Israel at war day 427: What's happening in Gaza, Lebanon?

The IDF and the Shin Bet eliminated the head of Hamas's air force in Gaza City, Nachal Al-Najar, on Tuesday, the military confirmed on Friday. 

Al-Najar was head of both Hamas's Aerial Unit in Gaza City and head of Hamas' Aerial Defense Unit in Gaza.

Al-Najar had been responsible for planning the air raids into Israel on October 7. 

Due to the ongoing internal conflict in Syria, the IDF has announced it is reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights, which borders Syria.

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) eliminated the terrorist who commanded the October 7th massacre in Nahal Oz, they announced in a joint statement on Friday.

The terrorist, Majdi Aqilan, was the deputy commander of the Hamas Shati Battalion. He was eliminated as part of a week-long campaign of IAF strikes on the Shati Battalion, during which several key terrorists from the unit were killed.

Aqilan was in charge of commanding the Nahal Oz massacre on October 7, and has since been behind much of the terrorist activity against IDF troops in northern and central Gaza, the IDF added.

A SCENE of destruction at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, after the Hamas attack on October 7. Due to a lack of critical thinking, the kibbutz underwent a slaughter that is almost too painful to comprehend, the writer asserts. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Additional strikes

Also eliminated were Mamdouh Mehna, a senior member of the tunneling unit in Hamas' Gaza division who infiltrated Nahal Oz on October 7, and Ahmad Suwaidan, a company commander in the Shati Battalion.

Suwaidan was involved in taking Israeli civilians hostage in the Gaza Strip on October 7. Mehna directed the planning and construction of Hamas tunnels, as well as underground training for operatives. 

Iran sent into space on Friday its heaviest-ever payload using the Simorgh carrier rocket including an advanced module for transferring satellites to higher-altitude orbits, state television reported.

The Samān-1 transfer module, along with a CubeSat and a research payload "were successfully placed in an elliptical orbit with a high point of 410 km (255 miles) and a low point of 300 km," said the broadcast.

The launch comes as the United States and European countries claim Iran is transferring ballistic missiles to Russia that would be likely used in its war with Ukraine within weeks. Iran has denied this.

The Simorgh, a two-stage liquid-fueled satellite launch vehicle, is built by Iran’s defense ministry and Armed Forces Logistics, said Iranian media.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (7th L) poses with government officials underneath the Simorgh (Phoenix) home-built satellite rocket during the unveiling ceremony in Tehran on February 3, 2010. (credit: Rohollah Vahdati/AFP/via Getty Images)

"During its eighth launch, it achieved a new milestone by successfully delivering the Samān-1 Orbital Transfer Block and two other research payloads with a combined weight of approximately 300 kg (660 pounds), setting a new national record for the heaviest payload launched into orbit," they added.

Previous launches

In January, Iran said it had simultaneously launched three satellites for the first time using the Simorgh rocket.

One satellite weighing 32 kg (70 pounds) and two nano-satellites of less than 10 kg each were sent to a minimum orbit of 450 km (280 miles), with the two smaller devices aimed at testing narrowband communication and geopositioning technology, Iranian media said at the time.

In September, Iran put into a 550-km (340-mile) orbit the Chamran-1 research satellite with the Qaem-100 satellite carrier.

The IAF struck Hezbollah's weapon-smuggling routes near the crossings at the Syrian-Lebanese border on Thursday night, the IDF announced on Friday.

The strikes are said to have significantly depleted the capabilities of Hezbollah's Unit 4400, which is in charge of weapons smuggling. 

The IDF referred to the strike as part of its efforts to dismantle weapon-smuggling routes used by the Syrian regime in the Syrian-Lebanese border over the past few weeks. 

Infographic showing the location of the IDF's strikes on Hezbollah weapon's smuggling routes (credit: IDF)

Hezbollah's terror infrastructure

The IDF added that Hezbollah, with the support of the Syrian regime, takes advantage of civilian infrastructure to carry out terrorist activities and smuggle weapons with the purpose of harming Israeli civilians.    

Additionally, the IDF stressed that it will continue to eliminate threats to Israel that violate the outlines of the ceasefire agreement, and will not allow Hezbollah to rehabilitate. 

Shin Bet and Israel Police arrested two residents of the village of Masada who were employed by the Iranian Quds Force to carry out missions gathering intel on IDF activity in the area, it was reported on Friday.

The Arida border crossing between Syria and Lebanon is out of service due to an alleged Israeli attack early on Friday, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported.

Alleged Israeli aerial strikes were reported on the Syrian-Lebanese border in the early hours of Friday morning, Israeli media reported. 

War is death and destruction. These horrors demand that if war must be fought, it must be fought until victory, lest these horrors be revisited. This was the thought that held in my mind as we crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, finishing our second tour of duty in the October 7 war.

Israel warned Iran not to send forces or transfer weapons to the Syrian rebels, which could end up in Hezbollah's possession, N12 reported on Thursday.