Tensions mount on Israel’s northern border

WIRE SERVICES AND JEWISH REPORT STAFF

An Iranian general and at least five Hezbollah members were killed in the strike on a convoy of several cars near the Syrian border village of Quneitra. Iran announced on Monday that among those killed in the attack was Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, a general in its Revolutionary Guard. Allahdadi was known to be one of powerful al-Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani’s closest confidantes. Allahdadi was in Syria to advise its army in the country’s nearly four-year civil war, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.

Jihad Mughniyeh, son of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative assassinated in 2008, was also among those killed in the Sunday attack. The others included Mohammed Issa, the commander of Hezbollah forces in Iraq and Syria, and Abbas Hijazi, whose father Kamal was one of Hezbollah’s founders.

Quneitra, near the border with Lebanon, has been the site of heavy fighting between government forces and rebels during Syria’s ongoing civil war.

Although the Israel Defence Forces has neither confirmed nor denied the strikes, Israel was, according to reports, unaware an Iranian general was travelling in the Hezbollah convoy it targeted. The claim – made by an unnamed senior Israeli security source in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday – came as both Hezbollah and Iran threatened to retaliate for the killing and amid growing concern about the security situation on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria.

“Hezbollah’s leadership cannot accept the blow it received from the Israeli strike and the killing of [Hezbollah] officials,” a Hezbollah official said, according to Israel Hayom. “Hezbollah’s leadership will choose how and when to respond to this criminal Israeli attack.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently said that his Shi’a Muslim terror group had more weapons than Israel could imagine. The organisation reportedly possesses a large arsenal of rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and specialised units, known as the Radawan Force, trained specifically to carry out raids deep inside Israel

“Hezbollah has weapons that the enemy can expect and we have ones that they aren’t expecting. Our resistance has not been damaged, and Israel is mistaken if it thinks it has,” Nasrallah told the Arabic TV station Al-Mayadeen.

He added: “If Israel attacks Lebanon, our resistance is strong and our ability to win is great.”

While the Israel-Lebanon border has been relatively quiet since the last war there in 2007, Hezbollah planted two bombs along that border last October, injuring two Israeli soldiers who were on patrol.  

Israel Defence Forces’ Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Monday the army was prepared and monitoring security developments in the region. “The IDF is prepared, tracking all developments, and ready to act as needed. This statement is not simply a speech – it’s a matter of real operational preparedness.”

In the north, several IDF units deployed along the border that were set to go on leave, were ordered to stay put, Haaretz reported.