No shortage of events has transpired over the last week concerning the Middle East. I want to highlight the developments taking place close to me while world leaders are meeting in Scotland to solve the alleged climate crisis. It saddens me to say that Israel is responsible for sending the second-largest delegation to this meeting at the direction of the prime minister, just behind the US.
Saudi and US naval forces recently concluded ‘Indigo Defender 21’ – a military drill consisting of several wartime scenarios, including live fire, hacking, anti-aircraft, a variety of tactics, and more. A US warship also arrived in Eilat in preparation for a joint drill with the Israeli Navy.
The relational fallout between the Saudi Kingdom and Lebanon took a turn for the worse, as the Kingdom ordered the Lebanese ambassador to leave the country. Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Yemen also demanded that the Lebanese ambassador(s) leave their respective countries. Furthermore, some of these countries are now urging their citizens to leave Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes occurred at a rare time on Saturday, mid-day north of Damascus, targeting Hezbollah military interests. This necessary strike eliminated multiple rockets that were prepared to launch. Additionally, five Iranian-backed fighters were killed. Israel targeted additional Hezbollah targets overnight on Wednesday near Damascus inside a Syrian military camp. Both a munitions depot and militia-gathering area were struck.
In light of the recent military coup in Sudan, it was reported that an Israeli delegation, including the Mossad, made a secret visit to the African country last week to assess the situation and meet with officials.
Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to the military invasion of terrorist forces from the Tigray region. The US advised its citizens to leave and the government called on people to be ready to fight.
Iranian activity continues in Syria, as a truck carrying more than 50 barrels of radioactive material was seen entering the country via Iraq, only to empty the contents of the barrels into a designated pit. Furthermore, US President Joe Biden revealed that a retaliatory strike is going to take place in response to the Iranian attack on a US military base near al-Tanf two weeks ago.
But Iranian activity is also ramping up in the Persian Gulf, where the IRGC just shot down an American UAV over Oman’s naval zone yesterday. Please tune in to my Breaking News segment from yesterday for more on this!
As for Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover of the country, ISIS carried out another large suicide attack – this time at a military hospital in Kabul. At least 20 people were killed and over 40 more were injured.
Amid the Yemeni Civil War, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile in northern Yemen on Sunday, which killed a few dozen civilians in a mosque and religious school, mostly women and children.
On the Golan Heights, a Syrian bunker from the 1967 Six Days War was recently uncovered along with several types of ammunition.
As I alluded to earlier, sadly, Israel’s government is considering issuing a state of emergency, but not because of thousands of enemy rockets coming at us from Gaza or a military invasion from the north. Nope – this is due to climate change. As for Israel’s leadership, statistics show that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has close to no public support, while former PM Benjamin Netanyahu remains the preference of the majority of Jews in Israel.
However, on a positive note, we still take our security seriously. In fact, Israel is set to deploy a newly-developed piece of equipment in the northern part of the country that will increase our ability to preemptively detect threats in the region. That being said, recent Iran-related cyberattacks on multiple Israeli entities, which resulted in the release of a host of people’s private information, show that my country has entered a new era of cyberwarfare with its enemies.
