The IDF apparently used F-35 aircraft equipped with 4 “Bunker Busting” munitions.

I doubt Nasrallah was on a street cafe or even in a building above ground level.

Bunker busters are used to penetrate meters of soil, sand, stone or concrete.

That the IDF used four such weapons might indicate that they didn’t know EXACTLY were he was, so they conducted an area attack.

It is like burning a whole house down in an attempt to kill a single mouse.

Effective? Yes.

Elegant? Not very.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, September 29, 2024 - 05:37 am: Edit

New details were posted concerning the IDF attack that killed Nasrallah and a number of other high ranking Hesbollah commanders, and possibly Iranian officers of the Iranian Guard.

The location of the meeting was in a building with 14 floors below ground level, approximately 30 meters depth.

15 ground penetrating “bunker busting” were used in the attack by several F-35 fighter bombers. The actual targets included a compound of 7 separate buildings.

The report did not include any estimate of the total number of individuals killed in the attack.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, September 29, 2024 - 05:57 am: Edit

One other point about the attack.

The televised announcement by Nasrallah had been publicly advertised by Hezbollah before hand.

The IDF had known about it before hand, and according to a Q&A press briefing, the IDF had several fighter jets flying in the area near where the meeting was expected to be held.

When the televised speech was analyzed by the IDF analysts, they were able to detect the sonic booms in the audio recording, and using the locations of the aricraft at the point when they were causing the sonic booms, pinpointed Nasrallahs exact location.

You have to admire the ingenuity and practical application of the IDF using science to take advantage of the enemy’s efforts to control the dialogue.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Sunday, September 29, 2024 - 10:38 am: Edit

I suspect that is not the whole story. Using sound sensors for artillery location by triangulation is an old technique but it requires that the sensors are well apart, and that the equipment is tailored to detect low frequency sound.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Sunday, September 29, 2024 - 10:52 am: Edit

According to the news paper Le Parisien a Lebanese security source claims the IDF was advised by a mole that the Hizbollah leader had arrived at their HQ.
It sounds reasonable; they would need that confirmation for the attack.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Monday, September 30, 2024 - 03:31 am: Edit

Financial times got a piece called 'How Israeli spies penetrated Hizbollah'.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Just flipped the TV on to Fox News ... looks like all sorts of stuff is going on in Israel. Active shooter terror attack and possible missiles inbound from who-knows-where.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 03:10 pm: Edit

Israel has launched the ground invasion of Lebanon with the intention of destroying Hezbollah. Iran has launched a major attack missile attack on Israel but isn't expected to do more than it has.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 03:25 pm: Edit

what is considered to be a major attack by Iran with missiles? After the near complete failure of their last attempt which used more than 100 such weapons they would have to do more to be taken seriously I think. Have they launched enough that Israel will retaliate against the Iranian capital? If not, they are just making meaningless gestures while calling on their proxies to continue dieting for them.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 04:01 pm: Edit

I will never ask any of you to diet for me!

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 05:34 pm: Edit

Well, that's what they get for trading all their international food aid in for weapons.


Garth L. Getgen

By Charles Gray (Cgray45) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 06:51 pm: Edit

I think the big thing here is that for years, one of Iran and Hezobllah's big "threats" has been"push us too far and we'll destroy you with our legions of ballistic missiles!"

And now, in less than a month, both threats have been revealed to be more or less empty. Which means that the main factor keeping Israel from striking back is gone.

Also, in other news, IAF airstrikes appear to be focused on degrading radar systems in Syria, which is probably clearing the way for strikes on Iran, while the IRGC has declared that they will attack oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, The UAE and other surrounding nations if their own oil fields are attacked.
Threatening acts of war against all your neighbors when you are already losing a war is... A strategy? I guess?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 07:44 pm: Edit

They have been playing the role of play ground bully for too many years.

They are gambling on Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Gulf States willing to be intimidated into submission by their threats.

The other (unstated) problem is similar to what Russia, China and North Korea have experienced. Wide spread corruption in the military leading to ineffective weapon systems. China isn’t alone in having submarines sinking at the dock, Aircraft Carrier showing cracks in its flight deck visible to orbital surveillance satellites, and its most modern Main Battle Tank (exported to an African client state) having a reload maximum rate of fire of 2 rounds an hour. (Note: United Kingdom Royal Navy Super Dread nought class ships were able to fire 12”, 13.5” and 15” large caliber shells at 2 rounds a minute during World War 1, more than a hundred years ago.)

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 08:17 pm: Edit

I am more afraid of one of those missiles having an atomic warhead. If not shot down, then what and if shot down then what.

Sigh

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 08:22 pm: Edit

In either case a Jericho missile will deliver a nuclear reply to Qom, the religious capital of Iran.

By Charles Gray (Cgray45) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 08:54 pm: Edit

I don't think there's any real thrat of a nuke. Even ignoring the fact that it looks like Iran hasn't yet refined material to the required degree of purity, making a nuke, especially one you can fire on a ballistic missile, is a lot harder than it looks.

and again, Israel has evidently been reading Iran's mail in a way that Bletchley Park could have only dreamed of doing. My bet is that IF Iran had a nuke, Israel would know about it well before they were able to get it launched and would have eliminated it.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Tuesday, October 01, 2024 - 10:20 pm: Edit

I saw a news article that said Iran setup a unit in their intelligence to root out MOSSAD agents in Iran.

The leader selected is a MOSSAD agent along with 20 of the units members.

Might be satire but I hope not.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 02:24 am: Edit

Iran fired 200 missiles but warned Israel beforehand, perhaps thinking that Israel might decide not to hurt Iran too much in retaliation.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 08:08 am: Edit

Saving face, and playing to multiple audiences simultaneously.

It's hard to be a really effective, intimidating bully when your military capabilities are really not that great as compared to your adversary.

--Mike

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 11:19 am: Edit

Jeff 2 rounds per hour?

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 12:52 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

I saw a news article that said Iran setup a unit in their intelligence to root out MOSSAD agents in Iran.

The leader selected is a MOSSAD agent along with 20 of the units members.

---

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 03:21 pm: Edit

Iran’s attack was 180 ballistic missiles, some of them hyper velocity types built with Russian technology. Two US ships fired six aegis missiles each to intercept some of the Iranian missiles.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 03:37 pm: Edit

Eddie Crutchfield:

Yes, confirmed, two rounds an hour.

Autoloader, for the main tank gun.

And China refused to fix, replace or return the tanks purchased.

The client state was very not happy, and it was in the news about six months back.

There was no more purchases of any Chinese military equipment after that point. Highly negative customer satisfaction.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 06:51 pm: Edit

That's what happens when you order your main battle tanks from Temu.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 08:52 pm: Edit

Hey, my TEMU-72 works great. The zinc armor is proof against the local mini-14s and two rounds per hour is good enough since the nearest government M1A5 is 100 miles away. (The firing system and the pizza warmer use the same circuit, hence the delay.) It’s lots of fun at local political rallies.