Lew: ‘Indications’ that Mohammed Deif killed in Israeli strike
The U.S. ambassador to Israel made the comments during a briefing for the American Jewish community
By
Haley Cohen
July 15, 2024
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said on Monday that there are “indications” that Israel eliminated Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
“There are still many questions regarding the results of the attacks against Mohammed Deif,” Lew said in a briefing for the American Jewish community hosted by the White House. “I can’t confirm whether it was successful or not, but there are indications that they have achieved it.” Israel has not confirmed that it had assassinated Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who had survived multiple Israeli attempts on his life over the past two decades.
Lew’s comments come a week and a half before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress, and as U.S. officials work to negotiate a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas. Lew said that while he does not have advance knowledge of the contents of Netanyahu’s speech, slated for July 24, he “hopes that [the] speech to Congress next week will include a bipartisan message.”
As tensions increase between Israel and Hezbollah and more than 70,000 people have been displaced from northern Israel since Oct. 7, Lew called the Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon a “very serious military force, much more sophisticated than Hamas [with] much more munitions reserves including precision-guided missiles and a military that is battle-trained but not worn out.”
“Israel is facing a military opponent that could do real damage to the country,” Lew said. “People in Israel broadly understand that but I’m not sure that they are thinking of what life will feel like [if war happens]… it’s something we should all want to avoid,” Lew said, adding that there is not an “easy resolution.” Displaced Israelis can’t go home, he said, “unless there is a negotiated agreement with some oversight mechanism to make people feel safe.”
IAF strikes Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for Tel Aviv attack
The strikes "also followed the Houthi's aggression against the State of Israel since the start of the war," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
A fire erupts following Israeli strikes in Yemen's Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah, July 20, 2024. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.A fire erupts following Israeli strikes in Yemen's Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah, July 20, 2024. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.
(July 20, 2024 / JNS)
Israeli Air Force jets struck Houthi terrorist targets in Yemen on Saturday following a deadly drone attack by the Iran-backed group in Tel Aviv the previous day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed.
“From the beginning of the war, I made it clear that Israel would harm anyone who harms us,” Netanyahu said in public remarks on Saturday night. “Accordingly, earlier today, I convened the Security Cabinet and asked it to support my proposal to attack the Houthi targets in Yemen.”
The strikes, which Israel said hit several “military targets” in the port city of Hodeidah, appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the Houthis joined the war against the Jewish state in support of Hamas in October.
“The Israeli Air Force struck dual-use infrastructure used for terrorist activities, including energy infrastructures,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
Netanyahu said the strikes were a “direct response to the drone attack that killed an Israeli citizen and wounded several others. It also followed the Houthi’s aggression against the State of Israel since the start of the war. Over the past eight months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones towards Israel.”
An Israeli man was killed and four other persons were wounded at 3:12 a.m. on Friday when what the Israel Defense Forces described as an “aerial target” exploded in a residential neighborhood in central Tel Aviv. The slain man was identified as Yevgeny Ferder, 50, who immigrated from Belarus around two years ago to escape the Russia-Ukraine war.
Medics treated a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s for shrapnel wounds at the scene before evacuating them to the hospital. Two others were wounded either by shrapnel or the shockwave of the blast.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they used an advanced suicide drone dubbed “Jaffa.” Hagari confirmed that the UAV was an Iranian-made Samad-3, which was upgraded to increase its strike range.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that the retaliation against the Houthis hit targets some 1,120 miles from the Jewish state. “There is no place that the long arm of the State of Israel cannot reach,” he said.
“The port we attacked was not an innocent port. It was used for military purposes and used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” the prime minister said. “Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis are an integral part of Iran’s Axis of Evil. This axis operates not only against Israel, it threatens the peace of the entire world.”
Jerusalem expects the international community to act against Iran and its proxies, confront Tehran’s aggression and protect shipping lanes threatened by the Houthis,” he said.
“Anyone who wishes to see a stable and safe Middle East should stand against Iran’s Axis of Evil and support Israel’s struggle against Iran and its proxies: in Yemen, Gaza and Lebanon, everywhere,” the Netanyahu said.
Houthi terrorist spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam claimed that the “Israeli aggression” targeted fuel storage facilities and a power station. He said the attacks aim “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.”
Yemen’s Al-Masirah television outlet, which is controlled by the Houthis, reported that the strikes caused deaths and injuries in the port area. It said there was a large fire at the port and widespread power cuts.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remarked on Saturday, “The fire currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear. The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them.
“We will do this in any place needed. The blood of Israeli citizens has a price. This has been made clear in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and other places—if they dare to attack us, the result will be identical,” he said.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv as the IAF attacks in Yemen, July 20, 2024. Credit: Yossi Cohen/GPO.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, the Houthis have fired several missiles and drones against the Jewish state, the great majority of which were intercepted by Israeli, U.S. or Saudi forces or missed their targets.
The Houthis since mid-November have also carried out many drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, in addition to numerous acts of piracy against commercial and military vessels.
The Iran-backed terrorist organization’s official slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
Israeli killed as Hezbollah rocket scores direct hit in northern kibbutz
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the deadly Hezbollah barrage comprised around 10 rockets.
Akiva Van Koningsveld
(July 30, 2024 / JNS)
An Israeli civilian was killed on Tuesday afternoon when a Hezbollah terror rocket scored a direct hit on a home in Kibbutz HaGoshrim in the Galilee panhandle, medical authorities confirmed.
“EMTs and paramedics provided treatment to a male approximately 30 years old in critical condition with shrapnel wounds, and following resuscitation efforts have pronounced him dead,” the Magen David Adom medical emergency response group announced.
“A Magen David Adom team that was dispatched to the scene and arrived minutes later found this person in critical condition and immediately initiated life-saving procedures while reporting back and preparing a helicopter in order to evacuate this person to the hospital as fast as possible,” a spokesperson said.
“Although the team did not spare any effort, and although it used all its advanced equipment, we weren’t able to save this young person’s life,” he added.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the deadly Hezbollah barrage comprised around 10 rockets, most of which were intercepted. The military responded by attacking the source of the fire with artillery.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, confirming it launched dozens of rockets at a nearby IDF military base.
The Israel Police said security forces were dispatched to multiple scenes where rockets impacted throughout the Galilee panhandle, adding that officers were working to remove danger to the public.
Following the attack, the Upper Galilee Regional Council ordered residents of eight northern kibbutzim that have not been evacuated to stay near bomb shelters and avoid public gatherings until further notice.
Air-raid sirens subsequently sounded in several border communities, including HaGoshrim, due to what the IDF Home Front Command said was the suspected infiltration of a “hostile aircraft” into Israeli airspace.
Later on Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for additional attacks on northern Israel, including the launch of a volley of Katyusha rockets at the town of Beit Hillel, located just southwest of HaGoshrim.
The Iran-backed terrorist organization admitted to carrying out at least six separate attacks on the Jewish state throughout the day on Tuesday.
The deadly barrage comes as Israel is preparing to strike Hezbollah in retaliation for a previous attack on the Golan Heights on Saturday.
Twelve children were killed and more than 40 people were wounded in Saturday’s rocket strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, marking the Lebanese terror army’s deadliest attack on Israel since Oct. 7.
Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that Hezbollah has begun repositioning its precision-guided missile arsenal in preparation for an all-out war with the Jewish state.
A senior Hezbollah official told the news agency on Monday that the group’s stance has not changed and that it is not seeking a full-scale war with Israel, but that should one erupt it will fight without limitations.
The official, speaking anonymously to discuss sensitive terrorist activities, said Hezbollah had begun moving some of its “smart precision missiles” yesterday, readying them for use.
Hezbollah possesses an unknown quantity of precision-guided missiles of various ranges. The terror group’s weapons stockpiles have been targeted by the Israeli Air Force in Lebanon and Syria in recent years, yet most experts maintain that it still holds a significant quantity of missiles.
Hezbollah will respond forcefully to any Israeli action, irrespective of the scope of Jerusalem’s retaliatory attack, a senior official said on Tuesday.
“Foreign envoys suggested we don’t retaliate to any strike so as not to expand the conflict … [but] we will respond,” the Hezbollah source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Qatar’s Al Jazeera channel.
“The leadership of the resistance is in a state of complete readiness and will decide the form and size of the response to any potential aggression,” the official said Tuesday. He warned that Hezbollah is capable of attacking army bases in the Golan Heights and Haifa area.
After 48-hour lull, Hezbollah rockets rain down on northern Israel (August 1, 2024 / JNS)
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization based in Lebanon resumed its rocket attacks on northern Israel on Thursday night, firing a large volley at civilian communities in the Jewish state’s Western Galilee.
The assault ended a 48-hour lull that followed Tuesday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut in which Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s No. 2, was killed.
Air-raid sirens were activated in Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Shlomi, Matzuva, Liman, Betzet, Shlomi, Snir and the Achziv Miluot industrial zone, according to the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command.
Local media reported that the barrage towards the north comprised 60 rockets, some 15 of which were said to have been intercepted by air defenses. No casualties were reported in the rocket attacks.
No projectiles had been fired from Lebanon since Tuesday night when the Israeli Air Force killed Shukr, who was responsible for a rocket attack that killed 12 children in Majhal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights, as well as the 1983 bombing that killed more than 300 U.S. and French troops in Beirut.
Earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that the attacks on northern Israel would “continue from tomorrow, and this has nothing to do with responding to the assassinations, but rather a continuation of the battle since October 8,” vowing to continue cross-border fire until a ceasefire is reached with Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel nearly every day since joining the war in support of Gaza-based Hamas on Oct. 8, killing more than 20 people and causing widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced due to the ongoing violence.
DF presents preemptive strike plan on Iran, Hezbollah to senior leaders - report
Senior IDF officers have suggested to Gallant and Netanyahu not to wait for an attack from Hezbollah but to initiate another preemptive Israeli strike.
By MAARIV
AUGUST 6, 2024 00:47
Updated: AUGUST 6, 2024 01:05
Amid escalating tensions, senior IDF officers have proposed to the Defense Minister and the Prime Minister to preempt Hezbollah and strike Lebanon. "The chances of escalation on the northern front are increasing. It would be prudent to lead the initiative," according to a Channel 13 report.
In light of the tense anticipation of Iran and Hezbollah's response following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Fuad Shukr in Lebanon, senior IDF officers have suggested to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to wait for an attack from Hezbollah but to initiate another preemptive Israeli strike, as reported on Channel 13 on Monday evening.
According to the publication, senior IDF officials recently proposed to the political echelon to launch another attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon before a response from the Shia terror group arrives. According to these senior officials, "We must undermine the enemy's perception that we are waiting for their move." They also added, "The chances of escalation on the northern front are increasing regardless. It would be wise to be the ones leading this initiative."
Possible plans for pre-emptive strike presented to top brass
The report states that the proposal was presented yesterday in several discussions with senior political officials. Although the proposal was considered and evaluated, it has not yet been accepted by the political echelon. The Prime Minister's Office has not commented, and the IDF spokesperson stated that they do not comment on classified discussions.
Last week, the IDF assassinated Nasrallah's right-hand man, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut in response to the disaster in Majdal Shams, where 12 children were killed by a direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket on a soccer field.
Hezbollah confirmed Shukr's death about a day after the attack. The following day, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech. In his speech, Nasrallah stated that the war "has entered a new and open phase" on all fronts, including Gaza, southern Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran.
He added, "Hezbollah's red line continues to rise with each assassination it encounters," and claimed, "We are in a new phase of confrontation. The Israelis rejoiced - now they will cry."
Iran has decided to attack Israel, Foreign Minister Katz says
Iran’s message was delivered to Israel via Hungary's Foreign Minister who called Katz directly to relay the information.
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
AUGUST 5, 2024 19:41
Updated: AUGUST 5, 2024 22:44
Iran has decided to attack Israel, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Monday amid an intense diplomatic push to avoid any further military action that could spark a direct war between the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state.
Iran’s message was delivered to Israel by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who called Katz to explain that he had received this information from acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri.
“Iran has informed us that it intends to attack Israel,” Katz said.
“The world should exact a price from Iran for any aggressive action it carries out,” he added.
In a conversation Bagheri held with his Bahraini counterpart, Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani, he spoke about his country’s determination to respond to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is widely presumed to have carried it out.
“Silence toward the expanding evil acts of the Zionist regime will be detrimental to the regional stability,” Bagheri wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that “indifference to its recent moves is tantamount to giving the regime an incentive.”
The United States said it believed an Iranian attack could come within the next 48 hours. There is a fear that Iran could coordinate its attack with its proxy groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and others in Syria and Iraq.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack last week that killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Biden set to meet with national security team
US President Joe Biden was expected to meet Monday afternoon with his national security team to discuss the situation. US CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla visited Israel on Monday and met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.
Gallant said the visit was “a direct translation of US support for Israel into action. The relationship between Israel and the United States is unshakable. We discussed the coordination of defense activities and ways to expand the international coalition facing aggressive actions by Iran and its proxies.”
In April, the United States, Israel, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and France defended Israel from a direct Iranian attack. Saudi Arabia lent tacit support to the coalition.
It is presumed that the US is attempting to coalesce the same five militaries even as it is scrambling to thwart an attack or at the very least limit its scope.
Saudi Arabia has said it would not allow Iranian missiles or drones to move through its airspace, according to media reports.
Jordan has said it wants its airspace to remain neutral, according to media reports. Biden and King Abdullah spoke Monday about regional tensions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke to Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty about the regional tensions. This followed conversations with his counterparts in the G7 countries and with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani on Sunday.
“The secretary has delivered a consistent message in all of these engagements,” US State Department Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Monday. “We are at a critical moment for the region. It is important that all parties take steps over the coming days to refrain from escalation and calm tensions.
“Escalation is in no one’s interest. It’s not in the interest of any one country. It’s not in the interest of the region, and it’s certainly not in the interest of the millions of civilians who just want to live their lives free from violence and conflict,” Miller said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said Tehran was determined to expand relations with its “strategic partner Russia,” Iranian state media reported.
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, is visiting Iran and met with Pezeshkian and senior Iranian security officials as the Islamic Republic weighs its response to Haniyeh’s assassination.
“Russia is among the countries that have stood by the Iranian nation during difficult times,” Pezeshkian told Shoigu, Iranian state media reported.
Pezeshkian said shared positions between Iran and Russia “in promoting a multipolar world will certainly lead to greater global security and peace.”
Russia has condemned the killing of Haniyeh and has called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.
Pezeshkian said Israel’s “criminal actions” in Gaza and the assassination of Haniyeh “are clear examples of the violation of all international laws and regulations.”
Shoigu was Russia’s defense minister before being moved to the Security Council in May. He also met with R.-Adm. Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who serves as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Russia’s Zvezda television reported.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment in public on the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, senior Russian officials have said those behind the killing of Haniyeh were seeking to scuttle any hope of peace in the Middle East and to draw the United States into military action.
Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Islamic state.
Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, Reuters reported in February.
Regarding Shoigu’s talks in Tehran, Miller said the US had no expectations that Russia would play a productive role in easing Middle East tensions.