Middle East War Briefing

[GURPS]

Iran-Backed Houthis ‘Declare War’ on Israel After Reported Killing of Saudi Troops​

The Iranian state outlet Mehr News reported that a spokesman for the Houthis formally “declare[d] war” on the nation of Israel in support of the Sunni genocidal terrorist organization Hamas.

The Houthis are an Iran-backed terrorist organization that seized control of the capital of Yemen, Sana’a, in 2014 and ousted legitimate President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, triggering a civil war that remains ongoing, albeit in a ceasefire state, at press time. The group’s slogan is “Allahu akbar, death to the United States, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory for Islam.” Despite Ansar Allah’s direct ties to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, and its stated goal of destroying America, the administration of leftist President Joe Biden removed the Houthis from the official U.S. government list of foreign terrorist organizations as one of his first acts in office in February 2021.

The formal declaration from the Houthis that they had begun a terror assault targeting Israel followed a report published in Bloomberg revealing that the Houthis had also started attacking Saudi Arabia directly again despite the ongoing truce, reportedly killing four Saudi soldiers.

Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim state — a longtime rival of Houthi patrons Iran —and granted Hadi refuge when the Yemeni civil war began, making the country a prime target for Houthi terrorism. Prior to the current alleged truce, the Houthis repeatedly used drones and missiles to bomb Saudi targets across the border, preferring to attack oil facilities in an attempt to limit Saudi oil profits. In early 2022, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia were so numerous that Riyadh warned the world it could not guarantee a steady supply of oil if the bombings continued.

 

[GURPS]

The Long Red Shadow Behind Islamic Terrorism



Try searching for "Israel" on China’s biggest search engine Baidu—the nation's name is no longer on the map, although the names of its major cities are still there.

The discovery, which caught many in China by surprise on Oct. 30, is the latest twist in a calculated silence by the regime in Beijing, in contrast to other major world powers that have rushed to Israel’s side.

Positioning itself as a mediator and advocate for peace, the regime has criticized Israel for going too far in its counterattack against Hamas.

As hostility proliferates against Israel on China’s heavily censored internet and in state media, the terrorist group responsible for the deadly assault hasn't elicited a single mention in official statements coming out of Beijing.

Pressed twice during a recent news briefing why Chinese authorities had refused to “say the word ‘Hamas,’” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson maintained that the regime stands for justice and opposes “all violent attacks.”

It’s “basically a different way of siding with Hamas,” Miles Yu, a China policy adviser at the U.S. State Department during the Trump administration, told The Epoch Times.

To Mr. Yu and other China watchers, Beijing’s reticence is little more than a facade. Far from being the peace advocate that it asserts to be, he said, the regime is “giddy about all the crises elsewhere in the world” that divert attention away from its own ambitions.





China is deluded if they think Islam won't put them up against a wall for Apostasy ... but for the time being Radical Islam makes a convenient
foil to use against the west

 

[GURPS]

Hamas Hoarding Fuel To Keep Terrorists In Tunnels While Its Hospitals Run Low: Report​

Hamas’ lack of concern for the fate of civilians in Gaza has been demonstrated in various ways. The terrorist organization routinely stations its command centers in civilian areas so any Israeli attack would engender condemnation. On Wednesday, Ynet reported that Hamas pushed roughly 100 women and children forward to serve as human barriers near Jabaliya as soldiers of the Givati Infantry Brigade fought Hamas’s elite Force 17.

As far back as March 2019, Hamas turned on Palestinians protesting the terrorist group’s draconian rule over Gaza. At that time, The New York Times admitted that a 19-year-old vendor who joined “the peaceful protests in the Jabaliya refugee camp” said that security forces from Hamas beat and punched him. “The second day, he was detained and held for five days, during which he said he was slapped, beaten and deprived of food,” The Times added.

The Times continued:

Hamas security forces moved quickly to quell the protests that brought hundreds of people into the streets in at least four camps and towns across Gaza this month to demand better living conditions.
The security forces beat demonstrators, raided homes and detained organizers, journalists and participants, about 1,000 people in all. Along with the uniformed officers, masked, plainclothes Hamas enforcers armed with pistols, batons and wooden rods attacked the protesters, according to witnesses, and prevented journalists and human rights workers from documenting the events. Since then, many Gazans say they have been living under a pall of fear — not of Israel this time but of Hamas.

 

[GURPS]

In related news, the Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating story yesterday headlined, “Russia’s Wagner Group Plans to Send Air Defenses to Hezbollah, U.S. Says.”



According to the Journal, U.S. intelligence officials (I know) said yesterday Russia’s Wagner Group offered to give Hezbollah one of Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft systems, called the SA-22. It can shoot down missiles, F-16s, and F-35s. All of which would be very problematic for Israel.

Russia denied the claim.

Either way, right now the story is pure war propaganda. Even if it’s true, Russia has only “offered” to deliver an SA-22. Offers are super easy to make. Delivering stuff is where things get expensive. Still, it was a helpful bit of war propaganda to somebody in the lead up to Hezbollah’s big announcement today.

It’s worth reflecting on why Russia is helping the Hezbollah terrorists. According to reports, the Hamas planned the October 7th Massacre for two years. So planning would have started around October, 2021 — six months into Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine, and several months after the U.S. started meddling.

I’m not saying Russia was involved in the Hamas attack. I’m just pointing out the timeline. And the fact that the October 7th Massacre effectively ended Ukraine’s chances of winning. And the fact that Hamas’s undeniable and unforgivable brutality against unarmed Israeli civilians, women, children, and old people, looks more designed to incite rage and revenge rather than accomplishing any identifiable military objectives.

It would be just like the Russians to patiently wait two years to spring a trap like that to distract the U.S. from the Proxy War. Note: I’m not claiming they did it; how would I know?

Whatever may be true, Russia is clearly helping Hezbollah now, if only by refusing to condemn the terror group for the October 7th Massacre. And Hezbollah is Iran’s prize proxy. So by helping Hezbollah, Russia is actually helping Iran. Which is only fair, because Russia owes Iran, since Russia was caught flat-footed when the U.S. sent Ukraine a bunch of high-tech drones.

Iran came through for Russia, fixed its drone problem, and fixed it so well that military media commonly refers to Russia’s drones as “Russia’s Iranian Drones:”



In other words, when things got sticky in Ukraine thanks to U.S meddling, Russia turned to Iran for help. And Iran helped. Defying U.S. sanctions, Iran shipped Russia thousands and thousands of drones, which arguably turned the tide of the war in Russia’s favor. (Things remain murky, but it a highly arguable point.) Meanwhile Joe Biden cunningly handed the Iranians $6 billion dollars and lifted most sanctions, but I digress.

The point is: any help Russia gives to Iran and Hezbollah at this point is arguably directly blamed on the U.S., for starting the drone war in Ukraine in the first place. It’s an uncomplicated ‘butterfly effect,’ except with SCUD-missile equipped butterflies. To be clear: It’s not me saying Russia’s new alliance with Iran is America’s fault. Many others have said it. For instance, Britain admitted it early this month, and Voice of America repeated the claim:



So.

☕️ CROOKED TRIO ☙ Friday, November 3, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

This week sees three top democrats sitting in criminal crosshairs; a major inflection point in the Middle East war; the Overton window opens wider for jabs and health agency misconduct; and more.

www.coffeeandcovid.com

 

[Monello]

All people have the right to exist - however that government in Israel is rotten to the core just like ours. Rotten because of our banking system.

Do you believe the nation of Israel has a right to exist?

 

[HemiHauler]

Do you believe the nation of Israel has a right to exist?

To the victor go the spoils. There likely won’t be a victor for a few thousand more years

 

[Clem72]

It would be just like the Russians to patiently wait two years to spring a trap like that to distract the U.S. from the Proxy War. Note: I’m not claiming they did it; how would I know?

Yes, Yes. This makes perfect sense. Russia, who thought they would utterly steam-roll Ukraine somehow helped plan an attack on Israel set to take place two years later to pull all of the money/resources away from the Ukraine war that they otherwise in no way shape or form planned to continue fighting for 2+ years.

Or, and hear me out here, they are just trolling us by offering similar support to Hamas that we offer to the Ukraine.

 

[SamSpade]

Yes, Yes. This makes perfect sense. Russia, who thought they would utterly steam-roll Ukraine somehow helped plan an attack on Israel set to take place two years later to pull all of the money/resources away from the Ukraine war that they otherwise in no way shape or form planned to continue fighting for 2+ years.

Yeah, I now realize that. Most of the time, I don't tend to think of Russians as being anywhere NEAR that clever. Their approach to the finger wagging when they were building forces around Ukraine's borders was "meh, just military exercises, you guys all worry too much". Reminds me of back when they were using chemical weapons in Afghanistan - Carter chastised them for it, and they were like, nope, not us. He mentioned later that he presented physical evidence of material laced with the chemicals, and they denied it to his face - in such a way as to say, so what, we're lying, whatcha gonna do, pipsqueak?

Russians are bullies, and they get away with being bullies. In Soviet times, they bragged about shutting down the gas lines to the West when they didn't get what they wanted. Strange, but they STILL DO THAT. I've got a book here, somewhere, written in the 70's where a Russian official said just that.

They don't HAVE to be clever. They can pick on their weak neighbor right in front of God and everyone, and nothing happens. Their only problem is when - like Afghanistan - the Russian people start to react and say dammit, enough. You can only lie to us for so long before we stop sending our sons to die.

 

[Clem72]

Do you believe the nation of Israel has a right to exist?

That's a weird question. Does any nation have a RIGHT to exist? What does right mean in this context? God given? Whose God and under what circumstances and for how long? The only way one has a right to exist is in the context that might, makes right.

So they need to step up and forcefully protect their borders. And they should be doing it under their own power, otherwise they only have a right to exist as long as their protector allows it.

 

[Dakota]

That's a weird question. Does any nation have a RIGHT to exist? What does right mean in this context? God given? Whose God and under what circumstances and for how long? The only way one has a right to exist is in the context that might, makes right.

So they need to step up and forcefully protect their borders. And they should be doing it under their own power, otherwise they only have a right to exist as long as their protector allows it.

Israel has to get along if they want to exist instead of calling big pappa to come fix all their grievances on the backs of the USA tax payers. It has been 70 plus years of this bs and their presents has only worsened in time, not gotten any better.

I'm not sure who followed WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. He said he has only released 1 percent of all he has on governments being deeply corrupted. At the time, he said nearly 93 percent (maybe it was more) would be removed in Washington, DC if the public knew. He also gave a warning "forget Russia, Israel should be your concern."

Has anyone... anyone thought to wonder why that is?

 

[GURPS]

IDF Has No Plans to Enter Hamas' Tunnels, So What Are the Options?​

The Washington Post has a story today about the network of tunnels dug beneath Gaza by Hamas fighters. The entire network is estimated to stretch over 300 miles despite the Gaza strip being on 25 miles long. It’s where Hamas fighters have been hiding out since the start of Israel’s military response to the 10/7 attack. But the IDF has no intention of entering the tunnels which are likely booby-trapped.

Israeli military protocol generally prohibits regular ground troops from entering tunnels, as the chances of being killed or captured is too high. Israelis have seen their soldiers grabbed and dragged into tunnels, so the likely strategy will be to attempt to destroy them from a distance.
In an interview last week with The Washington Post, senior Hamas leader Ali Baraka, based in Beirut, said that “the fighters are underground, waiting for the battle.” He claimed that there are 40,000 operatives in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm, and 20,000 in other factions. “They can’t handle 60,000,” he said, calling out the Israeli military…
Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said, “We are not going to enter the tunnels themselves; we are not going to fight in the tunnels, 30, 40 meters under the ground.”
“We have, I assume, some creative means and manners that will enable us to destroy these tunnels on the heads of Hamas terrorists that are hiding inside,” Michael said, declining to speculate on the use of classified sensors in the field.

So what are Israel’s options if they aren’t going to send troops into the tunnels to fight? The first and most obvious is aerial bombardment of suspected tunnel sites. That’s what Israel has been doing so far but the obvious downside is that Hamas has placed its tunnels under civilian sites including schools and hospitals, using civilians as human shields. Even apart from the Palestinian civilians, airstrikes risk killing Israeli hostages who are being held in the tunnels.

 

[GURPS]

Israel Strikes Home Of Hamas Terrorist Leader Ismail Haniyeh: Reports​

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appear to have struck the Gaza home of Hamas terrorist chief Ismail Haniyeh, a billionaire who resides in the terror-friendly state of Qatar.

Israel’s top publications — including The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and more — all covered the story, citing Hamas-affiliated radio and other Arabic media.

Haniyeh, who has voluntarily lived in exile for several years with some of his family, is the leader of the political bureau for the Hamas terrorist group, which murdered 1,400 Israelis, wounded 5,300+, and kidnapped more than 240 in an unprecedented terrorist attack last month.

Israel has responded by vowing to bring an end to the terrorist group and their political rule over Palestinians inside Gaza.

Last month, an airstrike on one of the homes owned by Haniyeh reportedly killed 14 people, including his brother and nephew.

 

[GURPS]

Is Hamas Caving?​

It looks like Hamas realizes that is is outmatched by Israel’s military power, and is getting desperate. According to recent reports, Hamas is now offering to release civilian hostages in exchange for a short, five-day ceasefire.

"Although the terms have varied in recent weeks, Hamas has indicated most recently that it would release all civilian hostages in exchange for a five-day pause, according to diplomats familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive matter. Israeli military captives, whose precise number is unknown, would be retained, possibly to eventually be offered in trade for Palestinian prisoners in Israel,” reports The Washington Post.

Sporadic, indirect negotiations are being held in Doha, Qatar’s capital, where they have waxed and waned depending on the tempo of Israeli strikes. With Qatari officials as go-betweens, the United States has been variously represented by Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s assistant secretary for the Near East, and White House and State Department hostage negotiators, diplomats said. Representatives of Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency have also traveled to Doha. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, who lives in Turkey, has participated, along with former leader and current head of Hamas diaspora affairs Khaled Meshaal, who lives in Qatar.
Lists of some but not all of the hostages’ names have been turned over, as Hamas maintains it still may not have located all of them, especially those who may be held by Islamic Jihad, a separate Gaza-based militant group. At various times, Hamas has said publicly, without providing any evidence, that some hostages have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

It’s easy to hear this news and consider it a source of celebration, but considering the fact that the hostages have been the only leverage Hamas has in this situation, there’s ample reason to be suspicious of their true intentions here. Originally, they attempted a slow trickle of hostages in order to stave off a ground invasion. What are they attempting to pull off now? It seems that a five day ceasefire would be exploited to gain a tactical advantage, or it’s a trick, and they have no intention of releasing hostages at all. Hamas also demanded more humanitarian aid for civilians.

 

[GURPS]

Terrorist Rocket Blows Up Near Fox News Reporter In Israel​

 

[GURPS]

Hamas Might Have Gunned Down Scores of Civilians And Tried to Blame Israel for It​

The number of left-wingers falling for Hamas propaganda is disturbing while also enormously entertaining since they’re exposing the world to their stupidity. The terrorists win by preying on the ignorant, and they have struck oil when it comes to American academia, the media, and the legions of doltish college students who have been clamoring for Jews to die in Israel.

The Gaza hospital story, which is fake news, is already taken as gospel by the Left. The pro-Hamas crowd thinks Israel struck a hospital in the strip, which killed over 400 people. It was the work of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose rocket salvo had an errant launch, causing one to land in the parking lot of the facility, killing 10-50 people. But the media ran with the story blaming Israel, causing the Muslim world to erupt in anger. Hamas clinched its first propaganda win.

Pro-terrorist actors in America also think the kidnappings, rapes, and beheadings of babies never happened, a soft version of a Holocaust-like denialism regarding the October 7 attacks, which sparked this current war between Israel and Hamas. In that attack, terrorists killed 1,400 Israeli men, women, and children. Pro-Hamas activists will dismiss the evidence of the heinous attacks against Jews on that day.

 

[GURPS]

Hamas Terrorists Committing War Crimes By Using Ambulances In Gaza​

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck an ambulance inside Gaza late this week after discovering that it was being used to transport Hamas terrorists on the battlefield, which is a violation of the international rules of war.

“A Hamas terrorist cell was identified using an ambulance. In response, an IDF aircraft struck and neutralized the Hamas terrorists, who were operating within the ambulance,” the IDF said in a statement. “We emphasize that this area in Gaza is a war zone. Civilians are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southward for their own safety.”









Israel hit the ambulance outside of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital where Hamas has a vast underground command center, which is also a war crime. Footage posted online showed that Hamas was gathering large crowds of people at the hospital — thus using them as human shields, which is a war crime — to watch its terrorists murder Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza.

 

[somdwatch]

And I do understand that but it certainly is something to consider.

I think what I am sick and tired of is everyone identifying with everything else besides being human.

I have met 2 Holocaust survivors with the tatted #'s on them. One thing is for sure, they won't discuss the horror of it and neither felt any heritage to the land of Israel.

Israel is a political identity and I find it dangerous when people try and make it a biblical one.

You may find it interesting to talk to some of the Arabs who have fought against Israel.

Back in the early 80's I spoke with an older Egyptian who told of their Army being scared to death by what they seen in battle. It wasn't the IDF, it was what appeared in the clouds above the IDF. They weren't just fighting Israelis.

I firmly believe our society is in a battle between good and evil. Unfortunately, the brainwashing of academia has taken roots over the traditional biblical teachings of the greatest generations and their Boomer offspring.

 

[somdwatch]

That's a weird question. Does any nation have a RIGHT to exist? What does right mean in this context? God given? Whose God and under what circumstances and for how long? The only way one has a right to exist is in the context that might, makes right.

So they need to step up and forcefully protect their borders. And they should be doing it under their own power, otherwise they only have a right to exist as long as their protector allows it.

So by your reasoning, USA has no right to exist as we don't forcefully protect our borders with FJB in charge?

 

[Clem72]

So by your reasoning, USA has not right to exist as we don't forcefully protect our borders with FJB in charge?

I'm not sure I understand your point. I would say we can't argue the illegal immigrants out of the country by claiming they are infringing on our rights, we would have to force them out. And if we never do and they take over, then we lost any right we had to exist as we did before they came.

 

[GURPS]

World ‘Recoiling in Horror’ at IDF; Nets Smear Israel Not Being in ‘Mood to Compromise’​

Between Sunday and Monday, the major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC used their flagship morning and evening newscasts to start a new week of anti-Israel smears and siding with Hamas terrorists as Tuesday marks one month since the latter’s animalistic barbarism murdered at least 1,400 innocents and resulted in over 200 hostages.

This time, the networks argued the world’s “recoiling in horror” at Israel’s ‘search and destroy mission” that’s “shattering...lives” in Gaza and Israel remaining still “not” being in a “mood to compromise” with Hamas.

CBS foreign correspondent Debora Patta deserved a stipend from Hamas after her lead-off report on Monday’s CBS Mornings. From the beginning, she painted Israel as the aggressor, “rebuff[ing] calls for a ceasefire in Gaza” “despite...mounting pressure.”

Hamas couldn’t have drawn it up any better as she declared the world’s “recoiling in horror” at Israel’s behavior (as opposed to continued horror over Hamas’s October 7 terror attack): “Night after night, the bombs rain down with the Israel Defense Forces saying they have now surrounded Gaza City. But around the world, people are recoiling in horror at the staggering civilian death toll with calls for a ceasefire growing louder.”

“There is growing anger against the United States here in Ramallah, in the West Bank, with crowds chanting ‘Blinken, you’ve got blood on your hands.’ The United Nations says 1.5 million Palestinians have been internally displaced,” she added.

A few sob quotes later, she hyped another anti-Israel international organization: “[T]he World Health Organization says over a third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are not functioning, and those still in service report dire fuel shortages.”