From: The Times of Israel October 20, 2024

Colonel Ehsan Daqsa and other officers, including battalion commander, hit by explosive device as they leave tanks to walk to observation position in Jabaliya

The site had been booby-trapped with explosives, which killed Daqsa on the spot, seriously wounded the 52nd Battalion commander, and injured the other two officers, who were listed in light and moderate condition.

Daqsa, 41, from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, was one of the most senior officers to have been killed in the fighting in Gaza.
In all, six IDF colonels have been killed in the fighting, four of them during the October 7, 2023 onslaught.

IDF: Hezbollah fired some 200 rockets at northern Israel today;
The attacks caused some damage, but no injuries.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group says it launched rockets on Sunday at an Israeli army base east of the northern city of Safed.

Hezbollah fighters fired “a big rocket salvo” at an Israeli army base east of Safed, the group says, adding the attack was “in defense of Lebanon” and “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on villages and homes.”

THAAD Hurry up!

Why the US is giving Israel powerful THAAD anti-missile system
BBC by Tom Bateman - State Department correspondent 15 October 2024

Extracts:

• US THAAD and US crew to Israel

The Pentagon has confirmed it is sending a high-altitude anti-missile system operated by US troops to Israel

Officials say the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery will bolster Israeli air defences after Iran’s missile attack on the country earlier this month

US President Joe Biden has said it is meant "to defend Israel" which is still expected to retaliate against an Iranian strike involving more than 180 ballistic missiles fired at Israel on 1 October 2024


There are already a small number of US forces in the country - but this new deployment of about 100 troops is significant as it signals further US entanglement in the expanding regional war

It is also being scoured for clues as to what it means about the effectiveness of Israel’s missile defences as the crisis grows

It’s still unclear whether the THAAD deployment is part of US contingency planning to bridge gaps identified in Israel’s aerial defences or whether it points to growing concerns in Washington of a more forceful Israeli strike on Iran

Israel has yet to launch its retaliation for Iran’s attack, which will be "lethal, precise and above all, surprising" according to Defence Minister Yoav Gallant

President Biden has opposed any attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as well as on its oil or energy infrastructure, amid fears that it would trigger a spiralling conflict and affect the global economy

Whatever the background to the decision, it signals a further need by Israel for US defence assistance amid the expanding war

Politically, the THAAD announcement is couched in terms of the Biden administration’s "ironclad" support for Israel’s defence
The US has sent more than 50,000 tonnes worth of weapons to Israel in the last year, according to Israeli figures

Why the US is giving Israel powerful THAAD anti-missile system
BBC by Tom Bateman - State Department correspondent 15 October 2024

Extracts:

• Iran's 01 October 2024 attack on Israel

Tehran said it fired on Israel because it assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, in Beirut

Ballistic missiles like the Fattah-1 used by Iran earlier this month are fired upwards into the Earth’s atmosphere where they change trajectory and descend towards their target

One of their military advantages is their immense speed compared with cruise missiles or drones

Iran’s 1 October 2024 strikes on Israel killed one man in Jericho in the occupied West Bank who was hit by part of a missile that was apparently shot down

Israel has a much vaunted aerial defence system, developed with the US, including Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 exo-atmospheric missiles

These fly at hypersonic speed and can shoot down ballistic missiles in space. The system’s Israeli designers said,
The US supported the defensive operation, firing interceptors from two naval destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, alongside support from some European and Arab countries

Washington presented the Iranian strike asBut damage on the ground told a less emphatic picture

Satellite images showed damage at the Israeli Air Force's Nevatim base which houses F-35 fighter planes, including craters on a runway and taxiway

Decker Eveleth from the Washington-based Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) said, the images showed 32 impact points, including multiple hits in the area of F-35 hangers. Mr Eveleth posted on X
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that it was still unclear whether damage was caused directly by missiles or interception shrapnel

There were other direct impacts, including in Tel Aviv - One missile reportedly blew a 30ft (nine metre) deep crater in a densely populated area close to the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency

The Iranian missile strikes followed,
1. Israel’s assassinations of Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh (a negotiator in the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks)
2. Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut
3. Israeli air strikes in densely populated parts of Beirut
4. and its ground invasion of Lebanon

Israel said it has been striking against Hezbollah’s leadership and destroying its vast missile stores due to 11 months of cross-border rocket fire into Israel

Israel argues only military pressure and degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities will ensure 60,000 Israelis can return to their homes in northern Israel

Why the US is giving Israel powerful THAAD anti-missile system
BBC by Tom Bateman - State Department correspondent 15 October 2024

Extracts:

• THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense

The THAAD system is highly effective against ballistic missiles, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin, the biggest US arms maker

Raytheon, another American weapons firm, builds its advanced radar

The system counts six truck-mounted launchers, with eight interceptors on each launcher
It costs about $1bn (£766m) a battery and requires a crew of about 100 to operate it

THAAD is much sought after including by Ukraine to counter Russian missile attacks

Saudi Arabia has orders in for it and reportedly wanted more as part of an American weapons bonanza in return for officially recognising Israel: a so-called "normalisation" deal which was largely derailed after the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas

The Pentagon describes the THAAD deployment as part of
It says a THAAD was deployed in southern Israel for an exercise in 2019 the last and only time it was known to be there

A US military deployment to Israel outside of drills is extremely rare, given Israel's own capabilities

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Sunday that

US plays game of carrot and stick with Israel
BBC by Wyre Davies reporting from Jerusalem 15 October 2024

Extracts:

• US threatens to restrict Military aid unless Israel improves Gaza’s humanitarian situation

What clearly isn’t appropriate, according to the unprecedentedly strong language in a joint letter from the US Secretaries of State and Defence to their Israeli counterparts, is how Israel is prosecuting the war in Gaza

For just over a week, the IDF has been attacking parts of northern Gaza hard

The area, which incorporates the Jabaliya refugee camp, may be hiding the remaining Hamas units that Israel is keen to neutralise but it is also home to around 300,000 people – many of whom have already had to flee their homes during this war

The humanitarian consequences of Israel’s attacks – in which at least 300 people have been killed – are appalling, say aid agencies

Thousands of people are trapped with barely any food or medical aid getting in and in reality, there are no safe spaces to escape to

And that has brought a co-ordinated chorus of condemnation, not just from a collective group of aid agencies but international governments as well

The Americans have now made the continued supply of weaponry and arms to Israel conditional on a change in the humanitarian situation in Gaza

That is an almost unprecedented warning from Washington – at least in the context of this war -- whether it causes Israel to rethink what some had described as a “scorched earth” offensive in northern Gaza remains to be seen

US plays game of carrot and stick with Israel
BBC by Wyre Davies reporting from Jerusalem 15 October 2024

Extracts:

• US plays game of carrot and stick with Israel

A rather oddly choreographed game of “carrot and stick” is currently being played out in what, for weeks, has been an increasingly frosty relationship between the US government and Israel

The rapid deployment of the American THAAD high-altitude anti-missile defence system to Israel complete with around 100 US personnel to operate it demonstrates Washington’s continued military commitment to Israel

The system would form part of Israel’s defensive shield, should the conflict with Iran escalate into something much bigger but it is also a reminder of how reliant Israel is on US military support even though Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly says,
But it also highlights some of the policy contortions carried out by Washington:
first trying to pressure Israel and its adversaries not to escalate the war, instead urging diplomacy

When that has failed the White House has then firmly backed its Israeli ally’s decisions while moving to shield it diplomatically and militarily

Hamas says Yahya Sinwar's death will become 'a curse' for Israel
ABC Australia 19 October 2024

A Hamas official has confirmed leader Yahya Sinwar's death in a statement

In a speech on Thursday night announcing the killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that
Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya confirmed on Friday that the militant group's leader, Yahya Sinwar, had been killed in combat, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his death
In a statement, Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades vowed to keep fighting until it saw the "liberation of Palestine"
Previously, Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim declined to confirm Sinwar's death but said, Israel
Photos apparently taken by Israeli troops on the scene showed the body of a man who appeared to be Sinwar half-buried in rubble with a gaping wound in his head

Sinwar's killing, in what appeared to be a chance frontline encounter with Israeli troops, offers a potential window to shift the dynamic in the Gaza war — even as Israel presses its offensive against its northern border with Lebanon

Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas politically in Gaza and killing Sinwar — the chief architect of Hamas's 7 October 2023 terror attack on Israel — was a top priority

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi echoed the statement on X writing
A spokesperson for the Houthis wrote on X

Martyr or coward? Israel and Hamas offer competing narrative on Sinwar’s death
CNN World by Ivana Kottasová 20 October 2024
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Abeer Salman and Dana Karni contributed to this report

• Yahya Sinwar -- Martyr or coward?

IDF releasing photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death backfired
Israel slippin' It's not a smart move

Extracts:
It depends on who is watching,
1. The video depicts a desperate, abandoned man trying to attack a sophisticated military drone with a wooden stick or
2. perhaps it shows a defiant hero who is staring the enemy in the eye while fighting till the bitter end

When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the killing of Yahya Sinwar last week, they released several photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death

It was meant to be proof that the man they said was one of the main architects of the October 7, 2023 terror attack was indeed dead and a warning to Israel’s enemies that no matter where they hide, the IDF will eventually get them

• But the decision to release the footage appears to have backfired at least in part, as it has since been used to celebrate Sinwar for dying as a martyr and a resistance fighter
• Now, Israel is in damage control mode, releasing older photos and videos of Sinwar hiding in tunnels with stashes of money in an attempt to portray the Hamas leader as a selfish man who only ever cared for himself

Gershon Baskin, a Middle East expert, peace activist and a former Israeli hostage negotiator who used to speak to Hamas through backchannels, said,
As a negotiator for Israel, Baskin mediated the 2011 prisoner swap that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier who had been held in Gaza for five years Yahya Sinwar was among the Palestinian prisoners released in that deal

Baskin told CNN
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under criticism from all sides over the way the war in Gaza is going
1. Domestically, it is facing huge anger over its inability to bring back the 101 hostages still held in Gaza
2. Internationally, it is under pressure over the mounting Palestinian death toll and horrific humanitarian situation in the strip.

Baskin said, referring to the famous 12th-century Muslim warrior who defeated a much bigger Crusader army and conquered Jerusalem

Hamas was quick to seize the narrative and declare Sinwar a martyr who fought and died for the cause but even Palestinians who have opposed Sinwar and Hamas in the past said the photos and video show defiance and bravery

Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician and president of the Palestinian National Initiative, told CNN
Barghouti added,

Martyr or coward? Israel and Hamas offer competing narrative on Sinwar’s death
CNN World by Ivana Kottasová 20 October 2024
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Abeer Salman and Dana Karni contributed to this report

• Yahya Sinwar -- Martyr or coward?

IDF releasing photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death backfired
Israel slippin' It's not a smart move

Extracts:
The video also raises questions about the way Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed

The IDF, Israel’s security services and its intelligence agency Shin Bet had been searching for Sinwar for over a year, getting help from the CIA Yet in the end, it was only by pure chance that a group of soldiers stumbled upon Sinwar and killed him

At first, they didn’t even know who it was they had killed – the video shows Sinwar wearing a face covering and military clothes
It was only a day later when Israeli soldiers returned to the building to examine the scene that they realized it was Sinwar

Gil Siegal, a legal scholar and head of the Center for Medical Law, Bioethics and Health Policy at the Ono Academic College in Israel, said,
Siegal added, “Now let’s interpret this fact"
1. One would say: ‘oh, you see this person is fighting to his last gasp’
2. The second would say: ‘you see, this is the Stone Age fighting the age of startups and technology’
3. And the third will say: ‘you see, even at the last moment, this person remains violent and determined to cause damage’
4. and so on”

Siegal said there were likely several reasons why the IDF released the materials publicly, including a desire to show that Sinwar was in fact dead. It’s proof
1. For example, people said that (Hamas’ military chief) Mohammed Deif is still alive
2. There were days of refutation following (the death of the Hezbollah leader) Hassan Nasrallah

To counter the portrayal of Sinwar as a brave martyr, the IDF has since released several videos and photos of him hiding in the tunnels underneath Gaza with his family, accompanied by claims about him living a comfortable life and prioritizing himself over his people

The IDF said the footage had been captured by a Hamas security camera on October 6 and October 10 last year and obtained by the IDF in recent days

Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson, posted on XPosting a photo of Sinwar’s wife carrying a bag, Adraee suggested,
Shira Efron, senior director of policy research at the Israel Policy Forum, said the release of photos and videos from the tunnels was likely an attempt at “course correction on the part of Israel”

Efron added,Efron adding that the videos posted subsequently by the IDF are an attempt to reinforce their preferred narrative

It is a known fact backed by Western intelligence agencies that Hamas has built a vast network of underground tunnels in Gaza, using them to store weapons, to move around undetected and to shelter

The IDF said repeatedly that it believed Sinwar was moving around the tunnel network accompanied by hostages and said his DNA was found in a tunnel near where the bodies of six hostages who were killed by Hamas in late August were found

• Hamas has already issued a statement rebutting the Israeli version of events, accusing the IDF of “blatant lies” and “a failed theatrical performance” in its portrayal of the last year of Sinwar’s life
• The group said Sinwar was killed while “engaging in the battlefield” after having spent the past year “moving across various combat fronts in the Gaza Strip” adding that “Commander Sinwar and his brothers” had humiliated the Israeli army

Siegal said that there was likely another reason for the IDF releasing the video showing Sinwar all alone at the end

Why Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ will win him martyr status in Gaza and beyond
The Guardian by Julian Borger 20 October 2024

• Yahya Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’

Extracts:
Why Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ will win him martyr status in Gaza and beyond
Intrigue surrounds the Hamas leader’s defiant final moments but an exalted afterlife as Palestine’s champion now seems certain

The discrepancy in the official Israeli account of Yahya Sinwar’s final moments has emerged since his death which appears likely to add fuel to the martyr’s cult fast developing around the Hamas leader

The Israeli autopsy carried out on Sinwar concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to his head, at odds with the initial Israel Defense Forces (IDF) version which implied he was killed by a tank shell fired into the wrecked building where he made his last stand

The IDF released footage of a tank firing at the building in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan refugee camp and the military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said: “We identified him as a terrorist inside a building, fired at the building and then went in to search”

However, according to Chen Kugel, the director of Israel’s national forensic institute, who carried out the autopsy, the cause of death was a bullet wound to the head

In an interview with the New York Times, Kugel did not speculate on who fired the fatal shot,
1. whether it was during a skirmish with Israeli soldiers before the tank round was fired or
2. after he was found in the rubble of the building or
3. by Sinwar himself so as not to be taken alive

Sinwar had a pistol with him, which some Israeli reports said had previously belonged to an IDF military intelligence officer, Mahmoud Hir a-Din, a Druze from the Galilee region who was killed during a secret mission in Gaza in 2018

The intrigue surrounding Sinwar’s death has fuelled a martyr’s cult that spread explosively across social media from the moment the Hamas leader was confirmed dead

• Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin 2004 killing

When the long-serving Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated by missiles fired by an IDF helicopter gunship in 2004 he was being pushed along in a wheelchair after prayers in a Gaza mosque

There was little of his body left to photograph but imagined pictures of the fatal missile strike became part of the iconography which almost instantly appeared on walls across the occupied territories, along with images of the white-bearded leader ascending to heaven

Pictures of Yassin are still common in Gaza and the West Bank, often showing him in the company of more recent martyrs

Why Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ will win him martyr status in Gaza and beyond
The Guardian by Julian Borger 20 October 2024

• Yahya Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ and legacy

Extracts:

• Argentinian doctor Che Guevara

some Palestinians may compare -- Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ -- to the final image of Che Guevara, the Argentinian doctor who fought in Cuba’s revolution but who ultimately died at the hands of the Bolivian military in 1967 and became an icon for his cause

After Guevara was shot, his body was laid out on a table to be photographed, his open eyes staring vacantly at the camera

Sinwar’s successors in the Hamas leadership celebrated the fact that he died in combat, in the words of his deputy, Khalil al-Hayya:Sinwar left a war-ravaged fighter’s corpse behind

• Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish

An excerpt from a notable poem by the Palestinians’ most celebrated poet, Mahmoud Darwish, is circulating on the internet along with the claim that it foretold Sinwar’s end

The lines from "Praise for the High Shadow" say:
Darwish wrote the poem at another low point for the Palestinian cause, in a boat taking him and other activists and militants from Beirut to Tunisia after Israel’s devastating war in Lebanon in 1982 aimed at destroying the Palestinian Liberation Organisation

Darwish’s poetry recalls the horror of the shelling of Beirut and the massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese Shia Muslims at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon at that time

The themes of mass death in the face of international indifference and inaction, combined with the longing for someone to strike back, resonate with Palestinians today after Gaza’s destruction

• Yahya Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ and legacy

Sinwar’s warrior’s death seems certain to guarantee him the top place in the Palestinian pantheon obscuring the fact that before 7 October 2023 last year as a brutal enforcer of Hamas loyalty, Sinwar killed far more Palestinians than Israelis, killing suspected informants in the most gruesome manner

Last year’s murderous attack on Israeli civilians in southern Israel left Gaza open to ferocious Israeli reprisals and Palestinian civilians exposed, starving and vulnerable while Sinwar’s fighters hunkered in tunnels well stocked long before with food, water and medication

To further help shape his desired narrative, the Hamas leader left behind a text, in the form of a 2004 autobiographical novel "The Thorn and the Carnation" written in Israeli prison and smuggled out in sections

Sinwar’s alter ego in the book, Ibrahim, is a zealot committed to the cause who expects Palestinians to be,
1. That is what Sinwar thought he was doing with the 7 October attack and what he clearly hoped would be his legacy
2. The myth surrounding Sinwar which he cultivated assiduously while still alive and
3. seems certain to live on through thousands of posters and street murals

Sinwar's legacy has also been to, but it is far from clear yet whether the change favours the Palestinians

The Washington Post October 20, 2024
President Joe Biden, in a statement Thursday hailing Sinwar’s death, compared the moment in Israel “to the scenes witnessed throughout the United States after President Obama ordered the raid to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011”

But there were notable differences, too:
After American commandos took out the leader of al-Qaeda in Pakistan, the United States did not publicly release photographs of his body which was quickly buried at sea following DNA identification

Footage of the raid itself was also held back to prevent it from being used as a propaganda tool

Israel might have been better served by taking the same kind of restrained approach with the Sinwar materials, according to Michael Milshtein, a former head of Palestinian civilian affairs for the Israeli military

“Maybe an announcement is enough, or a single, more generic photo” he said “It was not really necessary to provide all the details” which have “contributed to the myth of Sinwar”

But keeping those details under wraps may no longer be possible when all soldiers carry smartphones
Some of the first unconfirmed images of Sinwar were posted by IDF troops in the area, bypassing any strategic messaging

“There are pros and cons to it but in the year 2024 it is very hard for visuals not to get out”

“It was not really necessary to provide all the details” which have “contributed to the myth of Sinwar” misguided

I too reckon, Israel has lost the propaganda war -- not winning the military war either
Israel slippin' It's not a smart move They have handed an image of victory, on a platter, to Hamas

From: The Washington Post October 20, 2024
Propaganda war: Israel, Hamas battle over final images of Yahya Sinwar

Israel is trying to portray images of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar’s final moments as those of a fugitive
His supporters have seized on the same visuals to glorify him as a fighter.

The Israeli military’s year-long pursuit of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar finally ended Wednesday in a battle that took his life
Now comes the battle to define his death.

Israel and its allies are racing to portray Sinwar’s demise in the Gaza Strip as that of a fugitive — hunted, flushed from his underground hideout and gunned down on the run

The military released graphic photos of his corpse and drone footage of his final moments, showing a wounded figure slumped in a chair, alone and bleeding A “coward’s end” “a rat out of his hole” and “a worm” were some of the phrases used by Israeli commentators

Sinwar’s supporters have seized on aspects of the same images — the dirty combat fatigues, a Palestinian kaffiyeh wrapped around his face — to glorify him as a warrior who went down fighting

The video, they say, shows not defeat but defiance, a mortally wounded fighter who finds the strength to hurl, however futilely, a piece of wood, at the drone with his one good arm

In much of the Arab world at least, Israel is losing the propaganda war, according to experts in the region

Within hours, the images released by the Israel Defense Forces were put on posters and plastered on walls in Jenin and other militant strongholds in the West Bank Users on Arab social media turned them into memes to celebrate what they viewed as a heroic end

Iran’s mission to the United Nations released a statement contrasting Sinwar’s final actions with those of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, whom it described as betraying his supporters by having “begged” for his life when pulled out of a hole by American forces in 2003

IDF releasing photos and a video showing the Hamas leader during his last moments alive and after his death backfired

The image of Sinwar “standing on the battlefield — in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy” would only strengthen his following, the Iranians predicted

Beverley Milton-Edwards, a senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs said, "They’re probably right" and sees the episode as a win for Hamas “in the battle of narratives”

An IDF official stood by the decision to release the images, telling The Washington Post that the military felt an obligation to document the scene and share it with the Israeli public

“We’re being transparent; this is what happened” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, to discuss internal deliberations“We know that no matter what visuals come out, there is going to be a campaign by Hamas to make him a hero”

Almost immediately after DNA and fingerprint testing confirmed Sinwar’s identity, the IDF began describing the circumstances leading to his death

Israeli troops operating around Rafah on Wednesday had, by chance, come across three Hamas fighters, with one trailing the others

A firefight erupted, they said. The man in the rear, now believed to be Sinwar, was wounded, although IDF officials have said “there is no evidence” that he participated in the shooting

The injured figure fled alone into a nearby house. The surveillance drone was flown in and recorded him in the bloody armchair, head covered and face concealed. Tank rounds were fired into the room and the next morning, troops entered to find Sinwar’s body

Milton-Edwards, co-author of “Hamas,” a history of the group noted, that account, along with the photos and footage released afterward was at odds with Israel’s frequent descriptions,
1. of him hiding underground
2. shielding himself with Israeli captives
3. he wasn’t in a tunnel
4. didn’t have cowering and emaciated Israeli hostages tied to him
5. there were no Palestinian human shields

“Those images of Sinwar have already entered the pantheon of Hamas and other militant groups,” she said, and will likely lead to “more support, more recruits and more impetus for the resistance”

Now, Israel is in damage control mode, releasing older photos and videos of Sinwar hiding in tunnels with stashes of money in an attempt to portray the Hamas leader as a selfish man who only ever cared for himself

That Sinwar died not in a carefully coordinated raid but in a chance encounter on a routine patrol, the IDF official said, was a testament to Israel’s military strategy, tightening the vise on Hamas’s last redoubts in the south and allowing soldiers to capitalize on his “mistake” when he emerged from the tunnels

The circumstances of his death don’t change the fact that Sinwar spent “95 percent” of the past year underground, the official said
“Obviously, this didn’t reflect the true nature of his behavior throughout the war” the official said

On Sunday, to help drive home that point, the IDF released footage of Sinwar entering a tunnel with his family a day before the October 7 attacks last year

But that is not the image many Palestinians are likely to remember

In Ramallah, the West Bank city controlled by Fatah, Hamas’s main political rival, Faisal Sayid, 60 was watching the news at a cafe the morning after Sinwar’s death was announced

Sinwar was “not hiding as a coward as the Israelis were saying” he said, “Sinwar was at the top of his game and fighting” and his final fight would “go down in history”

The main audience Israeli officials were thinking of when they released the materials was the Israeli public, according to a person close to Israel’s senior security leadership, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter

Sinwar was Israel’s No. 1 enemy and officials felt it was important to provide immediate and undeniable, proof of his death

Inside Israel, the images of Sinwar were greeted with an outpouring of joy and relief — on the streets and on social media
Some Israelis posted videos of themselves dancing with printouts showing the dead Hamas leader

Even Israelis who demanded for months that the government reach a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Sinwar, including the families of hostages, expressed satisfaction that the IDF finally brought down the architect of the October 7, 2023 attacks

Israel confirms killing of presumed next leader of Hezbollah
IDF says strikes in Dahiyeh in early October killed Hashem Safieddine, as well as the head of the militant group’s intelligence branch

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ing-of-presumed-next-leader-of-hezbollah

Sinwar’s killing brings end of Gaza war within reach – if Israel can seize the chance
CNN world Analysis by Ivana Kottasová 18 October 2024

Extracts:

• The man dubbed by Israel a “dead man walking” is dead

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s killing in Gaza is a major win for Israel following a year-long manhunt for the man believed to be the mastermind of the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history

And it could bring the devastating war in Gaza closer to an end, experts say – if Israel and its allies can seize the opportunity

Harel Chorev, senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, told CNNBut that changed over the past year

A year of pounding by Israel which has left swathes of Gaza flattened and killed more than 42,000 people, has left Hamas greatly weakened

Sinwar’s killing will create a major power vacuum – which Israel and its allies will no doubt aim to capitalize on
It is unclear whether Sinwar left any instructions on what should happen in the event of his death

Several names have been floated as possible successors, including
1. Sinwar’s brother Mohammed, who is seen as another hardliner
2. and Khalil Al Hayya, chief negotiator for Hamas during ceasefire talks in Cairo

Neither has Sinwar’s public profile in Gaza

Sinwar’s killing brings end of Gaza war within reach – if Israel can seize the chance
CNN world Analysis by Ivana Kottasová 18 October 2024

Extracts:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ‘political calculations’

Netanyahu has insisted his goal is to eliminate Hamas completely, even though many experts have warned this may not be achievable

1. Hamas might be greatly weakened but it is still capable of firing rockets toward Israel
2. Meanwhile, the Israeli military recently re-entered northern Gaza, saying Hamas was reemerging in the area

Shira Efron, a senior director of policy research at the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation said,
Netanyahu has not yet outlined his government’s next steps And while Netanyahu did call Sinwar’s killing, the
Sinwar’s killing could also pave the way for a hostage and ceasefire agreement since Sinwar was believed to be one of the main blockers of a deal

Harel Chorev, senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, told CNN
Uzi Rabi, also from Tel Aviv University said,
Speaking shortly after the announcement of Sinwar’s death on Thursday, Netanyahu appealed to the remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza

Sinwar’s killing brings end of Gaza war within reach – if Israel can seize the chance
CNN world Analysis by Ivana Kottasová 18 October 2024

Extracts:

• What happens next will largely depend on Netanyahu

The long-time Israeli prime minister has been trying to juggle the demands of his far-right coalition partners with pressures from the United States and Israel’s other allies to strike a ceasefire deal and minimize the devastating cost of the war on civilians in Gaza

At the same time, Netanyahu is facing several criminal investigations and large-scale protests calling for his resignation at home

In addition, many of Israel’s allies have criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war, with US President Joe Biden having long voiced concerns that Netanyahu may be dragging out the war in Gaza in an attempt to cling to power, something the Israeli leader has denied

While still hugely unpopular among a large portion of Israeli society, Netanyahu has staged a remarkable turnaround over the past year, clawing back some of the support he had lost over the years

Netanyahu has in the past insisted on Israel maintaining some military presence in Gaza after the immediate conflict is over
And some of his coalition partners have gone as far as suggesting Israel should build Jewish settlements inside Gaza

Uzi Rabi, from Tel Aviv University, believes some level of Israeli military presence would be needed to prevent Hamas from rebuilding itself in the strip – something Israel’s allies have warned the government against
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has previously criticized Netanyahu’s plan to keep Israeli military rule in Gaza, warning it would come with a heavy price

Shira Efron, a senior director of policy research at the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation said,
Efron said, referring to pressure Netanyahu faced from Israel’s allies before the military launched its invasion into Gaza’s southernmost city as some 1.2 million people sheltered there
Harel Chorev, senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University said,

From: The Times of Israel October 23, 2024

Sinwar and Nasrallah are gone, but their weakened terror groups are still dangerous and Iran’s regime is untouched.
The IDF, Netanyahu government and US are working, sometimes in harmony, to change that

It was the elimination that Israel had desperately sought for a full year — arguably the ostensible victory picture:
Yahya Sinwar, the primary figure in the most cataclysmic attack in the history of sovereign Israel, finally forced out of his tunnels into the open and killed by the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, his last moments and lifeless corpse there for all to see in the rubble to which he has reduced Gaza.

And the killing of Sinwar in Rafah last Wednesday was indeed an essential component in Israel’s necessary victory over Hamas — practically, in terms of his centrality to that terrorist-army-government bent on Israel’s destruction, and psychologically, in terms of Israel’s long climb out of the abyss into which Sinwar plunged Israel on October 7, 2023.

But his demise, as has been underlined every moment since it was confirmed,
1. does not mark an absolute victory,
2. does not complete a lasting, stable revival of Israeli security
3. and has not ended the war —
4. not in Gaza, where the remains of Hamas continue to try to leverage the hostages to force an IDF withdrawal
5. and not on any of the other fronts from which Israel is being attacked.

In Gaza, the war has metastasized from conflict between organized military forces on an urban battlefield, above and below ground, where Hamas wrongly believed its home advantage, years of planning, and absolute indifference to the deaths of Gaza’s civilians would defeat the IDF and enable its survival.

Now, Hamas is engaged in guerrilla-style warfare, hurting the IDF wherever it can, and maintaining much of its authority in the lower two-thirds of the Strip.

Yahya Sinwar’s ‘warrior death’ and legacy

the elimination of Sinwar, that Israel had desperately sought for a full year — arguably the ostensible victory picture:
for whom?

From: Al Jazeera October 23, 2024
Hezbollah says it fired “precision missiles” and launched new types of attack drones for the first time at Israel as the Lebanese group targeted Tel Aviv with a rocket barrage as battles intensify in southern Lebanon

Hamas says casualties inflicted in heavy fighting with Israeli troops near northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

From: Reuters October 24, 2024
Hezbollah says in statement it has killed 70 Israeli soldiers

Hezbollah’s operations room said on Wednesday its fighters had killed more than 70 Israeli troops in its clashes with Israeli forces, updating from a statement last week saying 55 were killed.

It did not say in what time frame they were killed.

Israel has said it has lost around 20 soldiers inside Lebanon since its ground operations began, and around 30 more in Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel.

50, 70 worrying death toll of Israeli soldiers

Hezbollah: The soldiers are paid to fight -- the rebels aren't.
Hamas: What does that tell you?
Hezbollah: We can win.

The Wall Street Journal October 24, 2024
How Hezbollah Is Hitting Back After Being Pummeled by Israel

The Lebanese militant group is weakened but resilient. Its escalating responses show the danger of an extended conflict.

After suffering a series of punishing blows by Israel, Hezbollah is fighting back, launching ambushes on Israeli troops in Lebanon and ratcheting up drone and missile strikes deeper into Israel.

Live update: IDF says jets hit Hezbollah arms factories in overnight Beirut strikes

https://x.com/TOIAlerts/status/1849359566171206041

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-p...torah-eve-rocket-fire-at-central-israel/

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFoot...angle_of_tonights_beirut_airstrike_with/

IDF says it killed Hamas man who led massacre at Re’im shelter — an UNRWA worker

16 were murdered at concrete shelter and 4 kidnapped, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Hamas claims hundreds killed in IDF’s new north Gaza offensive, as army says over 200 arrested

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-s...assacre-at-reim-shelter-an-unrwa-worker/

This October 22-24, 2024 BRICS summit marked the first gathering after the expansion of the group to include new members:
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, alongside the 2009 original five members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa

BRICS waiting list:
Putin said more than 30 countries had expressed a desire to join the BRICS, though there was little immediate clarity on how the expansion would work.

From: Associated Press October 25, 2024

The Russian president Putin closed a summit of BRICS bloc of developing economies on Thursday praising its role as a counterbalance of what he is called the West's 'perverse methods'

The three day summit in the city of Kazan was attended by leaders or representatives of 36 countries, highlighting the failure of the United States-led efforts to isolate Russia over it's actions in Ukraine

The conflict came up repeatedly at the meeting which saw the first visit by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in more than two years and drew an angry reaction from Kyiv, called for “a just peace” in Ukraine, in line with the U.N Charter, International law and General Assembly resolutions

He also urged an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan

People in hypocritical glass houses --
What is “a just peace”? It was Russia that invaded Ukraine

Today 17 March 2023 Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

Yet the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres travelled to Russia for the BRICS meeting with ICC war criminal Putin -- ICC trying individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression

However when it comes to Israel...
1. ?United? antisemitism Nations
2. Brazil had withdrawn their ambassador to Israel after months of tensions between the two countries over Israel’s war on Gaza
3. South Africa's ICC complaint against Israel alleging the Gaza assault amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention.
4. and Brazil supported South Africa’s ICC complaint against Israel

Yet both Brazil and South Africa are Russia's BRICS buddies -- Go figure!
and as for the UN...

From: Reuters October 25, 2024

For Putin, the simple fact that so many leaders travelled to Russia for the talks was useful in countering the narrative that his country faces isolation from the global economy.

"They (Western capitals) are not getting the importance of this thing," said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a senior fellow at the Bruegel economic think tank. "It's all signalling that the West is losing power."

The final communique was long on words and short on detail about creating new payment and trade mechanisms which could by-pass Western-dominated structures - including, notably in Russia's case, sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.

But the summit scored a series of diplomatic wins:
1. the presence of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
2. and of Tayyip Erdogan, president of NATO member Turkey, which has expressed interest in joining the BRICS group
3. India and China chose the summit to profile new efforts to nurture ties.

"See how many people are scrambling to apply to join the BRICS," Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British businessman who runs a foundation that tracks governance in Africa, told Reuters. Putin has said that more than 30 countries have applied.

"People see institutions which are not really representative or democratic - infrastructure established in 1945 or so after the world war, and nothing changes," added Ibrahim.

From: The Guardian October 24, 2024

Türkiye strikes in Syria and Iraq after attack on defence firm near Ankara
Airstrikes launched against suspected Kurdish militant targets after PKK blamed for Tusa? attack

Türkiye has launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq after blaming the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for a deadly attack on the headquarters of the Turkish national aerospace company on Wednesday that killed five people.

Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization said it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by the PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported.

There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.

The targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday that Turkish airstrikes killed 12 civilians in north-east Syria.

“Over the past hours … a new wave of [Turkish] attacks on northern and eastern Syria” killed 12 civilians, including two children, and wounded 25 others, a statement from the US-backed SDF said.

“In addition to populated areas, Turkish warplanes and UAVs [drones] targeted bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and [Kurdish] Internal Security Force checkpoints,” added the statement, which also reported Turkish shelling.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out strikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq, hours after Turkish government officials blamed the PKK for the deadly attack at the headquarters of the aerospace and defence company Tusa? near Ankara. More than 30 targets were destroyed in the aerial offensive, the Turkish defence ministry said.

People in hypocritical glass houses --
So Türkiye can do whatever... but when Israel does the same -- what is good for the goose Turkey not good for the gander Israel, according to ?United? antisemitism Nations

IDF latest casualties
Isn't THAAD operative yet

From: The Times of Israel October 26, 2024

The Israel Defense Forces said some 30 rockets were launched in the attack and 65 rockets were launched in total at northern Israel on Friday. IDF says it intercepted rockets aimed at Haifa area, drones over Galilee and Golan, amid fighting in Lebanon

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the adjacent city of Karmiel.

2 killed, 7 hurt as Hezbollah rocket hits minimarket in northern town of Majd al-Krum

Earlier on Friday, rocket salvo injures 6 soldiers in border community of Shomera in the Western Galilee, just south of the border with Lebanon. First responders said the victims were in moderate and good condition.

Additionally, a barrage of five rockets was launched from Lebanon at the Haifa area, according to the IDF
The military said some of the rockets were intercepted, while others struck open areas. There were no reports of injuries.

The IDF also said it downed a drone that crossed into the Western Galilee in the early evening, and another drone that crossed into the Golan Heights from Syria shortly before noon.

Five Israeli reserve soldiers were killed during fighting with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon on Thursday night and 19 others were wounded, some of them seriously, the IDF said on Friday

Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 31 civilians.
In addition 55 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation.

Three Soldiers Killed by Explosive Device in Jabalya, Northern Gaza

From: Al Jazeera October 26, 2024
At least 10 Israeli soldiers were killed in attacks in the past 24 hours with dozens more wounded

Charting a path to lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians
DipNote

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

October 25, 2024

Secretary Blinken sitting at a long table with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting across from him and other people on both sides of the table. (Official State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy)
During my recent trip to the Middle East, I met with several leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. (Official State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Since October 7th of 2023, Israel has achieved important strategic objectives in ensuring that October 7th can never happen again.

In the space of the year, Israel dismantled Hamas’s military capacity. It destroyed much of Hamas’s arsenal. It eliminated Hamas’s senior leadership, including, most recently, Yahya Sinwar. This has come at great cost to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Now there are really two things left to do: get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow.

During my travels to the Middle East this week, I joined intensive discussions about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, returning the hostages to their families, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people.

What follows in Gaza is critical, because we have to end the war in a way that keeps Hamas out and sets clear, concrete plans for Gaza’s governance, security, and reconstruction.

The United States, the largest provider of aid to displaced Palestinians, continues to make vital contributions. In Doha, I announced an additional $135 million in humanitarian assistance – water, sanitation, maternal health – for Palestinians in Gaza, in the West Bank, as well as in the region. Since October 7th of last year, our humanitarian assistance now totals more than $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, it’s absolutely essential that humanitarian assistance gets to the people who need it in Gaza.

Making Sure This Conflict Doesn’t Spread
It’s imperative for us to make sure this conflict doesn’t spread. We are resolute in our defense of Israel when it is attacked by Iran and Iran’s proxies. As President Biden has said, our support for Israel’s security is ironclad.

It’s also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation and do not risk spreading the conflict.

We’re working intensely to reach agreements on the effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. We’ll continue to support the Lebanese parties as they work to resolve the presidential vacancy and empower leadership that reflects the will of the Lebanese people. It’s critical that the parties – notably, Hizballah – be moved back from the border, and Lebanese Armed Forces assume their responsibilities. This helps people on both sides of the border peacefully and securely return to their homes.

This is what we’re driving toward: a peaceful diplomatic resolution.