This operation ultimately led to Hezbollah's downfall.
Amid mounting tensions Saturday as Iran braced for possible Israeli retaliation, a notable absence drew attention across the Iranian leadership and media circles: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, seemed to have disappeared from public view. The whereabouts of this top military leader became a pressing question throughout the country’s power structures.
The Quds Force (lit. Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in terrorism and military intelligence operations. It is responsible for extraterritorial operations, supporting pro-Iranian militias such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan – the dictionary definition of state-sponsored terrorism.
The Quds Force reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. After Qasem Soleimani, who was like a son to the supreme leaders, was assassinated by the US, acting on Israeli intelligence in Iraq on January 3, 2020, his deputy, Esmail Qaani, took over.
Now the new Quds chief has not been heard from for quite some time. General Qaani, 67, was last observed in public at the Hezbollah offices in Tehran, just two days following the assassination of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in Lebanon. He was absent on Friday from the prayer service led by Khamenei in memory of his other assassinated son, Nasrallah.
According to three Iranian officials who spoke to the NY Times, General Qaani traveled to Beirut the previous week to engage with senior Hezbollah leaders and assist the group in recovering from the devastating Israeli attacks.
Incidentally, Ebrahim Amin al-Sayed, who was the candidate to replace Hashem Safi a Din as Secretary General of Hezbollah––after Safi a-Din was also assassinated––announced that he is not interested in the position and intends to pursue religious studies in Tehran.
But wait, it gets better. Sources told the Saudi news outlets Al-Hadath and Al-Arabiya that Qaani is now in “isolation” following the recent Israeli assassinations of prominent Iranian leaders. According to the same report, since October 7, Qaani visited the Iraq-Syria-Lebanon axis several times and met with Nasrallah and his chief of staff Fuad Shukar, both of whom were later assassinated in direct Israeli hits in south Beirut. So, he is under suspicion, which grew stronger when Qaani conveniently missed the Friday meeting in a sub-basement garage in Beirut that Israel destroyed with hundreds of tons of explosives that took down six residential buildings.
A member of the IRGC in Beirut told the NY Times that the lack of communication from high-ranking Iranian officials regarding General Qaani was injecting a sense of panic among the lower-ranking personnel.
Back in 2020, Iranian expatriate and political expert, Dr. Karim Abdian Bani Saeed told Al Arabiya Qaani’s appointment was hasty and his expertise fell short of the assassinated Soleimani.
by David Israel JP
After all the conflicting reports and Esmail #Qaani being missing, Iranians made this meme and are joking that maybe Qaani was a spy and now he's at a Mossad base waiting for a press conference!😂😂
— 𓄂✺Yaar - يار دبستانی🎗️ (@YaarDabestaani) October 5, 2024
Via @Revolution_R_ pic.twitter.com/RqrvHG1KFv
*IDF Destroys 250-Meter Hezbollah Tunnel in Northern Israel Meant to Conduct Oct 7th Style Attack on Israel*
The city is bracing for widespread anti-Israel protests planned for the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Protests are already expected on Saturday, in the lead up to the anniversary of the devastating terror attack, with events organized for Times Square, outside Google’s Manhattan headquarters and at Court Square Park in Queens.
Many anti-Israel groups are planning demonstrations for Monday, in particular, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), which is orchestrating a nationwide “Week of Rage” on college campuses beginning on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, one of the most outspoken anti-Israel organizations “Within Our Lifetime” (WOL) called on protestors to “flood New York City for Palestine” to mark the anniversary of the assault that killed around 1,200 people in Israel.
Just last week, WOL’s followers amassed in the hundreds for a demonstration outside the Loews Regency New York Hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was staying before addressing the United Nations the following morning.
“On Monday October 7th Flood New York City For Palestine, stand with Gaza and uplift the Palestinian people resisting genocide by any means necessary since 1948,” the group wrote in a post to X.
“Call out of work and school, take to the streets and join us throughout the day.”
WOL has asked those attending to “confront the forces of imperialism and zionism and let the world know that NYC stands with [Palestinians] heroic struggle in the face of annihilation.”
The protests are expected to be spread out across the city from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. including at Wall Street, City Hall, Washington Square Park, Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square and Columbus Circle.
Law-enforcement sources said cops would be out in full force, including working extra shifts and on their days off, and that some colleges would be doubling up their own security.
The anniversary is likely to exacerbate already inflamed tensions on campuses – further heightened by Iran’s unprecedented missile attack against the Jewish State.
Some New York University students on Friday admitted to The Post that while they don’t know a lot about the issue and don’t have significant ties to the region, they’d be showing up to “experience [the protests] for themselves.”
“I’ll be there. I don’t have family in Gaza and that’s not my family culture but I have friends that have been affected by the war,” one student said.
“I don’t feel educated enough to know exactly who’s right and wrong in this but if they are fighting for anyone’s freedoms then they are protesting for the right reasons, in my opinion,” said another.
One foreign exchange student at the elite university added that “America is sick right now” and should have a united front.
The NYPD said earlier this week that it was beefing up security at synagogues and mosques ahead of Rosh Hashanah — a two day long holiday marking the Jewish new year that began on Wednesday night.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the extra precautions at a press briefing earlier that day, which the city referred back to when asked about the upcoming protests.
“While we acknowledge that the city will respect and protect people’s right to peacefully protest, there will be a zero tolerance for those who violate the law, impede traffic and damage property while doing so,” Adams said.
Hizzoner said people threatened at their places of work, worships or any place will not be tolerated and stressed that the NYPD is working with law enforcement partners at the city, state and federal levels.
Sensitive locations will have additional cameras to complement the 80,000 cameras in the NYPD Domain Awareness system, officials said.
“There will be many protections that you will see, and there will be many that you will not see. We will have an omnipresence and a real, visible presence of uniform personnel,” Adams added.
Columbia University saw donations at its annual fundraiser drop nearly 29% after the spate of anti-Israel protests on campus earlier this year.
The annual “Giving Day” event brought in $21.4 million in 2024, compared to $30 million in 2022, the last time the event was held, according to campus newspaper Columbia Spectator. Giving Day was postponed in 2023 due to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the ensuing protests.
The Ivy League university also saw a nearly 28% drop in the number of gifts, falling from 19,229 in 2022 to 13,870, the lowest since 2015, the paper said.
Columbia is dealing with a “donor crisis — born out of concerns regarding campus protests,” according to the Spectator.
The number of gifts climbed for 10 straight years before this year’s plummet.
The most money came from the athletics department, which raised $4.6 million, a record for the department. Columbia College, which had been in the top spot for 11 years in a row, dropped to second, raising $3.5 million. The School of Engineering and Applied Science came in third place, raising $3.2 million.
“Columbia is fortunate to have a dedicated community of alumni, parents and friends who recognize the impact their financial donations, volunteer time, talents, advice and mentoring make in assisting students and supporting the mission of the university and its schools,” a Columbia spokesperson said. “Their participation and support is ongoing and sincerely appreciated, and they continue to ensure the ongoing success of the university.”
The school has faced criticism for its mishandling of the demonstrations.
Anti-Israel protests resumed in September as the 2024-2025 school year commenced.
Columbia was one of the Ivy schools to be investigated by the Department of Education for civil rights violations under Title VI in December.
According to reports, the USSS has already begun inspecting the area and will be providing significantly increased security throughout the visit. Trump has been afforded additional protection beyond that given to all former presidents following two separate assassination attempts against him.
The visit comes on the anniversary of the October 7th massacre and is being facilitated by former ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Trump is also slated to attend a memorial ceremony for the massacre following his visit.
The Washington Post published an investigation last night (Sunday) that includes new details about the Hezbollah pager explosions.
The exploding pagers were manufactured in Israel in 2022 and integrated into the supply line of the Thai manufacturer Apollo without their knowledge.
A sales representative managed to convince Hezbollah to purchase 5,000 pagers, arguing that they were immune to Israeli spying. The representative recommended the model with the extended battery and the hard case. The terrorist organization purchased the pagers and equipped its operatives with them.
The operation was preceded by another action by the Mossad a decade ago, during which hundreds of communication devices were sold to Hezbollah and transferred to its militants. These devices were not only equipped with explosives but also with tracking devices that allowed Israel to listen to conversations held on them.
According to the report, in the days leading up to the operation, decision-makers in Israel debated whether to detonate the devices, fearing a harsh response from Hezbollah.
After deciding on the action, the militants received a message on the pager stating that an encrypted message was waiting for them, which required pressing two buttons simultaneously and using both hands for reading. This way, Israel ensured that the injuries of Hezbollah militants would be significant, affecting both their hands.
Macron is such a disgrace. Good for @netanyahu for calling him out. pic.twitter.com/DGf5ZnXy0I
— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) October 5, 2024
In one of the most iconic pictures of the second intifiada, Salha was photographed in October 2000- at the beginning of the outbreak of violence following the failed talks between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. Salha, together with numerous other terrorists, lynched Vadim Nurzhitz (37) and Yossi Avrahami, two reservists who had mistakenly entered Ramallah, in the El-Bireh police station, and he then appeared in the window of the police station and displayed his hands to the crowd.
Salha was later arrested, but he was freed as part of the 2011 “Shalit deal,” along with 1,027 other convicted terrorists, among them Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. This week, 24 years after the bloody murder, Salha was eliminated during an IDF operation in Gaza.
According to a joint IDF and Shin Bet statement, Salha was eliminated in an air strike in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
“Salha participated in the brutal lynch in Ramallah in the year 2000, in which reserve soldiers Sergeant First Class (res.) Yosef (Yossi) Avrahami, of blessed memory, and Corporal (res.) Vadim Nurzhitz, of blessed memory, were murdered. He is known from the picture in which he was photographed waving his blood-covered hands from the window after the lynch,” the statement read.
“In recent years, Salha was involved in directing terror activities in Judea and Samaria, and continued to occupy himself with terror activities reccently as well. The terrorist, age 43 from Deir Jarir in Binyamin, was banished to the Gaza Strip during the Shalit deal, after he was arrested in 2001 following the lynch. The IDF and Shin Bet will continue eliminating and pursuing past and present Hamas terrorists and anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel.”
On October 12, 2000, Nurzhitz and Avrahami entered Ramallah by mistake on their way to their base in the Binyamin Region, instead of avoiding the city through the Hizma checkpoint. Upon their entry into Ramallah, a mass of Palestinian Authority Arabs began hurling rocks at their vehicle and attacking it. Palestinian Authority police officers took them to a local police station, where they were violently murdered. Their bodies were later hurled out of the police station’s window.
