Yusuf Dhia-Allah
One indication of this was the US regime advisor for the region, Amos Hochstein (ex-Israeli army veteran!) dashing to Israel and Lebanon on June 17 to meet officials of both countries. The US reportedly wants to prevent further escalation. Other reports said Hochstein delivered a “warning” from Israel that it was ready for a full-scale war with Hizbullah.
Hochstein reportedly communicated this message to the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament Nabih Berri, since the US has no direct communications with Hizbullah. Berri in turn delivered the message to the Lebanese Islamic resistance movement. The latter responded to the zionist threat by firing a barrage of Falaq rockets at the Palasan military factory located in Sasa kibbutz about two kms from Lebanon’s border.
Hizbullah Secretary General, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah responded immediately threatening a war with Israel that would have “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings”. He went on: “All what the enemy says and the threats and warnings the mediators bring – and what is being said in the Israeli media – about a war in Lebanon does not scare us,” Nasrallah said in a speech via video feed. Israel should be “scared” of what we will inflict upon it.
The same day (June 19), Hizbullah targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their logistics in Metula town with a squadron of combat drones. Lebanon’s al-Manar television channel, citing a Hizbullah statement, reported that the strike hit the designated targets precisely.
Hizbullah’s combat drones were launched in reprisal for an Israeli drone strike that targeted a car in Lebanon’s southern town of Borgholiya, killing one person. The victim was identified as Mohammed Yousef al-Hassan, a Palestinian refugee living in Qasimia camp near the Tyre district, according to Lebanese media sources.
Such exchanges have become more frequent with Hizbullah retaliating for each Israeli aggression. The possibility of war with Hizbullah raises the question of whether Israel is capable of waging a two-front war.
In nine months of war on the tiny Gaza Strip, Israel has failed to defeat much less eliminate Hamas. All it has done is kill and maim hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children. This is the classic definition of state terrorism.
In the event of a full-scale war, Israel will suffer massive, perhaps irreparable damage from which it may not recover. The blows Hizbullah will deliver will be massive. Here is why.
After nine months of war in Gaza, the Israeli army is not only exhausted but also badly depleted. It has suffered massive casualties and is badly demoralized. Thousands of soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). At least 10 Israeli soldiers and officers have committed suicide since October 7, as reported by the Israel newspaper Ha’aretz.
The Israeli military doctrine in based on a short war using massive fire power and killing many civilians in hopes of achieving a swift victory. This has been the case with Arab armies that are used to fighting, and losing conventional battles. Almost all of them have surrendered to the zionists now.
Islamic resistance movements operate differently. Surrender is not a part of their doctrine: they seek either victory or martyrdom. The zionists have no answer for such valiant spirit, hence their barbarous assault on civilians. This shows their cowardly nature and admission of defeat.
To deliver its message even more forcefully, Hizbullah’s military media wing on June 18 released a 9.5 minutes long video. It showed its reconnaissance drones flying over swathes of occupied Palestinian land, including Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Safad, Karmiel, Afula, all the way to Haifa port. Haifa is also the main manufacturing base of Israel’s chemical factories. A hit on any of its chemical manufacturing plants will release toxic plumes into the atmosphere suffocating tens of thousands of Israelis to death.
Titled the “Hoopoe Mission”, named after Hud Hud, the bird mentioned in Surah Al-Naml of the noble Qur’an, the Hizbullah statement said: “This is what the Hoopoe came back with.” The drone captured video footage and exposed sensitive Israeli sites.
The Islamic resistance indicated that the video was only the first episode and more were yet to come. It highlighted that the drones had bypassed Israeli air defenses and returned to Lebanese airspace undetected.
The drones captured intelligence about Israeli sites inside occupied Palestine including the port of Haifa. They brought back footage and information about sensitive sites in Haifa port, oil refineries and military factories as well as the location of military battleships and important economic hubs in the port.
The video also showed Israel’s military-industrial complex of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It comprises numerous factories, warehouses, and testing fields in which components of air defense systems are manufactured and assembled, especially the Iron Dome and David’s Sling.
For Hizbullah to send drones so deep inside Israel, capture video footage and return to Lebanon without being detected is absolutely remarkable. Coupled with Hizbullah’s ability to shoot down the much-vaunted Israeli Hermes-900 drones, it shows a new level of technological sophistication that the resistance movement has achieved.
Not surprising, therefore, that a former Israeli military commander has acknowledged defeat in the war with Hizbullah. Reserve major general in Israel’s occupation army, Yiftah Ron-Tal said the resistance movement has established a “security zone” in the northern border with Lebanon.
He was quoted as saying that Israel has lost control over the Galilee region adjacent to the Lebanese border, and a populated town in the north has been evacuated by settlers.
“Hizbullah has established a security zone inside” Israel, Ron-Tal said. “Instead of being in southern Lebanon, it is now in northern Israel. We are losing the Galilee. Most people [Israelis] will not return.” At least 260,000 Israelis have fled their homes in northern Israel because of daily rocket and missile attacks on the area. Vast tracks of land have been set on fire.
In the 33-day war against Hizbullah in the summer of 2006, Israel got a bloody nose. True, it killed more than 1,100 Lebanese civilians and destroyed much of southern Beirut, Israel did not achieve any of its military objectives. Instead, it had to beg for a ceasefire as its troops put their collective tail between their legs and fled south.
In 2006, Hizbullah only had about 5,000 Katyusha rockets. Today it possesses more than 150,000 missiles, and sophisticated drones. No part of Israel is outside the range of Hizbullah’s missiles. In 2006, Israel was not engaged in a two-front war. Today, its forces will be split between Gaza and Lebanon. Add to that the Palestinian struggle in the occupied West Bank and it is an entirely different ball game.
Israeli troops are exhausted from nine months of war. Hizbullah fighters, on the other hand, are battle-hardened from their experience in Syria. The zionists would be signing their death warrant if they make the mistake of attacking Hizbullah in Lebanon.
As one of the great scholars of Islam said, “We thank Allah for making our enemies from among the fools.”
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