4 people beheaded: Hezbollah Secretary-General’s failing

Hello everyone, welcome to “Current Affairs Scan”. I am Jin Ran. Please subscribe to our channel, support us, like, comment, and share.

Today’s focus: “Reconstruction War” erupts, rockets flying everywhere – Israeli military strikes Hezbollah again; going to the toilet can be deadly – Hezbollah’s fourth secretary-general beheaded; bombing list of Iran exposed as Israeli military deploys F35 stealth fighters; Ukrainian forces destroy Russian oil storage facility with Israel providing advanced warning system to Ukraine.

Today is October 7th, a year ago today, Hamas launched a large-scale terrorist attack in southern Israel. Israel experienced one of the worst massacres in modern history, resulting in approximately 1200 deaths.

On October 7th of last year, Hamas militants in Gaza launched the largest terrorist attack on Israel, first firing thousands of rockets towards Israel. At the same time, thousands of Hamas terrorists infiltrated various areas in southern Israel using trucks, motorcycles, and Chinese-made gliders, resulting in the deaths of 1200 civilians within a few hours, including 328 non-Israeli foreign citizens, including 5 Chinese citizens. Among the casualties, 53 were children; 251 were taken hostage (involving citizens from 25 countries, including one Chinese national). At that time, an open-air music festival – (Nova Festival) – was being held in southern Israel. Hamas militants flew into the venue using Chinese-made gliders and indiscriminately attacked the music festival attendees, resulting in the deaths of 360 music fans from various countries.

It could be said that this was not just an attack on Israel by Hamas, but a terrorist attack on the entire world. And it was from this day that the Middle East war against Hamas militants and their allies, as well as the masterminds behind them, truly began.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made an important speech on Monday, considering the current war as Israel’s battle for survival, proposing to rename the ongoing operation against Hamas in Gaza as the “Reconstruction War.”

So, in the past year, what achievements has Israel made in its operations against Hamas militants in Gaza? According to reports, the Israeli military has killed 40,000 Hamas militants in Gaza, destroyed 4700 tunnels and wells, over 1000 rocket launch sites. Of course, the exact number of civilians inadvertently involved among the 40,000 killed remains disputed, becoming a key point of contention between supporters and opponents of Israel. History shows that in wars like World War I and II, civilian casualties were inevitable.

However, despite this, even after the occurrence of two World Wars, people are still able to differentiate between good and evil. But sadly, humans seem unable to prevent war from happening, as wars sparked by various strange reasons around the world have never ceased, and continue to cycle indefinitely. The root cause and solutions to these conflicts – that is the ultimate question humanity should truly reflect upon.

On the evening of October 6th, the Israeli military carried out another airstrike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, bombing a large Hezbollah missile arsenal, resulting in numerous rocket explosions. The scene of the secondary explosions looked like a massive fireworks show.

As previously mentioned in the last episode, where three successive Hezbollah secretaries-general were beheaded by Israel within a week, I had predicted: let’s see how long Hezbollah’s newly appointed fourth secretary-general, Sayyed, can hold on? Now the results are out.

The Israeli authorities have officially stated that Hezbollah’s fourth secretary-general, Sayyed, was targeted and killed on the same day he took office as Secretary-General. Hezbollah also confirmed that Sayyed, his wife, and two daughters died in the explosion. Sayyed may have felt living in an underground bunker was not safe, as the secret residence he was staying in was an apartment building. Therefore, Israel used a miniature precision bomb this time, resulting in only the corner of the apartment floor where Sayyed resided being destroyed, the neighboring floors and windows seemed unscathed.

Some may wonder, given that the position of Hezbollah secretary-general has become one of the most high-risk in the world, how could Sayyed dare to take up the position after the unfortunate fate of his three predecessors? There is an unconfirmed and unlikely to be confirmed story here. After Hezbollah’s third secretary-general was beheaded, the senior members of Hezbollah convened to nominate a new secretary-general. However, after hours of heated discussions, no one was willing to take up the position, leaving everyone on edge. Just as tension mounted, Sayyed, unable to hold back his urge to urinate, took a trip to the bathroom. By the time he rushed back to the meeting room, he found that he had been unanimously elected as the new secretary-general.

This scene reminded me of a Chinese movie featuring a similar scenario. In 1957, the Chinese Communist Party, in order to suppress intellectuals who dared to have independent thinking or criticize the Party, launched an anti-rightist movement. Those identified as rightists would be criticized and sent for labor reform. Each workplace in the country was assigned a quota of “rightists,” which meant they had to find and identify individuals to meet these quotas regardless of whether they were actual “rightists.” Hence, there was a scene in the movie where during a meeting to identify “rightists”, everyone was too embarrassed to confront each other, but one person couldn’t wait and had gone to the bathroom. Upon returning, he found out, to his surprise, that he had become identified as a “rightist.”

It seems that if you want to survive in China or Hezbollah in Lebanon, you must take good care of your prostate. However, regardless of where you live, taking care of your health should always be a priority.

After four consecutive secretaries-general of Hezbollah were beheaded by Israel in just seven to eight days, Hezbollah’s remaining members seem quite reluctant to nominate another individual. So, the election meeting with all eligible senior members of Hezbollah has turned into a nerve-wracking sauna-like environment. Everyone must have refrained from drinking water beforehand, following the principle of refusing to use the restroom until the meeting concludes.

Whether someone couldn’t hold it any longer or was absent from the meeting for another reason, the outcome was that Sheikh Ibrahim Amin was nominated as the fifth secretary-general of Hezbollah. However, with a name like Amin, it seems he is not easily fooled, quickly coming forward to publicly reject the nomination as the next leader of Hezbollah.

This turn of events has turned the lucrative position of Hezbollah secretary-general into an abandoned project nobody dares to take over. While many Chinese netizens have recommended the two “national experts” of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhang Wei and Ren Zhongyong, professors at Fudan University and Renmin University, to take over as Hezbollah’s secretary-general. Some even recommended UN Secretary-General Guterres to take on the role.

However, after careful consideration, Hezbollah seemingly realized that these individuals would be more beneficial to the party outside rather than within, leading to the decision to abandon the “supreme leader” system borrowed from the Chinese Communist Party and opt for a collective leadership model with no actual leader. The position of Hezbollah secretary-general has completely fallen through.

Initially, it was speculated that Israel would launch retaliatory attacks against Iran on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on October 7th, but it seems this prediction was incorrect. Perhaps it was because Iran, sharing a similar mindset as mine, had announced the closure of all airports and was waiting for Israel to strike, yet Israel did not act. Nonetheless, lack of action does not mean there won’t be any. Israeli media revealed that the Israeli military and intelligence services had presented a list of bombing targets to the Israeli war cabinet targeting Iran.

This list of bombing targets includes oil and gas facilities, Iranian government buildings, Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh’s secret bunker, IRGC command intelligence centers, missile launch sites, ammunition depots, and air defense systems. In fact, Israel had already begun its operations. Russia had notified Iran: three days ago, five F35 stealth fighters from the Israeli military flew over the Persian Gulf airspace above Iran. However, seeing that this occurred three days prior, it seems a bit late for this revelation.

Another striking image that surfaced on the internet revealed even more alarming bombing targets, including a substantial number of nuclear facilities, including Iran’s nuclear power plants. Someone created a dynamic simulation video of Israel’s strike on Iran, indicating a catastrophic outcome if it were to occur.

On the night of October 6th, in a move seemingly in response to Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah, the Ukrainian military launched fierce airstrikes, destroying a Russian oil storage facility in Crimea, with multiple oil tanks being blown up and flames soaring into the sky.

On October 7th, the eve of Israel being attacked by Hamas a year ago, the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel posted a message saying: “We deeply empathize with and share the pain and endless sorrow of the Israeli people for the loss suffered on October 7, 2023. At this challenging time for our two nations, Ukraine stands in support of and solidarity with the people of Israel.”

Israel also disclosed its cooperation with Ukraine in jointly facing a common enemy. Recently, when asked why Israel had not supported Ukraine, the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine, Brotsky, directly replied that Israel had just provided an advanced air raid warning system to Ukraine, which is currently being installed and used.

President Zelensky recorded a video on October 6th, stating: “Today marks exactly two months since the Ukrainian forces invaded Kurzsk in Russia. For these two months, the Russian military has exhausted all means but failed to drive the Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory. The Ukrainian forces will continue fighting on Russian soil until the day Russia accepts a fair and just peace.”

Well, this concludes this edition of “Current Affairs Scan”. We need your support, so please subscribe to our channel, support us, like, comment, and share. Your direct financial support would be greatly appreciated. Until next time.