Browsing: Middle East

“Until Operation Rising Lion, we were unable to do this fully. This capability really broke through that very day, when aircraft took off from Palmachim Airbase for the third circle,” Col. K., the outgoing head of the Israeli Air Force’s remotely piloted aircraft branch, said of the first time remotely piloted aircraft took part in strikes in Iran. “It’s an incredible source of pride to see the aircraft at the forefront heading toward Iran.” It is difficult to overstate the importance of remotely piloted aircraft during nearly three years of war. From intelligence gathering to strikes and targeted killings, the…

Israel is showing dissatisfaction with the results achieved so far by the Lebanese army in the pilot zones where it is tasked with disarming Hezbollah in the south of the country, a month and a half after the launch of this initiative, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported. According to the public broadcaster, the progress made on the ground is considered insufficient by Israel, as these areas are supposed to serve as a test for the broader implementation of the process intended to move Hezbollah’s infrastructure and weapons away from the Israeli border. A senior American official also stated that certain…

Undercover Israeli forces have captured the head of Hamas’ internal security apparatus during a rare daylight ground operation in central Gaza, according to Israeli sources familiar with the mission to i24NEWS. Mueen Al-Arabid was reportedly taken alive from an area considered a stronghold of the group. His identity and the full circumstances of the operation have not been publicly disclosed, and the account has not been independently verified. “We do not wait for threats we hunt down Hamas terrorists, thwart them and destroy their terrorist infrastructure,” Katz said during a visit to Netiv HaAsara on the Gaza border. The raid…

After nearly three years of planning, Mossad recruited Iraqi pilot Munir Redfa to fly a MiG-21 to Israel in 1966, pulling off one of the boldest intelligence operations in Israeli history. On the morning of August 16, 1966, at exactly 8 a.m., a foreign fighter jet landed at the Israeli Air Force base in Hatzor. This was no friendly aircraft on a routine visit. The Iraqi Air Force insignia was displayed on its wings and a 30-year-old pilot sat in the cockpit, having voluntarily landed in enemy territory. Within minutes, the significance of the event became clear: Israel had obtained…

The World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian aid organization reported finding hundreds of grams of narcotics hidden inside a shipment of canned peppers sent into the Gaza Strip as part of a larger delivery of food and other humanitarian supplies. According to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), WCK workers discovered several bags containing approximately 600 grams of hashish inside the shipment. They also found another bag containing approximately 160 grams of other illegal substances. COGAT announced Monday that WCK had “responsibly reported a smuggling attempt detected inside humanitarian aid supplies.” “The incident demonstrates once again that Hamas…

Israeli intelligence gathered in recent weeks on planned Turkish activity at Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase prompted IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to press the government to authorize Tuesday’s strike, i24NEWS learned Friday. The intelligence was passed to Zamir, who presented the findings to Israel’s political leadership and persuaded it to approve the operation. Israel said the planned Turkish activity at the base would have endangered its security. Defense Minister Israel Katz appeared to confirm those details Saturday, saying the IDF had repeatedly recommended striking the airbase based on “clear intelligence” about Turkish plans that would have threatened Israel’s security.…

The IDF and Shin Bet said Tuesday that Israeli forces struck and dismantled five Hamas weapons storage facilities and a launch site across the Gaza Strip, including sites located inside mosques and alongside humanitarian infrastructure. According to a joint statement, the facilities contained rockets, weapons, explosive devices, grenades, ammunition and other military equipment intended for attacks against Israeli troops operating in Gaza. The IDF and Shin Bet said the locations represented another example of what they described as Hamas’ systematic use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes. The military said advance warnings were issued before the strikes in an effort…

The IDF renewed operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon over the weekend, after three Israeli soldiers were wounded in a drone attack late Friday night. On Saturday, the military announced that an IDF officer and two soldiers were seriously wounded in an explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon. In response, the Israeli army struck multiple Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday, focusing on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh and Ansar areas, following the injury of the three soldiers near Ali Taher Ridge and al-Nabatieh al-Fawqa. The IDF later claimed that Hezbollah commander Ali Samir al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander…

IDF forces identified a training exercise held in the Gaza Strip earlier in the week by approximately 50 terrorists from Hamas’ elite Nukhba force, in which the terrorists practiced raiding and taking over a Jewish community, Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman revealed on Wednesday, August 12. Israeli media reported on Tuesday night, August 11, that the IDF had identified unusual terrorist activity that raised concerns the operatives were preparing to cross the Yellow Line. The military raised its alert level and rushed forces to the fence in response. Liberman said that IDF commanders in the field requested permission to…

Exactly 44 years after I first climbed Beaufort during the First Lebanon War, I returned to the fortress, its imposing cliffs and the breathtaking view over the Litani, the Saluki and Nabatieh. This time, I walked across that combustible ground during a fragile ceasefire, alert to every sound. Beaufort is part of my biography. Sometimes it recedes into the background; sometimes it returns with a sharp reminder. During the First Lebanon War, I was called up for reserve duty as an officer in the Military Police investigations unit. In June 1982, after 60 days of service, I set out with…