The commanders of Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces, who were eliminated in Friday’s Israeli airstrike, planned an October 7-style invasion of Israel in response to the recent pager blasts, Arab and Israeli media reports indicate.
Senior Hezbollah terrorist Ibrahim Aqil and other top commanders of the Radwan Force had gathered to discuss their so-called “Plan to Conquer the Galilee” when four Israeli missiles hit their underground hideout below a parking lot in central Beirut.
Aqil, the mastermind of the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing, and 20 other Hezbollah commanders were killed in the precisely targeted Israeli airstrike, eliminating the entire command structure of the Iranian-trained Radwan Force.
“The Hezbollah commanders we eliminated today had been planning their ‘October 7’ on the northern border for years,” IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said hours following the Beirut strike. “Hezbollah intended to raid Israeli territory, occupy the communities of the Galilee, and murder and kidnap Israeli citizens — similar to what Hamas did on October 7.”
The slain Hezbollah commanders were plotting an incursion into northern Israel in a bid to carry out large-scale killing, rape, and kidnapping of civilians, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog told Sky News (UK) on Sunday. “All of these leaders were meeting to launch the same horrific, horrendous attack that we had on October 7 by Hamas, by burning Israelis, butchering them, raping their women, taking hostages, old people, and little babies,” President Herzog said.
The Times of Israel reported Sunday:
Speaking to Sky News earlier today, Herzog also said the meeting was aimed at cementing plans for an invasion of Israel.“All of these leaders came together in order to launch the same horrific, horrendous attack that we had on October 7th by Hamas, by burning Israelis, by butchering them, raping their women, abducting and taking hostage people and little babies,” Herzog says.“This is exactly the same plan they have been planning for years under the plans of the Empire of Evil of Iran,” he says.The comments echo those of IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Friday after the strike.“Aqil and the Radwan Force commanders who we attacked are the commanders who drew up and led the Hezbollah terror group’s plan, to be carried out on the day the order was given, to attack into the northern territory of the State of Israel — what they called ‘The plan to conquer the Galilee,’” Hagari said.In this planned invasion, said Hagari, “Hezbollah intended to raid Israeli territory, occupy the communities of the Galilee, and murder and kidnap Israeli citizens — similar to what Hamas did on October 7.”He added that “the commanders who we eliminated today” had been overseeing attacks on Israeli citizens since October 8, and planned to carry out more such attacks.
The Radwan Force’s plan to stage an October 7-like massacre was also reported in the Arab media, the newspaper Israel Hayom wrote Sunday:
Senior Hezbollah figure Ibrahim Aqil, along with other senior commanders of the Radwan Force, planned a ground operation within Israel’s territory during a meeting where he was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force in the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut, according to a report by “Al-Monitor.”According to the report, which is based on a senior source close to the terrorist organization, members of the group gathered and planned an operation by the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite and offensive unit, “in the heart of the occupied territories” as a response to the explosion of the group’s pagers last week.
At least six civilians were injured over the weekend as Hezbollah escalated missile and drone attacks into northern Israel. “During the night and the morning hours, approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and UAVs were launched toward Israeli territory, most of them aimed at northern Israel,” the IDF said in a press release Sunday. “With high interception rates, the multi-layered aerial defense effort prevented significant damage to the home front. There were a small number of cases of hits and interception debris falling on the home front.”
The Jerusalem Post reported the destruction caused by Hezbollah’s aggression:
Hezbollah fired its deepest barrage into Israel since the beginning of the current war, with four rounds of over 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and drones fired into the Jezreel Valley in the early hours of Sunday morning, the IDF confirmed. (…)As a result of the fire on northern Israel, six people were wounded, and they were evacuated to the Emek Medical Center in Afula, the Medical Center announced. Magen David Adom (MDA) teams were called to treat four individuals with shrapnel injuries, including a 76-year-old man in moderate condition, as well as a 70-year-old man, a 60-year-old man, and a 16-year-old girl in moderate condition.Two houses were hit in Kiryat Bialik following a fourth wave of rocket attacks from Lebanon, according to Israeli media.Initial reports also stated that one person had been killed and that most of the casualties were from a car accident resulting from panic from the rocket fire.
Israel was prepared to roll out ‘offensive plans against Hezbollah’ if the escalation continues, the military warned. “We have significantly harmed Hezbollah and we will continue and deepen the blow. We are at a point of change,” head of the IDF’s Northern Command, Major General Ori Gordin said Sunday. “Alongside the defensive mission, we are in a high state of readiness for further offensive plans against Hezbollah.”
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