He's Gone
Israeli intelligence is second to none. And for its enemies there is nowhere to hide.
So here I was trying to write up the news of the Israeli attack yesterday in Beirut that killed Fuad Shukr who was Hezbollah’s senior military commander. And he was the man most likely to have been directly responsible for the murderous rocket attack this weekend in Majdal Shams and the 241 US military servicemen killed in their barracks in Beirut in 1983. But before I even got started on this the newsflash on ‘X’ came in: Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas top political leader was assassinated together with his bodyguard while he was visiting, of all places, Tehran. The end of Shukr is one thing, but to dispatch Haniyeh right under the noses of the Iranian leadership is a truly unprecedented coup for Israel. It shows once more that you simply cannot fuck around with Israelis and that, while it may take a bit of time, justice will be served, even in the most unlikely of places.
As successful this is for Israel, and it did need a break after a spate of recent setbacks, it is of course the ultimate humiliation for Iran. Not only did it lose within 24 hours two of its key leaders in its proxy network, the death of Haniyeh took place right in Tehran during the festivities around the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, which was attended by many foreign dignitaries, including Haniyeh himself:
Reports indicated there were other Hezbollah and Houthi leaders present in Tehran to meet and coordinate strategy. That of course brings us straight back to the hostage negotiations. They were moving forward with a sliver of hope, albeit slowly, and events of the last 24 hours may now well put an end to them for the time being. Hamas will try and find a way to retaliate to the extent it still has the capability to do so in an impactful way, but Iran (and Hezbollah) have the resources to strike back. Any inaction on their part will be viewed as incredible weakness and could potentially embolden in particular domestic resistance in Iran. The latter may actually have been instrumental in assisting the Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence agency, to carry out the deadly and highly successful attack on Haniyeh. Again, this is an incredible move of the dial in the Middle East conflict and there is a lot that can happen right now. Developing.
FAFO.
Thanks Pieter, these are two phenomenal wins against the evils of Islamic terror. And a serious humiliation for Tehran. Haniyeh needed to realize his dream of 72 child virgins after his gloating photos on 10/7 from the Four Seasons Hotel in Qatar. Evil incarnate.
Fuad Shukr had a US$5,000,000 bounty from the USA for the 1983 Marine barracks explosion in Beirut. That was only his start. Blood of thousands on his hands.
A remarkable day for Mossad's Humint and the IDF's ability for precision strikes. And a day for Israel to emphasize the value of being a strong ally to the USA. Reciprocation in support and not equivocation is in order. There is a serious trust issue now between Israel and the Democratic administration.
But as you said the story is developing and we await the response from the Islamic Death cult terrorist machine. It has been unrelenting. The USA as leader of the free world needs to re-think their strategy of appeasement to Iran. Before this 7 front conflict Iran has ringed around Israel explodes into something much bigger.