Hezbollah pounds Israel with barrage of rockets
...in retaliation to recent massacres in Lebanon. This retaliation has been so severe that Netanyahu has cancelled his trip to New York.
Note to readers: the article exceeds the length limits of the e-mail. To read it in its entirety, just click on the title to open the full online version.
Al Mayadeen has reported that last night Israel was overwhelmed with a massive barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon, with air alarm sirens blaring multiple times during the night and across vast areas of Northern Israel. The situation is so serious that Israeli Prime Minister, Benhamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has cancelled his trip to New York for the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly)
Quoting Israeli media, Al Mayadeen reported between 1 and 2 AM EEST that explosions were heard “in the vicinity of the Ramat David Airbase”, “the furthest target the Lebanese group has hit in Israel since October, about 50km from the Lebanon-Israel border” (as per The Guardian), and that the city of Afula has faced “a power outage due to the attack”. Hezbollah confirmed that its…
fighters attacked the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with dozens of Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 type rockets, in response to the continuous Israeli assaults on civilians in Lebanon.
As explained in this Al Mayadeen article (emphasis mine), the Ramat David Airbase…
is home to several Israeli Air Force squadrons and F-16 fighter jets that are responsible for launching onslaughts on Lebanese territory.
[…]
The Ramat David Airbase, or the Ezer Weizman base or Wing 1, is the main base the Israeli occupation forces use for aerial operations in the northern direction, toward Lebanon and Syria. It is also the only Israeli Air Force airbase in northern occupied territories.
Among the squadrons that the base hosts are, the 109 Squadron "The Valley" - operating F-16D Barak fighter jets, the 105 Squadron "Scorpion" - operating F-16D Barak fighter jets, and the 101 Squadron "First Fighter" - operating F-16C Barak fighter jets.
The base also hosts the 160 Squadron "Shadow Hunter" and 157 Squadron "Within the Valley", which operate classified unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and the 193 Squadron "Defenders of the West", which operates an AS565 Panther helicopters, tasked with naval reconnaissance.
Moreover, the base also hosts four squadrons tasked with field support, maintenance, and management of the operations.
The same Al Mayadeen article informs us that it is the first time that Hezbollah has used long-range artillery rockets Fadi-11 and Fadi-22 since 7th October 2023.
Another Al Mayadeen article quotes Israeli media as saying that the Ramat David base is the same site where last Wednesday (18th September 2024) Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant declared the “opening of a new phase of the war in the North”. How ironic!
And it looks like Israeli air defences (Iron Dome, David’s Sling, etc.) could not do anything against such a heavy barrage of Hezbollah rockets. In fact, at ~2.30 AM EEST the Israeli Military Censor “imposed restrictions on publishing information about Hezbollah's recent attack on the Ramat David Airbase”, meaning that Israel a.k.a Little Satan must have received a serious humiliating blow, at least as humiliating as the one it received when Hezbollah targeted Glilot base and Ein Shemer facility, associated with Israeli Intelligence Unit 8200, in its Operation Arbaeen, which Hezbollah launched on Sunday 25th August 2024, when Little Satan also ordered an information blackout, in retaliation for the Israeli assassination of his senior commander Fuad Shukr (see also this article which I published 9 days ago).
At ~5.00 AM EEST Al Mayadeen reported that air alarm went off across several areas to the east of occupied Haifa, with rockets targeting Ramat David Airbase again.
At ~6.30 AM EEST sirens blared also in “Krayot, a collection of several densely populated Israeli settlements in northern Haifa”, targeted with ~30 rockets, according to Israeli media quoted by Al Mayadeen. As reported in this Al Mayadeen article, this wave of rockets targeted the Rafael military-industrial complex in the Zvulun valley, north of Haifa.
And at ~7.00 AM EEST the air alarm went off also in Tabarayya (Tiberias) region. At around the same time Al Mayadeen quoted the Islamic Resistance in Iraq as saying:
Our fighters have struck a key target in our occupied territories [Palestine] with drones.
…and again at ~10. 30 AM EEST:
We have targeted the Zionist military northern Al-Aghwar base in our occupied territories using drones.
It looks the Islamic Resistance in both Lebanon and Iraq coordinated their actions. After all, just a couple of days ago the leader in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq “pledged thousands of Iraqi fighters to support Hezbollah in Lebanon, if ordered by its Secretary General Sayyed Nasrallah”, as reported in this Al Mayadeen article, quoting Abu Alaa al-Walai, Secretary General of Iraqi Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada, as saying:
We, dear Abu Hadi, with our resistance, weapons, wealth, and lives, are soldiers fully mobilized under your command.
If you have lost a thousand martyrs, we will provide you with one hundred thousand heroes. And Allah is witness to what we say.
Please refer to this Al Mayadeen article for their coverage of these attacks by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
Getting back to the Hezbollah attacks of this morning, in this other article Al Mayadeen reported the following:
The Israeli military command said that Hezbollah launched 15 333mm long-range rocket artillery shells, which hold an explosive warhead weighing 175 kg, at the Ramat David Airbase in the initial attack.
According to these claims, this would be the first time that Hezbollah has launched this caliber of rockets at Israeli-occupied territories since October 7, 2023. Israeli media reported that only eight out of the 15 rockets were intercepted by air defenses.
In the same article, Al Mayadeen quoted an Israeli Army Radio's correspondent as saying that the attack “was launched on a target that Hezbollah had displayed in one of its videos two months ago”. A snippet of this video has been published today by Hezbollah:
The video was recorded by Hezbollah using a Hoopoe drone that had flown over the Ramat David Airbase, where it recorded key information about the base, such as “its aerial specializations and military formations; fighter jets and helicopters, transport and rescue helicopters, naval surveillance helicopters, and electronic warfare offensive systems”, as well as “the base's command building and its officials, including its current commander, Colonel Asaf Eishd, in addition to officers' residences, the fortified command building, and the command and control center”.
I reported about the full ~9.5-minute video (with English subtitles) in the article linked below back on 23rd June 2024:
A quick look at a few events this week
The week that is finishing has been quite busy, not only for me (sorry for my long absence, by the way), but also in terms of events around the world. You probably read/heard about Benjamin Netanyahu dissolving Israel’s war cabinet, the escalations between Israel and Hezbollah
…where I also included another video (with English subtitles) of Nasrallah giving an ominous warning to Little Satan - I quote (emphasis original, as in the ~1 minute video):
In case an inclusive war is imposed on Lebanon, the Resistance will fight without restraints, without rules, without limits!
Whoever thinks of war against us will regret it!
Nasrallah was very explicit in his message, which can be summed up as FAFO, i.e. F*ck Around and Find Out!
Well… guess what? Benhamin “Bibi” Netanyahu defied Nasrallah, by ignoring his warning, and now it’s paying the price for it!
It is worth highlighting this section from this Al Mayadeen article (all emphasis mine):
the rockets launched at the Ramat David Airbase originated from Hezbollah's complex underground "Imad" bases, which host multiple rocket launchers and forces.
Our sources emphasized that this attack did not include the use of precision-guided missiles and was only a preliminary response to Israeli aggression.
Stressing that the attack came in response to the continued and large-scale raids on Lebanese territories, our sources pointed out that Hezbollah's statement did not mention a response to the Israeli aggression on the Southern Suburbs of Beirut or the assassination of commanders or the communication devices terror attack. [See these Al Mayadeen articles regarding Israeli attacks in Beirut on Friday and the commanders targeted by Little Satan: 1, 2, 3 and 4]
I wanted to highlight these paragraphs for the following reasons:
these rocket barrages counter recent statements by Israeli officials saying that they have destroyed hundreds of rocket launchers in recent air strikes; instead, Hezbollah’s rocket launchers are well protected and defended in underground bases, as they showed once in another video (watch it at the end of the article I published on 16th August 2024);
until last night Hezbollah used only precision missiles; switching to non-guided missile marks a significant escalation, though - from what I understand - most rockets hit their designated targets;
Hezbollah stated that the attack it launched last night “was only a preliminary response to Israeli aggression”, but without referring to the “Israeli aggression on the Southern Suburbs of Beirut or the assassination of commanders or the communication devices terror attack”, meaning that a much more violent retaliation for these outrageous acts of war will probably come soon.
In short, Israel put itself in a very dangerous situation. In fact, in an interview with Sky News, Israeli president Isaac Herzog looked beaten and said (all emphasis mine):
We do not want war. We absolutely did not seek this war. We did not want this war. This war was instigated by the Empire of Evil, the Iranian proxies in the region under the command of Iran […]
Israel is not interested to be at war with Lebanon. I am actually saying something very, very clear: we do not want to get into a war with Lebanon, but… Lebanon has been hijacked by a terror organization which is also a political party in Lebanon called Hezbollah, it’s been armed to its teeeth by the Iranian empire of evil […]
We don’t wanna to get to war. We don’t. We wanna bring our citizens back to the homes on the border with Lebanon.
Dear Herzog, if you do not want to get to war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, just stop the genocide in Gaza and Hezbollah (and the Houthis) will stop their attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians. As simple as that!
It’s “funny” that Herzog keeps repeating that he does not want war, yet he and his accomplices carry on with indiscriminate violence. To me it looks like Little Satan is shitting its pants, after Hezbollah’s rocket barrage last night! As usual, Israeli officials blame Iran and call Hezbollah a terrorist organization and so on… the usual lies, the usual shit. But, seriously, who is the terrorist? Hezbollah, who launches targeted rocket barrages against legitimate military bases, or Little Satan, who kills indiscriminately civilians (women and children included!) with air strikes in residential areas and now even with hundred or thousands of booby-traps in civilian objects?
Nevertheless, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu does not seem to have learnt the lesson and keeps doubling down, as reported by The Guardian, which quoted Bibi as saying:
If Hezbollah has not understood the message, I promise you, it will understand the message.
No country can tolerate firing on its citizens, on its cities, and us – the State of Israel – will not tolerate it. We will do everything necessary to restore security.
As usual, citizens’ safety and security applies only to Israelis, not to Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, etc., who are considered inferior, if not “human animals”, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Palestinians almost one year ago, after Al Aqsa Flood operation. The safety and security of Palestinians and citizens of countries neighbouring Israel has always been at risk since the foundation of this terrorist state in 1948.
By the way, yesterday (Saturday 21st September 2024) Al Mayadeen reported that Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned Israel at the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) that violence would not help Israeli settlers return to the north of their country, adding:
It is now clear that Israel does not adhere to international law or humanitarian law, nor to resolutions issued by United Nations bodies. Israel has consistently ignored international legitimacy and human rights because it is used to not being held accountable, receiving only weak condemnations for its violations, which merely express regret.
So, as promised by Nasrallah in his latest speech, which I covered here, Hezbollah has now “expanded the range of missile launches to 60 km”, as confirmed also by Israeli media quoted by Al Mayadeen, reporting that “two million settlers are now within the reach of Resistance fire following the latest attacks”. In particular… (emphasis mine)
Israeli Channel 13 reported that the areas targeted by Hezbollah rockets—Al-Nasiriyah, Afula, and Migdal HaEmek—were not included in the guidelines provided by the Homefront Command to settlers in preparation for potential Hezbollah strikes.
WHOOPS! That’s quite embarrassing for Netanyahu and Gallant. It looks like they are going to face the wrath of their citizens too…
Finally, this afternoon Al Mayadeen has reported the following statements pronounced by Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc in the Lebanese Parliament, in a speech delivered during the memorial ceremony held by Hezbollah for its commander Fadhl Bazzi (emphasis mine):
What benefit did the enemy gain from its preemptive actions? Someone who claims to have thwarted an operation should have prevented its execution, but that wasn't the case.
Despite all the attacks, bombings, assassinations, and airstrikes, there was the Resistance launching heavy missiles to key enemy bases.
We have a strong, capable Resistance, ready and prepared for any scenario, war, or confrontation.
The brothers who took on the new responsibilities immediately began their work and confronted the enemy right after the night of aggression on the Southern Suburb of Beirut.
Everything the enemy has done has not prevented our Resistance from continuing to support Gaza.
We have set a clear goal for this war from the very start: to support the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank; our goal is to put pressure on the enemy from the northern front to put an end to its aggression on Gaza.
On a very final note, this morning the military forces of “the only democracy of the Middle East” (i.e. Israel or Little Satan) stormed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, handing over a military closure order to Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omar, as reported by The Guardian. For commentary on this event, please refer to this excellent article by Caitlin Johnstone:
P.S.: Just before publishing, The Guardian has reported this snippet:
So, it looks like Little Satan opened Pandora’s box with its recent sabotage and electronic warfare in Lebanon: the Middle East is on fire!
220 mm calibre rocket launched from a multiple rocket launcher (MRL), with a maximum range of 80 km.
302 mm calibre rocket launched from an MRL, with a maximum range of 105 km.
Thanks for all this information, Ismaele.
I don't know what Israel expects when it bombs neighbouring countries and commits war crimes.
Terrifying that Al Jazeera's office in the West Bank has been destroyed. I hate to think of what Israel is up to there.
Thanks for the information, it's becoming worse every day for getting unbiased truth in the West