GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 421

Serious About Syria

Border Strike

As predicted the border between Syria and Lebanon will be the focus of the Israel Defense Force since Hezbollah intends to sneak weapons to them there. We hear about the IDF striking one such entry point in a report from the Jewish News Syndicate:

Israeli Air Force jets on Saturday attacked terrorist infrastructure along the Syria-Lebanon border that Hezbollah was “actively using” to smuggle arms.

Israel was justified in doing it as was a violation of the ceasefire agreed to by all parties:

“The strike was conducted after identifying the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah from Syria to Lebanon, even after the ceasefire agreement, constituting a threat to the State of Israel and a violation of the terms of the truce,” the IDF said.

Now that Hezbollah is supposed to not be rearming, the IDF will start the process of keeping them from doing so. Syria has long been a place where terrorists find safe harbor and where Iran enjoys free run to send weapons and troops to its proxies like Hezbollah:

The military accused the Iranian proxy, with the backing of the Assad regime, of smuggling weapons through civilian crossing points.

As such Israel will continue to keep a close eye on activities in Syria and will do so with the support of the US and the other countries who helped broker the deal:

“The IDF will continue to act to eliminate all threats to the State of Israel that contravene the terms of the ceasefire agreement,” the army said.

As we noted before, the IDF already struck a building where rockets were made and where they detected activity that is now off limits:

On Thursday, the IAF attacked a Hezbollah rocket facility in Lebanon after detecting terrorist activity in violation of the truce.

Iran will also continue to try and cause trouble from other places like Iraq, but once such one was stopped by the Israeli Navy:

Meanwhile, an Israel Navy ship on Saturday intercepted a drone over the Mediterranean Sea that was launched at the Jewish state from “the east,” a term the military uses for Iraq.

No air-raid sirens were activated as the UAV did not pose a threat to populated areas.

Another drone was also shot out of the sky, again thought to have been sent from Iraq:

Overnight, the IAF downed another drone believed to have been fired by Iranian terrorist proxies in Iraq.

Rather than becoming a peaceful time, Israel still can’t relax. Some believe the Hezbollah deal will lead to stability in the region. Nothing could be further from the truth as the other players in the area aren’t bound by the agreement and even Hezbollah will continue to break the deal whenever they feel they can. Do we really believe that these terrorists will just leave all their weapons and production facilities in southern Lebanon behind? No, Israel will be right back at decimating them until they are totally destroyed, most likely the second Donald Trump steps foot in the Oval Office.

What They Think

We now turn to the attitudes of the Israelis who had to leave their homes and businesses in northern Israel once Hezbollah started firing rockets at them on October 8th. They are less than happy about the ceasefire as we’re told in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Dean Sweetland casts his gaze over a forlorn street in the northern community of Kibbutz Malkiya. Perched on a hill overlooking the border with Lebanon, the town stands mostly empty after residents were forced to evacuate a year ago.

The daycare is closed. The homes are unkempt. Parts of the landscape are ashen from fires sparked by fallen Hezbollah rockets. Even after a tenuous Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the mood here is far from celebratory.

Sweetland didn’t mince words about the agreement:

“The ceasefire is rubbish,” said Sweetland, a gardener and member of the kibbutz’s civilian security squad. “Do you expect me to ring up my friends and say, ‘All the families should come home?’ No.”

“Hezbollah could still come back to the border, and who will protect us when they do?” Sweetland asked.

The plan looks good on paper and the intent is noble, but the reality is still bleak:

Israel’s government seeks to bring the northern reaches of the country back to life, particularly the line of communities directly abutting Lebanon that have played a major role in staking out Israel’s border.

But the fear of Hezbollah, a lack of trust in United Nations peacekeeping forces charged with upholding the ceasefire, deep anger at the government and some Israelis’ desire to keep rebuilding their lives elsewhere are keeping many from returning immediately.

The hope of returning to the northern area depends on Hezbollah doing their part and Lebanon and the United Nations doing theirs:

During the truce’s initial 60-day phase, Hezbollah is supposed to remove its armed presence from a broad band of southern Lebanon where the IDF says the terror group had been digging in for years by gathering weapons and setting up rocket launch sites and other infrastructure.

Under the ceasefire, United Nations observer force UNIFIL and a beefed-up Lebanese army presence are supposed to ensure Hezbollah doesn’t return.

But as we continue to read, the actual residents are slightly jaded about all that occurring:

Many residents of northern Israel are skeptical that the peace will hold.

Sarah Gould, who evacuated Kibbutz Malkiya at the start of the war with her three kids, said Hezbollah fired on the community up to and just past the minute when the ceasefire took effect early Wednesday.

“So for the government to tell me that Hezbollah is neutralized,” she said, “it’s a perfect lie.”

The goal for the north of Israel is to weaken and repel Hezbollah. Some thought that rather than a ceasefire, the IDF should have ramped up its offensive with others not moving back until the terrorists are nowhere close to the areas or to empty the area of inhabitants if south Lebanon:

Israeli critics say the government should have kept fighting to outright cripple Hezbollah or to clear out the border area, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Lebanese.

“I won’t even begin to consider going home until I know there’s a dead zone for kilometers across the border,” the 46-year-old Gould said.

Some Are Returning

While hesitant citizens dared to come home, the places they came back to weren’t right on the edge of the two countries:

Some wary Israelis trickled back home Thursday and Friday to areas farther from the border. But communities like Kibbutz Manara, set on a tiny slice of land between Lebanon and Syria, remained ghost towns.

One resident isn’t convinced it’s safe yet:

Orna Weinberg, 58, who was born and raised in Manara, said it was too early to tell whether the ceasefire would protect the community.

The scars of all the bombing are reminders that this community wasn’t safe then”

Perched above all the other border villages, Manara was uniquely vulnerable to Hezbollah fire throughout the war. Three-quarters of its structures were damaged.

In the kibbutz’s communal kitchen and dining hall, ceiling beams have collapsed. The uprooted floorboards are covered with ash from fires that also claimed much of the kibbutz’s cropland.

Rocket fragments abound. The torso of a mannequin, a decoy dressed in army green, lies on the ground.

Weinberg doesn’t see the UN helping now when they were useless in the past:

Weinberg said UNIFIL hadn’t prevented Hezbollah’s build-up in the past, “so why would they be able to now?”

She confirms what others are saying who didn’t want as ceasefire at all:

“A ceasefire here just gives Hezbollah a chance to rebuild their power and come back to places that they were driven out of,” she said.

There are people who stayed behind trying to keep their communities viable for any return. Unfortunately they received little or no help to do so:

There’s also a deep feeling that the communities were abandoned by the government, Sweetland said.

Sweetland is one of roughly 25 civilian security volunteers who stayed throughout the war, braving continual rocket fire to keep the kibbutz afloat. They repaired damaged homes, put out blazes and helped replace the kibbutz generator when it was taken out by Hezbollah fire. They were on their own, with no firefighters or police willing to risk coming, he said.

“We didn’t have any help for months and months and months, and we pleaded, ‘Please help us.’”

He is still there and hopes for a life without fear of rockets or drones flying at them:

Sweetland said he will keep watching over the hushed pathways of the once-vibrant community in hopes his neighbors will soon feel safe enough to return. But he predicted it would take months.

Orna wants to come back while others have relocated and are settling in far from the border:

Weinberg hopes to move back to Manara as soon as possible. On Thursday, she spotted a former neighbor who was about to leave after checking the damage to her home.

People who brokered this ceasefire should talk to those who had to leave. Perhaps they would have changed their minds about a deal that appears to be all talk and no meaningful action. Only time will tell if the right call was made.