Israel-Hamas war thread

[Parliament 14556]

2 hours ago, Laxtonto said:

So Israel has all of their comms, all of their logistic intel, and knows all the moves they are trying to make. This was just a subtle reminder to Iran that they are still completely compromised and anything you try to sneak into Lebanon they already know about and they can destroy at a whim. Save face and don't do anything foolish.

Iran will of course do some small level of retaliatory strike, which Israel will withstand and then Iran can then accept the fact that their proxy in Lebanon is gone. Or Iran can go all out and Israel will do something similar to Iran. Funny enough, Iran has already moved the Supreme Leader to an undisclosed hardened location...

Also a subtle reminder they can do similar things to Iran.

[InkaUtexas 26796]

Leadership are all going to run to Doha, Qatar and rent some villas between the city and the big ass US Air base there.

[DDD Dad 14571]

Good god this thread sucks. 

@immamac Could we possibly start a new one for news updates and leave all the policy discussions, personal insults, and dick measuring  in this one?

Edited September 29 by DDD Dad

[immamac 44199]

Fuck this thread. 

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

3 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

Good god this thread sucks. 

@immamac Could we possibly start a new one for news updates and leave all the policy discussions, personal insults, and dick measuring  in this one?

 

3 hours ago, immamac said:

Fuck this thread. 

 

This thread was going fine for months till the goddamn cloakroom trolls decided to start shitting an all over it. The thread was a majority posting of news tweets and informational articles with no, or very little, political commentary. If posters want to discuss political issues, have them take it to the already existent CR thread, and stop allowing them to shit in this one.

[PRONG HORN 3219]

 

 

 

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

 

Quote

September 27th is the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough.

I have spent countless hours studying Hezbollah and there is not an expert on earth who thought that what Israel has done to decapitate and degrade them was possible.

This is significant because Iran is now fully exposed. The reason why their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed, despite weak air defense systems, is because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel. Iran spent the last forty years building this capability as its deterrent.

President Trump would often say, “Iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation.” The Islamic Republic’s regime is much tougher when risking Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian and Houthi lives than when risking their own. Their foolish efforts to assassinate President Trump and hack his campaign reek of desperation and are hardening a large coalition against them.

Iranian leadership is stuck in the old Middle East, while their neighbors in the GCC are sprinting toward the future by investing in their populations and infrastructure. They are becoming dynamic magnets for talent and investment while Iran falls further behind. As the Iranian proxies and threats dissipate, regional security and prosperity will rise for Christians, Muslims and Jews alike.

Israel now finds itself with the threat from Gaza mostly neutralized and the opportunity to neutralize Hezbollah in the north. It’s unfortunate how we got here but maybe there can be a silver lining in the end.

Anyone who has been calling for a ceasefire in the North is wrong. There is no going back for Israel. They cannot afford now to not finish the job and completely dismantle the arsenal that has been aimed at them. They will never get another chance.

After the brilliant, rapid-fire tactical successes of the pagers, radios, and targeting of leadership, Hezbollah’s massive weapon cache is unguarded and unmanned. Most of Hezbollah fighters are hiding in their tunnels. Anyone still around was not important enough to carry a pager or be invited to a leadership meeting. Iran is reeling, as well, insecure and unsure how deeply its own intelligence has been penetrated. Failing to take full advantage of this opportunity to neutralize the threat is irresponsible.

I have been hearing some amazing stories about how Israel has been collecting intelligence over the past 10 months with some brilliant technology and crowdsourcing initiatives. But today, with the confirmed killing of Nasrallah and at least 16 top commanders eliminated in just nine days, was the first day I started thinking about a Middle East without Iran’s fully loaded arsenal aimed at Israel. So many more positive outcomes are possible.

This is a moment to stand behind the peace-seeking nation of Israel and the large portion of the Lebanese who have been plagued by Hezbollah and who want to return to the times when their country was thriving, and Beirut a cosmopolitan city. The main issue between Lebanon and Israel is Iran; otherwise there is a lot of benefit for the people of both countries from working together.

The right move now for America would be to tell Israel to finish the job. It’s long overdue. And it’s not only Israel’s fight.

More than 40 years ago, Hezbollah killed 241 US military personnel, including 220 Marines. That remains the single deadliest day for the U.S. Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima. Later that same day, Hezbollah killed 58 French paratroopers.

And now, over the past six weeks or so, Israel has eliminated as many terrorists on the US list of wanted terrorists as the US has done in the last 20 years. Including Ibrahim Aqil, the leader of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization who masterminded the 1983 killing of those Marines.

 

[956 Worldwide 35516]

 

[956 Worldwide 35516]

 

[Captainant 28383]

5 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

This thread was going fine for months till the goddamn cloakroom trolls decided to start shitting an all over it. The thread was a majority posting of news tweets and informational articles with no, or very little, political commentary. If posters want to discuss political issues, have them take it to the already existent CR thread, and stop allowing them to shit in this one.

Can you point out when the thread was civil lol? I just checked back to April and was reminded of when Greg Abbott CR'd campus with a bunch of stormtroopers and roughed up students and professors for having the wrong opinion.

You're looking for a apolitical thread about an ongoing, millennia long tribal/religious conflict between a bunch of Islamic groups and a bunch of Zionists backed by the American military industrial complex. I'm not sure what to tell you, scout. I don't go to go Long John Silvers and get mad when Chilean sea bass isn't on the menu

[Bevo 13822]

30 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Can you point out when the thread was civil lol? I just checked back to April and was reminded of when Greg Abbott CR'd campus with a bunch of stormtroopers and roughed up students and professors for having the wrong opinion.

You're looking for a apolitical thread about an ongoing, millennia long tribal/religious conflict between a bunch of Islamic groups and a bunch of Zionists backed by the American military industrial complex. I'm not sure what to tell you, scout. I don't go to go Long John Silvers and get mad when Chilean sea bass isn't on the menu

 

In all fairness, you post in the cloakroom a lot.

[KYHorn 17565]

 

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

52 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Can you point out when the thread was civil lol? I just checked back to April and was reminded of when Greg Abbott CR'd campus with a bunch of stormtroopers and roughed up students and professors for having the wrong opinion.

You're looking for a apolitical thread about an ongoing, millennia long tribal/religious conflict between a bunch of Islamic groups and a bunch of Zionists backed by the American military industrial complex. I'm not sure what to tell you, scout. I don't go to go Long John Silvers and get mad when Chilean sea bass isn't on the menu

 

Never said it was apolitical, or particularly civil. What I said, was that it was mostly free of cloak room trolls shitting on it... till recently. If you're looking to engage in argumentative political vanity, there is a thread and board for that, with which it appears you're familiar.

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

 

[Captainant 28383]

48 minutes ago, Bevo said:

In all fairness, you post in the cloakroom a lot.

 

21 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

Never said it was apolitical, or particularly civil. What I said, was that it was mostly free of cloak room trolls shitting on it... till recently. If you're looking to engage in argumentative political vanity, there is a thread and board for that, with which it appears you're familiar.

Lol don't hurt yourself rushing to conclusions, or fabricating grievances. If you want to disagree with what I'm saying, then give it a shot rather than putting a star on me and ignoring what I actually because of your label. 

It's pretty amazing, y'all have all convinced yourself there's a "cabal" and complain about it more than anything is actually posted of happens. It's exactly like boomer news complaining about the """War on Christmas!!!""" lol. 

[956 Worldwide 35516]

30 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Lebanon has a golden opportunity to reassert state control and make real steps towards stability and democratic rule.  

[Parliament 14556]

8 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

 

This thread was going fine for months till the goddamn cloakroom trolls decided to start shitting an all over it. The thread was a majority posting of news tweets and informational articles with no, or very little, political commentary. If posters want to discuss political issues, have them take it to the already existent CR thread, and stop allowing them to shit in this one.

Putting them on ignore works until a normal person makes the mistake of quoting in a reply.  We should just not do that.

[Rex Kramer 1522]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

 

Lol don't hurt yourself rushing to conclusions, or fabricating grievances. If you want to disagree with what I'm saying, then give it a shot rather than putting a star on me and ignoring what I actually because of your label. 

It's pretty amazing, y'all have all convinced yourself there's a "cabal" and complain about it more than anything is actually posted of happens. It's exactly like boomer news complaining about the """War on Christmas!!!""" lol. 

I rarely engage you outside of this thread and one other. I’ve disagreed with everything you’ve posted here. He’s not rushing to conclusions or fabricating grievances. You’re terrible pretty much everywhere you go. 

[Laxtonto 13013]

 

Complete and total destruction of a command structure. The level of attention to detail, specialized intelligence, planning, and timing it takes to do something like this in less than two weeks is amazing.

This is one of those operations that will end up in training manuals and history books.

[Sawbonz 28081]

11 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

 

This thread was going fine for months till the goddamn cloakroom trolls decided to start shitting an all over it. The thread was a majority posting of news tweets and informational articles with no, or very little, political commentary. If posters want to discuss political issues, have them take it to the already existent CR thread, and stop allowing them to shit in this one.

Don’t be such a goddamn pussy

[Sawbonz 28081]

4 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Never said it was apolitical, or particularly civil. What I said, was that it was mostly free of cloak room trolls shitting on it... till recently. If you're looking to engage in argumentative political vanity, there is a thread and board for that, with which it appears you're familiar.

Pussy

[Jameslaw121 4485]

Or....

 

 

1 hour ago, Laxtonto said:

 

Complete and total destruction of a command structure. The level of attention to detail, specialized intelligence, planning, and timing it takes to do something like this in less than two weeks is amazing.

This is one of those operations that will end up in training manuals and history books.

Or....

 

 

[Parliament 14556]

2 hours ago, Laxtonto said:

 

Complete and total destruction of a command structure. The level of attention to detail, specialized intelligence, planning, and timing it takes to do something like this in less than two weeks is amazing.

This is one of those operations that will end up in training manuals and history books.

My fantasy terrorist team is having a rough week.

[AnTiM 1684]

19 minutes ago, Parliament said:

My fantasy terrorist team is having a rough week.

Something about "live by the sword..."

[Brisketexan 106615]

1 hour ago, Parliament said:

My fantasy terrorist team is having a rough week.

Maybe there's some members of Asian Dawn you can pick up off the waiver wire?  They may not get you big numbers, but they can fill a roster spot.

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

7 hours ago, Captainant said:

 

Lol don't hurt yourself rushing to conclusions, or fabricating grievances. If you want to disagree with what I'm saying, then give it a shot rather than putting a star on me and ignoring what I actually because of your label. 

It's pretty amazing, y'all have all convinced yourself there's a "cabal" and complain about it more than anything is actually posted of happens. It's exactly like boomer news complaining about the """War on Christmas!!!""" lol. 

 

If I wanted to engage your bullshit, I'd go to the appropriate board and thread and do so. Why is that unreasonable, and hard for people like you to understand?

 

6 hours ago, Parliament said:

Putting them on ignore works until a normal person makes the mistake of quoting in a reply.  We should just not do that.

 

I don't want to ignore them. I want a good, informational, thread, to not be shit on by childish trolls.

 

2 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

Don’t be such a goddamn pussy

 

Pussies are the people who coddle and indulge the behavior of vain, narcissistic, trolls who needlessly shit on things for dopamine hits.

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

 

[Captainant 28383]

5 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

It's really funny to see you posting people railing against hypocrisy, and while complaining about politics while posting political Twitter accounts like yakoby. It's an impressive feat. 

 

Like, do y'all click through and read the other stuff those accounts have been pushing in the past? Y'all are putting turds in the punchbowl and then complaining about the taste lol

[Sawbonz 28081]

36 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

Pussies are the people who coddle and indulge the behavior of vain, narcissistic, trolls who needlessly shit on things for dopamine hits

I’m reading the same posts you are. Quit being a pussy

[Rex Kramer 1522]

35 minutes ago, Captainant said:

It's really funny to see you posting people railing against hypocrisy, and while complaining about politics while posting political Twitter accounts like yakoby. It's an impressive feat. 

 

Like, do y'all click through and read the other stuff those accounts have been pushing in the past? Y'all are putting turds in the punchbowl and then complaining about the taste lol

 

16 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

I’m reading the same posts you are. Quit being a pussy

Can we just shut the fuck up and focus on the news?  It’s a pretty newsworthy day. Is it because it’s positive for Israel that y’all are being cunts?

[KYHorn 17565]

4 hours ago, Parliament said:

My fantasy terrorist team is having a rough week.

And another one

 

There are unconfirmed reports that Maher al-Assad, the younger brother of Bashar al-Assad, may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

If true, it would mean one of the worst psychopaths in the region is dead.

Maher is responsible for commanding the Syrian Army’s 4th Division, which is charged with protecting the Syrian government/presidency from external and internal threats.

He is responsible for the massacre of civilians, individual extrajudicial killings, the gassing of Syrians, money laundering, mass displacement, torture and abuse in detention centers, and the ruinous Captagon trade in Syria and the region, which has not only led to deaths but also helps fund the Assad regime.

Even President Erdogan, who called Maher a psychopath, will celebrate this news if true.

If true, it will also send a huge message to Bashar al-Assad, who has already been barely vocal about the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, to mind his own business.

Edited September 30 by KYHorn

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

11 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

And another one

 

There are unconfirmed reports that Maher al-Assad, the younger brother of Bashar al-Assad, may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

If true, it would mean one of the worst psychopaths in the region is dead.

Maher is responsible for commanding the Syrian Army’s 4th Division, which is charged with protecting the Syrian government/presidency from external and internal threats.

He is responsible for the massacre of civilians, individual extrajudicial killings, the gassing of Syrians, money laundering, mass displacement, torture and abuse in detention centers, and the ruinous Captagon trade in Syria and the region, which has not only led to deaths but also helps fund the Assad regime.

Even President Erdogan, who called Maher a psychopath, will celebrate this news if true.

If true, it will also send a huge message to Bashar al-Assad, who has already been barely vocal about the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, to mind his own business.

 

Fucking awesome!

 

 

[InkaUtexas 26796]

11 minutes ago, KYHorn said:

And another one

 

There are unconfirmed reports that Maher al-Assad, the younger brother of Bashar al-Assad, may have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

If true, it would mean one of the worst psychopaths in the region is dead.

Maher is responsible for commanding the Syrian Army’s 4th Division, which is charged with protecting the Syrian government/presidency from external and internal threats.

He is responsible for the massacre of civilians, individual extrajudicial killings, the gassing of Syrians, money laundering, mass displacement, torture and abuse in detention centers, and the ruinous Captagon trade in Syria and the region, which has not only led to deaths but also helps fund the Assad regime.

Even President Erdogan, who called Maher a psychopath, will celebrate this news if true.

If true, it will also send a huge message to Bashar al-Assad, who has already been barely vocal about the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, to mind his own business.

Fuck yeah. HAMAS must be shitting bricks in Doha and other holes around the region.

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

3 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Fuck yeah. HAMAS must be shitting bricks in Doha and other holes around the region.

HAMAS Persians shitting bricks in Doha Tehran...

Fuck Yes!

 

 

[MagicSoccerSpray 1736]

 

[Johnny Chimpo 489]

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer fella 

[Rex Kramer 1522]

6 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Is that a real quote by new Iranian President?  What an idiot. Iranian leadership is not smart, is it?

[Armybrat 41317]

40 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

Is that a real quote by new Iranian President?  What an idiot. Iranian leadership is not smart, is it?

Well, he better not take any helicopter rides like his predecessor.

[Parliament 14556]

1 hour ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

I hope that hurt.

[Brian Fantana 6856]

This is W Israel shit I can get behind

[PRONG HORN 3219]

 

[PRONG HORN 3219]

 

 

Next in line

 

 

 

[Bevo 13822]

Jump to content

How Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah and crippled the enemy on its border

Heaviest blow of ruthless military campaign in Lebanon devastates group and may change face of Middle East

Adrian Blomfield in Beirut 

28 September 2024 8:40pm

 

 

The plan had been years in the making, the target one of the most famous figures in the Arab world, and one of the most hated in Israel.

In the 11 days before it was implemented, Israel had conducted a military campaign of metronomic efficiency in Lebanon, each phase meticulously and ruthlessly executed, each blow delivered as Hezbollah was still staggering from the one that preceded it.

But then, at dusk on Friday, came the heaviest blow of them all — one that may forever cripple Hezbollah, weaken Iranian influence and potentially even reshape the Middle East itself.

Their detonations echoing across the Beirut skyline, more than 80 bunker-busting bombs pulverised not just four high-rise buildings above the ground but also the subterranean complex that housed Hezbollah’s secret headquarters.

The synchronised sabotage of Hezbollah’s communication devices and other assassinations in previous days had shown Israel was not short of accurate intelligence about a movement that it had clearly infiltrated at all levels.

But this was on a different scale. If previous attacks had systematically severed many of the spokes of the Iran-backed movement, this one was striking at its very hub.

Not only did Israel know the location of the secret bunker of a man who had not been seen in public for two decades, they knew where Hassan Nasrallah would be and that he would be meeting some of the few senior commanders who had survived the assassination strikes of the preceding weeks.

In fact, Israel had known for months, tracking Nasrallah’s every movement until deciding to strike this week after learning that the Hezbollah leader planned to move to an unknown location, according to Israeli officials quoted by the New York Times.

As the plans were finalised, it was decided the operation should be mounted as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly – something Israel’s military chiefs believed might persuade Nasrallah to lower his guard.

The ruse succeeded. As Mr Netanyahu addressed the press in New York following his speech, an aide whispered in his ear and the Israeli prime minister withdrew to give the command to attack.

For hours afterwards neither side knew Nasrallah’s fate but gradually, amid the chaos in southern Beirut, there was enough intelligence to confirm that he was indeed dead – something Hezbollah itself grudgingly conceded a few hours later.

Sweetening the triumph for Israel, the bomb did not just kill Nasrallah.

A general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was among the dead, as was Ali Karaki, a senior Hezbollah commander who survived a previous assassination attempt just days earlier.

Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had “settled the score” with the killing of  Nasrallah.

“We settled the score with the one responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” he said, adding that Israel had reached “what appears to be a historic turning point” in the fight against its “enemies”.

The Israeli prime minister also claimed the death of Nasrallah would help facilitate the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

“The more (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar sees that Hezbollah will no longer come to his aid, the greater the chances of returning our captives,” he said, adding that Israel was “determined to continue striking our enemies”.

Israel’s military leadership also made it clear on Saturday that this was not the end of the assassinations, with remaining Hezbollah commanders still in their sights.

“This is not the end of our toolbox,” Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, Israel’s top army general, told reporters. “We have more capacity going forward. Anyone who threatens the state of Israel, we will know how to reach them.”

If this was a moment of unalloyed triumph for Israel’s military establishment and, so he hopes, a passage to possible political redemption for Mr Netanyahu, there is no question Hezbollah has suffered the most grievous in a litany of disasters.

Nasrallah might not have been involved in Hezbollah’s day-to-day military operations but he was the centrifuge around which the movement spun. For many in the Middle East, perhaps more than any other of Israel’s foes, he was the embodiment of resistance to the Jewish state.

The son of a greengrocer, he climbed through Hezbollah’s ranks until he reached the top after Israel killed his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi, one of the movement’s co-founders, in a missile strike on his motorcade in 1992.

Nasrallah proved a much more adept leader than Musawi, using his organisational skills and close ties to Iran to turn the movement into a formidable political and military force.

Having waged a guerrilla war that persuaded Israel to end its occupation in southern Lebanon in 2000, he was increasingly viewed as a hero by many in the Middle East.

He burnished that reputation when his fighters battled invading Israeli troops to a bloody standstill in the hills of southern Lebanon in 2006, a stalemate he successfully, if dubiously,  portrayed as a great military victory to his fellow Shia Muslims in Lebanon and beyond.

Spinning Nasrallah’s death and the turmoil of recent days will be far harder.

Even before the killing of Nasrallah, a growing number of analysts believed that Hezbollah’s reputation as the world’s most powerful non-state armed group was withering.

Now, with its leader out of the equation, it may quite possibly be facing a slow but terminal decline. As its once formidable reputation shrinks so too might that of Iran, which created, nurtured, funded, armed and trained Hezbollah.

Iran’s ability to project influence through the region by means of proxy militias is now in question.

Despite warning Israel that it had “opened the gates of hell against itself”, Tehran appears to have abandoned Hezbollah to fend for itself, rebuffing calls from the movement to come to its rescue by attacking Israel directly.

“Nasrallah’s killing is going to cause irreversible damage for Hezbollah and I don’t think it will be able to recover from it,” said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank.

 “I think we are seeing both a historic shift in Hezbollah’s power and a historic shift in the trajectory of Iran’s influence in the Middle East.”

 

[MinerProphet 71]

9 days. Pretty, pretty pretty good.

Quote

 

Hassan Nasrallah gave his last public remarks back on September 19, vowing to avenge Israel's pager attacks via a plan that’d be privy to "only the narrowest circle" of Hezbollah.

But nine days later, as the sun set over Beirut on Friday evening, Israel assassinated the Hezbollah chief and his remaining circle in their underground bunker, using dozens of air-launched munitions in a bunker-busting tactic known as 'daisy chaining'. It killed not only Nasrallah and ~20 of his lieutenants, but also his adult daughter, an Iranian general, and (at least) dozens more, including in a half dozen residential buildings above ground.

 

 

[SL Xpress 7608]

3 hours ago, Bevo said:

Jump to content

 

How Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah and crippled the enemy on its border

Heaviest blow of ruthless military campaign in Lebanon devastates group and may change face of Middle East

Adrian Blomfield in Beirut 

28 September 2024 8:40pm

 

 

 

The plan had been years in the making, the target one of the most famous figures in the Arab world, and one of the most hated in Israel.

In the 11 days before it was implemented, Israel had conducted a military campaign of metronomic efficiency in Lebanon, each phase meticulously and ruthlessly executed, each blow delivered as Hezbollah was still staggering from the one that preceded it.

But then, at dusk on Friday, came the heaviest blow of them all — one that may forever cripple Hezbollah, weaken Iranian influence and potentially even reshape the Middle East itself.

Their detonations echoing across the Beirut skyline, more than 80 bunker-busting bombs pulverised not just four high-rise buildings above the ground but also the subterranean complex that housed Hezbollah’s secret headquarters.

The synchronised sabotage of Hezbollah’s communication devices and other assassinations in previous days had shown Israel was not short of accurate intelligence about a movement that it had clearly infiltrated at all levels.

But this was on a different scale. If previous attacks had systematically severed many of the spokes of the Iran-backed movement, this one was striking at its very hub.

Not only did Israel know the location of the secret bunker of a man who had not been seen in public for two decades, they knew where Hassan Nasrallah would be and that he would be meeting some of the few senior commanders who had survived the assassination strikes of the preceding weeks.

In fact, Israel had known for months, tracking Nasrallah’s every movement until deciding to strike this week after learning that the Hezbollah leader planned to move to an unknown location, according to Israeli officials quoted by the New York Times.

As the plans were finalised, it was decided the operation should be mounted as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly – something Israel’s military chiefs believed might persuade Nasrallah to lower his guard.

The ruse succeeded. As Mr Netanyahu addressed the press in New York following his speech, an aide whispered in his ear and the Israeli prime minister withdrew to give the command to attack.

For hours afterwards neither side knew Nasrallah’s fate but gradually, amid the chaos in southern Beirut, there was enough intelligence to confirm that he was indeed dead – something Hezbollah itself grudgingly conceded a few hours later.

Sweetening the triumph for Israel, the bomb did not just kill Nasrallah.

A general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was among the dead, as was Ali Karaki, a senior Hezbollah commander who survived a previous assassination attempt just days earlier.

Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had “settled the score” with the killing of  Nasrallah.

“We settled the score with the one responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” he said, adding that Israel had reached “what appears to be a historic turning point” in the fight against its “enemies”.

The Israeli prime minister also claimed the death of Nasrallah would help facilitate the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

“The more (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar sees that Hezbollah will no longer come to his aid, the greater the chances of returning our captives,” he said, adding that Israel was “determined to continue striking our enemies”.

Israel’s military leadership also made it clear on Saturday that this was not the end of the assassinations, with remaining Hezbollah commanders still in their sights.

“This is not the end of our toolbox,” Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, Israel’s top army general, told reporters. “We have more capacity going forward. Anyone who threatens the state of Israel, we will know how to reach them.”

If this was a moment of unalloyed triumph for Israel’s military establishment and, so he hopes, a passage to possible political redemption for Mr Netanyahu, there is no question Hezbollah has suffered the most grievous in a litany of disasters.

Nasrallah might not have been involved in Hezbollah’s day-to-day military operations but he was the centrifuge around which the movement spun. For many in the Middle East, perhaps more than any other of Israel’s foes, he was the embodiment of resistance to the Jewish state.

The son of a greengrocer, he climbed through Hezbollah’s ranks until he reached the top after Israel killed his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi, one of the movement’s co-founders, in a missile strike on his motorcade in 1992.

Nasrallah proved a much more adept leader than Musawi, using his organisational skills and close ties to Iran to turn the movement into a formidable political and military force.

Having waged a guerrilla war that persuaded Israel to end its occupation in southern Lebanon in 2000, he was increasingly viewed as a hero by many in the Middle East.

He burnished that reputation when his fighters battled invading Israeli troops to a bloody standstill in the hills of southern Lebanon in 2006, a stalemate he successfully, if dubiously,  portrayed as a great military victory to his fellow Shia Muslims in Lebanon and beyond.

Spinning Nasrallah’s death and the turmoil of recent days will be far harder.

Even before the killing of Nasrallah, a growing number of analysts believed that Hezbollah’s reputation as the world’s most powerful non-state armed group was withering.

Now, with its leader out of the equation, it may quite possibly be facing a slow but terminal decline. As its once formidable reputation shrinks so too might that of Iran, which created, nurtured, funded, armed and trained Hezbollah.

Iran’s ability to project influence through the region by means of proxy militias is now in question.

Despite warning Israel that it had “opened the gates of hell against itself”, Tehran appears to have abandoned Hezbollah to fend for itself, rebuffing calls from the movement to come to its rescue by attacking Israel directly.

“Nasrallah’s killing is going to cause irreversible damage for Hezbollah and I don’t think it will be able to recover from it,” said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank.

 “I think we are seeing both a historic shift in Hezbollah’s power and a historic shift in the trajectory of Iran’s influence in the Middle East.”

 

This cheering on of the end of Hezbollah reminds me of George Bush parachuting onto the Abraham Lincoln. 

I understand Hezbollah's operations have been crippled, but the foundational motivations of the organization haven't changed. Whether it's the PLA, Hamas, Hezbollah, or various entities in the Muslim world - including heads of state - who want to take power in part by identifying with the jihad to throw Israelis out of Palestine, the struggle will continue. 

It's been an impressive series of attacks on the Hezbollah organizational structure, though, from an organizational perspective. Obviously the civilian deaths are going to be unacceptable to a lot of people, but Israel is continuing to show that's a consideration they're willing to overcome. Repeatedly. 

[Bevo 13822]

9 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

This cheering on of the end of Hezbollah reminds me of George Bush parachuting onto the Abraham Lincoln. 

I understand Hezbollah's operations have been crippled, but the foundational motivations of the organization haven't changed. Whether it's the PLA, Hamas, Hezbollah, or various entities in the Muslim world - including heads of state - who want to take power in part by identifying with the jihad to throw Israelis out of Palestine, the struggle will continue. 

It's been an impressive series of attacks on the Hezbollah organizational structure, though, from an organizational perspective. Obviously the civilian deaths are going to be unacceptable to a lot of people, but Israel is continuing to show that's a consideration they're willing to overcome. Repeatedly. 

 

I understand the pessimism, but this has led to the destruction of the instrument that Iran used to protect itself. Without Hezbollah and Hamas, and with crappy air defenses, Iran is totally vulnerable to an air assault on, for example, Iran's entire nuclear program. If Israel were ever to strike Iran's nuclear program, now would be the time. And if Iran tried to do anything about it, it could lead to a lack of arms for the replacements of Hezbollah and Hamas for many years. Meanwhile, Lebanon and Syria can finally rid themselves of their largest impediments to democracy. Not saying that it will happen, but it could happen, which we haven't been able to say for a long, long time. If democracies did develop, which is doubtful, Israel would find itself on a new road to peace in the region.

Edited September 30 by Bevo

[tx 3 putt 78469]

who’s left to fight against a ground invasion ?

[Parliament 14556]

Child soldiers/suicide bombers?

[InkaUtexas 26796]

There are plenty of foot soldiers, a lot of RPG's, mines, etc. and Southern Lebanon is not "tank country. They could hold for a bit and continue to sting Israeli forces. I mean, who other than the Norks is better of jumping through fire rings than middle eastern extremists?

 

The impact is really within the political framework of Lebanon. Cross over is will Hezbollah need to pull people out of Syria to come back and defend?

 

[tx 3 putt 78469]

11 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Child soldiers/suicide bombers?

 

coordinating that will be tough