[IsraelTimes] IDF spokesman says military ‘will act’ against all weapon deliveries to Lebanese terror group, including in Syria; Netanyahu says Assad ‘playing with fire’
A series of Israeli strikes on border crossings between Leb
 ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
and Syria just before a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect Wednesday morning were intended to set back the terror group’s smuggling efforts, while driving home as a stark warning to Damascus that Israel will take severe action to prevent attempts to rearm Hezbollah with Iranian weapons via Syrian territory.
The Israel Defense Forces has said that amid the truce it would continue to act to prevent all weapon deliveries to the Lebanese terror group, including by striking shipments anywhere in Lebanon or Syria.
"We struck on Syrian soil all attempts to transfer weapons to Hezbollah. If we detect intentions to transfer weapons to the organization — we will act," IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a presser Wednesday night.
In a briefing Wednesday, a senior military official said that the IDF would not just strike the weapon shipments, but Syrian President Bashir al-Assad’s regime would pay for aiding Hezbollah.
"If Syria helps Hezbollah to rebuild, they will pay direct prices. Not only the convoys will be attacked, but there will be prices to pay in Syria as well," the official said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that "Assad must understand that he is playing with fire" by enabling Iranian shipments to Hezbollah to pass.
In the hours before the ceasefire early Wednesday, the IDF carried out a series of strikes against Hezbollah’s missile program and smuggling routes.
Three border crossings between northern Lebanon and Syria, which the military said were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, were destroyed. The IDF assessed that it would take time to repair the crossings, and during that time, Hezbollah would have limited routes to bring in weapons, which would be easier for Israel to monitor.
Also in the hours before the ceasefire, Israeli fighter jets destroyed the terror group’s largest underground precision-guided missile manufacturing site in Lebanon, near the town of Janta in eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, the IDF said.
Another major missile manufacturing site, in Syria, was allegedly raided by Israeli special forces in September.
The raid, in the Masyaf area, was said to have been carried out alongside Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
s on military facilities in the area that reportedly killed at least 14 people and maimed 43.
Local Syrian media reported at the time that the strikes hit the area surrounding the Scientific Studies and Research Center, known as CERS or SSRC, which according to Israel is used by Iranian forces to manufacture precision surface-to-surface missiles for Hezbollah.
Various reports in foreign media claimed that Israeli troops operated on the ground during the action at Masyaf, which lies about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Israel, though only about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Syria’s western coastline.
The reports said that commandos of the Israeli Air Force’s Shaldag Unit rappelled down from helicopters and raided CERS. Israeli troops removed equipment and documents and then laid explosives to destroy the facility.
The IDF has not publicly confirmed the details of the operation.
Earlier this week, the Israeli military detailed its operations against Hezbollah’s weapons smuggling unit.
According to the Israeli military, Unit 4400 was established in 2000 and built numerous "strategic routes" along the Syria-Lebanon border with Tehran’s support to deliver weapons from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies to the terror group in Lebanon.
Thousands of trucks and hundreds of planes carrying missiles and other components for Hezbollah have traveled from Iran to Syria, and later to Lebanon, in recent years, the IDF said.
The strikes against Unit 4400 during the war have included the liquidations of the head of the unit, Muhammad Ja’far Qassir, in Beirut in early October, and his replacement, Ali Hassan Gharib, in Damascus, several weeks later, alongside other top commanders.
The IDF said that it has been striking Hezbollah’s smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon "not only in the last few months, but in a years-long effort."
Reports of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah weapons shipments began to emerge in early 2013, with Israel officially keeping mum to avoid blowback from Damascus and its allies amid the civil war there.
It has increasingly opened up in recent years about the sorties, which have complemented a longstanding aerial campaign aimed at keeping Iran from gaining a foothold near Syria’s border with Israel.
The military official said Wednesday that preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself, after significant damage to its missile, rocket, and drone stockpiles amid the fighting, was "a central issue" that Israel would be focusing on.
The IDF assesses that Hezbollah retains some 20% of its rockets and missiles and some 30% of its drones, which is still thousands of rockets and hundreds of drones.
If Israel does not act, the official said, the IDF may find itself in another war with a rebuilt Hezbollah in several years.
And if so, it will be the Harris-Biden administration’s delayed legacy.
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