Latest / The Front / Their slogan was ‘Death to Israel’. Then Mossad blew them up

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Their slogan was ‘Death to Israel’. Then Mossad blew them up · The Front

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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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Speaker 1: It's Monday, September one, twenty twenty five. Forget work from home.
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Speaker 1: That's the message from the bosses of Australia's biggest retailers,
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Speaker 1: including Woolworth's, Cole's, West Farmers, JB hi Fi and more.
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Speaker 1: They're furious about Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen's bid to guarantee
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Speaker 1: hybrid work rights for all employees. You can read our
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Speaker 1: retail guru Eli Greenblatz exclusive report right now at the
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Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. Liberal Party rising star Andrew
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Speaker 1: Hasty is poised to line up on the side of
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Speaker 1: rebel national Barnaby Joyce in opposing the net zero transition,
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Speaker 1: a fresh headache for Opposition leader Susan Lee. A big
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Speaker 1: power shift in the Middle East with Israel wiping out
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Speaker 1: the senior leadership of Hoofy rebels who've been attacking commercial
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Speaker 1: ships in the Red Sea and firing ballistic missiles at
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Speaker 1: Israeli cities. But Anthony Albanesi's government has stopped short of
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Speaker 1: explicitly supporting Israel's actions in eliminating the senior hoofees who
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Speaker 1: are Iran's last terror proxy in the Middle East, and
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Speaker 1: who'd survived an onslaught from the United States earlier this year.
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Speaker 1: Today Chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart joins me to discuss
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Speaker 1: exactly how Mossad did the job. They call it Operation
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Speaker 1: Drop of Luck. Israeli fighter jets fly over the two
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Speaker 1: thousand year old mountain valley city of Sanna in Yemen
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Speaker 1: and drop bombs on a fuel depot and a lead
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Speaker 1: ship compound where the top officials of the Hoofy rebel
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Speaker 1: government a meeting to watch a televised broadcast by their leader,
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Speaker 1: Abdel Malek al Hufi. He's in hiding, reportedly in a
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Speaker 1: cave somewhere in the mountains, communicating with the Yemeny's via
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Speaker 1: weekly video messages. A fireble blooms into the sky, the
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Speaker 1: jets agone and a city reels from what will turn
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Speaker 1: out to be a devastating moment.
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Speaker 2: This is by far the most successful strike against the
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Speaker 2: Hoosi leadership ever conducted.
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Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's chief international correspondent, and we're
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Speaker 1: talking about the fresh revelation that this Israeli attack conducted
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Speaker 1: last Thursday took out the Hoofi's self proclaimed Prime Minister,
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Speaker 1: Ahmed al Rahawi and members of his cabinet, including the
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Speaker 1: cabinet secretary, Foreign minister, justice minister, and several more.
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Speaker 2: It shows that Israel is changing its strategy and its
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Speaker 2: tactics in dealing with the Hoofes, which of course are
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Speaker 2: the last of the Iranian proxy terror groups that are
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Speaker 2: still effective enough to actually or brave enough, should we say,
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Speaker 2: or crazy enough to actually lob missiles towards Israel.
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Speaker 1: Just days ago, the Hoofies, whose sloganese death to America,
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Speaker 1: death to Israel, Cursed the Jews, were celebrating ballistic missile
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Speaker 1: attacks on Israeli cities. They were a devilishly difficult nut
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Speaker 1: to crack. This rebel force that has taken over northern
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Speaker 1: Yemen with money and weapons funneled in by Iran and
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Speaker 1: has been causing mayhem across the Middle East and around
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Speaker 1: the world for two years. The Hoofies have had an
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Speaker 1: outsize impact on world politics, haven't they. They can try
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Speaker 1: troll Northern Yemen. Basically there are a rebel fours, but they,
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Speaker 1: through their control of the Red Sea, were able to
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Speaker 1: disrupt shipping and change the world's economy, that's right.
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Speaker 2: I mean, because they're so strategically located there, and they
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Speaker 2: are quite they've got quite a lot of missiles, supplied
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Speaker 2: often by Iran and by Hesbadah, and they fired missiles
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Speaker 2: at those ships in the Red Sea in the early
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Speaker 2: stages of the Guards of War, with massive success in
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Speaker 2: the sense that they didn't sink many.
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Speaker 1: This is a social media video released by the Hoofies
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Speaker 1: showing the seizure of a bolt carrier the Magic Seas
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Speaker 1: two months ago.
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Speaker 2: But they actually scared the shipping companies through insurance reason,
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Speaker 2: safety reasons, et cetera, not to take the route, and
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Speaker 2: of course that required them to go very long route
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Speaker 2: around Africa, very expensive, affected the whole trading economy of
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Speaker 2: the world, affected world markets as well. So for a
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Speaker 2: small little rebel force, they really caused a lot of
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Speaker 2: trouble there. And of course this actually led to you
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Speaker 2: might recall in March this year to Donald Trump taking
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Speaker 2: on the hoof Is because he got sick of American
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Speaker 2: ships being having to go the long way around and
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Speaker 2: he took them mind and said, you know, we're going
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Speaker 2: to take the fight to you, which the Israelis were
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Speaker 2: very happy about and yet only months later in early May,
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Speaker 2: Trump struck a deal with the Hoothies basically that said, well,
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Speaker 2: we're going to stop bobbing you so long as you
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Speaker 2: stopped firing on American ships. So that was the deal
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Speaker 2: he made. And I think that really shows Claire how
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Speaker 2: difficult it is to destroy the Hoofies. I mean, if
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Speaker 2: the Americans, with all their intelligence and targeted missiles and
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Speaker 2: resources cannot knock off this group, then that says a
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Speaker 2: lot about the resilience of them.
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Speaker 1: The Hoofes were organized and well armed enough to be
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Speaker 1: firing ballistic missiles at Israel. Israel has struck back after
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Speaker 1: learning that some of their leadership was going to be
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Speaker 1: gathered together watching an address by the Hoofi's leader. This
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Speaker 1: strategy of taking out senior leadership. Is that what's different
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Speaker 1: about the way Israel has done at this time.
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Speaker 2: Yes, definitely, they haven't done that previously. They've been attacking
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Speaker 2: energy centers to try and damage the power of the
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Speaker 2: Hoofs and also upset the Savilian population and made the
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Speaker 2: Hoofies lose local support. This is a very different strategy
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Speaker 2: and it's precisely what the Israelis did with great effect.
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Speaker 2: Against Hezbollah in Lebanon, of course they assassinated the long
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Speaker 2: standing Hesbelo leader in Israela as well as all of
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Speaker 2: his deputies, and effectively they defeated Hesbela as a result
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Speaker 2: of this, because the head was chopped off the Hesbeler dragon.
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Speaker 2: And of course in Gaza we had Jaha Sinwa who
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Speaker 2: was killed, and all of the senior Hamas commanders have
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Speaker 2: pretty much been killed. And while Israel hasn't subjugated Amas entirely,
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Speaker 2: there certainly a dismembered them as a coherent military force.
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Speaker 2: And lastly, of course Iran, we had Israel having targeted
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Speaker 2: strikes killed actually Hamasu's political leader in terran you record,
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Speaker 2: but also in this last strike they killed enormous amount
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Speaker 2: of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps senior leaders and also
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Speaker 2: some nuclear scientists. And why they didn't kill the supreme leader,
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Speaker 2: it is certainly cowed around as far as Iran's belligerents go.
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Speaker 2: So this has been an effective tactic for Israel with
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Speaker 2: the other proxies in the region, and that's clearly what
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Speaker 2: they've decided to do against the huthis.
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Speaker 1: The connection between all these strikes led by Israeli spy
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Speaker 1: agency Mossad is human intelligence. Their agents got pages and
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Speaker 1: then walkie talkies to Hesbalal operatives in Lebanon and then
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Speaker 1: exploded them to devastating effect. Then Israeli operatives in Iran
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Speaker 1: coordinated the destruction of nuclear sites, and now Israel's spies
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Speaker 1: knew when and where the Hoofi leadership were going to
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Speaker 1: be and called in the air strikes.
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Speaker 2: Mosad is by far the most sophisticated technically manpower wise.
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Speaker 2: They also have a lot of assets on the ground.
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Speaker 2: And what actually happened, interestingly with this attack with the
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Speaker 2: Huths was the Israelis. I mean, it shows the sophistication.
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Speaker 2: They actually did a couple of ruses to give the
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Speaker 2: Huthies some sense of comfort that they weren't being watched
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Speaker 2: and they weren't actually being tracked. And that's what led
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Speaker 2: these hoothy leaders to actually make the rather foolish decision
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Speaker 2: to meet together reportedly to watch the address by their
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Speaker 2: supreme leader. And I mean, that's a very vulnerable situation,
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Speaker 2: and that's where the bomb hit, and that's why you've
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Speaker 2: gotten none only the PM getting killed, but some other
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Speaker 2: members of his cabinet as well.
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Speaker 1: It hasn't been a good week for Iran. Of course,
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Speaker 1: their ambassador to Australia was expelled and sent home, and
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Speaker 1: now the Federal government is preparing to prescribe the Islamic
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Speaker 1: Revolutionary Guard called blaming them for anti Semitic attacks conducted
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Speaker 1: here in Australia. There had been calls for a long
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Speaker 1: time for the federal government here in Australia to proscribe
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Speaker 1: the IRGC CAM. But it's not the only terror group
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Speaker 1: that there are calls about, is there what else is
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Speaker 1: going on?
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Speaker 2: Yes, Well, the revelation Claire that the Revolutionary Guard Corps
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Speaker 2: had ordered these two ancient Semitic attacks against the restaurant
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Speaker 2: in Sydney and the Adas Synagogue here in Melbourne, as
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Speaker 2: well as other ones they believe, has really sort of
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Speaker 2: sparked extra alarm beyond the Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the
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Speaker 2: Zionist Federation of Australia told me on Friday that they
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Speaker 2: were very concerned about his But Uteria HUT is better
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Speaker 2: known as and that is a Sunni extremist organization's a
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Speaker 2: global organization and they espouse much of the same extremism
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Speaker 2: as Iran does. I mean, they hate Israel. They glorified Hamas,
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Speaker 2: they wanted a caliphate, and they were very central in
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Speaker 2: organizing pro Palestinian anti Israeli street protests both in the
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Speaker 2: cities here in Australia and also on the university campuses
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Speaker 2: here in Australia. And what they to do is they
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Speaker 2: just fall short of completely advocating violence, which makes it
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Speaker 2: very difficult for as E under the legislation to declare
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Speaker 2: them a terrorist outfit. What the ZFA said to me was, look,
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Speaker 2: we need to be more proactive here. This is clearly
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Speaker 2: a group that is hostile to the Jewish community. We
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Speaker 2: think they should be prescribed and that's I think a
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Speaker 2: debate that's going to happen inside government. The government has
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Speaker 2: not confirmed whether they will have that debate, but they
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Speaker 2: really think that they probably will. Now that's going to
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Speaker 2: be another issue, and that's come about really because everyone
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Speaker 2: was so surprised they probably shouldn't have been. Everyone was
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Speaker 2: so surprised that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had actually
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Speaker 2: ordered these attacks.
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Speaker 1: The Nesnio government has significantly weakened Iran, but could the
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Speaker 1: Iranians still make a nuclear weapon? That's after the break.
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Speaker 1: There are reports over the weekend that Israel is preparing
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Speaker 1: to limit aid supplies to northern Gaza in preparation for
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Speaker 1: a new Oncelough we've been talking for a while about
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Speaker 1: the preparations to take over Gaza city Benjamin Netanya, who
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Speaker 1: is plowing on despite international criticism cam of the way
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Speaker 1: he's conducted the war in Gaza. In a couple of
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Speaker 1: decades from now, how do you think we'll look back
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Speaker 1: on Netanya, who've given his undoubted success in weakening Iran
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Speaker 1: and its proxies.
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Speaker 2: That's a great question. I mean, I think Netna, whose
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Speaker 2: legacy will be very mixed, and a lot of people
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Speaker 2: will see it entirely through their own prison. He'll be
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Speaker 2: a chur Chilean hero to some here'll be a war
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Speaker 2: criminal to others. I think probably when history settles, And
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Speaker 2: of course we don't know exactly what's going to happen
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Speaker 2: with net with Gaza and with the whole region. It's
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Speaker 2: still very much a work in progress, of course, But
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Speaker 2: I think what people will see from Ntnia, who, as
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Speaker 2: far as the next gives go, will be flaws in
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Speaker 2: his conduct of the operation in Gaza, his inability to
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Speaker 2: fully destroy Hamas, certainly at an acceptable cost of civilian lives.
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Speaker 2: We've had enormous amount of seville in deaths. I think
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Speaker 2: we've had some unnecessary cruelty and poor decisions on the
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Speaker 2: part of the Israeli government during the conflict in Gaza.
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Speaker 2: I think he will be criticized for many aspects of that.
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Speaker 2: But on the other side, Netnio, who has presided over
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Speaker 2: a huge strategic victory for Israel in the region. I
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Speaker 2: mean we are talking historic strategic victory here. Israel is
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Speaker 2: a lot safer now than it was in October seven,
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, and you can really argue that in
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Speaker 2: lots of ways the world is safer. So Netnio has
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Speaker 2: a mixed legacy, massive strategic victory in the region for
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Speaker 2: Israel against those countries and those groups that want to
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Speaker 2: destroy Israel. A very mixed record in Gaza and cam.
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Speaker 1: Do you think we're any closer to knowing the truth
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Speaker 1: about whether the strikes on Iran's nuclear capability actually worked,
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Speaker 1: it actually disrupted their progress towards acquiring a nuclear weapon.
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Speaker 2: We are finding out some things clear, but it's still
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Speaker 2: very unclear. And of course, you know, intelligence is never
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Speaker 2: perfectly Look at the WMD debate in Iraq, many years ago.
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Speaker 2: But what it looks like is that it caused severe
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Speaker 2: destruction and devastation, but didn't knock the nuclear facilities out entirely.
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Speaker 2: The bombs certainly didn't go right to the very bottom
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Speaker 2: of those facilities. They are still in some form existing,
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Speaker 2: but they don't seem to be operational in any way.
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Speaker 2: And interestingly, we haven't heard much about the Iranians trying
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Speaker 2: to repair those facilities, because, of course the Iranian those
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Speaker 2: facilities are vulnerable to renewed strikes by the Israelis and
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Speaker 2: perhaps even the Americans. Should the Iranians try to reconstitute them,
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Speaker 2: and that would be something which would become fairly visible
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Speaker 2: to Israeli intelligence. So that's really a story to watch
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Speaker 2: because we haven't seen the Iranians doing that, and it
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Speaker 2: does raise the question as to how determined they may
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Speaker 2: or may not be to reconstitute those facilities and put
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Speaker 2: themselves once again in the eyesights of the target sites
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Speaker 2: of Israel.
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Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's chief international correspondent. You can
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Speaker 1: read our ongoing reporting about the conflict in the Middle
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Speaker 1: East right now at the Australian dot com dot au