Much of the Middle East is seven (7) Hours ahead of U.S. East Coast Time. This story is being published around 10:35 AM EDT, meaning it is now 5:35 PM Over in Iran and Israel.
Iran's funerals are now complete from the Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh and the Ayatollah Khamenei remarked today "The fun begins after the funeral."
So as you read this, "the window is now open" for kinetic hostilities between Iran and Israel to commence at any moment.
Thirty five minutes ago, at 10:00 AM eastern US time, the island nation of Cyprus announced an immediate halt to all civilian air traffic. This is a deadly serious sign of imminent hostilities.
Cyprus had previously agreed to allow US and UK fighter jets to use bases on Cyprus to defend Israel from Hezbollah and Iran. Hezbollah, upon hearing this previous announcement, warned Cyprus that if they allowed the US/UK to use those bases, for attacks upon Hezbollah, then the island of Cyprus would become a target for Hezbollah.
Cyprus just halted civilian air traffic which is the sign that US/UK military aircraft will be activating shortly. So despite the warning from Hezbollah, it looks like Cyprus is allowing foreign military to use their island anyway.
What is not known at this moment is "Who strikes first?" Will it be Israel/US/UK hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon, or will it be Hezbollah/Iran hitting Israel first?
Whichever happens first, it is likely to trigger the single most massive military exchange seen on this planet in a very long time.
In preparation for hostilities, Paramilitary forces have begun moving from Iraq to Bukamal, Syria, photo below:
The scalable map below shows the area of Bukamal, Syria, so readers can scale in or scale out to see its relation to Israel:
These paramilitary forces, numbering in the thousands, are moving from inside Iraq, to inside Syria, to be able to get to, and attack, Israel.
Hezbollah also ASKED the brother of Syrian President Bashar Asad, Mahel Asad, who is a Syrian military official, to prepare Syria's 4th Mechanized Tank division to re-open the Golan Heights front and prepare for a long war against Israel. I do **NOT** have any word on whether or not any Syrian military are actually moving toward the Golan Heights yet.
Forces inside Lebanon ARE moving toward the south, to Lebanon's border with northern Israel.
So there are very big movements of fighters in countries around Israel, and there are moves from places like Cyprus, to allow US/UK jets to defend Israel.
The US is preparing to send additional combat aircraft to the Middle East in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel in the coming days to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh this week.
This whole situation is literally ready to EXPLODE into actual, kinetic, deadly, war. Today.
Whether it begins today or not, we will all have to wait and see.
UPDATE 11:19 AM EDT --
The country of Greece has just closed its air space. the US and NATO operate bases in Greece. This closure is PRESUMABLY to allow US/NATO military aircraft to defend Israel (or attack Hezbollah).
The Russian Gelix Airlines, which specializes in arms transport, has just landed in Tehran from Moscow!
***** Initial reports of explosions at the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi, India.
-- Iranian Officials: "Last April's attack on Israel was a show of strength, but the upcoming attack will be the use of strength.
!!! FLASH !!!
Iranian Army Commander: “If the United States intervenes this time, we will target all its military bases and interests in the region.”
The US has or uses the following assets/resources in the Middle East:
CORRECTION:
Cyprus and Greece both DENY air space closures.
UPDATE 1:36 PM EDT --
-- KLM has cancelled all its flights to and from Israel's Tel Aviv until Oct. 26, the Dutch arm of airline group Air France KLM said on Friday.
-- Currently, Tehran-Istanbul flights are being cancelled one by one. This development indicates that there may be Iranian retaliation tonight.
-- USS Theodore Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier and its Strike Group have exited the Persian Gulf and are now operating in the Arabian Sea.
Satellite image above, taken today, confirms the vessel is now in Arabian Sea. Being out of the Persian Gulf makes the ship and strike group less vulnerable to Iran's considerable anti-ship arsenal.
UPDATE 2:02 PM EDT --
The IDF is launching airstrikes against the town of Hawsh al-Sayyid, northern Lebanon/Syria border right now.
UPDATE 3:10 PM EDT --
-- IAF airstrikes in Hermel, northern Lebanon, near the Syrian border
-- Israeli strike near the village of Qasr in the Hermel District, close to the border with Syria. No further details are immediately available.
Qasr is located about 140 kilometres from the Israeli border.
It would mark one of the deepest Israeli strikes in Lebanon amid the war.
The IDF has struck in the Qasr area before.
-- US Navy Aircraft Patrolling Eastern Mediterranean Coast. The United States Navy aircraft, a Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton with registration number 169659, is currently flying over the eastern Mediterranean coast.
-- Another IDF strike in Lebanon. According to the reports, 2 targets were attacked in Lebanon and another target was attacked in Syria.
-- Israeli airstrikes target the Al-Dabaa Airport in the city of Homs, Syria.
-- Israel launches a pre-emptive attack and destroys the Al Dabaa airport near Al Qusayr inside Syria... According to Arab reports, many Hezbollah and Iranian missiles have now been destroyed. A lot of attacks and at least 5 in number.
-- A US military executive jet sent to Tel Aviv to evacuate diplomats from Israel amid expectations of a violent Iranian attack on Israel.
It's "Official:"
Islamic Republic of Iran channel has "officially" announced that "attacks on Israel will begin in the coming hours."
"In coming hours, the world will witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments," an Iranian state TV anchor said in a live program focused on Tehran's retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
COVERT INTEL
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UPDATE 4:25 PM EDT --
Just now, Iranian television channels stopped their normal broadcasts and started playing military marches.
6:15 PM EDT --
***** BULLETIN *****
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has ordered the Syrian army to prepare for a possible war in the Golan Heights.
-- The official twitter account of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, pinned his tweet saying “The Zionist regime is a goner.”
رژیم صهونیستی رفتنی است.
— KHAMENEI.IR | فارسی 🇮🇷 (@Khamenei_fa) October 3, 2023
-- High alert in Europe for attacks on Israeli & Jewish targets: Greek authorities elevate alert, local reports say warnings relayed by foreign intel services over threat of imminent terror attacks; in France, security boosted near synagogues due to Mideast tensions.
-- White House Official: "Iran situation getting worse by the hour yet they haven't even bothered asking Biden to come back from Delaware and Kamala has been courting Wall Street since 0900 nonstop, Blinken and Austin are for better lack of a term POTUS and VP"
COVERT INTEL - VERY SERIOUS
(Updates for the General Public Resume beneath green-shaded area)
This section of the article is only available for Subscribers who support this web site with $1 a week billed either Quarterly ($13) or monthly ($5). This is necessary because this is a CLOUD-BASED web site. The way it works is YOU READ . . . I GET BILLED for "Data Transfer." Despite being politely asked for voluntary donations, few people ever bothered to donate. Then, despite being asked to click an ad within a story to generate ad revenue for this site, the majority of the general public couldn't be bothered with that, either. So there's no reason to give the general public free news anymore; they don't pull their own weight. With tens-of-thousands of people reading stories here every day, the costs nearly drove the site out of business. In order to be able to continue providing cutting-edge news, often hours or even DAYS before Drudge and most of the "mass-media" -- if they even cover it at all -- I need to be able to sustain this effort. To do that, I rely on folks like YOU contributing a pittance of about $1 a week; which is chump-change that you won't even miss! Yet that small amount makes all the difference in the world to the continued existence of this web site. In the final analysis, knowledge is power. Getting information first, or info that other sources simply don't report, is usually well worth a few bucks in the long run. Please click here to choose a subscription plan in order to view this part of the article. Subscribers LOGIN to see the story. *** If you are having trouble logging-in, email: YOU MUST SET YOUR WEB BROWSER TO "ACCEPT COOKIES" FROM THIS SITE IN ORDER TO LOGIN OR ELSE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE PREMIUM CONTENT.PREMIUM CONTENT:
UPDATE 6:40 PM EDT --
Israel returned a threat to Iran: "In the event of an attack on Israel, Iran's gas and oil fields will be destroyed."
-- Iranian diplomat: "Israel has crossed all red lines, and our response will be surprising and strong."
-- Sec.Def. has ordered the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carrier Strike Group to replace the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT Carrier Strike Group, currently on deployment in the Central Command area of responsibility.
-- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un: "We will always stand by Iran and respond decisively to any threat to our ally. We warn the mercenary of global imperialism, namely Israel, against making mistakes."
