An intense weekend on the Middle Eastern scene. The hostilities began on September 8 with a shooting on the border between Israel and Jordan. Three Israeli security officers were killed by a Jordanian truck driver. Jordanian media reported the closure of the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge, the largest crossing between Israel and Jordan, due to the incident. Israel closed all crossings, which were then reopened on September 10. The attacker was a 39-year-old Jordanian man: Maher Al-Jazi. Weeks ago, in the aftermath of the death of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the Axis of the Islamic Resistance had declared that it had groups ready in Jordan.
On the night of September 8, Israel carried out its largest attack against Syrian sites, in particular targeting Hamas, with five air strikes and at least 15 missile attacks. The initial death toll is 16 victims and at least 40 injured. Tartus, Damascus, Homs were also hit, and the Mezaif research center in Hama was destroyed. Israel most likely wanted to nullify Syrian offensive capabilities in anticipation of an attack in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
In Syria, these attacks were recorded as one of the largest waves of Israeli attacks against Syria since Operation House of Cards in 2018. According to Israeli sources, the Scientific Research Center in Hama was an alleged heavy weapons production site, hit to prevent missiles from reaching Hezbollah and other partners of the Axis of the Resistance. Israeli sources also claim that the targets in Syria are affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Syrian Foreign Ministry, led by Faisal Mekdad, said: “Syria affirms its firm right to defend its territorial sovereignty and liberate the occupied land by all legitimate means. Israel launched a blatant air strike from northwestern Lebanon, hitting several areas, killing 16 people and wounding 36 others. The support of the United States and Western countries has emboldened Israel in its continued aggression, which makes these countries partners in the aggression. We affirm our firm right to defend the sovereignty of our lands and liberate the occupied territories from them by all legitimate means guaranteed by international law. We call on the countries of the world to condemn the Israeli aggression against Syria and to work to end the systematic crimes of the occupation and hold its leaders accountable.”
Iran also issued statements; the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami: “Iran’s revenge on Israel will be different this time. The nightmare of the Iranian reaction shakes the Zionists day and night. Their leaders are mad, confused and waiting for death. Israel will taste the bitter taste of revenge: when? How? Where? This time it will be done differently and this secret will be revealed to everyone.” “The Israelis should not think that they can hit us and run away, they will definitely be hit and will not be able to run away.”
On September 9, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani spoke out, saying that the Zionist regime in Israel is opening the gates of hell by refusing to sign a ceasefire that could end nearly a year of brutal war in Gaza.
A protest rally was held in Tel Aviv to demand that the Israeli government take measures to free the Hamas hostages. According to organizers, the rally was attended by about 500,000 people. According to the Times of Israel, this makes it the largest in the country’s history.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing the IDF to open the northern front. “I have instructed the Israeli army and all security forces to prepare for a change in the situation in the north,” Maariv source said. And Channel 12 reported: “The battle in Lebanon is approaching, although the exact timing has not yet been decided, and Israel has two options: either to reach an agreement to stop the war in Gaza or the collapse of negotiations and the outbreak of a full-scale war with Hezbollah.” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz is threatening to dissolve the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Ynet source reported. “If the Palestinians, with their actions, provoke serious measures against Israel, then we will resort to severe measures against the Palestinian Authority, up to a complete cessation of cooperation with it and its dissolution,” Katz, Israel’s Foreign Minister, said.
The arrival of US CENTCOM commander Michael Kurilla suggests that the northern front will soon open. Kurilla along with senior US military officials arrived in Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. Ori Gordin, head of the Israeli Northern Command, will present the “IDF operational plans for Lebanon” during his meeting with US CENTCOM commander Michael Kurilla. Israeli sources say the next 48 hours will be decisive for the opening of the front or for peace agreements.
Russia, through Sergei Lavrov, has spoken out in favor of an agreement: “The Israeli authorities are ignoring the “Biden plan” and a ceasefire must be reached immediately in Gaza. There are those who want a large regional war to break out in the Middle East, which we must deal with, Israel is imposing impossible conditions in exchange for the rational initiatives presented by mediators, including Egypt and Qatar. We are working with all parties because the Palestinian crisis has turned into conflicts on the Lebanese-Israeli border and in the Red Sea. The Middle East is on the brink of a large regional war.”
Hamas responded to Israel by announcing that Mohammed Deif is still alive, despite Israel’s claims that he was assassinated in July.
On September 7, a US MQ-9 Reaper UAV was shot down by the Houthi-led Yemeni army in rural Marib. Over the past 10 months, the Houthis have shot down eight MQ-9 Reaper drones, whose combined cost reaches $240 million. On September 8, the Pentagon claimed to have destroyed three Houthi UAVs and two missile systems in Yemen in the past 24 hours. The Political Bureau of Ansar Allah in a statement condemned the Israeli attack “against the Syrian region of Masyaf, which constitutes a clear violation of Syria’s sovereignty and international law”
And now a look at the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah escalation updated at 16:00 on September 9.
Hezbollah has launched a series of rocket attacks against northern Israel in revenge for the attacks in Syria. Israeli sources report that about 100,000 settlers have entered shelters after Hezbollah attacked several areas in northern Israel with a swarm of drones.
The Al-Quds Brigades have claimed attacks against Ashkelon and settlements around the Gaza Strip with rocket attacks. Sirens sounded in “Arab Al-Aramsha” in northern Israel. Red alerts in northern Israel towards Kiryat Shmona. Rocket launches detected from Lebanon in the “Finger of Galilee”. Channel 12 reported “noisy skies” in northern and southern Israel all morning. The Axis of Resistance attacked Nahariyya. The Israeli newspaper Hadeshot Bazman reports a direct hit of a suicide drone against a building in Nahariyya. Around 10:00 in the morning the second wave of drones arrived against northern Israel. A skyscraper was hit in Nahariyya. From fragments of missiles for the Israeli defense. Red alerts were launched in northern Acre, further south of Nahariyya. More drones are coming.
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon claimed the attack on the site “Jal al-Alam” targeted by two attack planes that directly hit their targets. Al-Fajr Forces, the military wing of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, reported attacking the site “Beit Hilal” in the settlement “Kiryat Shmona”.
Israel carried out artillery shelling against the outskirts of the city of “Naqoura” in southern Lebanon
Palestinian sources reported Israeli artillery shelling near the University of Gaza on Road 8 in the neighborhood of Al-Zaytoun, southeast of Gaza City. And more shelling in northern Gaza on al Silka Street. Israeli shelling against a house belonging to the “Al-Hanawi” family in Jabalia Al-Balad, northern Gaza Strip. And more airstrikes south of the neighborhood of Al-Sabra, south of Gaza City. Renewed shooting by Israeli vehicles and drones was recorded in the vicinity of Al-Dawa Street, east of Al-Nuseirat camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip. Artillery this afternoon fired shells and fire in the town of Khuza’a, east of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
IDF forces are conducting an “encirclement” of Jericho, West Bank, in response to the attack on King Hussein Bridge. King Hussein Bridge directly connects Jericho to Jordan. Al-Quds Brigades – Tulkarem Brigade: Claims responsibility for an IED attack on an Israeli military vehicle in Tulkarem camp.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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