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Reports: IAF Eliminates Hezbollah No. 3 Leader Karaki in Beirut
Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted a targeted airstrike in Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, the military announced.
The attack reportedly targeted Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s No. 3 man. Karaki is the terrorist organization’s highest-ranking remaining “military” commander following Friday’s assassination of Ibrahim Aqil.
Karaki heads Hezbollah’s southern command, which is responsible for the Iranian-backed terrorist army’s cross-border attacks on Israel.
Karaki is also a member of Hezbollah’s top “military” organization, the Jihad Council, which is subordinate to the Shura Council and under the direct control of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
According to Sky News Arabic, Karaki was killed in the strike, which consisted of 6 missiles fired at the building he was located in.
Monday night’s aerial attack marked the fourth time that IAF jets struck the Lebanese capital since Hezbollah joined the war against the Jewish state in support of Palestinian Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre.
(JNS)
ABSOLUTELY INSANE FOOTAGE
NETANYAHU TO LEBANESE CIVILIANS: Evacuate Now, War Is With Hezbollah, Not People Of Lebanon [VIDEO]
UPDATE: IDF Strikes Over 800 Hezbollah Targets, 275 Killed – Rockets Fired at the Shomron
On Monday, operating under the direction of the Northern Command, dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck over 800 targets inside Lebanon.
The strikes, targeting Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa valley, killed 275 and injured over 1,000, according to the Lebanese Al Mayadeen channel.
The IDF stated: “Since this morning (Monday), the IDF has conducted proactive and extensive aerial strikes against Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon. Thus far, the IAF has carried out strikes based on precise intelligence on approximately 800 Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon and in the area of Beqaa deep inside Lebanese territory. Among the targets struck were buildings where Hezbollah hid rockets, missiles, launchers, UAVs and additional terrorist infrastructure.”
“The IDF is striking to remove threats to Israeli civilians and degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure and capabilities.”
Hezbollah has fired about 150 rockets at Israel today, including targeting communities which had not received rocket fire until now, including in the Shomron.
About 10 rockets were fired at the Shomron, as part of a barrage of 80 rockets fired at northern Israel. Sirens sounded in Ariel, and other communities in the Shomron.
{Matzav.com}
TOP TERRORIST TARGETED: Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s No. 3, Targeted In IDF Strike On Beirut Building
WAS HEZBOLLAH’S NUMBER THREE JUST ELIMINATED?
IDF Says They Carried Out Targeted Strike In Beirut
Trump Allies Make Another Push To Change Nebraska’s Electoral College Law
Toronto Protesters: ‘From Palestine to Lebanon, Israel Will Soon Be Gone’
Demonstrators in Toronto called for the imminent demise of the Jewish state during a march in the city last week.
Multimedia journalist Beth Baisch uploaded video documentation to social media of the genocidal chant “From Palestine to Lebanon, Israel will soon be gone.”
Toronto middle-schoolers on a field trip last Wednesday were forced to participate in an anti-Israel protest after parents were told that their children would be observing a demonstration at Grange Park against mercury contamination in an Ontario First Nation tribe.
During the event, teachers allegedly instructed the seventh- and eighth-grade students to wear blue shirts identifying them as “settlers” and “colonizers,” and they were encouraged to take an active role in the anti-Israel chants.
One Jewish student was allegedly told by a teacher to “get over it” after expressing discomfort with the anti-Israel chants, the Toronto Sun reported.
“It is very frustrating that elements of the anti-Israel mob are using their positions as educators to drive this agenda on impressionable children who know nothing about this conflict in the Middle East,” Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak told the Sun. “Our education system must nurture young minds in a positive way and not teach them to demonize those they don’t agree with.”
Ontario Education Minister Jill Dunlop wrote that she was “deeply disappointed” by the events. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) apologized and said that it was investigating the incident and reviewing its policies.
“Compromising the security and safety of students is unacceptable. I expect TDSB to conduct a thorough review of the situation and ensure accountability with parents and students to prevent future incidents,” Dunlop wrote.
“They lied about the purpose of the field trip. They lied about what students would do. The @TDSB teachers who lied to #Toronto parents must be held accountable,” Kevin Vuong, an independent member of Parliament for Spadina—Fort York, tweeted.
“Sorry@TDSB but this apology is not enough. The board must keep a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students, and you failed. Any rational calculation would have prevented this school trip from happening. Parents expressed their legitimate concerns and you ignored them. Let’s work together to ensure schools remain a space where students can learn together and not be divided,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote.
JNSSTAGGERING NUMBERS: IDF Says Air Force Bombed EIGHT HUNDRED Hezbollah Terror Targets Since This Morning
Guterres Stands By UNGA Resolution Calling for Jews to Be Removed From Old City of Yerushalayim
Prior to the United Nations General Assembly’s vote on Wednesday calling for Yerushalayim’s Old City, Judea and Samaria to be Jew-free António Guterres, the global body’s secretary-general, told reporters that he would back implementation of the resolution should it pass.
The Palestinian-drafted resolution, which passed by a 124 to 14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to give force to the International Court of Justice’s July advisory opinion, in which the U.N. high court in The Hague declared Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line.
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JNS asked Guterres’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric during a press briefing on Thursday whether the secretary-general now backs the resolution, calling for the Old City in Jerusalem to be Judenrein, which he said he would report.
“He’s the secretary-general of the U.N. If there’s a resolution that passes and that asks him—clearly requests him to do something, he will do so, because those are the instructions he receives from member states,” Dujarric told JNS. “That’s what happened, and he encourages member states to respect the resolutions that are passed.”
JNS noted that the resolution mandates “evacuating all settlers” within a year, and that the United Nations defines settlers as Jews living beyond the 1949 armistice line, including those in Oslo Accords-defined Area C of Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Dujarric denied that is the case. “The language supports an end to the occupation, which is what the secretary general and previous secretary generals have always called for,” he said.
“Those Jews living in the Old City are defined as ‘settlers’ by the United Nations,” JNS said.
“He has called for an end to the occupation, and he has called for the end of settlements, and he’s not,” Dujarric said, before taking another reporter’s question.
The resolution lost support from some countries, which said that it went well beyond the contours of the U.N. court’s advisory opinion. It also bans arms sales to the Israel Defense Forces of any equipment that would be expected reasonably to be used in the territory over the 1949 lines and calls for a boycott of all products produced by Jews in those areas.
Guterres offered no public indication that he disagrees with any part of the resolution.
The eight-page resolution lacks any mention of Israeli security concerns, historic ties to the lands or Hamas’s terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
General Assembly resolutions lack legal force, but the resolution’s passage on Wednesday is expected to be used in international courts and other fora to seek additional action against the Jewish state.
It is widely expected that the Palestinians will request that the U.N. Security Council take up the issue. Security Council resolutions are binding, but the United States would be expected to thwart such an effort, including with its veto power. JNS
{Matzav.com}
GREAT AIM: Long Range Hezbollah Missile Lands In Terror-Infested Arab Village
Harris Raises $27 Million In New York Fundraiser, Promises Economic Speech This Week
IAF Hits 400 Sites in Lebanon as Hezbollah Pummels Northern Israel
Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted massive airstrikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Monday morning to prevent the Iranian-backed terror army from firing rockets across the border.
As of Monday afternoon, the IAF had attacked more than 400 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Alongside the update, the army published a video of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi approving the attacks from the military’s underground command room at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari warned that the IAF strikes would continue in the immediate time frame and criticized Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, accusing the terror leader of “dragging Lebanon and the entire region into escalation.”
Addressing the possibility of ground maneuvers in Lebanon, he said that “we will do whatever is necessary to return residents [of northern Israel] to their homes. We have detailed plans, which we have presented to the political leadership.”
Hagari on Monday morning warned Lebanese civilians living along the border that Hezbollah was using their homes to store weapons and that for their safety they should evacuate immediately.
He also revealed during the press briefing that terrorists had recently attempted to launch a cruise missile from a civilian residence, which was thwarted, providing documentation of the preventive strike.
The cruise missile was a DR-3 model with a flight range of 124 miles (200 km.) carrying a warhead of up to 661 pounds (300 kg.), according to the IDF.
“I have recorded a clear message for all residents of Southern Lebanon—in the past few hours, we identified an intention to attack Israel, and soon we will strike,” said Hagari.
“For more than 20 years, Hezbollah has placed weapons inside homes and armed them, turning Southern Lebanon into a combat zone. We are monitoring this activity, locating the weapons and destroying them in precise strikes. We urge you to move away from them immediately, for your safety. Hezbollah is endangering you,” said Hagari.
The IDF sent text messages to residents of Southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah buildings, and Hagari’s video message was subtitled in Arabic: “Anyone who is near or inside houses where Hezbollah is hiding weapons is requested to move away from them immediately.”
An illustration of Hezbollah using civilian homes in Southern Lebanon to store and fire rockets at Israel. Credit: IDF.Jerusalem has ramped up its rhetoric and escalated attacks on Hezbollah since recently adding the return of residents to the north as an official war goal. More than 60,000 Israelis remain internally displaced after nearly a year of near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks by Hezbollah in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah-affiliated media in Lebanon reported on injuries from the widespread Israeli attacks, which reached deep into Lebanese territory in the Bekaa Valley.
Meanwhile, rocket alarms were heard in the Safed area of Israel’s Upper Galilee, with many explosions heard and dozens of interceptions reported. A major barrage was also reported deep into the Lower Galilee.
The Magen David Adom medical emergency response group said two Israelis sustained light wounds when a rocket hit in the area of the Golani intersection, located in the Lower Galilee between Tiberias and Nazareth. The men, 25 and 59, were evacuated to Poria Medical Center (Baruch Padeh Medical Center) near Tiberias for treatment.
In Giv’at Avni, located adjacent to the Sea of Galilee, a fire broke out after a Hezbollah rocket scored a direct hit on a house, local media reported. The residents had barricaded themselves in their bomb shelter and emerged unharmed following the attacks, according to the reports.
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the IAF strikes in Lebanon in a statement.
“Supporting the Air Force, the IDF, and the security forces in their operation in Lebanon. The time has come. Be strong and courageous, and act—do not fear or be dismayed until all the residents of the north return to their homes safely,” the Yesh Atid Party leader tweeted. JNS
{Matzav.com Israel}
Long-Range Rockets Fired from Lebanon Toward Israel for First Time in Conflict, Sirens Sound in West Bank Communities
Netanyahu Says Weighing Plan for Siege On Hamas In North Gaza; Believes Half of Hostages Alive
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu informed lawmakers on Monday that he is considering the generals’ proposal for a blockade of northern Gaza, a strategy put forth by senior IDF reservists.
During a meeting with members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the prime minister shared that “according to the information we have, half of the [97 remaining] hostages in Gaza are alive,” as noted by a committee member.
This suggests that approximately 50 of the hostages may have died. The IDF has only verified the deaths of 33 individuals still in Gaza.
In the confidential session, Netanyahu revealed that the strategy for besieging the remaining Hamas forces is among several options being reviewed and will be presented to the cabinet for further examination in the upcoming days.
Retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, who introduced the proposal to the committee last week, contended that this approach, which lacks U.S. support, would “change the reality” on the ground in Gaza.
“We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone, [a zone] in which every figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter this territory.”
Eiland maintained that a siege not only serves as an effective military strategy but is also aligned with international law. “What matters to [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar is land and dignity, and with this maneuver, you take away both land and dignity,” he asserted.
Eiland has criticized Israel’s approach to the war in Gaza, stating in an interview with The Times of Israel last week that as long as Hamas controls food and fuel distribution, it can continue to fund itself and recruit new fighters.
“You can’t win a war while this is the situation in Gaza,” he stated. “The slogan that ‘only military pressure will bring victory’ has no basis whatsoever. The wars of the 21st century are based on something else. The most important parameter is the population, and those who can control the population win the war.”
Netanyahu informed the committee that managing the flow of humanitarian aid is crucial for success in Gaza, adding that attempts to engage local tribes have not succeeded. Therefore, he suggested that implementing a military administration in the region might be necessary for the time being, even if it isn’t his ultimate goal.
Likud MK Amit Halevi, part of the committee, praised Eiland’s plan, stating it indicated “the right direction” for Israeli policy in Gaza.
“In order to defeat Hamas we must control the land and the population. There is no other way to victory,” he told The Times of Israel, arguing that as long as Hamas maintains civil control, it will continue to recruit fighters.
This strategy is also “the only chance for a hostage deal” because it will increase pressure on Sinwar to negotiate and make concessions, he argued.
“If he has food for years and the international pressure is on Israel, why does he need to make a deal?” Halevi questioned.
Sources familiar with Sunday’s discussions revealed that Netanyahu did not respond to New Hope MK Gideon Sa’ar’s announcement on Shabbos, when he stated that he declined the prime minister’s offer to assume the defense minister position, succeeding Yoav Gallant.
In a statement, the leader of the hawkish opposition party said he could not accept the role due to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, although he maintained he was qualified for the position.
Netanyahu anticipated that the International Criminal Court (ICC) would likely soon issue arrest warrants for both Gallant and himself.
Earlier this month, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan urged the court to issue arrest warrants that he had requested in May for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leaders “with utmost urgency.”
Khan is a “political guided missile,” Netanyahu remarked to lawmakers.
He also refuted claims that he is obstructing a Gaza hostage deal, asserting that Hamas is the intransigent party, having requested 29 modifications to a proposed ceasefire agreement, while claiming that Israel accepted all conditions set by American negotiators.
Reports indicate that Netanyahu has introduced new conditions beyond those proposed by the Americans, including Israel maintaining a presence on the Gaza-Egypt border in the initial phase of a ceasefire and hostage arrangement. However, U.S. officials have also pointed out that Hamas’s demands remain a significant barrier to an agreement.
Hebrew media reports mentioned that the prime minister denounced “fake reports” suggesting he is hindering an agreement and stated that Hamas currently does not seek a ceasefire deal.
He also proposed a new idea for a deal that arose during internal discussions, which would involve Israel agreeing to a series of brief ceasefires in Gaza, with a small number of hostages released in each instance, as reported by Channel 12 news.
He reportedly also argued that increasing pressure on Hezbollah in the north could compel Sinwar to negotiate.
Regarding the recent surge in hostilities against Hezbollah, he stated, “We are talking about distancing Hezbollah from the border and degrading its capabilities. This is not a one-off event. We will continue, but would prefer not to get to all-out war.”
Netanyahu’s comments in the Knesset occurred just hours after he released a video statement declaring that Hezbollah would “get the message” following a series of significant operations against the Iran-backed group in recent days.
Hezbollah broadened its rocket attack range early Sunday to strike the greater Haifa area and the Jezreel Valley, endangering around two million Israelis with its assaults.
The Israel Defense Forces reported that approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and drones have been launched toward Israel since Motzoei Shabbos.
Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz indicated he asked Netanyahu during the hearing to clarify the connection between operations in Israel’s north and Gaza — and sought information on when the hostages would be returned and when residents of the north could return home.
“The prime minister did not answer this question,” he reported.
{Matzav.com Israel}