In other news, a somewhat significant development (that is likely all over the news):
Israel has probably eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
On Thursday, the Israeli military said that they are investigating whether the leader of Hamas was killed in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli representatives are now transporting the body of the slain militant to a DNA laboratory for analysis.
He is the highest ranking leader of Hamas in Gaza and certainly heavily responsible for the Oct 7 attacks. Will this likely change much? Probably not, but will likely degrade the organizational ability of Hamas (which, like Hezbollah, has to be pretty shattered at this point).
In another interesting absurdity. I read that the Iranians where vowing revenge for Israel blowing up one of the generals (or something) who was hanging out with some Hezbollah leaders when they got blown up. Of course, the Israelis have not yet retaliated for the attack by the Iranians which was a retaliation for the Iranian leader getting blown up in Iran, which was likely a general retaliation for the the Hezbollah missiles.... argh. At some point someone will need to make a chart or something....
Also, it appears (?) as if the Israelis have agreed to not attack nuclear facilities or oil production facilities by US insistence. I am not sure why the US does not want the nuclear stuff attacked (I am sure it would be pretty challenging at least), but the oil facilities restriction is almost certainly to avoid a spike in oil prices.... war... rules... weird....
aircooled said:
In other news, a somewhat significant development (that is likely all over the news):
but the oil facilities restriction is almost certainly to avoid a spike in oil prices.... war... rules... weird....
Remember, high oil prices are bad optics when there's an election just around the corner.
Indy - Guy said:
aircooled said:
In other news, a somewhat significant development (that is likely all over the news):
but the oil facilities restriction is almost certainly to avoid a spike in oil prices.... war... rules... weird....
Remember, high oil prices are bad optics when there's an election just around the corner.
But just wait until Nov 6.
02Pilot
PowerDork
10/17/24 8:33 p.m.
aircooled said:
Also, it appears (?) as if the Israelis have agreed to not attack nuclear facilities or oil production facilities by US insistence. I am not sure why the US does not want the nuclear stuff attacked (I am sure it would be pretty challenging at least), but the oil facilities restriction is almost certainly to avoid a spike in oil prices.... war... rules... weird....
The US struck Houthi underground arms arms storage facilities with a B-2 strike. This is relevant because the use of the B-2 suggests that this may mark the first operational use of the MOP against an underground target. Iran will likely understand the implication here that the US is capable of hitting targets deep underground; in other words, don't think your nuclear program is safe if you get bad ideas about escalation. This is likely an effort at deterring Iran after what is sure to be some manner of retaliation by Israel; deterring Israel from hitting politically inconvenient targets has probably been by more subtle means.
In reply to 02Pilot :
Doing it with almost certainly no idea the bombers where ever there is likely very much part of the message also.
A point someone made I heard was the Israel is very secretive about some of it weapons development, and very good about keeping those secrets. It's really hard to say what Israel capabilities are, and be well assured, they have been aware Iran is a huge threat for a very long time, certainly long enough in weapons development time.
...Air Force inventory currently capable to operationally drop the massive 30,000-lb (14,000 kg) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
Sometimes mistaken with the 11-ton, parachute deployed, GBU-43B MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) also known as “Mother Of All Bombs”, the largest conventional air dropped weapon ever employed by the U.S. military, dropped by an Air Force Special Operations MC-130 Combat Talon II on an ISIS cave complex target in Afghanistan, for the very first time on Apr. 13, 2017, the 14-ton GBU-57 MOP is a 20-foot long GPS-guided bomb said to be able to penetrate 200 feet of concrete before exploding.
The B-2 can carry two MOPs in its internal bomb bay.
For perspective, the largest bomb used in WWII, for the same purpose, penetrating deep into the ground (or fortifications, specifically U-boat pens), was the 22,000 lb Grand Slam.
What it could do (that is clearly reinforced concrete):
