The Israeli army announced that it had killed “the terrorist Yussef Rafik Ahmed Shabat, head of the Hamas Internal Investigations Department in Beit Hanun”, in the north of the Strip. The military spokesperson made this known according to which «Shabat served as a security officer in the Hamas military intelligence in the Beit Hanun Battalion». “The elimination of him – he added – significantly damages the investigation department of the terrorist organization.” The same source added that in a raid “a vehicle in which there were ten terrorists” was hit.
After yesterday's launches from Lebanon, the Israeli army also struck “Hezbollah terrorist targets” in the Khiam area during the night, “including a series of terror and other military infrastructures”. “Furthermore – said the military spokesman – the soldiers fired to remove an imminent threat in the area”.
Meanwhile, on the other front, Benyamin Netanyahu continues on his way and prepares the response to Iran's attack despite strong international pressure to the contrary, with the USA and the G7 focusing on the lever of sanctions against Tehran (although US sources maintain that it is an Israeli attack on Iran is unlikely before the end of Passover which begins Monday 22nd April and ends on the 29th). “I appreciate all kinds of suggestions and advice but I want to make it clear: we will make our own decisions and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself“, clarified the prime minister after meeting the British Foreign Minister David Cameron and his German colleague Annalena Baerbock, who arrived in Jerusalem to ask to avoid an escalation in the region. Cameron used an argument that many Israeli analysts have been using for days, and even ministers, they invoke in inviting Netanyahu to be cautious.
“Better to be intelligent rather than harsh. The real need – observed the head of the Foreign Office – is to return to focusing on Hamas, on the hostages, on the arrival of aid, on a pause in the conflict in Gaza”. A reasoning also proposed by minister Arieh Deri of the religious party Shas, who sits, as an auditor, in the small Israeli war cabinet. “It is better not to open more fronts” at this moment, said Deri, recalling that “there is an unfinished campaign in Gaza and that there are still hostages there”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/ 04/18/israel-hits-hezbollah-targets-sets-lebanon-inflame-netanyahu-goes-straight-on-sulliran-tehran-evacuates-bases-in-syria-4cb99e23-d1b9-4a7f-8946-dc5eefdaea53/.” I made it clear in the talks in Israel that the Middle East must not slide into a situation that has no certain end. Maximum moderation is needed but to avoid a regional war”, also urged the head of German diplomacy. But the warning from Netanyahu suggests that the decision has now been made.
The statements coming from Tehran are certainly not encouraging. “Iran's retaliatory attack against Israel – warned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi – was a limited and punitive action against the regime. If the Zionists take any action against our interests, Iran's response will be very tougher”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/04/18/israele-trattasce-obiettivi-hezbollah-sinfiamma-il-libano-netanyahu-tira-dritto-sulliran-teheran-evacua-le-basi -in-siria-4cb99e23-d1b9-4a7f-8946-dc5eefdaea53/.”We advise enemies not to make any strategic mistakes, because Iran is ready to strike them, especially with Sukhoi-24 fightersthe Russian supersonic tactical bombers”, threatened the commander of the Tehran air force Hamid Vahedi, fearing an aerial duel in the skies of the Middle East between Soviet-era jets and the deadly Israeli F35s and F16s.
Meanwhile, it is the clash between Israel and Hezbollah that does not suffer any pause: In an attack claimed by Shiite militiamen, 14 soldiers and 4 civilians were injured in a “community center in the border town of Arab al-Aramshe”. Hezbollah instead claimed to have hit a military base “with drones and guided missiles” in response to the killing yesterday of three militiamen by Israel, including a brigade commander. An air reconnaissance base on Mount Meron was also attacked. The Jewish State responded by hitting, according to the military spokesperson, “the sources from which the rockets were fired” and then “a Hezbollah military complex and terror infrastructures in Naqura and Yarine, in southern Lebanon”.
AND while Qatar speaks of “a difficult phase” and “stalled” in negotiations for a truce in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected in Turkey over the weekend by President Erdogan, for whom the Islamic faction “is not a terrorist organization”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/04/18/israele-collosce-obiettivi-hezbollah-sinfiamma-il-libano- netanyahu-straight-up-sulliran-tehran-evacuate-the-bases-in-syria-4cb99e23-d1b9-4a7f-8946-dc5eefdaea53/.”It is Netanyahu who drags the region into war to stay in power”, was the accusation launched today by Ankara through Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
On the other hand China supports Palestine “to become a full member of the United Nations”. This is what Foreign Minister Wang Yi said today during the joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi held in Jakarta, on the day of the vote at the Glass Palace. Wang, in Beijing's diplomatic briefing, also stated that “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in a humanitarian disaster and that an unconditional ceasefire and humanitarian relief mechanism should be established as soon as possible to avoid further escalation of the situation”.