Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Gallant says Israel being attacked from seven sides, has hit back at six






IDF confirms Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit Greek Orthodox church in northern Israel


The Israel Defense Forces confirms that a Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit the St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Iqrit, northern Israel.

“The attack is not only a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 but also a violation of the freedom of worship,” the IDF says in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.


Hezbollah attacked the St. Mary’s Greek-Orthodox Church of Iqrit in northern Israel.

An anti-tank missile from Lebanon directly hit the church, injuring a civilian. This attack is not only a clear violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, but also a violation of the freedom of worship.

Multiple projectiles are seen being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense systems over the southern coastal city of Ashkelon and the Gaza border city of Sderot after rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.



Rocket sirens sound in Ashkelon, Gaza border communities


Explosions reportedly heard overhead in Egyptian resort city of Dahab

Explosions were heard over the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Dahab a short while ago, Egyptian news channel Al Qahera reports.

Citing eyewitnesses, the news channel states that a flying object was shot down around two kilometers off the city’s coast.

Dahab is located on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula.

On December 16, the Egyptian air force shot down a Houthi drone in the area, state-linked media reported.


Hezbollah fires anti-tank missile at church in northern Israel, wounding civilian

The Hezbollah terror group fired an anti-tank missile from Lebanon at a church in northern Israel, wounding a civilian.

In a statement, Hezbollah claims to have targeted an IDF position near the northern community of Shomera.

But Hebrew-language media reports say the target is actually a church in the nearby depopulated Palestinian Christian village of Iqrit.


Gallant says Israel being attacked from seven sides, has hit back at six

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel is being attacked in seven separate theaters amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, and the military has so far responded in six of them.

“We are in a multi-front war. We are being attacked from seven different arenas: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, [the West Bank], Iraq, Yemen, and Iran,” says Gallant at a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“We have already responded and acted in six of these areas, and I say here in the clearest way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target, there is no immunity for anyone,” he adds.

Gallant says the war in Gaza will be “a long, hard war. It has costs — heavy costs — but its justification is the highest that can be.

“Without meeting the goals of the war, we will find ourselves in a situation where… the problem will be that people will not want to live in a place where we do not know how to protect them,” he says to the committee.

TV report: IDF shifting strategy to low-intensity, long-haul Gaza operation

The Israeli military is preparing to shift strategies in Gaza, realizing that it has squeezed what it could out of high-intensity fighting, and must now dig in for a prolonged low-boil engagement aimed at toppling the Hamas terror group, Channel 12’s military reporter says.

The reported shift just happens to dovetail with US demands that Israel ease up on its high-energy bombardments and surges of troops into urban areas, and just in time for an unofficial January deadline.


According to correspondent Nir Dvori, the army will create a kilometer-wide buffer zone within the Strip on its borders with Israel, expanding an existing buffer zone. Infantry troops, largely drawn from conscripts, will occupy the zone to ensure Gazans cannot approach the fence with Israel, and launch pinpoint raids from there, reports Dvori, but the troop presence will be significantly smaller than it currently is.

He does not attribute the information to a source, but Israeli military reporters are often briefed on army plans under rules requiring them to present what they are told as their own “analysis.”






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