From: The Guardian September 22, 2024

The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement on X: “With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer.”

World powers moved at the weekend to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said escalating the conflict was not in Israel’s best interest.

Washington was saying this “directly to our Israeli counterparts” and believed “there can be time and space for a diplomatic solution here and that’s what we’re working on”, he told ABC.

The EU called for an “urgent ceasefire” and “renewed intense diplomatic mediation efforts”, a message echoed by the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, who noted the “worrying escalation”.

Addressing the Labour party’s annual conference, Lammy said a ceasefire would facilitate “a political settlement, so that Israelis and Lebanese civilians can return to their homes and live in peace and security”.

Guterres, however, said the language used by both sides indicated a lack of desire to explore peace. “It is for me clear that both sides are not interested in a ceasefire. And that is a tragedy, because this is a war that must stop,” he told CNN.

From: Opinion | Haaretz Editorial September 22, 2024

Caution, Trouble Ahead: Israel Is on the Brink of Another Disastrous War

On the 352nd day of the October 7, 2023 war, Israel's attacks in Lebanon are increasing, along with fear of a major regional war, and no agreement for the release of the hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza Strip is in sight.

It seems,
1. Israel keeps opening multi-pronged, can of battles
2. and now Hezbollah raining lethal rockets deep into northern Israel
3. Israel is burning and bleeding, on all fronts -- northern, southern, western, eastern
4. no sign of Israeli victory of this year long, terror war
5. worse -- worryingly no wins.... every front remains "undefeated" "unconquered"
6. terrorists keep coming back bigger and more lethal like Taliban
7. It is not the terrorists collapsing but Israel
8. the assassinated dime a dozen terrorist "top commanders" replaced yesterday!

The fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah militants is taking place in parallel to the unrelenting conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza -- which is still raging ONE year on....

A ground invasion of Lebanon will eventually happen. It's the only way to get the extremists. Or bombing the shit out of the whole country.

Hadn't worked in Gaza still raging ONE year on....
extremists Hamas bigger and more lethal and remains "undefeated" "unconquered" not even making a dent....

seems like it's starting...
israel vs hezbollah here we go !

It also didn't work in 2006, but with this Israeli government experts do predict a long offensive with or without ground troops.
Today Hezbollah has seen the biggest air attack since 2006 it's Chaos.

I have full faith in Israel. Let's finish this

Hezbollah views its conflict with Israel and the Jewish people as religiously motivated. The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict to them is a repeat of the negative interactions between the Jews of medieval Arabia and Muhammad and the early umma described in the Koran and other classical Islamic texts. God, according to Hezbollah theology, cursed all Jews as blasphemers damned for all time and throughout history.[17][18] Hezbollah, as well as the political/religious leaders of Iran, believe that the destruction of Israel will bring about the "reappearance of the Imam (the Shiite Islamic Messiah)".[19]

These issues exist independently of Israeli treatment of Palestinians or even the existence of the State of Israel, although Hezbollah has strong objections to these more earthly matters as well. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said in an interview that "Israel is an illegitimate entity and it is a threat to the region. It is a constant threat to the whole region. We cannot coexist with this threat. That is why the ultimate goal of the [Arab and Islamic] nation is to end Israel's existence irrespective of the problems, sensitivities and everything that has happened and could happen between Palestinians and non-Palestinians, Shia and Sunni, Muslims and Christians."[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_Hezbollah

True. Stalemate -- Ceasefire through UNSCR 1701

From: Middle East Monitor July 12, 2018
34 day war July 12-August 14, 2006 missed opportunity for Israel

The conflict was sparked-off when, on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah operatives crossed the Israel-Lebanon border to ambush an Israeli military vehicle that was on patrol.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were captured.
When Israel sent a rescue mission into Lebanon in an attempt to find the captives, five more soldiers were killed.

Initially, both Israel and Hezbollah claimed victory in the war, with Nasrallah declaring that Hezbollah had achieved a “divine, historic and strategic victory”.

Some international observers saw the fact that Hezbollah had survived the Israeli assault, despite the asymmetrical power balance, as a PR victory for the group.

In Israel, the war has since come to be seen as a military failure for its inability to disarm or destroy Hezbollah.

A commission of inquiry subsequently appointed by the Israeli government, the Winograd Commission, labelled the war a “missed opportunity” and revealed shortcomings in Israel’s decision-making processes.

Hamas claims very costly wins against Israel -- True, on all fronts

economic toll
The Bank of Israel estimated in November that the war would cost about USD53 billion through to 2025 based on forecasts of increased defence and other spending against a backdrop of lower tax revenue. Israel has not seen this scale of military activity in terms of duration, intensity and cost in recent times

Israeli war costs economy over $67.3 billion: Israel’s budget deficit reached 8.1% last July, Economists say
The economic toll of the war may cost Israel an estimated $400 billion in lost economic activity over the next decade – threatens Israel's economic future.

From: Reuters September 24, 2024
Netanyahu pledges to change the balance of power


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
sent, a short video statement addressed to the Lebanese people.
"Israel's war is not with you, it's with Hezbollah. For too long Hezbollah has been using you as human shields," he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant:
said, Monday marked a "significant peak" in the nearly year-long conflict.

"On this day we have taken out of order tens of thousands of rockets and precise munition. What Hezbollah has built over a period of 20 years since the second Lebanon War is in fact being destroyed by the IDF," he said in a statement, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian:
said, In New York, Israel wanted to drag the Middle East into a full-blown war by provoking Iran to join the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

"It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict," he told journalists after his arrival in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, saying the consequences of such instability would be irreversible.

From: Reuters September 24, 2024
After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza on its southern border, Israel is shifting its focus to the northern frontier, where
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, also backed by Iran.

Israel's military said it struck Hezbollah in Lebanon's south, east and north, including "launchers, command posts and terrorist infrastructure." The Israeli Air Force struck approximately 1,600 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, it said.

The fighting has raised fears that the U.S., Israel's close ally, and Iran will be sucked into a wider war.

The strikes have redoubled the pressure on the group, which last week suffered heavy losses when thousands of pagers and
walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.

The operation was widely blamed on Israel, which has not confirmed nor denied responsibility.

apparently, Israel had hacked Lebanese Radio networks and Telecommunication, to broadcast their evacuation order "Get away from Hezbollah" also sent text messages and recordings to scores of Lebanon’s citizens, having quietly been gathering this data, for years.

From: Reuters September 24, 2024
On Monday evening Israel launched a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs aimed at senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, the head of the southern front. Hezbollah later said he was safe and had moved to a secure location.

But Hamas' armed wing said its field commander in southern Lebanon, Mahmoud al Nader, was killed in an Israeli air strike.

From: Foreign Policy September 23, 2024
Will Hezbollah Choose to Keep Its Word—or Its Arsenal?

The militant group must decide between walking back its threat to northern Israel or risking the loss of its advanced missile capabilities.

In less than a week,
1. Israel has managed to significantly degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities, communications systems, and chain of command.
2. First, exploding pagers and walkie-talkies undermined the group’s ability to communicate.
3. Then came the assassination of operations commander Ibrahim Aqil on Friday—along with 14 top Radwan Force commanders
—which was a major setback for the Lebanese militant group’s top leadership and command unit, the Jihad Council.

From the founding members of Hezbollah’s military structure only Ali Karaki survives today.

Sinwar's silence is deafening! Perhaps he is no longer alive? -- Wonder who is getting the $400,000 reward

I'm sure the Mossad wil find Sinwar or his DNA sooner or later.

You know you got to stop them at the beginning, like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich -- helps to get rid of the bad blood. Blood is a big expense

• US and allies should never have let this terror war go on, for so long -- still raging ONE year on....

Then again, America and England have been unable to stop the Red Sea ship attacks, by terrorists Houthis which still continue

Hezbollah says second top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, killed
Al Arabiya 21 September 2024

Hezbollah says second top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, killed in Israel’s strike on Beirut, Friday 20 September 2024

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Saturday that a second senior commander was among 15 of its fighters killed in an Israeli air strike on its Beirut stronghold the previous day

The Iran-backed group said Wahbi led the military operations of its elite Radwan Force in support of Hamas between October 7, 2023 when the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel, triggering the Gaza war and the start of this year

Israel’s UN Ambassador slams UN for ignoring Hezbollah attacks
DaJobnik 22 September 2024

Danny Danon, Israel’s UN Ambassador, delivers a fiery speech at the UN Security Council, demanding international action against Hezbollah

Danon,
1. accuses Hezbollah of indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians which have displaced over 60,000 people in northern Israel
2. also criticizes the UN’s inaction in enforcing Resolutions 1701 and 1559 which call for Hezbollah’s disarmament
3. and exposes Iran’s role as the mastermind behind Hezbollah’s aggression, pulling the strings of terror across the Middle East

Danon also highlights the hypocrisy of international critics, pointing out the environmental and human devastation caused by Hezbollah’s rocket attacks. Over 50,000 acres of forests and farmlands have been destroyed Yet the UN remains silent

Danon reaffirms, in his closing statement thatand who? is protecting the innocent Palestinian citizens and bringing the displaced Palestinian families "being shunted between 'safe' zones multiple times" back home?

Danon calls on the international community to finally hold Hezbollah and Iran accountable before it’s too late

Iranian president says he doesn't want war with Israel
NBC News by Dan De Luce, Andrea Mitchell and Chantal Da Silva 24 September 2024

Extracts:
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says, he doesn't want war with Israel
Pezeshkian said Monday that Iran does not seek a wider war in the Middle East and that such a conflict would have no winners
Pezeshkian called for dialogue to resolve the volatile situation in the Middle East and blamed Israel for stoking tensions and instigating conflict, citing assassinations in Tehran and elsewhere that Pezeshkian said, Israel had carried out


U.S. officials fear the prospect of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backed by Iran

Israeli airstrikes killed more than 180 people and wounded almost 730 on Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said, a dramatic expansion of Israel’s aerial attack

Iranian president says he doesn't want war with Israel
NBC News by Dan De Luce, Andrea Mitchell and Chantal Da Silva 24 September 2024

Extracts:
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also slammed the U.S. and other Western countries for what Pezeshkian called double standards as they criticized Iran over human rights but ignored Israel’s “atrocities” in Gaza

Pezeshkian, who was elected this year and portrays himself as a relative moderate, also said Iran could not dictate to Houthi forces that are attacking shipping in the Red Sea

The Houthis, Pezeshkian said, were reacting to what Pezeshkian called the unjust plight of Palestinians in Gaza-- by violence! including --
1. murdering innocent crew
2. polluting the environment
3. disrupting the Red Sea International shipping route
4. impacting Global trade
5. destroying ships

Pezeshkian, asked about assessments by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran was trying to promote campus protests in the U.S. against Israel, rejected the accusation and said,

Iranian president says he doesn't want war with Israel
NBC News by Dan De Luce, Andrea Mitchell and Chantal Da Silva 24 September 2024

Extracts:
In an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, echoed President Masoud Pezeshkian’s comments and said his government was ready to work with other countries to end the conflict in Gaza
Zarif also said Iran had the right to retaliate at a time of its choosing over what Zarif called a clear violation of Iran’s sovereignty when the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in the capital, Tehran, in July 2024

Iran has blamed Israel for orchestrating the bombing. Israel has not publicly confirmed it was behind the attack.

After the assassination, Zarif said,

Iranian president says he doesn't want war with Israel
NBC News by Dan De Luce, Andrea Mitchell and Chantal Da Silva 24 September 2024

Extracts:
Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video on Telegram, adding that he planned to stay in New York for an extended period
The U.S. is not expecting to talk to the Iranian government any time soon, a senior Biden administration official said Monday

The official said the U.S. continues to signal to Iranian officials what is expected if its leaders are serious about changing the country's standing in the international community

Yet Iran is selling ballistic missiles to the Russian government, the U.S. official said, a move that fuels the war in Ukraine

The U.S. and its allies say Iran has supplied Russia with armed drones and ballistic missiles for its war against Ukraine which the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied

Another missed opportunity, failure and shortcomings -- Strike 1 Strike 2


Israel -- Three Strikes and you're out!

Hassan Nasrallah

Well said

In other Islamic/Muslim Military Related News....

At least 77 people are killed and more than 255 others are injured in Mali

An al-Qaeda-linked group has said it was behind an early morning attack in the Malian capital, Bamako.

Armed men targeted a military training school and other areas in the city, the authorities said, blaming “a group of terrorists” for the assault.

Jihadist group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility, saying it had inflicted heavy human and material losses.

https://apnews.com/article/sahel-is...burkina-cb640f8f2a59db08c9ba3dce86ede5a9

Lebanon death toll rises to 569

Just like yesterday, Israel has tough attacks
carried out in Lebanon
there are 569 deaths in two days and more
than 1800 injured. Israeli
army says it will step up attacks and
Hezbollah "not to be allowed to rest".

Israel also reports during the attacks
Hezbollah commander Qubaisi has been killed,
the leader of the missile division.The army
further says that Hezbollah today fired 300
projectiles at Israel.
There would only be material damage.

Residents of southern Lebanon flee
large numbers after a call from Israel
to leave "the danger zone".On the
highways to the capital Beirut
traffic has been at a standstill ever since.

Yesterday was the deadliest day for Lebanon
since 1990, causing panic in the country
that has been in a major crisis for years.

From: BBC September 25, 2024
Israel is gambling Hezbollah will crumple but it faces a well-armed, angry enemy

Israel believes that a ferocious offensive will coerce Hezbollah into doing what it wants, inflicting so much pain that its leader Hassan Nasrallah and his allies and backers in Iran decide that the price of resistance is too high.

Israel’s politicians and generals need a victory. After almost a year of war, Gaza has become a quagmire.
Hamas fighters still emerge out of tunnels and ruins to kill and wound Israeli soldiers and are still holding Israeli hostages.

Hamas caught Israel by surprise last October. The Israelis did not see Hamas as a significant threat, with devastating consequences.

Lebanon is different. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Mossad spy agency have been planning the next war against Hezbollah since the last war ended in a stalemate in 2006.

Israel’s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, believes the current offensive is making big progress towards his declared objective of tipping the balance of power away from Hezbollah. He wants to stop Hezbollah firing rockets over the border into Israel.

At the same time, the Israeli military says the plan is to force Hezbollah back from the border and to destroy military facilities that threaten Israel.