Israel News for 9-25-2024
News Update
Hezbollah fired an Iranian-made Ghadr 1 medium-range ballistic missile at the Mossad headquarters in the Tel Aviv area earlier today. The missile was intercepted. It was the first time that central Israel has come under attack from Hezbollah in this conflict. Hezbollah fired at least 40 rockets at northern Israel today, hitting a home in Safed. Two people were injured by shrapnel in Kibbutz Sa’ar in the Western Galilee, one seriously and the other moderately.
A senior member of Hezbollah told Reuters that 1,500 Hezbollah fighters were disabled and 37 killed in the Israeli pager and walkie talkie attacks last week. Some estimates have the casualties as high as 3,000. According to U.S. intelligence reports, Hezbollah has between 40,000 and 50,000 armed terrorists. The Wall Street Journal reported that Hezbollah is preparing for an Israeli ground invasion in south Lebanon.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today, “Some of the effective and valuable forces of Hezbollah were martyred, which undoubtedly caused damage to Hezbollah, but this was not the sort of damage that could bring the group to its knees. The organizational and human strength of Hezbollah is much more than that. Their authority, capabilities and strength are much more than that and cannot be seriously affected by these martyrdoms.”
Meanwhile, the air force continues to mount extensive strikes against Hezbollah missile sites and depots in Lebanon.
[Israel’s stated goal of Operation Northern Arrows is to enable the tens of thousands of displaced residents of the north to return to their homes and communities. As long as Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at the north and retains the military capability to continue attacking, the residents cannot return. That means that there’s a good chance that the IDF will need to mount a ground invasion to degrade Hezbollah and push them north of the Litani River. The extensive air strikes and targeted assassinations are most likely similar to the massive air strikes that preceded the ground invasion into Gaza. It seems unlikely that Hezbollah will withdraw north of the Litani to avoid an invasion, unless Iran tells it to do so. Does Iran have the incentive to pull Hezbollah back to avoid a potential regional conflict?]
