchers with no mercy, are crushing along with him.
One need not get excited about the speeches delivered by Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah; these are almost comic speeches, portraying the organization as stable and aggressive. Yet does he really think that Israel’s public opinion buys into his statements as it did in the past? Continue Reading »
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