HEZBOLLAH Launches SURPRISE First Time EVER Attack on Israel!

Right, so news has come through of an astonishing first by Hezbollah, which once again raises questions about the efficacy these days of Israel’s air defences, but despite having broken new ground in Lebanon’s offensive against Israel, by for the first time ever striking Southern Israel, the first time Hezbollah have ever succeeded in penetrating so deep into Israeli territory, but not only that, they’ve managed a direct strike on an Israeli naval base whilst they were at it! This in and of itself, is worthy of discussion and coverage, where were the Israeli defences, was the IDF caught completely unawares? But actually it is but one action in a long list of them this week which includes a landmark target having been reached fighting Israel within their own borders as well, all in the face of even more rocket fire and the razing of homes and apartment buildings in Beirut, as Israel set about attempting to make the Lebanese capital resemble Gaza as fast as possible. The fighting versus Lebanon is far from going all Israel’s way and where they are so focused on offensives, their defences are collapsing.
Right, so today there has been some awful news from Lebanon as I began writing this, news that once again Journalists having been targeted, this time in Lebanon as three of them were reportedly killed a month ago to the day, 25th October, deliberately targeted and targeted with US munitions, constituting a war crime now against Lebanon, to add to the already long list of those Israel have already racked up, including those in Gaza. All three were reportedly killed in their sleep, so in no way can this construed as collateral damage or unintentional, it very much appears to be deliberate and absolutely in need of criminal investigation. Having happened in Lebanon and not occupied Palestinian territory however, there is every opportunity to do just that you would imagine, no chance of Israel hiding the evidence.
It is in light of incidents like this though, that retaliation and the right to defend themselves from Israel cuts through in public opinion. Public opinion of Israel is very low right now, they’ve brought that on themselves in no uncertain terms and where they cry foul at every turn and where various world leaders condemn anyone not supporting Israel, fewer and fewer of us do. Equally, that refusal to support Israel is being too often read as support for the likes of Hezbollah or Hamas, which of course is proscribed here in the UK, I’ve got questions about that, I must cover that in a video at some point, but it is fair to say that support for such proscribed organisations and offering support for nation states to defend themselves from attack and protect their innocent civilian population are not the same thing.
Nevertheless, I must turn to Hezbollah and acknowledge the fact that they have this week, been giving Israel a Godalmighty thumping, including for the first time ever, successfully striking Southern Israel.
The norm used to be Hezbollah rockets got intercepted by the Iron Dome, or David’s Sling, or Arrow, the numerous different air defence systems that Israel employ, now using the US THAAD defence system to patch holes in those air defences as they have clearly become less and less successful in repelling enemy fire and we’ve seen this progress throughout the course of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Hezbollah striking Israel in support of the Gazan people as they have been since pretty much the day after the events of the night of October 7th.
Israel had to evacuate the north, they had to bring people further south because it was no longer safe and we saw Hezbollah drones and rocket strikes successfully deplete and destroy iron dome batteries across the north, leading to success further south. Hezbollah managed to hit the port city of Haifa in Northern Israel, but a good distance south of the Lebanese border, 85 miles away. They’ve managed to strike Caesarea, the holiday resort where Benjmain Netanyahu has a holiday home, which is a bit further south, about 110 miles from the Lebanon border. Tel Aviv itself has been hit, that’s about 140 miles south of the Lebanese border and we’re now halfway down the country, all of this unprecedented in the distances Hezbollah can now fire ordnance and find their mark, the air defences are clearly stuffed and this latest example, striking southern Israel for the first time is astonishing not just because Hezbollah managed to penetrate that far, but because they found their target and it was one hell of a target!
Yesterday Hezbollah fired between 340 and 250 rockets into Israel, depending on which source you check out, but what they all agree on was the fact that they successfully hit the Israeli Naval Base at Ashdod, over 170 miles south of the Lebanese border, it’s so far south Ashdod is actually only 24 miles north of the Gaza border, Hezbollah are almost capable of reaching Gaza itself, the north of which is being ethnically cleansed and being taken over by Israel, so we’re now in the realms of it no longer being beyond possibility, that Hezbollah can now strike in Gaza and target Israeli targets there. Worse for Israel, they never saw it coming, they were caught completely unawares, the IDF caught napping, asleep at the wheel.
Also struck were various targets in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Acre, Naharya and more including other military bases and intelligence agency offices, it is being regarded as the largest single strike by Hezbollah on Israel yet and coming hot on the heels of Israel having targeted residential areas of Beirut previously, is an escalation that says Lebanon are not going to take such barbarism on the chin and there will be consequences for you as well.
Here’s an excerpt from Al Jazeera’s coverage:
‘Hezbollah says it targeted the Ashdod naval base in southern Israel “for the first time”, adding that it conducted an operation against a “military target” in Tel Aviv using advanced missiles and strike drones.
The Israeli military reported air raid sirens in central and northern areas, including the Tel Aviv suburbs. The military said it intercepted a number of the projectiles fired at northern Israel, and added that 250 projectiles had been fired from Lebanon.
Later on, Israeli army radio reported that ‘340 missiles’ had launched from Lebanon.
The attacks wounded at least 11 people, including a man in a “moderate to serious” condition, according to medical agencies.
They come a day after Israel killed at least 29 people in a strike in central Beirut. At least 66 others were wounded, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.’
My only issue with Najib Mikati’s assessment there, is that if the US were truly in the drivers seat here and really interested in an end to war between Lebanon and Israel, then they’d stop Israel using their arms in the country, it wouldn’t even require the cessation of arms sales as so many people around the world absolutely do want, just a ban on using them in Lebanon, but they can’t even do that and as a result, through the deaths of those three journalists, may be complicit in that war crime themselves.
It isn’t like Israel are getting anywhere in Southern Lebanon still either though, as Hezbollah this week celebrated a bit of a milestone there.
I’ve spoken in a previous video regarding the tactics used by Hezbollah to deal with the dreaded Israeli Mirkava tanks, tanks that are far less dreaded in mountainous southern Israel, because they get stuck, get trapped and Hezbollah are armed with tank-busting ordnance that has been adapted to get around the very latest anti tank defences. In fact so successful have Hezbollah been in taking on these tanks, that this week they celebrated the destruction of their 50th tank, since Israel invaded southern Lebanon less than 8 weeks ago, that’s an average of almost one tank a day. They reached that target last Friday, but just yesterday they destroyed another 6 alone!
This is the Hezbollah it’s worth reminding people, that Israel said it had defeated. If anything, the assassination of it’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, has basically let them off the leash somewhat, but equally it can be said that as Israel yet again targets civilians, that invites escalation and what it has done is expose further the weaknesses of Israel’s air defences. Where before commentators, myself included thought shortages of interceptor missiles meant the north of Israel was being left to Hezbollah to hit and continue to hit it they have, in favour of protecting larger urban and military installations, that doesn’t appear to be the case either, so just how much trouble is Israel in defence-wise now, that despite the new US system, they’re wide open to the point Lebanese forces can now almost reach Gaza through missile and drone strikes. The narrative is one of the IDF being caught with their pants down, but is that a better excuse to make than admitting they’ve simply run out or are running out of air defence capabilities? If I was an Israeli, that’s the question I’d be asking myself. Am I being protected anymore? I’m not so sure you are.
Of course the events leading up to this escalation by Hezbollah now can be traced back to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, an assassination it was widely reported that was ordered by Netanyahu from the US, done on the day he went there to address Congress. I considered the possibility of that event triggering a wider war then and it appears to now be happening, Get the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.