Today’s Image
Tonight, Saturday, we attended an informal outdoor concert where locals performed some Big Band music. It was held in a venue called the Tachana Rishona, First Station. It is called this because it used to be the first station on the train system built during the Ottoman Period that ran all the way to Istanbul and then continuing on to Venice… The Orient Express. Today it is filled with restaurants, cafes and is a popular meeting place in Jerusalem.
Casualties
The IDF reported today the death of Sgt. Ori Nisanovich - 21 (Z’’L). He died during a fire fight with Hezbollah forces in Southern Lebanon. Since the ground operation in Southern Lebanon started 44 IDF soldiers have died in combat.
Rockets & Missiles & Drones
Two rockets launched from inside Northern Gaza targeting the southern city of Sderot were intercepted before reaching their target.
A drone launched from Iraq in the direction of the southern city of Eilat was neutralized before reach Israeli air space early this morning.
Also this morning two drones launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon towards the coastal city of Nahariya were neutralized before reaching their target. This was then repeated with another three drones targeting the same city. All three of those drones were neutralized, but shrapnel from one struck an unoccupied apartment in a newly constructed building. There was minor damage and no injuries reported.
Altogether about 55 rockets were launched by Hezbollah today, targeting northern Israel. This morning a barrage of 20 rockets were fired into the Western Galilee, several km north of the coastal city of Haifa. All the rockets were either intercepted or landed in open areas. No reports of injuries. This was followed two hour later by a second barrage of 35 rockets targeting the same area. Most of the rockets struck open areas, but two hit buildings on a farm housing dairy cattle. Then late this afternoon a barrage of 10 rockets were launched targeting the same area. They were either intercepted or landed in open fields except one which directly hit a synagogue, resulting to damage to the building and nearby automobiles.
Lebanon Operations
This morning IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah facilities located in the South Beirut neighborhood of Dehiyeh. This was followed by a second set of strikes in the early afternoon. In both attacks residents of the facilities were given substantial advanced warning to evacuate the buildings. In this second strike the IDF issued a statement saying that the fighter jets struck both a Hezbollah command center and weapons armory. Then, early afternoon similar warnings were issued to residents of the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre. Afterwards fighter jets struck four buildings, all associated with Hezbollah operations, including command centers weapon armories, etc.. A third wave of attacks on Hezbollah facilities in South Beirut followed, hitting a major command center.
Reports from Lebanese media claim that IDF ground forces have reached as far north as the village of Shamaa, which is about 5 km from the blue line with Israel. This is a little less than half the distance to the Litani River from the blue line.
And troops continue to operate in Southern Lebanon and continue to find huge underground, and above ground, arms storage facilities. They are confiscating a huge amount of arms these days. In the videos you can view on this report you can see just a representative amount of arms still sitting on pallets. It includes a pick up truck with mounted rocket launchers.
Gaza Operations
IDF ground operations in the Northern Gaza cities of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia continue. The IDF estimates that it taken prisoner more than 1,000 junior level Hamas operatives and killed at least 1,200 others. Reports are that the civilians are showing less and less fear of Hamas as its power has degraded. Nearly every home in Jabaliya has been booby trapped, but IDF ground troops are trained well on how to deal with them. Often they will not enter a home from a window or a door, but literally drill a large hole into the side of one of the walls from where they enter. Drones are then used to scout the home before troops will enter. Those few remaining Hamas commanders are not surrendering, but are fighting until the last as they know they will spend the reset of their lives in an Israeli prison if they are captured. Troops are finding weapons stored in the rooms of children. It is now estimated that a few hundred Hamas terrorists remain inside Jabaliya. You can read more here.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq/Turkiye
In a very unusual move, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeed Iravani requested a meeting with Elon Musk. It was announced that the meeting took place late either on Thursday November 14 or Friday November 15. It was reported that the two discussed Iran’s nuclear program, its support for anti-Israeli groups and prospects for improved relations with the USA. This meeting is unusual for several reasons. First, meetings between representatives of foreign countries and representatives of an incoming President don’t take place, ever. Second, Musk is not an “official” representative of Trump’s prospective government so I guess it was intended to bypass this norm. Finally, it is significant that a representative of a country that attempted to assassinate a candidate for president of the USA would push hard for a meeting in advance of their target taking office. But now it appears that Iran denies the meeting took place. I guess that asking for good relations with someone you have been trying to assassinate is not in good form. You can read more here and here.
There are reports coming from many Israeli news outlets that during the October IDF aerial operation conducted in Iran that Israel destroyed a top secret nuclear research facility near the city of Parchin. This was done despite the demand from the Biden Administration that Israel not target any nuclear facilities. It turns out that Iran never reported this facility to the IAEA inspectors so Iran could not publicly make any claims that Israel attacked one of its nuclear facilities. You can read more here.
Reports from Iran indicate that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is seriously ill, perhaps near death. These same reports indicate that there was a secret election held by the “Assembly of Experts” for his successor. As instructed by the Supreme Leader the council unanimously elected Khameini’s son, Mojtaba Khamaini, to succeed him. There are signs that the Supreme Leader is pushing for his son to assume power very soon in order to prevent any struggle over succession. In my view this looks pretty much like a medieval kingdom, not a republic. You can read more here.
Mid afternoon a drone launched missiles at targets in the Qudsaya neighborhood of Damascus. Sources inside Syria told the French news wire service AFP that two senior members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were assassinated in the strike: Abdel Aziz Minawi and Rasmi Abu Issa. This was later confirmed by the PIJ organization.
Hostages/Ceasefire
A USA drafted proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been sent to Lebanese government leaders. It is now being examined by them and Hezbollah leadership. Israel has requested a side letter from the US acknowledging that the IDF will reserve the rights to attack in the event that Hezbollah returns, with any military assets, to Southern Lebanon. In effect, saying that they will do what the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL have promised to do over the years but never did. This remains a major point of contention. Unofficially Hezbollah’s media outlet announced today that it would be rejecting the terms of the proposed ceasefire, primarily over a clause stating that “Israel has the right to self defense” and a separate clause that pertains to how the agreement will be overseen.
IDF/Government
The new Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the issuing of draft orders to 7,000 ultra-orthodox draftees. The ultra-orthodox political parties in the current government claim that they were promised that this would not happen. I believe that all this is a charade. If Netanyahu has made this promise, Katz would have never issued this order. He is not the kind of person that would contest a Netanyahu demand.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Here is a well researched report appearing in Tablet Magazine describing anecdotal stories pertaining to the “hot” issue of IDF conscription of the ultra-orthodox. It provides a wide view of the issues “at hand”.
This report in the Israeli daily Yediout Ahranot summarizes a report from a US based NGO Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) credibly claiming that the South African Political Party African National Congress ANC received large sums of money from BOTH Iran and Qatar as a payment in order to file the claim of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice ICJ. Costs of filing such a case are substantial. And that party was totally bankrupt before filing the case with the ICJ.