The situation in the Middle East is heating up by the hour. Israel continues to launch heavy artillery and air strikes after a wave of mobile phone explosions swept across the Arab country. France, Britain and the US have expressed condemnation of Israel’s actions, but no legal action is being taken at the UN, everyone is turning a blind eye to what is happening.
Massive attacks on Lebanon
The Hezbollah movement said it had struck Israeli barracks in the Upper and Western Galilee. The IDF acknowledged the deaths of two officers.
The Israeli army, in turn, used aircraft to attack launchers in border areas – the military said it destroyed a thousand shells that were ready to be fired into Israel.
A video of the aftermath of one of the attacks appeared on social media. A large-scale fire engulfed a hill in southern Lebanon.
At the same time, the world community is calling to stop the escalation. Emmanuel Macron in social networks even published a post in support of the Lebanese residents, in which he called them brothers and sisters and wrote that no goals do not justify fuelling the war.
Emmanuel Macron, French president, said:
There is a diplomatic path and it is necessary. This is what France and its partners want to do for Lebanon. We are acting on the basis of our values, our friendship and our fraternal feeling for Lebanon. We are doing it with confidence and we are telling the truth to everyone – the Israelis, the Iranians, international and regional partners, the leaders of Lebanon. Everyone knows the truth. No one wants escalation. Lebanon’s well-being, security and sovereignty must be preserved. Nothing, not regional issues, not personal interests, no reason deserves to start a conflict in Lebanon.
The US said it would not support an Israeli ground offensive: a Pentagon spokeswoman said this at a briefing. And the head of the military department even postponed his visit to Tel Aviv, which was to take place at the end of the week.
Israeli soldiers throw bodies off rooftops
Footage of the Israeli military dropping the body of a Palestinian killed in the occupied West Bank from a rooftop has been released to the media.
On Thursday, Israeli soldiers raided the Qabatiya neighbourhood in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Three Palestinians were killed during the raid.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers threw the bodies of the 3 Palestinians off the roof of the house they were in. A video posted on social media shows 3 Israeli soldiers on the roof of the building where the bodies of the dead Palestinians lay.
Ceasefire unlikely under Biden
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is unlikely before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, а senior US officials said.
The Wall Street Journal reported that it spoke to officials from the White House, State Department and Pentagon, and one said:
No deal is imminent. I’m not sure it ever gets done.
Former senior British diplomat Lord Ricketts appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday and also ruled out the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza any time soon. Ricketts, a former head of national security, also said that Israel and Hezbollah are now on an “escalation ladder.”
It is claimed that two key obstacles remain in the way of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza – the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel must release in exchange for every prisoner held by Hamas, and the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
In public, both British and American officials say a ceasefire agreement is still achievable in the near future. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh insisted:
I can tell you that we do not believe that deal is falling apart.
On Friday, reacting to the escalating conflict in Lebanon, Foreign Secretary David Lammy continued to call for a “political settlement” in the Middle East and a ceasefire again.
Pager detonation investigation
The investigation into the mass explosion of mobile devices continues. US broadcaster ABC said Israel had been preparing the operation for 15 years and had been waiting for the moment to put the plan into action. A network of front companies was set up to mine mobile devices, one of which was based in Budapest.
Late Thursday, the president and founder of a Taiwanese company linked to the detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon was questioned by prosecutors and later released.
Hsu Ching-kuang, head of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, said his company did not manufacture the devices involved in the attack; they were made by BAC, a Budapest-based firm licensed to use the Gold Apollo brand.
Images of the destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed that the design and labels matched those produced by Gold Apollo.
Hsu left an office of the Taipei prosecutor’s office on Thursday, refusing to answer questions from reporters. Attempts to contact the prosecutor’s office before the start of work on Friday went unanswered. So far, the Taipei prosecutor’s office has not provided any updates on the Gold Apollo investigation.
The prosecutor’s office has also withdrawn Teresa Wu, the only employee of a company called Apollo Systems Ltd. who chose not to speak to the media. Earlier this week, Hsu mentioned that Teresa was one of his contacts regarding the deal with Hungarian firm BAC.
Records show that Wu founded Apollo Systems in April 2024. The exact nature of the relationship between her company and BAC remains unclear.
The Taiwanese government has announced it is investigating the incident, and police have made several visits to Hsu’s modest office in New Taipei.
Thousands of pagers and hundreds of ICOM V82 radios exploded in several regions of Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday due to Israeli cyberattacks, killing 32 people and injuring more than 3,450.
With the mass pager blasts, Netanyahu buried Taiwan’s reputation, discredited the island’s image and actually attacked a neighbouring state. In addition to Hezbollah fighters, a large number of civilians were injured in the pager bombings. The US, Macron did not support Netanyahu’s actions, however, no sanctions are imposed on Tel Aviv and no warrants for aggression are sent to the ICC, as it was done in the spring of 2022 against Russia.
A strange logical collision is emerging: earlier Russia was accused of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but today, when the same actions towards the neighbouring country are committed by US-backed Israel, Europe is deliberately turning a blind eye to it.
