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Iran Update, October 6, 2024

Western and Middle Eastern outlets have suggested that Israel killed or injured Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani on October 4. Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah have been unable to contact Ghaani since Israel conducted an airstrike targeting Hashem Safi ed Din—the presumed successor to …

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Killing Hezbollah leaders failed 30 years ago. It won’t work now

Instead of debilitating Hezbollah, Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah may prove to be a major PR boost for the embattled organization. On Feb. 16, 1992, a decade into the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, Israel assassinated Abbas al-Musawi, Hezbollah’s co-founder and Secretary-General. At the time, Israeli media praised the army’s …

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For Israel’s weary army, war in Lebanon is an attempt to salvage its image

Dystopian displays of technological prowess serve to distract the Israeli public from the military’s failure to achieve its long-stated war aims. After detonating thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members in an attack that caught much of the world by surprise, Israel has now launched a bloody aerial and ground …

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A Draw Is a Win: The Houthis After One Year of War

Abstract: The Iran-backed Houthi movement has delivered a strong military performance in the year of anti-Israel and anti-shipping warfare since October 2023. They seem to be aiming to be the ‘first in, last out,’ meaning the first to cross key thresholds during the war (for instance, attack Israel’s major cities) …

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Tehran’s Tactical Knockout: Weaponized Pharmaceutical-Based Agents

Abstract: As early as the 1980s, the U.S. intelligence community documented the ways in which Iran deployed chemical weapons for tactical delivery on the battlefield. Nearly 40 years later, U.S. officials formally assessed that Iran was in non-compliance with its Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) obligations, pointing specifically to Tehran’s development …

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Israel has momentum in its battle with Hezbollah, but what comes next?

At 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, someone pushed a “red button,” and a low-simmering conflict blasted open into a full-scale war. For months, Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had been locked in a cross-border slugfest, exchanging daily attacks that forced civilians in both countries from their homes but …

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Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people. A year after Hamas’ Oct. …

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Iran Update, October 5, 2024

An Israeli military correspondent reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is preparing to expand its ground operations in southern Lebanon.[i] The IDF plans to send more forces, according to the correspondent, which would build upon the two divisions already operating in southern Lebanon. These divisions have primarily operated around …

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The Israel-Iran War Enters A New Stage – Analysis

What Happened? On October 1, 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran unleashed a large salvo of nearly 200 ballistic missiles against Israel. Iran’s attack came only five days after Israel conducted strikes to eliminate several high-ranking officials of the Iran-backed proxy terror group Hezbollah—most notably late Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. …

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What Does The New Russian Nuclear Doctrine Mean? – Analysis

On 25 September, in the biannual standing conference on nuclear deterrence in Russia’s Security Council, President Putin proposed changes to the “fundamentals of state policy of the Russian Federation in the sphere of Nuclear deterrence” or Russia’s nuclear doctrine. Along with the nuclear doctrine, the military doctrine was also proposed …

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