Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah had fired 1,000 munitions at Israel since October 7 when the Israel-Hamas war broke out in Gaza, and warned that Tehran was increasing its attacks against Israel.
Un grand nombre de soldats israéliens ont été tués à Beit Hanoun alors que plus loin, à Sdérot les sirènes d’alarme ont retenti suite à l’explosion d’un drone israélien abattu par le Hezbollah.
Ce samedi 18 novembre, les combattants de la Résistance palestinienne ont tué de nombreux soldats israéliens dans la ville de Beit Hanoun, a rapporté le correspondant de la chaîne Al-Mayadeen à Gaza.
While the southern port city of Eilat has largely been quiet since the beginning of the war, being 175 miles away from the Gaza strip, events in recent days seemed to have disturbed the serene and laid back nature of Israel’s most prominent vacation spot, courtesy of none other than Yemen’s Islamist political and armed organization that emerged from the Yemeni governorate of Saada in the 1990s, called Ansar Allah, also knows as the Houthis.
Michael Rose, an assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, calls for the U.S. to deploy one or both U.S. Navy hospital ships to the coast of Gaza to treat Palestinian children ages 15 and under. I always welcome any attempt at a constructive solution, and this proposal would likely do some good — helping save lives among the indisputably genuinely innocent Palestinians, with certain precautions in place to ensure Hamas doesn’t attempt to get care for its injured combatants.
On November 11, 2023, Lebanon’s Shi’ite Amal Movement announced that one of its operatives, ‘Ali Jamil Al-Hajj Dawoud, had been targeted in an act of “direct aggression by the oppressive Israeli enemy” in the Rab El Thalathine village of southern Lebanon, leading to his “martyrdom” and the injury of two other “mujahideen.” The announcement stated that Dawoud was born in 1988 in the village of Mlikh, Jezzine district.[1]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s close relations with Hamas, the public record of which goes back nearly 20 years, appear to have been largely unaffected by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. While there are rumors that Isma’il Haniyeh, who has since 2017 been chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, was in Istanbul on October 7, and reports that Erdoğan thereafter asked him and the rest of Hamas to leave Turkey, the veracity of these claims remains unclear.
The party may escalate on the southern border with Israel, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will reach the level of bombing cities.
The speech last week of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah left many in Lebanon and beyond relieved, as he defended his organization’s limited engagement in the Gaza war and called the Lebanese front against Israel a “solidarity and support” front. Nasrallah did so mostly to underline the party’s secondary role in the conflict, in which Palestinian fighters are taking the lead.
Delegation From Iraqi Shi’ite Militias Enters Deir Al-Zour To Discuss Recent Attacks On U.S. Bases
On November 7, 2023, the Syrian opposition website Euphrates Post published a report claiming that a military delegation of the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades militia, Al-Nujaba Movement militia, and Sayyid Al-Shuhada Brigades Militias, including senior commanders, had arrived in Al-Bukamal, on the Iraqi border in eastern Syria’s Deir Al-Zour governorate.[1]
Yemeni military expert and strategic analyst Colonel Mujib Shamsan said on an October 31, 2023 show on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) that the Houthis will continue to launch missiles and UAVs at Israeli and American targets. He said that if matters escalate, then any naval passage by Israeli or American vessels in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandab Strait could be targeted. The show host commented that the Houthis are implementing their motto “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Brigadier-General Mohsen Rafighdoost, former Minister of the IRGC – a position that later evolved into Minister of Defense – said on an October 28, 2023 show on Channel 3 (Iran) that Iran holds hostages from “powers” – supposedly meaning Western countries – that have military presence in the region. He added that if attacked, Iran can “eliminate” these hostages within 30 to 60 minutes. Rafighdoost added: “Inshallah, we will get an opportunity to do this.” During the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Rafighdoost was the head of Ayatollah Khomeini’s security detail.