Israel lured out an elusive Hezbollah commander with a mysterious phone call moments before launching the deadly airstrike that would kill him and cause the terror group to vow revenge, according to a new report.

Fuad Shukr, who had evaded even the US for four decades, was killed on July 30 when he received a phone call in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah official told the Wall Street Journal.

The evening call instructed the Hezbollah commander to go up to the seventh floor of his building, with an Israel missile slamming into the complex at around 7 p.m., killing him, his family and injuring 70 others, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. //

It would be interesting to know just what was said to Fuad Shukr in that phone call: "We'd like to talk to you about your car's extended warranty. Would you mind just stepping up to the seventh floor so we may send you a renewal package? Yes, just stand by that window on the southwest corner." Whatever the message was, Shukr listened, resulting in the worst and shortest day of his life. //

RedDog_FLA
4 hours ago
Can you hear me now? //

anon-ojix
3 hours ago
Don't they aspire to martyrdom?

UpChuck.Liberals anon-ojix
an hour ago
Yes, but it's weird, they complain when their life long desire is met.

I ran into a friend, actor, and politician, Siaka Massaquoi, who looked fresh as a daisy. “Jeez,” I said to him. “This is brutal.”

“Yeah,” he replied with a smile. “I’ve been here since 3:30 am.”

What in the world? That was two hours before we arrived.

Turns out Siaka is on a “list.” He entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but has not been charged with anything. His apartment was raided by over 20 armed FBI agents on June 10, 2021, and he’s been under investigation ever since for “associating with members of a social media group.” //

As I keep repeating, he has not been charged or convicted of anything – isn’t this exactly what the Fifth Amendment was designed to prevent? Namely that you can’t be punished without due process? Where’s the due process here?

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸
@julie_kelly2
·
Follow
Americans charged—not convicted, charged—with petty offenses related to Jan 6 are on terrorist watch list at TSA and must undergo invasive, extensive searches numerous times. Any Republican who thinks this regime won’t do the same under “red flag” laws is an idiot. Or John Cornyn
2:25 PM · Jun 12, 2022

According to a new report, Biden was "emotional" and began yelling as he insisted that Netanyahu somehow secure a ceasefire with a terrorist government that keeps rejecting every ceasefire proposal. //

If you're good at math, you've probably already realized that "a week to two weeks" just so happens to be days before the Democratic National Convention is set to take place. Why does that matter? Because for the better part of a year, the expectation has been that left-wing Hamas supporters will protest and commit acts of violence at the event. //

In other words, the President of the United States is demanding an American ally surrender to terrorists for political gain. That's a wild development that would be a bona fide scandal if it involved a Republican. //

As to the current threat from Iran, Biden went so far as to tell Netanyahu the United States will not help Israel defeat an attack if another "escalation" occurs. Keep in mind that the prior "escalation" was the killing of Hamas' top political leader and a wanted Hezbollah terrorist who had an American-placed bounty on his head. Apparently, that was unacceptable to the president. //

anon-bdx1
6 hours ago
So Brandon is using the threat of withholding support in exchange for something that benefits him politically? Gee where have I heard that before?

Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official.

The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials. The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.

Mr. Haniyeh was in Iran’s capital for the presidential inauguration. The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse. The blast also killed a bodyguard. //

Such a breach, three Iranian officials said, was a catastrophic failure of intelligence and security for Iran and a tremendous embarrassment for the Guards, which uses the compound for retreats, secret meetings and housing prominent guests like Mr. Haniyeh. //

Seth Mandel @SethAMandel
·
You know, I often make fun of the "MOSSAD UNDER THE BED!" ppl on here, but sometimes yeah the Mossad is under your bed what can I tell you
nytimes.com
Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader
9:39 AM · Aug 1, 2024

On Thursday, we learned that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who has been living in luxury in Qatar, was taken out by an explosive device placed in a guest house room in Tehran months ago and remotely detonated. Haniyeh was in Iran for the swearing-in of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, which was scheduled for Tuesday. Haniyeh's pronouns have now been permanently changed to "was" and "were." //

Three Iranian officials separately told The New York Times that the security breach that allowed the explosive device to find its way into the compound where Haniyeh was residing – which is used by the Guards for secret meetings and housing prominent guests – is a massive embarrassment to the military agency. //

No matter who planted this device, it's an effective little piece of retribution for Oct 7th. And you know what the thing is about revenge? It's patient.

Joe Biden's Defense Department approved a plea deal Wednesday for three of the conspirators behind the attacks of September 11, 2001. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi will enter pleas before the military commission at Guantanamo Bay next week. //

The Pentagon announcement Wednesday didn’t include details, but a person familiar with the deal said that it involved a life sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty, but the torture of the defendants while in Central Intelligence Agency custody had clouded proceedings for years. //

President Biden learned of the plea bargain Wednesday, a National Security Council spokesman said.

“The president and the White House played no role in this process. The president has directed his team to consult as appropriate with officials and lawyers at the Department of Defense on this matter,” the spokesman said. //

The only reason we are going through this is because of a direct usurpation of congressional power by a crazed Anthony Kennedy and four fellow travelers. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 specifically placed review of the act outside the purview of the Supreme Court as allowed by Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 of the US Constitution: "with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." The actions of the Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush should have resulted in Bush telling Kennedy to take a long walk on a short pier, and impeachment proceedings should have been brought against every federal judge who agreed to touch the case. But, alas, that would have required courage.

So, the final curtain is coming down on 9/11 and the Global War on Terror. Thanks to the Defense Department's total lack of transparency, it looks like that curtain will go down with as much controversy as when it came up.

The IRGC report claims that Haniyeh's residence was targeted and his bodyguard was killed as well. And, as the New York Times observes, a targeted killing like this in Tehran "raises questions about the safety of Iran’s top leaders who were in close contact with Mr. Haniyeh just hours before his assassination." //

The Left only destroys
11 hours ago
I'd say it's a good bet that Mossad deliberately waited until this guy was in Iran rather than nailing him in Qatar. Iran will loudly huff and puff and make more of the usual threats against Israel, but privately Iran's leaders have to be sh!tting their drawers.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Tuesday that their airstrikes in Lebanon eliminated Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah commander who ordered a drone attack on a soccer field in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 victims, mostly children.

The deceased terrorist also had a connection to the horrific 1983 bombing that killed 241 of our military personnel:

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the U.S. Capitol last week, he described this conflict as a clash between civilization and barbarity. He was right, and nothing illustrates that more clearly than the account of Zach Sage Fox's foray into the West Bank.

The IDF preparing a “significant response” to Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children.

CSPAN @cspan
·
Rashida Tlaib holds 'War Criminal' sign as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress.

2:41 PM · Jul 24, 2024 //

The Left only destroys
7 hours ago
Actually, that sign is accurate. Rashida Taliban is a genocidal war criminal - or at least wants to be one.

RedinOR The Left only destroys
7 hours ago
Precisely. It wasn't a protest thing, she was self-identifying.

In a classified letter, US Central Command commander General Michael Kurilla warned Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that US military operations to keep the Red Sea open to commercial traffic are "failing." General Kurilla's warning to Austin and his cronies predicted that “U.S. service members will die if we continue going this way.” According to reports, there was a sudden demand for brown trousers in the upper reaches of the Pentagon. //

There is no doubt we are getting our asses kicked in the Red Sea. That is happening for one reason. Our foreign policy and defense strategy establishments are running on empty. The Israel Air Force has done more to establish dominance over the Houthis in one airstrike than we have in a year of half-hearted and hamstrung efforts to keep a vital international maritime route open. //

Houthi attacks are responsible for a significant drop in container shipping through the Red Sea, with a 90% decrease since December 2023, affecting 10-15% of global maritime trade. //

According to the report, alternate shipping routes around Africa, despite adding about 11,000 nautical miles, approximately $1 million in fuel costs per voyage, and 1-2 weeks of transit time, can be less expensive than the combined costs of crew bonuses, war risk insurance, and Suez transit fees.

Insurance premiums for Red Sea transits have increased to 0.7-1.0% of a ship’s total value as of mid-February, up from less than 0.1% before December 2023. //

Not only have our efforts to protect shipping not worked, but they have resulted in our allies forming a counter-coalition to avoid being under US command. US leadership in an area of immense national security interest, both the Red Sea route and the freedom of navigation, has been lost and will require much hard work to regain.

Once American hard power is used, it must emerge victorious. The failure to do so leads to instability and more warfare.

Much of Iran's resurgence and instability in the Middle East is directly attributable to Biden's horrendous leadership in closing out our Afghan misadventure. Now, he's about to end his misrule of America with another catastrophe that will echo for generations as a bookend to his Afghanistan failure. All in all, this is a fitting legacy for Joe Biden's life and political career.

Israeli parliament mulls a ban on Hamas-linked UN agency, may brand its a terrorist organization.

The entire proceeding is a farce. South Africa, through a highly distorted set of accusations, doesn’t seek to prevent genocide, it seeks to enable genocide against Jews by preventing Israel from defending itself. //

Here is Israel’s entire presentation today:

https://youtu.be/imn9daDE2dQ

The substance of the ruling is not specific, but generally demands Israel live up to its obligations under the genocide convention. It did not “order” an immediate ceasefire. It’s a toothless order, but will be used against Israel despite it not being a finding that Israel committed genocide. //

If anyone thought the “International Court of Justice” a function of the U.N. General Assembly would give Israel a fair hearing on South Africa’s fraudulent charge of genocide, you don’t understant the U.N. at all. //

The only bright spot was the statement at the end that the ICJ expresses concerns for the hostages and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. //

Anna Ahronheim @AAhronheim
·
Right after ICJ released its ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, Hamas fires a barrage of rockets towards communities in southern Israel-including those struck by the terror group on Oct.7. Coincidence?
8:08 AM · Jan 26, 2024

We can no more count on Biden to defend our border than to assist Israel. That means states and local communities must take their fates into their own hands. //

“Such is the nature of Evil. Out there in the vast ignorance of the world it festers and spreads. A Shadow that grows in the dark. A sleepless malice as black as the oncoming wall of night. So it ever was, so it always will be.”

These words from the movie adaptation of The Hobbit were quoted by my colleague Dr. David Wurmser, who is presently in Israel reporting as he can between rocket attacks and shelter-in-place orders.

Only Tolkien’s stories of the changeless sweeping malevolence of evil across the ages seem appropriate to encapsulate the tremendous paradigm shift represented by the horrific massacre perpetrated by Hamas over the weekend.

700 dead in a country of 9.3 million people is the equivalent of a terror attack on America in which over 25,000 people were brutally murdered. //

Israel unilaterally withdrew from every last inch of Gaza in 2005, after dismantling the 21 Israeli settlements that had existed in the territory and handing them over to the Palestinian Authority.

The rationale behind Israel’s withdrawal, carried out by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was the notion of land for peace—that Israel would hand over control of certain territories in exchange for security. The land was handed over. The peace never came.

A lot of celebrities would have tried to give credence to the heckler when the proper response is ridicule and humor. Seinfeld delivered that in spades. //

heckling a professional comedian is rarely a good idea. You will get leveled. //

emptypockets
2 hours ago
Willfully ignorant but arrogantly self-important lackwits trying to get their own virtue signaling in while it's "the thing to do". Like the BLM was the "thing to do" a couple of years ago. They are not serious people or they would bother with facts. They don't so it's all just performance. //

Magnus
2 hours ago
Their purpose is not to solve the 80 years issue with Trans Jordanians and Jews, but to FEEL righteous in their vapid indignations. It's all about FEELINGS, you know.

DDopson Ars Tribunus Militum
22y
1,933
Subscriptor
Doc12 said:
If someone has access to industrial centrifuges then HALEU seems like a convenience rather than a necessity. Could use un-enriched uranium in your centrifuges and would just take longer to get to the end point?
Yes, quite a bit longer. If you are a nation-state that can build an industrial scale centrifuge operation, then any reactor fuel is a proliferation risk. It takes several times more effort to concentrate to 5% than from 5% to 90%.

There's a concept called Separation Work Units (SWUs) that can be used to quantify how much centrifuge time is needed to separate x kg of uranium at y% enrichment into an enriched stream at z% enrichment and a tailings stream with <<y% enrichment. And there's a calculator here. https://www.urenco.com/swu-calculator

Let's say you want to produce 1 kg of 90% enriched U235.

Starting from 176 kg of natural uranium, it takes 227 SWUs of effort if you are exhausting tailings at 0.2%. Or if you exhaust tailings at 0.5% it only takes 154 SWU, but then you need a whopping 424 kg of natural Uranium feedstock. Either way, it's a lot of work.

Starting with 20 kg of 5% enriched reactor fuel, drained down to 0.5% tailings, is 48 SWU. Or if you can afford be wasteful of 5% enriched reactor fuel, 30 kg + 30 SWU gets you to the same place with 2% tailings, something that only makes sense if you've stolen the reactor fuel rather than enriching it from natural uranium.

Starting with 5 kg of 20% enriched HALEU drops the separation effort to 12 SWU, assuming 2% tailings. Or if you stole a lot of it, and only need to extract half the U235 content, 10% tailings is 7.4 SWU per kg of weapons-grade HEU.

The key point is that the greatest investment of separation work comes in the early enrichment stages where vast quantities of natural uranium are concentrated into relatively smaller quantities of moderately enriched uranium. It takes several times more effort to concentrate to 5% than from 5% to 90%.

So this risk isn't unique to HALEU. Regular reactor fuel is almost as problematic. //

DDopson Ars Tribunus Militum
22y
1,933
Subscriptor

clewis said:
Timed to the µs? I'll just use a Raspberry π and a real time operating system. If we need ns, I might have to buy some speciality expansion boards.

While modern technology has rendered trivial some aspects of the problem that were much harder in the pre-transistor era, it's still not quite as simple as that. You need high quality explosive initiators that will trigger detonation with a predictable lag, versus all of the default solutions have unacceptably high variability such that one side goes before the other, creating an asymmetric implosion. The solution is often found by driving enormous currents through wires or foil embedded in relatively sensitive explosives, and in 1945, achieving such a rapid current rise was a major challenge. Today, someone developing similar high-precision initiators would benefit tremendously from the plethora of off-the-shelf power electronics (much more important even than the Raspberry pi), but it's still something that a real engineer needs to spend some time testing very carefully or your weapon will dramatically underperform it's designed yield. //

DDopson Ars Tribunus Militum
22y
1,933
Subscriptor

Wickwick said:
Sandia National Labs has (at least) one group which specializes in analyzing the risk of improvised industrial goods for explosive yield. Many years ago I helped adapt some lab equipment so it could be used in a cloud of muriatic acid as if someone had detonated a railcar full of the stuff. Just last year at a conference I was speaking to one of their researchers about the threats posed by things like diesel tankers, LNG ships, etc. None of those things are viewed particularly highly on the threat matrix compared to something like ANFO (Beirut port explosion). Fuels have a lot of stored chemical energy, but you can't couple that to the environment in a manner that creates a large explosion without having an oxidizer intimately mixed in. Achieving the near-nuclear-level blast of a massive fuel-air burst bomb is a non-trivial engineering feat. //

+1, and note that weaponized fuel-air bombs don't just use any old fuel laying about. They have a specifically engineered mix of a highly volatile liquid with a wide detonation range (better tolerance for uneven dispersion), such as ethylene oxide, with a powder like aluminum, which boosts the energy release per unit of oxygen consumed.

Poorly dispersed commercial fuels badly underachieve their on-paper energetic value.

anon-pweq
an hour ago
[Repeating my comment from a sister-site:]
Just a note about the bemoaning of the supposed dis-proportionality between the number of dead Arabs versus rescued Israelis. It's not as if the calculus was "Should we kill X people in order to reach the hostages?". According to all reports, the vast majority of Arab casualties occurred after the initial Israeli rescue. After Israeli forces were "in possession" of the hostages and were trying to retreat, they all came under heavy fire and were forced to respond. Israel was initially carrying out a precise in-and-out rescue operation with minimal casualties; it was Hamas and its supporters who elected to unnecessarily turn it into an all-out battle.