It begins! Hezbollah retaliates for Israel's killing of top commander despite 'pre-emptive' strikes

After weeks-long anticipation of its imminent retaliation against the Israelis, Hezbollah has finally struck at the genocidal Zionists.

After killing Hezbollah’s top commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 by bombing a residential compound in the Dahiye suburb of Beirut, Israel upped its criminal ante on August 25 when it launched a series of strikes on southern Lebanon, calling its transgression “pre-emptive” strikes.

According to Resistance News Network, these towns in southern Lebanon were bombed by the Israelis: Kfar Malaki (two airstrikes), Beit Yahoun, Al-Tayri, Wadi Salouqi, Deir Siryan, Ayn Qana, Tayr Harfa, Shama, Kounine Forest, the area between Zibqine and Yater, Al-Iqlim Heights, Ain Qana, Al-Louwaiza, Basaliyya, and Kounine.

But the “pre-emptive” strikes didn’t help the Israeli cause as Hezbollah attacked them anyway.

There was much anticipation about Hezbollah’s impending retaliation for the killing of Shukr nearly a month ago. It finally came with a barrage of missiles and drones on the genocidal state in the early hours of August 25, in what Hezbollah called “the initial response,” implying there is more to come.

The Hezbollah statement:

“Indeed, we will take revenge upon the criminals.”

On the day of Arba’een [40 days days after the martyrdom] of Imam Hussein bin Ali (peace be upon them) [Prophet Muhammad’s grandson whose martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala is a seminal event in Shi’a Islam], the Master of Martyrs, the Leader of the Free, and the symbol of sacrifice, altruism, and defiance, and at dawn on this Sunday, August 25, 2024, as part of the initial response to the brutal Zionist aggression on the southern suburbs (Dahiye) of Beirut, which resulted in the martyrdom of the great jihadi commander Sayyed Fouad Shukr, may Allah have mercy on him, and a number of our dear civilians, including women and children, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance launched an aerial attack with a large number of drones deep into the Zionist entity, targeting a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later.

Simultaneously, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted several enemy positions, barracks, and Iron Dome platforms in northern occupied Palestine with a large number of rockets.

These military operations will take some time to be completed, and afterward, a detailed statement regarding their progress and objectives will be issued, by the will of Allah.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is currently at its highest level of readiness and will stand firm and vigilant against any Zionist transgression or aggression, especially if civilians are harmed, in which case the punishment will be severe and very harsh.

“And victory is only from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.”

Later, Hezbollah revealed the 11 military sites that it targeted within the Israeli territory:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“Indeed, we will take revenge upon the criminals.”

First, by the grace of Allah Almighty, the first phase has been completed with complete success. This phase involved targeting Zionist barracks and sites to facilitate the passage of attack drones towards their intended targets deep within the entity. By the grace of Allah, the drones crossed as planned.

Second, the number of Katyusha rockets fired so far has exceeded 320 towards enemy sites.

Third, the sites that have been successfully targeted and hit by the grace of Allah are:

1. Meron Base
2. Neveh Ziv Artillery Position
3. Zaatoun Base
4. Zaoura Artillery Positions
5. Sahel Base
6. Keila Barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan
7. UAV Barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan
8. Nafah Base in the occupied Syrian Golan
9. Yardena Base in the occupied Syrian Golan
10. Ein Zeitim Base
11. Ramot Naftali Barracks

Fourth, further details about the military operation will be provided in subsequent statements.

“And victory is only from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.”

Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant has declared a 48-hour state of emergency in Israel following Hezbollah’s retaliation. Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was shut down, but that didn’t deter the European and North American settlers — who gleefully flocked to the “Promised Land” in good times — from realising that they were actually better off in the lands whence they actually came. Much to their chagrin, there appears to be no way out of Tel Aviv currently.

While the Lebanese resistance listed the exact military sites it targeted, the Zionists have already started manufacturing consent for attacking Lebanese civilians. Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson of the Israeli occupation forces, was imploring civilians to evacuate their homes in southern Lebanon:

Hezbollah will soon fire rockets, and possibly missiles and UAVs [drones], towards Israeli territory.

From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the South of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering Lebanese civilians.

We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety. Hezbollah’s ongoing aggression risks dragging the people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the whole region, into a wider escalation.

In a later statement, Hezbollah refuted Israeli claims about disrupting the strikes from Lebanon and said that its military operation for the day stands completed:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“Indeed, we will take revenge upon the criminals.”

With the help of Allah Almighty, all the offensive drones were launched at the times specified for them and from all their [predetermined] positions and crossed the Lebanese-Palestinian borders towards the desired target and from multiple paths, and thus our military operation for today has been completed and accomplished, praise be to Allah Almighty.

The enemy’s claims about the pre-emptive action it carried out, the targets it achieved, and its disruption of the resistance’s attack are empty claims and contradict the facts on the ground and will be refuted in a speech by the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, which will be scheduled later today.

“And victory is only from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.”

Nasrallah is scheduled to speak at 6 pm local time today.

A film of what appears to be a precise hit on a target deep inside northern Israel.

According to Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen, Hezbollah “struck a vital military target deep within the occupation entity, not just at its outskirts.” With a media blackout in Israel over the events today, the full extent of the damage caused by Hezbollah will likely remain unknown for some time.

Over the last few months, Hezbollah has released a series of videos, revealing drone mapping of Israeli territories, including its sensitive military sites, which bolsters its claims about targeting specific sites within the Zionist entity. More daringly, a Hezbollah “drone was suspected of infiltrating northern Israel and filming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea,” according to a report in the Israeli media last week.

There had been much anticipation about a flare up in West Asia, following a series of criminal transgressions by the genocidal Israelis. They killed Shukr in Beirut, assassinated Hamas’s politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and bombed the port of Hodeidah in Yemen over the last few weeks. In between these transgressions, they have relentlessly carried out assassinations in Lebanon and Syria alike, while continuing their genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and thwarting all attempts at a ceasefire in cahoots with its enabler and supplier of money and weapons, the United States of America and its many vassals.

Iran and Yemen have also promised retaliation for Israel’s cross-border crimes. In a bid to protect its genocidal ally, the United States has been bolstering its military presence in West Asia. The US recently sent its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in West Asian waters earlier this week, while its Arab allies in Israeli neighbourhoods as well as Cyprus are likely to play a key role in defending the criminal Jewish supremacist state.

Last week, in what appeared to be a forceful deterrent against the Israelis, Hezbollah released a stunning video titled “Our mountains are our stores,” giving a glimpse of one of its military bases. The spacious facility — which appeared to be carved inside the belly of a mountain and named Imad-4 (after Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated by the Israelis in Syria in 2008) — showed a row of trucks making their way through its vast tunnels before positioning to fire missiles as a tunnel entrance opened up. It sent shockwaves through the Israeli society.

However, it didn’t prove to be much of a deterrent for the Israelis safe in the knowledge that the US and its European and Arab vassals would rush to their defence. Now that hour is upon us.

Like a domesticated dog, the United States has reaffirmed its “ironclad” commitment to the Jewish supremacist state. “Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s defense against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies,” the Pentagon said.

It is remarkable that Hezbollah and Yemen’s Ansarallah opened their support fronts against Israel solely in defence of Gaza’s besieged Palestinians, who are undergoing a genocide for nearly 11 months now. The tiny strip of land — which was already described as “unlivable” under the weight of the strangulating Israeli blockade way back in 2018 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur — has been relentlessly bombed nearly every single day since October 7 by the genocidal Israelis, who have dropped ordnance multiple times that of Hiroshima bombings of 1945 by the Americans. Gaza is 60 percent of the size of Hiroshima and has about seven times as many inhabitants as the Japanese city in 1945. In a conservative estimate, nearly 200,000 Palestinian (majority of them children and women) were already slaughtered by the murderous Israelis by July 7.

All the resistance support fronts, including Hezbollah and Ansarallah, have made it abundantly clear that they they will halt their operations the moment the Israelis cease their genocide and reach a deal with the Palestinians. However, the Israelis appear to be in no mood to stop until they complete their genocide. This Israeli bloodlust has all the makings of a multi-front conflagration that will likely annihilate hundreds of thousands, if not millions in the coming weeks and months. However, one silver lining in this carnage — if there ever can be one in such wholesale slaughter — could be the end of the Zionist state. We will all be better for it.

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