Israeli strike in Syria kills senior Hezbollah figures

Israel, Hezbollah signal their flare-up is over Thu, Jan 29 12:19 PM EST image 1 of 11 By Dan Williams and Laila Bassam JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel and Hezbollah signaled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week. Israel said it had received a message from UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, that Hezbollah was not interested in further escalation. In Beirut, a Lebanese source briefed on the situation told Reuters that Israel informed Hezbollah via UNIFIL "that it will make do with what happened yesterday and it does not want the battle to expand". Asked on Israel's Army Radio whether Hezbollah had sought to de-escalate, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: "There are lines of coordination between us and Lebanon via UNIFIL and such a message was indeed received from Lebanon." A salvo of Hezbollah guided missiles killed an Israeli infantry major and a conscript soldier as they rode in unmarked civilian vehicles along the Lebanese border on Wednesday. Israel then launched an artillery and air barrage, and a Spanish peacekeeper was killed. Spain's ambassador to the U.N. blamed the Israeli fire for his death. Israel said on Thursday that its deputy foreign minister met the ambassador to voice regret at the death and promise an inquiry. Wednesday's clash was one of the most serious on that border since 2006, when Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war. Quiet returned on Thursday, though Lebanese media reported overflights by Israeli air force drones. Both sides appear to share an interest in avoiding further escalation. Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in 2006, is busy backing Damascus in Syria's civil war. It may also be mindful of the ruin Israel has threatened to wreak on Lebanon should they again enter a full-on conflict. Israel is gearing up for a March 17 general election and gauging the costs of its offensive on the Gaza Strip last year against Palestinian guerrillas, whose arsenal is dwarfed by Hezbollah's powerful long-range rockets. The Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah is a part, said in a statement it was determined to keep stability in southern Lebanon and to deny the "Israeli enemy the chance to drag Lebanon to a wide confrontation". REVENGE In a separate interview, Yaalon described Israeli forces on the Lebanese border as being vigilant, but not on war footing. "I can't say whether the events are behind us," he told Israel Radio. "Until the area completely calms down, the Israel Defense Forces will remain prepared and ready." Yaalon termed Wednesday's Hezbollah attack "revenge" for the Israeli air strike on Jan. 18 in southern Syria that killed several Hezbollah members, including a senior operative, along with an Iranian general. Israel has not formally acknowledged carrying out the air strike, but Yaalon said it had set back Hezbollah and Iranian efforts to "open a new front" against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights. UNIFIL officials did not confirm or deny passing messages between Israel and Hezbollah. UNIFIL says it has no contacts with Hezbollah but its head of mission was in close contact with Israel and the Lebanese government throughout the day. The channel of communication "is still open now and it is always open in order to ask the parties to exercise maximum restraint", spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. During Wednesday's flare-up, Israeli troops launched a search for suspected tunnels that Hezbollah might use to send in guerrillas for a cross-border attack - a tactic employed by Palestinian Hamas fighters during the 2014 Gaza war. "No tunnels have been found so far," Yaalon told Army Radio. (Additional reporting by Issam Abdullah in Beirut; Writing by Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Dominic Evans) =============================== Two Israeli soldiers, U.N. peacekeeper killed in Israel-Hezbollah violence Wed, Jan 28 10:01 AM EST image 1 of 3 By Jeffrey Heller and Sylvia Westall JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel that has raised fears of a full-blown conflict between the militant Islamist group and the Jewish state. In the biggest escalation since a 2006 war, the soldiers were killed when Hezbollah fired a missile at Israeli military vehicles on the frontier with Lebanon. The peacekeeper, serving with a U.N. monitoring force in southern Lebanon, died after the attack as Israel responded with air strikes and artillery fire, a U.N. spokesman and Spanish officials said. Hezbollah said one of its brigades in the area carried out the attack, which appeared to be in retaliation for a Jan. 18 Israeli air strike in southern Syria that killed several Hezbollah members as well as an Iranian general. It came hours after Israeli jets bombed positions near the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel's military said was in response to rocket fire from Syria. Tensions in the region, where the frontiers of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet and militant groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are active, have been bubbling for months but have boiled over in the past 10 days. The Israeli military confirmed the death of the soldiers. Hospital officials said a further seven had been wounded, although none had life-threatening injuries. Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said the peacekeeper's death was under investigation. UNIFIL has more than 10,000 peacekeepers. The United Nations' special coordinator for Lebanon, Dutch diplomat Sigrid Kaag, called on all parties to refrain from any action that could further destabilize the situation. The frontier has largely been quiet since 2006, when Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in which 120 people in Israel and more than 500 in Lebanon were killed. Since the end of the war with Hamas militants in Gaza last year, Israel has warned of frictions on the northern border, including the possibility that Hezbollah might dig tunnels to infiltrate the Jewish state. In recent days it has moved more troops and military equipment into the area. RISING THREAT A retired Israeli army officer, Major-General Israel Ziv, said he believed Wednesday's assault was an attempt by Hezbollah to draw Israel more deeply into the war in Syria, where Hezbollah is fighting alongside forces loyal to President Assad. "Israel needs to protect its interests but not take any unnecessary steps that may pull us into the conflict in Syria," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made security his top priority ahead of a parliamentary election on March 17, said Israel was "prepared to act powerfully on all fronts", adding: "Security comes before everything else." His office accused Iran of being behind what was described as a "criminal terror attack". Iran is a major funder of Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group headed by Hassan Nasrallah. In a communique, Hezbollah described Wednesday's operation as "statement number one", indicating that a further response was possible. Nasrallah is expected to announce the group's formal reaction to Israel's Jan. 18 air strike on Friday. In Beirut, celebratory gunfire rang out after the attack, while residents in the southern suburbs of the city, where Hezbollah is strong, packed their bags and prepared to evacuate neighborhoods that were heavily bombed by Israel in 2006. In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups praised Hezbollah. It remains to be seen whether Israel and Hezbollah will back away from further confrontation. With an Israeli election looming and Hezbollah deeply involved in support of Assad in Syria, there would appear to be little interest in a wider conflict for either side. Regional analysts said they did not expect events to spiral. "Netanyahu most likely realizes that a prolonged military engagement in Lebanon could cost him the election," said Ayham Kamel and Riccardo Fabiani of the Eurasia Group. "Instead, Israel will pursue limited actions targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, but the low scale tit-for-tat exchanges will not broaden into a wider war." (Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell, Luke Baker and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem, Laila Bassam and Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Julien Toyer in Madrid and Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) ==================== Israeli strike in Syria kills senior Hezbollah figures Sun, Jan 18 17:01 PM EST By Mariam Karouny and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - An Israeli helicopter strike in Syria killed a commander from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, Hezbollah said, in a major blow that could lead to reprisal attacks. The strike hit a convoy carrying Jihad Moughniyah and commander Mohamad Issa, known as Abu Issa, in the province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing six Hezbollah members in all, a statement from the group said. It comes just days after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said frequent Israeli strikes in Syria were a major aggression, that the group was stronger than before and that Syria and its allies had the right to respond. Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, has been fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria's four-year war. Iran's semi-official Tabnak news site said several of its Revolutionary Guards had also been killed in the attack, without giving further details. State-run Iranian television said the identity of the "martyrs" could not be confirmed. The Hezbollah-run al-Manar news channel said the Israeli attack suggested "the enemy has gone crazy because of Hezbollah's growing capabilities and it could lead to a costly adventure that will put the Middle East at stake". Israel's military declined to comment, but an Israeli security source confirmed to Reuters that the Israeli military had carried out the attack. It was not immediately clear what role Jihad Moughniyah, in his 20s, was playing in the fighting in Syria. Hezbollah accused Israel in 2008 of assassinating his father, Imad Moughniyah, who was implicated in high-profile attacks on Israeli and Western targets and wanted by the United States. Israel denies any involvement in that killing.

Nabil Boumonsef, a columnist at the Lebanon newspaper an-Nahar, said he believed the strike was a direct response to Nasrallah's speech and could lead to a backlash. "Killing the son of Moughniyah is dangerous. I do not think that the group can be quiet now, now that the father and the son are killed. I expect that it will do something,” he said.

U.N. peacekeepers intensified their patrols on the border between Lebanon and Israel on Sunday night, local sources said. RETALIATION THREAT Imad Moughniyah was implicated in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine and French peacekeeping barracks in Beirut, which killed over 350 people, as well as the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. The United States indicted him for his role in planning and participating in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a U.S. TWA airliner and the killing of an American passenger. He was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008. Jihad Moughniyah appeared in public for the first time a week after his father's death to pledge loyalty to Nasrallah. "We are with you and we will go wherever you go. We will never leave the battlefield and we will never drop our guns, we answer for you Nasrallah," Jihad, then aged 16, said wearing the group's military uniform in front of thousands of mourners. Al-Manar television said earlier that a number of fighters were killed when they were checking an area in Quneitra when their convoy came under Israeli missile attack. Quneitra has seen heavy fighting between forces loyal to Assad and rebels including fighters linked to al Qaeda. Syrian state television said six people were killed in the attack and a child was wounded, without giving further details. Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hezbollah, Israel's long-time foe in neighboring Lebanon. Syria said last month that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon. Nasrallah said on Thursday "the frequent attacks on different sites in Syria is a major breach. We consider (those) hostilities (to be) against all the resistance axis." "(Retaliation) is an open issue," he added. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and some Palestinian factions consider themselves an "axis of resistance" against Israel. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Writing by Oliver Holmes and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Editing by Alison Williams) -------------------------- A Puzzling Escalation in the Golan Posted by Qifa Nabki ⋅ January 19, 2015 ⋅ 20 Comments Filed Under Golan Heights, Imad Mughniyeh, Iran, IRGC, Syrian Civil War Jihad Mughnieh appears above in photographs with Qassem Soleimani and Hassan Nasrallah. Jihad Mughniyeh appears above in photographs with Qassem Soleimani and Hassan Nasrallah. Mughniyeh was killed in a strike by an Israeli gunship in the Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan Heights yesterday. (h/t Firas Maksad) The Syrian vortex has made strange bedfellows over the past year. The rise of the Islamic State had the effect of briefly putting everyone else on the same team, a federation of American fighter pilots, Hizbullah commandos, Syrian Army rank-and-file, and Iranian military strategists. Israel contributed the odd play, but mostly communicated its support for Team World in the language of press conferences and interviews with ex-Mossad chiefs. Some even wondered whether a more enduring geopolitical realignment was underway… This was the backdrop to Israel’s puzzling strike in the Golan yesterday, which killed six members of Hizbullah and several Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Among the dead were Jihad Mughniyeh (son of the assassinated Hizbullah kingpin, Imad Mughniyeh), whose pictures with Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem Soleimani, Naim Qassem, and other top brass are all over the Internet. More importantly, the casualties included Mohammed Issa, whom some outlets have identified as Hizbullah’s commander of field operations in Syria. As expected, Hizbullah has vowed to retaliate. These threats have been empty, of late; however, I think this operation will compel the party to act. For one thing, the recent revelation that Hizbullah’s overseas operations were thwarted by an Israeli mole has made the party look unusually vulnerable and distracted by the Syrian conflagration. Optics may be a minor concern for a party that thinks like a state, but there are strategic implications to consider as well. For one thing, when was the last time that an Iranian general was killed by an Israeli missile? The game of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” was bound to be short-lived. Still, I find this escalation to be very puzzling. I can think of two ways to interpret the strike: 1.Israel either knew exactly who it was targeting, and is now changing the rules of the game in Syria (and potentially beyond Syria). 2.Israel was moving to protect one of its spying devices and ended up squashing a more high-profile target than it had intended. Neither argument is entirely convincing. Thoughts? Update: Apparently Jabat al-Nusra is claiming that it was responsible for the above operation, and not Israel. That would certainly make more sense, but it doesn’t explain why Israel took credit for the operation. According to Al-Monitor, Israel and Jabhat al-Nusra have been coordinating operations in the Quneitra area since last fall, but I haven’t seen reports of this anywhere else. Update: Apparently, the hashtag “#جهزوا_ملاجئكم” (#PrepareYourShelters) has been trending on Twitter since yesterday. Hizbullah’s TV station, al-Manar, mocked up a graphic of the hashtag in Arabic and Hebrew. ------

AIG said: The Lebanese border was not quiet between 2000 and 2006. There were many attacks under the implied “understanding” that if Hezbollah attacked Sheba farms it was “ok” and would not escalate too much. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9306_Shebaa_Farms_conflict The success of the 2006 war was in changing this equation and making the border completely quiet. Hezbollah/Iran are trying to create new “understandings” in the Golan so that attacks there would not lead to a devastating war. Israel just “explained” to them that this will not happen. - If the options are a Nusra controlled border or a Hezbollah/Iran controlled border, we will go with the former. Iranian/Hezbollah-controlled borders have been pretty good for Israel, no? With the exception of 2006, Israel’s northern border has been quiet when policed by Iran and its allies. Why throw your lot in with JN after not much of a track record? Is it because they represent much less of a threat?

Al-Nusra Front claims responsibility for Hezbollah fighters' death . Monday, 19 January 2015 09:41 .. Hezbollah - Jihad Mughniyeh Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the death of Hezbollah's Jihad Mughniyeh [pictured] Hezbollah's Jihad Mughniyeh and six Iranian officers were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush yesterday in Jaroud in the Al-Qalamoun region of south Syria, websites close to Al-Nusra revealed. The websites refuted reports by Hezbollah that the men had been killed in an Israeli raid on Al- Qunaytirah. Abu Azzam Al-Idlibi, a member of Al-Nusra Front, said: "The killing of Jihad Imad Mughniyeh in an ambush at Jaroud, Syria, will be the end of the Persian project, God willing." Al-Idlibi challenged Hezbollah to release the pictures of its fighters and officers, tweeting: "From now and within the next two days, if the corpses of the Hezbollah leaders are released, then we can say they were targeted by the Israelis. Yet, if these pictures are not released, then this proves that they were killed by the mujahideen." Previously, sources close to Hezbollah had said that an Israeli raid on the Al-Qunaytirah region had led to the killing of commander Muhammad Issa and Jihad, the son of Hezbollah's former military commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008. A source told the Anadolu Agency: "Six Iranians including Abu Ali al-Tabtabai, an Iranian field commander, were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Syria's Quneitra province." "The attack also led to the killing of five Hezbollah members including two leaders as well as the son of former Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh". In a statement, Hezbollah said: "In an air strike, the Israeli air force targeted a group of our members as they toured a farm in Al-Qunaytirah." A Lebanese security source said: "Hezbollah announced a general alert among its ranks on the southern Lebanese border with Israel." Neither Israel, Syria nor Lebanon issued an official statement about the reports. =============== How Israel monitored the Iranian General form Damascus to Quneitra? http://alrai.li/hjolor @AlraiMediaGroup #Israel #Iran #Hezbollah Hezbollah commander killed was an expert in the Quneitra area & high ground http://alrai.li/hjolor @AlraiMediaGroup #Israel #Hezbollah Hezbollah Jihad Mughniyyah was in the protection unit and not Israel' objective http://alrai.li/hjolor @AlraiMediaGroup #Israel #Hezbollah The front form the Golan Heights to Naqoura has existed since over a year now http://alrai.li/hjolor @AlraiMediaGroup #Israel #Hezbollah Hezbollah will respond against Israel using Syria as a platform of attack in case of war: https://elijahjm.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=688&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2 … (September 2013) Source close to Bashar Assad: ‘Hezbollah soon in the Golan Heights https://elijahjm.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/source-close-to-bashar-assad-hezbollah-soon-in-the-golan-heights-and-syrian-tanks-will-go-to-the-jordanian-borders/ … (December 2013) #Hezbollah #Syria #Israel Hezbollah: Fateh 110, ‘Yakhont , anti-Trophy & more to face #Israel in case of war’ https://elijahjm.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/hezbollah-possess-missiles-yakhont-fateh-110-anti-trophy-and-others-to-face-israel-in-case-of-war/ … (Jan 2014) #Israel #Hezbollah The “Hezbollah Syria: https://elijahjm.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/syria-the-new-hezbollah-syria/ … (May 2014) #Israel allowed media to talk only about its IDF reinforcement on the borders and inhabitants worry of a possible #Hezbollah hit. Media in Israel is reflecting ppl ' opinion living along d borders w #Lebanon wondering :”When & how #Hezbollah is going 2hit back #Israel”? #Lebanon: #Hezbollah leader S. Hasan Nusrallah may give a speech after the end of the burial ceremony of d 6 killed end week/+ Nusrallah will confirm that #Hezbollah - as an “axis of resistance” - will hit #Israel but will keep the right 2 dictate d time and place Mohamad al-Dayf al-Qassem Leader #Gaza in a letter 2 #Hezbollah Leader Nusrallah ” all resistance forces shld stand united against #Israel".