[WonderMomma]

Lots going on with this situation. I'm sure I've missed some news and media about it before now. I will do my best to look retroactively for stuff but at least wanted to get a thread started for it.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...since-2006-war

Israel launches airstrikes in Lebanon and Gaza Strip after ‘biggest rocket salvo since 2006’
Thu 6 Apr 2023 22.22 EDT

Rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon and second Israeli raid on al-Aqsa mosque stoke fears of further escalation



Israeli jets hit sites in Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday, in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on the Islamist group Hamas, as tensions following police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this week threatened to spiral out of control.

Two explosions were heard in Gaza late on Thursday. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted but Israel said its jets hit targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the blockaded southern coastal strip.

“Israel’s response, tonight and later, will exact a significant price from our enemies,” prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following a security cabinet meeting to discuss what the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) described as the biggest rocket salvo since the 2006 war into northern Israel. Most of the 34 projectiles were intercepted, but there were two minor injuries and a fire.

As the Israeli jets struck in Gaza, salvoes of rockets were fired in response and sirens sounded in Israeli towns and cities in bordering areas. The IDF also said it had launched strikes in Lebanon hitting “targets including terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas”.

AFP reported at least three explosions in southern Lebanon’s Tyre region with at least two shells falling near a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre city. One missile fell on a farmer’s house near the camp, causing material damage, an AFP correspondent in the area said.

The pro-Iranian Hezbollah channel Al-Manar reported that the shelling had targeted three areas in southern Lebanon, including the refugee camp area.



“We hold the Zionist occupation fully responsible for the grave escalation and the flagrant aggression against the Gaza Strip and for the consequences that will bring onto the region,” Hamas said in a statement.

The marked uptick in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday comes after a year of increasing bloodshed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also carried echoes of 2021, when clashes at al-Aqsa during Ramadan helped start an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas. Thursday’s events have led to fears of a wider conflagration around the region.

Although Israel blamed Hamas for Thursday’s attack, which took place as Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh was visiting Lebanon, security experts said Hezbollah, the powerful Shia group which helps Israel’s main enemy Iran project its power across the region, must have given its permission.

Hezbollah and its allies have faced extensive attacks by Israeli jets in Syrian territory over the last week, striking at what Israel believes to be sites to manufacture drones. At least two members of the organisation are believed to have been killed during night raids that levelled several hangars at Syrian airbases.

The militant group has vowed to strike back at its arch foe whenever its members are killed, but, like Hamas in the Gaza Strip, remains wary of an escalation. Though Palestinian groups operate in the south of Lebanon, none do so without the knowledge of Hezbollah.

The raid on Palestinians by Israeli police inside al-Aqsa mosque could have offered a pretext for a limited rocket strike, which served both the Palestinians and Hezbollah and gave the latter at least some deniability.



Early on Thursday, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched about nine rockets into Israel in the early hours, setting off air raid sirens across the south of the country but causing no casualties or damage. Most of the rockets exploded before impact, the Israeli army said, and none of Gaza’s militant groups claimed responsibility.

Two rockets were fired just before the second incident at the holiest Jerusalem site late on Wednesday and early on Thursday, in which police using stun grenades and rubber bullets entered the compound to remove worshippers. Six people were injured, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The latest flare-up followed a large Israeli police raid on al-Aqsa the day before, in which at least 12 people were injured and more than 350 arrested. That raid also triggered rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which was countered with Israeli airstrikes on alleged military sites belonging to Hamas, the Islamist movement in control of the strip.

The first raid, in which disturbing footage of soldiers beating Palestinians with batons and the butts of rifles emerged, drew widespread condemnation in the Muslim world and concern from the White House over the possibility of escalation.

Both the UN and US called for calm on Thursday after the rocket fire, while the Lebanese government said it would coordinate with Unifil, the UN force on the Israeli-Lebanese border, to prevent an escalation.

Elsewhere on Thursday, clashes broke out overnight between protesters and police in the Arab-majority town of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel and a Palestinian teenager was shot and wounded by an Israeli civilian in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the UN security council would hold a closed-door session on Thursday to discuss the violence since Wednesday’s raid on al-Aqsa, which Israeli authorities said was an attempt to prevent clashes by clearing groups barricaded inside with weapons, rocks and firecrackers planning to breach the peace.

The Jordanian organisation that manages the site, known as the Waqf, said along with witnesses that police entered the mosque before prayers were over.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said: “Israel’s raid into al-Aqsa mosque, its assault on worshippers, is a slap to recent US efforts which tried to create calm and stability during the month of Ramadan.”

The Temple Mount in occupied East Jerusalem, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or as al-Aqsa, is holy to Jews and Muslims and is regularly the scene of violence. Security and diplomatic officials have warned that this year’s overlap of Ramadan and Passover has increased tensions.

Muslims often spend the night in the mosque compound during Ramadan, but the Waqf agreed this year that worshippers would not be allowed to stay in the house of prayer overnight for at least the first 20 days of the holiday.

Under a longstanding compromise implemented after the Israeli occupation began in 1967, Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the site, and any perceived attempt to alter the arrangement acts as a lightning rod for violence. In recent years Jewish visitors have increasingly prayed more or less openly in the compound, sometimes under police protection.

Events in Jerusalem and tit-for-tat cross-border fire add to an already tense political atmosphere in Israel, which is reeling from weeks of protests, which have included large numbers of military reservists, over the government’s plans to limit the powers of the supreme court.

[WonderMomma]

Alerts posted by a source around 16:00 ET (20:00 UTC, 23:00 local time) on 6 April (all text are quotes from source - no media from alerts marked with ⚡)

⚡BREAKING - All vacations canceled those on leave are being called back by the IDF.
⚡More Bomb shelters are now being opened throughout Israel.
⚡The Yemini Houthi's have threatened to help the Palestinian factions and Hezbollah if war breaks out.
⚡Israeli jets now over Southern Lebanon
⚡All Public bomb shelters in Israel have been ordered to be opened

16:04 ET: Ongoing Israeli cabinet meeting




16:07 ET: Israeli Artillery being prepared on the Blue Line.


16:11 ET: The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas leadership are all present in Lebanon.


⚡16:13 ET: IDF says Hamas behind rocket barrage from Lebanon; Israel expected to retaliate (although unconfirmed)

16:14 ET: Airspace is cleared over Northern Israel & Southern Lebanon


16:20 ET: IDF forces are storming Al-Aqsa Mosque for the 3rd day in a row. Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Compound and power has been cut off



16:22 ET: US Embassy has issued an advisory following the flare up between Israel & Lebanon.


⚡16:27 ET: The Prime Minister of the Transitional Government in Lebanon, Najib Mikati: “Lebanon condemns the firing of rockets from its southern territory. The army is increasing its efforts in order to stop the shooting operations.

"Lebanon is completely opposed to any military escalation emanating from its territory and also opposes the exploitation of its territory for actions that cause destabilization.”

17:14 ET: Israeli retaliatory strikes have begun. Multiple airstrikes reported in the Gaza Strip. Israeli jets are still flying over Lebanon. Multiple Hamas HQ's targeted by Israeli Airstrikes


VIDEOS:
1. Footage of Israeli jets over the Gaza Strip

2-3. Footage of the Israeli Airstrikes in Northern Gaza.

4. You can hear the blasts [E of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza]

[WonderMomma]

More photos/footage (see video below) of the strikes.





Khan Younis is being targeted. 3 More explosions heard.

[WonderMomma]

Posted: 17:46 ET (21:46 UTC/24:45 7 April local time)

Palestinian factions launching a Surface to Air missile towards an Israeli Jet

[WonderMomma]

17:55 ET

Red Alert in Southern Israel.
Incoming rocket sirens sound in Karmia and Netiv HaAssara on the northern Gaza border


No Media:
IDF says it has struck two Hamas tunnels and two weapons manufacturing sites in the Gaza Strip.

As of 18:00 source reports a pause in strikes

[WonderMomma]

Posted 24:01 ET (04:01 UTC/07:01 local time) 7 April

Red Alerts issued for Alumim & Nachal Oz, near the Gaza Strip


Video
Israeli and Palestinian medias report that at least 10 rockets were fired at the city of Sderot and settlements surrounding Gaza

[WonderMomma]

Palestinians are gathered at the Courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem to Protest the ongoing Israel Military Operation against Hamas and other Militants in the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon.

At the shirt of 2 of the protesters, the logo of Al-Qassam Brigades, the Military wing of Hamas, can be seen



Israel Defense Forces on Twitter:
— "Following the continued shooting from the Gaza Strip, an IDF tank and aircrafts attacked military positions of the terrorist organization Hamas along the border of the Gaza Strip this morning"

[WonderMomma]

These videos were posted prior to the Israeli strikes posted above on 6 April 2023. Obtained from Ukrainian source that's why Russia is mentioned.

"Russian multi-track?

More than 100 rockets from Lebanese territory flew into Israel. Such shelling has not happened since the so-called "2nd Lebanon" war.

The media formulate it as if "Lebanon fired at Israel." But in this case, I would separate the state of Lebanon from Hezbollah, which is clearly behind these attacks.

Hezbollah is a reliable ally of Russia in the Middle East.

Lebanon absolutely does not need a war with Israel now. But Russia needs it: 1) to show Israel that supporting Ukraine will cost it dearly; 2) to neutralize the pro-European part of society in Lebanon, which also supports Ukraine; 3) divert the attention of the world community from the larger war in Ukraine with a small war in the Middle East.

And for this, Russia needs Hezbollah with its fighters and missiles."

[WhiskeyOutpost]

PIJ and HAMAS leadership in one room. That's a juicy target for IDF.

[Roosta]

Religion has caused that much death, destruction & heartache ALL over the world, not forgetting that he or she, "Loves You" & is "Always Broke" & wanting more.
Humans are so good & keen to kill for something that isn't real