Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, leads mass for the World Day of the Poor at St Peter's Basilica in The Vatican, on November 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, has called for an investigation into Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip as experts say it amounts to genocide against Palestinians.
He made the request in his forthcoming book, whose excerpts were published by Italy’s La Stampa daily on Sunday.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” the pontiff wrote in his new book titled Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World.
“This should be studied carefully to determine whether (the situation) corresponds to the technical definition formulated by jurists and international organizations.”
Reports say Pope Francis has privately used the word genocide to describe Israel’s bloody aggression on Gaza.
However, his recent comments are the first time he has publicly called for an inquiry to determine if the usurping regime’s attacks meet the legal definition of genocide.
Last week, a UN special committee, set up in 1968 to monitor the Israeli occupation, said that Israeli policies and practices in the besieged Gaza Strip are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
In its annual report, it said there were serious concerns that Israel was “using starvation as a weapon of war” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israeli officials have publicly supported policies to destroy “vital water, sanitation and food systems” in Gaza as well as prevent access to fuel, added the committee, composed of three UN member states, including Malaysia, Senegal and Sri Lanka.
Israel unleashed its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 43,846 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 103,740 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Allameh Mohammad Hossein Tabataba'i is widely regarded as one of the modern era's most celebrated and revered Islamic mystics and philosophers, a luminary whose intellectual brilliance has inspired generations.
Many regard him as one of the greatest Muslim figures to emerge from Iran in the last century, a true embodiment of wisdom and spiritual depth.
Allameh Tabataba'i was born in 1903 in Tabriz, a city in western Iran, into a family of sayyids — descendants of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The family had already produced over 14 generations of notable theologians and thinkers.
Allameh Tabataba'i authored more than 40 books, all masterpieces of intellectual thought. However, his crowning achievement is “Tafsir al-Mizan”, a twenty-volume commentary of the Holy Quran written in Arabic. The commentary has been described by many as a divinely inspired work.
“Allameh Tabataba'i was one of the exceptional wonders of our seminaries in the last century. A combination of qualities such as knowledge, piety, morality, literary talent and artistry, and sincerity and friendship was what formed the personality of this great man,” Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said at the International Congress in Honor of Allameh Tabataba'i in 2023.
Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the wide scope of Allameh Tabataba'i's profound knowledge and spiritual wisdom, which put him in a different league.
“He was an expert in the principles of jurisprudence. He was a philosopher. And he had a deep understanding of theoretical mysticism. He was a scholar in astronomy and mathematics. He was an outstanding scholar in the interpretation of the Quran and the Quranic sciences. He was a skilled poet. He was also skilled and active in the science of genealogy.”
The celebrated Iranian polymath’s work was unavailable to Western readers till French metaphysical philosopher and Iranologist Henry Corbin introduced Allameh Tabataba'i to Western audiences through his work on Shia spiritual teachings.
Allameh Tabataba'i’s meetings with Henry Corbin
Corbin, a luminary in his own right, was deeply influenced by Allameh Tabataba'i’s works and made no secret of it. He even met Allameh to discuss the spiritual aspects of Islam and Shiism.
“Allameh Mohammad Hossein Tabataba'i, the great professor of traditional philosophy of theology and mysticism from Qom, was the central figure of our meetings,” writes Corbin in his magnum opus “En Islam Iranien” (Islam in Iran), published in 1971.
Tabataba'i led a bi-weekly study circle in Tehran, in which Corbin, who was then a professor of Islam and Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris and also at the University of Tehran, participated alongside a group of Iranian intellectuals.
Other notable figures who participated in these meetings included Ayatollah Murtaza Motahhari, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, Sayed Hadi Khosrowshahi, and Sayed Hussain Nasr, among others.
Those in attendance recall Corbin sitting next to Allameh Tabataba'i in complete humility and respect.
“He was like a polite student, asking his questions to Allameh Tabataba'i,” Sayed Hadi Khusrowshahi, an Islamic scholar and former Iranian ambassador to the Vatican, wrote in his book on Allameh Tabatabai.
Corbin would be in Iran every autumn, eager to meet Allameh Tabataba'i. The meetings mainly revolved around philosophical, theological, and mystical issues.
In the initial meetings, they discussed the ideological foundations and teachings of Shiism. The conversations were later published in Allameh Tabataba'i's book, “A Shi’ite Anthology.”
“Allameh was a great man. In the field of philosophy and Qur'anic interpretation, he was a leading authority. His expertise could be found in the discussions between him and Corbin," Dr. Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, writes about these meetings.
"In September, Corbin would come to Iran. He would discuss the current philosophical and theological issues of that time. The issues were raised in the form of questions to Allameh Tabataba'i, and he provided answers.”
Dr. Gholam Hossein Ebrahim Dinani, professor emeritus at Tehran University and one of Allameh Tabataba'i’s students who would accompany him from Qom to Tehran, says these meetings provided a platform to Corbin for the exchange of opinions about the spiritual possibilities of man.
“The decision to meet Allameh Tabataba'i was Corbin’s personal choice. He believed that the materialistic philosophies of the Western religion and the harsh Western tendencies have made life difficult for man and separated him from his spiritual roots," Dr Karim Mojtahedi, an Iranian philosopher was quoted as saying in an interview.
"Corbin was exploring a way into the East. His search finished after meeting Allameh Tabataba'i, as the Iranian cleric represented an original spiritual figure."
Corbin’s association with Allameh Tabataba'i reinforced his belief that “Islamic Iran has been the country par excellence of the greatest philosophers and mystics of Islam.”
“The French scholar’s meetings with Allameh Tabataba'i showed that not only did Iranian Islamic philosophies not end after Ibn Rushd, but spiritually and mystically Islam has an extraordinary flourishing culture and Iran is a clear example of it,” Mojtahedi added.
Allameh Tabataba'i and his position, according to Corbin, were inseparable from the entire tradition of Iranian spiritual culture. Corbin regarded him as a living example of the spirituality of the East.
For Corbin, the spirituality propagated by Allameh Tabataba'i was the essence of the soul of man, and regardless of the East and the West, it held the power to bring real spiritual joy.
Through his conversations with Corbin, Dr. Mojtahedi found that the Western philosopher was in search of man’s destiny. He was looking for a philosophy that would help man gradually become more and more familiar with the possibilities of his perfection, ensuring the development of his spirituality.
Corbin’s quest ended after his encounter with the great Iranian scholar and philosopher.
Following his meetings with Allameh Tabataba'i, the French professor’s writings provided an opportunity for the West to delve into the "Iranian-Islamic" intellectual traditions.
According to Corbin’s “Islam in the Land of Iran, Philosophical and Mystical Perspectives", the spread of Shiism based on the wisdom of the prophets, generation after generation caused the emergence of very original and brilliant thinkers who were experts in various fields.
Allameh Tabataba'i (L) and Henry Corbin (R)
Islam and Iran – Allameh Tabataba'i’s Influence on Corbin
After a lifetime of research and exploration of the philosophy and mysticism of Shia Islam, Corbin believed that “the Persian world was clothed in symbolic meaning.”
“Persia was the country of Zoroaster, Sohravardi, Ruzbehan, and Ḥafeẓ, a world both intermediate and mediating . . . not merely a nation or even an empire, but an entire spiritual universe, an arena for the history of religions,” he wrote.
Dr. Dinani says Corbin saw the world on the slope of material degradation and bereft of spirituality. He was worried and therefore started his journey to find the light of spirituality.
“Iran has been the country par excellence of the greatest philosophers and mystics of Islam,” Corbin wrote in his “En Islam Iranien”.
Guided by his conversations with Allameh Tabataba'i, Corbin became the first orientalist to deal seriously with the tradition of Shiʿite gnosis.
He believed “finally, in eschatological terms, Persia was a land of expectation, where during the great occultation (gaybat-e kobra) the hidden Imam prepares for the hour of his reappearance.”
Recalling an incident, Seyyed Abdul Baqi Tabataba'i, Allameh's Tabataba'i’s son, noted, “One day father turned to us and said with a special cheerfulness, this professor (Henry Corbin) has become a believer in Islam but the circumstances do not permit him to express it officially and publicly.”
Numerous Islamic studies experts are of the view that Corbin’s conversations with Allameh Tabataba'i made him aware of the teachings and spirituality of Islam, creating a transformation in his soul.
“He had developed a personal and very deep attachment to the twelfth Imam and other Shiite imams in such a way that his love for the Shiite imams was incredible. It seemed he was a very pious Shiite,” Prof. Nasr writes about Corbin.
“Allameh Tabataba'i's hosting of Corbin and creating a two-way dialogue between the two philosophers proved once again that the inner potentials of Shiism can have a comprehensive and complete plan for the modern man covering the path of natural evolution of life,” Sayed Murtaza Hafizi, a researcher at the Middle East Center for Scientific Research and Strategic Studies notes about these meetings.
Massive protests have been reported in Morocco following the docking of a US-flagged vessel shipping American weapons to the Israeli regime amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.
Chanting “Whoever welcomes Israel’s ships is not one of us,” hundreds of Moroccan protesters protested against their own government for being complicit in the Israeli-American genocidal actions.
After the Spanish authorities turned it away following public outcry, Maersk Denver was permitted to dock in Tangier Med on Saturday, and it departed the following day, according to reports.
Its AIS signal and published schedule indicated Oman as its next destination.
According to the Morocco chapter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), another Maersk ship, the Nysted, arrived in Tangier on Monday under a Hong Kong flag to load the material that the Denver had previously unloaded in the Moroccan port.
Both Nysted’s AIS signal and published schedule indicate its stop in Tangier on Monday and its final destination as Haifa, a port city in the Israeli-occupied territories.
The Maersk ships were originally intended to dock at the European port of Algeciras, one of the continent’s largest. However, in response to pressure from activists and lawmakers, Spain’s foreign ministry announced that the two Maersk ships in question “will not dock in Spain.”
The Spanish authorities also stated their intention to investigate reports suggesting that Maersk vessels had previously been granted permission to dock while transporting military equipment to Israel.
Maersk confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Spanish authorities denied docking privileges to Maersk Denver in Algeciras during its voyage from New York to West Asia.
When Spain revoked Maersk Denver’s permit to dock at its port, it rerouted to Tangier in Morocco.
A blatant violation
A Maerskn company spokesperson claimed that the company transports only legal goods, excluding military weapons and ammunition, to the Tel Aviv regime.
However, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a transnational grassroots movement advocating for the liberation of Palestine, revealed on November 4 that from September 2023 to September 2024, the Danish shipping and logistics giant A.P. Moller Maersk, shipped millions of pounds of military goods to the Israeli military from the United States, involving 2,110 shipments.
Out of these shipments, 827 contained components for armored personnel carriers, tactical vehicles, aircraft, and projectile systems, the investigation revealed, conducted by PYM as part of its Mask Off Maersk campaign.
“The evidence suggests that Maersk typically sends one (1) ship per week from New Jersey to Spain, which typically includes approximately 1,000 tons of military cargo on this vessel on behalf of the Israeli military,” the investigative report stated.
“Cross-referencing ship schedules and historical data, it can be safely concluded that the [Israeli ministry of military affairs] rarely misses a weekly trip on this line.”
Following these revelations, the Palestinian-led BDS movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against the apartheid regime, also urged Morocco to ban the docking of Maersk Denver.
“This is in violation of a UNHRC resolution, a UNGA resolution, and statements by dozens of UN human rights experts, all calling for a military embargo on Israel due to its illegal occupation and its commission of a plausible genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, as the ICJ determined earlier this year,” BDS said in a statement on Friday.
BDS warned that if Morocco allows the Maersk Denver to dock in any of its ports, according to the UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, it may be in violation of the Genocide Convention and relevant rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Morocco’s official policy vs popular opinion
This is not the first instance of Morocco’s role in facilitating the delivery of arms and ammunition to the Israeli regime amid its devastating war on Gaza.
In June, the Israeli naval vessel INS Komemiyut made a technical stop at the Tangier Med port in Morocco to refuel and restock supplies for its crew of naval combat soldiers which also led to public outcry, as reported by the Moroccan media outlet Le Desk.
Morocco’s opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) has recently called for an investigation into the docking of two ships transporting military supplies to the Israeli regime.
Former Prime Minister and PJD leader Abdelillah Benkirane urged the government to communicate with citizens about the situation.
“We call on the government to reveal the truth to citizens, communicate with them regarding the circulating news, and take full responsibility,” Benkirane said in a press conference on Monday.
The current debacle surrounding Morocco’s overt ties to Israel highlights a stark contrast between the government’s official stance and the pro-Palestinian sentiments widely held by the Moroccan people.
The North African country last Monday joined over 50 nations in signing a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, calling for immediate measures to halt the provision of arms, munitions, and related equipment to Israel.
Meanwhile, despite growing public and political pressure to end the normalization accord brokered by the US in 2020, the Moroccan government persists in maintaining its diplomatic ties with Israel.
Netizens backlash
Social media users expressed outrage over Morocco’s decision to allow the Israeli-bound ship to dock at their port, perceiving the move as tacit support for Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza.
Netizens took to various social media platforms to voice their concerns and demanded greater accountability from the Moroccan government while opposing any involvement in facilitating Israel’s war crimes that exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“A Christian country doing more to help than the government or Morocco, a Muslim country,” said one user on X after Spain refused to duck Maersk Denver.
“Can anyone explain why Muslim countries do not stop supporting Israel after they commit genocide in Gaza? Any particular reason that I don’t know,” wrote another user.
A third Maersk ship, Maersk Seletar, is scheduled to arrive in Algeciras on Thursday or Friday. Its final destination is unknown.
BDS in a post on Instagram on Monday warned that more ships might reroute to Portugal or Morocco amid Spain’s refusal to allow Maersk ships to dock at its port.
It also urged civil society in Portugal to take appropriate action.
“We call on the people in Portugal to keep pressuring their government to comply with Portugal’s obligations under international law,” BDS said.
“Stop these vessels from access to ports and territorial waters, do not allow them to be registered as flying the Portuguese flag,” it added.
A campaign dubbed “#BlockTheBoat”, spearheaded by BDS, has gained significant momentum on social media platforms, with supporters expressing their indignation and opposition to the ongoing military aid provided to Israel.
In mid-September, the BDS campaign launched a call to action targeting countries with a stake in the MV Kathrin, a cargo vessel carrying explosives intended for Israel.
The campaign urged those nations to prevent the ship from docking and to cease their involvement in the year-long Israeli war on Gaza, which has claimed nearly 43,700 lives.
The campaign called upon the public to exert pressure on their respective governments to comply with international law and abide by the rulings of the United Nations’ highest court.
“Participation in arms transfer to Israel amounts to complicity in genocide, crimes of humanity and war crimes. Refraining from playing any direct or indirect role in arming Israel during its genocidal carnage in Gaza is a legal duty for all States,” BDS says.
While Palestinians and people of conscience everywhere have legitimate reasons to be worried about the return of Donald Trump – “the greatest friend Israel has ever had” – to the White House, they are equally relieved to see the back of Joe Biden – the self-proclaimed "Zionist."
When Biden took office in January 2021 after the tumultuous tenure of Trump, he positioned himself as someone tasked with cleaning up the mess left by his megalomaniac predecessor.
He made his “mission” clear: to undo the colossal damage caused by Trump and re-position the United States as an important, or perhaps the most important, international protagonist.
While Biden tried to cloak his foreign policy agenda in the rhetoric of democracy and order, it has in fact been steeped in imperial ambition. He oversaw the expansion of the NATO military alliance, used Ukraine as a strategic pawn to counter arch-foe Russia, scaled up military presence in the Indo-Pacific region to keep China in check, and took US military support for the Israeli regime to a whole new level.
Biden’s decision to hastily withdraw troops from Afghanistan in August 2021—driven by a desire to make up for his failure to convince Barack Obama to end the “longest war”—resulted in a chaotic and embarrassing exit that drew sharp criticism from foes and friends alike.
Republicans, who had previously struggled to find a foothold in their attacks on Democrats, seized the moment to paint Biden as incompetent.
As Biden’s approval ratings continued to nosedive, other political headaches began to emerge for the ailing old ruler: a surge in illegal immigration, soaring inflation, and, by late 2023, the genocidal war on Gaza, waged largely with his administration’s political and military support.
The genocidal war that has so far claimed nearly 43,800 lives in Gaza has in recent months spread to Lebanon and other parts of the region as well, splitting the nation’s opinion on Biden and adding more layers of complicity in genocide and ethnic cleansing to his inglorious legacy.
For over half a century, Biden has been a steadfast supporter of Israel, doing everything in his power—as a senator, vice president, and currently as president—to facilitate violence by the occupying regime armed to the teeth against the indigenous people who have been robbed of everything.
Biden frequently calls himself a Zionist and believes that the Israeli regime is the guarantor of safety and security for Jews across the world. He happily put that viewpoint into policy when he became president.
Biden’s support for Israel reached a boiling point amid the devastating war on Gaza. Despite lip service to civilian lives and the supply of humanitarian aid, the outgoing US president has ensured that there is no disruption in the steady flow of weapons, intelligence, and political support to the Tel Aviv regime.
Since the war was launched by Israel in October last year, the Biden administration has funneled more than $17.9 billion in US taxpayer money as military aid to Tel Aviv, a figure that accounts for the cost of replenishing weapons and ammunition the Israeli military is fast depleting in Gaza and Lebanon.
Under US law, Washington is prohibited from providing military assistance to foreign entities or groups involved in gross human rights violations. The Biden administration has woefully turned a blind eye to this US redline—enshrined in the so-called Leahy Law—when it comes to the Israeli regime.
Of course, Israel has agreed to use US weapons only in “self-defense.” The Biden administration, like those before it, has made the US position clear: collectively punishing defenseless Palestinians falls under the doctrine of “self-defense.”
As Gaza continues to smolder under relentless Israeli bombings, Biden is overseeing the final act in his devotion to Israel’s most extreme agenda: the extermination of Palestinians through genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Even as the world capitals erupted in mass protests on a scale not seen since the worldwide rallies against the US invasion of Iraq, the Biden administration has remained entrenched in its international isolation, voting against umpteen UN resolutions on the Gaza ceasefire, illegal Israeli settlements, and full Palestinian membership in the United Nations.
In doing so, Biden is guilty of ignoring the demands of American voters, who have made their voices clear through frequent street rallies, urging their president to stop the transfer of arms to Israel and end US complicity in genocide.
Keenly aware of the growing opposition to Israel’s war crimes at home and abroad—especially in an election season—Biden and his inner circle have attempted to peddle a narrative that they are pressuring Netanyahu to ensure the protection of civilian life and infrastructure in Gaza.
Frequent appearances by Biden officials and advisors on US talk shows, urging Israel to protect Palestinian civilians and propose “humanitarian pauses,” have been nothing more than a grotesque sideshow to conceal the administration’s role in enabling its “greatest ally” to massacre defenseless Palestinian women and children on an industrial scale.
This would work if history didn’t exist. In Biden’s case, history is loud and clear.
Some would argue that Biden still has an opportunity, before his term officially ends, to pressure Israel to cease its aggression on Gaza, where over two million Palestinian civilians have been killed, wounded, or displaced in more than a year of relentless genocidal campaign.
However, it is very unlikely that Biden will act on the moral imperative and execute a major policy shift by backtracking on his commitment to multibillion-dollar military aid to Israel.
So far, mass protests, student activism, and internal dissent within the US State Department and other federal agencies regarding the administration’s complicity in the Gaza genocide have all failed to rekindle a reckoning for Biden.
His historical allegiance to the illegitimate Zionist entity will constrain his ability to do the right thing in the remaining days of his lame-duck presidency.
Biden’s legacy will forever be defined and remembered for thousands of Palestinian children torn to pieces by US-manufactured bombs in the largest genocide in modern history.
He will forever be remembered for genocide that continues to claim innocent lives as I write this.
Hamid Javadi is a senior Iranian journalist and commentator based in Tehran.
On the 40th day of the martyrdom of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese resistance movement published a daily operational summary, accompanied by a detailed map.
The map this time, unlike in the past, showed a significant increase in the resistance movement's operations against the Zionist entity deep inside the occupied Palestinian territories.
Hezbollah’s operational command in a statement noted that despite intensive intelligence surveillance and constant activity by the Israeli air force, the resistance group significantly "escalated its qualitative operations within the framework of the Khaybar operations series."
These sophisticated operations included precise strikes on Israeli strategic and military centers, facilities and bases, reaching 145 km inside occupied Palestine, using various missiles and drones.
The statement emphasized that the Khaybar series of operations are guided by a well-defined strategy and proper management to ensure effective targeting as designated by the resistance leadership.
The recent operations came as the Israeli regime has failed to achieve its military objectives in the Gaza Strip for over 400 days while opening a new front in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli aggression against Lebanon included device detonations on September 17 and 18 and culminated in the assassination of top Hezbollah leaders Sayyed Nasrallah; Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, head of the group's executive council; and prominent commander Fuad Shukur.
Hezbollah responded with full might, The movement has executed 18 Khaybar operations in just the past two weeks, part of a larger series of 56 operations conducted since October when the Israeli occupation announced its "ground invasion" of the Arab country.
The Lebanese resistance movement also deployed precision surface-to-surface Fateh-110 and Jihad-2 missiles earlier this month, rendering Israeli assaults ineffective in undermining the group's will.
Following weeks of air raids, the regime's ground forces attempted to infiltrate the southern Lebanese border but faced heavy resistance from Hezbollah, failing to gain any foothold on Lebanese soil.
Since the Israeli regime launched its aggression against Beirut, Hezbollah has delivered significant strikes in retaliation. Notably, in mid-October, the Lebanese resistance executed an unprecedented drone attack on an Israeli training camp for the Golani Brigade in Binyamina, south of occupied Haifa.
This operation resulted in the deaths of dozens of Israeli soldiers and left over 100 others injured.
Less than a month after the attack on the Golani Brigade, Hezbollah executed a series of operations on November 8 and 9 within the occupied territories, targeting various locations, military bases, and Israeli army deployments, as well as settlements across several areas of occupied Palestine.
As part of the ‘Khaybar operations,’ Hezbollah focused on critical Israeli military installations, including the Haifa Technical Base, the MLM military factory, and the Ein Khozlot communications base.
On November 8, Hezbollah launched a barrage of precision missiles at the Haifa Technical Base, which serves the Israeli Air Force and houses a training school for Air Force technicians.
Haifa Technical Base
On the same day, the movement targeted the MLM military factory for the first time.
This facility, which is associated with Israeli air and missile defense systems, is located 132 km from the Lebanese-Palestinian border, south of Tel Aviv, and was struck by a barrage of precision missiles.
MLM military factory
The following day, Hezbollah launched its first aerial attack using a swarm of assault drones on the Ein Khozlot communications base, a military installation situated 55 km from the Lebanese-Palestinian border, south of Lake Tabariyya.
The attack was notable for its accuracy, successfully hitting designated targets.
Ein Khozlot communications base
Hezbollah also launched a series of attacks on several Israeli military sites, including the Zevulun military industries base north of occupied Haifa, as well as locations in occupied Safad, Kiryat Shmona, Avivim, Baram, Metulla, Al-Manara, Abad, Hatzor Haglilit, Rosh Pinna, Nahariyya, Maalot Tarshiha, the Krayot area, the Meron air operations management base, Katzrin, and HaGoshrim.
Additionally, Hezbollah's air defense units successfully downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone with a surface-to-air missile over Deir Siryan.
These operations served as a reminder of the group’s reorganization following the assassination of the group’s top leaders and commanders, showing the indomitable resolve and conviction.
“Recent weeks have proven that resistance formations have been able to structurally re-organize its units at all levels, as evidenced by the increased pace of missile and attack drone operations against various targets within the temporary entity, even reaching as far as Tel Aviv,” Hezbollah’s operation room noted in a statement.
The attacks on Israeli settlements followed Hezbollah's prior warnings to settlers to evacuate, declaring these areas as “military targets” due to the presence of the Israeli military's command and control centers, military barracks, factories, artillery positions, missile bases, and logistical support stations.
Through these operations, the Israeli regime experienced, for the first time, an extension of Hezbollah's operational reach to 145 km within the occupied territories.
With a swarm of attacks on military sites in occupied Haifa, Tabariyya, and Tel Aviv, Hezbollah demonstrated a significantly expanded circle of fire directed at the Israeli regime.
Following these operations, Hezbollah's operational command said that apart from achieving military objectives, the attacks forced "more than 2 million settlers" on an area of over 5,000 km² to seek shelter.
Hezbollah continued its operations over the weekend, targeting Israeli soldiers at Hassan Gate and HaGoshrim on Saturday, and striking a gathering of Israeli troops between the towns of Houla and Markaba, as well as the Shraga base north of the occupied city of Akka on Sunday.
Amid the relentless Israeli aggression against Lebanon since September, the Hezbollah resistance movement has also demonstrated its military capabilities with a series of high-precision strikes deep inside the occupied territories.
The Lebanese movement, which joined Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 8 last year, has deployed its never-seen-before weapons systems in recent weeks much to the surprise of the enemy.
The previously unused ballistic missiles and rocket artillery have been put into operation that have dealt painful blows to the Israeli military. New underground missile bases have also been unveiled.
It has effectively debunked claims that Hezbollah's advanced missile arsenal was significantly destroyed in the Israeli airstrikes in September. The arsenal is very much intact and growing.
Hezbollah has vowed to continue resisting the Israeli regime until it ends its aggression on Gaza and Lebanon and recent operations by the movement have already made the Tel Aviv regime jittery.
Fateh-110
The Fateh-110 is a single-stage short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), developed in the early 2000s as a modified version of the unguided Zelzal-2, with the addition of control and guidance systems.
Although generally classified as an SRBM, it is one of the longest-range, largest and most destructive missiles in Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, along with the Scud.
It is similar in size and shape to the older Zelzal-2, with almost the same diameter of 616 mm, but at 8.8 meters it is 0.8 meters longer and with additional sets of fins.
The missile has an additional set of four movable triangular fins on its warhead for maneuvering in the terminal phase of flight, and newer generations have another set of triangular fins, near the main clipped delta fins.
The total mass of the missile is 3450 tons, most of which is solid fuel, while the warhead has a mass of 500 kilograms and can be single-staged or contain submunitions.
Fateh-110
Hezbollah gives a range of 300 kilometers and analyzes different generations from 200 to 400 kilometers, which means that they can target every part of the Zionist entity from southern Lebanon.
Older generations have the circular error probability (CEP) of 100 meters using a combination of inertial and satellite guidance, and newer generations include optical guidance that reduces the CEP to 10 meters.
With stated precision, warhead payload and terminal speed of Mach 4.5, the missile is able to target fixed land and sea targets, enemy gathering points, command centers, missile sites, ammunition dumps, radars and other desired targets.
It can be launched from fixed or mobile platforms, and Hezbollah launches it mainly from fortified underground silos, as it is one of the most valuable missiles in the movement's arsenal.
The Israeli regime earlier claimed that Fateh-110 warehouses in southern Lebanon were completely destroyed in bunker buster bombing this September, however, Hezbollah pulled off a surprise on November 6, effectively refuting Zionist claims.
During that strike, the Tzrifin military training base near Ben Gurion International Airport was hit, resulting in damage to a Boeing 777 aircraft and flight cancellations.
Jihad-2
The Jihad-2, like the Fateh-110, is a single-stage solid-fueled tactical SRBM, about which there is currently not much technical information.
It is reportedly an upgraded version of the Jihad-1 and missiles are named after Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of legendary Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was also martyred in the January 2015 assassination in Quneitra, Syria.
The Jihad-1 missile was put into use on May 12, when it targeted the Israeli Zebdine outpost in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms.
It has a reported length of 4 meters and a warhead mass ranging from 120 to 400 kilograms, while the Jihad-2 has a range of 250 kilometers and a 250-kilogram warhead.
Jihad-2
This range allows the Jihad-2 missile to reach most of the enemy's key military sites in 80 percent of the occupied Palestinian territories, all the way to Dimona in the Negev desert.
The high-explosive warhead is sufficient to destroy well-fortified enemy sites, large buildings and facilities, key infrastructure, and gatherings of occupation troops.
The Jihad-2 was put into operative service on November 5 when it targeted the Israeli Maale Golani barracks, the 810th Hermon Brigade headquarters.
According to the photos and videos that have been published, the Jihad-2 shares similarities with the Fateh-110 in the warhead shape and fins, and it likely is a derivative with a reduced booster.
This has removed the only drawback of one of Hezbollah's most advanced rockets, its relatively large size and mass, which makes it easier to transport, store, and launch during guerrilla warfare.
Like newer generations of the Fateh-110, it has a biconically shaped warhead and three sets of almost identically arranged and shaped fins, indicating great accuracy.
Other new weaponry
A few weeks ago, Hezbollah also unveiled a variety of other military equipment and underground facilities for launching rocket artillery and ballistic missiles.
The massive Imad 5 missile complex, revealed on November 3, contains well-equipped long subterranean tunnels and large mobile rocket launchers.
The footage shared by the Hezbollah media displayed their fighters riding their bikes through a forested area, followed by scenes of walking through a tunnel leading to an underground facility.
It also showed the fighters preparing advanced missiles for launch from their positions within the underground facility, as a blast door is seen opening above them.
The footage ended right before the missile launch, with excerpts from a speech by martyred leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in which he vowed: "We will never be weakened, we shall never be afraid, and we shall never surrender."
This is the fifth in a series of displayed Imad missile complexes, named after Hezbollah martyred leader Hajj Imad Mughniyeh, and the previous one was shown in mid-August.
M80
On October 19, Hezbollah presented the M80 rocket system, available in both mobile and stationary configurations, featuring 24 launch slots.
The M-80 shell is an 80 mm caliber rocket, with a length of 95 centimeters and a mass of 10 kilograms, primed with 4,750 individual steel pellets.
It can effectively target enemy troops located up to 3.3 kilometers from the launch point, creating a highly lethal fragmentation effect with a kill radius of 35 meters.
Three days later, the Islamic resistance presented the Nasr-2 artillery rocket, with a caliber of 302 mm, a total mass of 650 kg, a warhead of 140 kg and a CEP of 5 meters.
It is an improvement over the earlier Nasr-1 version, which has a smaller warhead of 100 kilograms and a shorter range of 100 kilometers.
Malak-1
On November 7, Hezbollah also demonstrated the operational use of the Malak-1, a mobile multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS), which seems to be faster and more long-range than older Katyusha platforms.
The footage of the Malak-1 shows it operating from the southern Lebanese forests against enemy positions.
As Hezbollah's media relations officer, Mohammed Afif, said at a press conference on Monday, the claims by Israeli officials and media about the depleted missile stock of the Lebanese resistance movement are "mere fabrications," which he said "our missiles will answer."
"The enemy is still unable to occupy a single Lebanese village, and the epic of Khiam Fortress stands as a living testament to heroism," he told reporters, adding that the Zionist regime will not win the war through air superiority, bombings, or killing civilians, including women and children," Afifi said.
"We are prepared for a prolonged war with the occupation at all levels, whether at the front (border) or within," he hastened to add.
