Today’s Image
This afternoon a massive cyber attack hit all the major banks in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran. The article claims that the attack has not been neutralized and problems are continuing. Apparently most ATMs stopped working. That is a problem in a country running an inflation rate over 45% annually. I wonder who could have launched such an attack?? You can read more here. Apparently, Persians have a similar sense of sarcastic humor as Israelis. Some bank users found these notes taped to ATM machines at some of the banks:
Dear customers, it is impossible to withdraw money from this ATM. This is because all of Iran's national budget and resources have been allocated to the wars and the corrupt religious leaders of the Islamic Republic regime. We are very sorry.
Gaza Rockets
Two long range rockets were launched from an area near Khan Younis in Gaza heading towards Tel Aviv. One misfired, landing inside Gaza (I wonder how many casualties from this action Hamas Health Ministry will announce?) and the other ended up in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tel Aviv. Good thing I wasn’t sailing then. Here you can see a video that the terrorists made of their launch preparation and the launch. Once can see the crude way they orient the rockets. These were the first long range rockets fired since May.
Casualties
Yesterday, a lone soldier died, but not in combat. Jordan Cooper - 26 (Z’’L) served in the IDF but was discharged two years ago. He was called up during the course of The War and served for more than 200 days in combat role. Apparently, his mother was visiting and bought Halva in the Open Air Market. Cooper had a severe allergy to nuts and, despite the promises of the vendor, the Halva contained nuts. Cooper ate it and had an immediate and very sever reaction. You can read more here. His funeral was held today and several thousand people attended. That is typical of lone soldiers.
Gaza Operations
In what appears to be a tragic accident, a Gazan woman and her two twin babies were killed during the course of shelling at her home while her husband was out registering the births of the newborns at a government office. There has been no immediate response yet from the IDF. It is possible that it was a result of an artillery shell or there have been some misfired rockets lately. My guess is that the IDF is now investigating the incident.
Early this morning the IDF struck Hamas facilities in Gaza that were used to either launch rockets or anti-tank missiles, including the two long range rockets launched yesterday in an attempt to reach Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, infantry combat continues in Rafah, Khan Younis and along the Netzarim Corridor crossing Gaza’s middle. The fighting in Rafah and Khan Younis continues to be intense. In the past couple of days the ground troops report that more than 100 Hamas combatants were killed in close proximity fighting in Rafah. You should take the time to view the video in this report. It is amazing. The precision of the arms used by the IDF drones is so precise that they killed the Hamas combatants, carrying machine guns, but the poor donkey pulling the car was unharmed.
Lebanon Operations
Last night IDF fighter jets struck numerous Hezbollah rocket launching sites identified during the launch of more than 40 rockets earlier in the evening.
This morning the IDF air defense systems neutralized an Hezbollah launched drone that entered Israel’s northwestern border from the Mediterranean Sea. And two rockets launched by Hezbollah struck Israel’s northern city of Kiryat Shmona without triggering the early warning system in place.
This afternoon a missile fired from an Israeli drone struck a motorcycle and its drive in the town of Aabbassiyeh, Lebanon. You can see the aftermath here. I guess that we will learn more about this tomorrow.
The last remaining victim from the Hezbollah attack on the football field in Majdal Shams on Saturday July 27, appears to have awoken from a coma. So, all 11 seriously injured children appear to be on a healthy road to recovery.
Yemen Operations
The US military CENTCOM announced very early this morning that it destroyed two unmanned automated marine vehicles dispatched by the Houthis.
Syria/Iraq/Egypt/Jordan/Turkiye/Iran
Very early this morning there was an earthquake in the area hitting a magnitude of 4.1, centered in the area not far from Homs, Syria. Some people in the north of the country say they felt it.
US Army says that missiles launched by Iranian backed militias in northern Syria were launched in the direction of a US airbase not far from the gas fields operated by Connoco did not hit any facilities.
IDF General
The Defense Ministry released data today regarding soldiers injured as a result of The War to date. To date, 10,056 soldiers and reservists have requested rehabilitation services. Of these, 35% are being treated for PTSD or related mental disorders caused by trauma. Another 37% are being treated for trauma (sometimes loss) to their limbs. Of all the soldiers being treated ⅔ are reservists and the rest were serving in active duty.
Aid
Hamas forces opened fire at the humanitarian corridor that bridges from the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza this morning. As a result the aid trucks were halted from passing through this area until the IDF was able to neutralize the terrorists.
Yesterday 169 aid trucks entered and unloaded their cargo into Gaza’s humanitarian staging areas. There is still cargo sitting in the staging areas waiting or distribution that is equivalent to 600 trucks worth of material. All this according to COGAT, the only reliable source on the subject. One doesn’t hear too much about starvation these days in Gaza. In fact, not one individual among the two million residents died of starvation despite all the leaders of all the NGOs declaring that Israel was withholding aid and committing a war crime.
Politics/Protests
Yesterday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went up on the Temple Mount along with a group of other members of his party and others. While there they publicly prayed and some even prostrated themselves and prayed in the direction of the Dome of the Rock, where the Temple once stood. At the end of this Ben Gvir announced that this establishes a “new status quo” on policy regarding the Temple Mount. His reckless action was not at all done with the support of the government, which issued statements dissociating them from Ben Gvir. What a jerk!! A leader of an ultra-orthodox party in the current government publicly stated that Ben Grir should focus on crime rather than visiting the Temple Mount. He said:
Ben Gvir is a completely intemperate person who does not care about the security of the country. Instead of taking care of ascending the Temple Mount he should take care of crime.
This sentiment was repeated in the editorial pages of the leading ultra-orthodox newspaper which said:
Jews going up to the Temple Mount is like throwing a match into an oil well. The Temple Mount may turn into a volcano that covers the entire Middle East with ash.
Philosophically, the ultra-orthodox view that going up on the Temple Mount should be forbidden as it desecrates the holiness of the site. But this applies to the tens of thousands of moslems who routinely go up on the Temple Mount in order to enter and pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque, built in around 690 AD around the time of the Moslem conquests of the area. The Mosque was intentionally built on top of the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock was built on top of the ruins of the Holy Temple. Some historians insist that the Al-Aqsa mosque referred to in the Koran describes a mosque in what is now Saudi Arabia and not in Israel. But, this is a controversial claim that is hard to prove one way or the other. You can read more here and see a photo of observant Jews fully prostrated on the ground. During the prayers of Lamentation one is supposed to be as close to the ground as possible.
Dr. Doom, alias Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, warned his party’s ministers that Israel is headed for an economic disaster due to the way that this government was handling the budget. He said:
The finance minister and prime minister both issued statements yesterday in which they said that the lowering of Israel’s credit rating is a result of the war. That is a lie. Both of them are lying to the public.
He is referring to the recent downgrading of Israel’s Credit Rating from A+ to A by Fitch. It is my view that the government is spending funds on items that are not necessary at this time, such as added payments to ultra-orthodox families, etc. They should be focusing only on dealing with the deficit we will be running as a result of lost productivity due to reservists seeing in combat, dealing with the displaced families from the north/south, expanded social/medical services for injured reservists and certain increases in Defense Ministry expenditures. Everything else should be frozen from the previous year, and perhaps they even look to cut the regular budget. But to call it a disaster is just a self serving “doom and gloom” that only benefits Lapid’s political prospects.
Hostages/Ceasefire
The Directors of Mossad and the Shin Bet are heading out to Doha, Qatar for the ongoing hostages/ceasefire negotiations which are scheduled to restart tomorrow. The intermediaries - USA, Qatar and Egypt have sent their delegations as well. It remains unclear whether Hamas will participate or not.
Protests were held by ultra-orthodox at a northern IDF draft office and training base. Several of the ultra-orthodox demonstrators were arrested for violent behavior. They were throwing full glass bottles at the police. And later, a fire broke out nearby, presumably set by the rioters.
International
In an interview with Bret Stephens of The New York Times, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emphasized his position that the root cause of the problems in the Middle East is Iran and its promotion of Islamic Fundamentalists across the region. And the way to deal with the “octopus” is not to cut off its tentacles but to go after its head, which he argues is more vulnerable. He argued that the promise of “total victory” contradicts the reality on the ground in Gaza. He goes on to say that eliminating more than half of Hamas’s combatants is necessary, but they will just train a new generation of fighters. The real war is with Iran, not all its proxies. He went on to say “all the senior leadership of Israel, political and military, needs to be replaced”. If you can get behind the paywall you can read it here. The headline for the Opinion piece is “Naftali Bennett Needs to Topple Two Regimes”. By that the author refers to Israel and Iran.
President for Life Mahmoud Abbas, of the Palestinian Authority, said in an interview with Russia’s state new agency TASS that Russia cannot be excluded from the Middle East Peace Process. I have no idea what Middle East Peace Process he could possibly be talking about. The only Peace Process that is operating in the Middle Eat these days is a Conflict Process.
US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein is visiting Beirut again. This is in the aftermath of word coming out of Iran that it could postpone indefinitely its retaliation against Israel if a ceasefire deal is reached in the coming days. While, in principle, this sounds like a noble cause it is also seen from here as a means for trying to apply pressure on Israel’s negotiating position. Iran refraining from attacking works against the interests of Hamas. So Hamas will now be motivated to scuttle the deal. Moreover, the Biden Administration will be using this to apply pressure on Israel as it sees the “Keys to World Wide Peace”, a ceasefire in Gaza. The parties are scheduled to meet tomorrow to see if an agreement can be reached. Until now, Hamas has insisted that it will not participate.
Well Netanyahu was invited to address a join session of US Congress. I guess the reciprocal is that President for Life Mahmoud Abbas, of the Palestinian Authority, has been invited to address the Turkiye Parliament tomorrow. I wonder how many standing ovations he will receive.
The USA Department of State approved the release of a $20B purchase of arms by Israel. Most of the weapons are either fighter jets or missiles for fighter jets.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Here is an English version of an Op-Ed published by Michael Oren, former ambassador of Israel to the USA. He describes the issues with playing defense in the Middle East, particularly when dealing with Iran.
Here is a bit of a long read from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. If you have the time I recommend you read it. It is written by Neomi Neumann and Ghaith al-Omaari. Neumann, an Israeli visiting fellow to the Institute, headed research at the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and is an authority on The Palestinian Authority. Al-Omari, served within the Palestinian Authority and was once an advisor to Mahmoud Abbas. It is an academic article but it is unique because of the perspective of the two authors. They provide, in great detail, the history of how the PA evolved into the corrupt and disdained institution it is today and what needs to happen to resuscitate it if it is to ever really govern properly.
And here is an Op-Ed from one of my favorite Israeli Military Analysts, Ron Ben-Yishai. In it he describes how Israel and the USA are dealing with the Iranian and Hezbollah immediate threat.