The IDF airstrike on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah weakens Iran’s regional influence and disrupts Hezbollah’s operations.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | SEPTEMBER 28, 2024

Boys scouts carry a picture of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Kfar Melki, Lebanon, September 19, 2024  (photo credit: REUTERS/AZIZ TAHER)

The airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on September 27 is a major game-changer after more than eleven months of war., and has the potential to upset Iran’s plans and weaken Hezbollah. Here are five ways the strike may affect the war and the region.

Iran’s most experienced ally targeted

Hassan Nasrallah was Iran’s most experienced ally in the region. The Hezbollah leader had been key to Iran’s plans in the region for decades. In the last several years, he had grown even more powerful. Iran sought to create a multi-front war against Israel in the wake of the October 7 attack. The assassinated terrorist leader helped lead that war.

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Peloni:  How ironic is it that watching Bibi’s speech before the UN signaling Israel’s commitment to victory was Nasrallah’s final action.  Victory defines security, while capitulating to foreign influences only guarantees future slaughters.

MG Paul E Vallely, US Army (Ret)

By  LTC/Dr. Pete Chambers | September 27, 2024

Nine surface-to-air missiles have entered the U.S. through the New Mexico border that is intended for three Iranian assassination teams to target former President Trump’s private plane, according to intelligence gathered by Dr. Pete Chambers, a former Special Operations Flight Surgeon, Green Beret officer, and a Task Force Surgeon for Operation Lone Star and an advisor to MG Vallely.

“Doc Chambers” revealed during a podcast Thursday that two independent sources on the southern border in New Mexico have provided corroborating intelligence about the surface-to-air missiles to his humanitarian response mission.

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Peloni:  This message delivered to Bibi in a meeting some forty years ago seems highly relevant today.

Today’s grotesque endeavors to justify Hamas’s bestial barbarism should be repudiated and ridiculed.

Martin Sherman | Sept 26, 2024

Reports of numerous casualties in multiple blasts that shook Lebanese capital Beirut; IDF says plans ready for Lebanon ground op

By Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman, Jacob Magid, Agencies and ToI Staff   

An image grab taken from Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV shows the Lebanese terror group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah addressing the nation from an undisclosed location on September 19, 2024. (Al-Manar/AFP)

The Israeli Air Force carried out massive targeted airstrikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday evening, with the military saying it had struck Hezbollah’s main headquarters. An Israeli official confirmed to The Times of Israel that the strikes targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was believed to be at the command center at the time.

“It’s very hard to imagine him coming out alive from a strike like that,” said the official, as multiple Hebrew media reports cited a growing Israeli assessment that Nasrallah was killed in the strike on the underground headquarters.

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Peloni:  This is the best assessment of what is known and what is possible/likely following the strike on today’s Hezbollah’s HQ where Nasrallah and senior Iranian and Hezbollah leaders were present.

Israeli Sources have confirmed that besides Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, several other Senior Hezbollah Leaders as well as a Group of Advisors from the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) were inside the Command Bunker when it was Targeted. With all…

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 27, 2024

U.S. President Joe Biden can and should revoke any immunity for UNRWA employees facing charges stemming from Oct. 7.

Leonard Grunstein | Sept 26, 2024

Hamas rockets found hidden among boxes of UNRWA relief supplies in northern Gaza, Dec. 2, 2023.    Credit: IDF Spokesperson.

In response to a lawsuit filed in the New York Federal District Court on June 24 against the U.N. Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and others for damages suffered by so many as a result of UNRWA employees participating in the Oct. 7 massacre, the U.N. defendants are claiming immunity and moving to dismiss.

If this wholly unjust position were not immoral and absurd enough, the U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly weighed in and shockingly told the court: “Because the U.N. has not waived immunity in this case, its subsidiary, UNRWA, retains full immunity, and the lawsuit against UNRWA should be dismissed due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”

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T. Belman. After Sa’ar rejected the post of Def Minister, I thought that Netanyahu was stuck with Gallant because he had no one to replace him with. Apparently I was wrong.

Both Foreign Minister Katz and Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a former Shin Bet head, are seen as possible candidates to replace him.

Israeli TV says Netanyahu has convened ad-hoc forum 3 times in past week, with exclusion of defense minister seen as ‘political hazing’ in wake of reports he is set to be ousted

ToI staff   26 September 2024, 2:12 am

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been excluded from at least three security consultations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held with a select group of ministers in recent days amid the intensified fighting with Hezbollah, Hebrew media reported Wednesday.

The most recent meeting, held Wednesday before a security cabinet session, included the premier, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem, according to Channel 12 news, which noted the ad-hoc forum is not an official body.

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T. Belman. Netanyahu talked about a future in which Israel and Saudi Arabia will work together and bring peace and prosperity to the Midddle East. He is of coarse alluding to the ME NATO which is fast becomig a reality. So like I said before, When MBS called for a Palestinian State, he was referring to Jordan.

Peloni:  Netanyahu shames the UN and threatens Iran as he explains “We are winning!”

They never thought that Israel would have the stomach for the long fight and resist the pressures by the United States.

Barry Shaw | Sep 22, 2024

Barry Shaw   Courtesy

The military and intelligence strategies employed by Israel in Gaza and in Lebanon have confused Arab strategic “experts.”

Anti-Israel Arab research institutes as well as Egyptian and Syrian researchers and think tanks, have come to the conclusion – and some have admitted – that Israel’s firm stand in the past year is not what they expected.

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Janatan Sayeh |  Sept 25, 2024

In light of the significant losses suffered by Hezbollah and the escalating concerns in Tehran regarding a potentially unpredictable Israeli attack, the regime’s current strategy appears to be one of damage control. Iran believes that so long as there remains a foundation to build upon, it can eventually reestablish its influence in southern Lebanon.

To this end, the Islamic Republic seeks to cultivate an image of total warfare through a series of disparate yet calculated attacks via proxies. This approach serves not only to project strength in the eyes of its supporters but also to gamble on the possibility that the United States will exert pressure on Israel to halt its strikes against Iranian militias.

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Rabbi Jacob Herzog tweeted the following today:

“We have brought you news of things you were unaware of.

Queen Rania of Jordan, you made a good choice. You understand my meaning, and I understand that you understand me. Let’s keep this between us, please.

It’s better this way, Queen Rania. We give you good news: Your daughter’s husband’s brother will only be imprisoned for one year, and he will be released after serving two-thirds of the sentence. And ‘one who leaves brings many good things.’

No regional war. The war with Hezbollah will not expand.

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A new poll of New Yorkers reveals a surprising tale.

By Daniel Greenfield September 26, 2024

In September, the Jewish Democratic Council of America rolled out a poll which claimed that 72% of American Jews backed Kamala, and that Jewish voters didn’t really care about Israel or antisemitism, only about “abortion”, “climate change” and the “future of democracy”.

The poll by the Democrat firm GBAO Strategies was ridiculed as rigged even by the people who have spent years repeating back the results of similar past polls claiming that 70% of Jews voted for Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Exit polls usually don’t register Jewish voters and virtually all polls of Jewish voters are conducted by Democrat and liberal groups. And they’re just as worthless, but they fit people’s preconceptions of the Jewish vote.

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Must see 4min. video

T. Belman. Most of you know the beginning part of this discussion. The best part for me was the discussion starting at 30 minutes.

Peloni: Nice summary of where things stand today.

Click on Photo for Video

Peloni: Excellent article!

Zelensky will seek more weapons and a longer leash so he can recklessly use US missiles to strike Russian cities and infrastructure. A recipe for World War III? You bet!

Leo Hohmann | Sep 23, 2024

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began his visit to the United States in Pennsylvania with a stop Sunday at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, where he thanked American workers producing the 155mm artillery shells Ukraine uses to kill Russians in a nasty border war with its fellow slavic neighbor to the east.

I wonder how those American workers feel making weapons for the leader of perhaps the most corrupt country in the world, Ukraine, which is being used by a corrupt Washington Unitparty to poke the Russian bear in the eyeball. Maybe they’re not aware of the geopolitical ramifications of their work. I doubt many are or they would be looking for other, less provocative jobs.

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Peloni:  Ignore the American stagecraft.  Bibi’s resolve is far from waivering: “My policy, our policy, is clear: we continue to strike Hezbollah with full force.”

Israeli Prime Minister reaffirms commitment to continue military operations in the north.

Israfan |  Sept 26, 2024

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