January 2015 Shebaa Farms incident

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January 2015 Shebaa farms incident
Shebaa Farms operation (عملية مزارع شبعا)
Part of the Hezbollah–Israel conflict and Iran–Israel proxy conflict
Shebaa Farms.jpg
Map of the Shebaa Farms
Type Ambush
Location
Shebaa Farms, Israeli-occupied territories
ObjectiveTo attack an Israeli military convoy as a response to January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident
Date28 January 2015 (2015-01-28)
11:25am (UTC+02:00)
Executed by Hezbollah
OutcomeSuccessful
Casualties2 Humvees destroyed
2 Israeli soldiers killed, 7 wounded [1]
1 Spanish UN peacekeeper killed

As a response to an Israeli attack against a military convoy comprising Hezbollah and Iranian officers on January 18, 2015, at Quneitra in southern Syria, the Lebanese Hezbollah group launched an ambush on January 28 against an Israeli military convoy in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, firing anti-tank missiles against two Israeli Humvees patrolling the border, [2] destroying the two Humvees and killing 2 and wounding 7 Israeli soldiers, according to Israeli military. The number of Israeli casualties was 15 according to a report by Al Mayadeen television station. A Spanish UN peacekeeper was also killed by Israeli fire [3] during consequent fire exchanges in the area, with Israel firing artillery and Hezbollah responding by mortar shells. The conflict ended later the same day after UNIFIL mediation.

Contents

Background

During the Syrian Civil War, Hezbollah has had an increasing presence in southern Syria. Israel was accused of launching several airstrikes against Hezbollah and Syrian Army targets in southern Syria during the civil war, though it denied involvement. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah had warned that it would retaliate against Israeli attacks against Hezbollah inside Syria. [4] [ better source needed ]

On January 18, 2015, an airstrike was launched against a convoy, killing six Hezbollah militants, including two prominent members and Iranian Revolutionary Guards general Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, at al-Amal Farms (Mazraat Amal) in the Quneitra District of Syria, in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah and IRGC held Israel responsible and threatened to retaliate. [5] Amid official Israeli silence, a flurry of statements from anonymous Israeli officials made contradictory claims, one saying that Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking Hezbollah militants planning an attack on Israelis at the frontier fence. One Israeli official reportedly apologised anonymously. [6]

On January 27, at least two rockets from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and Israel responded with airstrikes and 20 artillery shells against Syrian army artillery positions. [7] A senior IDF official held Hezbollah responsible. [8]

Attack

On January 28, 2015, at 11:25am (UTC+02:00), a Hezbollah unit, "al-Quneitra Martyrs' group" (مجموعة شهداء القنيطرة, a reference to the attack in Quneitra against a Hezbollah convoy), comprising five militants, [9] fired anti-tank missiles (supposedly 9M133 Kornet) [10] at two Humvees of an Israeli military convoy of 432nd "Tsabar" Infantry Battalion of the Givati Brigade in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah immediately issued a brief statement claiming responsibility for the attack. [11] A Lebanese army spokesman later said the missile was not fired from Lebanese territory. [12]

Two hours after the initial attack, Israel fired at least 50 artillery shells into Shebaa Farms and the surrounding hills and South Lebanese border villages, and Israeli warplanes carried out mock air raids over the scene of the attack. [12] [13] Hezbollah responded with mortar shells against Israeli positions in the Shebaa farms area along the Golan Heights-Lebanon border. [8]

Commander of the UNIFIL forces Major General Luciano Portolano called for restraint from all parties in order to prevent escalation. Shelling ceased around 2 pm, although Israeli warplanes hovered overhead. [11]

Aftermath

The Hezbollah attack on the Israeli convoy at Shebaa farms killed two and wounded seven Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli military. [12] [14] The IDF identified the victims as Sergeant Dor Chaim Nini, 20, and Captain Yochai Kalangel, 25. [8] Al Mayadeen satellite channel said that fifteen soldiers had been killed in the attack. [15] [16]

A Spanish UN peacekeeper, Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, was killed by Israeli fire; Israel acknowledged this but said that it had no intentions to harm UN troops. [17]

Flights were suspended at the Israeli airports in Rosh Pinna and Haifa. [11] In Beirut, celebratory gunfire could be heard the afternoon after the attack. [18]

According to Robert Tait in The Telegraph , Israel stood on the brink of all-out conflict with Hezbollah by performing air and ground strikes against it in retaliation for the incident, [19] though while things were tense neither side was interested in further escalation. No Israeli reserve soldiers were mobilized, thus indicating that an "all-out conflict" was out of the question.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid</span> Attack in the 2006 Lebanon War

The 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid was a cross-border attack carried out by Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants on an Israeli military patrol on 12 July 2006 on Israeli territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict</span> Low-level conflict between Hezbollah and Israel

The 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict was a low-level border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah for control of Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory located on the Golan Heights–Lebanon border. Fighting between the two sides primarily consisted of Hezbollah rocket and mortar attacks on Israel and Israeli artillery barrages and airstrikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Clashes began a few months after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, which Hezbollah viewed as incomplete due to the presence of the Israel Defense Forces in Shebaa Farms. The conflict culminated in the 2006 Lebanon War; Israel retains control over the territory.

The 2012–2014 Quneitra Governorate clashes began in early November 2012, when the Syrian Army began engaging with rebels in several towns and villages of the Quneitra Governorate. The clashes quickly intensified and spilled into the UN-supervised neutral demilitarized zone between Syrian controlled territory and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

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Events in the year 2015 in Israel.

The following lists events that happened in 2015 in the Lebanese Republic.

The January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident was an airstrike against a two-car convoy that killed six Hezbollah fighters, including two prominent commanders, and a general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, at al-Amal Farms in the Quneitra District of Syria, in the Eastern Golan Heights, on 18 January 2015, during the Syrian Civil War. The attack was largely attributed to Israel, which did not officially confirm that it carried it out. Hezbollah and IRGC held Israel responsible and threatened to retaliate. On 19 January 2015, Al-Nusra Front member Abu Azzam al-Idlibi claimed that Jihad Mughniyeh and the other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Al-Nusra Front ambush at Jaroud in the Qalamoun Mountains in the Al-Qutayfah District northeast of Damascus, claiming that it "will be the end of the Persian project, God willing."

Israel's official position on the Syrian Civil War has been strict neutrality. However, Israel has become involved politically and militarily to prevent the growing influence and entrenchment of Iranian forces and its proxies throughout Syria. Israel's military activity, officially called Operation Chess, has primarily been limited to missile and air strikes targeting Iranian facilities in Syria as well as those of its proxies, especially Hezbollah. These attacks were not officially acknowledged before 2017. Israel has also carried out air strikes in Syria to disrupt weapons shipments to Hezbollah. By August 2022, the UK investigative non-profit Airwars estimated that 17-45 civilians were killed and another 42-101 civilians were wounded by Israeli airstrikes in Syria since 2013. Syrian reports place these figures much lower than other foreign actors in the conflict. Israel has also provided humanitarian aid to victims of the civil war from 2013 to September 2018, an effort that was ramped up after June 2016 with the launch of Operation Good Neighbour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihad Mughniyah</span> Lebanese militant (1991–2015)

Jihad Mughniyah was a Lebanese politician and prominent member of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, and the son of Imad Mughniyeh. He was killed in 2015 in the Mazraat Amal incident, an airstrike attributed to Israel.

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This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 2 January 2024, with the Assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, until 31 March 2024, one day prior to the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 1 April 2024, when Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus, to 26 July 2024, one day before the Majdal Shams attack.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 27 July 2024, when a Hezbollah rocket struck a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, killing 12 children, to 16 September 2024, one day before the explosion of Hezbollah pagers and walkie talkies.

References

  1. ↑ "IDF soldiers killed in Hezbollah Mt. Dov attack named". ynet.
  2. ↑ Tel Aviv Diary: Netanyahu Loses His Security Edge BY MARC SCHULMAN 1/28/15, Newsweek
  3. ↑ "Israel admits its fire killed Spanish UN peacekeeper - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  4. ↑ BBC News - 'Israel strike' kills Hezbollah men in Syria's ...
  5. ↑ Peter Beaumont. "Israel unaware killed Iranian general was in Hezbollah convoy in Syria". the Guardian.
  6. ↑ "Hezbollah seeks revenge but not war over Israel - Al Jazeera America". aljazeera.com.
  7. ↑ "Israel: IDF soldiers wounded in Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack from Lebanon". International Business Times UK.
  8. 1 2 3 "Spain blames Israel for death of UN peacekeeper". i24news.
  9. ↑ "Hezbollah Describes Shebaa Farms Operation + Video". alalam.ir.
  10. ↑ "medhajnews- Exclusive: All about Kornet, the Hezbollah missile that shattered Netanyahu". medhajnews.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "Hezbollah ambush kills at least 2 Israeli soldiers". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon.
  12. 1 2 3 "Two Israeli soldiers killed in Hezbollah missile attack". aljazeera.com.
  13. ↑ "Hezbollah ambush kills at least 2 Israeli soldiers". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon.
  14. ↑ Nicholas Casey in Tel Aviv and Raja Abdulrahim in Beirut (29 January 2015). "Two Israeli Soldiers Killed in Attack Claimed by Lebanon's Hezbollah". WSJ.
  15. ↑ "Israel Army Confirms 2 Soldiers Killed in Hezbollah Attack". palestinechronicle.com. 28 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "15 Israeli Soldiers Killed in South Lebanon". Financial Tribune Daily. 29 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "Israel admits its fire killed Spanish UN peacekeeper - BBC News". BBC News. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "Hezbollah ambush kills at least 2 Israeli soldiers". The Daily Star.
  19. ↑ "Israel on brink of new conflict with Hizbollah after 2 soldiers killed". Telegraph.co.uk. 28 January 2015.

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