Did Israel's Pre-Emptive Strike Delay Major War Coming To The Middle East?
By Michael Snyder/End of the American Dream August 27, 2024
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One day in the not too distant future, someone in the Middle East is going to push things too far, and it will set off a tsunami of destruction that will shock the entire planet. Israel is armed to the teeth, and Israel's enemies are armed to the teeth. An all-out war in the Middle East should not be an option for anyone, but we are now dangerously close to such a conflict.
Very early on Sunday morning, Hezbollah was preparing to fire an enormous number of rockets at targets deep inside Israel in response to the assassination of Fouad Shukur in Beirut last month. The Israelis figured out what was going on, and a massive pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah hit rocket launchers all over southern Lebanon. According to the Times of Israel, thousands of targets were struck during this operation...
Israeli fighter jets simultaneously struck thousands of Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon early Sunday morning, in what the military said was a preemptive operation against weaponry that was about to be used in a major attack on central and northern Israel.
Thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers were struck simultaneously by some 100 IAF fighter jets in the preemptive attacks, the military said.
This was only possible because the IDF has had large numbers of aircraft in the air on a constant basis in recent weeks.
If these aircraft had not been on alert, things could have turned out very differently.
Could you imagine the scenario we would be facing right now if thousands of rockets had successfully reached major Israeli cities?
Following the success of the IDF operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boldly declared that "thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel" had been destroyed...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, said the military had eliminated "thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel" and urged citizens to adhere to directives from the Home Front Command.
"We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us -- we will harm them," he said.
But some rockets did get through.
The IDF and Hezbollah are giving us different numbers, but they both agree that large numbers of rockets and drones were fired into northern Israel...
The strikes did not prevent the Iran-backed terror organization from beginning what it said was its response to the killing of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month, with Hezbollah claiming it fired over 320 rockets and drones at northern Israel.
According to the IDF, some 210 rockets and some 20 drones were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel in Hezbollah's attack. Some of the projectiles were intercepted, while others impacted, causing damage and injuries.
But the damage that was ultimately done was fairly limited.
At this point, we are being told that the most extensive damage was caused in the city of Acre...
Through Sunday afternoon, the largest reported damage was to dozens of buildings hit by Hezbollah in Acre.
Prior to Sunday, villages in the northern Galilee and Golan Heights had been hit; Kiryat Shmona had been hit throughout the war, but damage to Acre had been very rare and much smaller.
Needless to say, this was not the massive retaliation that Islamic militants throughout the Middle East were anticipating.
This attack is being widely viewed as a "failure", and Hezbollah is being ruthlessly mocked on social media.
In particular, some Arabic social media accounts are finding humor in the fact that some chicken farms in northern Israel were damaged...
An Arabic-language account with over 44,000 followers that appears to be associated with the Syrian opposition publishes an image of a chicken and a post reading: "The chicken massacre was not a coincidence, but a strategic plan, with the goal to preventing enemies of the 'resistance' from gloating and saying 'They didn't even hurt a chicken.'"
A parody account with a smaller following posts a series of images from a damaged poultry farm, with the caption "The Battle of the Poultry." In the comments, somebody posts a cartoon showing a chicken with the head of Nasrallah saying "Our response will be harsh and earth-shattering," and another chicken protesting: "You've killed us."
Another image circulating on social media shows dozens of chickens in military fatigues lying dead on the ground, with the hashtag: "#Hezbollah killer of chickens and chicks."
Of course Hezbollah is insisting that the strikes were a great success, and Hassan Nasrallah is warning that more strikes could be coming in the future...
Hezbollah's latest attack on Israel has been completed, but further strikes could be carried out in the future, the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised speech Sunday evening.
Hezbollah launched its attack in retaliation for Israel's assassination of its most senior military official, Fu'ad Shukr, in late July.
Nasrallah said the militant group had delayed its response until Sunday to give "sufficient opportunity" for Gaza ceasefire negotiations to take place, to impose greater "mental and financial strain" inside Israel, and to ensure the attack's success.
For now, an all-out war has been avoided.
Hezbollah is able to claim that it got "revenge" for the killing of Fouad Shukur, and Israel feels no need to respond with overwhelming force because not much damage was done.
But both sides continue to prepare for the "final showdown" that they both know is coming.
There are approximately 100,000 Israeli citizens that will not be able to return home until Hezbollah is out of southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah will never leave southern Lebanon willingly.
So the IDF has been preparing to go into southern Lebanon, and on the other side Hezbollah has been preparing to invade northern Israel once that happens.
When the time arrives, Hezbollah's invasion of northern Israel will be spearheaded by "the group's fanatical Radwan militants"...
According to verified research, the Hezbollah invasion would be led by the group's fanatical Radwan militants, who have battled in Syria's civil war for years.
The potent unit will be nothing like the Hamas rabble who stormed out of Gaza on October 7, and it will pose a major challenge to Israel's own crack troops.
The Radwan Force, whose troops wear a distinctive lion-and-sword emblem, was formed in the aftermath of Hezbollah's last conflict with Israel in 2006 and has been trained and equipped by Iran.
Overall, Hezbollah has an army of approximately 100,000 men, and according to NBC News that army is likely to be bolstered by thousands of fighters from militia groups all across the Middle East...
Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say.
Of course when an all-out war erupts, it won't just be Hezbollah that Israel is fighting.
Syria has an army of approximately 170,000 soldiers, and Iran has an army of approximately 420,000 soldiers.
If push comes to shove, the IDF is going to have a serious challenge trying to contend with a combined force of that size.
In addition, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran all have vast arsenals of very sophisticated missiles.
If Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem are being pummeled by thousands of missiles, Israeli leaders would not just sit back and do nothing.
They would respond with overwhelming force, and Beirut, Damascus and Tehran would be flattened.
So we should be very glad that all-out war has not erupted yet, but the truth is that it is coming.
It is just a matter of time.
Watch more details of the attack and aftermath here:
