Tag: Hizballah

Hizballah drones were the opening shot of a maritime energy war vs Israel

– July 7, 2022

The IDF’s revelation on Wednesday, July 6, of a fourth Hizballah drone that was intercepted heading for Israel’s Karish gas rig, confirmed an assessment that the Lebanese terrorist organization was bent on starting a war, initially over this offshore gas platform. This hitherto undisclosed drone was intercepted three days before the three that were shot down on July 2 by Barak missiles. This one was downed by advance electronic warfare measures after being identified at a distance from Israel’s maritime economic zone, while still over Lebanese waters. No reason for the disclosure of this fourth drone at this time was offered by the military.

DEBKAfile’s Mid-East sources have concluded that Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iran’s terrorist proxy Hizballah, has decided to go to war against Israel over its newest gas rig. In his words, “Lebanon’s oil and gas resources must be freed from Israeli control, just as the south was freed [in 2000] and Israel’s ‘security zone’ dismantled by force of arms.”

The drone tactic is the opening shot, say our sources, for three objectives:

  1. To scare the staff employed on Israel’s offshore gas and oil rigs in the eastern Mediterranean into fleeing for fear of their lives.
  2. Nasrallah included Greece’s maritime energy projects in his declaration of war.
  3. As a strong message that the management of gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean had passed from the Lebanese government to Hizballah control. The intention was to nullify the Lebanese prime minister’s condemnation of the drones as “unacceptable” and as jeopardizing ongoing US-brokered negotiations on the drawing of a maritime border between Lebanese and Israeli economic zones.

The interception of the three Hizballah unarmed UAVs was presented by the Israeli military as an important feat, although the Barak missiles were highly expensive compared with the cheap drones. However, Hizballah, did not care about recovering the drones but aimed at this stage for a psychological advantage. This was meant as a declaration that a new page had been opened in its contest against Israel over the oil and gas fields of the Mediterranean.

https://www.debka.com

High alert for Iranian/Hizballah terror in revenge for scientist’s death

Debkafiles – December 4, 2020

The warning of Iranian or proxy terrorism issued by Israel’s security officials was based on incoming intelligence that Tehran’s revenge for the death of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last month would likely come in the form of terrorist attacks. The Lebanese Hizballah, which maintains a clandestine global network, would be the foremost candidate proxy for this operation. The security advisory issued by the Coounterterror Authority in Jerusalem on Thursday, Dec. 3, specifically warned Israeli travelers that they risked being targeted on their trips to the UAE’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Bahrain, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey. semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and parts of Africa. They were told to be extra vigilant and avoid crowded places, unsecured locations and government centers.

Thousands of Israelis, enthusiastic globetrotters – even during the covid pandemic, are currently vacationing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Around a hundred flights to those destinations are scheduled for next week in the first eager flush of friendship generated by the epic UAE normalization pact with Israel.

They have now been made aware of the active Iranian and Hizballah networks lurking in nearby Qatar, and their penetration by these hostile elements of expatriate Lebanese and Shiite expatriate communities in East Africa. Government officials were instructed to postpone planned trips to the Gulf. Extra guards are posed at Israel’s overseas diplomatic missions and Jewish centers.

The threat may also hang over those staying at home. On Friday, security officials alerted former nuclear research and other senior staff of the Dimona nuclear research center in southern Israel to danger. They were advised to alter their regular habits. including walking routes, refrain from opening strange packages, and be on the lookout for unusual events. Since the Fakhrizadeh death, they were told that Iranian spies may be monitoring their’ activities online and on social media

Conscious of the terrorist threat from Iran and its proxies, the US State Department this week decided to pull dozens of staffers from its embassy in the fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, this being the aftermath of the Fakhrizadeh killing and the first anniversary date of the US drone attack that killed Qassem Soleimani. Tehran has vowed revenge for both these grave losses.

https://www.debka.com

IDF adds elite units to border buildup, braces for Hizballah strike in days

Debkafile – July 27, 2020

Israel’s northern border remained tense on Tuesday, July 28 as IDF forces prepared for another Hizballah attempt to strike a military target in the next day or two, after the first encounter with IDF troops on Mt Dov on Monday was a letdown. The next strike is expected on or around the Muslim Eid festival on Thursday. Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah declared again that the death of a fighter in an Israel strike in Syria last week was still to be avenged.

The IDF meanwhile further reinforced its border deployment along 150km from the coast to Mt. Hermon with advanced firepower, surveillance units and troops of a commando brigade, ready to ward off a Hizballah attempt to seize a military position. Hizballah units were sighted during the day near the Lebanese-Israel border fence and inside Shiite villages of the South. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister both toured the IDF northern command and warned the enemy that Israel was armed and ready for any scenario.

Hizballah prepared the way for another attack by denying that anything happened at Mt. Dov on Monday and that Israel had made a huge song and dance about a non-incident, although Hizballah fighters never fired a shot. The IDF claimed it had footage of the attack which proved otherwise.

The prime minister and defense minister warned Hizballah in joint statements Monday night, July 27 that it is “playing with fire.” Their statements came after the IDF thwarted a Hizballah intrusion and a Kornet attack on tanks at Israel’s Mt. Dov outposts. Hizballah later claimed that the incident did not happen and that its revenge for the killing of one of its fighters in Israel’s raid near Damascus last week was still to come. The IDF replied that the incident was documented.

“We take a grave view of this attempt to infiltrate our territory,” PM Binyamin Netanyahu said. “Hezbollah and the State of Lebanon are held responsible for this incident and for any further attacks originating from Lebanese territory against Israel. Hezbollah is playing with fire. Any attack against us will be answered with great force,” he said.

https://www.debka.com