Today’s Image
Meet Rabbi Zvi Kogan (Z’’L) former Director of The Chabad Center of Abu Dhabi. His body was found very early this morning near his car about 40 km outside Abu Dhabi. It is believed that his assassins were Uzbeki members of an Iranian Proxy group. It was announced this evening that the UAE police have made three arrests that they believe were the perpetrators.
Casualties
There were no civilian nor IDF casualties reported in the last 3 days.
Rockets & Missiles & Drones
No rockets fired from Gaza in the last day entered Israeli air space.
Well Hezbollah woke up from its day off yesterday with more than 250 rockets fired into Israel today. Most of these rockets were targeted at coastal cities between Nahariya and Acre. Many others at what is known as the Galilee Panhandle consisting of the very northern cities of Metula and Kiryat Shmona. And then many at the area in and around Tzfat (Safed). A man in his 60s was reported to suffer a serious injury from falling shrapnel. And two individuals in the Haifa area were reported with light injuries from falling shrapnel. But out of the 250 rockets these are the only injuries reported so far. There was some damage to buildings as well with at least one direct hit from a rocket that made it through the aerial defense systems. Here is a photo of the damaged building in Haifa.
Also a barrage of 8 long range rockets were also fired reaching as far south as Netanya, a coastal city about half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa. One of those rockets struck inside the Arab city of Tulkarem that sits inside Samaria right along the Eastern side of the green line with Israel. Several residents of that city were injured. Also several people were injured in the city of Petah Tikva, not too far away from Tulkarem. One 70 year old woman was being treated for smoke inhalation and one 23 old man was lightly injured. At least one of the rockets directly hit the city causing damage which you can see here.
Early this morning Hezbollah launched several (4-7) drones into Israel. No casualties nor damage was reported. At least 3 were intercepted and the others fell in open areas.
Hezbollah claims to have launched long range rockets targeting naval facilities in the southern coastal city of Ashdod, but there have been no reports of any activity by the IDF. Those facilities are where most of the aid comes in for Gaza.
Lebanon Operations
IDF fighter jets continue to target Hezbollah command facilities as well as underground armories in the Southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh. In each of these strikes advance warnings have been provided to the residents above the buried facilities.
The IDF reports that it has expanded its ground operation in Southern Lebanon and is reaching “secondary villages” about 9-10 km north of the Blue Line, the armistice border between the two countries. The Litani River is about 28 km north of the Blue Line.
Rescue workers are still digging through the rubble from the aerial strike conducted on Saturday on a facility in central Beirut. It is still not known if the IDF successfully assassinated the Hezbollah Chief of Staff Muhammad Haydar. So far Lebanese health ministry officials say that 29 people died in the attack and another 67 wounded.
As reported yesterday, the IDF announced yesterday that they struck more than 45 rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon last week. Obviously, Hezbollah still has rocket launching capabilities. Here is a video of a rocket launcher that was destroyed today by an IDF drone in Southern Lebanon. You will notice that the launcher is rather large so these are medium range rockets of the type capable of reaching Haifa.
The IDF issued an apology today to the Lebanese Army for a strike that hit one of its facilities in the town of Al-Amiriya. In the attack one soldier was killed and 18 hurt.
Also today IDF fighter jets struck several positions on the roads leading from Syria into Lebanon as this is the major resupply route for Iranian Arms to reach Hezbollah forces.
Yemen Operations
There are reports that Russian Army Recruitment staff are busy in Yemen trying to recruit Yemeni fighters to fight against the Ukraine. I wonder how they will do during a cold winter slogging it out in the muddy turf of the Ukraine? In Israel rumors have circulated that the North Koreans hired by Russia to fight the Ukrainians are doing so well. Apparently the Russians introduced them to pornography web sites and this has been a large part of their focus. You can read more here.
Syria/Iran/Jordan/Egypt/Iraq/Turkiye
Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Director of the Abu Dhabi Chabad Center, was found dead early this morning near his automobile in the United Arab Emirates. He was the victim of a killing believed to be an assassination conducted by Iranian Proxies operating out of Uzbekistan. It is believed that the assailants escaped to Turkiye. Israel formally thanked the UAE for doing what it could to locate the Rabbi and assist in the investigation. Last this evening the UAE announced the arrest of three suspects in the case.
Also, today there was a shooting attempt just outside the Israeli Embassy in Amman Jordan late last night. Jordanian Police who were guarding the facility killed the assailant who managed to get off several rounds of gunfire. Three of the policemen were injured. It was declared a terror attack as the target was clearly personnel at the Embassy. Here is the report in The Jordan Times which makes only a minor reference to the Israeli Embassy, as if it was a coincidence. And here are a couple of live video recording of the incident - here and here.
During an interview with Iranian Regime run media outlet a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Iran was preparing its response to Israel’s aerial operations against its anti-aircraft systems and missile production capabilities in October. It is my guess that they will NOT attempt to launch another round of ballistic missiles at Israel. First, they have proven to be ineffective. But more importantly they would provide Israel the legitimacy to attack Iran’s oil export facilities and/or their nuclear weapons facilities. While the Russian built S-300 SAM systems were ineffective against the IDF fighter jets deployed in the April and October attacks, they could have neutralized other types of aircraft. But now, without any aerial defense the IDF could send in drones, conventional aircraft, anything and Iran could do little to stop the attacks.
Aid
COGAT reports that yesterday, Saturday, 50 trucks of aid entered Gaza via the northern border crossing with Israel. Aid organizations collected 46 trucks worth of aid that was inside the staging area near the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the South. COGAT collaborated with NGO health officials in the evacuation of patients from the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza to other medical facilities inside Gaza. In all more than 120 patients, staff, nurses and doctors were peacefully evacuated from the intense fighting areas of Northern Gaza.
IDF/Government
The Defense Minister denied the request of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi to promote two officers leading divisions doing much of the current fighting in Gaza. He argues that promotions should be held off until after a formal commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 finishes its investigation. The problem is that this government is blocking such an investigation from taking place, claiming that it should only happen once the war is over.
More details are emerging from the investigation into the leak(s) coming out of the Prime Minister’s Office I have been reporting on. The defendant’s lawyer is insisting that his client believed that he was acting on behalf of the Prime Minister. According to the Defense Attorney Eli Feldstein was in regular contact with a Jonathan Urich, showing him the material and requesting formal approval from the Prime Minister. Urich is a very senior aide to the Prime Minister and most view a communication with him is like communicating with the Prime Minister. The Defendant, according to his attorney, believed that everything he did was with the knowledge of this aid and therefore the Prime Minister. It is too early to know just how this case is going to evolve.
A bill has been submitted for consideration in the Knesset by a Knesset Member from the ruling Likud Party that would place the public TV station and its affiliate radio station to public tender, inviting groups from the private sector to bid to take it over. The bill is being promoted by the government on the pretext that it would encourage more competition and eliminate a cost center from the budget. The move has been questioned by the Attorney General’s office not on the rationale for the move but in the way it is being done as it should follow normal procedures by first being read and debated within a Knesset committee. An independent NGO calling itself Movement for Quality Government said that the move is part of campaign to weaken Israeli democracy. The reality is that Israel has a vibrant private media industry doing quite well in the market place. It is probably healthier than what is found in the USA. There are more than 6 independent newspapers, all profitable, with views across the wide breadth of the political landscape. There are now 3 independent mainstream broadcast TV channels and 1 cable TV channel. Again, they are profitable and encompass a wide range of political views. From my view I see little harm in selling off the government channels as long as the proper legislative procedures are followed and a truly independent tender system is followed.
One of the criminal cases against the Prime Minister is due to hear his testimony by or before December 2. The Prime Minister has requested, again, that he be allowed to delay his appearance. They want to delay to December 17 arguing that the Prime Minister has been too busy to allocated time for the proper preparations. It is not sure how the court will react.
And In Your Copious Spare Time…
Bari Weis, Editor in Chief and Founder of The Free Press, addressed the annual General Assembly conference of all the Jewish Federations across the USA and Canada held last week in Washington DC. You need to watch here address, here. She provides a very sobering assessment of the situation that the Jewish Communities in North America find themselves.
Seth Franzman of The Jerusalem Post conducted an interview with the Chief of Staff of one of the Armored Brigades that has been operating inside Gaza for some time. The officer describes in some detail just what has been going on over the past few months and the challenges his unit has faced.
We here in Israel are still trying to wrap our heads around the recent issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court against former Defense Minister Gallant and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Here is one analysis from a guest columnist in The Jerusalem Post.
" It is believed that his assassins were Uzbeki members of an Iranian Proxy group. "
Based on what?