Israel invades Lebanon

[Lalaloveya]

Israel begins ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon | AP News

I mean we all saw it coming but it's still shocking.

God help all the innocents whose lives will be ruined by this, or ended.

Bbc

A man and a woman have been killed in Kiryat Shmona, a border town in the north-east of Israel, according to Israel's emergency service, MDA.
Israel's military says 20 rockets were fired into the area.
Kiryat Shmona is Israel's northernmost town, which our correspondent visited last month.It's the other side of Israel from Haifa, where rockets were reportedly fired into earlier today.

X
"Brodsky is a Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, a think tank based in Washington DC, and a former Director of Policy at the Jewish Policy Center.

He is also currently working as an advisor to two Republicans running for the US Congress in Minnesota, Dalia al-Aqidi in and John Nagel.
Al-Aqidi has distanced herself from Brodsky’s comments, but Nagel is yet to comment."

We all answer to somebody.

Sorry I had seen him mentioned somewhere else which didn't say anything further then former Trump advisor.

No worries. Ive seen a few different references as to his job. His comment doesn't seem to have made the news in the US though

Simon Harris (Taoiseach)commented on it today before his meeting in the US with Joe Biden calling it " the most disgusting thing" and pretty despicable ".

From CNN news:
CNN teams in Beirut reported earlier that many Israeli strikes have hit without warning and that Israel sends evacuation orders by text in the middle of the night, when most people are asleep.

Perhaps the IDF only make their decisions to strike at the last moment, in the middle of the night, so cannot send an earlier evacuation order to sleeping Lebanese.…perhaps?

Haaretz

UN peacekeepers' HQ and nearby positions in southern Lebanon have been repeatedly hit amid recent escalation along the Blue Line, UNIFIL said, adding that two peacekeepers were injured by Israeli tank fire. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that firing on UNIFIL bases was "totally unacceptable" and clearly flouts international law.

The strikes right now in Lebanon!! Total carnage!

A worrying turn

The Russian arms dealer Viktor A. Bout is trying to broker a deal with Houthi militants in Yemen, according to Western officials.

The negotiations between Mr. Bout and the Iran-backed group have been in progress for some time, but no deal has been completed and no arms have been transferred, the officials said.

video from idf account where Daniel Hagari, idfs spokesman, says that every house in is a terror base

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/6mYWm28Ae6GXUymH/?mibextid=UalRPS

That is very worrying. Arms dealers will just see it as money while people end up in an endless cycle of troubles and death.

Oh, here we go again. Recycle that excuse to flatten southern Lebanon.

In this video clip Daniel Hagari was saying that all the cache of Hezbollah weapons were for Hezbollah’s planned, 7 Oct style raid on Israel called “Conquer the Galilee”.

When did we first start hearing about this planned Hezbollah raid? Does its discovery coincide too neatly with the present Israeli operations of invading Lebanon?

Before, we knew of the constant rockets fired on Northern Israel by Hezbollah that started Oct 7, meaning Israelis could not return home, and that Hezbollah said they would stop when there was a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel’s motive for going into Lebanon, and the assassinations, I had thought, was to stop Hezbollah rockets so Israelis could get home. No reports mentioned before that there was a planned Hezbollah Oct 7 style raid imminent so Israel was going in order to dismantle that.

Not that I disbelieve Hezbollah could plan such a raid.

Were there previous reports of a planned raid others heard about?

Everything in the house is damaged, covered in plaster/concrete dust & debris from being shelled except the military items. He picked up and waved around very clean and shiny green helmet, and gestures at pristine duffel bags and like new flak jackets that fell? on top of a blown in door? (How’s that happen?)
Even the boxes of grenades and sniper rifles in the ruined living room are pristine and remarkably sitting on top of pieces of debris blown in and ceiling chunks.

My DH is a crime scene investigator and he thinks Hagari’s videos are going to become classics. (Hagari is the same guy who told us a calendar in Al Shifa was a Hamas guard roster.)

The guy tries so hard, but he's let down by the continuity errors in the set design. It's basic stuff, really, no excuse at this point.

It's perfectly feasible and so it's quite reasonable to suppose that Hezbollah were in the stages of planning for a large scale terror attack.

It's perfectly feasible and also quite reasonable to suppose that The Israelis are putting about a false story to further justify their actions.

Until I get more evidence, I'm probably 50/50 on this.

What's also interesting is the shelling of a UNIFIL site.

The following is from Euronews.

"The UNIFIL headquarters and two Italian bases were struck "repeatedly" and "deliberately" by the Israeli army on Thursday morning."

Crosetto also specified that there were no injuries amongst the Italian peacekeepers, but that what happened in Lebanon was "totally unacceptable."
He went on to say that "There is no justification for saying that the Israeli armed forced had warned UNIFIL that some of the bases had to be left."

From that, I surmise the story is this.

1 - Israel asks for the bases to be vacated.
2 - Unifil Italians say "No, thank you"
3- Israel says "Go or we fire."
4 - Unifil Italians say "No"
5 - Israel fires a couple of warning shots to show they are being serious.
6 - ?

Anyone want to have a go at predicting 6, 7,and 8 ?

Indeed it's awful.

Haaretz:

ISRAEL-LEBANON: Lebanese caretaker PM Najib Mikati said that Hezbollah agrees to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which mandates the withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon. Mikati added that Lebanon will ask the UN Security Council for a resolution calling for a cease-fire with Israel, and that he has discussed efforts for a truce with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

It would be void if this could take effect. I am ignorant regarding general respect for Mikati - will this be listened to?

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/10/lebanon-israels-evacuation-warnings-for-civilians-misleading-and-inadequate/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/11/un-peacekeepers-in-lebanon-report-blasts-at-hq-for-second-day-running

Doesn't look proportionate to me

I imagine if you wish to defeat a terrorist organisation then you need to hit hard. They don't learn that if they attack Israel then Israel will hit them back hard.

Perhaps they could concentrate on improving the conditions in Lebanon rather than starting a war against another country. But then they do what the paymaster Iran tells them to do, like good little terrorist proxies.

Honestly I can't believe what I am reading: napalm the Irish peacekeepers, inadequate warnings for civilians etc It is unreal to add to that we have already witnessed.

The other thing that stands out are the Israeli surveillance drones. The various newscasters mention them at bomb sites and I heard someone say don't strike them you 'll become a target. ( I know they are in Gaza too just being made more aware by the Lebanon reporting)
Imagine being a totally innocent civilian - your house and belongings blown to bits by some Israeli who is safe high in the sky. Then whilst you might be rescuing or retrieving body parts of your loved ones, some spotty Israeli tech nerd is watching you.
It's sick and I don't think drone operators will be remembered as "soldiers". They must have a special kind of mentality.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/13/lebanon-hunger-starvation-malnutrition-israel-attacks

Yes it expect Israel will use starvation as a tactic like they are in Gaza. A war crime obviously but hey ho international law doesn't seem to apply to Israel.