Lest we forget Israel, Gaza Lebanon and the rest of the middle east

Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon are like the former beauty queen nobody pays attention too anymore

Have read enough of the beginning of WWIII scenarios and they almost always include Israel and the middle east, even if it pops off initially elsewhere. Sooner or later the region has to get involved.

it's been 17 years since Israel received such a barrage from Lebanon. Is it just the normal back and forth or is it or does this give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deflection, distraction, and a temporary reprieve as nothing unites Israel like a barrage of incoming missiles?

It's okay Israel the American MIC has your back...see below

www.bbc.com...

By Lucy Williamson & David Gritten
BBC News, in Jerusalem and London

Neither side is seen as wanting another war now.

For Israel, there is the added risk of pulling in Hezbollah's Iranian backers.

Israel's response this time is seen as wanting to avoid re-igniting that conflict - targeting sites linked to Hamas, rather than punishing Hezbollah for hosting them in southern Lebanon.

But the path to conflict is often paved with mistake and miscalculation; if rocket fire killed civilians inside Israel, the response would almost certainly be different.

Meanwhile, the tit-for-tat exchanges with Palestinian militants in Gaza continue.

The next couple of weeks are especially risky, as the Jewish Passover holiday and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan overlap, adding sensitivity to any incidents around the holy sites in Jerusalem.

www.bbc.com...

By Lucy Williamson & David Gritten
BBC News, in Jerusalem and London
The Israeli military has carried out air strikes on targets belonging to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

The military said the attacks were a response to a barrage of 34 rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Thursday, which it blamed on Hamas.

Militants in Gaza fired dozens more rockets after the strikes began.

Tensions are high following two nights of Israeli police raids at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem earlier this week.

The raids triggered violent confrontations with Palestinians inside the mosque, which is Islam's third holiest site, and caused anger across the region.

Hamas did not say that it fired the rockets from Lebanon, which was the biggest such barrage in 17 years.

But its leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting Beirut at the time, said Palestinians would not "sit with their arms crossed" in the face of Israeli aggression.

Hours after the Israeli strikes, two Israeli sisters were killed and their mother was seriously injured in a shooting attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said.

Overnight, there were two or three explosions around the Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp, 5km (3 miles) south of the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre.

Lebanese media also reported strikes on the outskirts of the village of al-Qulaila, another 4km further south. Photographs appeared to show that a small bridge was destroyed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tweeted that its warplanes struck "terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas" in Lebanon.

"The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and hold the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory," it warned.

Hamas said it strongly condemned "the blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon in the vicinity of Tyre at dawn today [Friday]".

www.strategypage.com...

April 3, 2023: Israel is buying 25 American F-15IA fighter bombers in addition to four KC-47 aerial tankers. Israel already has 25 F-15I fighter bombers it purchased in the late 1990s. Both the I and IA were customized versions of the original American F-15E and the new F-15EX version. The customization often includes the addition of Israeli electronics. This is apparently the case with the F-15IA. With the purchase of the KC-46 tankers, the F-15IAs could reach targets in Iran but would still have to deal with upgraded Iranian air defense systems.

The F-15Is are getting old and will be near their retirement date in the 2030s. Israel was hoping for a new version but, until recently, the Americans were saying there would not be one. That changed in 2018 and by 2020 the U.S. Air Force placed its first order for an upgraded F-15 to replace elderly F-15Cs and Es that were either approaching retirement, or have to be flown a lot less to delay that.

The initial Israeli order was for eight F-15EXs. Ultimately the air force wants to buy as many as 400 F-15EXs to replace retiring F-15Cs and Es. The entire program is supposed to cost no more than $23 billion and deliver new F-15EX aircraft at a cost of about $88 million each. The F-15 entered service in the 1970s and the last one was built in 1989. The two-seat F-15E fighter-bomber entered service in 1989 and only 525 were built, though export production continues at a low rate. This included new models of the F-15E developed and built for export customers. These included Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar and Israel. All have entered service except the Qatari and Israeli models. The Qatari F-15QA didn’t make its first flight until early 2020. The F-15EX is based on that QA model because it includes most of the new features required for an F-15E replacement. Because of that the first two F-15EXs are already being built. Israel decided to buy the F-15IA, in part because its F-35s cannot carry as many weapons and is more expensive. The F-15QA/IA is the latest model F-15E that actually exists. Qatar is buying 36 but the 25 Israeli F-15IAs are being further modified by the Israelis.

The Palestinians (self-proclaimed) are just cannon fodder for Iran, nothing more nothing less. If the Muslim world of the middle east wanted to fix it, they could, but they don't and are just happy with the current situation. It is interesting that Egypt once owned Gaza and did nothing but walled it off from Egypt. When you look at the West Bank, one foot to the East is a very large country called Jordan, but not one inch of that country is considered Palestine even though Jordan and Egypt were created at the same time, so it is all about the Jews stealing land and nothing to do with the other countries with the same damn land...lol geez

Hope I am wrong here,but it would not surprise me if Iran have told Hamas to keep Isreal busy and distracted,as the mullahs put the finishing touches on their first nuclear warheads-reports were saying they were "2 weeks away" more than 2 weeks ago.
We could soon see a nuclear Iran,which will change things for the worse IMO.

Also I just read some sick terrorists have killed two young sisters and injured their mother in a shooting in the West Bank.
The women were originally from the UK.
www.msn.com...

a reply to: putnam6

Lest we forget Israel, Gaza Lebanon and the rest of the middle east

Well according to DNA tests , I am part Ashkenazi Jewish, North African,
and even a little bit Nigerian. So I guess I'm from the old neiborhood.
Alas, with a majority of Northern European genetics, I am now a
blond haired, blue eyed white dude.

And I would like to say to my ancestors from the "old neiborhood",:
Thank You! Thank You for just walking away!

Brushed off that "dirt on my sandals" long long ago.

And inherited the "just walk away" genes too!

I'm not the slightest bit interested in that part of the world.

But as you say, "Lest we forget"........
And so I now share with you a dream that I had a few weeks ago.
I do not say it is predictive .

The dream starts with me standing in a somewhat dessert scene.
There are no trees. As I look to my left I notice a man gazing
into the sky.

I get the feeling that the man is Middle Eastern ,though
he is wearing western style clothing.
I follow his gaze and see the orange contrail of a missile.
As the missle passes over us we turn to the right and
continue to watch .The missile makes a slight turn
to the left and disappears over the horizon.

Then there is a brilliant flash of white light which
spreads out horizontally . There is no mushroom cloud.
I can see the atmosphere begin a shimmering expansion
due to the shock/thermal waves.
And that is the end of my dream.

I'm no expert and haven't seen any videos, but seems to me that the
dream showed some kind of air burst of a nuclear weapon?

originally posted by: Xtrozero
The Palestinians (self-proclaimed) are just cannon fodder for Iran, nothing more nothing less. If the Muslim world of the middle east wanted to fix it, they could, but they don't and are just happy with the current situation. It is interesting that Egypt once owned Gaza and did nothing but walled it off from Egypt. When you look at the West Bank, one foot to the East is a very large country called Jordan, but not one inch of that country is considered Palestine even though Jordan and Egypt were created at the same time, so it is all about the Jews stealing land and nothing to do with the other countries with the same damn land...lol geez

I understand your perspective.

Honestly, I don't choose sides, over the years have gleaned enough information from bosses, co-workers, and associates on all sides, as well as the history books, it's a convoluted mess.

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
Hope I am wrong here,but it would not surprise me if Iran have told Hamas to keep Isreal busy and distracted,as the mullahs put the finishing touches on their first nuclear warheads-reports were saying they were "2 weeks away" more than 2 weeks ago.
We could soon see a nuclear Iran,which will change things for the worse IMO.

Also I just read some sick terrorists have killed two young sisters and injured their mother in a shooting in the West Bank.
The women were originally from the UK.
www.msn.com...

Only if Iran wants to be burning cinder itself, FWIW they might just want that, as the modern world isn't gonna exactly adhere to any of its religious tenants the mullahs in Iran might consider this their own form of reset.

here's an interesting list of recent incidences from the Strategy Page it sounds as if it is heating up, because of Syria trying to normalize relations with the Arab League

www.strategypage.com...

April 6, 2023: In the west, across the border in southern Lebanon an Iran-backed Palestinian faction fired 30 unguided rockets into Israel. The Iron Dome defense system intercepted 15 of the rockets that were headed for populated areas while the others landed in uninhabited territory. Iran sponsors Hamas in Gaza and gas smuggles in rockets and rocket components. Iran control Hezbollah in Lebanon has recruited local Palestinians to form an anti-Israel group and use Iranian-made rockets provided by Hezbollah to attack Israel. Hezbollah does not want to do this itself because Israel would retaliate against the many Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon. Israel retaliated for this rocket barrage with artillery fire against Iranian or pro-Iranian group targets near the border. For years Iran has threatened to unleash massive simultaneous rocket barrages from Gaza and Lebanon but was dissuaded by Israeli retaliation, which would include ground invasion and enormous damage on Hamas and Hezbollah facilities. Worse, the Lebanese government would become more hostile to the Hezbollah presence in Lebanon and the many anti-Hamas Palestinians in Gaza threaten to do the same.

April 4, 2023: In central Syria (Homs province) an Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Qusayr airport, which is near the Lebanon border and used by Hezbollah.

April 3, 2023: In the northwest (Idlib province) an American UAV missile attack killed Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, a senior planner of ISIL attacks in Europe. Attacks like this are more frequent in the last two years because ISIL has few friends or supporters among less fanatic Islamic terrorists (like HTS), the Turks, Kurdish militias or Syrian forces. That means lots of people available to provide details of individual ISIL leaders locations and movements. Iraqi intelligence also provided information about the ISIL leaders movements.

April 2, 2023: In the south (the Israeli border) Israel shot down an UAV that crossed into Israeli air space. The UAV apparently came from Syria.

Elsewhere in the south (Damascus) a car bomb went off outside the city near a military airport. There were no injuries. Earlier in the day there was an Israeli airstrike in the west Syrian city of Homs. Five Syrian soldiers were wounded. This was the third Israeli airstrike in the south in the last three days. Most of these attacks are against Iranian or Iran-backed personnel and facilities.

In the northeast (Hasaka province) ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) gunmen ambushed an SDF patrol, killing one of the Kurdish SDF men and wounding three others. So far this year, there have been 44 ISIL attacks in eastern Syria that left 32 people dead and many more wounded. Some of the attacks consisted of roadside bombs.

April 1, 2023: In the north (Aleppo and Idlib provinces) fighting between Syrian troops and Islamic terror group HTS continues. Efforts to get HTS (the dominant Islamic terrorist coalition in the province) to cooperate with the Turks have failed. Turkey proposed that HTS work with Turkey-backed Syrian militias to keep the peace so Turkey could move more Syrian refugees back to Syria. Turkey offered HTS sanctuary in Turkish controlled areas and a few HTS members would be allowed into Turkey. Reaching an agreement with HTS on the details proved difficult, so the fighting continues between HTS and Syrians working for the Turks.


In central Syria (Homs province) an Israeli airstrike hit the T4 airbase., in retaliation for a recent Iranian UAV that tried to cross the border into Israel but was detected and destroyed. The targets at T4 were Iranian training areas and weapons warehouses. Five Syrian soldiers were killed and many more wounded. Air-to-surface missiles are used and some are intercepted by Syrian S-200 SAMs (Surface-to-Air missiles) that have less success against Israeli fighters that are equipped with countermeasures and pilots who know how to avoid the SAMs. The T4 airbase, near the ancient ruins of Palmyra, has been hit at least three times a year since 2018. T4 is the largest airbase in Syria and Iran has constantly built new structures for storing weapons and housing personnel, usually to replace buildings destroyed by the air strikes. T4 is where Iran moved its UAV operations in 2018 after its original UAV base in Syria was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Some of the Israeli attacks are against Hezbollah, a large Iran-backed Shia militia in southern Lebanon.

March 30, 2023: In the south (Damascus) Israeli airstrikes hit intelligence headquarters operated by Iran and Hezbollah

March 27, 2023: in the southwest (Rif Dimashq province) a bomb planted in the car of an army colonel went off near where he worked as a weapon development engineer. Israel was suspected.

March 23, 2023: In the northeast (Hasaka province) an Iran backed Iraqi group called the Al-Ghaliboun Brigade launched an attack on an American base, using an explosive carrying UAV. The attack killed an American contractor, wounded another and wounded five American soldiers. The Americans retaliated with air strikes on bases used by the IRGC and known anti-American groups in Syria. The Iraqi government has tried to shut down Iran-backed Iraqi militias but some still operate, especially along the Iraqi border.

March 20, 2023: It was twenty years ago today that the Saddam Hussein government, a longtime foe of Syria and Iran, was defeated and replaced by a democracy that could not initially deal with continuing resistance from the Sunni minority that Saddam belonged to. Iran expanded its influence in Iraq and supported attacks on Iraqi Sunni Arabs. The Sunnis were using Islamic terrorism to justify its continuing violence and in 2014 this led to the creation of ISIL in Syria by Iraqis, many who used to work for the Saddam government.

March 19, 2023: In the south (Damascus) a car bomb killed a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This group is based in Gaza but Syria has long provided sanctuary for such groups as long as they do no violence in Syria. The car-bomb was blamed on Israel, which has used similar tactics in the past.

a reply to: putnam6

The Lebanese missile attack is just unbelievable in its timing. One would guess that Netanyahu personally ordered the attack. Just when Israel looks to be on the edge of a civil war along comes the unifying attack by the terrorists. Not saying it's not Iran and also Russia pulling the strings to divert attention from eastern Europe but the timing after maybe 2006 or thereabouts being the last proper friction on the northern border makes one wonder if the MSM is telling it how it is.

Just seen the Tel Aviv terror attack. One dead. Following the two sisters killed in the West Bank earlier. Forget the conspiracy theory above, it's actually Intifada 3 in the making right now, posssibly it's taking out Iran nuke time too as the Israel Iran proxy war is getting a little heated right now

originally posted by: putnam6

I understand your perspective.

Honestly, I don't choose sides, over the years have gleaned enough information from bosses, co-workers, and associates on all sides, as well as the history books, it's a convoluted mess.

The bigger issue is there are some Muslim countries that would just love to wipe Isriel off the map down to the last Jew. They also would love to wipe the other muslin sects off the map too if they could, so it is a general concept for many there.

a reply to: putnam6

This whole region in the middle east is now more tense than Eastern Europe.
A small spark could start a regional conflict.

originally posted by: ufoorbhunter
a reply to: putnam6

The Lebanese missile attack is just unbelievable in its timing. One would guess that Netanyahu personally ordered the attack. Just when Israel looks to be on the edge of a civil war along comes the unifying attack by the terrorists. Not saying it's not Iran and also Russia pulling the strings to divert attention from eastern Europe but the timing after maybe 2006 or thereabouts being the last proper friction on the northern border makes one wonder if the MSM is telling it how it is.

Just seen the Tel Aviv terror attack. One dead. Following the two sisters killed in the West Bank earlier. Forget the conspiracy theory above, it's actually Intifada 3 in the making right now, posssibly it's taking out Iran nuke time too as the Israel Iran proxy war is getting a little heated right now

So much going on, a family of Brits living in Israel was gunned down in a drive-by shooting north of Jerusalem, and 3 more rockets were launched from Syria...protest continue

Strange Days indeed

a reply to: putnam6

Yes Putnam it's kicking off on all fronts for Israel, interesting article today in our last free broadsheet the Guardian .................... www.theguardian.com...