Battle on Lebanon Front Enters New Phase
For 25 days straight the Zionist state of Israel has continued its bloody war and escalated its military operation in Lebanon. The Israeli army announced that it had bombed 200 targets in Lebanon during the 24 hours between October 13-14. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said the death toll of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon has surged to 2,309 martyrs, in addition to 10,782 wounded since October 8, 2023.
Clear Evidence of Hezbollah's Fighting Capacity
Hezbollah for its part reported more than 34 operations including heavy armed clashes at close range to deter the Israeli Occupation Forces attempts to advance into southern Lebanon, as well as raining down rockets, missiles and artillery on military bases and sites in Israel. They have destroyed Israeli radar installations, destroyed three Israeli tanks in one operation alone, as well as carrying out a drone strike on the military base for the Golani Brigade in Binyamina south of the city of Haifa that killed at least four and wounded 60 or so Israeli soldiers, a serious blow to the IOF forces as well as the myth of their invincibility.
Through the early hours of Saturday, October 12, Hezbollah struck IOF artillery positions in Ma'iliya, destroyed an Israeli military bulldozer in Ramia and scored direct artillery hits on Israeli infantry in Khirbet Zar'it. Hezbollah also conducted strikes deeper into Israel. They shelled Base 7200, south of Haifa, targeting an explosives factory with precision rockets, resulting in a direct hit.
Later, they targeted an Israeli assembly point on the outskirts of Blida, achieving another successful strike. In the afternoon of October 12, Hezbollah engaged IOF forces in fierce clashes, striking an Israeli assembly point in the Metulla settlement, a force in the Kfar Yuval settlement, and the communications base in Keren Naftali, all with large barrages of rockets, achieving direct hits. The Islamic Resistance also targeted an Israeli assembly point in Misgav Am with artillery shells, achieving a direct hit. This was followed by an operation where the fighters shelled the Zvolon military industry's base with a barrage of rockets.
On the evening of October 12 the Hezbollah fighters shelled the Ma'ale Golani barracks with rockets, and the Homa base in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights was targeted again. Additionally, another gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Kfar Giladi settlement was struck with rockets. Hezbollah concluded the day with a barrage of rockets targeting an Israeli assembly point in Keren Naftali. Finally, an Israeli infantry force attempting to infiltrate Lebanese territory from the Ramia site was targeted with a guided missile, resulting in numerous casualties among the soldiers.
After Hezbollah's strike on the Binyamina base, south of occupied Haifa, Israeli media emphasized that Hezbollah has more surprises up its sleeve, commenting that the leadership in Israel is selling illusions about its ability to destroy the capabilities that Hezbollah has accumulated for years.
Israeli TV Channel 14, for example, reported that Israeli military officials at the Binyamina base criticized the military leadership, stating, "Is the Chief of Staff waiting for another disaster? We are completely exposed and helpless."
Channel 14 also reported that a number of elite Israeli occupation forces were humiliated. During a Hezbollah missile attack the soldiers had no choice but to hide in a sewage canal due to the lack of shelters and protected spaces in a large central military base, it said.
Another Israeli media source, Kan TV, reported that a year after the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the occupation's leadership refuses to learn from its mistakes. The channel criticized the arrogance of Israeli military officials, who have been claiming that Hezbollah is collapsing "like a house of cards."
Israeli media is stunned by reality that Hezbollah has not collapsed and remains capable of causing serious damage to Israel, Al Mayadeen wrote. Hezbollah's ability to strike Israeli military bases in central Israel exposes, even to Israeli media, that there is a hole in Israel's air defence system, which has difficulty dealing with this type of threat."Israel is struggling to come up with solutions," Al Mayadeen wrote.
Significant Speech by Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General
In a televised speech on October 15, Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem addressed Hezbollah fighters and the Lebanese nation about the dimensions of the current battle, Israel's plans to occupy the region, and the new equations imposed by Hezbollah. Al Mayadeen carries the following report:
"With the battle entering a new phase and shifting dynamics, Sheikh Qassem said Lebanon is no longer in the support front phase, 'rather, we are now facing an Israeli war against us.'
"In
light of this, he declared that in this new equation, Hezbollah is now
targeting Tel Aviv, Haifa, and even beyond Haifa, in accordance with
the directives of the great martyred leader Secretary-General Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah.
"'Since the enemy has targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right to target any location within the entity, which we will choose as we see fit,' asserted the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah."
He dismissed any flights of fancy the U.S./Israeli Zionist aggressors are entertaining that their barbarism against Lebanon will convince the people to abandon the Palestinian cause. "Lebanon cannot be separated from Palestine, nor can the region be separated from Palestine," Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem emphasized. "Our [Resistance] support for Palestinians is a support for justice; as they have been wronged, as such, we are capping the Israeli expansionist project," he said.
He revealed that Hezbollah "was asked to put an end to the war and move more than 10 km from the border so as not to provoke Israel, yet, we still insisted on a ceasefire in Gaza. We did not respond to their request to separate Lebanon from Gaza," he said "as the current project is expansionist."
Likewise he dismissed the U.S. and its Genocide Cartel's claims that the resistance is all "Iran's doing." "We are amid a Palestinian project, not an Iranian project," he said, "and this is a matter of pride for Iran to support Palestine."
Hezbollah has no illusions about who is responsible for the ongoing genocide, Sheikh Qassem underscored: "Were it not for the U.S., the Greater Satan, Israel would not have been able to gain control like this, pursuing a 'New Middle East.'"
Sheikh Qassem said it is time to "hurt the enemy." He warned that the Resistance would focus on targeting Israeli occupation soldiers, their positions, and military barracks. Sheikh Qassem clarified that the solution to end the war lies in a ceasefire, asserting that Hezbollah is not speaking from a position of weakness.
The achievements of the Resistance over the past two weeks have exceeded expectations, he explained, adding that "the mission of the Resistance has not only been to halt the (Israeli) advance, but to pursue it [the enemy]."
He stressed that "Israel" will be defeated, while the Resistance will not, as "it is defending its own land" and its members and fighters are prepared to offer the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, in defence of the dignity of this land and its people.
He added that the Resistance's steadfastness and its people's solidarity "are the only path to reclaim land and halt aggression."
(Palestinian Information Center, Al Mayadeen)
This article was published in
October 16, 2024
Article Link:
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