LLX News

By: Ron Ben-Yishai – ynetnews.com

Ballistic AirBNB: Hezbollah covertly stationed long-range missiles in Shia homes across southern Lebanon, paying residents to store them; IDF now targets these rockets, urging civilian evacuation to minimize casualties and spotlighting Hezbollah’s tactics to global audiences

Nearly a decade ago, Hezbollah embarked on a covert and innovative military initiative. The group extended an offer to Shia villages and residents in southern Lebanon: provide a room in their homes in exchange for a steady rental payment. However, this unique tenant is not a person – it is a relatively long-range missile equipped with a heavy warhead.

Stored on a launcher, the missile is ready to be deployed from a room adjacent to the hosting family’s home. The design includes a roof that can be quickly removed, allowing the missile to be raised and launched within minutes. The families accommodating these missiles serve both as human shields and as camouflage.

Hezbollah targeted impoverished Shia families living in villages around Tyre, Sidon, and even south of Beirut, who were in need of additional income. Over time, the project has expanded. Hezbollah even purchased plots and constructed homes specifically for this purpose, offering them free or at a nominal rent to Shia families willing to house medium-range missiles in a dedicated room. Some of these missiles are intended to reach central Israel. Hundreds of these missiles are stationed in areas south of Beirut, ready to be launched by Hezbollah operatives from special units.

cont’d…

https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/b1b4k50pc#autoplay

The Palestinian-fronted resolution passed by wide margin, demanding that the Israeli army and Jewish residents evacuate to pre-1949 line within a year.

By: Mike Wagenheim – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

(September 18, 2024 / JNS)

Jerusalem’s Old City, in addition to Judea and Samaria, must be Judenrein within a year, according to a Palestinian-drafted resolution, which the U.N. General Assembly passed on Wednesday.

The resolution, which passed by a 124-14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to give force to a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line.

More than 40 countries sponsored the resolution, which was the first that Palestinians filed after being granted unprecedented privileges, for a non-U.N. member, earlier this year.

The resolution calls on the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw completely from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within 12 months, which means evacuating all Jewish communities beyond the armistice line, including Jerusalem’s Old City.

cont’d…

By: Akiva Van Koningsveld – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

More than 450 Hezbollah operatives sustained wounds, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

(September 18, 2024 / JNS)

More communications devices used by Hezbollah terrorists exploded on Wednesday afternoon across the group’s main stronghold in Beirut and in Southern Lebanon, Reuters reported, citing a security source.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 14 Hezbollah operatives were killed in the latest series of device explosions. In addition, some 450 terrorists were said to have sustained wounds.

At least one of the blasts took place in the vicinity of a funeral for terrorists killed on Tuesday, when thousands of Hezbollah pagers detonated all over the country, according to eyewitness reports.

cont’d…

By: Baruch Yadid – Tazpit Press Service; tps.co.il

Jerusalem, 15 September, 2024 (TPS) — Despite Gaza’s widespread devastation, Hamas continues paying salaries to its gunmen and civil servants partly through taxing and diverting humanitarian aid and distributing food vouchers — with the help of clans, criminal groups and so-called “People’s Committees.”

An Israeli security official told The Press Service of Israel, “Hamas’ governance situation in the northern Gaza Strip is suffering from progressive necrosis,” adding that humanitarian aid appears to be “intensive treatment” for the terror group. This perspective highlights the complexity of the situation in Gaza, where aid intended to alleviate the suffering of civilians is instead helping to sustain Hamas’s grip on power.

Last week, Hamas managed to pay full salaries to its fighters and partial salaries to thousands of its 27,000 civil servants, TPS-IL has learned. This was done despite the heavy financial burden it places on the terror group, highlighting its determination to maintain its grip on Gaza.

However, the continued financing of its war with Israel has raised concerns about the sources of this funding. Reports indicate that Hamas uses a variety of methods to gather revenue, including the imposition of “transit taxes” on aid trucks carrying food, water, medicine and tents, blankets and other goods into the Strip.

cont’d…

By: Chris Mitchell – The Christian Broadcasting Network; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – The prospect of a negotiated deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas sank to a new low over the weekend.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar made new demands in his months-long standoff with the lives of the hostages on the line.

The fighting continues in Gaza, as it seems the drive for a ceasefire ran into another roadblock. The Washington Post and Israel’s Channel 12 report Hamas has introduced another obstacle to prevent a deal, demanding that Israel release 100 more terrorists serving life sentences than had been agreed upon.

Reportedly, these 100 would replace top Hamas and other terror commanders killed in Gaza. Israeli sources put the odds of a deal “at close to zero.”

According to The Times of Israel, one negotiator said, “The only way forward is to end the war – keep acting to get the public behind bringing about an end to the war.”

cont’d…

https://www2.cbn.com/news/israel/ceasefire-deal-close-zero-sinwar-makes-new-demands-jordanian-murders-3-israeli-guards

The figure marked an increase of 400% compared to January.

Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

August was the most intense month in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group so far, with more than 1,300 attacks on the Jewish state recorded, authorities said on Thursday.

According to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Hezbollah terrorists fired no fewer than 1,307 rockets, missiles and drones last month, up 20% from July.

The figure included the some 320 missiles and drones fired as part of Hezbollah’s Aug. 25 attack, which the terrorist organization said came in retaliation for Israel’s targeted killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

The Shin Bet recorded 855 attacks in June, 1,000 in May, 744 in April, 746 in March, and 534 in February. The August figure marked an increase of 400% compared to January, when 334 projectiles were launched across Israel’s northern border.

cont’d…

One of the six bodies recovered from a Rafah tunnel bore signs of having been tied up, and all showed evidence of neglect, according to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

By: Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The six hostages whose bodies were recovered by Israeli forces from a Rafah tunnel in southern Gaza overnight Saturday were shot multiple times at close range just days before their discovery, Israel’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.

According to examinations conducted by the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, the captives were murdered 48 to 72 hours before the autopsies, which would place their deaths at some point between Thursday and Friday morning.

That the captives were shot at short range suggests that they were executed by their Hamas captors.

“According to our initial assessment, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.

cont’d…

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, from the Arab Bedouin Negev city of Rahat, was rescued in a “complex operation.”

Israeli forces have rescued a hostage alive from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, from the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev Desert, was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza in a “complex operation” by the Israel Defense Forces Shayetet 13, 401st Brigade and Yahalom, together with ISA forces under the command of the 162nd Division. He was alone at the time of his rescue.

The father of 11 is in stable condition and was undergoing medical testing at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, according to the military. His family has been updated and the IDF is accompanying them.

Soroka said that “he is fully conscious and in good general condition, and has already met with a family member with great excitement.”

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/israeli-forces-rescue-alive-a-hostage-in-the-southern-gaza-strip

By: JTA Staff – jta.org

Minouche Shafik, the Columbia University president whose campus became an epicenter of unrest this year following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, has resigned weeks before the start of the school year.

Shafik’s resignation, tendered Wednesday, means she is stepping down after about a year in the role. Her decision comes after widespread, sustained criticism of how she handled pro-Palestinian protests that have convulsed the Ivy League university since Oct. 7.

“I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University effective August 14, 2024,” Shafik wrote in an email to the university on Wednesday evening. She said she had achieved progress in her role but added that “it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”

She wrote, “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community. Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.”

cont’d…

Instead of fleeing the Galilee, hundreds of Zionist Arameans are digging in as they brace for a major escalation

By: Canaan Lidor – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

JISH, northern Israel — In plain view of a Hezbollah stronghold, Shadi Khalloul scanned a fig tree for the best fruit to offer his guests.

“Take some if you have a plastic bag,” Khalloul, 48, said on Monday on a hilltop in his village, about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) from the border with Lebanon.

Khalloul’s disregard for Hezbollah snipers wasn’t due to ignorance. A Jish native, he’s aware of the terrorists’ capabilities — also thanks to his past service as an IDF Paratrooper Brigade officer and his current reserve duty with the IDF Operations Directorate.

Like most of his neighbors, Khalloul has stayed in Jish despite frequent shelling, because he won’t be cowed by the Lebanese terror group.

His defiance is characteristic of Jish and its small but tight-knit community of Aramean Christians: a Catholic ethnoreligious group of just a few thousand people who threw their lot in with the State of Israel. They trace their heritage to the ancient Arameans who lived here 3,000 years ago.

cont’d…