Israel’s Defense Minister Calls for ‘Expanding Goals of War’ in Lebanon

Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh near the border with Israel on August 28, 2024.  (AFP)
Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh near the border with Israel on August 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel’s Defense Minister Calls for ‘Expanding Goals of War’ in Lebanon

Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh near the border with Israel on August 28, 2024.  (AFP)
Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh near the border with Israel on August 28, 2024. (AFP)

Israel's defense minister on Thursday called for the expansion of the stated goals of the war in Gaza to include enabling residents to return to communities in northern Israel that have been evacuated due to attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Our mission on the northern front is clear - to ensure the safe return of northern communities to their homes. In order to achieve this goal, we must expand the goals of the war, and include the safe return of Israel’s northern residents to their homes," said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a statement from his office.

Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Hezbollah opened a second front against Israel a day later and fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border has since escalated, threatening to ignite a regional conflict.

Many border towns in northern Israel were evacuated and residents have yet to return.

Gallant, at a meeting with top military officials, reviewed Israel's achievements so far in Gaza, where its aim is to topple the group Hamas and return Israeli hostages.

He said he would bring the proposal to include the goal of returning residents to northern Israel to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet.

On the ground, Israeli strikes razed an entire residential neighborhood in the Lebanese border town of Kfar Kila.

Lebanese media said Israeli jets carried out four simultaneous strikes on Kfar Kila, destroying several homes and shops.

"The attacks destroyed an entire neighborhood adjacent to the border wall" with the Israeli Metula settlement, they added.

No casualties or injuries were reported.

Since the beginning of the week, Israel has been carrying out its most intense raids on border areas since the eruption of the conflict.

It said the attacks were preempting Hezbollah’s retaliation to Israel’s assassination of one of its top military commanders in Beirut’s southern suburbs in July.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched five operations against Israeli military positions. One attack, carried out by drones, targeted the 210th Golan Division in the Nafah barracks, said a statement from the party.

Israeli media reported fires in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as a result of the drone attack.

No one was injured and no damage was reported.

Hezbollah added that its attacks targeted Israeli soldiers deployed near the Kfar Yuval settlement, the Dovev barracks and Tallet al-Tayhat.

David Azoulai, head of the Metula Council, told Israeli media that over 40 percent of houses have been damaged in the conflict with Hezbollah.

He vowed that the homes will be renovated and repaired, "but we won’t be able to renovate society." He believed that some 20 percent of the residents won’t return, "but that depends on how the situation will be resolved."

If Hezbollah is dealt a strong strike, then I believe much more will return, he remarked, noting that the for the first time in 128 years, schools will not open in Metula this academic year given the unrest.



Iranian Documentary Shows Soleimani Touring Saddam Hussein’s Palace

Soleimani inspects a ceiling in Saddam Hussein’s palace
Soleimani inspects a ceiling in Saddam Hussein’s palace
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Iranian Documentary Shows Soleimani Touring Saddam Hussein’s Palace

Soleimani inspects a ceiling in Saddam Hussein’s palace
Soleimani inspects a ceiling in Saddam Hussein’s palace

A video showing Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of Iran’s Quds Force, exploring one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces has stirred significant controversy on social media.

The 30-second video, released by the Tasnim news agency, shows Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iran-backed paramilitary group in Iraq, walking through a ruined palace once owned by the former Iraqi president.

Tasnim, which is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said the footage, aired for the first time, is part of an Iranian documentary.

Also in the video are Ahmed al-Asadi, Iraq’s current Labor Minister, and Mohammed Sahib al-Daraji, a former Minister of Construction and Housing.

On January 3, 2020, Soleimani was killed alongside al-Muhandis in a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

Years earlier, the US Treasury Department had placed Soleimani on its blacklist for his alleged “terrorist” activities in the region.

Later, an Iranian TV station (TW) released the full documentary titled “The Builder... and The Destroyer,” focusing on Qassem Soleimani and Saddam Hussein.

The video doesn’t specify when Soleimani visited Saddam’s palace, but the presence of Iraqi officials suggests it was after 2014.

The footage shows Soleimani inspecting the palace’s damage and touching a marble column, with al-Muhandis explaining the details.

The documentary also includes clips of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad shortly before the 2003 US invasion, with Iraqis discussing their inability to visit Shiite shrines under the Baath regime.

The documentary highlights the role of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in restoring Shiite shrines in Najaf and Karbala, which were damaged in 1991.

It features Iranian officials, including former Iranian ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi, who discuss the Revolutionary Guard’s efforts in expanding and developing these shrines.

The film presents these efforts as a way to enhance annual Muharram visits, which were suppressed under the Baath regime. It also describes the Revolutionary Guard's fight against ISIS as a mission to protect Shiite shrines in Iraq and Syria.

At the end of the documentary, Soleimani is seen at the Sayyida Zainab shrine in Syria, receiving a key from a soldier.

Iraqis reacted strongly to the video, with many criticizing officials for letting Soleimani enter Saddam’s palace. Bloggers pointed out that the US, which invaded Iraq, allowed Iran to gain influence there and later was responsible for Soleimani’s assassination.