Israel kills brother of key Hezbollah member

Smoke billows during an Israeli bombardment of a southern Lebanon. (AFP)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Israel kills brother of key Hezbollah member

  • Statistics reveal 6,611 rockets launched from Lebanon in eight months, including 40 a day during August

BEIRUT: The Israeli army on Thursday morning launched an intensive aerial attack on Kafra, southern Lebanon, in which the brother of an important Hezbollah member was killed.

In a statement, Hezbollah’s military media wing announced the death of Abbas Anis Ayoub, who was born in 1988 and is from Selaa, southern Lebanon.

The Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Center confirmed Ayoub’s death, adding that the attack injured another person.

Security reports said that the Israeli army carried out at least three raids to target Ayoub.

Footage on social media showed a house on fire as a result of the attack, which was followed by further Israeli raids, increasing the intensity of the fire.

It seems Abbas Ayoub is the brother of Hussein Ayoub, who is considered the founder of Hezbollah’s air force.

Abbas worked as an engineer before joining the militant group.

Hussein Ayoub was 24 when he was killed by an explosive device during a Hezbollah operation against an Israeli patrol in southern Lebanon, which was under Israeli occupation at the time.

Israeli warplanes and artillery continued operations in southern border villages, including Aita Al-Shaab, Kfarkila and Mays Al-Jabal.

A woman was killed and two civilians were injured on Wednesday night by Israeli shelling of residential neighborhoods in Qabrikha and in the vicinity of Tallouseh, Bani Haiyyan, Qantara and Wadi Saluki.

Three people were injured in an Israeli raid on Houla and the Health Ministry said a 12-year-old child was among the injured in Qabrikha.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that its aircraft attacked sites in Jebbayn, Zawtar Al-Charkieh, and Ramyeh.

He added that "more than 10 Hezbollah military infrastructures and launch pads were attacked, as they were posing a threat to Israeli civilians.”

Israeli media reported “an explosion of a drone in the Yara area in Western Galilee,” and “damage inside the settlement of Ramot Naftali in Upper Galilee after rockets fell inside the settlement.”

A new statistic circulated by Israeli media revealed that, between January and the end of August, “the total number of rockets fired (toward Isarel) was 6,611, with the lowest number of rockets in January when 334 rockets were fired.”

Israeli Army Radio said that 1,307 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward Israel during August, “averaging 40 rockets a day,” the highest rate of rockets fired since the start of the war.  

Statistics on rocket fire from Lebanon toward Israel since the beginning of the year show 1,091 rockets were fired in July, 855 in June, 1,000 in May, 744 in April, 746 in March, and 534 in February.

Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair, head of the Higher Relief Committee, ruled out conducting a damage survey in southern Lebanon at present or calling on people to return “because Israel is treacherous, and the psychological war has become one of its constant characteristics.”

Khair added: “We cannot expose the lives of HRC employees and Lebanese Army personnel to the risk of Israeli shelling while they are conducting inspection, survey and assessment work. Until we are sure that everything is over and the situation is under control, we will not tell the people of the south to return to their homes and institutions. Otherwise, we would jeopardize their lives and put them at risk.”

He emphasized “the necessity of securing the financial coverage for their return ‘internationally’ as a first step and making a clear, correct decision regarding their return. Then, we will call on the displaced citizens to return to their villages.”

Khair denied the existence of any funds allocated by HRC or the government to compensate southerners affected by the Israeli aggression.

But he said funds had been allocated to help displaced people from the south to the villages of Sidon and the north, to support them.

Regarding the possibility of securing compensation for those affected, Khair said: “Nothing is clear yet. It is not known from where the required funds will be secured.”


Dramatic footage shows moment oil tanker struck by Houthi drone

Updated 12 sec ago
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Dramatic footage shows moment oil tanker struck by Houthi drone

  • Group releases video of explosion engulfing Cordelia Moon as it passed through Red Sea
  • Houthis have threatened to ‘escalate military operations’ after Israeli air raids last week

LONDON: Footage has been released of an oil tanker being struck by a Houthi drone vessel in the Red Sea.

The group published a video appearing to show the unmanned boat colliding with the Panama-flagged Cordelia Moon on Tuesday.

In the footage, a large explosion is seen on the vessel’s port side, followed by a plume of smoke engulfing the tanker. Its crew reported no major injuries and that all aboard are safe.

The attack reportedly occurred about 70 miles (110 km) off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, which is controlled by the militia.

The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said involved eight ballistic and winged missiles, a drone and an unmanned boat.

The US Navy said that the captain of a nearby vessel reported seeing four “splashes” in the water around the Cordelia Moon, believed to have been caused by missiles launched at the tanker missing their target.

Though the Houthis described the Cordelia Moon as a British ship, it is managed by an Indian company called Margao Marine Solutions.

Meanwhile, British security firm Amber reported that a second vessel, sailing under the Liberian flag, was struck by a missile about 97 nautical miles northwest of Hodeidah later that day as it traveled toward the Suez Canal. Its crew also reported no major injuries and that all aboard are safe.

The two attacks represent a return to the targeting of commercial shipping by the Houthis after a brief hiatus in operations.

The group began attacking vessels in the region following Israel’s invasion of Gaza last year.

The Houthis have also launched drone and missile attacks against Israel since the start of hostilities, and on Monday threatened to “escalate military operations” after shooting down a US military drone as it flew over Yemen. That incident followed a series of Israeli air raids over Houthi-occupied Yemen last week, which hit a number of military and oil installations.


Three Lebanese hospitals suspend services amid Israeli bombing: statements

Updated 29 min 57 sec ago
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Three Lebanese hospitals suspend services amid Israeli bombing: statements

  • Sainte Therese Hospital near Beirut’s southern suburbs reported “huge damage” to the building

BEIRUT: Three hospitals in Lebanon including one on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs announced Friday the suspension of work, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
In statements carried by the official National News Agency, Sainte Therese Hospital near Beirut’s southern suburbs reported “huge damage” to the building on Thursday due to Israeli bombardment in the vicinity and the subsequent “halt of hospital services,” while two hospitals in the country’s south also said services had stopped.


Israeli military says it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters in ground operation

Updated 40 min 53 sec ago
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Israeli military says it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters in ground operation

  • The military was still assessing the damage caused by airstrikes in southern Beirut

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military estimates it has killed around 250 Hezbollah fighters, including a number of battalion and company commanders, since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this week, a military spokesperson said on Friday.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the military was still assessing the damage caused by airstrikes in southern Beirut on Thursday night, which he said targeted Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.


Iran FM says backs efforts for simultaneous Gaza-Lebanon ceasefire

Updated 47 min 43 sec ago
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Iran FM says backs efforts for simultaneous Gaza-Lebanon ceasefire

  • “We support the efforts for a ceasefire,” Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi said

BEIRUT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday said his country backed efforts for a simultaneous ceasefire with Israel in both the Palestinian territory of Gaza and Lebanon.
“We support the efforts for a ceasefire, provided that first, the rights of the Lebanese people are respected and it is accepted by the (Hezbollah) resistance, and second, that it comes simultaneously with a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said during a visit to Beirut.


Hunted yet unrepentant: Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel’s destruction

Updated 04 October 2024
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Hunted yet unrepentant: Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel’s destruction

  • For Sinwar, 62, armed struggle remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation
  • Now the conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel heavily degrading Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, including killing most of its leadership

GAZA STRIP: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unrepentant about the Oct. 7 attacks a year ago, people in contact with him say, despite unleashing an Israeli invasion that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, laid waste to his Gaza homeland and rained destruction on ally Hezbollah.
For Sinwar, 62, architect of the Hamas cross-border raids that became the deadliest day in Israel’s history, armed struggle remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation, four Palestinian officials and two sources from governments in the Middle East said.
The Oct. 7 attacks killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded by launching a massive offensive, killing 41,600 people and displacing 1.9 million, according to Palestinian health authorities and UN figures.
Now the conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel heavily degrading Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, including killing most of its leadership. Hamas patron Tehran is at risk of being pulled into open war with Israel.
Sinwar has drawn Iran and its entire “Axis of Resistance” — comprising Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraqi militias — into conflict with Israel, said Hassan Hassan, an author and researcher on Islamic groups.
“We’re seeing now the ripple effects of Oct.7. Sinwar’s gamble didn’t work,” Hassan said, suggesting that the Axis of Resistance may never recover.
“What Israel did to Hezbollah in two weeks is almost equal to a whole year of degrading Hamas in Gaza. With Hezbollah, three layers of leadership have been eliminated, its military command has been decimated, and its important leader Hassan Nasrallah has been assassinated,” added Hassan.
However, Sinwar’s grip on the Hamas remains unwavering, despite some signs of dissent among Gazans.
He was chosen as the Islamist movement’s overall leader after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in July by a suspected Israeli strike during a visit to Tehran. Israel has not confirmed its involvement in the strike.
Operating from the shadows of a network of labyrinthine tunnels under Gaza, two Israeli sources said Sinwar and his brother, also a top commander, appear to have so far survived Israeli airstrikes, which have reportedly killed his deputy Mohammed Deif and other senior leaders.
Dubbed “The Face of Evil” by Israel, Sinwar operates in secrecy, moving constantly and using trusted messengers for non-digital communication, according to three Hamas officials and one regional official. He has not been seen in public since Oct. 7.
Over months of failed ceasefire talks, led by Qatar and Egypt, that focused on swapping prisoners for hostages, Sinwar was the sole decision-maker, three Hamas sources said. Negotiators would wait for days for responses filtered through a secretive chain of messengers.
Hamas and Israel did not respond to requests for comment.
Sinwar’s high tolerance for suffering, both for himself and for the Palestinian people, in the name of a cause, was apparent when he helped negotiate the 2011 exchange of 1,027 prisoners, himself included, for one kidnapped Israeli soldier held in Gaza. The kidnapping by Hamas had led to an Israeli assault on the coastal enclave and thousands of Palestinian deaths. Half a dozen people who know Sinwar told Reuters his resolve was shaped by an impoverished childhood in Gaza’s refugee camps and a brutal 22 years in Israeli custody, including a period in Ashkelon, the town his parents called home before fleeing after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The question of hostages and prisoner swaps is deeply personal for Sinwar, said all the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about sensitive matters. He has vowed to free all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Sinwar became a member of Hamas soon after its founding in the 1980s, adopting the group’s radical Islamist ideology, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in historic Palestine and opposes Israel’s existence.
The ideology views Israel not only as a political rival but as an occupying force on Muslim land. Seen in this light, hardships and suffering are often interpreted by him and his followers as part of a larger Islamic belief of sacrifice, experts on Islamic movements say.
“What lies behind his resolve is tenacity of ideology, tenacity of goal. He’s ascetic and satisfied with little,” said one senior Hamas official who requested anonymity.

FROM SACKCLOTH TO LEADER
Before the war, Sinwar, would sometimes tell of his early life in Gaza during decades of Israeli occupation, once saying his mother made clothes from empty UN food-aid sacks, according to Gaza resident Wissam Ibrahim, who has met him.
In a semi-autobiographical novel written in prison, Sinwar described scenes of troops bulldozing Palestinian houses, “like a monster crushing its prey’s bones,” before Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
A ruthless enforcer tasked with punishing Palestinians suspected of informing for Israel, Sinwar then made his name as a prison leader, emerging as a street hero from a 22-year Israeli sentence for masterminding the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians. He then quickly rose to the top of the Hamas ranks.
His understanding of the everyday hardships and brutal realities in Gaza was well-received by Gazans and made people feel at ease, four journalists and three Hamas officials said, despite his fearsome reputation and explosive anger. Sinwar is regarded by Arab and Palestinian officials as the architect of Hamas’ strategy and military capabilities, bolstered through his strong ties with Iran, which he visited in 2012.
Before orchestrating the Oct. 7 raids Sinwar made no secret of his desire to strike his enemy hard.
In a speech the year before, he vowed to send a flood of fighters and rockets to Israel, hinting at a war that would either unite the world to establish a Palestinian state on land Israel occupied in 1967, or leave the Jewish nation isolated on the global stage. By the time of the speech, Sinwar and Deif had already hatched secret plans for the assault. They were even running training drills in public that simulated such an attack.
His goals have not been fulfilled. While the issue is once again at the top of the global agenda, the prospect of a Palestinian nation is as distant as ever. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has categorically rejected a post-war plan for Gaza that would include a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

’HEAD HARDER THAN A ROCK’
Sinwar was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to four life sentences, accused of orchestrating the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers and four suspected Palestinian informants.
Nabih Awadah, a former Lebanese Communist militant who was imprisoned with Sinwar in Ashkelon between 1991-95, said the Hamas leader viewed the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as “disastrous” and a ruse by Israel, which he said would only relinquish Palestinian land “by force, not by negotiations.”
Calling him “willful and dogmatic,” Awadah said Sinwar would light up with joy whenever he heard of attacks against Israelis by Hamas or Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. For him, military confrontation was the only path “to liberating Palestine” from Israeli occupation.
Awadah said Sinwar was an “influential model to all prisoners, even those who were not Islamists or religious.”
Michael Koubi, a former official with Israel’s Shin Bet security agency who interrogated Sinwar for 180 hours in prison, said Sinwar clearly stood out for his ability to intimidate and command.
Koubi once asked the militant, then aged 28 or 29, why he was not already married. “He told me Hamas is my wife, Hamas is my child. Hamas for me is everything.” Sinwar married after his release from prison in 2011 and has three children.
In jail, he continued to pursue Palestinian spies, Awadah said, echoing reports from Shin Bet interrogators.
His sharp instincts and caution allowed him to identify and expose Shin Bet informants infiltrated in the prison, Awadah said.
He said Sinwar’s leadership was pivotal during a hunger strike in 1992, in which he led over 1,000 prisoners to survive solely on water and salt. Sinwar negotiated with prison authorities and refused to settle for partial concessions. He also used his time in prison to learn fluent Hebrew.
Awadah said Sinwar frequently recalled that Ashkelon, where they were imprisoned together, was his family’s ancestral hometown.
When playing table tennis in the courtyard of Ashkelon jail, in present day Israel, Sinwar would often play barefoot, saying he wanted his feet to touch the land of Palestine.
“Sinwar often told us: ‘I’m not in prison; I’m on my land. I am free here, in my country.’”