20 dec 2015
Samir al-Kuntar
The Israeli Air Force assassinated, on Saturday at night, the former political prisoner and senior Hezbollah leader, Samir al-Kuntar, in an air strike in the Jermana area of the Syrian capital Damascus.
The Hezbollah party in Lebanon said the Israeli Air Force violated Syrian air space at around 10:30 at night, and fired five missiles into a residential building, killing six people, including al-Kuntar, and wounding at least twelve others.
The Civil Defense Forces in Jermana said two Israeli war jets violated Syrian airspace and struck the building with four missiles.
Initial reports were first unconfirmed, but his brother later announced on his Twitter account the confirmed dead of al-Kuntar.
Samir al-Kuntar spent 29 years in Israeli prisons, and was released on July 16 2008, under a prisoner-swap agreement reached through negotiation between Hezbollah and the Israeli government through a third party.
As part of the agreement, Israel released al-Kuntar and four other Hezbollah members, who were taken prisoner during the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, in which Israeli troops invaded and bombed Southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah fired rockets across the border into Israel.
Hezbollah is the leading party in southern Lebanon, and has a fighting force that works to deflect further Israeli invasions into Lebanon.
The 2008 agreement also included the transfer of the remains of 199 fighters, including Palestinian and Lebanese fighters, in exchange for Hezbollah releasing the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during the war.
Retired Israeli major general and current Member of Knesset (Parliament) with the Zionist Union party, Major. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven, hailed the reports of the assassination, and said that the Air Force and all others involved in the incident “should be commended for the successful operation.”
Ben-Reuven, the former head of the Northern Command on the Israeli army, said the Israeli government is preparing for retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah.
Israel held al-Kuntar responsible for the April 22nd 1979 attack that led to the death of four Israelis: a police officer, an Israeli civilian and his 4-year-old daughter, while the man’s other daughter, 2, was accidentally suffocated by her mother, while trying to keep her quiet. The attackers allegedly kidnapped the family in Nahariya and took them to a beach, then tried to load their hostages on a rubber boat.
Israeli police decided to attack with full force instead of attempting to negotiate, and the father of the family and a police officer were killed. The 4-year old was killed when her head hit a rock during the scuffle. Two fighters, identified as Abdul-Majid Aslan and Moayyad Mhanna, were killed, while al-Kuntar and Ahmad al-Abrass were captured. Al-Abrass was later released, along with 1150 detainees, in a prisoner swap agreement, led by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.
After capturing al-Kuntar, an Israeli court sentenced him to five life-terms, Upon his release in the prisoner swap deal, he returned to Lebanon and joined Hezbollah, then went on to live in Syria. Video
The Israeli Air Force assassinated, on Saturday at night, the former political prisoner and senior Hezbollah leader, Samir al-Kuntar, in an air strike in the Jermana area of the Syrian capital Damascus.
The Hezbollah party in Lebanon said the Israeli Air Force violated Syrian air space at around 10:30 at night, and fired five missiles into a residential building, killing six people, including al-Kuntar, and wounding at least twelve others.
The Civil Defense Forces in Jermana said two Israeli war jets violated Syrian airspace and struck the building with four missiles.
Initial reports were first unconfirmed, but his brother later announced on his Twitter account the confirmed dead of al-Kuntar.
Samir al-Kuntar spent 29 years in Israeli prisons, and was released on July 16 2008, under a prisoner-swap agreement reached through negotiation between Hezbollah and the Israeli government through a third party.
As part of the agreement, Israel released al-Kuntar and four other Hezbollah members, who were taken prisoner during the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, in which Israeli troops invaded and bombed Southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah fired rockets across the border into Israel.
Hezbollah is the leading party in southern Lebanon, and has a fighting force that works to deflect further Israeli invasions into Lebanon.
The 2008 agreement also included the transfer of the remains of 199 fighters, including Palestinian and Lebanese fighters, in exchange for Hezbollah releasing the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during the war.
Retired Israeli major general and current Member of Knesset (Parliament) with the Zionist Union party, Major. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven, hailed the reports of the assassination, and said that the Air Force and all others involved in the incident “should be commended for the successful operation.”
Ben-Reuven, the former head of the Northern Command on the Israeli army, said the Israeli government is preparing for retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah.
Israel held al-Kuntar responsible for the April 22nd 1979 attack that led to the death of four Israelis: a police officer, an Israeli civilian and his 4-year-old daughter, while the man’s other daughter, 2, was accidentally suffocated by her mother, while trying to keep her quiet. The attackers allegedly kidnapped the family in Nahariya and took them to a beach, then tried to load their hostages on a rubber boat.
Israeli police decided to attack with full force instead of attempting to negotiate, and the father of the family and a police officer were killed. The 4-year old was killed when her head hit a rock during the scuffle. Two fighters, identified as Abdul-Majid Aslan and Moayyad Mhanna, were killed, while al-Kuntar and Ahmad al-Abrass were captured. Al-Abrass was later released, along with 1150 detainees, in a prisoner swap agreement, led by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.
After capturing al-Kuntar, an Israeli court sentenced him to five life-terms, Upon his release in the prisoner swap deal, he returned to Lebanon and joined Hezbollah, then went on to live in Syria. Video
17 nov 2015
The Israeli Prime Minister's visit to Washington last week included a meeting with President Obama, in which the two discussed the status of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel invaded and occupied the Syrian territory known as the 'Golan Heights' in 1967, and has maintained a military and civilian presence there ever since. But the Israeli claim on the territory has never been recognized by the international community.
Now, according to some analysts, the Israeli government has a new reason to secure their illegal annexation of the Syrian land: oil.
Last month Afek, an Israeli subsidiary of the U-S-based Genie Energy, announced the discovery of huge reserves of oil in the region.
The company’s chief geologist in Israel, Yuval Bartov, said the reserves could potentially hold billions of barrels of oil.
Afek’s license to do exploratory drilling was renewed by the Israeli government for two years in October, shortly after the finding of the oil reserves.
But the land on which the oil is located is actually Syrian territory.
And despite the Israeli government claim to the oil, and the licensing of ten experimental wells, analysts say the discovery of oil in Golan may re-ignite the conflict between Israel and Syria over the control of the Golan Heights.
Israel invaded and occupied the Syrian territory known as the 'Golan Heights' in 1967, and has maintained a military and civilian presence there ever since. But the Israeli claim on the territory has never been recognized by the international community.
Now, according to some analysts, the Israeli government has a new reason to secure their illegal annexation of the Syrian land: oil.
Last month Afek, an Israeli subsidiary of the U-S-based Genie Energy, announced the discovery of huge reserves of oil in the region.
The company’s chief geologist in Israel, Yuval Bartov, said the reserves could potentially hold billions of barrels of oil.
Afek’s license to do exploratory drilling was renewed by the Israeli government for two years in October, shortly after the finding of the oil reserves.
But the land on which the oil is located is actually Syrian territory.
And despite the Israeli government claim to the oil, and the licensing of ten experimental wells, analysts say the discovery of oil in Golan may re-ignite the conflict between Israel and Syria over the control of the Golan Heights.
23 aug 2015
Kuwaiti Al-Rai reports that Hezbollah fears Israel is attempting an escalation as Jerusalem believes "that its situation is critical and will soon be tested"; this follows IDF response attack eliminating Islamic Jihad cell that launched rockets at the Galilee and the Golan Heights.
Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported Saturday, that Hezbollah has increased its general alert level along the border with Israel, "for fear of attempts by Israel to drag Lebanon and Syria into an escalation of a state less than war but more than an operation."
Officials who spoke with the newspaper said that the Lebanese terrorist organization believes that Israel is getting ready for some sort of action, because the leadership in Jerusalem believes "that its situation is critical and will soon be tested" in view of the recent signing of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Hezbollah, the report added, raised its alert level to the highest possible in order to deal with a war scenario, similar to the Second Lebanon War, while taking into account that things could escalate into an outburst of a wider war.
Saturday night, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern concerning flagrant violations of the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria." In response to the rocket fire on the Galilee and the IDF's response attack, Ban's office said: "The UN Secretary General condemns all violations and calls on both parties to refrain from actions that endanger the cease-fire between Israel and Syria and undermine stability in the region." He added that "the parties must show maximum restraint to prevent an escalation."
The tension on the northern border is at its highest since the firing of four rockets on Wednesday at the Golan and Galilee, the first shooting from Syria at the Galilee since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The IDF announced Friday morning that it killed the terrorist cell which launched the rockets at Israel. At least four people were killed in that attack.
Even before that attack Israel responded by bombing Syrian targets. Syria's news agency quoted a military official who reported that a Syrian army soldier was killed in the bombing by the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The IAFand armored units and artillery attacked 14 Syrian regime targets in the center of the Syria's Golan Heights, the most extensive IDF attack in Syria in recent years.
Friday Arab media published the first photographs documenting the alleged vehicle of the rocket launchers bombed by the IDF in Syria. The Al Mayadeen television network, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that three of those killed were Palestinians and one Syrian.
A senior IDF officer said the attack was carried out by aircraft. "We followed the cell and it was attacked at a distance of 10 to 15 kilometers from the border , in an area in the total control of the Syrian army," said the military source. He estimated that it was an "Islamic Jihad cell controlled by Iran."
Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported Saturday, that Hezbollah has increased its general alert level along the border with Israel, "for fear of attempts by Israel to drag Lebanon and Syria into an escalation of a state less than war but more than an operation."
Officials who spoke with the newspaper said that the Lebanese terrorist organization believes that Israel is getting ready for some sort of action, because the leadership in Jerusalem believes "that its situation is critical and will soon be tested" in view of the recent signing of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Hezbollah, the report added, raised its alert level to the highest possible in order to deal with a war scenario, similar to the Second Lebanon War, while taking into account that things could escalate into an outburst of a wider war.
Saturday night, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern concerning flagrant violations of the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria." In response to the rocket fire on the Galilee and the IDF's response attack, Ban's office said: "The UN Secretary General condemns all violations and calls on both parties to refrain from actions that endanger the cease-fire between Israel and Syria and undermine stability in the region." He added that "the parties must show maximum restraint to prevent an escalation."
The tension on the northern border is at its highest since the firing of four rockets on Wednesday at the Golan and Galilee, the first shooting from Syria at the Galilee since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The IDF announced Friday morning that it killed the terrorist cell which launched the rockets at Israel. At least four people were killed in that attack.
Even before that attack Israel responded by bombing Syrian targets. Syria's news agency quoted a military official who reported that a Syrian army soldier was killed in the bombing by the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The IAFand armored units and artillery attacked 14 Syrian regime targets in the center of the Syria's Golan Heights, the most extensive IDF attack in Syria in recent years.
Friday Arab media published the first photographs documenting the alleged vehicle of the rocket launchers bombed by the IDF in Syria. The Al Mayadeen television network, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that three of those killed were Palestinians and one Syrian.
A senior IDF officer said the attack was carried out by aircraft. "We followed the cell and it was attacked at a distance of 10 to 15 kilometers from the border , in an area in the total control of the Syrian army," said the military source. He estimated that it was an "Islamic Jihad cell controlled by Iran."
