According to The Telegraph: “In the UK, the situation in the Middle East is considered so dire that the army is preparing for an evacuation operation comparable in scale to the evacuation of British citizens from Kabul during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021”. According to Lebanese social media sources, the evacuation of the British has already begun: “The British have quietly begun evacuating Lebanon. The KS2 Voyager transport is accompanied by a Eurofighter Typhoon fighter”.
The United Kingdom updated its NOTAM for British aircraft over Lebanese airspace on August 7 from “consider potential risk” to “advise do not enter.” Canada issued a similar NOTAM advising Canadian aircraft to avoid Lebanon on August 1.
Cyprus President Nicos Christodoulides said the island’s authorities had received requests from at least 10 countries, including Britain and Canada, seeking assistance in evacuating their citizens from Lebanon if tensions continue to rise.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, calling it a “crime of aggression” and a “grave violation of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Saudi Arabia echoed this statement, reiterating its words.
Morocco lifts two intelligence balloons to a very high altitude, above 15,000 meters. The stratospheric balloon/blimp is an American balloon developed in collaboration with Israel. Hezbollah destroyed a similar one in an attack on a base near Safed not long ago. It is very advanced and acts as an Earth satellite.
According to Israeli media: “Israel has informed the United States in recent days through several military channels that it fears that Hezbollah may strike population centers.”
The Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations reiterates that: “Our priority is to punish the Israeli regime and prevent the repetition of similar terrorist attacks.” Murals have appeared in Tehran calling for Iran’s revenge on Israel. Iran has conducted its missile launch exercises. A NOTAM warning was issued earlier advising airlines not to fly in certain areas.
An Iranian security source in Arabic issued a threatening message: “There is a risk of fire in some areas and the danger zone has been set at an altitude of 12,000 feet” (over 3,600 meters).
According to Israeli media: “Iran is capable of launching 11,000 missiles per minute.” The same news was reported by the Iranian Fars Agency. Finally, according to Nazami News, there was an order for “immediate military training of the Joint Revolutionary Guards in the western and central regions of the country”. Finally, US sources report that Russia has begun to deliver the S-400 air defense system to Iran at Tehran’s request.
The Israeli daily Haaretz, states that according to an American official: “There are more and more signs of Russian participation in helping the Iranian Axis in military terms, and not just diplomatic ones”.
A voice is rising from Europe that calls for reason: Macron, French President: “I told the Iranian president that we must abandon the logic of revenge”. The Israeli media are currently also concerned about psychological warfare, about long-term tension, a war for which the Israeli army and citizens are not prepared.
Hamas awaits Yahya Sinwar’s decision to appoint a deputy who will exercise all his powers, among the candidates for the post of deputy head of the Political Bureau are Khaled Meshal, Khalil Al-Hayya and Musa Abu Marzouk.
On August 7th in the late afternoon, a statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces claimed responsibility for the attack on a ship (Contship Ono) in the Red Sea and two American destroyers as they were crossing the Armed Forces’ area of operations towards the northern Red Sea.
On the morning of August 8th, an air attack, two raids, in Hodeidah by US-British aircraft in the Al-Jabbana area, west of the city. In the afternoon, the usual speech by the leader of Ansar Allah, Abdul Malik Badr al-Din Al-Houthi: “Tomorrow is the day when loyalty and steadfastness are emphasized and a message of support and support is presented to the big brother mujahid Yahya Al-Sinwar and the mujaheddin of the Al-Qassam Brigades, and to the brothers in the Hamas movement for all the Palestinian people and all its factions”. Two million people are called to demonstrate in the Yemeni squares.
According to al Houthi: “The delay in the Axis response in general to the Israeli escalation is a purely tactical issue, with the aim that the response will have an impact on the enemy in exchange for its preparation. The Israeli enemy knows the inevitability of the response and that it cannot be reversed, and responds with preparations supervised by the Americans and in which the West and some Arab regimes cooperate. There is nothing that can distract from the decision to respond, such as intimidation or pressure. There are persistent efforts by the Americans and Europeans, and some Arab regimes, to contain the response. Communications, messages and mediators have not stopped trying to convince especially the Islamic Republic that its response would be modest, simple, ineffective and effective”.
The Houthis will continue “the path of support continues from southern Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, and the question of the response is inevitable and beyond doubt. Some Arab regimes still classify the Palestinian factions, led by Al-Qassam, Hamas, Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the mujahideen, as terrorists. The most heinous crimes of genocide committed by the Israeli enemy do not deserve, in the eyes of some Arab regimes, to be described as crimes and terrorism despite their horror. This week, the Yemeni Support Front carried out operations with 16 ballistic missiles and drones, the most important of which targeted two American destroyers and shot down an MQ9 drone.”
“The number of ships targeted by the Yemeni Support Front has reached 177. With the decrease in the movement of ships linked to the Americans and the British or carrying goods for the Israeli enemy, the process of fishing for what passes by at sea has become a rare case. The reduction of maritime traffic exploited by the enemy is a great victory for our Yemeni armed forces and the Yemeni Support Front.”
“One of the declared and explicit results of our support operations was the failure of the port of Eilat and media reports from inside the port showed that it was completely unusable for any activity,” al Houthi continues.
And now a look at the situation Israel – Hamas – Hezbollah updated at 16:30 on August 8.
Settlers block Begin Road in Tel Aviv during a demonstration to demand an exchange deal for the release of prisoners held in Gaza.
A fire broke out in “Meron” in northern Israel following the fall of rockets from southern Lebanon. According to the Israeli press, rockets fell in the “Yara” area in Western Galilee. The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon has claimed an attack against espionage equipment at the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba.
Sirens in action in Nahariya. The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon also claims: “We have bombarded with Katyusha rockets the Iron Dome platforms, the Israeli artillery positions and the deployment of its vehicles in the “Khirbet Manot” area in Western Galilee”. Another attack claimed against Israeli soldiers at the Marj site with an armed drone. And an attack against the Al-Malikiyah site with artillery shells. Alarms and interceptions in Safed and other areas. Fire is reported in Safed.
Israeli raids: against a car in Yarin, injuries reported; Israeli incursion throughout the city of Nabatieh bombed a house in the village of Al-Duwair; on the outskirts of Kufour. The outskirts of Hadada Rashaf were also hit; Houla city, artillery strike targets outskirts of Aitaroun city, all areas are in southern Lebanon.
Israeli aircraft launch a raid on Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza. Abdel Fattah Hamoud school in Jaffa, which hosts displaced people in the Al-Tuffah area, north of Gaza City, was hit. Palestinian sources speak of an Israeli artillery strike against targets east of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip
The Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades claim to have shot down an Israeli quadcopter and add “we took control of it while it was carrying out intelligence missions in the sky of Bureij camp”. One dead and 10 wounded following the Israeli bombing of the Shaldan family home near the Yarmouk Stadium in the Al-Sahaba area in central Gaza City.
Al-Quds Brigades: “We bombed the Zionist enemy’s command and control headquarters on the “Netzarim” axis with 107 missiles. Five dead and two wounded were recovered after Israel bombed a house of the Ahmed family in the Al-Qarara area of Khan Yunis, and the search for missing persons is ongoing.
IDF announces killing of Hamas leader Nael Al-Sakhl in West Bank.
In a statement, the IDF said its activity continues throughout the Gaza Strip. “IDF troops are continuing precise, intelligence-led operations in the Rafah area. Throughout the day, troops conducted targeted raids on military sites in the area, eliminated Hamas fighters during close-quarters clashes, and dismantled Hamas infrastructure sites in the area, including a booby-trapped facility in the Tel al-Sultan area.”
Additionally, IDF troops are continuing to operate in central Gaza. During one of the activities, troops struck and dismantled an observation post from which Hamas was operating in the area.
Throughout the day, the IAF struck dozens of Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip, including a military facility from which militants fired at IDF troops, military infrastructure sites, gunmen, and a launching site in northern Gaza from which Hamas fired projectiles toward southern Israel a few days ago.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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