Israel and Hezbollah edge closer to all-out war

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz5r18zm7lpo

As the war in Gaza grinds on, there are growing fears another Middle East war may erupt - with devastating consequences for the region, and beyond.

Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah (backed by Iran) have been trading fire across their shared border for the past nine months. If this conflict escalates to all-out war, it could dwarf the destruction in Gaza, draw in Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and Yemen, spread embers around the Middle East and embroil the US. Iran itself could intervene directly.

The United Nations has warned of a “catastrophe beyond imagination”.

[adam2]

In later news, attacks by both Hezbollah and Israel have worsened, and progress towards all out war seems probable.
The markets however do not seem concerned with oil prices lower than recently.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e4m6m1r4eo

[BritDownUnder]

Seems like Hezbollah have killed a load of Druze in the Golan Heights. Of course it would suit Israel if that was reality. Israel could not have done it any better themselves to get the Druze against the Shia. These people really do deserve to be neighbours. The Lebanese are undoubtedly the most nasty ethnic group in Australia.

In an Israel-Hezbollah war then Lebanon and its infrastructure will be the loser and Hezbollah know that. Sadly, the world will also be the loser when these people then leave their ruined country and become 'refugees'. I think everyone is waiting to see who wins the Whitehouse.

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80xxeqel5po

The US embassy in Beirut has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on “any ticket available”, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East.

The advisory follows a similar warning from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said the situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.

Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas chief Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

It is feared that Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, could play a heavy role in any such retaliation, which in-turn could spark a serious Israeli response.

[adam2]

I see a small but real risk that nuclear weapons will be used.
Israel have the bomb, but probably have a "no first use" policy.
Hezbollah are not believed to have the bomb, but Iran might give them one, north Korea might sell them a bomb or two, they need the money.
Putin might supply a bomb, in order the destabilise the west and distract attention from Ukraine.

Most major nations are very reluctant to start a nuclear war, but terrorists have no such qualms. Consider those nutters who crashed aircraft into the World Trade Centre. If they had a nuclear bomb, do you think that they would have used it ? I think that they would.

[clv101]

The exploding pager thing is incredible! A crystal clear war crime.

Some thoughts here: https://x.com/_MG_/status/1836086734171 ... Lu88A&s=19

[BritDownUnder]

The exploding pager thing is incredible! A crystal clear war crime.

The amount of organisation behind this is impressive. Such wicked genius 'allegedly' from the race that has brought us 22% of all Nobel Prizes. I believe a Hamas operative was assassinated in Gaza many years ago by an exploding cell phone, back when cell phones were more 'bricky' than these days.

[Ralphw2]

The rumour is that the attack was planned to occur immediately before an Israeli attack into Lebanon to sow confusion. However, someone in Hezbollah discovered the pagers had been tampered with so Israel chose to blow them anyway, and not waste the chance to kill people.

[UndercoverElephant]

A crystal clear war crime.

You nasty, evil anti-semite. How dare you utter a bad word about those poor, innocent Israeli darlings.

[Forever_Winter]

Reports of Walkie talkies going bang. This is likely to escalate things further as a lot of these devices will be in the hands of civilians i.e. emergency workers etc. This might be a step too far..

[Ralphw2]

Is this a separate incident or are you simply misidentifying obsolete forms of communication technology? The pagers were purchased by Hesbolah primarily for their own use, although inevitably a significant number of civilians will have been injured or killed as well.

EDIT

Yes these are additional explosions in walkie talkie radios. Israel really is demonstrating how it really does not care what any other country considers to be a war crime. Given that they as an ethnic group suffered one of the worst war crimes of all time, you do have to wonder what their state of mind is.

[clv101]

Seems today's attacks have killed 9 and injured 600.

[clv101]

Not Normal
Until very recently, Israel couldn’t turn cell phones into bombs, Yemen didn’t have missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv, Ukraine didn’t have drones capable of “earthquake-sized blasts” inside Russia, and US presidential assassination attempts were not a weekly occurrence.

2024 has a distinct “spinning out of control” vibe, so whatever we’ve been doing to prepare for strange times should probably be expedited. Just in case.

John Rubino’s Substack

[Forever_Winter]

CLV can you post links to the above?

[clv101]

CLV can you post links to the above?

https://open.substack.com/pub/rubino/p/ ... -exploding