IDF Strikes Missile Storage Facility In Beirut
The Israeli Air Force struck a Hezbollah precision missile storage facility on Sunday (27th) in Beirut’s Dahieh suburb, considered the terror organization’s main stronghold after the war.
The IDF stated the “storage of missiles in this infrastructure site constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and poses a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians.”
The Hezbollah terrorist organization systematically embedded the missiles amid the Lebanese civilian population, cynically exploiting them as human shields.”
The IDF stressed that before the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming uninvolved civilians, including issuing advance warnings to the civilian population in the area and using precise munitions.
Following the strike,Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote in a joint statement: ”By the instruction of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz, the IDF this evening struck infrastructure in Beirut that stored Hezbollah’s precise missiles, which constituted a real threat to the State of Israel.
“Israel will not allow Hezbollah to get stronger and threaten it from anywhere in Lebanon. The Dahieh suburb in Beirut will not serve as a haven for the Hezbollah terror organization,” the two emphasized.
The Lebanese government bears full responsibility for preventing these threats. Israel will stand for the war’s goal to return the residents of the north to their homes safely.
IDF – Houthi Ballistic Missile Triggers Sirens Near Dead Sea, Is Intercepted
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Israel early Sunday morning (27th), which was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory, the military said.
The missile triggered sirens around 5 a.m. in several towns in the Arava, just south of the Dead Sea.
Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, later claimed that the missile was launched at the Nevatim Airbase in the Negev Desert, the second day in a row the group has claimed to target the site.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in the attack.
An early alert warning was also issued to a wide area in southern Israel before the sirens to alert civilians of long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.
On Saturday morning (26th), the Houthis fired a missile, which they claimed targeted Nevatim Airbase, setting off sirens in the Beersheba area.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched more than 20 ballistic missiles and several drones at Israel. Only half of the missiles triggered sirens in the country and were shot down, well the others fell short.
The sirens often send hundreds of thousands of Israelis rushing to shelters at all hours of the night, often causing a number of injuries in the scramble. The sirens are a precaution against falling debris from intercepts that have occasionally caused injuries, death and damage.
The Houthis – whose slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews” – first began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas attack.
In recent weeks, the United States has been carrying out massive airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis, targeting their leadership and infrastructure.
Hamas Leaders Meet Turkish FM In Doha Amid Ceasefire Talks
A senior Hamas delegation met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday (27th) in Doha, Qatar, to discuss recent developments concerning the situation in Gaza, the Xinhua news agency reported.
According to a statement released by Hamas, the group’s delegation was led by Muhammad Darwish, head of Hamas’ Shura Council.
Discussions focused on “the developments in the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the statement said, accusing Israel of “the continued crime of starvation and prevention of food-aid from entering Gaza.”
The delegation reportedly updated the Turkish official on the status of ceasefire negotiations and provided details of Hamas’ recent diplomatic mission to Cairo.
Sunday’s meeting (27th) is the latest in a series of meetings between Turkish officials and Hamas members.
Last week, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MiT) , Ibrahim Kahn convened with senior Hamas members to discuss aid routes into Gaza. The agency released a statement condemning Israel following the meeting, as usual, accusing Israel of “genocidal activities.”
Khan’s engagement with Hamas comes amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from Turkish leadership, particularly from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has increased his verbal attacks on Israel since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Turkey has regularly expressed support for Hamas. Last April, Erdogan met with then-Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul, who was later eliminated by Israel in Tehran.
Weeks after meeting Haniyeh, Erdogan boasted of the fact that more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in hospitals across Turkey and also took issue with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ reference to Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan also met with senior Hamas members in Ankara in late January. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and other Hamas officials.
Fidan last month discussed the latest situation in Gaza in a phone call with Khalil al-Hayya, one of the leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Explosion At Iran Port Severely Impacts Regime, Iran Expert Says
The mass explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, which took place on Saturday (26th) has significantly impacted the Iranian regime, according to Beni Sabti, an expert in the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
“The port that blew up in the southern Iranian city was the most important port for the Iranian regime,” Sabti told Maariv on Sunday (27th).
He said the reason for the port’s importance was, “not only because it was the largest port in Iran, but because the hub was used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to transfer weapons to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
It was also used “to illegally transfer oil to China,” Sabti added.
“Various tankers operated there, disappearing and reappearing, essentially collecting oil from the port or bringing in goods that Iran needs,” he said. “This location and this port were extremely critical to the survival of the Iranian regime.”
Sabti was hesitant about determining what the cause of the explosion was.
“It is still very early to know whether it was an accident or deliberate sabotage,” he said. “Personally, I find it hard to believe it was sabotage, especially at this time, given the ongoing talks between Iran and the United States.”
Sabti addressed the claims that the explosion was attributed to Israel, saying, “It is common for some of the Iranian regime affiliated figures to blame Israel. The regime is officially refraining from doing so – possibly because it is not in their interest to do so at this time.”
Sabti also remarked on the magnitude of the explosion, calling the damage “very severe.”
“The situation there is very, very difficult. There are fatalities and hundreds of injured people at the scene. Some are comparing this explosion to the one that occurred in Lebanon a few years ago, which destroyed everything,” Sabti said.
“Of course,” he added, “it’s not on the same scale, but it’s still a very large explosion.”
Sabti said that the consequences of the explosion could be particularly serious if critical infrastructure were damaged.
“The section that exploded was extremely vital to the Iranian regime’s survival,”Sabti said, stressing that “if infrastructure important to the IRGC’s oil transfer operations or the reception of vital goods was damaged, this could have a significant impact.”
“There are rumors right now that Iran may have been storing missile fuel at the port, possibly imported from China,” he said. However, Sabti said, “As of now, this is just a rumor.”
“The information is still unclear, and we need to wait for confirmation. The Iranian regime may conceal the truth,” Sabti continued.
“In any case, there was damage that could prove significant to the Iranian regime’s economy, especially affecting the IRGC and the weapons they transfer or receive,” Sabti said.
Druze Families Reunite Across Borders As Israel Allows Religious Visit From Syria
Hundreds of Druze families reunited in Israel this week after years of separation, as Israel allowed approximately 650 religious figures from Syria to enter for the annual Nabi Shu’ayb festival.
The visitors were granted access to the shrine of Nabi Shu’ayb, the most sacred site for Druze, located in the village of Hittin above the Sea of Galilee. The rare event enabled long-divided families from Israel and Syria to meet and celebrate together.
“This is an unforgettable opportunity to meet you here,” said Jamil Tarif to his Syrian relatives, whom he had not seen for years. Issam Tarif, a resident of Ashrafiyah Sahnaya near Damascus, added: “I’m 50 years old, and this is the first time I am visiting the holiest place for us Druze. Meeting my family is deeply emotional.” His relative Marwan said the visit fulfilled a lifelong dream: “The dream came true on this holy ground. Nothing is more moving than reuniting with our extended family. We are grateful to everyone who made this special visit possible.”
From early Friday morning (25th) , hundreds of families from the Galilee, Golan Heights, and Carmel regions gathered at the shrine to meet their Syrian relatives. The festival, which lasts four days from April 25 to 28, celebrates the prophet Shu’ayb, regarded in Druze tradition as the chief prophet and divine messenger.
Among the reunited families was the Dabour family from Beit Jann, who met relatives from Suweida and Jaramana in Syria. “We came to meet our cousins. My 97-year-old father made the special trip to see them. There is nothing more emotional,” said Beit Jann Council head Nazih Dabour.
The “Iran Deal” Lie: The Mullahs Can’t Be Trusted – Melanie Phillips
President Trump said he would much prefer a negotiated agreement with Iran over military action. But the regime is run by Shia religious fanatics. As the regime repeatedly tells us, it intends to destroy first Israel and then America and the West. There can be no meaningful negotiation with a regime that has such a non-negotiable and apocalyptic agenda.
The Iranians are skillful and manipulative negotiators. They play multi-dimensional chess in which they identify the weaknesses of their opponents and then mercilessly play on them.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said the conflict over Tehran’s nuclear program had “a real possibility of being solved diplomatically….I think anything can be solved with dialogue by clearing up misconception and miscommunication and disconnects between people.”
But this isn’t an argument involving muddled messages. This is a crisis in which the world’s most aggressive terrorist state and declared enemy of Israel and the West is poised to arm itself with nuclear weapons.
Witkoff appears to be placing all his faith in “verification” that Iran would keep its side of the bargain. But the regime ran rings around the inspection program under the 2015 deal.
Those who hold that all conflict can be ended by negotiation, compromise and peace processes arrogantly assume that everyone in the world is, like them, governed by reason and self-interest. They fail to understand the mindset of Islamist religious fanatics who believe they have a sacred duty to kill “unbelievers” in the name of God.
The writer is a columnist for The Times-UK.
