301 Days!…..
There ARE STILL live hostages….
Hamas has a new political leader….
Yahya Sinwar, the guy who help put together the Hamas attck on Israel on Oct. 7…..
The defiance in this move is so noted….
Sinwar is probably a high life inssue risk…..
Israel HAS wanted him since the attack….
While everyone IS waiting for a retaliatory attack?
US Intelligenece feels that such a action is NOT certain and is a work in progress…
Iran has been carful NOT to challange Israel directly….
Hamas announced on Tuesday that it had chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attack, as the next head of the group’s political office, consolidating his power over the militant group as it continues the war with Israel.
Mr. Sinwar, who spent two decades in Israeli prisons, has been long viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of their society. He has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017. But he will now replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s top political leader, who was a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel.
The decision to appoint Mr. Sinwar is an indication that, ten months into the war, the Palestinian group’s leaders remain firmly behind the decision to attack southern Israel on Oct. 7, analysts said. And it signals that Israeli efforts to try and cripple the group by killing off its leaders may have only entrenched the hard-line position Hamas has taken, they said.
“This is more about the overall vision for what Hamas wants, which is focusing more on liberation and less on being a governing power,” said Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the official body representing Palestinians internationally.
Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza has driven the Islamist group underground, but Hamas had ruled over the enclave since 2007, fashioning itself into the new government of Gaza and exerting oppressive control over the enclave’s people.
Under Mr. Sinwar’s leadership in Gaza, Hamas, designated by many Western governments as a terrorist group, had sought to free itself of the challenge of running a civilian government in Gaza, while remaining the ultimate power through its military might.
Mr. Sinwar’s selection was an affirmation of that vision, one that aims to put a greater focus on confronting Israel.
After the Oct. 7 attacks, Hamas leaders said they wanted to ignite a permanent state of war with Israel on all fronts to revive the Palestinian cause, knowing Israel’s response would be aggressive…..
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Lebanon….
Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia and political party that is backed by Iran, and Tehran have vowed to retaliate against Israel. The situation has left many Lebanese anxious about when a response will come, how large it will be and whether it will set off a larger conflagration that leaves Lebanon extremely vulnerable.
For months, most people in Lebanon did not directly feel the fighting. Traffic clogged highways, and restaurants in affluent parts of Beirut filled up on weekends.
But as airlines have canceled flights and foreign embassies have warned their citizens to leave Lebanon, anxiety about the future has spread far beyond the border zone where the fighting has mostly been confined.
Diana Abi Rashed, 60, said her three adult children had been visiting Lebanon and trying to get back to their homes in other countries. But one of her daughters can’t get a flight before next week at the earliest.
Ms. Abi Rashed has decided to stay. “How can I leave my elderly mother here and go?” she said. “It’s not an easy decision. I will stay and choose the safest corner in my house.”….
Effort’s to NOT have Israel, Hamas, Hezobollah and Iran get onto a BIGGER shooting match after Israel takes out senior leaders in in two of the countries…
Diplomats across the Middle East worked on Monday to contain escalating tensions between Israel and Iran as fears grew of a widening conflict in the region and Tehran vowed to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, on Iranian soil.
With Israel’s war with Hamas raging in Gaza, the killing of Mr. Haniyeh last week in Tehran has intensified concerns among Arab and American officials that an even broader regional conflict could erupt. Israel has not publicly taken responsibility for the killing, but Iran and Hamas have both blamed Israel, and American intelligence has assessed that Israel was behind it.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who was briefed on the country’s air-defense readiness on Monday during a visit to a military command center, said, according to a government statement, “We must be prepared for anything — including a swift transition to offense.”
In a separate statement, the Israeli government said Mr. Gallant had briefed the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, overnight on Israel’s “readiness to defend Israel against potential threats posed by Iran and its proxies.”
Mr. Austin on Friday ordered more combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the Middle East in response to the threats from Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon said….
Aug 6, 2024 – ISW Press
Unspecified US officials told Axios on August 5 that the US intelligence community expects Iran and its Axis of Resistance to conduct two waves of attacks in its retaliation against Israel for the death of Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. US intelligence officials reportedly briefed a potential scenario to US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris in which Hezbollah would conduct an attack on Israel in a wave separate from another Iranian and Axis attack. Intelligence officials noted that it is not clear whether Iran and the Axis or Hezbollah would launch the first attack. One unspecified US official cited by Axios said that intelligence reports suggest Iranian and Hezbollah planning is a “work in progress.”
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