Israel keeps hunting leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah…..
In doing so?
They are tearing up Beirut….
But Hezbollah contiunes to fire rockets back at Israel ….
Israel is also continuing tactical ops in Gaza…..
Where is the head of the Iranian Quads Force?
And the Top Hamas guy IS STILL alive….
Israel has been systematically targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and outside Beirut for days, but it expanded that reach with a strike in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, near the country’s northern edge. The armed group Hamas, which is based in Gaza and allied with Hezbollah, said that one of its commanders had been killed in the strike. Hours later, Israel said it had also killed a second high-ranking Hamas commander in Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it had struck “weapons storage facilities, command centers and additional terrorist infrastructure” near the capital, Beirut. That appeared to refer to the Dahiya, an area where Hezbollah holds sway and where clouds of smoke were seen rising on Saturday.
A huge Israeli strike around the same area earlier in the week targeted Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor of Hassan Nasrallah, the recently assassinated leader of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia. It was not clear whether Mr. Safieddine had been killed.
As Israel kept up its campaign, Hezbollah on Saturday fired what Israel’s military said was an estimated 90 rockets into northern Israel, and sirens sounded across border towns, the Galilee region, and as far south as Haifa. Most of the rockets appeared to have been intercepted by air defense systems, and there were no reports of injuries.
Concern has been building over whether the broadening war would further draw in Iran, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah and launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel earlier in the week. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday that Iran could carry out additional attacks on Israel “if necessary.”
Here is what else to know:
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Iranian diplomacy: Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in Syria early Saturday, according to Iranian state media. Mr. Araghchi appears to be on a diplomatic tour, and on Friday visited Beirut in an apparent effort to convey Iran’s readiness to support a joint cease-fire in Lebanon and in Gaza.
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Gaza evacuations: The Israeli military announced a new evacuation warning in the Gaza Strip for the first time in several weeks, advising residents of Nuseirat and Bureij in the central part of the enclave to flee. Israel has largely been focused on Lebanon since September, although in August it issued evacuation warnings in Gaza that covered roughly 250,000 people.
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American death: The State Department said it was “aware and alarmed” about reports of the death in Lebanon of Kamel Ahmad Jawad, an American citizen. His family said in a statement this week that Mr. Jawad, who was from Dearborn, Mich., had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
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Weapons for Israel: President Emmanuel Macron of France said on Saturday that shipments of weapons to Israel that could be used in Gaza should be halted. “Lebanon cannot become another Gaza,” he added…..
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As Iran awaited a potential counter strike from Israel on Saturday, senior officials and members of the Iranian news media were all asking a similar question: Where is Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, the country’s top general and the commander in chief of its elite Quds Forces?
Officials in Iran have not yet given a clear answer, Iranian media reported.
“Public opinion is awaiting news that our general is alive and well,” said Tabnak, an Iranian news site. Another news site, Shahreh Khabar, published a long biography of the general’s decades of service as a veteran of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The Quds Force is the branch of the Guards that is tasked with external operations, including overseeing militant groups that Iran supports in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, militia groups in Iraq and Syria as well as Hamas in Gaza. The network is regionally known as the “axis of resistance.”
The concerns about General Ghaani followed reports in some Israeli and Arab media on Saturday that he was either killed or injured in one of Israel’s recent attacks on Beirut. The Guards has yet to issue a statement confirming General Ghaani’s whereabouts…..
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The leader of Hamas is holding out for a bigger war, U.S. officials say.
The leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, has become fatalistic after nearly a year of war in Gaza and is determined to see Israel embroiled in a wider regional conflict, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Sinwar has long believed he will not survive the war, a view that has hindered negotiations to secure the release of hostages seized by his group in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.
His attitude has hardened in recent weeks, U.S. officials say, and American negotiators now believe that Hamas has no intention of reaching a deal with Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has also rejected proposals in the negotiations and added positions that have complicated the talks. U.S. officials assess that he is mainly concerned about his political survival and might not think a cease-fire in Gaza is in his interests.
Hamas has shown no desire at all to engage in talks in recent weeks, U.S. officials say. They suspect that Mr. Sinwar has grown more resigned as Israeli forces pursue him and talk about closing in on him.
A larger war that puts pressure on Israel and its military would, in Mr. Sinwar’s assessment, force them to scale back operations in Gaza, the U.S. officials said…..
Update…
Oct 5, 2024 – ISW Press
An Israeli military correspondent reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is preparing to expand its ground operations in southern Lebanon. The IDF plans to send more forces, according to the correspondent, which would build upon the two divisions already operating in southern Lebanon. These divisions have primarily operated around Lebanese villages immediately along the border with Israel.
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