Operation Iron Swords - Day 73 - 18 December 2023
Ccontents |
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NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages |
UN Security Council resolution 1701, which was passed at the end of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, stated that no armed factions should be present between Lebanon's Litani River and the border. Resolution 1701 on Lebanon needs to be implemented by both sides, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at a news conference in Lebanon.
IDF Spokerperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, delivered an unusual English statement, warning “Hezbollah — a proxy of Iran — is dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that would have devastating consequences for the people of Lebanon”. Hagari said in a statement. “This is a war that they do not deserve.” Hagari said Israel will continue to protect its borders “until and unless a diplomatic solution is found and implemented.”
“Since the Hamas massacre of October 7, Hezbollah has been increasing its attacks against Israel: firing rockets, missiles, and drones; killing Israeli civilians and soldiers; and displacing over 80,000 Israelis from their homes in the North," Hagari said. "When it comes to existential threats, we regard every day as though it’s October 6, so that the Hamas massacre of October 7 never happens again — on any one of our borders," he said. "Until and unless a diplomatic solution is found and implemented" regarding the Hezbollah problem, the IDF "will continue making the necessary preparations to remove the threat from our border.”
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist army in Lebanon “is dangerously dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war,” Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus warned. “The situation along the northern border along the [U.N.-delineated] Blue Line is not one that we can tolerate, and we are looking for safety for Israeli civilians living behind our internationally established and recognized borders,” said Conricus.
“We as the IDF will welcome any diplomatic solution that will be found to the presence of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and their systemic violation of [U.N. Security Council Resolution] 1701 and their continued acts of aggression towards Israel. If a diplomatic solution will be found, that would be very good if it is a sustainable and solid solution. If not, the IDF is prepared and will use the tools at its disposal in order to defend its civilians and allow them to return safely to their homes and continue living their lives,” he cautioned.
“We’re talking about more than 80,000 Israeli civilians that have been evacuated from their homes as a preventive measure now for more than 70 days,” Conricus said. “And just as Israel didn’t start and didn’t ask for the war that started on the 7th of October by Hamas attack against Israel, we have not started the fighting with Hezbollah, Hezbollah is entirely the aggressor. And we will of course defend ourselves, defend our sovereignty and defend our civilians,” he said.
“We have been responding by striking Hezbollah targets, military targets in Lebanon, of course, south of the Litani [River] specifically, and we have been striking Hezbollah targets at various locations. Hezbollah, who as everybody knows, is a proxy of Iran, is dangerously dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that could have potential devastating consequences for the state of Lebanon and for the people of Lebanon,” said Conricus.
“And as we said before, we understand that Israeli civilians cannot go back to the situation that existed along our borders, not around Gaza, the ‘Gaza envelope,’ and not along the Blue Line with Lebanon, before the security situation changes significantly,” he said. “Today, Israelis are not safe and it is our top priority to return safety to Israeli civilians, and we see it as an existential threat to Israeli civilians who live close to the border,” he continued.
“We see Hezbollah’s continued violation of U.N. Security Resolution 1701 as very severe. Frankly, 1701 has been rendered effectively null and void,” he stated. “There is not one single component of 1701 that is relevant and active today, and that has of course international and regional consequences,” Conricus said.
More than 130 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, four civilians and seven soldiers have been killed, according to officials.
Operational Update
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Monday that Israel will gradually move to the next phase of operations in the Gaza war, in which residents may be able to return to the northern coastal enclave. The Minister of Defense said, in a joint press conference with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in Tel Aviv, “I can tell you that we will soon be able to distinguish between different areas in Gaza.”
Gallant explained, “In every area where we complete our mission, we will be able to gradually move to the next stage and begin working on returning the population. This means that this can be achieved perhaps sooner in northern Gaza than in the south.” The Israeli Defense Minister did not provide details on how to return the population or whether there was a timetable for that step, but at the same time he stressed that confronting Hamas “will take time,” stressing that the war aims to destroy the armed movement and recover all the hostages in Gaza.
The forces of Golani's divisional combat team are currently engaged in intense fighting against an incoming battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization. From the beginning of the fighting, they eliminated many terrorists in this neighborhood, located and destroyed over 10 tunnels, cleared the area and confiscated weapons and intelligence materials found inside the homes of activists. Division 252 completed its mission in the Beit Hanon area: the fighters destroyed terrorist infrastructures, underground tunnels and eliminated many terrorists.
The fighters of the multi-dimensional unit under the command of the 551 Brigade Combat Team located in the home of a senior member of the terrorist organization Hamas in the Jaliya region, suitcases of terrorist funds worth about NIS 5,000,000 and many weapons. An Air Force aircraft detected a suspicious cell entering the terror infrastructure of the Hamas organization in the Khan Yunis area. The combat team of the Givati Hakavin Brigade from an Air Force combat helicopter that attacked and eliminated the squad.
In the last day, the forces of the sea arm attacked terrorist targets of the terrorist organization Hamas and targets of assistance to the ground forces in their activities on the shores of the Gaza Strip.
Air Force fighter jets attacked several targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, including terrorist infrastructure, a launch site and a military structure. In addition, IDF fighters identified and attacked terrorists in a known area of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Following the alert that was activated in the northern part of the country, the air defense fighters successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from the territory of Lebanon to the territory of Israel. A warning of rocket and missile fire was activated following intercept fragments. Starting in the morning, the IDF attacked with artillery in Lebanese territory. In addition, IDF forces and aircraft attacked an anti-tank squad in Lebanese territory. Also, in the morning several launches were detected from the territory of Lebanon towards the Yaara area.
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon attacked two Israeli Iron Dome batteries in the northern Israeli settlement of "Kabri" near the occupied Palestinian-Lebanese border area. The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, - during his military analysis for Al Jazeera - said that the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip has the upper hand in the field, and can impose its conditions at the negotiating table, citing the epic scenes broadcast today against the occupation army. Al-Duwairi commented on the scenes broadcast by Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) - to withdraw damaged Israeli vehicles and rescue officers and soldiers, and said that they were in the possession of the occupation army, and were taken from a very close distance in Gaza City.
He pointed out that the area from which the damaged vehicles were withdrawn was almost secured to treat the injured, and therefore these scenes were with one of the occupation soldiers and the Al-Qassam Brigades succeeded in reaching him and obtaining the camera. He stressed that these scenes are shocking to the Israelis and have a major impact on Israel and its army for two reasons: The first is the numbers of those killed and wounded in ground battles, and the second is the method of obtaining them and later broadcasting them through the military media of the Al-Qassam Brigades.
The military expert touched on the scenes of Al-Qassam targeting an exposed Israeli vehicle in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, and said that the hit was accurate and fatal, adding that the resistance in the field dictates the time, place, and method of selecting and seizing the target. He added that the injury would have been greater and more painful if the fighter had arrived in the area 60 seconds earlier, as Israeli tanks and armored vehicles with larger numbers of soldiers passed before the targeted vehicle. Therefore, it would have been “a rich and more influential target.”
Al-Duwairi stressed that he does not take into account the casualty figures announced by the occupation army, stressing that they are much higher based on the intensity of the battles and the intensity of the fighting. He noted that the major Israeli newspapers are relatively subject to military censorship, but they do not publish the whole truth. However, they publish figures for the losses of the occupation army that are much higher than what the latter announces, in addition to hospital numbers.
According to his military point of view, the Israeli losses are many times greater than what is announced, especially since it is not possible to photograph and document all the resistance operations due to the security conditions, specifically in the southern Gaza Strip, where the agricultural and agricultural distances are wide.
The military expert pointed out that the lines of engagement are fixed in most of the fighting axes, and the Israeli mechanisms are even retreating, and if the circle of clashes expands, it is the resistance that imposes this, not the occupation army. He stressed that if Israel entered a conventional war, “it would have won the battle, even if the area of Gaza was tens of times larger.” But it collided with fighters who were prepared psychologically, morally, physically and skillfully, and who believed that Palestine was a pure and sacred Arab land that must be liberated, sooner or later.
He reiterated his assertion that the occupation army entered deep into Gaza, but did not take control, citing the resistance operations taking place in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the north and Juhr al-Dik in the east of the central region, despite tens of thousands of tons that were dropped on Gaza, which he claimed had 5 times greater destructiveness than what was dropped on Nagasaki in terms of force.
International newspapers and news sites focused, in their coverage of the war on the Gaza Strip, on what they considered Israel’s failure to “eliminate” the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and some newspapers cited what is happening to the army in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. "Time" magazine touched on To what it said was the tendency of European officials to call for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, the change in the tone of the American administration towards Israel, and the increasing focus on the Israeli war on the Hamas movement. The magazine wrote - based on experts - that “eliminating Hamas’ ideology is impossible even if Israel is able to eliminate the government in Gaza... Rather, this will result in a vacuum that must be filled.”
In the same context, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper wrote: “Any announcement of the destruction of Hamas soon will be an illusion and divorced from reality,” and it pointed out that the situation in Khan Yunis is different and more complex than what was the case in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli newspaper added, “The army teams operating there know that their time is limited at a time when important indicators are emerging that the Hamas leadership still controls the brigades operating in Khan Yunis.” According to the newspaper, Hamas has proven to be an endless army.
As for the "Wall Street Journal" newspaper, it touched on Hamas’ ability to build tunnels, and her article stated, “The specifications of the tunnel that the Israeli army talked about reveal the extent of the Hamas movement’s investment in building its own tunnel network and the extent of Israel’s lack of knowledge of its details.” The newspaper adds that the size of the tunnel - which Israel says is close to a military base - raises “many questions about the number of other tunnels of the same size that Hamas was able to build near Israel without its army’s knowledge.”
The Israeli army said earlier that it had uncovered what it described as a giant tunnel network that was managed by Muhammad Al-Sanwar, brother of the leader of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Al-Sanwar
On the other hand, Haaretz newspaper said in its editorial, the Israeli government stated that the return of detainees held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza was at the top of its agenda, and that it was working to reach an agreement to release them. It wrote, “The killing of the hostages is a serious incident that requires immediate lessons to be drawn and a change in approach, whether with regard to the priority of the hostage deal or the nature of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.” Another article from Haaretz dealt with the state of the Israeli economy, pointing to growing concern among decision-makers in Israel about increasing government spending to finance the war in Gaza and compensate those affected by the attacks of last October 7.
At the end of a situation assessment, it was decided that starting today (Monday) at 18:00, all the restrictions in the city of Ashkelon will be lifted in workplaces and educational activities. Also, at the beginning of the week it was decided to increase the gathering quota to 5,000 people in the areas defined under a green policy. The instructions published by the Home Front Command in the official means of distribution should continue to be followed. The full instructions are updated on the national emergency portal and the Home Front Command website.
In a joint operation of the IDF soldiers in reserve, the MGB and the Shi District of the Israel Police, the forces confiscated more than 1,500 illegal vehicles (mashtoves) throughout Judea and Samaria in more than 15 special activities. These are illegal vehicles that were taken off the road for various reasons. Many times the Mishtova were used to carry out attacks against the forces or against civilians and were also involved in traffic accidents.
Houthi rebels said they launched a drone attack targeting two cargo vessels in the Red Sea, the latest in a series of assaults that have disrupted maritime trade as freight companies seek to avoid the area. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea on Monday identified the vessels as the MSC Clara and Norwegian-owned Swan Atlantic and said the attacks were carried out after their crews failed to respond to calls from the group.
he Yemeni naval forces executed a top-tier military operation today against two ships with connections to the Israeli occupation, the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree specified. Saree revealed in a statement that Swan Atlantic, an oil tanker, and MSC Clara, a ship carrying cargo containers, were targeted by two naval drones.
He affirmed that the targeting of the two ships came after the crew of the two ships refused to respond to the calls of the Yemeni naval forces. The Yemeni forces reiterated their commitment to the security of global maritime traffic. Saree emphasized that the Yemeni Naval Forces will only target ships headed to Israeli ports. He assured all ships commuting to any port in the world that they would not be harmed, and called on them to keep their transponders open.
War Zone revealed, citing a Pentagon official who requested anonymity, that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during his upcoming trip to the Middle East this week, is set to unveil an international initiative called "Prosperity Guardian". According to the website, the purpose of this program is to safeguard ships in the Red Sea from potential operations. The group's activities would include patrolling the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.
US efforts to establish a maritime military coalition to counter the growing escalation by Yemen, which has launched a phase of operations since November in support of Gaza in the face of the Israeli brutal war, is currently being blocked by a core dispute among Washington's Arab allies, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which started during their war on Yemen years ago and set a race for dominance and influence in West Asia, has become a major obstacle today in the face of the US plans.
Since Yemen enforced an equation of targeting all Israeli and Israeli-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea, which later expanded the scope to the Arabian Sea and to include any cargo ship heading to the occupation entity regardless of its nationality, several major shipping companies announced redirecting their ships away from the prohibited areas.
The new route would see commercial vessels circling Africa to reach destinations in the Mediterranean, which would increase delivery time and shipping costs. Additionally, the insurance premiums were hiked on all merchandise making its way to the entity due to rising security risks.
Riyadh supports a more balanced approach, fearing severe retaliation from Sanaa, as seen in previous years, particularly with the attacks on Aramco in 2019 - which disrupted half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production after targeting an oil-processing plant. This concern also arises in the context of ongoing peace talks following 8 years of failed aggression against the country. Furthermore, the Kingdom believes diplomatic discussions with Iran would help solve the matter and avert a military escalation, reflecting a new Saudi policy toward the Islamic Republic following the China-brokered rapprochement deal last March.
Despite Sanaa also proving that it is capable of causing extensive damage to the UAE, evidently from several previous operations, the Gulf state is urging Washington to launch a military attack on Yemen and to redesignate Ansar Allah as a "terrorist organization". “There’s mounting pressure on Washington to take more robust action, and a pivot is coming,” analysts at Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based risk advisory firm, said, commenting on the issue, pointing out that the situation in the Red Sea, added to the Israeli confrontations with Lebanese Resistance Hezbollah, “may prompt markets to start pricing in geopolitical risk.”
Taiwanese container shipping company Evergreen said it had decided to temporarily stop accepting Israeli goods with immediate effect and instructed its container ships to suspend navigation through the Red Sea until further notice. Evergreen added that ships in the regional services of Red Sea ports will sail to nearby safe waters and await further notice. Container ships scheduled to pass through the Red Sea will also be redirected around the Cape of Good Hope to continue their journeys to the ports.
Evergreen's announcement came a few hours after the leading British oil company, British Petroleum, announced the suspension of all transportation operations through the Red Sea "temporarily", following attacks launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran, in the Red Sea.
Maps
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All maps are lies. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. Thes processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. |
Bystanders
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that Israel wants the Palestinian Authority to be an “administrative security authority,” stressing that “the Palestinian leadership It is not according to anyone’s size, its legitimacy comes from its people, and the people’s voice is in the ballot box.” This came in a speech during the opening of the weekly session of the Palestinian government in the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. Palestinian.
Recently, there has been increased talk about the form and role of the Palestinian Authority after the war on the Gaza Strip, as Israel rejects the current form of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. For weeks, Ramallah and Tel Aviv have witnessed intense visits by a number of European and American officials.
The US administration's confidence in the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, and their effective activities to prevent many attacks on Israel, prompts discussion of reactivating those forces and their security services to play a role in the Gaza Strip after the war, according to reports published by Western and Israeli media. Last week, the American Bloomberg Agency reported, citing Shtayyeh, that the Palestinian Authority is working with American officials on a plan to manage the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.
In his speech, Shtayyeh stressed the need to enable the authority to hold elections, including the city of Jerusalem, and implement the reform program it adopted two years ago. He continued, "The renewed authority that Israel and its allies want is not our authority. Israel wants an administrative security authority. We are a national authority struggling to embody the state on the ground, leading to independence and ending the occupation."
Shtayyeh said that Israel wants an authority with a school curriculum that coexists with the occupation, adding, “Our national curriculum says about Jerusalem as our capital, and talks about the right of return, and is consistent with international standards and based on science and learning, and reflects our history, civilization, and culture.” He considered that Israel wants an authority that abandons the prisoners and martyrs, continuing, “We say these are our children, and we are a government responsible for the children of the martyrs and prisoners, and they are the conscience of the Palestinian national movement.”
It is noteworthy that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed readiness to fight the security forces of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, stressing that the Gaza Strip will remain under Israeli security control after the war. Netanyahu added - according to statements leaked by Israeli media about him before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee - that he would not allow the Palestinian Authority to return to rule in the Gaza Strip under any circumstances.
The Palestinian Prime Minister called on the world to help stop the aggression and end the occupation, and “not to lead us into mazes of wasting time or into empty spirals,” adding, “In Gaza, there is a time of blood, and in Gaza, there is a time of hunger, demolition, and destruction.” He pointed out that what is required of the world and the United Nations is to set a timetable to end the occupation, end the suffering of the Palestinian people, and recognize the State of Palestine with its capital, Jerusalem, as well as Right of return for refugees.
Shtayyeh added that there are those who are talking about renewing and revitalizing or strengthening the authority, and we want to strengthen the work of the authority. This means that it can work on its land and stop the aggression and invasions of Al-Aqsa Mosque, cities, camps and villages, lift the financial blockade imposed on us, stop deductions from our funds, and stop settlement and the terrorism of the colonialists.
The Palestinian Prime Minister's talk about the financial siege comes at a time when Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged not to transfer any financial sum to what he called the Nazis in Ramallah. The minister wrote on the “There will be no Israeli trick.” The statements of the Israeli Minister of Finance come two days after announcing that an agreement had been reached between the Authority and Israel regarding the transfer of funds owed to the Palestinians by the occupation, under American auspices.
Axis of Resistance
the Iranian News Agency reported that services at a number of gas stations in the capital, Tehran, were suddenly disrupted, while Israeli media spoke of a “cyber attack.” Israeli Army Radio said that an Israeli hacking group announced the implementation of a cyber attack on the fuel supply system in Iran, while the “Ynet” website reported that an Israeli hacking group known itself as " Gonjeshke Darande" [“Predatory Sparrow”] It launched a cyber attack that disrupted gas stations in Iran.
Iranian Ministry of Energy stated 70 percent of gas stations across the country are paralyzed.
Hamas leader Osama Hamdan confirmed that the occupation wants to turn the Gaza Strip into an uninhabitable place in order to facilitate the displacement of its residents, and calls on the United Nations and its Secretary-General to assume their responsibilities and exert pressure to stop the Israeli aggression against the Strip.
Hamdan, confirmed that the sands of Gaza will swallow the Israeli occupation forces, as it swallowed the invaders before them. Hamdan said, during a press conference, that the Israeli occupation escalated its crimes and massacres, with support, cover and weapons from the United States of America, during the past two days. He announced that the occupation had destroyed, within 73 days, all the hospitals in the Gaza Strip, putting them out of service, and continued to bomb them and arrest their medical staff.
Hamdan stressed that “the only expertise that the United States provides to the occupation is the killing of women and children,” adding that the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip, will remain in their land, “because they are the owner of the land and the right, and the illusion of displacement is derived from the culture of the foundling society that was “Built by the occupation.”
He stressed that “the Palestinian resistance, led by Al-Qassam, is leading the battle wisely and competently, and is confronting the occupation from a zero distance.” Hamdan denounced the US administration's continued holding of Hamas responsible for violating the truce, stressing that "the resumption of aggression comes in the context of adopting the Zionist narrative."
He added that “the existence of the occupation and its comprehensive war against the Palestinians are the reason for everything that is happening,” stressing that “the presence of the resistance and the struggle of the Palestinian people continues, and the aggression will not break us.” Regarding negotiations regarding prisoners, Hamdan said, “There will be no negotiation on a prisoner exchange deal until the Israeli aggression stops completely.” The leader of the Hamas movement explained that the movement is open to any initiative from Qatar or Egypt, aimed at stopping the aggression, and we will deal with it in a manner consistent with the steadfastness of the people and the vision of the resistance.
"You arrived late...the mission was accomplished", this is how the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), responded to the uproar. Which was raised byIsrael regarding its army’s announcement of revealing what it described as a giant tunnel network for the Hamas movement, run by Mohammed Al-Sanwar< a i=6>Brother of the movement’s leader, Yahya Sinwar. Al-Qassam published a video explaining that it used this huge tunnel once to carry out the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, only last October 7.
Pro-Palestinian Bloggers mocked the delay of the Israeli occupation army in revealing a tunnel of this size, which extends from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip and reaches a distance of 400 meters from the Beit Hanoun crossing (Erez crossing) in the north, with a length of 4 kilometers and a depth of 50 meters, according to the Israeli army. They said that exposing the Israeli occupation of the tunnel after 72 days of aggression against Gaza is in itself a major failure for the Israeli army and intelligence, especially since the tunnel is of this size and capabilities, on the northern Gaza border and near the Erez crossing.
Tweeters described the Al-Qassam video as the strongest message sent by the resistance to the enemy since the beginning of the events on October 7, and bloggers mocked the announcement by saying that the occupation portrays the discovery as if it were the discovery of a new galaxy in the universe, and not a tunnel in Gaza, even though everyone knows that there is an entire city of There are an estimated 1,300 tunnels and a length of 570 kilometers, according to reports, to the point that some compare it to the London Underground.
Others pointed out that the Israeli occupation is trying to promote this discovery as a historic victory, especially after its failure to achieve any real victory on the battlefield since the seventh of last October, commenting by saying that what is noted is that the tunnel structure is made of steel and not reinforced concrete, which means that it is It was prepared for one mission, and the occupation may have discovered it a while ago, but its discovery was announced now to raise morale.
Tension is rising on Israel's northern front, which continues to bomb southern Lebanese towns, and Hezbollah announced over 509 operations against Israeli sites from October 8 to December 14 of this year. International efforts are continuing, led by Washington, backed by a remarkable French movement to prevent the spread of the war from the Gaza Strip towardsLebanon, through the implementation of international Resolution 1701 issued by the UN Security Council in August 2006 following Israel’s operation against Lebanon.
Beirut awaited the results of the visit of French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her meeting with senior officials, to discuss the proposal to implement Resolution 1701, to establish a buffer zone empty of weapons between the border and south of the Litani River, where the “Al-Radwan” division is currently active. Hezbollah's military forces, by implementing Article Eight of this resolution, which stipulates a complete evacuation of the area of weapons and militants, with the exception of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL forces.
Hezbollah circles confirm that it is not interested in discussing these proposals during the period of the Gaza Strip war and the ignition of the Lebanese front, and that they cannot be discussed before Israel withdraws from the Lebanese areas it occupies. On the other hand, Israeli calls to implement this proposal are increasing, most notably a few days ago, when Defense Minister Yoav Galant threatened that if diplomatic efforts do not succeed, Tel Avivwill implement it by force.
As Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a joint press conference with Colonna, “Implementing Resolution 1701 to remove Hezbollah fighters north of the Litani River is the only way to prevent the outbreak of war with Lebanon.” He added that “Paris plays a major role in avoiding war with Lebanon.” Minister Colonna's second visit to Beirut came after the visit of French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Director of Foreign Intelligence Bernard Emier, in addition to the visit of a joint delegation between the French Foreign Ministry and Defense, all to discuss the mechanism for implementing Resolution 1701.
Hezbollah circles believe that the implementation of Resolution 1701 begins by addressing the fundamental issues of violations by Israel, which occupies Lebanese lands in the Kafr Shuba hills, north of the village of Ghajar and al-Mari, and Shebaa Farms, in addition to Lebanon’s insistence on resolving the dispute over the 13 points along the “Blue Line”. The area is approximately 120 kilometers, which was determined by the United Nations in the year 2000 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces. It starts from point B1 located in Naqoura Bay, which connects the sea and mainland Lebanon with occupied Palestine. This border region is divided into 3 sectors, eastern, western and central, and is supposed to be demilitarized according to this decision.
Legal and constitutional expert Paul Morcos tells Al Jazeera Net that the most prominent non-implementation provisions of Resolution 1701 are the failure of the army to deploy throughout the entire area south of the Litani with the support of UNIFIL forces. But “Israel violates the resolution at sea, land and air by targeting southern villages, and it has not implemented the clause of its withdrawal from the Lebanese Shebaa Farms.” He added, “The same decision created a buffer zone in Tampon, from which military operations could not be launched, but it was not implemented in practice.”
At the beginning of this December, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said that Israel, along with European parties, was sending invitations to Lebanon to implement Resolution 1701, “while since 2006 it has recorded more than 30,000 violations of it, by land, sea and air.”
Writer and political analyst Wassim Bazzi explains that the two prominent parties leading the efforts to implement Resolution 1701 as proposed are Washington, through the US President’s Energy Security Advisor, Amos Hochstein, who visited Beirut last month, and he is the mediator of the maritime border demarcation agreement between Lebanon and Israel, and he considers the outbreak of war in Lebanon a threat to this agreement. The agreement and the future of oil refineries and gas exploration.
As for the second party, it is France, which seeks once again to consolidate its role in Lebanon after two years of failure and to preserve Israel’s security as well, according to jurisprudence, as both parties fear repercussions. The war will be extended to Lebanon because it will explode the region.
Bazzi told Al Jazeera Net, “Paris and Washington are seeking to work according to a proactive logic, knowing that presenting the file to Hezbollah in light of the Gaza war will not work, and because there are Lebanese lands occupied by Israel, and because the fate of Point B1 and the 13 border points has not been decided yet.”
For his part, international relations expert Raif Khoury believes that the proposal of Resolution 1701 in the form of Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Litani is due to pressure inside Israel after the displacement of more than 90,000 settlers in northern Israel, and they will not return if they do not guarantee that it is free of Hezbollah’s arsenal. God bless the military and prevent its members and members of the Palestinian factions from infiltrating from southern Lebanon towards the Galilee.
American and French efforts may not target the exit of “Al-Radwan” elements. From the south of the Litani because they are the people of the border villages. Rather, it aims to clear the area of Hezbollah’s heavy weapons.
Working to conduct patrols for the Lebanese army and the French battalion in UNIFIL from the Lebanese side to ensure the implementation of the agreement, and to ensure that there is no armed activity by Hezbollah or the vanguards of the Palestinian resistance, in exchange for conducting joint patrols between the Israeli army and American forces from the border side of occupied Palestine.
Al-Khoury believes that implementing Resolution 1701 will be in Israel’s interest in terms of the return of settlers and avoiding massive economic, agricultural, population, and tourism losses. He also finds that Hezbollah has an interest in the agreement in terms of ensuring stability in the south and protecting the environment for oil and gas exploration in Lebanese territorial waters, “but it will not enter it without compensation and price.” Khoury says, “There is talk of Western promises to give Hezbollah the opportunity to have a greater role in Lebanon’s deep state, if it withdraws militarily from southern Lebanon.”
And the party, in its opinion, is aware that it is Israel's war, a battle for power inthe Middle East and the world, and that Washington, along with its allies, is striving with what it has so as not to lose its position. If Israel were defeated by war, “because that would mean the advance of Iran and Russia and China is heading towards the vacuum that will result from defeat.
Bazzi describes the international movement as a waste of time, as long as Hezbollah continues the war of support and preoccupies Israel with its northern front. He points to “integrated coordination between Hezbollah and the Lebanese state, even if the latter - represented by the government - speaks a different diplomatic language.” He says that there is an insistence on resolving the outstanding issues in any discussions the next day after the war, the most notable of which, according to Bazzi. He adds, “Israel may use Hezbollah’s failure to withdraw from southern Litani as a pretext to ignite a wide-scale war against Lebanon as a way out of Gaza.”
Raeef Khoury believes that the French and American proposals will not see the light now, but rather are to control tension, and serve as a stabilization project on the Lebanese-Israeli border to put it on the negotiating table, after the end of the Gaza war, which will automatically extinguish the Lebanon front.
The commander of the Fifth Military Region in the Sanaa government, Major General Yusuf al-Madani, affirmed Yemen's unwavering commitment to support Gaza, regardless of any external pressure. The Major General declared that "any escalation in Gaza is an escalation in the Red Sea." On reports of a potential maritime military coalition being discussed between the United States, the Israeli occupation entity, and a number of countries, including Arab states, al-Madani emphasized that the Yemeni Armed Forces will confront "any state or entity that stands between [Yemen] and Palestine." Yemen is "committed to maintaining high readiness against any potential threats, as the enemy is lying in wait for Yemen and seeks reactions after being humiliated."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that the war today is a war of truth, and what happened in Palestine broke the dominance of the Zionist narrative globally, and that adhering to the issues protects the homelands, and the Palestinian people succeeded in adhering to their cause.
Assad said during a meeting of the Central Committee of theBaath Party: “Palestine, especially what happened recently in Gaza, has proven that the West is colonial and has not changed. It means that it exposed the West to Westerners who believed in the principles it was proposing, such as democracy, freedom, humanity, and others...and changed the reality for the people of Western countries and for others who were fascinated by the West, including those who were fascinated in our Arab world."
Al-Assad added, “The only thing worth talking about is the Palestinian situation, especially what happened in Gaza recently. It changed historical facts for many years and perhaps generations, and it will not change in the foreseeable future, regardless of the results of the war. Gaza was destroyed.” The Palestinian people were displaced. The Palestinian people were exterminated. There are facts that have emerged, and these facts for us are lessons learned that we must think about and learn because they intersect greatly with what Syria experienced what other Arab countries, and perhaps non-Arab countries, may experience because the principles are the same for peoples and nations.
He continued, saying, “The Palestine war proved, in the end, and the resistances, that technology is more important than weapons, that doctrine is harder than the cruelty of terrorism and crime, that attack is the best means of defence, and that what was taken by force can only be recovered by force, and that bowing down before the enemies is not an option but suicide.” I mean, these principles, I think, are very big lessons that we can learn from previous wars, as I said, which culminated in Gaza, but if they had not been preceded by various experiences and previous achievements that laid the foundation for the recent victories of the resistance, it would not have been possible for us to benefit from these lessons.”
The most important point in this war is that global Zionism, which has controlled the narrative since the emergence of the Palestinian issue seven decades ago, and perhaps since the nineteenth century, for the first time is losing control of this narrative, in addition to other aspects... because social media, which was the West’s tool for controlling minds, Through the novel, through culture, through politics, and through customs and traditions, it controls the world in every aspect. It has matured, and I mean it has matured... those who use it have matured. The peoples have matured in using it, so magic turned against the magician and Zionism lost its narrative even in its most important strongholds, including the United States.
This does not mean the American street has become supportive of Palestine, but it has many doubts about Zionist narratives, and this greatly intersects with what we experienced in Syria at the beginning of the war, when the Arab countries were imposing many restrictions on the means of communication as a new and frightening tool, including Syria, so those countries By restricting, and perhaps cutting off the Internet completely, unlike what we did in Syria, we removed all restrictions based on the fact that this war must first be fought in the way of the enemies, so it is not enough for us to fight it in our own way.
President al-Assad continued: What intersects between the Syrian war, the war in Palestine, the war in Ukraine, the war in China - the South China Sea, in Venezuela, and elsewhere. All the wars of the West, specifically America, are based, secondly, on controlling the land, but primarily on controlling the truth. .. Today the war is the war of truth, and whoever wins the truth...of course the truth, regardless of whether it is real or false, is the one who wins the war and the battle.
Allied for Democracy
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that talk of deals with Hamas must be stopped and Tel Aviv's subjugation must be put to an end. Itamar Ben Gvir added in a blog post on the “X” platform: “Instead, the death penalty must be applied to the terrorists. Prisoners from elite Hamas forces must be executed for every day that passes that the kidnapped are not released.” He demanded that humanitarian aid not be brought in to any party, not even UNRWA, pointing out that they take the aid from here and kill their forces on the other hand.
A report by the Israeli newspaper Calcalist revealed that the number of unemployed people in the Israeli entity has reached about 200,000 new people since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, last October 7. Calcalist indicated that a major recession hit the Israeli entity, especially the field ofrestaurants, which was almost completely paralyzed. It said that this is the conclusion that comes from those who look at “unemployment distribution data.” Which was received by the newspaper from the offices of the Israeli Ministry of Social Security last week.
The Israeli newspaper explained that those claiming unemployment benefits from the hospitality sector and food and beverage services (cafes, restaurants, and the like) amounted to 15% of the total claimants for these benefits, and the percentage of those returning to work in this sector was about 6%.
A large proportion of this unemployment is artificial, because it results from the extension of the subsidies approved by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich until the end of December, and from Then it will stop at the end of this period. Despite the minister’s announcement, the Knesset has not yet agreed to extend the announced benefits. This has placed the Ministry of Social Security and many of the newly unemployed in a critical dilemma. Although they were promised to receive unemployment benefits, the Ministry of Social Security cannot verify their eligibility.
European Union Foreign Policy Commissioner Josep Borrell denounced the “gross lack of ability to discriminate” during the Israeli army’s operations in Gaza, especially after the killing of hostages and Palestiniancivilians. In a post on the “X” platform, Borrell renewed his call for an “urgent” humanitarian truce, denouncing the killing of “worshippers, three hostages, and hundreds of other civilians.” In the latest military operations of the Israeli army. “This must stop and an urgent humanitarian truce is necessary,” Borrell wrote.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US authorities will not dictate to Israel the terms of the peace agreement with Hamas, and that they have no intention of setting deadlines for that. During a joint press conference between Austin andhis Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, the US Secretary of Defense indicated that “the United States will continue to support Israel". Austin said: “I do not have the right to dictate terms and conditions. Our support for Israel’s right to self-defense is unwavering, as you have heard from me many times, and that will not change.”
Austin also stated in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that “the United States will lead a multinational naval force to restore freedom of navigation.” To the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab." Monday's visit marks Austin's second trip to Israel since October 7. The New York Times newspaper reported earlier, Austin will try to persuade Israel to end its operations in the Gaza Strip.
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."
It is the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war, as the Palestinian resistance killed more than 1,200, wounded more than 5,132 others, and captured more than 250, most of them military personnel, some of whom were high-ranking officers in the army.
The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 19,453 martyrs. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. United Nations experts announced reports that the Israeli bombing of Gaza since October 7 led to the death of about 12,000 women and children.
The number wounded was 52,286. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said many days earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 7,500 [double the 3,750 previously reported], including 1,800 children still under the rubble, including 4,700 children and women.
Palestinian Ministry of Health has announced that the total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli occupation this year has reached 505 people, including 111 children. The Palestinian Ministry of Health earlier explained that the death toll in the West Bank since the beginning of this year has risen to 465, including 257 martyrs since last October 7.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry released an official casualty numbers in fighting, saying 77 people were killed and 251 wounded since the start of the war on Gaza.
Israel revised down the death toll from the October Hamas attacks in southern Israel from 1,400 to 1,200. IDF had said previously it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists, a total that now would increas to about 1,700.
The IDF acknowledged the death toll to 127 between officers and soldiers since the start of the ground incursion, while the number of wounded since the beginning of the ground operation rose to 652, including 146 seriously injured. This brings the total number of dead officers and soldiers whose names the Israeli army allowed to be published to 454 since the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th.
At least 10,213 Israelis were injured, according to i24 TV. The IDF updated the number of soldiers injured in the war and attacks on October 7 to 1,683.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper had reported that 5,000 soldiers had been wounded since the beginning of the war on October 7, and that the Ministry of Defense had recognized 2,000 soldiers as disabled so far.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israeli soldiers died in hospitals due to infection with deadly bacteria while being treated for injuries during the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Union of Infectious Diseases Physicians announced the discovery of various types of stubborn bacteria and fungal contaminants among soldiers who were injured during the fighting in the Gaza Strip and returned to receive treatment. In Israeli hospitals.
And "Yedioth Ahronoth" newspaper quoted the head of the Israeli Federation of Infectious Diseases Physicians, Professor Galia Rahav, said: “We have received data from all Israeli hospitals that provided treatment for soldiers who were injured during the fighting in Gaza, indicating that they carry various types of stubborn bacteria and fungal contaminants, which are Antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Rahav added that these types of bacteria were mainly among the ranksof soldiers who had infected limbs. She continued, saying: “We noticed this among soldiers who recently returned from the battlefront. Contact with the ground and mud there leads to exposure to many types of bacteria, as well as cases of mold.” She stated that this phenomenon is similar to that which afflicted American soldiers during the Gulf War after they returned with many types of stubborn fungal contaminants, while this is the first time that Israeli doctors have witnessed such cases among soldiers.
She went on to say: “We have not witnessed such cases before during past wars,” which is reflected in the duration of treatment for wounded soldiers and the necessity of surgical intervention sometimes in order to remove the layer of infected tissue. Professor Rahaf indicated that the Israeli medical system knows about the presence of these types of stubborn bacteria in the Gaza Strip through joint research conducted with Palestinian doctors there and through the treatment of children who arrived from the Strip to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals.
She confirmed that a large portion of the pollutants and bacteria that were diagnosed among injured soldiers are discovered from time to time inside Israel among people who were infected during their stay in hospitals.
Hostages
Israel estimated there were 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody. Israel declared 19 out of 135 people in Gaza captivity dead in absentia, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages. Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy earlier had told reporters that Hamas still held 137 captives. The resistance released 10 Israeli detainees, 4 Thais and 2 Russian women, who were released outside the agreement. Over the course of 6 days, Israel has received 102 detainees, women and children, including 78 Israelis, in exchange for the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, women and children.
Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, told reporters 01 December 2023:
- Hamas still held 137 hostages from the October attacks, in addition to four others who went missing before the war
- The hostages include two children aged four and 10 months, who, Hamas now claims, are dead
- 117 male hostages are still kept in Gaza, including the two children, as well as 20 females
- 126 hostages are Israelis, and 11 others are foreign nationals
- Foreign nationals are eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one French Mexican citizen
- Ten of the remaining hostages are 75 and older.
- There are seven missing people since the October 7 attack
- Hamas had released 110 hostages so far – 86 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals.
Some of the rest are soldiers, seized when Hamas raided military bases in Israel. They may end up being held the longest. The Israeli military had not specified how many soldiers were captured, nor their ranks.
According to some estimates, Hamas was initially holding nearly 210 of the 240 hostages, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad was holding the remaining 30. About 40 Israelis remained missing. More than 40 hostages taken from Israel into Gaza on October 7th are not currently in the custody of Hamas, the group responsible for the attack, according to a CNN report based on a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations, CNN's prior reports had indicated that an estimated 40 to 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other unidentified groups or individuals.
Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas’ telegram account that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israel hostages were trapped under the rubble. “It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza,” he said.
Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs announced that the Israeli authorities have arrested 4,400 Palestinians in the West Bank and the 1948 territories since last October 7. Some 150 women have been arrested thus far, both from the West Bank and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948. Additionally, more than 255 children have been arrested. Israel said 18 December 2023 "So far, since the beginning of the war, approximately 2,400 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, approximately 1,200 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas."
"Axios" website revealed The heads of the American and Israeli intelligence services intend to discuss the possibility of reaching a new prisoner exchange agreement with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani. The heads of US Intelligence and Mossad discuss a new prisoner exchange deal with the Qatari Prime Minister“CNN”: Positive talks between the head of the Mossad and the Prime Minister of Qatar regarding the resumption of prisoner negotiations.
The website quoted sources as saying that CIA Director William Burns will meet today, Monday, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the director of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, in Warsaw to discuss the possibility of reaching a new prisoner exchange agreement with the movement “Hamas.”
It is noteworthy that the talks in Warsaw will take place three days after the meeting between Al Thani and Barnea in Europe, as part of efforts to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas. "Axios" website stated: Burns played an important role in concluding previous agreements that freed Hamas. Under it for 105 prisoners, and according to Israeli officials, the participation of the head of the CIA in the negotiations is necessary to reach a new agreement. However, they stressed that this time it will be more difficult to agree on the terms of the deal.
In recent days, several Hamas officials said... They will not resume negotiations on a new prisoner exchange agreement until Israel stops its military operation in the Gaza Strip. Last week, CNN reported, citing a source, that “Hamas” It has shown no interest in Qatar's proposals to return to negotiations on the release of prisoners. As CNN reported, The first talks between the head of the Israeli Mossad, David Barnea, and the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, regarding the resumption of prisoner negotiations, were positive.
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