Middle East War Briefing

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
🚀 A massive fog of war covers the Middle East. The New York Times ran a story yesterday headlined, “A Wider War in the Middle East, From Hamas to Hezbollah and Now Iran.” The article was penned by David Sanger, who is so security-state connected that he might as well be romantically involved with CIA Director Bill Burns. I bet his electronic surveillance has little electronic surveillance of its own.

Something is happening in the Middle East, it’s just not clear what or how big or small it is. But we do know that Israel is now involved in kinetic conflicts with at least four opponents: the Houthis in Yemen to the southeast, what’s left of Hezbollah in Lebanon to the north, Hamas in Gaza, and now Iran, to the east.

Only a few days ago, Israel ‘decapitated’ Hezbollah. Yesterday, media reported Israel ‘invaded’ Lebanon. But the scale of the invasion isn’t clear. Reports vary. There is no agreement even on whether any invasion happened at all. Some platforms just call the activity on Israel’s northern border an “incursion,” and others describe it only as small scouting raids by Israeli special forces.

Yesterday, Iran electrified the media by firing between 180 and 300 missiles at Israel. Again, reports on the number of missiles vary. Media coverage exists but seems oddly muted. Unlike last time Iran attacked Israel, this time saw no six-hour, play-by-play media circus tracking the momentary movements of missiles between the two countries.

Nearly a full day after Iran’s newest missile attack, nobody can agree about precisely what happened. Israel’s government has apparently imposed strict information controls. Some reports said Iranian missiles soared right through Israel’s Iron Dome. But other, like David Sanger, said the Iron Dome mostly succeeded in shooting down Iranian missiles.

Miraculously, Israel said that almost nobody died or was even injured by any Iranian missile. Only one unlucky Palestinian gentleman was killed when an empty rocket casing fell on him — an unbelievably improbable event that was even more improbably captured on video.

Iranian sources conflict with each other over whether the US and Russia received advance notice of the attacks. Some Iranian officials say yes, others say no.

The Iranians claimed to have destroyed dozens of insanely expensive F35 fighter jets in the attack (don’t even ask), as well as an oil platform or oil processing facility of some kind. Israel won’t say what has or hasn’t been damaged or destroyed, apart from one empty school building. We just don’t know; that might be all.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has promised to retaliate, but only he knows what for, since all reports say Iran’s missile strikes were ineffective. Maybe just for the attempt, which seems like a legitimate reason.

The bottom line is we know more about what Tim Walz likes to eat on his China field trips than what is actually happening in the Middle East right now.



 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member



All the uninformed leftoid dopes bleating "muh colonialism!" about Israel/Lebanon might want to ask why Christians have been driven from Lebanon and why an Islamic militia is running swathes of this formerly stable, prosperous, Christian country. There's your colonialism.
https://twitter.com/LeoKearse/status/1842148888914129021/photo/1


Image
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member



AP’s Josh Boak: “And then secondly, could you clarify some of your comments yesterday with regard to strikes on Iranian oil facilities. What did you mean by them given some of the reactions we're seeing in the market?”

Biden: “Well, look, the Israelis have not concluded how they – what they're going to do in terms of a strike. That's under discussion. I think there are if – if I were in those shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.”






ABC’s Selina Wang: “But over the past few months they've consistently defied your administration's own advice, so do you believe that the Israelis are going to listen to the advice you're giving them?”

President Biden: “What I know is the plan that I put together received the support of the UN Security Council – the vast majority of our allies around the world as a way to bring this to an end. One of the – look, the Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from the Iranians, but from everyone from Hezbollah to the Houthis. Anyway – and – uh – but the fact is that – um – they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties.”

Wang: “So how should they respond? You expressed concerns about attacks on Iranian oil facilities. How should they respond?”

Biden: “That's between me and them.”
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Mullahs: We’re Afraid of Trump


Someone leaked to the Telegraph a “regime policy planning document” written for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It relates to the possibility that Donald Trump may once again be the U.S. President:

Iran is plotting to infiltrate Donald Trump’s team amid fears he could topple its regime, according to a secret dossier.
The Telegraph has obtained a regime policy planning document which reveals Tehran’s five-point strategy to woo figures close to the Republican candidate’s camp in an attempt to soften his stance on the Islamic Republic.
The 120-page dossier, entitled “US Re-Trumpization 2024,” expresses fears over how Trump could “adopt a maximum pressure policy against Iran,” including limiting its control of the Middle East and ending relationships with Russia and Saudi Arabia, if he regains the White House.

Trump has said that he intends to re-institute the “maximum pressure” policy.

It cites a renewed American focus on Tehran because of its support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi terror groups in the year following the October 7 attack on Israel.
“They realized their assessments were incorrect and that Iran continues to support resistance groups,” the document reads.

“Their assessments” evidently are those of the Biden administration, and perhaps the U.S. foreign policy establishment, not Donald Trump.

Trump, who is described by Iran as “the frontrunner in the 2024 United States election,” is considered a particular threat because of previously hostile policies towards the Islamic Republic, including sanctioning the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, its top general, in 2020.

The mullahs fear Trump, based on experience.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Hezbollah begging for mercy proves Israel is right to fight —and shrug off Biden’s terrible advice



Lebanese terror outfit Hezbollah has changed its tune: After spending weeks trumpeting an apocalyptic end for Israel, the cadre of bloodthirsty cowards is begging the Jewish state to let up.

“We support the political efforts led by [Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri under the banner of achieving a cease-fire,” whined Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem — for the first time not conditioning a truce on an end to the war in Gaza.

Turns out bravely attacking your enemies with uncanny precision and skill, rather than begging them for peace, is effective as a military strategy.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The Israel Land Authority on Thursday announced the takeover of the headquarters in Jerusalem of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which will be replaced with 1,440 housing units.

The 8.89-acre UNRWA compound in the Ma’alot Dafna neighborhood of Jerusalem has been declared illegal following an inquiry by Minister of Construction and Housing Yitzhak Goldknopf to the CEO of the land authority and the prime minister’s office. It turns out the UN agency owes more than $7 million in rent for the space.

Ma’alot Dafna is a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, bordering on the neighborhood of Shmuel HaNavi to the west, Ammunition Hill to the east, Ramat Eshkol to the north, and Arzei Ha’Bira to the south.

One year after the October 7 attack, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee approved a bill to sever ties between Israel and UNRWA. The bill will go to a second and third reading in the Knesset plenary next week, after which the agency’s standing in Israel will be terminated:

  • The only agreement (from 1967) that allowed UNRWA to operate in Israel will be canceled and as a result, its activities will cease.
  • UNRWA personnel will be prohibited from coming in contact with Israeli officials, and their diplomatic visas and economic benefits will be terminated.
  • Any criminal procedure against UNRWA employees in connection with the crimes they committed on October 7 or in any connection will remain in place.



 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

US bombers target underground Houthi weapon sites in Yemen


The US says it has carried out "precision strikes" against five weapons storage locations in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were part of the operation that targeted hardened underground facilities housing missiles and other munitions that the Iran-backed group had used to attack civilian and military ships.

The strikes demonstrated the ability of the US to hit facilities that adversaries sought "to keep out of reach", he added.

Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said the strikes targeted six areas in and around the capital, Sanaa, and two near the northern city of Saada. It did not report any casualties.

US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, also said there were no initial indications of civilian casualties from the strikes.

Several of those areas mentioned by Al-Masirah host military bases where analysts have said satellite imagery showed the Houthis were creating or enlarging underground facilities, including the Television area in the north of Sanaa and al-Hafa to the south-east.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi political official, wrote on X that the attacks would “only increase our determination to continue our military operations in support of Gaza”.
 

glhs837

Power with Control

US bombers target underground Houthi weapon sites in Yemen


The US says it has carried out "precision strikes" against five weapons storage locations in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were part of the operation that targeted hardened underground facilities housing missiles and other munitions that the Iran-backed group had used to attack civilian and military ships.

The strikes demonstrated the ability of the US to hit facilities that adversaries sought "to keep out of reach", he added.

Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said the strikes targeted six areas in and around the capital, Sanaa, and two near the northern city of Saada. It did not report any casualties.

US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, also said there were no initial indications of civilian casualties from the strikes.

Several of those areas mentioned by Al-Masirah host military bases where analysts have said satellite imagery showed the Houthis were creating or enlarging underground facilities, including the Television area in the north of Sanaa and al-Hafa to the south-east.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi political official, wrote on X that the attacks would “only increase our determination to continue our military operations in support of Gaza”.

Big finger point to Iran and its own deeply buried facilities.

Hugh Jackman Deadpool GIF by Regal
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

Israel attacks Tehran military targets in retaliation for ballistic missile barrage — as it vows to do ‘whatever necessary’


Israel launched airstrikes at military targets in Iran early Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s ballistic barrage of 200 rockets targeting the Jewish state earlier this month, the Israeli military confirmed.

Multiple explosions were reported near Tehran, Iran’s capital, and the nearby city of Karaj as Israel’s initial strikes appeared to have targeted a weapons depot, along with a barracks or office, senior Arab officials told NBC News.

“It was so loud and the sky became red,” said an Iranian resident in Tehran, who asked not to be named.

Another Tehran resident said she “woke up to a distant sound of blasts” Saturday morning, adding there was a heavy presence of Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the city on Friday, according to CNN.

The Israel Defense Forces fired “precise strikes” on military targets in Iran “in response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.



Iranian Missiles Hit Europe: Europe Does Nothing



  • Iran's Islamist regime has never made a secret of its ambitions. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who seized power following the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, said: "We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle."
  • The first step should be to formally designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Force as terrorist organizations. This would send a powerful signal that Europe is no longer willing to tolerate Iran's military and ideological expansion, and it would empower law enforcement across the continent to act decisively against Iranian operatives.
  • Europe should sever all trade relations with Iran. Every euro that flows into Iran is likely being funneled into Tehran's military machine and its support for Russia's war in Ukraine.
  • By responding with empty words as Iranian missiles hit European soil, the EU is essentially green-lighting Tehran to escalate its aggression. The lessons of Nazi Germany are there for everyone to see.


The European powers' current approach to Iran is uncomfortably reminiscent of how, in the 1930s, they dealt with Nazi Germany.

European democracies, choosing appeasement over confrontation, turned a blind eye to Hitler's rising aggression. This indulgence, not surprisingly, simply emboldened the Nazis, and led to the horrors of World War II.

Today, in a similar fashion, the Europe's passivity toward Iran's escalating threats is just bolstering its regime. Iran, called by the 2023 US annual Terrorism Report, "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," is on the cusp of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran's Islamist regime has never made a secret of its ambitions. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who seized power following the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, said:

"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle."[1]

Iran's regime is promising either Western capitulation or a major conflict. Ignoring the warning signs will only make the price Europe pays even higher.

Iran is arming Russia with missiles and attack drones, which are being used to strike Ukraine. That war is no longer just a regional conflict between Russia and Ukraine. When Iranian missiles target Ukraine, they are striking Europe itself. If this isn't the prelude to a direct act of war by Iran against all of Europe and the individual freedoms it stands for, then what is? Iran, as has been no secret, has clearly aligned itself with a "new Axis of Evil" consisting of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member

NEW: Israel Launches Retaliatory Strikes on Iran -- and Syria; UPDATED


It's on. Almost a month after Iran attacked Israel with an estimated 200 ballistic missiles, the Israelis have begun their promised retaliatory strikes. Unlike the Iranian attack, the Israelis have apparently hit and destroyed several strategic targets, and the attack continues to unfold:

In a statement, the IDF says it is carrying out “precise strikes” on Iranian military targets, in response to “months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel.”
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7th – on seven fronts – including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” the military says.
“Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond,” the statement continues.

"Precise strikes" has both a military and political meaning. Iran's ballistic missile attack didn't have much precision; the Iranians basically lobbed them at Israel in general and hoped to do damage wherever the missiles hit. The only fatality turned out to be a Palestinian in the West Bank, thanks in large part to the Israeli missile defenses and the combined US-Israeli forces.
 
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