Israeli military finally strikes Iran's nuclear facilities
On Thursday evening, the long-anticipated Israel strikes began, targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear sites and other key military facilities. The objective of Operation Strength of a Lion is to end the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all, as well as to destroy, as much as possible, the Islamic Republic’s ability to continue to wage war against the Jewish state via its proxies, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis. The entire state of Israel was on emergency alert; the Israeli Home Front Command issued instructions to all Israeli citizens to comply with guidelines that would be issued as part of “preparations for a significant threat.”Well, Israel should be outraged even when non-Jews/Israelis are victims of the Religion of Peace. Because regardless of where it begins, Israelis will be victimized sooner or later as well, and that's tragically and horrifyingly what happened on October 7, 2023. That Iran's been ruled by sharia for over 4 decades is also throughly wrong, morally or otherwise.
Almost immediately after the air strikes began in Tehran, the propaganda war also entered a new phase. The Iranian military posted on X: “Remember, we didn’t initiate it.”
Ah, but it did. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas operatives, funded and directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, brutally tortured and murdered 1,200 Israelis. The Islamic Republic of Iran initiated this Israeli strike when its leaders regularly screamed “Death to Israel” (as well as “Death to America”) and repeatedly vowed to destroy Israel. As recently as May 17, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, declared: “The Zionist regime, which is the dangerous and lethal cancerous tumor of this region, must undoubtedly be removed, and it will be.”
In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran initiated it by regarding Israel as an enemy from its earliest days. The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979, replaced the Israeli embassy in Tehran with an embassy of “Palestine.” He decreed that the last Friday of the Muslim fasting-and-feasting month of Ramadan would henceforth be known as Al-Quds Day. Al-Quds is the name that modern-day Arabs and Muslims use for Jerusalem, and Al-Quds Day from its inception was the occasion for an orgy of hatred for Israel, jihadist saber rattling, and declarations that the Jewish state would soon be completely destroyed and a new genocide of the Jews would begin. [...]
The existence of Israel is an insult to Islam. The Qur’an tells Muslims: “Drive them out from where they drove you out.” (2:191). The Arab Higher Committee ordered the Arabs to flee the new Jewish state in 1948, as the Arab leaders were confident that they would soon destroy the new state, and then the Arabs would be able to go home. Instead, Israel won. Nevertheless, the imperative to “Drive them out from where they drove you out” still applies, for the land of Israel was once the property of the Ottoman Empire, and was ruled by Islamic law.
Extrapolating from Qur’an 2:191, it is a staple of Islamic doctrine that any land that was once under Sharia rule must be ruled by Muslims forever. The command to drive the non-Muslims out is considered to come from the supreme god himself; it is not to be ignored, and cannot be negotiated away. As soon as Iran became an Islamic Republic, it was therefore duty-bound to regard Israel as its mortal enemy. And it did so, with alacrity.
So yes, the Islamic Republic did indeed initiate this conflict. If it didn’t pursue Israel’s destruction so relentlessly, the Israelis would have no quarrel with Iran. But Israel is determined to survive, and so it struck Iran on Thursday.
The current strike has thus far yielded important results:
Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning local time that Israeli airstrikes on targets in the country eliminated Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).No doubt, those nuclear sites contain plenty of radiation, and the explosions at Natanz could make it uninhabitable for a while. And the jihadist general can roast in hell for his crimes. Let's hope the IDF will bring about more impressive results in the war against Iran and its proxies now.
Other arms of Iran’s state news apparatus confirmed several other high-profile regime members, including two nuclear scientists, were killed in the strikes. While unverified reports suggested that Salami may be far from the only high-ranking Iranian regime official to have been targeted successfully in the operation, he is the only one whose death the Iranian government has confirmed at press time.
Salami has sustained a place as one of the most prominent and belligerent senior leaders in the Iranian Islamist regime, regularly threatening attacks on America and Israel. In what was perhaps his final public appearance on Thursday, Salami declared that his forces were “war-tested and experienced,” prepared for war against its enemies.
The IRGC is both a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces. Among its chief operations is to sustain relations between the Iranian terror state and its jihadist proxies, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Lebanese Hezbollah, and with fellow rogue states such as Venezuela and Cuba. [...]
Another Iranian state media outlet, PressTV, reported early Friday that the strikes had “martyred … several other senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists. [...]
The Times of Israel, citing Iranian state television, reported that Israel apparently also bombed one of the most prominent uranium enrichment facilities in the country, the Natanz facility, several times. Scattered but anonymous reports about potential disruptions in Iran by undercover Mossad agents have also surfaced, though Israel has not confirmed them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the airstrikes during a national address on Friday morning, identifying the strikes as “Operation Rising Lion.”
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes,” he asserted, stating that Iranian officials were actively taking steps to “weaponize” its enriched uranium stockpile, calling Tehran a “clear and present danger to Israel’s survival.”
“We are defending the free world from the terrorism and barbarism that Iran fosters and exports across the globe,” Netanyahu continued. “Many around the world — even if they won’t say so openly — know in their hearts: thanks to your determination and courage, citizens of Israel, and thanks to the bravery of Israel’s fighters, the world will be a safer place.”
Salami was one of the most powerful people in Iran and a top military leader; his loss will significantly damage Iran’s military operations. The general regularly threatened to attack neighboring Israel and celebrated the deadly activities of Iranian proxies such as Hamas, whose brutal terror spree against Israel on October 7, 2023, prompted Israel to declare war against Hamas in its enclave in Gaza.
Update: here's some Daily Wire live updates.
Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, iran, islam, Israel, jihad, Knesset, military, misogyny, racism, sexual violence, terrorism, war on terror