Image 01 Image 03

Hezbollah Tag

The U.S. Ambassador to Berlin, Richard Grenell, has urged Germany to ban the Islamist terror organization Hezbollah from the country. Writing in the German newspaper Die Welt, the envoy called on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to outlaw the Iran-backed terrorist group that has been "murdering innocent people from Lebanon to Syria, Thailand, Bulgaria, Spain and Argentina" for 37 years.

Israel has attacked Iranian bases in Syria to preempt the launch of a squadron of bomb-loaded attack drones that were in the final preparations for launch. The planned drone attack was personally supervised by Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, according to the Israel Defense forces, which in an unusual move took to Twitter to announce the preemptive attack:

The British intelligence agency MI5 foiled a significant bomb plot linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah terror outfit, London-based Daily Telegraph disclosed. The British intelligence service and the Metropolitan Police uncovered a secret bomb factory in North West London in the autumn of 2015. They recovered thousands of packets containing ammonium nitrate, an explosive ingredient often used in homemade bombs.

In early December 2018, Israel launched "Operation Northern Shield," the effort to locate and destroy Hezbollah cross-border tunnels along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. There were many dramatic videos of the operation, including that moment when Hezbollah operatives on the Lebanese side came face-to-face with an Israeli surveillance camera inserted into one of the tunnels:

The White House has officially designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). In a statement, President Donald Trump said that he and the Department of State "recognizes that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft" and that the IGRC is the Iranian regime's "primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign."

Britain is set to join the United States in banning the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. The United Kingdom’s home office is expected to make a formal announcement barring the Shi'a Islamist outfit from the country later this week, Reuters news agency reported Monday. The UK had outlawed the military wing of the Hezbollah in 2008, allowing its 'political' wing to operate in the country.

Israel's Operation Northern Shield continues to uncover Hezbollah attack tunnels dug from Lebanese civilian areas under the border into northern Israel. The purpose of the tunnels was to surprise Israel in the next war by infiltrating special Hezbollah commando units who have been tasked with capturing an Israeli town or border community. While such a capture would be temporary, it would be a large propaganda victory.

Israel continues to rollout Hezbollah attack tunnel discoveries, each to much fanfare for the media and diplomats. Although Israeli likely knows about almost all the tunnels, it waits a few days between discoveries in order to maximize the exposure and keep the news cycle going.

Hezbollah has constructed numerous attack tunnels from civilian villages in southern Lebanon across the border into Israel. The purpose of the tunnels was to provide a way to surprise Israel in the next war by quickly infiltrating large numbers of terrorists to capture Israeli towns near the border. This would serve both as a diversion and also a huge propaganda win, even if the towns were retaken quickly.

The Israel Defense Forces has uncovered at 4th attack tunnel built by Hezbollah across the Lebanese border into Israel. Israel is using the discovery and demolition of the tunnels to put political and diplomatic pressure on Hezbollah and Iran. International diplomats and political visitors are taken to the area where Israel is digging.

Israel continues Operation Northern Shield, to uncover and destroy attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah from Lebanaon across the border into northern Israel. The purpose of the tunnels was to allow Hezbollah to infiltrate into Israel in case of war, and to seize Israeli territory for a big propaganda win. We covered the tunnel exposure efforts in the following posts:

Hezbollah had an extensive program to built attack tunnels capable of transferring large numbers of terrorists into northern Israel in a short amount of time. The project, if ever used in war, would have allowed Hezbollah to score a short-term military, and long-term propaganda, victory by seizing towns and territory within Israel. Hezbollah many times has threatened to take the ground war into Israel, and tunnels were to play a key role as they do for Hamas in Gaza.

We have covered many examples of Hamas attack tunnels from Gaza crossing into southern Israel being discovered and destroyed. While there have long been rumors that Hezbollah was constructing tunnels under the border with Lebanon in the North, such reports were based mostly on the logic of Hezbollah's tactics. Hezbollah has been threatening for years that in the next war it would capture part of northern Israel, even if only for a short time.