Israel struck with hypersonic missiles – Iran
RT | October 1, 2024
Iran used hypersonic missiles for the first time during its strikes on Israel on Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced.
Iran launched several salvos of missiles in what the IRGC called a response to the recent Israeli killings of the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as an Iranian general who was in Lebanon.
Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles were used in the attack to bypass the Israeli radars, Iranian media reported on Tuesday evening, citing the IRGC.
The Guard claimed that 80-90% of the missiles used in ‘Operation Honest Promise 2’ struck their targets, among which were the Tel Nof air base near Tel Aviv and the Netsarim area near Gaza, where they said “a large number of Israeli tanks” was destroyed.
Iran also claimed to have destroyed a number of Israeli F-35 fighters at the Nevatim air base, located halfway between Beersheba and the Dead Sea.
The Israel Defense Forces estimated the number of incoming missiles at 180 and acknowledged that “a few hits” have been recorded. According to the IDF, the majority of the missiles were successfully intercepted. The only reported casualty on the ground is a Palestinian man, who was killed by a falling missile fragment near Jericho in the West Bank.
Tuesday’s attack was bigger in size and scope than the April strike, the first-ever such attack by Iran, in which scores of ballistic missiles and drones bombarded Israel in reprisal for an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Hypersonic missiles fly anywhere from five to 25 times the speed of sound. Iran unveiled its first such missile, the Fattah-1, last June. The Fattah-2 version was revealed to the public in November. Neither had been used in combat before.
According to Tehran, the missile attack was the response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, who was killed in Tehran back in July. Iran also cited the killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC Major General Abbas Nilforoshan in Lebanon last week.
Israel has vowed to strike back, while Iran has warned that any further attacks will be met with further force.
Jerusalem Post deletes article claiming Lebanon is part of Israel’s ‘promised land’
A man walks over debris of the building, where Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah lost his life, after Israeli army’s airstrike, carried out by F-35 fighter jets, in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon on September 29, 2024 [Houssam Shbaro – Anadolu Agency]
MEMO | October 1, 2024
The Jerusalem Post has prompted a controversy after publishing then swiftly deleting an article suggesting that Lebanon and several other Middle Eastern countries are part of Israel’s “promised land”.
“Is Lebanon part of Israel’s promised territory?” was published on 25 September, coinciding with Israel’s assault on Lebanon and subsequent ground invasion. The timing and content of the piece have been viewed by critics as evidence of Israel’s expansionist ambitions in the region.
In the now-deleted article, Mark Fish claimed that the land “promised by God” to the “children of Israel” includes parts of modern-day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and even Turkey. Fish cited religious texts to support its claims.
“The Torah provides clear guidelines regarding the areas we were commanded to conquer when taking possession of the land,” he wrote. He elaborated further on the concept of “Greater Israel”, suggesting that the Biblical boundaries stretch “from the ‘River of Egypt’ [interpreted by some as the Nile or a smaller river in Sinai] to the Perat River [Euphrates].”
The Jerusalem Post removed the article following a backlash on social media, with many accusing the newspaper of promoting expansionist ideology under the guise of religious justification. However, the article has been archived and continues to circulate online.
Notably, the author provides Torah-based justifications for holding onto occupied land. He said that “Hashem [God] tells us that we are granted every land we will conquer within the borders mentioned,” suggesting that God has sanctioned territorial expansion and occupation. This is an argument that aligns with a core tenet of Zionist ideology, which often cites Biblical prophecy about God’s promise to the Jews as justification for claiming Palestine and surrounding areas.
“Every place where the sole of your foot will tread shall be yours — from the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the river — the Euphrates River — until the western sea shall be your boundary,” wrote Fish. “This promise from the Creator clearly places the land of Lebanon within the Promised Land of Israel, or what some refer to as ‘the Complete Land of Israel’, or ‘The greater Israel’.”
Critics argue that the publication of such content, especially during another Israeli invasion of Lebanon, serves to legitimise Israel’s ongoing colonisation efforts in the Middle East. They contend that it reflects a broader ideology within certain Israeli circles that seeks to justify territorial expansion based on religious beliefs.
The controversy has reignited debates about the role of Israel’s religious claims to Palestine and the potential consequences of such rhetoric in an already volatile region. Like the early Zionists who concealed their true intention about ethnic cleansing and the complete colonisation of all of Palestine, Israeli leaders tend to avoid commenting on the concept of Greater Israel.
As of the time of writing, the Jerusalem Post had not issued an official statement regarding the publication and subsequent removal of the article.
US deploys thousands of troops to Middle East as tensions rise
Al Mayadeen | October 1, 2024
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Monday said the US is increasing its military presence in the Middle East by deploying a “few thousand” additional troops.
According to a statement, this includes bringing in new units and extending the stay of those already stationed there.
“A certain number of units already deployed to the Middle East region… will be extended and the forces due to rotate into theater to replace them will now instead augment” those that are already there, Singh said.
“These augmented forces include F-16, F-15E, A-10, F-22 fighter aircraft and associated personnel,” Singh added, noting that there will be “an additional few thousand” personnel in the region as a result.
This comes in light of heightened escalations amid the start of “Israel’s” “localized and targeted” aggression of Lebanon.
The latest attacks on US positions in the region include a strike on the US military’s Victoria base near Baghdad Airport, occurring late Monday into Tuesday.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have also struck Israeli military targets earlier today using long-range multi-purpose one-way assault Samad 4 drone.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues its operations targeting Israeli movements within the occupied Palestinian territories.
Iran also launched a response to the Israeli assassinations of martyrs Haniyeh, Sayyed Nasrallah, and General Nilforooshian earlier, launching hundreds of rockets toward occupied Palestine.
Heightened escalations
On Monday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed support to Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant for “dismantling attack infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah.
Austin also warned Iran of “serious consequences” should it directly strike “Israel” in retaliation for attacks on the Lebanese Resistance group.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah Political Council member Mahmoud Qomati said in an interview with Al Mayadeen that Hezbollah’s allies “will intervene if the battle expands.”
Qomati warned that southern Lebanon “will become a graveyard for the occupation forces” should they enter, highlighting the Resistance’s vast arsenal of unused weapons and the fighters’ readiness to engage with Israeli forces.
Addressing observers, Qomati said the Resistance was rebuilt immediately following the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The legacy of Sayyed Nasrallah is well-maintained, he said, adding, “his trust is in our hands and will remain so with every leader and fighter.”
Qomati also reiterated Hezbollah’s stance, which had been affirmed by the late Secretary-General since the beginning of the Israeli occupation’s war on Gaza, stressing that the party “will not halt its support unless a comprehensive proposal is put forward, including a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Operation True Promise II: Iran launches barrage of missiles against Zionist entity
Press TV – October 1, 2024
Sirens sounded all over the occupied territories as Iran launched hundreds of missiles towards the Zionist entity, in a retaliatory attack dubbed Operation True Promise II.
Flares and missiles were seen in the Tel Aviv sky and explosions could be heard in the occupied al-Quds, sending Zionist settlers fleeing into shelters.
The Israel Airports Authority said that no aircraft will be allowed to take off or arrive at all Israeli airports.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported “direct hits” in Negev, Sharon and other locations from Iran’s attack.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a statement shortly after the missile attack began.
It said in response to the martyrdom of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyah, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, the IRGC Aerospace Force launched dozens of ballistic missiles targeting key military and intelligence bases in the heart of the occupied territories.
The IRGC further said that the attack was in line with the country’s right to legitimate self-defense as per the United Nations Charter, and in response to the regime’s escalating crimes—backed by the United States—against the people of Lebanon and Gaza.
The Zionist regime will face more crushing attacks in case it reacts to Iran’s operation, the IRGC added.
In a follow-up statement, the IRGC said three Israeli military bases in Tel Aviv were hit during the operation.
In this operation, a number of air and radar bases, as well as centers for conspiracy and assassination planning against resistance leaders and IRGC commanders were targeted, the statement said.
The IRGC noted that even though the designated areas were shielded by advanced defense systems, 90% of the missiles shot successfully hit their targets.
“The Zionist regime has been terrified by the intelligence and operational dominance of the Islamic Republic,” it added.
The Iranian mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the missile attack was a “legal, rational, and legitimate” response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime.
It also warned the Israeli regime that a more “crushing” response would ensue should it dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence.
Celebratory gunfire erupted in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah chief Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike last week, following Iran’s retaliatory attack.
“Heavy gunfire heard from automatic weapons from areas of the southern suburbs, rejoicing in the missile launch from Iran towards Israel,” Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
Israeli strikes on homes, tents, school kill dozens in Gaza
The Cradle | October 1, 2024
At least 25 civilians were massacred, and others injured early on 1 October after Israeli forces bombed homes in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, a school in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, and a tent in Khan Yunis in the south.
WAFA news agency reported that according to local sources, Israeli bombs destroyed a three-story house in Nuseirat camp belonging to the Al-Durrah family, killing seven children and three women.
Two women were also killed in another Israeli airstrike on a home in Nuseirat belonging to the Abu Ataya family.
In Gaza City, an Israeli bombing killed seven civilians and injured others sheltering in the Shuja’iyya school.
Israeli forces also blew up residential buildings in the city of Rafah, while targeting the Zeitoun and Sabra neighborhoods in Gaza with artillery.
Reuters reports that in the city of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people killed six people, local medics said.
At the same time, the armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian resistance factions reported their fighters attacked Israeli forces operating in several areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets, mortar fire, and explosive devices.
The ongoing Israel campaign to destroy Gaza, ethnically cleanse it of Palestinians, and make way for renewed Jewish settlement, has now lasted almost 12 months and killed at least 41,638 people, most of them children and women.
Thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, as Israeli forces regularly prevent ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them.
Israel has continued to massacre Palestinians in Gaza even as it carries out a massive bombing campaign in Lebanon, including in the capital, Beirut.
“The eyes of the world now are on Lebanon while the occupation continues its killing in Gaza. We are afraid the war is going to go on for more months at least,” Samir Mohammed, 46, a father of five from Gaza City, told Reuters.
“It is all unclear now as Israel unleashes its force undeterred in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and God knows where else in the future,” he stated.
The weakness of Zionist air power
By Robert Daly | Al Mayadeen | October 1, 2024
What we have seen in the Zionist conduct of war since October 7, 2023, is a flashy, noisy exhibition but no seizure and holding of territory.
The murder of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the destruction of six high-rise apartment buildings with multiple airstrikes make Zionist air power appear triumphant over Hezbollah. But nothing could be further from the truth. It is not air power that defeats enemies in war. Rather, it is infantry—conquering, seizing, and holding territory that defeats an enemy. The Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany not through air power but through the ground battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and then by pushing the Nazi troops back into Germany as the Soviets liberated one occupied state after another from Ukraine and Belarus to Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The West at the time bombed Dresden and other cities, but that effort had little effect in defeating the Nazis. So, Zionist bombings of Lebanon’s cities kill citizens and wreck their homes but do not occupy territory or defeat Hezbollah.
It is beyond the capability of air power to seize enemy territory and hold it. Air power is only a form of contemporary artillery. In the past 100 years, humankind has ‘progressed’ from mere cannons and tanks delivering artillery shells onto an enemy’s positions to warplanes dropping them from above. What we have seen in the Zionist conduct of war since October 7, 2023, is a flashy, noisy exhibition but no seizure and holding of territory. Today, Hamas has retaken all of Gaza and continues to manage the territory as the Zionists have admitted in press briefings though they attacked Gaza by air. The Zionists responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack by bombing and destroying civilian residential buildings, but that did not destroy Hamas, which took advantage of the situation and the changed terrain to prepare positions from behind wrecked buildings to attack Zionist tanks and armored personnel carriers, which they have destroyed by the dozen. In this way, we have seen the contrast between ground fighters and air power in Gaza, where the Zionists are effective at killing women and children from the sky above with bombs, but cannot occupy and hold the territory that that population lived in.
If air power is an effective way to defeat one’s enemy and win a war, why is Hamas still ruling Gaza? Yedioth Ahronoth, a leading ‘Israeli’ newspaper, citing Israeli security sources wrote this past week that:
○ Hamas is working to consolidate its authority again in the areas of Gaza that the IOF left.
○ No one in Gaza stands against Hamas, and no one challenges its rule.
This is not new. In June, after eight months of Zionist bombing, the Guardian wrote “Hamas still strong in areas ‘cleared’ by Israel in northern Gaza.” How is that possible? Zionist warplanes far above do not provide much competition with Palestinian freedom fighters on the ground. Zionist armored vehicles full of scared reservists are easy targets for Gazan patriots who destroy those vehicles one after another. The Guardian concludes, “Hamas’s ability to return to areas from which it was earlier forced to retreat threatens ‘forever war’.” The paper explains, “There may be more Hamas militants in the north of Gaza, supposedly cleared by Israeli forces months ago, than in Rafah, the southern city in the territory described by Israeli officials as the extremist Islamist organization’s “last stronghold”. “We do have to remember there are more Hamas armed people in the north of Gaza in the places that the IDF has already moved out of than … in Rafah … Those are the IDF’s numbers. This is why the IDF had to go back into Jabaliya and … Zeitoun. Hamas is controlling all those areas,” Eyal Hulata, the head of “Israel’s” “national security council” from 2021 to last year, told reporters last May. Zionist air power and fragile armor have failed to conquer Gaza. They only wrecked it.
One can expect an even better outcome for the domestic national liberation army in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has the advantage of better and more artillery and soldiers experienced in fighting ISIS and Al-Qaeda on the ground in Syria.
One of the most disgusting Zionist air war practices is their cowardly war by assassination. Zionists will swoop down in aircraft of various sorts to kill someone on a motorcycle, a family in a car, or a leader of the national liberation movement in a building. To do that, they do not hesitate to murder hundreds of others in the area, as when the fascists murdered Sayyed Hassan. For if the Nazi abandoned his air vehicle and fought a fair fight on the ground, he would surely lose.
Moreover, it is an embarrassment to an American with a memory to hear Hezbollah or Hamas referred to as “terrorists” for defending their own land from Zionist invaders. Does not anyone remember Washington’s crossing of the Delaware on Christmas 1776, when they and their makeshift army slaughtered British-hired Hessian mercenaries drunk from celebrating the holiday? If Hamas is “terrorist”, then why isn’t George Washington?
So, we have it: “Israel” has not won in Lebanon. Rather, “the enemy must wait for us by air, land, and sea. We repeat: If war is imposed on Lebanon, the Resistance will fight without rules, controls, or ceilings,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah once said. “Storming the Galilee is a possibility that remains present within the framework of any war that the occupation may launch against Lebanon,” he added, referencing his 12-year-old promise that Hezbollah will invade “Israel’s” north if Tel Aviv chooses to attack.
UK ministers tried to sway police to stifle anti-‘Israel’ activists
Al Mayadeen | September 30, 2024
Home Office ministers and staff attempted to influence UK police and legal prosecutors to take action against activists targeting the facilities of Elbit Systems, a major Israeli arms manufacturer, campaigners revealed after obtaining internal documents as proof, The Guardian reported.
Briefing notes obtained by Palestine Action through freedom of information requests reveal discussions held prior to October 7 and the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which aimed to “reassure” Elbit Systems UK, the main target of an action campaign by the network.
The prosecution of Palestine Action activists, who have relentlessly protested the Israeli genocide and war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, has resulted in some convictions for charges like burglary and criminal damage.
Briefing notes, though heavily redacted, reveal that Home Office ministers attended meetings with representatives from Elbit Systems, and one meeting included a director from the Attorney General’s Office reportedly representing the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). These notes also indicate that Home Office officials reached out to the police regarding Palestine Action.
Tim Crosland, coordinator of Defend Our Juries, which argues that judges are undermining jurors’ absolute right to acquit based on conscience by restricting defendants from discussing their motivations, stated, “These disclosures, despite the extensive redaction, are the smoking gun on what has been obvious for a while: the government has been trying to put a stop to juries acquitting those who expose and resist corporate complicity in violations of international law and mass loss of life.”
He further asserted that the political intervention constitutes a “national scandal that implicates those at the highest levels”, indicating that the matter is also tantamount to the corruption of democracy and a breach of law by the UK’s elite.
Details
A private secretary note from March 2, 2022, detailing a meeting between then Home Secretary Priti Patel and Martin Fausset, CEO of Elbit Systems UK, noted, “Palestine Action’s criminal activity is for the police to investigate and though they are operationally independent of government meaning we cannot direct their response, my officials have been in contact with the police about PA.”
Another briefing from April 19, 2023, framing a session between Chris Philp, then a Home Office minister, and Elbit, revealed that a director from the Attorney General’s Office will attend to represent the CPS, as the CPS opted not to participate in the meeting to maintain their operational independence.
Meanwhile, the content of a section titled “past lobbying” was redacted.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action stated that claims of independence were undermined within the same sentences where they were made.
“What is happening behind closed doors is clear evidence of collusion between the government, a foreign private arms manufacturer, the CPS, the Attorney General’s Office, and the police,” they said, asserting that it was a flagrant abuse of power that asserts how the state prioritizes the interests of Elbit Systems “over the rights and freedoms of its own citizens.”
On the other hand, a police spokesperson said, “We fully respect the operational independence of the police and the independent judiciary, which remains the bedrock of our policing model. These meetings took place under the previous government.”
Previous documents obtained through FoI requests indicated that Israeli embassy officials in London sought to have the Attorney General’s Office intervene in UK court cases involving the prosecution of protesters.
Labour continues arming ‘Israel’
Since its election, the new Labour government has been at the center of demands to halt all arms sales to “Israel”.
Although it announced that it would continue funding UNRWA following a baseless global defunding campaign and that it would not contest the International Criminal Court’s authority to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes, the government was yet to completely commit to the more significant shift that the public is calling for, which is the cessation of arms shipments to “Israel”.
Mark Smith, a counterterrorism official at the British Embassy in Dublin, relayed to his colleagues after submitting his resignation, “Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of War Crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza perpetrated by the State of Israel.”
“There is no justification for the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel, yet somehow it continues. I have raised this at every level in the organization … As a fully cleared officer raising serious concerns of illegality in this Department, to be disregarded in this way is deeply troubling. It is my duty as a public servant to raise this,” he added.
Earlier this month, the British government announced the immediate suspension of 30 out of its 350 arms export licenses with the Israeli occupation, citing concerns that the equipment might be used in ways that violate international humanitarian law, Foreign Minister David Lammy announced after a review of arms sales to the occupying regime, particularly in the context of the ongoing war on Gaza.
Lammy emphasized that this suspension does not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo but is a targeted measure. “It is with regret that I inform the House of Commons today that the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there exists a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy stated.
Journalist Wafa al-Odaini and her family martyred in Israeli airstrike in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center – September 30, 2024
GAZA – Noted Palestinian journalist and activist Wafa al-Odaini was martyred along with her family following an Israeli airstrike on her home at dawn Monday in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to local media reports.
Her husband, Munir al-Odaini, and her two children, Balsam and Tamim, were also killed in the airstrike.
“The occupation forces assassinated journalist Wafa al-Odaini, a prominent activist in conveying the Palestinian narrative to the foreign media. She and her family (her husband and two children) were killed in a treacherous Israeli attack on their home in Deir al-Balah City in the central Gaza Strip,” the Forum of Palestinian Journalists (FPJ) said in a statement on Monday.
According to FPJ, journalist Odaini devoted her life and time to conveying the suffering of her oppressed people through international and Palestinian media, especially through her involvement in writing English articles, conducting interviews with foreign activists, and holding online conferences and different activities in English language.
“With her martyrdom, the Palestinian national media has lost a free voice full of love for Palestine and her people — who fight for freedom and self-determination,” the forum said.
Since the war on Gaza started, the Israeli occupation army has killed 174 journalists and media workers.
For its part, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) mourned journalist Odaini, saying she wrote distinguished articles for its English website.
The following are links to articles she wrote recently for PIC :
There is no such thing as protective attire for journalists in Gaza
What does Back-To-School look like in battered Gaza?
A Lifeline in Starving Gaza: The role of Tekiyyah amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide
Israeli occupation authority razes seven commercial facilities in northern Jerusalem
Palestinian Information Center – September 30, 2024
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – The Israeli occupation authority demolished on Monday seven commercial facilities belonging to Palestinian citizens in Shuafat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, at the pretext of unlicensed construction.
Eyewitnesses said that bulldozers escorted by police forces stormed at dawn Shuafat camp and embarked on knocking down seven commercial structures with no prior notice.
They added that the Israeli police did not allow the storekeepers to remove the contents of their facilities, which were four construction supply stores, one café, one restaurant and one grocery store.
Meanwhile, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem said that the Israeli police closed the road barrier that connects Shuafat camp with the holy city and obstructed the movement of local residents as they tried to reach their workplaces and schools in the morning.
In a separate incident, employees from the Israeli municipality delivered demolition and stop-work orders against a number of Palestinian homes in the east Jerusalem district of Issawiya.
Iran won’t deploy forces to Lebanon to help Hezbollah – foreign ministry
RT | September 30, 2024
Iran will not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran announced on Monday. The statement comes amid Israel’s intensified attacks against the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen.
Tehran does not seek war but is not afraid of it and stands for a safe and stable Middle East, the ministry stressed.
“There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told a weekly news conference. Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression,” he added.
In the past several weeks, Israel has been conducting heavy airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon and other militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, raising fears the conflict could engulf the entire Middle East and draw in Iran and the US, Israel’s main ally.
“We have not received any request in this regard from any side, on the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces,” Kanaani told reporters.
He nonetheless pledged that Israel “will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces.”
During the past week alone, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) significantly ramped up airstrikes on Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people and wounding over 6,000 according to local health officials. The escalation also triggered a mass exodus from the areas most affected by the Israeli bombing.
The Israeli military also conducted a series of strikes against senior Hezbollah commanders, killing most of them, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah’s office in Tehran on Monday to pay tribute to Nasrallah, according to the government’s website.
Joe Biden Is Responsible for Burning Lebanon
By Daniel Larison | The Libertarian Institute | September 30, 2024
The Joe Biden administration claims to be pushing for a “temporary ceasefire” between Israel and Hezbollah to avert a larger conflict, but this is very late in the day and it is not a serious effort to prevent a new war in Lebanon. It is at best a desperate, last-minute exercise in going through the motions of diplomacy. The administration would like to pretend that it is a passive bystander pleading from the sidelines instead of the chief patron and arms supplier of the main belligerent in the conflict, and it designs its entreaties to be toothless so that Israel can safely ignore them.
The United States has refused to exert any pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for the last eleven months, and it has continued supplying Israel with weapons no matter how those weapons have been used to commit war crimes against Palestinians. Now American officials say that they don’t want further escalation in Lebanon, but once again the administration won’t back up those words with action. The U.S. could use its leverage to rein Israel in and insist on the de-escalation that the administration says that it wants, but the president has shown that he has no interest in doing that.
The empty Gaza ceasefire negotiations prove as much. The ceasefire talks have become an interminable process designed to lead nowhere. The administration has catered to the Netanyahu government’s preferences at every turn. Each time that Netanyahu adds new deal-breakers or otherwise seeks to derail negotiations with new attacks, the administration has dutifully taken his side and pretended that Hamas is the sole obstacle to securing an agreement. The United States cannot be a credible diplomatic actor in the region when its primary role is acting as Netanyahu’s PR agent.
The Israeli government assumes that the U.S. won’t withhold weapons, diplomatic support, or military protection under any circumstances, and that has encouraged Netanyahu to pursue increasingly aggressive goals. Because the U.S. shields Israel from military reprisals, as it did earlier this year during Iran’s missile and drone strikes, it has given Netanyahu free rein to lash out whenever and wherever he wants. The administration has dressed all of this up as preventing a wider regional war, but the reality is that they have simply delayed the conflagration while making it more likely that it will be even more destructive when it occurs.
The total failure of the administration’s policy is there for all to see. The region is likely facing a new Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and that invasion will have serious destabilizing effects on the wider region. This is the disaster that the United States has claimed to oppose all along, but in practice it has done nothing to stop it. Had the U.S. truly wanted the war in Gaza not to spread, it would have demanded a lasting ceasefire months ago. Had the U.S. wanted to prevent escalation in Lebanon, it would be cutting off arms transfers and pulling back its forces from the region rather than rushing more troops to the Middle East. Instead the United States has done everything that one would expect it to do if it wished to set the region ablaze.
The U.S. is at great risk of being ensnared in this larger war. It is imperative that our country avoid direct involvement in Israel’s conflicts. The U.S. has no vital interests at stake in these fights. The president has no authority to involve American forces directly. It is not the responsibility of the United States to bail out a reckless client state when it gets in over its head. The quickest way to force the Israeli government to deescalate is to deprive it of the support and protection that it takes for granted.
Once the current crisis is over, U.S. foreign policy in the region has to be radically overhauled. To avoid future entanglements in the wars of client states, the U.S. should downgrade its relationships with the Middle Eastern governments that rely heavily on American weapons supplies and protection. The United States has no formal commitments to defend these states, and it should not extend security guarantees to any of them. The U.S. also needs to reduce its military presence in the region to the bare minimum required to secure our embassies. Decades of extensive American military involvement in this part of the world have been ruinous for the countries of the region and for American interests, and it is in the best interests of all concerned for the United States to get out.
Lebanon: Israeli forces’ airstrikes kill 14 medics in 2 days
People check the leveled area bombarded on September 27, 2024 by US-made bunker-buster bombs in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs. (Photo by AFP)
Press TV – September 29, 2024
More than a dozen paramedics have been killed in recent Israeli attacks, Lebanon’s health ministry announced.
The Lebanese health ministry announced on Sunday that 14 paramedics had been killed in two days of intense Israeli bombardment in Lebanon’s east and south and in Beirut where it had killed Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The ministry said in its statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli enemy’s repeated attacks on medical centers” and that “paramedics do not participate in hostilities.”
“The Israeli occupation forces have accumulated their attacks on paramedics and health centers in recent days. This series of attacks led to the martyrdom of fourteen paramedics in two days,” it said in the statement.
“The repeated attacks by the Israeli enemy on health centers flout international laws and norms, especially the Geneva Convention which highlights the neutrality of health centers and health workers in combat zones to allow them to carry out their humanitarian duty.”
“Does Israel want the blood to flow without stopping? Where is the international community and its responsibility to put an end to this escalating genocide?” it added.
The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee announced that the Israeli war machine launched 216 air attacks in the past 24 hours across Lebanon.
The Israeli airstrikes are due to the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance group showing solidarity with and giving support to Palestinians since the Tel Aviv leaders unleashed a genocidal war against the besieged Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Since then, Israeli attacks on Lebanese targets have left 1,640 people dead.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who led the resistance movement for over three decades, was himself martyred after Israeli regime forces bombarded a Beirut suburb using US-made jet fighters and bunker-buster bombs.
Featured Video
The Destruction of Libya in 2011
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
Book Review
On Herd Mentality
By Jeb Smith | April 14, 2026
I no longer trust “we the people,” because of the powers influencing them. Media and government schooling form their general ideas on reality and governance. Therefore, it’s not a case of the voter choosing the politicians. Instead, the system is conditioning and conforming the voter to the authorities’ desires.
In democracies, the people are kept occupied working and paying taxes, too busy to acquire information outside the approved sources. You will find they know and care far more about the next iPhone than political philosophy. Of those who hold some interest, 95% just toe the party line, holding the same opinion as the primary media source they listen to. They lack both the desire and time to expand their horizons.
Media’s purpose is to conform people’s thought to a preferred goal, which is why Republican and Democratic voters both firmly hold their parties’ general stances, reciting the same talking points. The people do not originate ideas; their thoughts are fed to them by the media so they can consume, digest, and parrot back whatever they are served. When it comes to politics, we rarely think for ourselves. We are told what to think.
Watch PBS, MSNBC and read your local newspaper for six months, and you will receive a particular view and understanding of the world. Then listen to The Mike Church Show, The Blaze, and The Daily Wire, and you will get not just another perspective but a whole different world of facts and events. The world people believe they live in can be entirely different depending on their news sources.
We enjoy seeing the enemy humiliated, which describes why those engulfed in politics love their preferred media sources; they keep returning for more like a drug addict. Networks ensure their “experts” align with the worldview they and their audience desire. The people who watch PBS, BBC, and so forth expect a specific perspective to be presented. Fox News watchers demand the same. In doing this, we both encourage and assure we are misled.
In their book Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, professors Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels argue, based on substantial research, that voters do not decide the party platform and agenda. Instead, the parties control the “ideologies” of the voters. When the party the voter identifies with changes its position, the individuals also change theirs. They discovered the individual would quickly adopt the views of their group; they will ignore or change their own opinions over time to fit in with the collective they identify with. Achen and Bartels wrote “group memberships largely drove policy views, not vice versa.” … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Indonesia Agrees to Receive Oil, Gas Supplies From Russia – Indonesian Energy Ministry
- Saudi Arabia Urges US Back to Iran Talks as Other Oil Routes Face Risk
- Iran demands reparations from Arab states
- Tankers transit Strait of Hormuz amid US attempt to impose blockade, data shows
- US Strikes Kill Five in Alleged Pacific Anti-drug Campaign
- EU Defense Agency head says compulsory military service could be necessary
- France To Vote On Bill That Would Criminalize Criticism Of Israel
- There are No Ceasefires with Israel, Only Opportunities for Later Attacks
- China to Ignore Trump’s Blockade: The Strait Remains Open to Us
- Trump’s desperate bombasts amount to war crimes
- If Americans Knew
- Second Contractor Steps Forward to Blow the Whistle on Israeli Attacks at Gaza Aid Site
- Mighty Israel wants all of its neighbors to be defenseless – Daily Update
- Emergency waivers move arms for Israel, UAE to speed lane
- Caitlin Johnstone: Nobody’s “Obsessed” With Israel — It’s Just A Uniquely Horrible Country
- Israel’s Ben Gvir says he feels like the ‘owner’ of Al-Aqsa Mosque
- History of flotilla campaigns to end Israel’s siege of Gaza
- Humanitarian Scorecard: Six Months In, Gaza Ceasefire is Failing
- Mark Levin Seems Upset We Haven’t Nuked Iran
- Israeli prison authorities are blocking hundreds of solidarity postcards being sent to female Palestinian prisoners
- ‘I wished for death’: Sexual violence in Israel’s prisons is an ‘organized state policy’
- No Tricks Zone
- Cave Discovery Reveals Today’s Desert Climates Were Recently Far Warmer, Wetter, Teeming With Life
- German Expert: Heat Dome Led To Record Temps In Western USA…Warmer In 1934, 1936
- New Study: No Linear Warming Or Glacier Retreat Along Northern Antarctic Peninsula Since 1980s
- An Inconvenient Tree: Uncovered In Alps… Europe Much Warmer Than Today 6000 Years Ago
- New Study Reports A 60% Slowdown In Greenland’s Ice Loss Rate In The Last Decade
- Low Intensity Tornado Wrecks Major Solar Farm, Creating A Potential Toxic Dump
- New Study Finds Warming Saves Lives…Cold Temperatures 12 Times More Deadly Than Excess Heat
- German Science Blog Accuses PIK Climate Institute Of Hallucinating Climate Tipping Points
- Devastating Assessment Of Comirnaty Vaccine By Former Senior Pfizer Europe Toxicologist
- New Study: CO2 Is ‘Effectively Negligible’ As An Explanatory Climate Change Factor Since 2000
Aletho News 