Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society PRO Mr Tim Maher Reports:-
The Annual General Meeting of ‘Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society’ was held in Lismackin Hall on February 10th 2026 last. The outgoing Chairman Mr Tim Lee welcomed everyone to this their 13th AGM. He thanked everyone for attending the meeting in the Hall and on their videoconferencing application ‘Zoom’. He told the meeting that the club had yet another great year in 2025. He said they had commenced the year with the AGM in February by electing a new committee. Members had continued with very successful hybrid meetings and it has now become part of their normal meeting each month, over the past few years.
He stated that the club had a great visit to Cahir on their Historical Outing; visiting the Swiss Cottage and Cahir Castle, before meeting up with Mr PJ O’Meara from Cahir’s historical society, who took members on a tour around the town. Finishing in the square, the society went to the Cahir House Hotel where they had a meal, on what was described as a wonderful day, on probably the hottest day of the year.
This year they helped the Hall Committee, by applying for a grant under their name to purchase new tables for Hall.
Mr Lee went on to state, “We had a wonderful morning in Clonakenny at the Norebrook Lounge, when we invited the Tipperary Village Tours Tipp FM team, with Allison Hyland and John G O’Dwyer on Friday June 13th. They interviewed and recorded 12 speakers from all the groups in the parish, with music from Davie Brereton, Michael Ryan, and Michael Doyle. The program was later aired on Tipp FM. All interviews were subsequently transcribed for an article in our 2025 publication. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our annual Historical walk/drive this year, due to certain circumstances. We have done all the surrounding rural areas and maybe it’s time to look closer to home again, as it’s been nine years since we had a walk or drive in our own parish. Mr Paddy Coady launched our 12th volume of “Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society 2025” publication in the Norebrook Lounge. Another great achievement, and sold extremely well. Tim thanked all involved in producing this publication, from the authors to the sellers and many more involved. We also launched our website, which is a brilliant achievement, Tim thanked Emma for all her help to date. We have a lot of work to do with the webpages over the coming months but he had no doubt it will be a brilliant resource going forward. We continue to compile research like the Maher families, school, graveyard, memory card, and other historical data, etc. Our Facebook page and private GEDmatch Discussion group page on both on social media remains ongoing, helping to connect new people searching for their family history in different ways”.
Mr Lee further stated that in June, he submitted his resignation as Chairperson of Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society, with effect from tonight. He said he knew it was a bit of shock to the members and that is why after careful consideration he submitted his resignation last June, to give the society time to organize a new Chairperson. “It is time someone new took on the role and bring new ideas to the job and lead it maybe in a new and better direction for the benefit of our society”, he added.
Mr Lee said he had been Chairperson since their formation first in 2013 and during that time he was more than satisfied with what was achieved in that period. When we started, Mr Lee said he could never have imagined the number of projects the society would complete and that to lead this society into so many projects was indeed a great honour.
Mr Lee said that the proudest moment for him was receiving the Ireland XO Volunteer of the Year National award, on behalf of the society in 2015. This was a Government award, and Minister of State and Diaspora Affairs Mr Jimmy Deenihan and Mr Mike Ferick of Ireland XO presented the awards recognising that out of 500 parishes affiliated with Ireland XO that year, they were the most active, reaching out to the diaspora, who were researching their origins and, most importantly, ensuring that every returning member of the Irish diaspora was greeted with a welcome. Very few knew what we were doing outside the parish before then. That award gave Mr Lee great energy to lead the society at that time and look what they have achieved since. “We completed a lot of projects over the years and I didn’t think there was a year when we didn’t implement a significant project or event. Starting in 2013 with the setting up of Bournea Parish Group; the Ireland XO Presentation Night by Henry Healy; the Brief History of Couraguneen Graveyard booklet; all our lectures e.g. Willie Smyth when he packed the hall in 2014 and George Cunningham 2015, Joe Coughlan & Michael Ward 2016, DNA lecture by Tom Ryan 2018, Larry Breen and Rev. Mgr. Dr Maurice Dooley in 2020, the DNA Lecture by Professor Mark Kennedy 2021; first publication in 2014 to our last volume, 2025 (12 incredible publications); all our Book launches, launched by various distinguished people inside and outside the parish, including the Tipp FM Book Launch 2017; The unavailing of a plaque to Tom Delaney in Clonakenny village 2015. The Way we were project, bringing the Couraguneen Church Door back to life, the Commemoration of Toor to Loran in 2016; the school reunion and the outdoor way we were project in Clonakenny in 2017; all the historical walks mapped in our parish and reaching out to our neighboring parishes to do the walks and help them to record the history of their parishes; managing to continue during the Covid pandemic, by introducing different ways to communicate through Zoom meetings and WhatsApp; the sketch we did during Covid to promote the book in 2021; introducing the hybrid meeting in the hall; introducing the DNA GEDmatch Ancestor Project in 2022; the celebration of ten years in 2023; The Graveyard Projects over the years; the Ellis Island Project; digitizing the School Records; the opening of Jim Kennedy’s Castlepark Museum; and finally the new website we have launched in 2025, not forgetting the many smaller projects completed in the past 13 years that we have recorded in our publications.
Photo: Newly Elected Chairperson of Bournea Historical Society Ms Christine Timoney.
After The Chairperson’s address, Vice Chairman Mr Michael Costigan paid tribute to Mr Lee on behalf of the whole group. Mr Costigan said he had always a keen interest in local history and was delighted when Mr Lee asked him in 2012 to help him for a new historical group in the parish. Mr Costigan praised Mr Lee for his brain power and knowledge, as well as his patience and persistence. He said so much would have been forgotten, but those stories will now be handed down to the next generation. Researchers will be delighted with the books that we have published. He thanked Mr Lee for all his work and insight, and wished him health and happiness.
This was followed by the election of Officers 2026. Chairperson: Christine Timoney. Vice Chairperson:(Regional) Michael Costigan. Vice Chairperson:(Global) Anne Evola. Secretary: Ann Feehan. Assistant Secretary: Mary Conway. Treasurer: Dick Conroy. Public Relations Officer (PRO): Tim Maher. DNA Project Admin: Gail Hannigan
Committee Members were as follows: Paud Treacy, Aidan Lee, Michael Kiely, Hannah Greed Quigley, Nora Byrne, Margaret Maher, Philomena Hynes.
Newly elected Chairperson. Our new Chairperson, Christine Timoney lives in the city of Melbourne in Australia. She attends our meetings via Zoom every month. Christine Timoney first joined Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society in 2014 when she rented a traditional Irish cottage in Killough for four months from July to early November. The goals of her extended visit from Australia were to experience something of what it might be like to live in rural Ireland, and to reconnect with four distinct lines of Tipperary ancestors.
On one of those four lines, Christine’s maternal grandfather John Costigan left Borrisnoe for Australia in 1882, arriving as a 19-year-old in Sydney with his sister Mary Anne. They were followed seven years later by two more sisters Annie and Hannah.
John Costigan later moved on to Brisbane where in 1901 he married Honorah McMahon of Portroe. The youngest of their children was Christine’s mother Mary Costigan, born 1909. John Costigan died in Brisbane over one hundred years ago, on 30th July 1925.
Like many nineteenth century Irish emigrants, John and his sisters left more brothers and sisters behind in Ireland, and Christine feels very blessed to have reconnected in 2014 with her extended Costigan-Maher family, a great many of whom still live here.
Throughout her childhood Christine was entranced by exotic-sounding place names like Borrisnoe and Devil’s Bit Mountain, and now, having repeatedly achieved her dream of walking in her ancestors’ home places, she has stepped into the role of chairperson – from afar – of Bournea’s vibrant and active historical group. The group now boasts members from across the parish, elsewhere in Ireland and across the world. Their meetings are hybrid: every month the locals meet in Lismackin Hall while others Zoom into the meeting from Ireland, USA and Australia.
At the group’s recent AGM, Christine paid tribute to their impressive thirteen years of achievements under the inspiring leadership of founding chairperson Mr Tim Lee, and pledged to continue the many successful annual projects, including the publication of a fresh volume of Bournea history every year, the popular historical walk/drive each summer, the public history lecture and the members’ annual excursion to places of historical interest.
This year she also hopes to oversee significant progress in oral history interviews with long-time local senior residents,enhancements to the newly launched Bournea website and a thorough study of the movement of families into, out of and within the parish in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For this last project, the group keenly awaits the release of the 1926 census of Ireland, which will be freely available online from 18 April.
Christine pays tribute particularly to the group’s resilience in adapting to the challenges of the pandemic in 2020 and is grateful that their response was to go hybrid with their meetings. This has created a unique environment for cooperation and collaboration between local residents passionate about history and genealogy, and like-minded descendants of Bournea emigrants who moved to othercountries over the past couple of centuries.
Christine thanks Bournea Reaching Out Historical Society for offering her this unique opportunity to make a difference from afar.
The grave of George Plant still attracts annual republican commemorations, while his story remains one of the most striking and contested in Tipperary’s revolutionary past.
Early March each year holds a particularly haunting place in Tipperary history because it marks the anniversary of the execution of Mr George Plant, one of the most controversial republican figures of the early 20th century. On Thursday March 5th 1942, George Plant was executed by military firing squad in Portlaoise jail, bringing a dramatic and deeply disputed chapter of Irish history to a close.
Pictured Left → E Company (Moyglass), 7 Battalion, 3 Tipperary Brigade, IRA, membership list. Pictured Right → George Plant executed by military firing squad in Portlaoise jail, March 1942. The above shows George Plant’s membership during the War of Independence and Civil War, and his change of address to “Collins’ Barracks, Dublin”,where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The James (Jimmy ) Plant also on this list above was George’s brother.
Born on January 5th 1904, at St Johnstown, Fethard, Co. Tipperary, George Plant grew up in a Protestant farming family. The Plant family were known locally as hardworking, strict, and largely removed from politics. Yet George’s life took a decisive turn in 1916, when he and his older brother James were harshly interrogated by the local constabulary about their associations with local republicans including Seán Hayes and Dan Breen. That experience appears to have had a lasting effect on both boys.
By 1918, George and James had joined Na Fianna Éireann, and during the War of Independence and Civil War George served in the Moyglass unit of the 7th Battalion, 3rd Tipperary Brigade, IRA. He earned a reputation for bravery and reliability. Captured near the end of the Civil War, he escaped from Templemore jail and made his way home across country.
After the 1923 ceasefire, George and James emigrated, living and working in Scotland and later across North America. But Plant’s involvement with republican activity did not end. In 1929 the brothers were sentenced to seven years for their part in an IRA bank robbery in Tipperary town. After serving time in Limerick and Portlaoise, George eventually returned to the United States. In 1938, as Seán Russell steered the IRA in a more militant direction, Plant came back to Ireland and by 1940 was on full-time IRA service.
The event that sealed his fate was the killing of Michael Devereux, quartermaster of the IRA’s Wexford battalion. Devereux, wrongly suspected of informing to the gardaí, disappeared in September 1940. His body was not discovered until a year later, after the sensational escape of IRA chief-of-staff Stephen Hayes from IRA custody triggered fresh revelations and investigations.
Plant and IRA Southern Division commander Joseph O’Connor were first charged with Devereux’s murder in the Special Criminal Court. That case collapsed when key witnesses withdrew their statements, claiming they had been beaten and intimidated into making them. However, the government then took extraordinary steps under emergency legislation to retry the matter before a special military court. In a highly controversial move, normal rules of evidence were effectively suspended, allowing previous witness statements to be read into evidence even when those witnesses refused to testify.
On February 27th 1942, George Plant, along with Patrick Davern and Michael Walsh, was convicted and sentenced to death. O’Connor was acquitted on a technicality. Amid widespread public appeals for mercy, the sentences of Davern and Walsh were commuted to life imprisonment, but Plant’s was not. He was executed just days later, on March 5th 1942.
Even decades later, the Plant/Devereux affair remains clouded in controversy. The legal process used to convict Plant has long been criticised as one of the most troubling episodes in Irish judicial history. Later research suggests that Michael Devereux was likely innocent of informing and that Plant was probably involved in his murder. Yet debate continues, shaped by the turbulent politics, secrecy, and emergency powers of that period in wartime Ireland.
In September of 1948, Plant’s remains were returned to his family and reburied at St Johnstown, where his grave still attracts annual republican commemorations.
A series of events will take place in Waterford city this weekend to commemorate the life and legacy of Thomas Francis Meagher, with particular reflection on his role in the Young Ireland rebellion, the rising at Ballingarry in South Tipperary, and the dramatic events that led to his arrest and transportation to Van Diemen’s Land.
Signatures of Thomas Francis Meagher and Patrick O’Donoghue, both arrested at Rathcannon, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, following the 1848 Ballingarry (SR) rebellion. Both signatures are written on the back of a prison library book called “Wreath of Friendship”. Picture: G. Willoughby.
Although Meagher is forever associated with raising the tricolour at the Wolfe Tone Confederate Club at No. 33 The Mall in Waterford on Tuesday 7th March 1848, his place in Irish history was shaped just as powerfully by what happened later that year. As one of the leading figures of the Young Irelanders, he became involved in the 1848 rebellion, culminating in the confrontation at Ballingarry, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, in July.
The Ballingarry rising, though unsuccessful, became one of the defining episodes of the Young Ireland revolt. In its aftermath, Meagher was arrested at Rathcannon, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, tried for treason, and sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land*. His exile marked a crucial chapter in his life and secured his place among the most significant Irish nationalist figures of the nineteenth century.
* Van Diemen’s Land was the original European name for the island of Tasmania, Australia, used from its 1642 discovery by Abel Tasman, until renamed in 1856. Settled by the British in 1803, it served as a notorious, harsh penal colony for convicts. It is now a state of Australia known for its rugged landscape.
Earlier that same year, Meagher had unveiled what would later become the national flag of Ireland in his native Waterford. The tricolour flew for eight days and nights before being removed by the then British authorities. Speaking about the flag in April 1848, Meagher said: “The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between Orange and Green and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood.”
The tricolour was adopted as the flag of the Irish Free State in 1922 and formally confirmed as the national flag in the 1937 Constitution.
This weekend’s Thomas Francis Meagher 178th Anniversary Tricolour Celebration will see a three-day festival of talks and events take place in Waterford city. Organisers say the festival offers an opportunity not only to reflect on the proud history of the flag, but also to consider Meagher’s wider legacy as a revolutionary, a political exile, and a symbol of Irish resilience.
Sadly, our local Thurles Tourist Office promoters have seen fit to ignore this same 178th Anniversary Tricolour Celebration. Same seem to be keeping themselves busy promoting Facebook posts about local children’s and men’s clothing shops, local nail bars, pubs, cafés, Easter camps, college open days, and Mother’s Day; clearly the kind of world-famous attractions that have international tourists booking flights as we speak. After all nothing says ‘must-visit destination’ quite like a last-minute Easter camp and a half-price manicure. Seriously, while all these Thurles advertised businesses are unquestionably among the very best in their field, same can hardly be seen as unique selling points (USP’s), as far as foreign tourism attractions are concerned, and therefore are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
The commemorative weekend opens this evening with the Thomas Francis Meagher Fife and Drum Band performing at the Granville Hotel on Meagher Quay.
Chairperson of the organising committee, Mr Éamonn McEneaney, said the weekend will feature many highlights, including the Friday evening walking tour of the city, four guest speakers at the Medieval Museum on Saturday morning, a gala dinner on Saturday night, and the military parade, wreath-laying ceremony and raising of the flag on Sunday morning.
Bishop Monahan Pays Tribute as Cistercian Community to Leave Roscrea for Mellifont.
Mount Saint Joseph’s Abbey
Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe has expressed deep sadness following confirmation that the Cistercian Community of Our Lady of Silence Abbey, Roscrea (formerly Mount Saint Joseph’s Abbey), is to relocate to Mellifont Abbey in Co Louth.
The Bishop noted that, since 1878, the abbey has been a cherished and faithful presence in the pastoral life of the Diocese of Killaloe, holding “a special place in the hearts of the people of Roscrea”, including all who prayed and worshipped there, generations of pupils, (former students, included former Taoiseach Mr Brian Cowen and former Tánaiste Mr Dick Spring), and staff connected with the school on the grounds since 1905, and those who benefited from retreats and the hospitality of the guesthouse. He also acknowledged the importance of the farm on the college grounds to the wider local community.
As stated, the abbey was founded in 1878 by a group of 32 monks from Mount Melleray Abbey, County Waterford. A number of years earlier Arthur John Moore MP of County Tipperary had visited Mt Melleray petitioning for it. The church was later opened for worship in 1883, on 600 acres in Mount Heaton, Roscrea, and a Boarding school, Cistercian College, Roscrea, was founded in 1905.
Bishop Monahan paid tribute to the contribution of the monks and school staff to education, highlighting the respected tradition of the boarding school and its strong sporting ethos. He confirmed that the Cistercians will continue as patrons of Cistercian College, ensuring the Cistercian spirit remains central to school life.
He said the abbey’s greatest gift has been its spiritual witness, including the long-standing availability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the enduring legacy of figures such as Dom Eugene Boylan OCSO.
While acknowledging local disappointment, Bishop Monahan said he understands the decision follows prolonged prayerful discernment and reflects wider rationalisation in Church life today. He offered gratitude to Dom Rufus and the community, assuring them of prayers and good wishes as they undertake this transition.
Sinn Féin leader Ms Mary Lou McDonald has condemned the recent/latest US and Israeli strikes, calling them “an act of unprovoked military aggression” and urging a halt to military action and a return to diplomacy.
Wrapped in the sanctimony of condemning ‘unprovoked military aggression,’ Sinn Féin’s moral certainty jars with a past in which civilians were too often treated as collateral.
That phrase, “unprovoked military aggression”, is designed to do a lot of work in a very small space. It tells you who the villains are, who the victims are, and who holds the moral high ground. It’s a clean sentence. A righteous sentence. The kind of sentence that fits neatly into a clip for an evening news bulletin.
The problem for Sinn Féin is that Ireland’s memory is not short, clean and neat, and neither is modern Sinn Féin’s own history. Because, while Sinn Féin is a political party, it was long widely regarded as the political wing of the Provisional IRA, even if both have emphasized separateness since the 1990s. That association matters, not as a cheap talking point, but because it drags out a very specific set of ghosts into any conversation about violence and legitimacy. And those ghosts have names, dates, and places, where civilians paid the ultimate price.
Civilians in the crosshairs: Provisional IRA (PIRA) If readers want to understand why some people hear “unprovoked aggression” and immediately wince; you don’t need to reach for ideology. You just need a calendar of factual events .
21st July 1972 – Belfast (“Bloody Friday”): 22 bombs in 75 minutes. 9 killed, around 130 seriously injured.
31st July 1972 – Claudy, Co. Londonderry (“Bloody Monday”): Three car bombs, 9 civilians killed, 30 injured.
17th February 1978 – La Mon House Hotel/Restaurant, near Comber, Co. Down: an incendiary device killed 12 and injured 30 in a restaurant setting.
27th August 1979 – Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo (Mountbatten assassination): a bomb on a boat killed four, including teenagers Nicholas Knatchbull (14yrs) and Paul Maxwell (15yrs).
8th November 1987 – Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh (Remembrance Day bombing): a bomb at a ceremony killed 11 people initially, most of them civilians.
20th March 1993 – Warrington, England: bombs in litter bins killed two children (Jonathan Ball, 3yrs; Tim Parry, 12) and injured 56 persons.
23rd October 1993 – Shankill Road, Belfast: a bomb detonated prematurely in a fish shop; 10 killed, including eight civilians and two children.
These aren’t “military operations.” They’re not “surgical strikes.” They’re the messy, brutal reality of what happens when violence is sold as strategy and civilians are treated as collateral, or as leverage. So when Sinn Féin’s leader uses the language of moral clarity about foreign wars, people are entitled to ask: where was that clarity when Irish and British civilians were being blown apart in pubs, streets, shops, at ceremonies, and in restaurants? Again, ordinary people, normal venues, lives ended in pieces.
Real IRA: Omagh and the moral bankruptcy of “after”. Then there’s Omagh, the moment that shattered any illusion that mass-casualty bombing belonged to the past. 15th August 1998 – Omagh, Co. Tyrone: the Real IRA bombing killed 29 and injured 200 plus. Whatever someone wants to call it; be it ‘war’, ‘resistance’, ‘conflict’, Omagh made one thing undeniable; there is no political argument that redeems the slaughter of civilians in a town centre.
The point isn’t “whataboutism.” It’s credibility. Defenders will say, “Sinn Féin today is not the Provisional IRA”. True, in the direct operational sense. But Sinn Féin can’t have it both ways, it can’t trade on a revolutionary heritage when it suits, then act offended when that heritage is raised as a moral mirror. Britannica’s phrasing is blunt for a reason: “Sinn Féin was long widely regarded as the political wing of the Provisional IRA”.
So yes, Ms McDonald can condemn foreign strikes as “unprovoked military aggression.” But if Sinn Féin wants to speak like an international referee, it should expect people to replay their tapes, and on their tapes, watch as civilians scream, burn, bleed and die. No, it’s not ancient history. No, it’s the price paid by ordinary people who never got to vote on anybody’s future “strategy.” And it’s why moral language, used cheaply, can sound less like principle, and more like a theatre performance, for the less informed.
“Unprovoked Military Aggression”,said Ms Mary Lou McDonald. Let us take a look at Iran’s weapons support and who it armed, and roughly for how long, up until this year (2026).
Hezbollah (Lebanon): since1982 – (44 years). Hamas + Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) associated with Sinn Féin: the former commonly described as armed/supported since the 1990s era – (30–36 years).
Major war-theater pipelines. Houthis / Ansar Allah (Yemen): at least since 2014 (and UN panels have identified Iranian-origin missile/UAV remnants in Yemen) – (12+ years.) Syrian government / pro-Assad forces: widely reported military support since 2011 – (15 years).
Newer state-to-state channel. Russia: transfers tied to the Ukraine war since 2022; UK/France/Germany have publicly condemned Iran’s ballistic missile transfers – (4 years).
Hezbollah timeline: 1982: Hezbollah emerges, founded in the context of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon with Iranian support. 18th Apr 1983: U.S. Embassy bombing, Beirut: 63 killed. Frequently attributed in U.S. accounts to Hezbollah-linked networks / “Islamic Jihad Organization 23rd Oct 1983: U.S. Marine barracks bombing, Beirut: 241 U.S. service members killed.23rd Oct 1983: French paratrooper barracks bombing, Beirut: 58 French soldiers killed. 20th Sep 1984: U.S. Embassy annex bombing (Aukar), Beirut: 23 killed. 3rd Dec 1984: Kuwait Airways Flight 221 hijacking: 2 killed (two U.S. passengers murdered). 14th–30th Jun 1985: TWA Flight 847 hijacking (Athens): 1 killed (U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem). 12 Apr 1985: El Descanso restaurant bombing (Spain): 18 killed. 7th Mar 1992: Assassination of Ehud Sadan (Israeli Embassy security chief), Ankara: 1 killed, 3 injured; claimed by “Islamic Jihad Organization,” Hezbollah suspected/denied. 17th Mar 1992:Israeli Embassy bombing, Buenos Aires: 29 killed, 242 injured; claim of responsibility by “Islamic Jihad Organization,” which has been linked to Iran/Hezbollah in many accounts. 28th Jan 1993: Attempted murder of Jak Kamhi (prominent Turkish Jewish figure): shot and survived; discussed in intelligence/terrorism reporting as part of Iran/Hezbollah-linked activity. 17th Mar 1994: Attempted bombing of the Israeli Embassy, Bangkok: failed after suspects’ car crash; C4 reportedly found. 18th Jul 1994: AMIA bombing, Buenos Aires: 85 killed; widely attributed by Argentine judicial/official actions and major reporting to Hezbollah with Iranian backing, (Iran denies). 19th Jul 1994: Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 bombing (Panama): 21 killed; long unresolved, later treated publicly by U.S. sources as Hezbollah-linked. Apr 1996: Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel (Grapes of Wrath period): Hezbollah fired Katyusha rockets; exact counts/precise injury figures vary by source. 25th Jun 1996: Khobar Towers bombing (Saudi Arabia): 19 killed; attribution often tied to Saudi Hezbollah/Hezbollah al-Hejaz, but it is politically disputed in some accounts. 7th Oct 2000: Abduction of three Israeli soldiers: abducted, later confirmed dead; remains returned in 2004 exchange. 14th Feb 2005: Assassination of Rafik Hariri (Beirut): 22 killed. International legal proceedings convicted Hezbollah members (in absentia), while also noting limits on proof regarding leadership direction. 12th Jul 2006: Cross-border raid: 8 Israeli soldiers killed, 2 captured; triggers the 2006 Lebanon War. 26th May 2011: Attempted assassination of Israel’s consul in Istanbul: some reporting ties it to Iran/Hezbollah; treated as alleged. Feb 2012: India/Georgia diplomat attack attempts: widely discussed as an Iran-linked campaign, sometimes described as Iran/Hezbollah-linked. 2012: Bulgaria (Burgas) bus bombing: 6 killed (+ bomber); Bulgarian/EU assessments attributed involvement to Hezbollah operatives; Hezbollah denies. 2012: Azerbaijan plot against Israeli ambassador / Chabad-linked targets: widely described as Iran-linked; “Iran/Hezbollah” appears in some reporting/claims. Apr 2014: Bangkok plot targeting Israeli tourists (Passover/Songkran period): Thai authorities arrested suspects described in reporting as Hezbollah members/agents. May–Jun 2015: Cyprus ammonium nitrate seizure: Reuters reported Cyprus believed it foiled a major attack; Israel said it bore Hezbollah hallmarks. 2015: London-area ammonium nitrate cache, widely reported as a 2015 discovery later revealed publicly. Nov 2023: Brazil: foiled plot targeting Jewish-linked sites: Brazilian federal police said suspects were recruited/funded by Hezbollah; treated as alleged pending full public case details. 27th Jul 2024: Majdal Shams (Golan Heights) strike: 12 killed; a rocket attack. Israel/U.S. blamed Hezbollah; Hezbollah denied responsibility.
So should the USA and Israel attack be therefore described as “Unprovoked Military Aggression”? If a strike is responding to an armed attack carried out by an Iran-backed aggressor, supporters can surely argue that it’s actions are not “unprovoked.”
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