GWOT Update, Friday 7/28

Hezbollah has fired their longest range rockets yet today, hitting a field near the Israeli town of Afula, 44 miles Southeast of Haifa. These missiles carry up to 100 KG of explosives and are the most dangerous yet in the Hezbollah arsenal

Hezbollah has fired their longest range rockets yet today, hitting a field near the Israeli town of Afula, 44 miles Southeast of Haifa. These missiles carry up to 100 KG of explosives and are the most dangerous yet in the Hezbollah arsenal. 7 were launched, and there were thirteen injuries to Israelis in Afula. You won’t see their pictures on CNN. Meanwhile the UN has ordered the evacuation of UNIFIL posts in the war zone (It’s about damned time considering how quickly they evacced from Baghdad and Iraq when car bombs started going off near them.)

With yesterday’s report that Iran is supplying IED’s to blow up our troops in Iraq, and possibly manufacturing the anti-tank mines used by Hezbollah, it’s time to press them firmly as well. With the world-wide Jihad call that’s out now from Amadinejad, the effects will only get worse until something harsh is done in reply. Islamofascists always escalate when you appease.

For a good tactical analysis of the fight with Hezbollah so far, and some great observations you won’t find in the pollyanna press, visit Belmont Club, if you support the war against Hezbollah, the analysis will hearten you.

Today the IAF hit forty targets as reported by the Jerusalem Post, including the launchers used by the rockets mentioned earlier, and the IDF took some casualties, but killed 26 Hezbollah islamofascists also reported by JP:

Since Friday morning, the IAF has struck two Hizbullah rocket launchers, six buildings belonging to the organization, five weapons warehouses, and two Hizbullah bases. A total of over 40 targets were hit in IAF strikes.

and:

Seven soldiers were wounded in Friday’s fighting in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbail, it was revealed on Saturday. One of the soldiers was wounded moderately, while the other six sustained light wounds.

IDF forces killed 26 Hizbullah operatives on Friday during the intense firefight. Soldiers operating in the village found and confiscated dozens of guns and rifles, stocks of ammunition, grenades, mines, and five anti-tank missiles

In Afghanistan General Peter Pace met with Karzai, and here’s an article containing his thoughts on the tactical situation there. A couple of things to keep in mind about the recent uptick in violence there as you read this: The upsurge is fueled as much by Taleban desire to capture some of the bumper crop of Opium as it is by Islamofascism. Drugs are a major source of funding for terrorist organizations, and this is the time of year that the smugglers are running the passes. The second is that now is the time when the US is handing off to Nato and UN forces. One interesting snip from the article:

Meanwhile, police surrounded two vehicles Friday in volatile southern Helmand province’s Garmser district and arrested 13 suspected Taliban militants without a shot being fired, area police chief Ghulam Rasool said.

Police confiscated 13 AK-47 assault rifles, heavy machine guns and eight rocket-propelled grenade launchers from the cars, Rasool said. Garmser was one of two Helmand towns briefly overrun by Taliban militants earlier this month before being reclaimed by coalition and Afghan troops.

It’s become clear that we are fighting the C or D teams, and they are only able to mount attacks in force by paying three times the going rate for soldiers. (Taleban is paying 12 dollars per day, Afghan army paying 4 dollars per day. See my earlier article regarding Alexander the Great’s strategy in the region, and the need to open the warchest wider.) For an idea of what the Taliban faces anytime it gathers one of these hodgepodge forces together check here.

In Chechnya, more of the Butcher of Beslan’s followers join him in the grave:

July 28, 2006 — Russian media reports say pro-Moscow Chechen forces have killed two alleged commanders of rebel groups. Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov was quoted as saying one of the men was responsible for an attack earlier this month on a military convoy in which six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded. The other allegedly was a close aide to the late Chechen commander Shamil Basayev.

In Mindanao, Phillippines authorities have arrested three suspects tied to Abu Sayef, as reported at INQ7:

The authorities have arrested three suspects in a series of bombings that killed more than a dozen people in 2003, the military announced Friday.

Lieutenant Colonel Salvador Calanoy, chief of the military-led Task Group Kutabato, identified the three suspects who he said had links to the Abu Sayyaf as Ali Binago, 39, leader of the Abu Suffia group, Kalid Binago and Manan Binago, all of Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

He said the three were captured during a raid Thursday in Sultan Kudarat by a combined team of soldiers and policemen.

Calanoy said the authorities recovered two caliber .45 pistols, explosives and chemicals for making bombs from the trio, who did not resist arrest.

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