25th August 2024 Hezbollah (“The Party of God”) “Operation Grilled Chicken” Attack the State of Israel

 
“The myth of the invincibility of the Israeli army has long become an empty slogan.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani: Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) 26 Aug 24
 
 
25th August 2024 Hezbollah (“The Party of God”) “Operation Grilled Chicken” Attack the State of Israel
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If you were on the giving end the attack by Hezbollah against Israel on the 25th August 2024, then the Iranians and Hezbollah like to call it, “Operation Arbaeen.[1]” However, if you were on the receiving end of the Hezbollah attack, Israel, other Arabs named it “Operation Grilled Chicken.”
25th August 2024 Hezbollah ("Party of God") Attacks the State of Israel
 
The Hezbollah Attack
 
Hezbollah and other Iranian backed terrorist groups believe it is their divine right to attack and kill Israeli’s when and how they want. As in the case of Hezbollah killing twelve children on the Golan Heights on the 27th July 2024 either by accident or on purpose. However, when Israel retaliates and killed the Iranian-backed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander in Hezbollah, Hezbollah vows retaliation!
 
For nearly a month the terrorist group vowed revenge against Israel for the killing of their top Hezbollah commander. Then on the 25th August 2024 Hezbollah decided that it would fire numerous Katyusha rockets[2] at Israel. The United States intelligence service informed Israel that Hezbollah was about to release a major attack on Israel who instructed the Israeli Air Force to take out many of the launch pads that Hezbollah had deployed in its aggression against Israel.
 
Hezbollah has used Katyusha rockets primarily as a form of indirect fire against Israel. These rockets are typically employed to target populated areas, military installations, and infrastructure within Israel. Katyusha rockets are valued by Hezbollah for their simplicity, ease of transport, and ability to be launched from concealed locations, making them effective for guerrilla-style warfare. Originally of Russian design and sometimes known as the “Stalin Organ” because of the noise they make when launched.
 
Katyusha rockets used by Hezbollah typically have a range of up to 20-40 kilometres, although some variants may reach up to 80 kilometres. They are unguided and can cause significant damage due to their high explosive warheads, though their lack of precision means they are often used in saturation attacks to compensate for accuracy.
 
Israel launched pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah locations that were about to launch their attack on Israel. One hundred Israeli military aircraft took to the skies and targeted more than 40 Hezbollah Katyusha launch sites. The Israeli military assessed that Hezbollah had been preparing to fire hundreds of rockets into central Israel in an attack planned for 0500 hrs adding that the military assessed the subsequent Hezbollah barrage was “improvised”.
 
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the military had struck in self-defence. “We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians,” he added, without providing details. ”‎‏We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety.”
 
Hezbollah dismissed Israel’s “empty” claims about its pre-emptive action and disrupting the resistance movement’s attack. A Hezbollah spokesman said, “The enemy's claims about the pre-emptive action it carried out, the targets it achieved, and its disruption of the resistance's attack are empty claims and contradict the facts on the ground.”
 
There was no clear evidence produced to confirm the Hezbollah claim that they had in fact caused damage.
 
Hezbollah targets were supposed to be in the north and central areas of Israel. The group claimed that their retaliatory attack against Israel for the death of Fuad Shukr “was calculated to avoid all-out war.”
 
The terrorist group then goes on to describe how the retaliation was conducted in a manner to avoid ‘a full-scale war.’ Hezbollah also said it was “in a high state of readiness,” adding that “if civilians are harmed, there will be very severe punishment.”
 
Earlier Hezbollah had claimed that this strike was only the first, stating that they would launch more attacks deeper into Israel but for the time being “military operations for the day had been completed.” It is possible that they have made this statement because of the total failure of the retaliation operation and to save their face to the followers and supporters of the terrorist group.
 
The group said all the exploding drones it launched hit their targets, without saying how many. Hezbollah listed 11 bases, barracks, and military positions that it said it targeted in northern Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
 
Hezbollah said it had been able to launch its drones as planned and that the rest of its response to Shukr’s killing would take “some time.”
 
Israel’s pre-emptive attack took out an estimated 1,500 missiles before they were able to be launched. The 320 missiles that were launched were destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome.[3]
 
According to the Federation for Defence of Democracies (FDD), only two images emerged showing damage in Israel:
 
1.   a Hezbollah rocket that exploded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and
2.  a chicken coop that was shown burning, prompting the world to mock the Lebanese Islamist militia and call its attack “Operation Grilled Chicken.”
 
Arabs from different countries mocked the Hezbollah failure by posting pictures of chickens on social media sites.
 
One such post from a Kuwaiti uploaded the picture of a dead chicken adding cynically, “Allahu Akbar! Hassan Nasrallah’s response! Hezbollah’s response! The number of chicken injuries rose to 27 chickens, 5 of them are critically injured, with first-degree burns to the wings and beak, after the chicken pen was targeted in response to the assassination of Fouad Shukr. He says ‘Our missiles are accurate!’”
 
A Syrian also mocked and wrote “A video showing the result of Hezbollah’s response to Israel, where dozens of Israeli chickens were killed and wounded. Is it reasonable that my ally Hezbollah would respond to the assassination of the party’s top military commander by killing chickens? I will now call my friend Hassan Nasrallah to explain to him that Israel is a murderer and assassinated his leaders, not a midwife who delivered them so that he could slaughter chickens on this occasion.”
 
Hamas called the attack against Israel a, “slap on the face.”
 
Propaganda
 
Hezbollah turned to propaganda to claim victory. The group, nevertheless, managed to launch a claimed 320 Katyusha rockets—the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) identified a lower number of 210 rockets and twenty drones—which it said “targeted Israeli barracks and positions [in northern Israel] to facilitate the path of attack drones towards its intended target in the depth of the Entity [i.e. Israel].”
 
Once again undeterred by reality, Hezbollah immediately spun the operation as a “total success.” The group later followed up by claiming all drones had launched and struck their targets, which its sources falsely told Al-Jadeed and Al-Araby television were “two vital targets in northern Tel Aviv,” and denied that Israel had launched a pre-emptive strike.
 
Nasrallah drove the point home later in the day, claiming that “our information confirms” the drones launched by Hezbollah had struck their intended targets: Israeli Military Intelligence Unit 8200’s and Mossad’s Headquarters in Glilot, in northern Tel Aviv. He also purported to pick apart Israel’s “narrative of a pre-emptive strike.” The Israelis, he alleged, only noticed Hezbollah’s movements at the last minute and ended up attacking evacuated bases and positions, “a failure of Israeli intelligence and pre-emption.”
 
Hezbollah like Iran deployed its propaganda machine to bridge the gap between reality and the image it wants to project to its followers and claim success. It can thus tread the very fine line of settling the score for Shukr, appearing strong before its base but not granting Israel sufficient justification or legitimacy to initiate a full war.
 
As with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s attack on Israel in April 2024 where Iran launched three hundred rockets and missiles in Operation Truthful Promise and failed with only the injury of a young girl, this attack by Hezbollah was unsuccessful. There were three deaths confirmed in Lebanon and one death from the Israeli side. With Hezbollah failing to achieve any of their objectives.
 
Post Attack Likenesses
 
There are some similarities here notwithstanding the fact that there is a difference of opinion regarding the success of the raid.
 
Hezbollah fired a missile, drone or rocket which killed twelve innocent children who were playing football (soccer) and the man responsible for that atrocity was Fuad Shukr who also played a responsible role for the attack in the 1983 bombing of US Marine Corps barracks that left 241 US Marines dead, according to the State Department.
 
Clearly Fuad Shukr was responsible for many deaths. But it is with this one area that Hezbollah believed it to be the divine wrath of Israel. Hezbollah claims that this strike was the first indicating that there was more to come. Then in another sentence they state that they do not want all-out war but if Israel retaliates for this attack, then they will again be targeted. Israel has claimed this will not be the end of the matter. If Hezbollah does not want to escalate the conflict, then why make contradictory statements. You either want escalation or you don’t in which case stand-down.
 
The Hezbollah and the Iranian attack on Israel bear similarities. They both failed in their objective to strike Israel and cause severe damage. Injuries and fatalities from both attacks were thankfully minimal. They both injured civilians and in the case of the Iran attack on Israela small young female who later managed to recover from her injuries.
 
Both refuse to accept that they never achieved their objectives and both use propaganda and not facts and evidence in their ‘after action report’ claiming victory.
 
Hezbollah would be wise to take a leaf out of their master’s book. When Iran attacked Israel, Israel retaliated by launching a drone strike on Iran that evaded their air defence systems. Since then, there has been no response to that attack. Hezbollah should learn from Iran’s mistake and realise that Israel can, and will, strike back. No matter how often and how loud Hezbollah beats the drum, Israel appears to win.
 
The death of the Hamas political leader of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran by Israel at the end of July 2024 has bought nothing but rhetoric and threats. Perhaps the Iranian government has learnt its lesson.
 
It seems that between Hezbollah and Iran, it is Hezbollah that leads by example. On the 25th August 2024 in the Tehran Times hours before Israel launched its pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah, Iran’s chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami reaffirmed Tehran's commitment to taking action against the Zionist regime in response to its offenses on Iranian territory. Hezbollah beat him to it.
 
In both the Hezbollah and the Iranian scenarios, both always claim that they are the victims of any attack when in reality they are the instigators not the victims.
 
As for the Iranian foreign minister’s quote regarding the ‘myth of the invincibility of the Israeli army has long become an empty slogan’ he really needs to reevaluate what he says. Israel’s weapon systems, military and allies are fair better than the Islamic Republic of Iran’s allies and armed forces will ever be.
 
Armchair Critics
 
If people remain silent when Hamas, Hezbollah, Ansarullah and the Islamic Republic of Iran attack Israel, then those people should remain silent when Israel defends itself.
 
Paul Ashley
 
 
Additional Information
[1]        What is Arbaeen and how do Shia Muslims mark it?
https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/arbaeen-shia-muslims-what-how-marked
 
[2]        Katyusha Rockets and Launchers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha_rocket_launcher
[3]        Israels IRON DOME
https://www.rafael.co.il/system/iron-dome/