GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 351

Putting The Pedal To The Metal

Sweet 16

In the last three days, well actually the last week, Hezbollah has been devastated by Israel whether it was from exploding devices or constant strikes on rocket launchers and taking down the entire terrorist communication structure. And now the IDF confirms just how many of the leadership was eliminated in the strike that killed Ibrahim Aquil as we read in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

Israel Air Force jets, guided by the Intelligence Directorate, killed Ibrahim Aqil, in addition to 15 other Hezbollah Radwan Force commanders, during a meeting in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut on Friday evening, the IDF confirmed in a statement issued Saturday afternoon.

So the IDF took out quite a lot of military leaders who were surprisingly meeting in one place, Here are the people who were neutralized:

Among the terrorists killed was Abu Hassan Samir, who served as the head of the Radwan Force training unit. He held various positions within Hezbollah and was commander of the Radwan Force for a decade until early 2024.

Samir was one of the orchestrators of the "Conquer the Galilee" attack plan. He was involved in furthering Hezbollah's entrenchment in southern Lebanon while strengthening the terrorist organization's ground combat abilities.

The Radwan Force commander had planned and executed numerous shooting attacks and infiltrations into Israeli territory.

The additional Radwan Force commanders who were killed in the strike were Samer Abdul-Halim Halawi, commander of the coastal area; Abbas Sami Maslamani, commander of the Qana area; Abdullah Abbas Hajazi, commander of the Ramim Ridge area; Muhammed Ahmad Reda, commander of the Al-Khiam area; and Hassan Hussein Madi, commander of the Mount Dov area.

Aquil’s attacks can be traced all the way back to the Reagan era when 299 lives were taken in a bomb explosion. The others were seasoned leaders:

These commanders have been leading attacks against Israel for years.

Additionally, senior officials in Hezbollah and within the Radwan Force headquarters were killed. These include Hassan Yussef Abad Alssatar, who was responsible for Radwan Force operations. He led and advanced all of the force's rocket fire operations. 

Hussein Ahmad Dahraj, Chief of Staff of the Radwan Force, was also killed in the strike. He was involved in the transfer of weapons and the strengthening of the organization.

In short, a lot of experience was lost as well as respected leaders who now are leaving the job of planning attacks on Israel to less than qualified soldiers. Regardless of how many people take their places, one look at the two leadership trees should show you why the top dog Nasrallah is a tad out of sorts. Add to that the two planned counter offensives were greatly diminished by the IDF striking their launch pads. Israel is showing Hezbollah and the Arab world how much better they are than the terrorists tasked with eliminating them. We must also note that Hamas terrorists are dropping like flied in Gaza as will with up to 30 neutralized there. Dead men walking indeed.

Hezbollah Is Losing Respect

We are told in an interview from CBN.com that Hezbollah’s status among the Arab world is dropping fast. The person being interviewed is Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) founder Yigal Carmon. The interviewer is Chris Mitchell:

Mitchell: What would people see on your website? I mean it seems like the Arab media is kind of mocking Hezbollah. So what's going on?

Carmon: They also show the fact that people were bombed by surprise by their own equipment is a reason for mocking them for many in the Arab world. I must say, as it says in the Bible, when your enemy dies don't be happy and I'm not happy about it. I would like them not to be enemies and not to be hurt, they chose to be enemies.

Carmon then summarizes how the Arab world sees Hezbollah now:

The Arab world sees that they are not as big and strong as they pretended to be. They pretended to be above the Sunni world. They are just 10% of the world of Islam and they pretended to be so big, so strong, so against the Saudis, against everybody. Suddenly they were brought back to their real size — a little thug that tries to scare all the environment. The Arabs are happy about it because they were a danger to them no less than they were a danger to us, to Saudi Arabia, to the UAE. They were under the threat, so of course those countries are happy. Whether they show it openly or in cartoons, but they are happy because this thug got his slap and is going down now.

Mitchell then refers to an article from Carmon on his website:

You have an article on your website about the reaction of the Arab world to what's happened in Lebanon this week. Can you talk about that? Yes, many in the Arab world are in shock about what happened to them. You know, this that happened is one of the most moral things ever. You can see in the pictures, only the terrorist explodes. Not one near him, nothing happens to anyone else, only the guy that holds that pager or whatever else they had. The most direct and limited thing ever, not one that is not connected to the evil terrorist is hurt.

Carmon then turns to his views on what Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah said in his in response to the pager attack:

I want to say this story is very hypocritical in the sense that Nasrallah gave a speech yesterday saying "Israel declared war on us." I mean, what have you done for the last year? On October 8th you attacked Israel, you caused the northern Galilee to be evacuated, you were proud of it, you stated it in your speeches, "We have done this, look at the Galilee, it's evacuated." And now you say "You declared war on us"? Where were you for the last year? It's so hypocritical that people understand that he got what he should have gotten and maybe not enough.

Mitchell asked Carmon about what Arabs are saying in their media:

Mitchell: What was the reaction in the Arab world and in the Arab press?

Carmon: Clearly, Nasrallah has many enemies and is in a very problematic situation. Iran doesn't want to come to his help right now, they are collapsing, so this is not the time for Iran to rush to the help of Hezbollah. So they got it from all fronts, from their seemingly allies Iran and from whoever did it. Netanyahu said all we want is to bring our citizens back to their homes in peace, and what does Nasrallah say in his speech? "You will not be able to bring them home," a total declaration of a thug, of an enemy. And he doesn't stop, he just goes on with his threats, "You will not be able," which means that the war of attrition from his side will continue.

Yes, Hezbollah is weakened. Yes, they are reeling. But no, they are not defeated. They still have an army of 100,000 soldiers waiting in the wings when whoever is still in leadership rises from the ashes to command them. And they still possess and vast arsenal of weapons built up from the Iran/Syria pipeline. Was their military strength overestimated? Perhaps, however Israel’s strength may have also been underestimated which could be making Hezbollah look worse. Regardless of the real assessment, the terrorists to the north are not toothless, far from it. They are a cornered animal and we all know how dangerous that situation is. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we need to factor in all we’ve heard now and intercede accordingly. And we need to keep praying for the war against Hamas and the rescue of the hostages. We are fighting a spiritual war on many fronts and we need to put the pedal to the metal spiritually.