IDF Spokesman Hagari: ‘Hezbollah attempted to harm Israel, but was met with an iron fist’

August 26, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari addressed the press on Sunday and discussed the preemptive strike to prevent a major attack on Israel by Hezbollah.

‘This morning, we thwarted a large-scale attack by the Hezbollah terrorist organization targeting northern communities and locations in central Israel. We monitored Hezbollah for weeks using technological means and aerial patrols by Israeli Air Force aircraft. As soon as we identified Hezbollah’s intention to carry out the attack, we thwarted the majority of the attack. Hezbollah attempted to severely harm the north and center of Israel, but was met with an iron fist,’ Hagari opened.

‘Approximately one hundred IAF aircraft simultaneously struck over two hundred and seventy targets in southern Lebanon, disrupting Hezbollah’s attack plan. So far, we are also aware of six terrorists who were eliminated in the strikes, and we may discover more in the coming days. Just last week, we eliminated approximately thirty terrorists, including Hezbollah commanders. Approximately ninety percent of the targets struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah planned to harm Israeli civilians. Hezbollah managed to launch only about two hundred and thirty rockets and over twenty unmanned aerial vehicles. Most of them either fell on their way to Israeli territory, landed in open areas, or were intercepted by Israeli Air Force defense systems and Israeli Navy ships. Contrary to Hezbollah’s claims, there were no hits on IDF bases, neither in the north, nor in the center,’ he clarified…”  (Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.  Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.  For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.  They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.  Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.  They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.  Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?  But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.  Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.  The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.  Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.  Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.  And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.  Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.  But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.  Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy. – Psalm 59:1-17;  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.  The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.  The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.  The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.  Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.  A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.  For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.  The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. – Psalm 37:7-18;  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. – Psalm 2:1-5.  See the next report.)

Nasrallah asserts Hezbollah attack was success, reserves right to strike again

August 26, 2024 — The Times of Israel reports: “Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed on Sunday that an attempted massive attack on Israel by his terror group the night before, which was largely thwarted by Israel, had been completed ‘as planned’ and caused vast disruption.

Israel conducted a preemptive assault overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in which it said 100 planes destroyed thousands of rocket launcher barrels inside Lebanese territory shortly before they were to be used, and then intercepted most of the 230 rockets and 20 drones Hezbollah did fire.

In his speech, Nasrallah maintained that the attack had caused ‘great disruptions’ inside Israel. He indicated that the operation was conducted in two phases: Firstly, he claimed, the terror group fired over 320 Katyusha rockets on 11 different military sites to keep Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system busy, and then it launched dozens of drones directed at central Israel…”

IDF launches ‘extensive’ strikes against Hezbollah in 10 areas of southern Lebanon

August 22, 2024 — The Times of Israel reports: “The IDF said Thursday that it carried out ‘extensive’ airstrikes against Hezbollah terror group sites in southern Lebanon overnight, as the spiraling violence between the two sides showed no sign of losing momentum.

Attacks carried out by fighter jets targeted weapon depots, buildings used by Hezbollah and a rocket launcher, in 10 areas of southern Lebanon, according to an update from the military.

The widespread strikes come in response to a Hezbollah barrage of 50 rockets the previous day at the northern town of Katzrin that caused significant damage and wounded an Israeli man.

Meanwhile, rocket and drone alert sirens sounded in the border town of Kiryat Shmona and a number of other communities in the Galilee on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported.

The widespread IDF strikes also came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at Israel’s offensive capabilities in the north, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for a harsh response to the Hezbollah attack on Katzrin…”  (For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.  The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:  But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations – Deuteronomy 7:6-9.  It is amazing that Israel, a nation whose land mass fits inside Lake Michigan, is considered the 8^th most powerful nation in the world.  See the next two reports.) 

PM says strikes on Hezbollah ‘not end of story’ as allies warn against escalation

August 26, 2024 — The Times of Israel reports: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel’s preemptive overnight strike on Lebanon’s Hezbollah was not ‘the end of the story,’ as regional and global leaders warned against escalating toward a wider conflict.

Reuters reported on Sunday that Israel and Hezbollah had communicated via intermediaries in order to prevent further escalation, while Channel 12 news said Israel and Washington were working to achieve a detente through diplomacy. The network’s unsourced report said Washington had given its blessing to Israel’s pre-dawn strike, but warned against triggering an all-out war.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel hoped for a diplomatic settlement in the north, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah indicated the Iran-backed terror group might consider the current round of hostilities to be over, even as allied terror groups applauded Hezbollah’s thwarted attack on Israel.

Gallant earlier discussed the overnight strikes in a call with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, who according to the Axios news site ordered two US aircraft carrier strike groups to stay in the region…”

‘IDF prepared for all possibilities – including widescale war’

August 27, 2024 — Israel National News reports: “The IDF is prepared for a widescale war, an Israeli military source told Sky News Arabic.

‘The IDF is prepared for all possibilities, including that of a general war,’ the Tuesday report quoted the source as saying.

‘Hezbollah did not use precise missiles since it knows that harming targets in central Israel with such missiles – means war. We will be able to quickly move from the southern front to the northern front as the central front.’…”