Israel seems set on liquidating Hezbollah. Beginning with its assassination of the group’s chief of staff, Fuad Shukr, on July 30, the Israelis have been decimating Hezbollah’s senior leadership in rapid succession—culminating in the previously unimaginable assassination of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
After carrying out an explosive act of vengeance against Israel, Iran is preparing for the country to strike back in another dangerous round of escalation that has the potential to push the Middle East into an all-out war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Iran would “pay” after the Islamic Republic fired up to 200 missiles against its longtime foe in response to the assassination of Hamas’s chief in Tehran, the killing of the leader of Hezbollah and a senior Iranian military official in Beirut and other Israel-linked actions across the Middle East.
Many in the Middle East and America hailed the September 27 Israeli assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Television stations in Israel had singing and dancing in their studios and some reporters handed out chocolate on the streets.
In time, they may come to regret these celebrations.
Iran will be hoping that it has reinforced its credibility in the Middle East with its attack on Israel, but it is more likely to prompt a damaging Israeli response.
It will take time for both confirmation and reliable assessments of damage on the ground to come out, but at the moment and based on various government briefings, it appears that between 180 and 200 ballistic missiles were launched from Iran at several targets in Israel on the evening of 1 October. This is nearly double the number of ballistic missiles involved in Iran’s attack in April. At the time of writing, there do not appear to have been any accompanying cruise missiles or drones, including anything launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah.
Proxy groups from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Yemen ‘commend’ missile attacks and threaten escalation of operations
Armed militant groups in the Iran-backed “axis of resistance” have welcomed Tehran’s launch of more than a hundred missiles against targets in Israel on Tuesday and called for further attacks.
Four Iraqi troops were killed Wednesday and several wounded in an ambush by the extremist Islamic State group, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said.
The attack came days after the U.S. military announced that troops from its coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria will withdraw from Iraqi territory next year but maintain a presence in Syria until 2026.
When Hamas launched an attack against Israel on 7th October, 2024, Israel was caught unaware and unprepared. In the attack, around 1200 people in Israel lost their lives and around 250 people were taken as hostage by Hamas. It was an unprovoked attack. This attack can justifiably be termed as act of terrorism, though Hamas claims that it was justified from their viewpoint.
The Lebanese Army Command confirmed on Wednesday that “an Israeli enemy force breached the Blue Line for approximately 400 meters inside Lebanese territory in the areas of Khirbet Yaroun and Bab Al-Adaisseh, and withdrew after a short period.”
The incursion, justified by the aim of eliminating Hezbollah, resulted in three confrontations with the group — along the road to Adaisseh, in the town of Maroun Al-Ras, and on the road to Yaroun.
What happened?
In early October 2024, Iran launched an attack against Israel, using about 180 Fateh ballistic missiles, which were launched from Iranian territory and targeted, according to Iranian sources, Mossad headquarters and three major air bases, including the Nevatim base in southern Israel, and Israeli troop concentrations around the Gaza Strip. This is Iran’s second direct attack against Israel since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Terror organization: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Status: was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination by the United States in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations, and played a key role in the Syrian Civil War through securing Russian intervention.