BlackMask Breaking News

The price of crude oil rose on Tuesday as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated further. Yesterday, Israeli military airstrikes killed almost 500 people in southern Lebanon. Mutual attacks continued today as the international community expressed concern about the growing possibility of an all-out war, with Iran warning of “irreversible consequences.” West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for deliveries in November 2024 added 1.52% at 4:11 am ET and sold for $71.41 per barrel. At the same time, Brent for November settlements increased by 1.26%, going for $74.87 per barrel. NN: Told you so….. Algo’s took the market down yesterday to force out the weak longs.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Monday of “irreversible” consequences if the Israel-Hezbollah conflict broadens into a regional war. Speaking at the United Nations on Monday, Pezeshkian accused Israel of provoking Iran and the Middle East by intensifying strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. “We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible,” he said. His remarks followed Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, with Israeli authorities warning about a special situation at the home front in the entire country that will last until at least September 30.

The last 48 hours has seen the most intense exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in almost a year of war in Gaza, as the Lebanese militant group fired projectiles deeper into Israeli territory than has previously been seen. On Saturday Israel pounded Hezbollah targets with nearly 300 strikes it what they described as preemptive action to thwart a planned attack. Hezbollah meanwhile has been launching a barrage of rockets and other projectiles at Israel in what it says is retaliation for Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Hezbollah – the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed militant group – has been left reeling after two days of blasts targeting pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members was followed by an Israeli strike on southern Beirut, which killed at least 45 people including a top commander and other senior operatives. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Lebanon was rocked by two similar, surprise attacks. On Tuesday afternoon, pagers exploded at the same time across several parts of Lebanon, including capital Beirut, and in several towns in the central Beqaa valley, strongholds for the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Almost exactly 24 hours later, Lebanon was rocked by a second attack Wednesday, when walkie-talkies detonated in the suburbs of Beirut and in the south of the country. Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad put the death toll from both attacks at 39; 12 on Tuesday and 27 on Wednesday. The exploding devices attacks were followed by an Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday, which killed at least 45 including senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil, and levelled a multistory building in a densely populated neighborhood. The developments put the region on a knife edge, with Hezbollah targeting northern Israel with a series of rockets and missiles overnight on Saturday into Sunday, striking deeper into Israeli territory than they have done in other recent attacks. The attacks, Hezbollah said, were in response to repeated Israeli strikes in Lebanon that have led to the deaths of “many civilians.” Among the targets, Hezbollah said it hit an air base with Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles, a longer-range weapon seemingly not used so far.

Most were intercepted but some fell, causing damage. The Israeli military reported impacts in Kiryat Bialik, Tsur Shalom and Moreshet near the port city of Haifa, around 40 km (25 miles) south of the border, marking one of the deepest direct hits by the Iran-backed group since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war. Schools have closed in many northern areas of Israel, and gatherings have been restricted. Israel meanwhile fired nearly 300 projectiles into southern Lebanon on Saturday in what the military said was pre-emptive action against a planned Hezbollah attack. Israel continued its strikes into Sunday, with Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reporting two people were killed Sunday morning in southern Lebanon.

 The intensity of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah seen over the past few days has been unprecedented, renewing fears of a wider war that could drag in the entire region, as well as Israel’s chief ally the United States.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported conducting around 800 strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon during the whole of Monday, increasing the 300 counts published earlier. These strikes have been focused on eliminating Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, which includes rockets, missiles, drones, and launchers located in southern Lebanon and Beqaa, deep inside Lebanese territory, the IDF said. According to the IDF, these actions are intended to neutralize threats to Israeli civilians and significantly weaken Hezbollah’s operational capabilities. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government and army are accomplishing what he promised before regarding “changing the security balance, the balance of power in the north” with all the attacks on Lebanese territories that have left at least 274 dead, 1,024 injured.

Hezbollah says it struck Israeli army posts in north

Hezbollah announced on Monday it struck two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military bases in the north of that country. One of those posts was identified as the IDF Artillery Corps facility in the Yoav barracks in northern Israel. Meanwhile, the IDF wrote on Telegram that it detected several rocket launches from Lebanon’s territories with some of them being intercepted and some crashing into an open area. The attacks followed Israel’s strikes on Lebanon’s territory in response to Hezbollah’s attacks on its own, which, in turn, came amid the former country’s conflict with Hamas.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed on Monday that over 300 Hezbollah targets have been attacked so far today and that IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has approved the attack on new Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Earlier today, IDF announced on Telegram that it was attacking the southern area of Lebanon after the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that the Israeli military plans to launch more “extensive” attacks on its Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Various towns in southern Lebanon have been attacked, including the Toul region, Nabatieh district, Al-Maytam area and Jezzine area, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported. According to the reports, the attacks on the Toul region resulted in an unidentified number of people injured, and there were also injuries reported in the attacks on the towns of Kfarhatta, Babliyeh, Kawthariyeh al-Sayyad and al-Ghassaniyah, some of which included residential buildings being hit.

Israel warns civilians in southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of ‘extensive strikes

JERUSALEM — Israel on Monday urged residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate from homes and other buildings where it claimed Hezbollah has stored weapons, saying the military would conduct “extensive strikes” against the militant group. It was the first warning of its kind in nearly a year of steadily escalating conflict and came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire on Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters. There was no sign of an immediate exodus from the villages of southern Lebanon, and the warning left open the possibility that some residents could live in or near targeted structures without knowing that they are risk. The increasing strikes and counterstrikes have raised fears of an all-out war, even as Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza and trying to return scores of hostages taken in Hamas‘ Oct. 7 attack. Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel says it is committed to returning calm to its northern border. An Israeli military official said Israel is focused on aerial operations and has no immediate plans for a ground operation. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said the strikes are aimed at curbing Hezbollah’s ability to launch more strikes into Israel. Lebanese media reported that residents received text messages urging them to move away from any building where Hezbollah stores arms until further notice. “If you are in a building housing weapons for Hezbollah, move away from the village until further notice,” the Arabic message reads, according to Lebanese media. Israel has accused Hezbollah of transforming entire communities in the south into militant bases, with hidden rocket launchers and other infrastructure. That could lead the Israeli military to wage an especially heavy bombing campaign, even if no ground forces move in. The military said it had targeted more than 150 militant sites early Monday. Residents of different villages in southern Lebanon posted photos on social media of airstrikes and large plumes of smoke. The state-run National News Agency also reported airstrikes on different areas. Israel has vowed to push Hezbollah back from the border so its citizens can return to their homes, saying it prefers to do so diplomatically but is willing to use force. Hezbollah has said it will keep up its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but that appears increasingly elusive as the war nears its anniversary. NN: Sounds like war to me.

Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon. The sides appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions. The rocket barrage overnight was in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon that have killed dozens, including a veteran Hezbollah commander, and an unprecedented attack targeting the group’s communications devices. It set off air raid sirens across northern Israel, sending thousands of people scrambling into shelters. One rocket struck near a residential building in Kiryat Bialik, a community near Haifa, wounding at least three people and setting buildings and cars on fire. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said that a total of four people were wounded by shrapnel in the barrage. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take whatever action was necessary to restore security in the north and allow people to return to their homes.

“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he said.

The Israeli military said that it carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting about 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said those strikes had thwarted an even larger attack. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians have come under fire across a lot of northern Israel,” he said. “Today we saw fire that was deeper into Israel than before.” The military also said it had intercepted multiple aerial devices fired from the direction of Iraq, after Iran-backed militant groups there claimed to have launched a drone attack on Israel.

Hezbollah says it is using new weapons

Hezbollah said that it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles — a new type of weapon the group hadn’t used before — at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs.” In July, the group released a video with what it said was footage it had filmed of the base with surveillance drones. Hezbollah also said it had targeted the facilities of the Rafael defense firm, which is headquartered in Haifa, calling it retaliation for the wireless devices attack. It didn’t provide evidence, and the Israeli military declined to comment on the statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday that Hezbollah will “get the message” after a series of Israeli strikes targeting the group’s top commanders and strongholds. “If Hezbollah didn’t get the message, I promise you, it will get the message,” Netanyahu said in a video address posted on X. He added that Israel is determined to bring residents from northern towns back to their homes. “No country can tolerate firing on its citizens, on its cities, and the State of Israel cannot tolerate it either. We will do everything necessary to restore security,” Netanyahu concluded.

Israel’s Herzog: We are fighting for our existence

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that his country is “fighting for our existence” as it is being attacked from all sides. In an interview with Sky News, Herzog stressed that Israel “did not seek this war” and that it “is not interested in being at war with Lebanon.” “This war was launched against us by Hamas, and now by Hezbollah. We have to remove that threat and enable our people to live in peace. That’s all we are asking,” the president pointed out. Furthermore, Herzog stated that the situation in the Middle East is already “dangerous” and warned that there is “clearly the potential of escalating dramatically.”

 

Reports suggest that Israel’s alleged operation to manufacture gadgets, which exploded in Lebanon earlier this week, took years to execute. Reports suggest, Israel was involved in the manufacturing of communication devices that detonated in various parts of Lebanon on September 17 and 18. The manufacturing took place under several shell companies, which were allegedly owned by Israel. A firm named BAC consulting, was registered in Budapest which never had any manufacturing site in Hungary. So, while Hezbollah has been carrying out attacks on Israel’s northern front since last October, little did they know that they were carrying explosive devices in their pockets, holding them in their own hands all along! Did Hezbollah never stand a chance against Israel? Inations understand the true potential of Israeli stealth and weaponry.

NN Audio file

I have kept this secret for years