2006 Redux? Israel Shells Lebanon After Hezbollah Bombs Israeli Convoy
Two weeks ago, the IAF assassinated infamous Lebanese militant Samir Kuntar.
Kuntar was held by Israel for nearly three decades in connection with his role in a 1979 raid that killed four people including a four-year-old girl. He returned to Lebanon in 2008 in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, which he subsequently joined.
To the Israelis, Kuntar is evil incarnate - the very embodiment of terrorism. For many in Iran and Lebanon, he’s something of a folk hero. Here he is with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah:
And here’s a shot of Kuntar with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
Kuntar was killed on December 19 in an airstrike on Damascus that many suspected was carried out by the IAF although Israel didn’t immediately confirm or deny its involvement, with one official saying only that “it is good that people like Samir Kuntar will not be part of our world.”
The question, we said at the time, is “what Hassan Nasrallah plans to do about” Kuntar’s death.
Well on Monday, just as the worsening spat between Saudi Arabia and Iran tipped the region even further into chaos, Hezbollah set off a “large bomb”, striking an IDF convoy on the Lebanon border. "A cell of the martyr Samir Kuntar detonated the large explosive in Sheba farms area in occupied Lebanon during an IDF patrol causing the destruction of a Hummer and injuring all its passengers," the group said, in a statement taking credit for the attack, which came a day after Nasrallah said the following:
“The Israelis are hiding like rats along the border. The retaliation to Samir’s assassination will inevitably come. Hezbollah would not tolerate the blood of our jihadist fighters and brothers to be shed anywhere in this world.”
Monday's bombing targeted "two armored military vehicles that were clearing a road in the area [and] the IDF has responded with cross-border artillery fire at targets into Lebanon," The Jerusalem Post writes, adding that "Lebanese media said the explosive was meant to harm a senior Mossad official."
"We have opened artillery fire, and created a smoke screen to cover the area. We are in control of the incident," IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Moti Almoz said.
The Israeli military had been shelling the Lebanese border for at least four days in the lead up to Monday's attack. "Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly vowed revenge for the assassination of arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar two weeks ago. Anticipating such a response, the army has been firing artillery rounds at the border fence," The Times of Israel wrote on Sunday. Here's a bit more color from The Post:
Lebanese media earlier reported that Israeli shells were fired at the Sheba Farms region near the intersection of the Syrian, Israeli, and Lebanese frontiers.
The news reports north of the border are consistent with eyewitness accounts of Israelis on the Golan Heights who told The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Ma’ariv that they heard the roar of artillery fire over the weekend.
According to Lebanese news outlets, the IDF fired 20 shells toward the vicinity of Sheba Farms, which is also known as Mount Dov.
An Israeli military official told Ma’ariv on Sunday that the purpose of the artillery fire was to deter Hezbollah from planting explosives along the border in an effort to avenge the death of Samir Kuntar.
“I cleared up this issue with the army after I received numerous complaints from residents,” a security guard in one of the Israeli towns along the border said. “A senior officer in the IDF Northern Command told me that there is a real concern that Hezbollah will plant a bomb along the border under the cover of fog, so whenever we spot suspicious activity we fire an artillery shell in that direction for the sake of deterrence.”
And here's AP:
Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as an armored patrol passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying a Humvee and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.
The Israeli army said vehicles in the area were hit with an improvised explosive device and that it responded with targeted artillery fire. It did not say whether there were any casualties.
Lebanese security officials said more than 50 Israeli shells hit several villages in the area where the Hezbollah operation was carried out.
Residents along the border said shelling from Israeli tanks and artillery landed in agricultural areas inside Lebanon, but did not report casualties.
The officials said the patrol was hit near an Israeli army position in the Kfar Chouba hills that Lebanon says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel.
The residents requested anonymity, saying they feared for their safety, while the officials did so in line with regulations. Neither group had any immediate word on casualties.
The Hezbollah unit that carried out the bombing was named after Samir Kuntar, a high-profile figure in the group who was killed last month in Syria in an attack blamed on Israel.
So, is the stage set for a repeat of the 2006 Lebanon war? In other words, will the death of Samir Kuntar be the event that reignites the long simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah just as the latter battles alongside the IRGC and the SAA in Syria? Consider the following from IB Times:
Monday marked the fifth consecutive day that Israel shelled the Lebanese border. The increased attacks come at a time when Hezbollah’s fighting forces are entrenched in Syria’s conflict, fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s regime. Despite the personnel losses the Shiite militants have faced, Hezbollah maintains that fighting on two fronts has not weakened Hezbollah.
But, for the last decade, the border between the two countries has mostly been calm: Hezbollah and Israel’s last war was in 2006, lasting little over a month and resulting in the deaths of some 500 Shiite militiamen and more than 100 Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah has focused its attention on battles in Syria, Iraq and Yemen at the behest of its major ally and financial backer: Iran. In the past year, Hezbollah has had its hands full fighting alongside the Lebanese army to push Sunni militants from al Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State group away from Lebanon’s border with Syria. But the wars with Israel, like Hussein’s old military gear, have not been forgotten in the south.
“Nothing profound has changed in the group’s attitude and strategy with respect to the "next war with Israel,’” Benedetta Berti, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, wrote in Lebanese news outlet Ya Libnan. “Since 2006, both Israel and Hezbollah have continued to prepare for the next conflict.”
One wonders whether the assassination of Kuntar - which, you're reminded, took place inside of Syria - wasn't an attempt on Israel's part to divert Hezbollah's attention away from the fight in Syria. Keep in mind that although Israel is officially "neutral" in the Syrian conflict, the ouster of Assad would remove a key state actor in Iran's Shiite crescent and would effectively cut Hezbollah off from its benefactors in Tehran.
In other words: if Assad falls, it's good news for the Israelis.
Could Netanyahu be trying to draw Nasrallah into a conflict in order to force Hezbollah to divert soldiers and resources away from the frontlines in Syria thereby giving the rebels a leg up on the ground?
We close with the following quote from a senior Hezbollah commander who spoke to IB Times:
“Anyone who thinks the southern front is weakened is wrong. We consider our fights in Syria as a fun trip compared to [our] fight with Israel. Our main cause is Israel, and we always work on this.”
* * *
Bonus: Statfor's take
Senior Hezbollah militant Samir Kantar was killed Dec. 21 in an alleged Israeli airstrike against his home on the outskirts of Damascus. Israel Defense Forces declined to confirm the strike and Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate. Both Israel and Hezbollah are seeking to avoid an all-out war, and they will likely be able to do so. However, the assassination highlights the long-simmering conflict between the two sides and the risks of potential escalation.
In spite of Israel's decision not to confirm Hezbollah's allegations of an airstrike, Israeli forces were likely responsible for the killing. A Syrian rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, has issued claims that it conducted the attack itself. But the strike, which involved four long-range missiles targeting an apartment building and yielded minimal collateral damage, was well beyond the capability of the rebels. Israel had a motivation to take out Kantar as well: According to Western intelligence sources, he was planning a major terror attack against Israel in the Golan Heights.
Kantar is a Lebanese Druze militant who spent 30 years in an Israeli prison for his role in a kidnapping and killing in a town near Lebanon during a Palestine Liberation Front attack in 1979. He was released in a 2008 prisoner exchange and joined Hezbollah soon after. Kantar became a prominent member of Hezbollah and has been fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government as well as building terrorist infrastructure in the Golan Heights to attack Israel. Recently, Kantar became involved with the more extreme Syrian National Defense Forces, a volunteer military service organized by the Syrian government and trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is also personally overseen by Quds Force leader Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Another target of Israel's strike, Farhan al-Shaalan, was also linked to the Syrian National Defense Forces.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian government loyalists have condemned Israel for the attack, promising retaliation at a time of their choosing. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command), the Syrian splinter of the Palestinian group of the same name, retaliated by firing three Katyusha rockets. Israeli forces immediately responded with artillery rounds fired into southern Lebanon. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command) supports the Syrian government alongside Hezbollah, but the group's principal objective is to attack Israel. It therefore likely supported Kantar's preparations to strike in the Golan Heights. These plans were Israel's primary motivation in targeting Kantar, despite his Hezbollah membership and support of the associated Syrian National Defense Forces.
Kantar's death may spur a reaction from other Palestinian militant groups, but Hezbollah is keen to avoid opening a second front with Israel alongside the militant group's weighty commitment in Syria. That said, Hezbollah's goal has long been to deny Israel the ability to strike the group at will. In effect, Hezbollah has sought to establish a level of deterrence that forces Israel to weigh the costs of potential retaliation. There are signs that Hezbollah has partly succeeded in this goal. Even though Israel has continued its strikes in Syria, it has mostly avoided targeting Hezbollah stockpiles in Lebanon or increasing the rate of its assaults against the group in Syria.
With the latest attack, Hezbollah has pledged vengeance and there is a distinct possibility that the group will seek to retaliate to maintain a credible deterrence. Despite the promises of revenge, the militant group will calibrate any retaliation to avoid triggering a wider conflict with Israel. Rather than risking an all-out counterattack against Israel, Hezbollah is much more likely to stage a limited operation. This could be similar to the January Shebaa farms incident in which militants attacked an Israeli patrol with anti-tank guided missiles, killing two Israelis in the process. This was in response to an Israeli attack that killed Hezbollah and Iranian officers in Quneitra 10 days before.
For its part, Israel also appears to want to avoid escalation. Otherwise, the Israelis would have already struck at Hezbollah while the group is stretched thin in Syria. Even so, Israel has prepared for retaliation by moving an extra Iron Dome battery to the north and has maintained its counterstrikes against militant targets with artillery and air assets. In the midst of all these movements and calculations, the danger remains that attacks could spiral out of control and lead to a wider conflict, even as both sides work to avoid one.
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Golly, Spring is shaping up to be interesting!
Yeeha jihad 2 . Www triple bang bang, stock meltdown and we haven't got even a week in.
Will the next World War be announced, just like a recession, 2 quarters AFTER THE FACT? ;-)
Looney
Depends on if it meets the regime narrative or not.
Maybe Israel can get their ISIS buddies to help out? Israel helps them out when they get smashed by the Syrian Army and Hezbollah, so a ISIS really should return the favor.
All these 'playoff beards'... I guess somebody has to win the World Series.
It will be a "seasonally ajusted" nuclear winter once "Systema Perimetr" goes into action and "Dead Hand" goes live.....
http://fortruss.blogspot.de/2016/01/all-will-die-but-it-will-remain-threat.html
"Since the beginning of the war against Syria, the US government spent 500 million dollars in Bulgaria on Soviet-type weapons. The military gear includes 18,800 portable anti-tank grenade launchers and 700 Konkurs anti-tank missile systems.
These weapons were delivered by SOCOM (Special Operations Command of the Pentagon) to the Syrian "rebels." The transactions were managed through a Delaware shell company (Shovel Purple), belonging to Benjamin Worrell, an agent since 1993 the 902 group for counter-insurgency, Fort Meade, US Army.......From October 2014, Boeing 747 jumbo jets owned by the Saudi air company Saudi Arabian Cargo began to land at Sofia International Airport. The novelty lies in the fact no cargo plane has landed in Sofia since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Two such flights of Saudi cargo have been documented in late October 2014, one in November 2014, four in December 2014 and in March and May 2015. According to the flight plan, the Saudi planes took off empty from Jeddah, to land in Sofia, where they loaded cargo under the supervision of the Bulgarian army, and took off again to Tabuk, a Saudi airport, located 100 km the border with Jordan. "
That's funny,
According to Stratfor: "But the strike, which involved four long-range missiles targeting an apartment building and yielded minimal collateral damage, was well beyond the capability of the rebels."
s400 radar range: https://img.rt.com/files/2015.11/original/565976bdc46188e0318b462b.jpg
Something does not add up
* radar pic from this link: https://www.rt.com/news/323815-syria-s-400-us-airstrikes/
The Kuntar murder was probably carried out by the Israeli Air Force using a SPICE JDAM bomb. It is a very sophisticated JDAM upgrade, consting significantly more than the $25,000 of a conventional JDAM. It effectively converts the bomb into a glider with a range of 60 km. It has satellite guidance, electro-optical and man-in-the-loop modes. It could have been launched from the north east corner of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel.
Man-in-the-loop mode would have allowed the bomb to be guided directly to the building contain Kuntar and the Syrians also killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_%28munition%29
"According to Western intelligence sources, he was planning a major terror attack against Israel in the Golan Heights" How do they know? From a local rabbi?
Israel asked for it. I will not be surprised to see Israel cities look like Syrian cities like Holmes or Aleppo.
Early or later, all these US, NATO, Israel supported and trained thugs will be slaughtered or flooded to EU countries together with Turkey's dream of a new empire going into a smoke.
Does Xanax come in crop-dustable form?
if you walk behind me in the supermarket, yeah
Let the good times roll...
So will war be a cover for market selloffs, or will market selloffs be cover for war?
Yeah
We're exceptional; let's do both!
still long oil the bet on madness and violence in ME is what must happen..
Obuma's and Hillary's arab spring was a blazing success. mass immigration into EU, with violence and murder - now a bonus ME up in flames with Russia and Turkey ready to go to war, Iran and Saudi's fighting in Yemin and soon the straits..funking genius that obuma and hillary,No?
What's the opposite of the Midas Touch?
yeah, its like the entire world took its crazy pills & lit every fuse it could come across of the weekend ... good thing the obama administration saying the world is a safer place due to the global stability they are providing or im not sure what id do. oh, and speaking of "the people" believing in the government keeping them safe, looks like FBI background check data came out; another record-shattering month
FBI released NICS background checks data; Dec Total NICS Background Checks were 3314594 (vs 2243030 prior month and 2309684 year ago) (23.24 +1.26)
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf
Total NICS Background Checks and active records.
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/active_records_in_the_nics-index.pdf
Background checks for an enumerated "right".
Talk about stupid americans.
You have the right but gov. has reduced your ability to use that right through commerce regulations. You can have it or make it but you can't buy it from a merchant that has to ask for permission to sell it by contract with civil authorities.
Ah, the terrorist safe haven for scum of the earth (the planet would be better off without jews), isisrael.
Lol...
Well, the planet might be better off with indoctrinated hateful scum of the earth like you. One good turn deserves another.
"Can't we all just get along?" The answer is no because you wont recognize truth only belief.
What truth?
That Hitler was right about the juden?
http://youtu.be/x4obeqaxhRs
Israel vs Hezbollah. Turkey vs Assad. Iran/Houtis vs Saudi. Russia vs Ukraine. China vs Vietnam/Taiwan/Japan/Philippines. Armenia vs Azerbaijan. Militias vs US gov. Economy crashing. This is gonna be good.
You forgot the elephants in the room - Obama's multispectrum war against Russia and US pivot to China.
BOMBSHELL: Ambush of Russian Bomber Was Guided by US Reconnaissance
A U.S. Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS plane took off on 24 November from the Preveza airbase in Greece. A second E-3A of the Saudi Arabian air force took off from the Riyadh airbase. Both planes were executing a common task—determining the precise location of Russian aircraft. It is they that picked the “victim.”
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/bombshell-turkish-attack-russian-s...
Sino-US Relations: 78% Chinese Believe West Intends to Contain Chinahttp://www.globalresearch.ca/sino-us-relations-78-chinese-believe-west-i...
The Russian Government has specifically named the US (and its proxy army aka NATO) as the major national security threat.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russia-names-us-nato-as...
I love the sound of red lines being drawn in the sand. It reminds me of .... victory.
US Government vs Cowboys
Obama vs Tall and short Whites
Migrants vs Europeans
Jews vs Everyone
In actuality it's a handful of motherfuckers instigating all this bullshit. There's money to be made in bitches fighting.
I smell something. Oh never mind, Soros just soiled his depends
The lines are not nearly that clear. A couple previous ZH articles showed that Assad had an agreement with Israel that Assad would help prevent Hezbollah from attacking Israel. Assad was supplying info to Israel. Israel used that info to target the Hezbollah figure head in Syria by bombing a building in Damascus from the air. And Russia coordinated with Israel and stood down the S400 missile systems.
Hezbollah was betrayed by both Assad and Putin. But it was not the first time. Shortly before that attack a Hezbollah convoy was allowed to be attacked from the air. Once again Putin stood down the S400 and once again did not scramble jets in defense.
Although the more recent (not the first) attack on Damascus by Israel from the air destroyed a building and killed innocent civilians there were no protests from Assad or Putin.
Hezbollah better be watching their risk of exposure to air attacks by Israel/NATO but allowed and coordinated with Russia.
Israel got their Hezbollah stooge and Syria got the ZioNazi's primary candidate to replace Assad - the supposedly 'moderate' Alloush. The West are now reduced to trying to make something out of the ever-reducing number of West-friendly opposition for a candidate to replace Assad.
Kuntar has been on Israel's hit list since he was released from Israeli prison in a prisoner exchange. They would have killed him somewhere, sometime, somehow anyway. Kuntar is just a scalp on the belt of some IDF general who can now brag 'I got Kuntar'.
Kuntar's death is a pyrrhic victory for Israel. The real losers are the famiies of the Syrians who were also murdered.
American kids are rushing to join their units for a chance to fight for a) Israel b) Saudi Arabia c) Qatar d) Ukraine and pledging themselves to honour the Obama Warranties on a) Iraq b) Libya c) Afghanistan
You forgot or -"All of the above".
"The Israeli military had been shelling the Lebanese border for at least four days in the lead up to Monday's attack."
Israel had its revenge when it took out Kuntar. There was no need for them to exacerbate the situation in response to merely verbal threats from Hezbollah members.
You do not understand the Israeli psychology. They have to attack someone in order to show that Israel is a poor defenseless victim.
"We have to kill and kill and kill, all day, every day." - Arnon Soffer, Ariel Sharon's Adviser 2004
"Kuntar was killed on December 19 in an airstrike on Damascus that many suspected was carried out by the IAF"
What?
Did the Russians give them a free pass to bomb Damascus? If not than their control of the airspace (and the Syrians) is worse than previously thought. No wonder the Turks got away with splashing one of their bombers.
Yeah, then later in the piece Stratfor says he was killed on the 21st? WTF?
END THE FED!
Looks like Israel is in the mood to lose another war.
Israel will not lose the war. They will cry like a little EBT baby and suck on the joe six tit for more welfare $$$ and military support. If they're not stealing via CB's/IMF/World Bank, they're usually found whining for additional welfare chee$e. Like I said before, the tribe's biggest contributions to humanity so far = theft, usury, war, murder and deception.
Lose a war? Read about the Samson Option when Israel pays bck all of those countries who shat on the Jews and thinks the 3d Temple will fall, bye bye Aswan Dam, so long Mecca, au revoir Paris, tough luck Tehran, Berlin glowing rubbble again, maybe take a shot at Moscow.....so you best hope that doesn't happen, despite your desires.
This month just keeps getting better and better, all we need now is a 9-11 whistle blower and my life would be complete.
Yea I'm definitely loving 2016's tempo so far...really hoping for that whistleblower before it kicks off though because I'd really hate for that to be one of the myths that survives the apocalypse
You may get your wish for more if this rumor turns out to be true:
"[Syrian] Opposition quarters are abuzz with the news that a major defection from their ranks has taken place. Khaldoon Shaaker Al-Lawlah, director of the Office of Ahmad Tu’ma, has absconded with documents exposing the “Transitional Government” and NACOSROF (The Alliance). It is expected the papers will disclose the fact that Khaalid Khoja is a Turk sleeper agent who is steeped in illicit monies taken from the Saudi apes. He has now reported to the Syrian government with his documents. This is a major embarrassment for the U.S."
http://syrianperspective.com/2016/01/douma-defenses-falling-apart-major-...
So, douche du jour gets smoked. Next story.
Bush was right, you either are on the side of the good or on the side of terrorists.
Kuntar was a terrorist by all counts.
Hizballah is a terrorist organization that truly terrorizes South Lebanon.
The world doesnt care. Israel only cares when attacked.
Iran should actually take full responsibility for Shia Lebanon and annex it as a true piece of Iran (claim it was part of Persia under Darius). Then you have real countries (Iran, Israel, and Jordan sharing borders and you will have real peace. None of them will want an outright war nor will they wage war through proxies if they are neighbors and the Shia of Lebanon will also be more secure being part of an Iranian empire than being placed at the mercy of Hizaballah thugs.
And yet Obama is considered a Democracy builder, the irony.
I think it would be technically hard to do since Iran and Lebanon don't share borders. But Syria does. And it did occupy Lebabon for some time. But off course this didn't stop the conflict.