Important Takeaways:
- Iran’s Guards chief warns of ‘bitter, unimaginable consequences’ for Israel’s strike
- The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that Israel had “failed to achieve its ominous goals” with its Saturday strikes on Iranian military sites.
- Hossein Salami, quoted by the Tasnim news agency, said the Israeli attack, which came in retaliation for Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile barrage on the country, was a sign of “miscalculation and helplessness” as Israel battles the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
- “Its bitter consequences will be unimaginable” for Israel, Salami warned according to Tasnim.
- Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned that Tehran would use “all available tools” to respond to Israel’s strikes.
- Speaking at a weekly televised news conference, Baghaei said Iran would “use available tools to deliver a definite and effective response to the Zionist regime.”
- Israel has indicated it will not take further action if Iran holds its fire after its two strikes on the Jewish state — in April and in October — but has threatened escalation if the Islamic Republic launches a third barrage.
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Important Takeaways:
- Strike on oil or nuclear sites could lead Tehran to take drastic measures for fear of seeming weak, but attack on weapons depots or military bases may not warrant further response
- Citing four Iranian officials, The New York Times reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered Iran’s armed forces to formulate numerous plans based on the potential outcome of an expected retaliatory attack by Israel, which has been weeks in the making. “Iran has ordered the armed forces to be prepared for war but also to try to avoid it,” the report said.
- The officials, two of whom belong to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that if Israel were to inflict significant damage on sensitive sites, such as oil and nuclear facilities, or if it were to target senior Iranian officials, Iran would without a doubt escalate further.
- In this instance, the sources said, Iran could fire a barrage of up to 1,000 ballistic missiles — a significant step up in comparison to the 200 it fired on October 1 — or even disrupt global energy supplies and international trade routes.
- However, if Jerusalem were to limit its response to striking weapons warehouses or military bases, Tehran may conclude that it is in its best interest to do nothing, bringing an end to the latest round of direct conflict between the two countries.
- Israel’s plans for retaliation were said to have been thrown off course recently after confidential US documents on the matter were leaked last Friday, revealing US observations of measures taken by the Israeli Air Force on October 15-16 in the lead-up to an attack.cn
- Amid reports that Israel had been forced to change tactics and delay its plans as a result of the leak, Army Radio quoted an unnamed Israeli official on Thursday who insisted that this was not the case.
- “There’s no connection between the leaking of the documents from the Pentagon and the choice of timing for the attack on Iran,” the official said.
- While several windows had been discussed, the official said that no final date had been set for Israel’s response and the decision would be made “according to operational opportunities.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The IDF announced on Wednesday that six journalists actively working for Al Jazeera were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
- The IDF says that due to intelligence recovered from the Gaza Strip during military operations, they can reveal that Anas Al-Sharif, Alaa Salama, Hossam Shabat, Ashraf Saraj, Ismail Abu Amr, and Talal Aruki are all affiliated with the military wings of either Hamas or PIJ.
- Ismail Abu Amr was injured several months ago in Gaza by an IDF attack; during that period, Al Jazeera denied his membership in Hamas. Documents recovered by the IDF showed this was untrue.
- Some of the documents include personnel tables, terrorist training courses, phone books, and salary documents for terrorists.
- The IDF said that this “unequivocally proves that they function as military terrorist operatives of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.”
- The IDF also said that these documents prove Al Jazeera has employed them simultaneously.
- The exposed journalists are part of Hamas’s military wing operating as the vanguard of Hamas’s propaganda war against Israel.
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Important Takeaways:
- The West’s political “elites” condemned Israel for defending itself by targeting Hezbollah’s leadership.
- There was no mention of international law for Hezbollah’s unprovoked, year-long attacks: bombardments of missiles and attack drones every day at a country smaller than New Jersey.
- EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell lamented Israel’s continued successful attempts at destroying one of Iran’s proxy armies.
- When Israel took out Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of the world’s most dangerous arch-terrorists, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres could barely hold back his disappointment, counterfactually calling Hezbollah’s unprovoked war against Israel and the IDF’s response a “cycle of violence.”
- Only Argentina’s President Javier Milei displayed a reaction fitting the removal of a terrorist mass murderer…
- Israel, as has been noted, is doing the entire world an enormous service by taking out Hezbollah.
- Iran, just since October 2023, through its militias in Syria and Iraq, has launched more than 160 attacks on the US forces in the Middle East.
- [W]hen Israel killed Ibrahim Aqil, the mastermind of the 1983 attacks and a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, its highest military body, the US could not even bring itself to thank its ally.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pretends that the US is working to prevent “full-blown war” when these claims can also be seen as yet another attempt at saving both Hezbollah and Hamas so they can rearm and attack Israel again until it “is annihilated,” as Hamas officials have vowed to do. A ceasefire now — a pause for Hamas and Hezbollah to re-arm — would also save Iran’s regime, complete with nuclear weapons, as well as the regime’s dreams of hegemony.
- The world’s political elites apparently cannot forgive Israel for seeking to defend itself, and rid the world of terrorists working to destroy both America and Western civilization. Could these elites, wittingly or not, be working towards the same result?
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Important Takeaways:
- “Xi said the military should ‘comprehensively strengthen training and preparation for war, (and) ensure troops have solid combat capabilities,’ CCTV reported,” according to the AFP and reported on Barrons Saturday.
- The drills were accompanied by China declaring the possibility of invading and taking over Taiwan.
- “China’s communist leaders have insisted they will not rule out using force to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control,” Barrons said on Saturday.
- Days after the Sino naval drills around Taiwan, the Chinese military criticized the U.S. and Canada for sending warships through the Taiwan Strait as the two power blocks exercise show-of-force operations in the region.
- The recent directive by Jinping builds upon a similar order he dictated in 2023, a call for stronger military combat readiness, as well as echoes the ruler’s directives in 2018 to prepare for war.
- The recent war escalation with China follows escalations with Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had “settled the score with him,” but stressed that “the task before us [Israel] is not yet complete.”
- Netanyahu said Israel’s focus was on securing the return of the roughly 100 hostages still in Gaza, taken during Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack last year, of whom a third are believed to be dead.
- “This is an important moment in the war,” Netanyahu said to the families of the hostages, according to the Reuters news agency. “We will continue full force until the return home of all your loved ones, who are our loved ones, too. This is our supreme obligation. This is my supreme obligation.”
- President Biden said Sinwar’s death after almost two decades of Hamas rule in Gaza was good news, “for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.” Along with other senior U.S. officials, he indicated that it should bring new hope for a cease-fire in the year-long war.
- But Hamas did not mention any renewed push for a cease-fire agreement with Israel after the killing of its leader.
- Deputy Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya confirmed Sinwar’s death Friday in a televised speech, and said the group would continue on the same path it’s been on. Al-Hayya said Hamas would not release the remaining hostages without a cease-fire deal and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
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Important Takeaways:
- The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, marked a major triumph for Israel. But Israeli leaders are also seeking to lock in strategic gains that go beyond military victories – to reshape the regional landscape in Israel’s favor and shield its borders from any future attacks, sources familiar with their thinking say.
- By intensifying its military operations against Hezbollah and Hamas, Israel wants to ensure that its enemies and their chief patron, Iran, don’t regroup and threaten Israeli citizens again, according to Western diplomats, Lebanese and Israeli officials, and other regional sources.
- It is also planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, its second direct attack on Israel in six months.
- Israel informed several Arab states last year that it also wanted to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza’s border. But it remains unclear how deep Israel would like it to be or how it would be enforced after the war ends.
- Israel has said it will not agree to a permanent ceasefire without guarantees that whoever runs postwar Gaza will be able to prevent the corridor from being used to smuggle weapons and supplies to Hamas.
- Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week the response would be “lethal, precise, and, above all, unexpected”, although he has also said Israel was not looking to open new fronts.
- Iran has warned repeatedly that it will not hesitate to take military action again if Israel retaliates.
- For now, Netanyahu appears determined to redraw the map around Israel in his favor by purging its enemies from its borders.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hezbollah announced a “new and escalatory phase” in its war with Israel on Thursday – hours after the Israeli military confirmed its forces killed the leader of Hamas.
- In a statement, the Iran-backed terrorist organization said that their plan “will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days” as hundreds of fighters are prepared to “counter any Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanese villages.”
- Along with the two chiefs, the IDF’s airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Beirut have killed more than a dozen senior officials, including the top commanders of Hezbollah’s elite military and missile firing units.
- Hezbollah’s threat comes more than a week after it announced it was ready to engage in cease-fire talks with Israel and previously vowed that it would stop its attacks until it agreed to end the war in Gaza – despite firing missiles over the border nearly every day since Oct. 8.
- It remains unclear if Israel will accept a cease-fire deal with Hezbollah as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that the operations in Lebanon would not end until he is assured the terror group will no longer pose an active threat to northern Israel.
- The US and France have repeatedly urged the two sides to engage in a truce over fears the conflict would spark an all-out war in the Middle East.
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Important Takeaways:
- The US has issued a stark ultimatum to Israel, warning it must relax restrictions on the flow of aid into and around Gaza lest it face being cut off from arms imports.
- The threat, delivered in a letter penned by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, constitutes Washington’s strongest warning to Israel over the worsening humanitarian situation in the Palestine enclave.
- Washington’s top diplomat cited the strict controls Israel is imposing, including ‘burdensome and excessive’ restrictions on import materials and the denial of most humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza.
- ‘Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy… and relevant US law,’ the letter concluded, citing a section of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits military aid to countries that impede the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
- It comes at a time when the threat of escalation in the Middle East appears at an all-time high.
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Important Takeaways:
- The US Embassy in Beirut is calling on Americans to leave Lebanon as soon as possible as the war between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies.
- “US citizens in Lebanon are strongly encouraged to depart now,” the embassy said in a notice to citizens on Monday. “US citizens who choose not to depart at this time should prepare contingency plans should the situation deteriorate further.”
- Just 1,100 of the estimated 86,000 Americans who live in Lebanon have fled the nation so far, with the US setting aside thousands of seats on flights out of Lebanon since Sept. 27, according to the State Department.
- The embassy, however, warned that the flights “will not continue indefinitely,” urging all Americans in Lebanon to make a decision sooner rather than later.
- Embassy officials stressed that any plans for those who choose not to leave “should not rely on the US government for assisted departure or evacuations.”
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