Syria’s post-mortem : Terror, occupation, and Palestine
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/28017
▻https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/8f3fbfc4-b70e-11ef-9108-00163e02c055.webp
A mes yeux, une excellente synthèse de ce que l’on peut savoir aujourd’hui sur la Syrie, par Pepe Escobar (si ce n’est l’utilisation que je crois excessive du massive twist plot à la mosquée des Omeyyades).
Netanyahu extends ’hand of peace’ to Syrians as Israeli jets strike Damascus
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/28000
“This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers,” Netanyahu said.
“We send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria: to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the Christians, and to the Muslims who want to live in peace with Israel,” he added.
The comments came after Israel deployed tanks and troops to occupy the UN-monitored buffer zone in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights – also pushing into and occupying the unoccupied part of Mount Hermon.
Throughout Sunday afternoon, Israeli jets launched heavy air raids across the capital, Damascus, and other sites across Syria – targeting Syrian army sites, intelligence infrastructure, and weapons depots.
Dozens of Israeli airstrikes hit the Mazzeh Military Airport along with customs and intelligence buildings, the security square, the scientific research facility in Damascus, and defense laboratories.
A surprise assault on Syria, but can it last ?
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27909
Bonne synthèse sur ce qui se passe dans le nrd de la Syrie (où la désinformation règne dans la plupart des articles).
A surprise assault on Syria, but can it last?
The wave of enemy destabilization ploys jumped from Lebanon to Syria this week, with a swarm of foreign-backed extremists breaking into Aleppo. Israel warned that Syria was next, but can the militants do today what they couldn’t achieve for almost a decade?
KSA abandons US defense pact over Palestinian statehood ’stalemate’: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27896
Saudi Arabia has “abandoned its pursuit” for a defense treaty with the US in exchange for normalization with Israel and is now seeking a “more modest” agreement, Reuters cited two Saudi and four western officials as saying on 29 November.
The sources said Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MbS) has doubled down on the condition that normalization with Israel must depend on Tel Aviv’s commitment to work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, in line with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still eager to secure normalization with the Saudi powerhouse as a historic milestone and a sign of broader acceptance in the Arab world,” the sources added.
But the Israeli premier knows any step towards a two-state solution would break apart his ruling coalition, they said.
As a result of the Saudi and Israeli positions, “Riyadh and Washington hope a more modest defense pact could be sealed before President Joe Biden leaves the White House in January,” according to the Saudi and western sources.
US mercenary firms compete for ’huge contracts’ to control security in north Gaza: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27879
Israel is examining the launch of a “pilot program” that could see US private security firms replace the army in northern Gaza to “accompany food and medicine convoys” for Palestinians who remain in the devastated region, according to a report by Israeli daily Globes.
Among the top competitors for the multi-million dollar contract are Constellis, the direct successor to infamous mercenary company Blackwater, and Orbis, a little-known South Carolina company run by former generals that has worked with the Pentagon for 20 years.
Officials say the pilot program for north Gaza aims to “prevent Hamas or other gangs from taking over the aid trucks and free the IDF soldiers from the dangerous mission.”
In recent weeks, Gaza’s interior ministry established a new police force to deal with groups of bandits and gangs that have been raiding humanitarian aid shipments and blackmailing international organizations in the southern Gaza Strip.
The UN has said these gangs are likely “benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israeli army.
In October, a third US security firm – Global Delivery Company (GDC) – which describes itself as “Uber for warzones" – claimed to be working with another firm to create and manage “humanitarian bubbles” in Gaza.
GDC is run by Mordechai Kahane, an Israeli businessman who worked with Israeli intelligence during the war on Syria to arm extremist groups seeking to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Although no official figure exists about the size of the contracts being offered by Tel Aviv for these mercenary firms, Globes cites Lt. Col. Yochanan Zoraf, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former advisor on Arab affairs in the Israeli army, as saying the figure will likely reach “billions of shekels per year.”
“These are not companies that will manage the daily lives of the residents,” Zoraf claims, adding that “peripheral responsibility for the defense of [north Gaza] as well as the civil responsibility itself” falls at Israel’s feet.
The former army officer also says Tel Aviv will likely “ask that the US – or an outside party – finance the program.”
On Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported that the pilot program has yet to receive approval from the security cabinet “due to legal difficulties in defining the occupation” based on international law.
“In order to circumvent the legal obstacles, the security services are examining bringing in external funding from humanitarian aid organizations or foreign countries for the [mercenary firms], which costs tens of millions of dollars to operate,” the report adds.
Ceasefire 101 : Israel fails at war goals, Hezbollah succeeds
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27869
Carte utile des « avancées » israéliennes en territoire libanais. L’article mérite lecture.
#cartographie
je cherchai justement un tel document mais l’Institute of war studies n’a rien de mis à jour
Short on troops, Israel turns to mercenaries
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27668
Facing increasing domestic pressure to reveal the true extent of their military losses in Gaza and Lebanon, Israeli officials have released figures that are likely to only reveal minimal numbers. The data claims that since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, around 12,000 soldiers and officers have been injured or forced into rehabilitation under the occupation state’s Ministry of Defense.
This includes 910 wounded during what Israel calls a “limited ground maneuver” launched by Tel Aviv on the Lebanese border, in addition to the deaths of over 760 officers and soldiers and 140 left completely disabled. These admissions, although selective, have stirred growing skepticism within Israeli society, already at its most politically divided since the inception of the state in 1948.
The struggle to maintain power
Following the sacking of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, questions are mounting: how does Israel plan to sustain its fighting force amidst the Lebanese resistance’s deadly daily attacks on them?
Opposition against compulsory military service from religious groups, particularly the Haredim, has compounded the army’s challenges – so has the removal of Gallant, an army dropout rate soaring above 17 percent, a wave of reverse immigration that has reached one million people in a single year, the highest since 1948, and increasing reluctance among shell-shocked reservists to return to the horror of battlefields in Gaza and the Lebanese border.
The treacherous northern front, especially, has become a symbol of perpetual fear for Israeli soldiers stationed there against Hezbollah, as history repeats itself in south Lebanon.
The “huge shortage” of capable fighters has forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to explore a range of unconventional options, especially after the Haredim conscription law passed in mid-July proved insufficient in addressing the manpower gap.
Turning to mercenaries
Many of these options are centered around utilizing tens of thousands of mercenaries, drawing on assistance from western intelligence agencies, and enlisting unconventional fighters, including Jewish militias.
For the past seven decades, successive Israeli administrations have been reluctant to encourage a wholesale migration or naturalization of African Jews – the ‘Falasha’ from Ethiopia – to an Israel rife with racism, citing their ’lower status’ to Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.
As a result, only around 80,000 Ethiopian Jews, 20,000 of whom were born in the occupation state, hold Israeli citizenship. But today, desperate for manpower, the Ministry of Defense has begun granting amnesty to Falasha currently imprisoned for attempting illegal entry into Israel or for overstaying their visas.
These men, aged between 18 and 40, are being fast-tracked for citizenship on the condition that they enlist. The Zionist organization ‘Al-Harith’ has also been active in Ethiopia, recruiting and training Ethiopian Jews with promises of citizenship, job opportunities, and residence within Israel after the war. It is estimated that by October 2024, more than 17,000 Falasha, including only 1,400 women, have been recruited.
Germany’s collaboration in exploiting asylum seekers
Another initiative by the Netanyahu administration involves cooperation with German intelligence and Zionist organizations in Germany to recruit asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. Over the past seven months, the Values Initiative Association and the German–Israeli Association (DIG) have worked to enlist these refugees from war-torn Muslim-majority countries as mercenaries for Israel.
Offered monthly salaries ranging between €4,000 to €5,000 and fast-tracked German citizenship, many have joined the fight. Reports suggest that around 4,000 immigrants were naturalized between September and October alone.
(...)
Desperate times
Israeli intelligence agencies, including the Shin Bet and Mossad, have also reconnected with remnants of the disbanded South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia to help recruit allies inside Lebanon. These recruits would either spy on Hezbollah positions or potentially take up arms against it should a regional escalation, akin to what happened during the war in 1982, materialize through provocations.
Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence has collaborated with European agencies and mercenary recruitment companies – including Blackwater, led by the Zionist Eric Prince – to enlist European mercenaries for the occupation army.
Although this practice dates back to 2023, recruitment efforts have surged lately. As reported by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo in late November 2023, a 28-year-old Spanish mercenary named Vidio Diaz Flores admitted to being recruited by Blackwater for approximately €4,000 per week to fight in Palestine. Israel sought to keep these kinds of recruitment initiatives under wraps, especially after five ’foreign workers’ were killed when a resistance rocket targeted the Metula settlement.
These factors combined reveal an urgent desperation within Israel to address its human resource crisis in the ranks of its military forces, all while authorities are covering up their use of foreign mercenaries, likely to protect the image of their “invincible army.”
Tel Aviv’s reliance on mercenaries resembles the US strategy in Iraq post-2003 – not only as a stopgap for declining manpower but also as a method to deflect criminal accountability since many of these mercenaries do not hold Israeli citizenship.
The cracks in the once-unshakable image of the occupation army are widening, and whether it can hold together under mounting internal and external pressures is far from guaranteed.
For the past seven decades, successive Israeli administrations have been reluctant to encourage a wholesale migration or naturalization of African Jews – the ‘Falasha’ from Ethiopia – to an Israel rife with racism, citing their ’lower status’ to Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.
As a result, only around 80,000 Ethiopian Jews, 20,000 of whom were born in the occupation state, hold Israeli citizenship. But today, desperate for manpower, the Ministry of Defense has begun granting amnesty to Falasha currently imprisoned for attempting illegal entry into Israel or for overstaying their visas.
These men, aged between 18 and 40, are being fast-tracked for citizenship on the condition that they enlist. The Zionist organization ‘Al-Harith’ has also been active in Ethiopia, recruiting and training Ethiopian Jews with promises of citizenship, job opportunities, and residence within Israel after the war. It is estimated that by October 2024, more than 17,000 Falasha, including only 1,400 women, have been recruited.
Voilà, j’en parlais il y a qq semaines, le recours d’Israël aux mercenaires.
Israel dropped over 85,000 tons of bombs inside Gaza since start of genocide
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27581
The Israeli military has dropped more than 85,000 tons of bombs inside the besieged Gaza Strip since the start of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, according to a statement by the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority.
These include the indiscriminate use of white phosphorus munitions, which are prohibited under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
(...) In June, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that Israel had dropped 70,000 tons of bombs inside Gaza since the start of the genocide, far surpassing the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II. Since then, Israel has intensified its ethnic cleansing campaign in the north of Gaza, carpet bombing the region on a daily basis.
(...) Earlier this year, the UN warned that removing tens of millions of tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 15 years and cost between $500-600 million. Moreover, rebuilding destroyed homes could take at least until 2040.
In economic terms, the UN Conference on Trade and Development said in a report released last month that if the war ends soon and Gaza returns to the status quo before 7 October 2023, it could take 350 years for its economy to return to its precarious prewar level.
Fifteen international airlines refuse return to Israel without new ’compensation laws’
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27565
Capitalisme comprador
Fifteen international airlines are threatening to halt flights to Israel unless a law mandating compensation for canceled flights is changed, saying that the current security situation due to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon makes operations too risky and costly, Haaretz reported on 5 November.
The airlines involved include Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Iberia, EasyJet, and Wizz Air.
They have formally requested amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law through an appeal to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.
The law requires airlines to compensate passengers between $260-$400 for cancellations made less than 14 days before departure.
Since 7 October last year, international carriers have been forced to cancel numerous flights at short notice. Many have chosen to suspend flights for brief or extended periods in response to intermittent rocket, missile, and drone fire from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemeni forces.
Foreign Airlines Threaten Complete Flight Suspension to Israel Without Law Change Over War Risks
Fifteen airlines, including major carriers, warn they will not return to Israel without amendments to compensation laws, citing significant financial risks due to ongoing security concerns
Hadar Kane Nov 5, 2024 2:35 pm IST
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-11-05/ty-article/.premium/foreign-airlines-threaten-complete-israel-flight-halt-without-law-change-over-war-risks/00000192-fc35-d2aa-adff-feffbd4e0000
Fifteen foreign airlines are threatening to halt flights to Israel unless a law mandating compensation for canceled flights is amended, arguing that the current security situation makes operations too risky and costly.
The airlines have formally requested amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law in a position paper submitted to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.
Major carriers, including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Iberia, EasyJet and Wizz Air are reportedly behind the demand.
Their attorney, Shirly Katzir, told the committee’s legal adviser that without changes to the law, foreign airlines would face heavy financial risks, leaving them little incentive to resume flights to Israel under current conditions. (...)
Il suffira que le gouvernement américain les menace de ne plus avoir le droit d’utiliser tel ou tel aéroport américain, et hop, la question elle sera vite répondue.
Israel fails with ultra-Orthodox draft as only four percent show up for service
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27457
Less than four percent of the 3,000 Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis who received recruitment orders since July to join the military have done so, Israeli army radio reported on 28 October.
The head of the Israel Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, criticized the Haredi community for its failure to participate in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon.
Lieberman criticized the government for failing to enforce conscription orders, stressing that “the army is violating the law” and that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “must ensure that the law is applied to everyone.”
“The government has extended regular service by four months and reserve service by a year,” Lieberman told Yedioth Ahronoth, adding: “No more quotas, targets and exemptions - one people, one conscription,” stressing that “the whole story of quotas must end.”
’Israel must defeat Hamas’ Arab leaders told Blinken days after 7 Oct: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27455
In his new book, War, Woodward claims to provide details of the meetings of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held with several Arab rulers shortly after 7 October, as Israel’s war against Hamas and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza was getting underway.
In the book, Woodward claims that when Blinken met with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman on 13 October 2023, the king told him, “We told Israel not to do this, we told them not to trust Hamas, Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood, Israel must defeat Hamas. We will not say this publicly, but we support the defeat of Hamas.”
Woodward claims that when Blinken visited the UAE on 14 October 2023 and met with Mohammed bin Zayed, the emir told him, “Hamas must be eliminated. We have repeatedly warned Israel that Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood. We can give Israel time to eliminate Hamas, but first, it must help us calm our citizens from the images of violence and destruction in Gaza by bringing in aid, establishing safe zones, and controlling the violence of the settlers in the West Bank. Let it help us with our citizens, and we will give it the space to eliminate Hamas.”
The book says that when Blinken visited Saudi Arabia on 14 October 2023, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told him, “Israel should not have trusted Hamas, and Netanyahu warned us against that repeatedly, because Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The Saudi foreign minister continued, saying, “The terrorist groups are not only trying to eliminate Israel, but they also want to overthrow other Arab leaders. We are concerned about what the Israeli operation will do to all of our security, and what comes after Hamas may be worse.”
Bin Farhan added, “We will not pay a single dollar to rebuild Gaza after the chaos that Netanyahu created.”
The next day, Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly told him, “I want the problems caused by October 7 to disappear. A Palestinian state must be established before normalization with Israel. I do not want that, but I need it to justify normalization. I want to return to Vision 2030 by normalizing with Israel. Gaza must be calm first for us to normalize with Israel.”
Blinken’s next visit before returning to Israel was in Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Sisi then asked the US delegation to leave so he could meet with Blinken alone. Sisi then allegedly told Blinken that he “only wants to maintain peace with Israel.”
Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel then provided the US delegation with important information about the depth and extent of the tunnels under Gaza. He explained to them that Hamas is entrenched in Gaza and that it will be difficult to eliminate it. “Israel must not enter Gaza all at once but rather do so in stages. It must allow Hamas leaders to emerge from the tunnels before cutting off their heads all at once.”
Woodward also writes that Senator Lindsey Graham and Netanyahu “had scheduled a quiet negotiation between Netanyahu and a Saudi ambassador in Tel Aviv in November 2023 [the month after the Hamas attack on Israel]. It would be a historic moment.”
Regarding his sources, Woodward writes, “All interviews for this book were conducted under the journalist ground rule of ‘deep background.’ This means that all the information could be used, but I would not say who provided it.”
C’est bien de documenter comment tous, là, ils ont fait comme si éliminer les frères musulmans, ça pouvait se réaliser sans éliminer la population tout autour. Ils ont cru que ça allait se concrétiser par une police politique, à l’égyptienne, qui t’emprisonne et te fait disparaître les gens par centaines, mais que c’est pas un génocide.
Et maintenant, ils vont devoir expliquer qu’ils ne savaient pas qu’en fait, ça allait être un massacre, où le moindre frère musulman présumé, allait avoir droit à sa bombe d’une tonne, et qu’il allait y avoir 80000 frères musulmans à supprimer et que ça allait fortement ressembler à un génocide.
Le frère musulman, c’est comme le terroriste, il mérite tout ce qu’il lui arrive de la part des dictateurs modérés pro-occidentaux, de Bibi’ à Momo’ ou Momo’ ou même Abdu’. Ils sont mignons, tous, là, à confirmer qu’en fait, Bibi’, il avait carte blanche.
Iran, Saudi Arabia in talks for joint naval drills
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27376
The Iranian and Saudi navies are planning to hold a joint exercise in the Red Sea region, Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Shahram Irani announced on 22 October.
ISNA news agency quoted Irani as saying that the Iranian naval forces are present in the Red Sea and that Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in organizing joint maneuvers in the region.
The admiral stressed that the delegations from both countries would hold consultations on organizing the maneuver, adding that they had extended mutual invitations to visit each other’s ports.
Iran and Saudi Arabia normalized relations in March 2023 following a six-year rupture through talks brokered by China.
The joint naval exercise proposal comes amid escalating tension between Tel Aviv and Tehran.
Israel bombs south Lebanon municipality, kills mayor during relief work meeting
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27303
Non seulement le titre du Monde hier (►https://seenthis.net/messages/1077052) était répugnant, mais on apprend depuis que l’assassinat du maire de Nabatiyyé a eu lieu pendant une réunion qui coordonnait les secours après lesl bombardements israéliens...
In response to the violent raid of the southern Lebanese town, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israeli jets “deliberately struck a municipal council meeting focused on addressing the city’s relief and service needs.”
“This new assault, along with the ongoing crimes committed by Israel against civilians, is a direct challenge to the international community, whose silence only emboldens the occupation to continue its violations and crimes,” Mikati added.
Pour le coup, ils nous proposent une autre lecture ce matin... La prochaine fois, réfléchissez avant de sortir le stylo à propagande israélienne...
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/10/17/a-nabatiye-dans-le-sud-du-liban-des-frappes-meurtrieres-visent-pour-la-premi
A Nabatiyé, dans le sud du Liban, des frappes meurtrières visent pour la première fois une autorité publique
Au moins seize personnes ont trouvé la mort dans des bombardements israéliens mercredi, dont le maire, un secouriste et plusieurs élus de la ville qui organisaient l’aide aux réfugiés.
Ça va dans le même sens que ce que je disais hier. Ils provoquent des situations pour que les ennemis se réunissent sans précaution. Et ils tirent. Ils considèrent leurs ennemis comme de la vermine. Ils considèrent que tous les stratagèmes et toutes les occasions sont légitimes.
Le “double-tap strike » est déjà documenté, et même le NY Times a indiqué qu’Israël le pratiquait à Gaza :
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/world/middleeast/israel-mawasi-strike-vehicles.html
C’est le crime de guerre qui consiste à balancer une première bombe, attendre que les gens s’approchent pour aider les blessés, et à balancer une deuxième bombe pour faire un massacre bien plus important.
Douloureux souvenir de la tactique des GIA en Algérie ; piéger les corps des victimes.
’Prepare for post-Hezbollah phase’ US envoy tells Lebanon as Israeli massacres intensify
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27244
Les mêmes conneries, inlassablement, années après années...
US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson has asked political forces in the country to “prepare for the post-Hezbollah phase, where its control over the state and its institutions and the state’s border crossings is no longer permitted.” Al-Akhbar reported on 11 October.
She reiterated that “Hezbollah has become very weak after the strikes that were directed at it, targeting its leaders and killing its Secretary-General, and therefore, it can no longer impose what it wants, and there is a new political phase that the country will witness soon in which the party has no place.”
On 23 September, Israel began a massive bombing campaign that has now lasted over two weeks and killed hundreds of Lebanese and Syrian civilians, as well as many Hezbollah commanders and the resistance movement’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Al-Akhbar commented, “Johnson’s words confirm that America does not want a ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather continues to support the Israeli aggression until its project is achieved domestically, which explains the absence of any diplomatic initiatives towards Lebanon.”
Israel drops ’depleted uranium bombs’ inside Beirut: Official
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27194
On October 6, the head of the president of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine said Israel has been bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut using banned bombs with uranium warheads and called for collecting samples from the bombed sites to send to the UN as part of an international investigation.
President of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine Raif Reda called for “collecting samples from the bombing sites and sending reports to the United Nations so the world can witness the bloody, criminal history of the Zionist enemy,” according to statements reported by the National News Agency (NNA).
Warheads made with depleted uranium casings are designed to penetrate deep fortifications, causing significant destruction and releasing toxic gases. They are also radioactive and have been linked to massive increases in cancer rates in Iraq following the US wars on that country in 1991 and 2003.
Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today reports that Israeli air forces may have used depleted uranium bombs when its air force dropped 80 one-ton (2,000lb) bombs on at least four residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27 to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The New York Times notes that a video released by the Israeli army showed that the warplanes that flew the mission to assassinate Nasrallah were each equipped with six US-made BLU-109 missiles.
L’Orient Today notes that according to a report from the US Naval Institute, the most common type of explosives inside these missiles are bombs classified as GBU-31.
“These guided munitions are known for their ability to penetrate heavily reinforced concrete or steel structures thanks to a casing made of depleted uranium (DU), used for its high density, which enhances the bombs’ resistance upon ground impact,” the Lebanese newspaper added.
The Israeli air force has already been known to use these bombs in Gaza. A report submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission documented the drop of GBU-31, GBU-32, and GBU-39 bombs documented airstrikes by the Israeli air force carried out on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps, and a market between October 9 and December 2, 2023.
Depleted uranium munitions pose a risk to civilians years after a site is bombed because they release radioactive particles upon impact and contaminate the soil and surrounding environment.
▻https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1430095/israel-a-t-il-bombarde-la-banlieue-sud-de-beyrouth-avec-des-bombes-co
Toutefois, plusieurs éléments suggèrent que les bombes utilisées ce jour-là, et peut-être vendredi dernier, par l’aviation israélienne contiennent une petite charge radioactive : de l’uranium appauvri.
Alors que de sérieux doutes ont émergé ces derniers jours concernant une éventuelle radioactivité de ces bombardements israéliens, le professeur Raïf Reda, président de l’Association libanaise de médecine sociale, a appelé à « prélever des échantillons sur les sites de bombardement et à envoyer des rapports aux Nations unies afin que le monde puisse voir l’histoire criminelle et sanglante de l’ennemi sioniste », selon des propos rapportés par l’Agence nationale d’information (ANI).
Comme le précise le New York Times, une vidéo publiée par l’armée israélienne montrant le décollage de l’escadron chargé de mener ce raid du 27 septembre atteste que ces appareils étaient équipés chacun de six missiles de type « BLU-109 ». De fabrication américaine, ces munitions pèsent un peu moins d’une tonne (2000 livres) chacune selon l’article, et sont dotées d’un kit appelé « JDAM » (joint direct attack munitions), un système de guidage de précision qui se fixe sur les projectiles.
Sans confirmer le type de munitions utilisées, deux hauts responsables sécuritaires israéliens ont confirmé au journal américain que « plus de 80 bombes » avaient été larguées sur une période de quelques minutes pour tuer Hassan Nasrallah.
D’après un rapport de l’US Naval Institute, le type d’explosifs les plus courants contenus à l’intérieur de ces missiles sont des bombes répondant à l’appellation « GBU-31 ». Ces munitions guidées sont connues pour leur capacité à pénétrer des structures en béton ou en acier hautement renforcées grâce à une coque composée d’uranium appauvri (UA), utilisé en raison de sa forte densité qui permet de renforcer la résistance des bombes après l’impact au sol.
L’utilisation de cette sorte particulière d’armement à Beyrouth est d’autant plus crédible que l’armée israélienne a déjà été épinglée sur le sujet en juin dernier dans sa guerre dans la bande de Gaza. Dans un rapport remis à la Commission des droits de l’homme des Nations unies, les éléments recueillis documentent le largage de bombes de type GBU-31, GBU-32 et GBU-39 sur au moins six frappes distinctes menées par l’aviation israélienne sur des bâtiments résidentiels, une école, des camps de réfugiés et un marché, entre le 9 octobre et le 2 décembre 2023.
En mai, l’administration Biden avait annoncé avoir suspendu un envoi de ces bombes pesant près d’une tonne vers Israël en raison des « inquiétudes concernant la sécurité des civils à Gaza ».
Effets pathogènes et mortels
Bien que l’uranium appauvri ne soit pas aussi radioactif que son homologue enrichi utilisé dans les armes nucléaires, il reste légèrement radioactif et peut libérer des particules dangereuses au moment de l’impact, contaminant ainsi les populations et les sols exposés à ces faibles radiations. « Lorsque l’uranium est inhalé ou ingéré avec des aliments et des boissons, ses effets pathogènes et mortels se manifestent pleinement. Lorsqu’il pénètre dans l’organisme, il est absorbé par le sang, qui le transporte vers les organes (...) et peut entraîner des problèmes respiratoires et des risques pour les reins. Il peut aussi atteindre un enfant à naître via le placenta », détaille un rapport publié par l’Association internationale des médecins pour la prévention de la guerre nucléaire (IPPNW). Les caractéristiques de l’UA et ses conséquences pour la santé humaine et l’environnement sont plus largement documentées dans un rapport publié par la Commission européenne en 2010.
C’est pourquoi plusieurs résolutions appelant à l’adoption d’un moratoire sur l’utilisation des armes à l’uranium appauvri ont déjà été adoptées par l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU et le Parlement européen. La dernière en date remonte à 2022, alors que ce type d’armes est également utilisé dans la guerre en Ukraine, que ce soit par l’armée russe ou l’armée ukrainienne. Néanmoins, aucun traité réglementant – et encore moins interdisant – l’utilisation de ces armes à l’UA dans un cadre militaire n’existe à ce jour.
C’est pas tellement la radioactivité le pb de l’U appauvri, c’est sa contamination, et sa décomposition en d’autres éléments radioactifs assimilables. Sa radioactivité est tangible, mais reste basse (ca doit etre pareil qu’habiter sur du granit, genre la Bretagne). Son pouvoir de contamination (en élements de petites tailles) est gigantesque.
Si l’info est vraie, ça ne pas va pas être aussi bénin que des armes chimiques (je veux dire que ça aura tjrs des conséquences dans 200 ans). Ça ne manquera pas de faire les gros titres... Normalement.
C’est un matériaux assez commun dans le transport et l’industrie. Mais habituellement utilisé en blocs, surtout pas en dispersion.
Son usage ici, c’est en sous munitions incendiaires. Ca se rapproche des armes au magnésium. C’est pas interdit par les conventions ?
Il faudrait plutot dire : « L’uranium appauvri ne soit pas aussi radioactif que son homologue NATUREL. » Il est moins radioactif que celui trouvable dans la nature. Pour etre juste.
Israeli settlers publish map of south Lebanon with Hebrew names
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27004
Jewish settlers in Israel advocate conquering, stealing, and settling territory in southern Lebanon as Israel now does in the West Bank and Gaza
Israeli army ’no longer moral’ : Former defense minister
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27002
Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, a former Israeli minister of defense and chief of staff, stated that the Israeli army is no longer a moral army and that he is worried that executions of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers may be taking place, Channel 14 reported on 25 September.
Ya’alon, who served as Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2016 under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made the comments during a talk he delivered this week to a forum of reservist naval personnel.
He stated there is no reason why the recruitment into the army of Jewish religious settlers, known as “Hilltop Youth,” who often murder Palestinians to drive them off their land in the occupied West Bank, will not also “execute” Palestinians while in uniform with the Israeli army.
(...) During his comments at last week’s forum, Ya’alon also said that religious settler leaders in Israel’s current government are seeking to “transfer,” or ethnically cleanse, Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.
The religious settler movement has had a significant influence on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government through National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Both have stated their desire to cleanse the West Bank and Gaza of Palestinians and annex Palestinian land for Jewish settlement.
The former defense minister stated further that religious settler leaders in the government are seeking to spark an apocalyptic war allegedly prophesied in Jewish scripture known as the battle of “Gog and Magog.”
Ukrainian special forces bomb Russian base in Syria: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26902
Special forces from the Khimik group of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) attacked a Russian military base in Syria, the Kyiv Post reported on 16 September.
The Ukrainian newspaper learned of the attack through information and video of the attack provided by the HUR.
According to a military intelligence source, the operation took place on 15 September in the southeastern outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo.
Russian forces used the base targeted by HUR special forces to manufacture and test strike UAVs, as well as to produce “camouflaged improvised explosive devices,” whose warheads were stored at the site, HUR claimed.
A video allegedly filmed by an intelligence officer and provided to the Kyiv Post shows a HUR flag is visible near the Russian base. An explosion erupts at the base a short time later, followed by the detonation of ammunition.
According to Kyiv Post sources, the Khimik group also targeted Russian military equipment at the Kuweires airfield, located east of Aleppo, in July.
In early June, Ukrainian special forces attacked Russian checkpoints, strongholds, foot patrols, and columns of military equipment in the Golan Heights in Syria, the Kyiv Post reported.
Sunday’s attack on the Russian base comes amid reports that a large group of Ukrainian military experts arrived in Syria’s northern Idlib governorate to train extremist militants in the use and manufacture of drones.
A source told Sputnik on 17 September, “There is confirmed information that the number of Ukrainian military experts who arrived in Idlib has reached about 250, they have been distributed to industrial workshops and several sites in the city of Idlib and the countryside of Jisr al-Shughur, to manufacture drones."
We Are Sleepwalking Into Dystopia - by BettBeat Media
▻https://bettbeat.substack.com/p/wake-up-israels-turning-our-world?publication_id=437130
▻https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F
Pager-exploding terror attacks must mark the final wake-up call: Israel is turning our world into unbridled savagery.
No one is safe: The global threat of Israel’s weaponized pagers
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26951
This shift in the rules of engagement, where civilians are targeted not just on the battlefield but in their homes, threatens to plunge the world into a new era of insecurity and uncertainty. Governments and citizens alike must now contend with the possibility that the next device they purchase could be weaponized against them, as Israel’s aggression moves beyond traditional warfare into the realm of global terror.
Gaza officials reveal 70 percent of Palestinians killed by Israel are women, children
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26746
The majority of the victims of Israel’s war on Gaza have been women and children, according to data released by the strip’s Government Media Office on 5 September.
The data reveals that “69 percent of the victims are children and women.” The number of dead children alone stands at 16,715, while the number of women killed stands at 11,308.
Marking “335 days of the genocide,” the media office highlighted that 3,556 massacres have been committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war.
The overall death toll now stands at 40,878, while another 10,000 are missing, either still under the rubble or in Israeli detention.