Reports About Iranian Plan to Invade Israel

Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
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Reports About Iranian Plan to Invade Israel

Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)
Hezbollah fighters during the funeral of a member killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Aita al-Shaab on August 23 (AFP)

Security circles in Tel Aviv warned on Friday of an Iranian plot to “invade” Israel and shower it with a belt of fire from all fronts, from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, and from Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen.

The circles criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he recently revealed the plan by Tehran, but is doing nothing to confront it except giving speeches.

Ben Caspit, the political correspondent for the Maariv newspaper, who conveyed the warnings of the security circles, said that Iran and Hezbollah have taken control of the CERS Institute, the center of the Syrian military industry, which produces chemical weapons and accurate missiles.

The Israeli Alma Center for Defense Research stated in a study last year that the real purpose of CERS is to develop weapons for the regime in Syria, and that it operates under the cover of a civilian scientific research center. The study claims that the institute includes secret military facilities that serve the Syrian and Iranian armies and Hezbollah.

The Maariv correspondent, Ben Caspit, quotes a military official as saying that a tunnel network is being dug from Damascus International Airport, leading to various storage and concealment sites in Syria, in order to “circumvent” the Israeli Air Force’s bombing operations.

The tunnel network will allow Hezbollah to evade Israeli strikes and accelerate the movement’s expansion, he says.

A reserve brigadier general confirmed, according to Maariv, that Iran and Hezbollah have been using the drug smuggling route in the border triangle between Jordan, Syria and Israel, for the purpose of transporting weapons and combat equipment.

Caspit slammed the Israeli prime minister for “doing nothing” except for giving speeches.

He added that when there was a need to launch a preemptive strike on Hezbollah on Sunday morning, Netanyahu chose the easiest option he received from the army, but later instructed to water down the response, to prevent any potential escalation on the northern front.



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.