IDF Wipes Out Hezbollah-IRGC Underground Bunker Complex After Iran’s Latest Empty 'Red Line'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that the final major IRGC-Hezbollah facility in southern Lebanon had been cleared, with all the occupants killed, captured, or moving at a very high speed out of the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday night that the Israeli army has cleared the strategic Ali Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, which he said Hezbollah had developed as an extension of the Beaufort (al-Shakif) position.

According to Netanyahu, the ridge was used to threaten the northern Israeli settlements of Kiryat Shmona and Metula and was positioned as part of Hezbollah’s plans to potentially invade the Galilee.

“We instructed the IDF (Israeli army) to clear it. I congratulate the Chief of Staff, the Northern Command commander and our heroic soldiers. They did tremendous work there," Netanyahu boasted.

He said Israeli forces seized weapons and computers from the position and eliminated numerous Hezbollah fighters during the operation.

"Today we can say it: the Ali Taher ridge no longer threatens us," Netanyahu declared.

This marks a significant event in Israel's efforts to clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah fighters and their Iranian handlers.

Background

Ali al-Taher (also known as Ali Taher) Ridge is an approximately 2,000-foot-high ridge holding the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle. That area was also a Hezbollah stronghold that the Israel Defense Forces have cleared.  (Qalaat al-Shaqif). 

So What?

What is suspected to be there

Israel and Lebanese security sources say Hezbollah spent about 20 years, with Iranian help, building a large underground military complex inside the ridge; this happened, by the way, under the nose of the  UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 

According to reports, the facility contains command-and-control for Hezbollah’s fighters along the Litani River; Israeli officers describe it as a “central nervous system” or “underground fortress.” Tunnels run over half a mile deep into the ridge, and there are several of them. "Arab media reports describe this as an actual underground city, far more advanced than Hamas tunnels in Gaza, with some tunnels located 40 meters deep." The facility contains living quarters for fighters, as well as weapons and ammunition stores.

Allegedly, IRGC advisers, probably more than a dozen and including senior officers, are present.

First Moves

Israel's efforts to clean the Beaufort and Ali al-Taher complexes are closely linked to Operation Epic Fury. In late May, as the IRGC was mostly concerned with regime survival and getting a clean set of undies, Israel's 36th Division took Beaufort. In mid-June the main part of the ridge fell and the IDF began pushing in Hezbollah's defenses. By June 21, the IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir declared the capture of Ali al-Taher to be the primary objective of the IDF in Lebanon. A week later, the IDF had achieved fire control over the ridge but lacked physical possession of the ridge or its underground chambers.

U.S. negotiations with Iran brought operations to a standstill for a while, as Iran insisted that any ceasefire had to include the IDF operations in Lebanon. Some in Israel wondered if Hezbollah would be able to retain the ridge due to an Iran-U.S. ceasefire, ignoring the casualties Israel had taken to achieve its current position; see New: Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Renewed As Iran Talks Stall – RedState.

Fighting picked up again in July and seems to have come to a close today with Ali al-Taher, above and below ground, in Israeli possession. 

Significance

Taking this ridge has immense significance to Israel's northern frontier.

Whoever controls this ridge sees everything, and whoever controls observation controls fire. The Israeli community of Metula can be seen clearly — about ten kilometers to the southeast, too close for comfort. This topography is what gives the ridge its military value.

Nabatiyeh, Hezbollah’s central stronghold in the eastern sector, spreads out below the ridge, as do the routes connecting the Lebanese coast to the Bekaa Valley, Tyre, and Marjayoun. The IDF presence in the area creates a direct and immediate threat to a Hezbollah center of gravity. On this, there is little dispute within the IDF command.

ONE RIDGE COULD DECIDE WHETHER HEZBOLLAH CAN REBUILD 

The battle for the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon is not a minor contest over another piece of territory. It is a struggle over the geography Hezbollah needs to survive as a military organization. 

The ridge rises approximately 600 meters and overlooks important movement corridors near Hezbollah’s traditional stronghold of Iqlim al-Tuffah. Reports suggest the area may contain underground command facilities and weapons storage infrastructure. 

Whoever controls this elevation gains more than a defensive position. The ridge offers surveillance over roads, villages and suspected supply routes. From there, forces can monitor movement, direct artillery, identify launch preparations and restrict Hezbollah’s ability to move weapons toward the Israeli border. 

If Israel secures the ridge, it could disrupt the physical network connecting Hezbollah’s northern support areas with its depleted southern positions. If Hezbollah retains it, the organization preserves terrain capable of protecting logistics, concealing commanders and supporting future rearmament. 

This is why diplomatic demands for Hezbollah’s disarmament remain insufficient. Hezbollah is not simply an arsenal that can be counted and removed. It is a military system built into mountains, tunnels, communities and transportation routes. 

A ceasefire that leaves this infrastructure intact may stop today’s fighting while preserving the architecture of tomorrow’s war. 

The future of southern Lebanon will not be decided by speeches in Beirut. It will be decided by who controls the terrain from which Hezbollah could rebuild.

The frontier settlements are much safer, and attacks by Hezbollah will cost them dearly. With UNIFIL's mandate facing opposition by the Trump administration, it seems likely that Hezbollah fighters will be forced away from Israel's northern border.

Unifil’s mandate was extended for a final year at the end of August 2025. But instead of expiring on Aug. 31, operations were set to end on Dec. 31, after which a yearlong “drawing down” period will commence—as though it takes 12 months to cease doing nothing. The result is that international forces will stay in Lebanon until the end of 2027.

If not longer. U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz and the Trump Administration have held the line, but they will now face 16 months of maneuvering by the French and others who seek to preserve the international role in Lebanon—and with it their own postcolonial influence in Middle East affairs.

Politically, it may very well mark the end of Iran's role as a regional troublemaker.

Last month, as the IDF made its final preparations to clear the subterranean fortifications, Iran issued a threat.

Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to any Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.

The message, delivered last month, highlights Iran’s continued direct involvement in the ground fighting in southern Lebanon and its readiness to retaliate against Israeli attacks there as the regional war enters its seventh month.

Unless Iran takes some sort of major action in reaction to losing this fortress, it will see its power in Lebanon quickly fade. The fact that the IDF went after Iranian operatives, after a strongly worded letter of protest by Iran to the U.S., will not be lost on anyone. In the future, being around IRGC members will not be an insurance policy; it will be like standing next to a bullet magnet.

Iran's long list of "red line" events, Grok claims at least thirteen instances of "red lines" followed by threats of "severe consequences" in 2026 thus far, will look more and more like empty threats by a beaten regime.

Taking this ridge tosses something of a hot potato to Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet. Israel occupied this ridge until its voluntary withdrawal in 1980. Having seen it fortified by enemies and lost soldiers retaking the real estate and clearing the fortifications, will Israel withdraw yet again? Or will southern Lebanon become a de facto buffer zone for northern Israel where the IDF operates according to its will?

https://redstate.com/streiff/2026/09/03/idf-wipes-out-hezbollah-irgc-underground-bunker-complex-after-irans-latest-empty-red-line-n2206487

Is There Anything Gavin Newsom Doesn't Lie About?

Gavin Newsom likes to hide behind his dyslexia to excuse his behavior every time he's caught telling a whopper of a lie. And he does that frequently. He even played the victim when someone accused him of being "historically illiterate," hiding behind his condition to say the term — which perfectly describes Newsom — was an ableist dig at his condition.

The thing with Newsom is, he's slick but he's not smart enough to keep track of all his lies. Just the other day, he said he didn't have any clue that his $7.5 million mansion had an expansive wine cellar. Now he's been caught in another lie, saying we never see him reading speeches because he can't read.

"I've never read a speech," Newsom claimed. "I can't read. I can't write."

Sorry, but if you can't read and write, you're unqualified to be the President of the United States. Reading and writing are part of the job.

Then the video jumps to a clip of Newsom insulting voters and lying again about reading speeches.

"I'm no better than you," he said. "You know, I'm a 960 SAT guy. I cannot ... you've never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech."

Then, for the coup de grâce, the video jumps to Newsom reading a speech.

"Representing every possible color and creed and community. And that diversity, in the words of the late Kevin Starr, is the persistent DNA code of California," he said in the speech. He then goes on to read from the speech for more than a minute.

Well, he thinks he can throw journalists in prison if they expose welfare fraud in California, so he probably thinks he can jail them for reporting on his lies, too.

It's hard to argue with this.

Of course Newsom can read and write, but the fact he lies about it also makes him unqualified to be the President.

https://townhall.com/news/amy-curtis/2026/09/03/newsom-i-dont-read-speeches-mazemoore-n2682410

Dead Man Found Hanging “In Plain Sight” Near Dodgers Stadium During Game

A deceased man was found hanging from a bridge near the Dodgers stadium in Los Angeles, California, Wednesday evening during a game.

An unidentified man was found hanging just before 9 pm on Wednesday night during the Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals game.

911 calls flooded in about a dead man “in plain sight.”

Video posted to social media shows first responders, including paramedics and police officers at the scene.

Paramedics lifted the deceased man into the back of an emergency vehicle and transported him to a hospital.

Los Angeles Police said foul play is not suspected.

The California Post reported:

A dead man was found hanging from a bridge outside Dodger Stadium as the team played, an LAPD spokesperson told The California Post.

The unidentified male was found just off of Bernard Street and Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium at around 8:48 p.m. Wednesday night, the LAPD rep said.

The location is just a few hundred yards away from where the Los Angeles Dodgers were taking on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Dodgers vs. Cardinals game began at 7:10 p.m. and concluded at around 10:10 p.m.

Cops were initially called out to the scene after 911 callers said they saw a dead body “in plain sight,” according to police audio reviewed by The Post.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/man-found-hanging-near-dodgers-stadium/

Far-Left News Host’s Chair Breaks During Live Segment — Down He Goes!

Cenk Uygur was in full attack mode during a live political brawl Wednesday night.

Then his chair surrendered.

The Young Turks founder was defending Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and blasting Republican strategist Ronna McDaniel when the seat beneath him suddenly gave way on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” Uygur dropped out of frame, stared down at the wreckage and briefly seemed as stunned as everyone watching.

The timing could not have been more brutal.

“What the f*** is this?” Uygur asked as the rest of the panel kept shouting.

Here is the moment that immediately took over the segment:

A Senate Debate Goes Completely Off The Rails

The physical collapse came at the end of a verbal pileup over El-Sayed, progressive streamer Hasan Piker and the Michigan Senate race.

Trending Politics reported that Morgan had raised scrutiny surrounding El-Sayed’s deleted social-media posts and his association with Piker. Uygur accused CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of smearing El-Sayed because he is Muslim, then declared himself an “unsanctioned surrogate” for the Democrat.

Uygur tried to turn the pressure toward Republican nominee Mike Rogers, arguing that Rogers should face more questions about Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. McDaniel refused to let the conversation leave Piker, whose past attacks on the United States have become political ammunition against El-Sayed.

That exchange quickly became less of a discussion and more of a siren test.

McDaniel pointed to clips of Piker saying he hated America. Uygur fired back that he and his allies loved America and accused Republicans of putting Israel first. Both talked over one another while Morgan tried to regain control.

The official show account captured the wider scene before the chair made its dramatic exit:

Morgan then moved to roll a compilation of Piker’s anti-America comments.

“Oh, here we go, here we go back to Hasan—” Uygur began.

He never finished the thought from the same elevation.

The chair snapped, Uygur lurched downward and the screen briefly looked like somebody had yanked a trapdoor lever. McDaniel kept making her case while Jillian Michaels looked on.

Morgan appeared to need a second to understand what had happened.

Uygur, to his credit, laughed.

The Political Fight Behind The Viral Moment

The chair was the comic relief, but the dispute surrounding El-Sayed is real and politically dangerous.

The Associated Press reported last week that El-Sayed had distanced himself from Piker after the streamer suggested some pro-Israel rhetoric could lead to backlash against American Jews. El-Sayed and Piker had appeared together at campaign events during the Democratic primary, helping the candidate reach younger voters through Piker’s enormous online audience.

After the backlash erupted, El-Sayed said no one speaks for his campaign except him and his official spokespeople. He called antisemitism a scourge, rejected intimidation and violence against Americans for their beliefs, and said his campaign would focus on gas, groceries, schools and health care instead of a California streamer.

The AP also reported that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned the idea that American Jews invite violence against themselves. Republican nominee Mike Rogers called El-Sayed’s response inadequate, while some Democratic strategists warned that Piker could become a serious general-election liability.

That is the political trap behind the yelling: El-Sayed wants the energy of the online left without carrying every reckless statement made by its most provocative voices. Republicans see the tension and are pressing it hard in a battleground race that could help decide control of the Senate.

Mediaite described Wednesday’s panel as a shouting match over the Michigan race and Piker’s rhetoric. The outlet noted that the chair failed as Uygur objected to another round of focus on his nephew, transforming a heated political defense into the clip everyone would remember.

Morgan later argued that El-Sayed had endured harsher questioning about Piker than Rogers had received over the Israeli government. That was the substantive case Uygur had been trying to make before gravity stole the broadcast.

Politics has produced plenty of collapses this year. Most of them are metaphorical.

This one came with a loud crack, a disappearing pundit and a split second of television that no campaign consultant could have scripted.

Uygur may have wanted the audience focused on El-Sayed, Rogers and the Middle East.

The chair had other plans.

https://100percentfedup.com/watch-far-left-news-hosts-chair-breaks-during/

2009 Obama: I’m Not A Socialist — 2026 House Democrats: Yea Socialism!

It was once so toxic to be called a “socialist” that newly minted President Obama called The New York Times to protest that he wasn’t one. 

 Now? 

 House Democrats just voted overwhelmingly against a resolution condemning it.

The following quote is widely attributed to Norman Thomas, who was the “the Socialist Party of America’s candidate for president in six consecutive elections between 1928 and 1948.” And while there is some doubt (according to lefty academics) as to whether or not he said these exact words in this exact order, there is no doubt that the sentiment was his:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism, but under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program until one day America will be a Socialist nation without knowing how it happened.

I guess Norm could never have imagined today’s Democrats. He certainly couldn’t have imagined a black president who would share the sentiment. Obama may be making noises of caution about DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) these days, but don’t let him fool you, even a little. We will look at Obama’s socialist bona fides in a moment, but first, an event that really shouldn’t shock any of us took place in the House of Representatives on Monday.

Votes are where the rubber meets the road. Rhetoric is one thing, but when you have to put your name on a Yea or Nay, it becomes real, and it’s often where you see politicians on either side of the aisle break. You can read the entire resolution here, but suffice it to say, it was a factual recital of the evils of socialism writ large, and only 8 Democrats saw fit to join it.

It brought to mind a notable moment in political history. You may recall it. It was March of 2009. Obama hadn’t been in office for even a full two months yet, and he had an impulse, a very telling one. The impulse was to call The New York Times, with whom he had just completed an AF1 interview, to clarify a remark: the one when he had been asked if his policies were socialist.

Here are the opening paragraphs from a March 8, 2009 New York Times piece describing it. It was entitled, “A socialist? Obama calls back to insist no”:

Less than 90 minutes after Air Force One landed, the telephone rang. President Barack Obama was on the line, wanting to add one more point to a response he gave during an interview with The New York Times.

On a flight from Ohio to Washington on Friday, Obama was asked whether his domestic policies suggested that he was a socialist, as some conservatives have implied.

‘The answer would be no,’ he said, laughing for a moment before defending his administration for ‘making some very tough choices’ on the budget.

As the interview progressed, Obama never returned to the question. When he called, he said he had been thinking about it as he boarded the helicopter taking him back to the White House.

‘It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question,’ Obama said from the Oval Office.

He then dismissed the criticism, saying the large-scale government intervention in the markets and the expansion of social welfare programs had begun under his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Sadly, Obama was all too correct about the snake, er, RINO, George W. Bush. (I’m sorry I ever defended him, and I know I’m not alone in that sentiment.) But right or not, it doesn’t negate the fact that conservatives had very good reasons to call Obama a socialist.

His father was one.

From “Airlift to America - How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours”, a September 2009 book by Tom Schactman:

Barack Obama, Sr. was brilliant, rebellious, charming, from an early age, and always difficult to handle. He would take many days off from classes, then cram for exams and come out with the highest marks. ...He drifted into the orbit of the Kenyatta-led political party… and was briefly jailed. He married, fathered two children and made a connection with... Oginga Odinga who was known as a committed socialist.

Heck, even his father figure was a hard lefty, a communist in fact. Frank Marshall Davis was literally a card-carrying communist.

And when in 1996 Obama ran his first political race ever, he was not only endorsed by the Chicago branch of Democratic Socialists of America, he sat on a panel at an event sponsored by them alongside a representative of the national organization of DSA.

The March/April 1996 edition of “New Ground”, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, tells us that they endorsed Barack Obama, who was then running as a candidate for the 13th Illinois Senate District. That issue, at the dawn of the internet age, did not have a link to donate to his campaign, but DSA printed the address to mail a check and the phone number to his campaign headquarters.

Just the year before, 1995, when he’d been interviewing for his book, Dreams from My Father, he said, rather like a self-styled messiah:

My individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country.

A decade later he said it again, now as United States senator, in a June 2005 commencement speech. The messiah complex stronger than ever. The socialism dripping from his tongue. Now, he was not only talking about his own salvation, but everyone else’s too.

Individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities….

Fast forward just three years to October 31, 2008, mere days before the election against McCain/Palin, and here Obama was calling us “selfish” if we wanted to keep what we earn. (If you click on the link to the story, you’ll see a very young Jake Tapper, who wrote the story when he was with ABC News.) Obama said:

John McCain and Sarah Palin they call [my tax the rich policies] socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.

“Selfish”? I’ve never once, not ever, seen a hospital wing donated by DSA. I’ve never, not once, seen a little league team sponsored by DSA. I’ve seen the immensely wealthy and mom and pop businesses do those things. If DSA has ever been generous, I’ve missed it.

And for the record, DSA, it’s not generous to want to give away other people’s money. Neither is it “Christian” as you so often sneer. Nowhere in the bible does it say “Give your money to some middleman to give to the needy.” It says “give to the needy.” Period. No middle man. No big government or non-profit getting their chunk to waste or redistribute to their friends in the name of “altruism.”

DSA can stuff their “altruism.” So can House Democrats voting against the condemnation of socialism. And so can Obama for that matter. He can quit calling The New York Times or anyone else about how not socialist he is. He’s got a long public record now, and I think we’ve all heard quite enough from The One.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/09/2009-obama-i-m-not-a-socialist-2026-house-democrats-yea-socialism/

FBI Arrests Gay Podcaster and Former TV Host for Threatening to Kill Trump

Azariah Southworth attends the Avalon TV Premiere Party for "The House Of Avalon" at Soho Warehouse on Oct. 8, 2023, in Los Angeles, California.

A California podcaster who has called for the assassination of President Donald Trump was arrested Thursday.

Azariah Southworth, 40, who has called himself an advocate for gay rights, was arrested at his home, according to the New York Post. Southworth at one time hosted a Christian reality show called “The Remix.”

“Southworth is charged with posting videos calling for President Trump’s assassination, then targeted the family of the President’s personal attorney by publishing their home address and phone numbers, and leaving voicemails threatening ‘justice comes to your door,’” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.

“Threats against the President of the United States are federal crimes,” he wrote.

“We will not tolerate threats of political violence in the United States. My office will prosecute anyone who crosses that line to the fullest extent of the law,” he wrote.

Court papers said Southworth has been spewing threats against Trump for months.

On April 7, a video posted to Southworth’s Instagram account showed him saying, “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump.”

“This government is illegitimate and out of control. It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump,” he said.

Southworth also spoke privately about killing Trump.

“If I encounter any Trump official in-person, I’m seriously afraid I will end up in Jail,” Southworth texted an associate in January.

Related:
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“But if I could Kill him, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity,” he wrote then.

“There is zero tolerance for political violence, especially for threats directed at the President,” Essayli said “Threatening an elected official with violence is a serious offense, and you will be arrested and charged as Mr. Southworth found out this morning.”

Southworth also targeted a lawyer working for Trump.

“Visit Trump’s personal lawyer,” Southworth wrote, listing the lawyer’s home address and photos of him and his home.

In the same post, Southworth said, “No peace for traitors.”

In February, he posted phone numbers of the lawyer’s son and his immediate family.

“Do you want to spice up your love life this Valentine’s Day? Then call one of these numbers and let these people know they are pieces of s***,” Southworth said then,

Amid multiple calls, he told the lawyer and his family, “There’s going to come a day when justice comes to your door.”

Southworth is charged with one count of threats against the president, one count of cyberstalking, and one count of harassing telephone calls in interstate communications.

Southworth could face up to 12 years in prison if he is found guilty on all counts.

https://www.westernjournal.com/fbi-arrests-gay-podcaster-former-tv-host-threatening-kill-trump/