Nasrallah threatens retribution amid new phase of the war, US to send more warships and fighter jets to Middle East to bolster defences, Two killed, two others wounded in stabbing attack in Israel, Beirut commemorates the fourth anniversary since August 4’s port blast, Two Hezbollah operatives killed in southern Lebanon amidst heightened tensions, Palestinian Civil Defence recovers 30 bodies from al-Nasr and Hassan Salama schools following Israeli strikes, Nine people killed in two Israeli air strikes on the city of Tulkarm, occupied West Bank, Al-Jazeera journalist and cameraman killed in Israeli attack on Gaza, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi concluded a rare visit to Iran, War of words as Erdogan says Turkey could intervene in Israel’s war on Gaza, Israel will not seek normalisation with Saudi prior to US elections, Israel extends detentions of five reservists accused of sexually abusing Palestinian detainee, Navigation apps disrupted in Tel Aviv causing concern, “Expose Netanyahu if he sabotages captive deal,” head of Israel’s Labor Party says to security chiefs, Israeli intel chiefs arrive in Egypt for truce talks, only playing for time
The law of deterrence does what diplomacy can no longer do: it avoids global clashes, or at most limits – as in the case of the Middle East of the last ten months – the number of innocent deaths killed by the opening of yet another war front.
On the one hand, the United States and the United Kingdom deploy military ships along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean – the same sea that thousands cross to escape war: other, no less unsolved, ferocious wars; on the other hand, Qatar takes a step back from the negotiation talks, after the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh – resident in Doha since 2019 – was assassinated by a short-range projectile while visiting Tehran to attend Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing in ceremony, in a targeted attack widely attributed to Israel – despite the Zionist state not having claimed responsibility for that. As usual, when it targets political leaders residing abroad.
And while Netanyahu plays for time – meeting Egyptian and American negotiators – Iran and its allies may have lost patience.
In any case, while waiting for the long-awaited retaliation, the face of the full-out war has already been revealed. And it is not that of a bombed building, nor that of the faces streaked with tears at the funerals of innocent victims. But that, dominated by anxiety, by the uncertainty of the future, of a crowded airport, cancelled flights, fear of having no alternative to escape – being forced to witness yet another war that Lebanon cannot afford.
In Lebanon
Commemoration without justice: On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered in front of Beirut’s port to commemorate the four years since the blast of August 4, 2020. Shortly before 6 pm, the names of the victims were read into the microphone, followed by a minute of silence, during which a recording of the explosion, church bells and a Muslim call to prayer were played.
“For the past four years, we have fought for justice, even when we were beaten and tried to be arrested,” stated Cecile Roukoz, whose brother Joseph was killed in the explosion, on the stage set up in front of the port. Mariana Fodoulian, who lost her sister Gaia, then spoke, warning against rebuilding the port and destroying the wheat silos before the truth is known – followed by many others, the mother of Elias Khoury, a teenager killed in the blast, Paul Najjar, father of Alexandra, one of the youngest victims, and William Noun, brother of Joe, one of the slain firefighters.
For the fourth year in a row, pointing the finger at the corrupt political class, speakers called for an international investigation and for “members of the UN Human Rights Council to help us achieve justice.”
The demonstration registered a relatively low participation this year, “everyone for their reasons,” the father of Sahar Fares, one of the rescuers in the fire brigade team, Georges, said – along with a generally widespread loss of hope.
A new phase: Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah spoke on Thursday, August 1st, at the funeral of Commander Fouad Shukur, who was killed by an Israeli strike on Tuesday along with five other people in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Nasrallah said the war with Israel has “entered a new phase” as he addressed crowds of supporters who had gathered for the funeral. Hezbollah, its leader stated, is considering a “real, studied” response to the attack, rather than a symbolic one, adding that several countries had urged the Lebanese group against retaliating.
Israel has “crossed red lines” and a response is “inevitable”, he continued, adding that a regional escalation will depend upon Israel’s response to the upcoming reprisal.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was readying itself for a retaliatory attack by Iran and its allies. “Israel is very prepared for any scenario – both defensively and offensively,” he said, according to his office. “We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.”
The Israeli military said the “precision strike” that targeted Shukur had been in response to the attack that killed 12 children and young adults playing football in Majdal Shams in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. According to the Israeli military, the Hezbollah slain commander oversaw numerous attacks against Israeli targets and was responsible for the assault in Majdal Shams.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the incident. In his speech on Thursday, Nasrallah reiterated that denial and said Hezbollah would have admitted a “mistake” if a rocket had been misfired.
Five more innocents: Another victim of the Israeli attack on Tuesday night on the southern suburbs of Beirut has succumbed to their injuries, as the Lebanese Health Ministry released an updated casualty toll, according to which the attack resulted in the deaths of five civilians, including three women and two children – a girl and a boy.
According to information obtained by Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour from a relative of the family at the al-Sahel hospital, the fifth victim is Salwa Bitar and she is the daughter of another victim, Hana Hakim. She was a retired pharmacist in her fifties. Divorced, she had a son and a daughter in their twenties.
Heightened tensions: Two members of Hezbollah were killed on Sunday afternoon in an Israeli airstrike targeting Lebanon’s southeastern village of Houla, Lebanese military and medical sources said. The sources, who spoke anonymously, said an Israeli warplane targeted a house in Houla with two air-to-ground missiles and destroyed it, killing Mohammad Farhat and Ali Amro inside the house.
The Civil Defense teams worked to remove the rubble, while an ambulance transported the two bodies to a hospital in the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, the sources said, adding that Israeli drones and warplanes carried out six raids on Sunday evening on four villages and towns in southern Lebanon, and Israeli artillery shelled eight border towns and villages in the same area with 30 shells.
Under alert: The United States raised the alert level for Lebanon from 3 (Reconsider travel) to 4 (Do not travel), the highest, according to the US State Department website. “Do not travel to Lebanon due to increasing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. If you are in Lebanon, prepare to shelter in place if the situation deteriorates,” it reads. “The US Embassy strongly encourages US citizens already in south Lebanon, near the border with Syria, and/or in refugee camps to leave.”
The United States raised its travel advisory already on October 17, 2023, ten days after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. It then lowered the alert level to level 3 in late January 2024.
Other countries, including Turkey, the UK, Cyprus, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, and Mexico, have issued advisory warnings against travelling to Lebanon.
Ready to respond: As a means of deterrence at preventing a larger-scale conflict from breaking out in the region, on Wednesday the US sent warships to the Mediterranean following an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs the previous night.
On Friday, the Pentagon added that the US military will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the Middle East.
The US is also bracing for Iran to make good on its vow to respond to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran – one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian militant group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages. Haniyeh was killed by a “short-range projectile” fired from outside his residence in Tehran, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a recent statement.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has already approved sending additional Navy cruisers and destroyers – which can shoot down ballistic missiles – as well as an additional squadron of fighter jets. “Austin has ordered adjustments to US military posture designed to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The US military also intensified deployments prior to April 13, when Iran launched an attack on Israeli territory with drones and missiles. Still, the threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon could present unique challenges to any efforts by the United States to intercept drones and missiles given the group’s vast arsenal and immediate proximity to Israel.
In The Region
Violence on the rise: At least two people have been killed and two others wounded in a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv, Israeli officials say, with police reporting a Palestinian suspect was “neutralized” and later died in hospital. The stabbings took place during morning rush hour near a gas station and a park in the city of Holon in the south of Tel Aviv, Israel’s ambulance service said on Sunday.
The suspect, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, was killed by a police officer who arrived at the scene, the police said in a statement without elaborating.
The 66-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene, while her reported partner, aged about 80, was wounded, officials said. A 68-year-old victim also died in the incident and a 26-year-old was moderately wounded, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of the incident and encouraged the citizens to take up arms, Israeli media reported. “Our war is not only against Iran but here in the streets. This is precisely why we armed the people of Israel. More than 150,000 gun permits were issued in the last 8 months,” he said, according to the reports. “I call on the citizens to take up arms and use them.”
Israeli media identified the attacker as a 34-year-old man from Salfit, a town in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, who had reportedly entered Israel without a permit. Soon after the attack, Israeli forces closed the entrance to the town.
Ongoing onslaught: At least 30 Palestinians have been killed after Israeli air strikes targeted two schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense. The agency spokesman said around 80 percent of the victims are children. The attacks targeted the al-Nasr and Hassan Salama schools, where 16 displaced Palestinians are reportedly still missing under the rubble.
An Israeli air strike targeted a tent camp for displaced people in the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Reports indicate that at least five people were killed in the strike, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thousands have sought refuge at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex, one of the few operational hospitals in central Gaza.
Another Israeli strike in northern Gaza killed at least eight people, including three children, their parents and grandmother, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
War of words: Amidst the war of words which has broken out between Israel and Turkey – after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened his country could intervene militarily in Israel’s war on Gaza – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described Israel’s blockage of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza enclave as crimes against humanity and the “first phase of the genocide.”
Turkish and Israeli officials unleashed barbs at one another on Monday, July 29, after Erdogan said in a speech on Sunday that “there is no reason” that Turkey could not act, noting military interventions made in the past in other countries.
While crude rhetoric between the two countries has been regular amid the war in Gaza, the threats and insults come as fears of a wider escalation rise once again. Shortly after Erdogan’s speech, in fact, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that the Turkish president was “following in the footsteps” of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by threatening to attack Israel.
“Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended,” he wrote in reference to the Iraqi President’s infamous 2003 capture by United States forces while hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse in Tikrit. Hussein was later executed.
In retaliation, Turkey, and not for the first time, compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. “Just as genocidal Hitler ended, so will genocidal Netanyahu,” said the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Humanity will stand by the Palestinians. You will not be able to destroy the Palestinians,” the post continued.
Massacre in Tulkarm: The Palestinian news agency Wafa said the Israeli army killed four people in a second air strike on the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm, hours after killing a Hamas commander and four other Palestinians in another strike. Nine people have been killed in total in the two Israeli air strikes on the city of Tulkarm.
Wafa, citing local sources, stated Israeli forces hit a car near the village of Bal’a, killing four people. The agency added that they blocked ambulances from reaching the scene. Earlier, the Israeli army said it had killed five people, including a Hamas commander identified as a leader of one of its Tulkarm brigades.
The Israeli military said that police were “currently conducting a counterterrorism activity in the area of Tulkarem.” Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israeli raids, mass arrests and killings of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have spiked.
More than 8,000 Palestinians have in fact been arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October, according to Palestinian prisoner groups, while at least 604 Palestinians – including 144 minors – have been killed in Israeli raids in the West Bank since October. Prisoners have been subjected to physical assault and other violations, including starvation, sleep deprivation, cutting off contact with their families and the withholding of water. According to Al-Jazeera’s figures, at least 20 Palestinian prisoners died in Israeli custody, seven confirmed from Gaza and two Palestinian with Israeli citizenship; more than 5,400 Palestinians have been wounded, and at least 9,920 have been detained. Israeli forces have detained 131 bodies among them 17 minors in the past 10 months.
Postponed: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided not to seek normalization with Saudi Arabia before the upcoming US presidential elections in November, Channel 12 reported.
It says Netanyahu made the decision at the same time as the fast-moving US political developments, with the consideration that it might be worth waiting to see whether Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump is elected.
The report adds the decision has major implications, including for a potential hostage-ceasefire deal, since potential normalization would have constituted a “safety net” for Netanyahu: if his right-wing coalition were to collapse during disagreements over a Gaza deal, normalization with Saudi Arabia would have given him an election-boosting trump card and the opportunity to secure a historic legacy.
Moreover, without attributing sources, the report comes one week after an Israeli official told reporters that a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabic could be possible before November’s US elections, and that Netanyahu has discussed this issue with US president Joe Biden.
Expose Netanyahu: Yair Golan, head of Israel’s Labor Party, has called on Israeli security chiefs to publicly take on Prime Minister Netanyahu if he is sabotaging a captive exchange deal with Hamas.
In a post on X, Golan said if reports of Netanyahu “torpedoing” captive exchange negotiations are proven true, “it is the duty of the heads of the security services to come out of the shadows and talk directly to the people of Israel.”
“This is the time when you will enter the history books as those who faithfully represented the people of Israel or as those who allowed a Prime Minister who lacks any popular confidence to continue abandoning the kidnapped and lead Israel to destruction,” Golan said, addressing the security chiefs.
Last week, several Israeli media outlets, including Haaretz and Channel 12, reported that there are growing doubts among Israeli security chiefs whether Netanyahu actually wants to reach a captive exchange deal.
Playing for time: Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the chiefs of Shin Bet and Mossad have arrived in Egypt on Saturday to discuss a ceasefire deal – in indirect talks – with American and Egyptian negotiators. Israel’s General Security Service has three branches, including Mossad, the national intelligence agency, and Shin Bet, or Shabak, as it is known in Hebrew and Arabic, Israel’s internal intelligence service.
The Walla news site reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet security agency head Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), held meetings in Cairo with Egyptian Intelligence head Abbas Kamel and senior Egyptian military officials. Qatar was sitting out this round of talks in Cairo due to political sensitivity, having just buried Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha on Friday after he was assassinated in Teheran early Wednesday, in a strike widely ascribed to Israel.
Despite several analysts having told that the recent assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh could scupper the prospects of a truce deal, discussions were to focus on the release of hostages, as well as security issues regarding the Egypt-Gaza border, according to the sources quoted in the report, which came after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday evening that he had approved the delegation’s participation in renewed indirect talks. The results of the meeting were unclear as of Saturday evening.
Channel 12 quoted a senior source familiar with the negotiations saying, “This was a trip solely for reasons of protocol, playing for time. Netanyahu’s current positions will not yield real progress.” But Army Radio cited another unnamed source with knowledge of the meeting as calling it “significant,” with progress on issues relating the the Gaza-Egypt border.
GPS disrupted: The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Tel Aviv is experiencing heavy disruptions to GPS apps, likely as part of Israel’s preparation for a potential attack from Iran. Iran’s President Pezeshkian previously called the assassination of the Hamas chief a “big mistake” that will not go unanswered.
Residents of central Israel report their GPS indicates they are in Beirut. Moreover, during Iran’s April attack on Israel – when the Islamic Republic launched 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing of its senior official in Damascus -, IDF says purposely caused disruption to navigation apps to interfere with drones, missiles using GPS, targeting Israel.
Suspected of rape: An Israeli military court has extended the detentions of five reserve soldiers suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility, according to the Times of Israel.
The prosecution is seeking to have them remain held until Wednesday, “to carry out further investigative actions.”
The other three suspects will be held for a few more hours “to complete necessary investigative actions,” after which, the prosecution will decide whether to request a longer extension to their remand.
In all, ten soldiers were detained in the case, although prosecutors did not seek to hold two of them in custody, following new evidence in the case. According to the IDF, the soldiers were suspected of aggravated sodomy – a charge equivalent to rape – causing bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances and conduct unbecoming of a soldier.
Killing journalists: Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, July 31. The reporters were killed when their car was hit in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, according to initial information.
They were in the area to report from near the Gaza house of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday in Iran’s capital, Tehran, in an attack the group has blamed on Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, reporting from Gaza, was at the hospital where the bodies of his two colleagues were brought. “Ismail was conveying the suffering of the displaced Palestinians and the suffering of the wounded and the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation against the innocent people in Gaza,” he said.
Ismail and Rami were wearing media vests and there were identifying signs on their car when they were attacked. They had last contacted their news desk 15 minutes before the strike. During the call, they had reported a strike on a house near to where they were reporting and were told to leave immediately. They did, and were travelling to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital when they were killed.
There was no immediate comment by Israel, which has previously denied targeting journalists in its 10-month war on Gaza. Al-Jazeera, instead, condemned the killing as a “targeted, cold-blooded assassination,” while the UN Human Rights Office also condemned Israel’s targeting of journalists in Gaza, reiterating that “the intentional killing of journalists is a war crime.” Palestinian journalists “play a critical role in informing the world of the reality in Gaza, where Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter. Silencing Palestinian journalists conceals the shocking reality in Gaza,” the office stated.
A rare visit: Jordan’s Foreign Minister met Iran’s acting Foreign Minister in Tehran on Sunday as the United States and its Arab allies try to prevent a wider war after the back-to-back killings of top Iran-allied militants sparked vows of revenge against Israel.
Ayman Safadi is the first senior Jordanian official to pay an official visit to Iran in over 20 years. Jordan is a close Western ally and helped intercept scores of missiles and drones fired by Iran toward Israel in April. Iran said it was retaliating for the killing of its generals in an Israeli strike in Syria.
Many fear Iran and its regional allies could launch a similar attack following the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week and of Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran a day later. Both attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which has acknowledged killing the Hezbollah commander. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas have vowed to avenge the killings.
Jordan, which borders Israel to the east, would likely be in the path of any Iranian retaliatory strike. Safadi “will deliver a message from His Majesty King Abdullah II to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the situation in the region and bilateral relations,” Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said earlier in a statement.
What We’re Reading
From state-controlled Telecom to a private data haven: Maan Barazy tackled the latest chapter of Lebanon’s never-ending saga, that of public data. With government websites getting hacked, data from the Ministry of Justice itself is now available on the dark web at the price of 6,500 dollars. Despite seeming cheap, the world’s digital content is expected to grow tremendously.
The 6th most expensive Arab city: Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was recently ranked the 6th most expensive city in the Arab world. This ranking – Rodayna Raydan reported – reflects the city’s high cost of living, driven by factors such as rising prices for goods and services, inflation, and a challenging economic environment.
Permanent instability: An incredulous Beirut was shocked by the sound of an explosion and smoke floating over its southern suburbs, Valeria Rando reported. In the evening of Tuesday, July 30, an Israeli drone targeted an area near the Bahman Hospital in Haret Hreik, Dahieh, targeting Hezbollah commander Fouad Shoukor, killing five civilians – two children and three women, and injuring more than 80.
Narratives and truths: Political psychologist Ramzi Abou Ismail wrote about Lebanon, Israel and the region since Majdal Shams’ attack, analyzing how the media’s shaping of narratives can exacerbate tensions, justify military actions, and lead to a cycle of retaliation and violence, sidelining the actual facts of the situation.
Crumbling houses: Valeria Rando wrote about Syrian director Mohammad Malas’ cinema, in particular about the newly-restored version of his second feature-length film, Al-Leil, and what making independent cinema means under strict dictatorship.
Lebanon +
In the latest episode of his podcast, The New Arab Voice, Hugo Goodridge looked at the recent findings from an investigation by the International Court of Justice into Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and apartheid regime, the Houthi drone attack that hit Tel Aviv and the Israeli response on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress.
