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| IDF Merkava IV MBT entering Lebanon |
UPDATED 2 October 2024: In the aftermath of the Iranian Twelver (Shi'a) Regimes ballistic missile attack on the State of Israel, IDF CoS Herzi HaLevi communicated with 4-Star USCENTCOM Commander Eric Kurilla to coordinate a unified response to the attack, even though the attack turned out to be a military failure. It is assessed at this time that the coming unified response will include Iranian nuclear facilities and petroleum infrastructure as well as the depots containing Iran's remain long-range missiles of all types. The price the Twelver regime will pay for its attack will be extraordinary and will eventually lead to its demise.
The attack is assessed to have included 180 ballistic missiles of the conventional Emad and Ghadr designs, and for the first time the hypersonic Fattah-2. Ballistic missiles reach altitudes which scrape the edge of space before descending into the target area. The vast majority were intercepted and destroyed by Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM) launched by two US Navy destroyers and Israel's own multi-tiered ABM array.
Meanwhile the IDF's elite 98th Division continued its push into southern Lebanon on the ground with armor artillery and in the air (attack helicopters). The Israel Air Force has complete domination of the high ground in Lebanese airspace above. The IDF's 36th Division has also joined the combat Operation Northern Arrows in Lebanon.
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| Screenshot capture of the Israeli strike in Latakia, Syria |
UPDATE 4 October 2024: Israel has struck and completely obliterated a weapons depot virtually adjacent to the Russian Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Province, Syria.
The information collected thus far is that an Iranian (IRGC-QF) Qeshm Air cargo jet landed at the Khmeimim Air Base with a cargo of weapons for Hezbollah. This would indicate Russia has decided to allow deliveries of this type making them as much a part of the current war as is America in supplying Israel with weapons. Russia can always make the claim that Khmeimim is a Syrian base as its official name is Bashar Al-Assad International Airport.
The Qeshm Air delivery was subsequently offloaded and trucked to a previously unknown depot in the adjacent town of Jableh which Israel struck within an hour of the weapons arrival. The Israeli strike appears to have consisted of 30-some odd missiles or Harop drones that came in from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, indicating that perhaps this was an Israeli Navy strike. In any event this IDF strike is unprecedented and in, no pun intended, uncharted waters. The weapons depot was destroyed in due course by the weapons cooking off for nearly an hour following the initial missile/drone strikes.
Probably related is the Syrian Arab League Ambassador Ala request for the League to make a decision tantamount to a declaration of war against Israel to halt the "occupiers'" aggression in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Neither Israel or Russia have thus far acknowledged this action, even though both Russian and Syrian air defenses were reportedly active in trying to engage the incoming Israeli weapons.
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| Israel's flag flies in Lebanon |
During the 2006 war instigated by Hezbollah the IDF was unable to gain full control of the high ground at Maroun El Ras. The image above illustrates how the IDF has achieved this objective in 2024 by raising the Star of David there in less than a week.
To be continued...
