ISRAEL TAKING IT TO HEZBOLLAH

Hezbollah has for many years now, continued to launch rockets into northern Israel, injuring many and killing innocents. Just a few days ago, Israel’s military, with the help of their Intelligent Service took out fourteen of the groups commanders.

Top Hezbollah commander among 14 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut. The Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said Ibrahim Aqil had been killed with other senior members of an elite Hezbollah unit in the airstrike, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

An Israeli airstrike on a residential area of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed two top Hezbollah military commanders and other senior officials, in a major escalation that has added to fears of an all-out war.

Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed militia and political group, confirmed the death of Ibrahim Aqil, a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan forces.

The group also confirmed that Ahmed Wahbi, himself a top Radwan figure, died in the attack that hit the densely populated Dahieh area – a stronghold of the group.

Senior UN official Rosemary DiCarlo warned that the Middle East was at risk of a conflict that could “dwarf” the devastation witnessed in the region so far.Friday’s attack was another major blow for Hezbollah and the first airstrike to hit Beirut since July, when Fuad Shukr, a right-hand man to leader Hassan Nasrallah, was killed.

It happened just days after a wave of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group that killed dozens, wounded thousands more and caused panic in a country already exhausted by almost one year of conflict.

Israel is widely believed to have been behind the attack, but has made no comment.

In Beirut, there were chaotic scenes as emergency teams rushed to the site of the attack on Friday, rescuing the wounded and searching for people believed to be trapped under the rubble.

At least one residential building collapsed and others were heavily damaged. Streets were closed by Hezbollah members, some looking incredulous.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least 31 people were killed in the attack – including three children and seven women – with dozens more wounded.

Michael Goodwin

Opinion

Biden’s failure to secure an Israel-Hamas ceasefire is good news for the entire world: here’s why

By 

Michael Goodwin

Published Sep. 21, 2024, 10:51 p.m. ET

The good news trickled out quietly, and despite the huge significance, is not getting the attention it deserves.

The White House now believes it won’t get a cease-fire deal in Gaza before Joe Biden leaves office.

“No deal is imminent,” a US official told The Wall Street Journal.

“I’m not sure it ever gets done.”

Hold the tears — cue the celebrations.

No deal is the best deal available.

The result has been a relentless pressure campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, complete with attempts to undermine him politically at home and hamper Israel’s military by withholding munitions.

Recall that Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat in on cabinet meetings to dictate which targets Israel could attack.

Emboldening Hamas

Although some details remain unknown, the US was pushing for Israel to get back the remaining hostages abducted during the horrors of Oct. 7, some of them American citizens.

In exchange, it would release thousands of Palestinians arrested on terrorism charges.

Even worse, Hamas would have survived in some capacity, letting its leaders again plunder international aid, gain government control in Gaza and attack Israel again.

Even as Hamas kept upping its demands, Washington kept the heat on Israel.

Like a story line from “Fauda,” the hit streaming series about Israeli secret agents, disrupting Hezbollah’s communications delivered a psychological blow in addition to killing scores of fighters and injuring several thousand others.

Netanyahu followed with attacks on Hezbollah rocket launching sites and the targeted killing of one of the group’s top leaders.

Given that the leader, Ibrahim Aqil, was a US-designated terrorist linked to the 1983 bombings of our Marines barracks and embassy in Beirut that killed nearly 400 people, most of them US citizens, the White House should be celebrating.

Aqil had a $7 million American bounty on his head, and if Biden had any sense, he would send the check to Israel with a big thank you.

Instead, watch for long faces in the Harris campaign now that it’s clear she won’t get the Michigan political benefit of a pre-election cease-fire.

Shattered, too, is Biden’s fantasy of getting a Nobel Peace Prize for forging a deal on a Palestinian state.

The weakest link in the offers the White House pushed was that Iran’s malignant role would have remained intact.

It finances and directs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, yet its money and vow to eliminate Israel were virtually ignored in the talks.

Oct. 7 reality check

No prime minister of Israel could accept that fact given Oct. 7 and the displacement of 60,000 Israelis in the north by Hezbollah shelling.

For the same reasons, a separate Palestinian state is a pipe dream.

Palestinians used their self-rule to turn Gaza into a terror state, and Israel would be suicidal to believe an Arab state that included the much-larger West Bank would be a peace-loving neighbor.

Indeed, the significance of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah, which includes moving ground forces north, is the message that it will no longer tolerate the daily tit-for-tat exchange of fire.

Unfortunately, giving Iran a pass has become routine during the Biden-Harris term.

Copying the delusions of the Obama-Biden administration, the White House still harbors fantasies that the mad mullahs can be coaxed into playing a constructive role on the global stage.