#2
My 2nd favorite Tarheel. Best story? When she lived in Spain her next door neighbor was Fulgencio Batista of former Cuban, uh, renown. He got into a protracted feud with her calling the Guardia Civil around the clock due to the ongoing level of loud mayhem.
Evidently one woman's mirth is a neighbor's chaos. Great shot of a great American beauty.
ISWAP released a statement claiming responsibility for the coordinated attacks that targeted Nigerian army camps and positions in Buratai, Shiwari (Mile 4 near Baga) and Maiduguri on the night between March 15 and 16.
ISWAP released a statement claiming responsibility for the coordinated attacks that targeted Nigerian army camps and positions in Buratai, Shiwari (Mile 4 near Baga) and Maiduguri on the night between March 15 and 16.
ISWAP terrorists reported to have stormed the Mile 4 military camp, killing five Nigerian soldiers "at least" and injured several others, and burned most of the camp along with four military vehicles.
ISWAP also states that they stormed they Buratai military camp, burning two armored vehicles after Nigerian troops completely fled the camp without resistance. More at the link
3 bandits, 11 community guards killed in bloody clash in Katsina
By: Zagazola Makama
No fewer than three suspected bandits and 11 members of a local vigilante group have been killed in a violent clash between communities and repentant bandits in Jibia Local Government Area of… pic.twitter.com/GFKLimSQ5Y
3 bandits, 11 community guards killed in bloody clash in Katsina
By Zagazola Makama
No fewer than three suspected bandits and 11 members of a local vigilante group have been killed in a violent clash between communities and repentant bandits in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.
The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, followed the collapse of a peace arrangement between residents of Falale and Kadobe villages and a group of repentant bandits operating in the area.
Security sources told Zagazola Makama that the confrontation began at about 12:00 p.m. when tensions escalated into a fierce exchange, leading to the killing of three of the bandits.
The development, however, triggered a swift reprisal attack by the armed group, resulting in the deaths of 11 vigilante members drawn from the affected communities.
The Katsina State Police Command confirmed the incident, noting that security operatives were immediately deployed to the scene upon receipt of the report.
Nigerian Military eliminate 61 terrorists in Malam Fatori, Borno
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Army troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), in close coordination with, The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), has neutralised no fewer than 61 ISWAP terrorists during a foiled… pic.twitter.com/IW532GjBoz
Nigerian Military eliminate 61 terrorists in Malam Fatori, Borno
By Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Army troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), in close coordination with, The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), has neutralised no fewer than 61 ISWAP terrorists during a foiled infiltration attempt in Malam Fatori, Abadam Local Government Area of Borno.
Sources involved in the operation disclosed that the terrorists launched the attack in the early hours of Wednesday, advancing on foot and deploying armed drones in a desperate bid to breach the defences of troops at the 68 Battalion location.
The sources told Zagazola Makama that the attack, which came through the frontage of Bravo Company from the Duguri general area, was met with overwhelming firepower and superior coordination between ground forces and air components.
The sources explained that troops, supported by precision air strikes, engaged the insurgents in a fierce battle that resulted in heavy casualties on the side of the terrorists.
[IsraelTimes] Announcement marks second time this week that the Gulf state has arrested a cell affiliated with the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group
Kuwait arrested 10 holy warriors affiliated with the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terror group on Wednesday, who were accused of plotting terrorist actions against vital infrastructure, the interior ministry said.
This was the second Hezbollah-affiliated cell to be arrested in Kuwait this week, as the Gulf faced daily Iranian attacks during the Middle East war, which has seen Tehran-backed groups including Hezbollah join the conflict.
"The State Security Agency has successfully thwarted a plot for a terrorist operation targeting vital installations," the interior ministry said.
"Ten citizens, members of a terrorist group affiliated with the banned Hezbollah terrorist organization were apprehended," it added.
The ministry shared a video of seized items including Hezbollah flags, small drones and pictures of Iran’s slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> and Hezbollah’s former leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> , killed in an Israeli attack.
On Monday, Kuwait’s interior ministry said it arrested 16 people — 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese nationals — affiliated with Hezbollah who had planned a "sabotage plot."
The ministry said the group had sought to recruit individuals and that it seized a number of weapons, camera drones and morse code communication devices.
Hezbollah denied that any of its members were among the 16 arrested.
In previous years, Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... has faced tensions with Gulf states including Kuwait, which have expressed concern about Hezbollah’s influence on the Mediterranean country.
About one-third of Kuwait’s local population belongs to the Shia branch of Islam, as do most Iranians.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
[IsraelTimes] Diaspora Ministry said Sunday that new terror group, which claimed responsibility for spate of attacks across Netherlands and Belgium, is believed to have ties to Iranian networks
The Netherlands is investigating whether Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... was involved in the attack on a Rotterdam synagogue on Friday, Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel has said, adding that the suspects apprehended for the attack had most likely been recruited.
"The possibility that Iran is involved in this attack is... being explicitly investigated," Van Weel told parliament on Tuesday, though he did not cite a conclusive link between Iran and the attack ahead of the investigation’s conclusions.
Dutch prosecutors said on Monday that the four men suspected of causing the Rotterdam synagogue explosion had done so with terrorist intent. The four, aged 17 to 19, were apprehended shortly after an arson attack caused a fire at the synagogue early on Friday.
In the past week, several attacks have taken place in the Netherlands, including one on a Jewish school in Amsterdam. There has also been an attack on a synagogue in Liege, in neighboring Belgium.
The attacks, which caused no injuries, were all claimed on social media platform X by an turban group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, though police are still investigating whether the group was actually behind them.
Van Weel previously said that a link between the earth-shattering kabooms in Amsterdam and Rotterdam could not be excluded, but did not confirm any claims made on social media.
The attacks have triggered heightened security at Jewish sites in the Netherlands.
Concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world have risen following US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the subsequent response from Tehran.
ISRAEL: NEW TERROR GROUP IS BELIEVED TO HAVE TIES TO IRAN
Van Weel’s comments came after the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, on Sunday, said the terror group that grabbed credit for the attacks is believed to be linked with Iranian terror networks.
The organization’s apparent ability to coordinate attacks in multiple countries in a short period of time indicates that the risk of further attacks remains significant, the report said.
The name "Ashab al-Yamin" originates from Koranic terminology describing the righteous who receive their record in their right hand on Judgment Day.
Its logo depicts a raised arm holding a rifle pointed to the right with a globe behind it, a design that closely resembles the symbols used by Iran-aligned groups.
Additionally, intelligence analyses indicated that footage of the attacks in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... was quickly distributed on Telegram channels affiliated with pro-Iranian Shiite terror networks, including channels linked to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the report said.
The right answer would be to drive out unassimilated and murderous Moslems, but they can’t imagine doing the one thing needed to make Jews and non-Jews alike safe.
[IsraelTimes] Troops will be deployed at two dozen sites in the wake of explosions last week at Jewish institutions in Liège and the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Belgium will begin deploying military troops to reinforce security at synagogues and Jewish schools in the wake of rising antisemitic threats, politicians said Monday.
The decision follows an explosives attack last week at a synagogue in Liège, in the eastern part of the country. A new terror group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, said to be targeting Jewish institutions in Europe, grabbed credit for that blast, which did not injure anyone.
The group, which is believed to be linked with Iranian terror networks, also said it caused explosions at Jewish institutions in Amsterdam and Rotterdam last week in the Netherlands.
Soldiers in Belgium will begin working alongside local police forces "as soon as possible," in coordination with the Federal Police, Defense Minister Theo Francken and Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said Monday.
The plan is believed to cover 20 synagogues around the country and four Jewish schools in Antwerp, local media reported. The city is home to most of Belgium’s 30,000 Jews. Estimates say that more than 50 soldiers will patrol with police for "as long as necessary."
The decision will help protect Belgium’s Jewish community and "support security on our streets," Francken said on X.
"Antisemitism and hatred against Jews will never be tolerated," he wrote. "We will stand firm against it, always."
Public officials, including Antwerp Mayor Els van Doesburg, began calling for greater protection after the Liège attack on March 9. The Coordination Committee of Jewish Organisations in Belgium (CCOJB) has also requested troops at Jewish sites.
In December, Quintin announced a plan to withdraw police security forces in Antwerp’s Jewish district starting in January, despite soaring antisemitism in the country and around the world. He later withdrew that plan after it sparked a public outcry.
Following this week’s announcement, Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden complained that the decision to deploy soldiers was made without parliamentary debate. Prime Minister Bart De Wever responded that the decision invoked a clause in the law that allows the federal police commissioner to request military support for specific missions.
A similar operation was initiated in 2015, when Operation Vigilant Guardian was launched to fight rising terrorist threats after the January 2015 Île-de-La Belle France attacks. That operation remained in place until 2021.
#1
All the kewl kids are doing it, for which the residents are no doubt grateful. But it would be better to evict the Moslem colonists who made it necessary to protect Jewish citizens from their neighbours:
Italian soldiers are patrolling Rome's ancient Jewish quarter and Belgian troops will help secure Jewish sites as an official warns the threat of antisemitic violence "is very real." https://t.co/4Y2ntmZFuz
[IsraelNationalNews] The IDF on Thursday published special footage from its unprecedented strikes on Iranian targets in the Caspian Sea, approximately 1,300 kilometers (over 800 miles) from Israel. The Israeli Air Force, guided by naval intelligence and the Intelligence Directorate, struck major infrastructure belonging to the Iranian Navy, which is subordinate to the Iranian Armed Forces, intending to wear down its operational capabilities in the north.
During the strikes, dozens of vessels anchored in the port sustained direct hits. Among the major targets that were destroyed were missile ships, support vessels, and guard ships. The missile ships that were targeted were equipped with aerial surveillance systems and additional anti-submarine missiles. Additionally, the IAF destroyed a port command center from which Iranian Navy forces controlled naval operations in the Caspian Sea, as well as central infrastructure used for vessel repair and maintenance.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/19/2026 10:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1783 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
Not sure why those targets would be a military priority
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/19/2026 11:10 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If I remember correctly the Russians were hitting targets in Syria with missiles from their Caspian Sea feet. So why take any chances.
Plus, when you tell you children to pick up their toys, you tell them to pick up ALL of their toys, and not just the ones in the hallway. The Israelis are just being responsible children.
#4
There are two canals that Iran, in theory, could use to move any ships in the Caspian Sea. It would require Russian approval. The Volga-Don Canal could move the ships through to the Black Sea and the Volga-Baltic Waterway. I doubt the Iranians would get permission from all of the countries through which the Volga-Baltic Waterway would pass. It's unlikely any Iranian ships will leave the Caspian Sea.
[IsraelTimes] Group claims Israel hitting cops who are trying to maintain security and stability, which Jerusalem rejects, saying it targets terror operatives who pose active threat to its troops
Israel has killed nearly a dozen Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... coppers this week as it steps up attacks on the Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... -run force that the terror group has used to re-establish governance in areas under its control, according to Hamas figures.
Hamas’s nearly 10,000 coppers have emerged as a major sticking point in talks to advance US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... ’s plan for Gaza. Hamas views them as separate from its armed wing, which is expected to disarm under the plan, and wants them included in a new police force envisioned under the plan.
Israel completely rejects the involvement of any officers with Hamas affiliations and regards all elements of Hamas, including its police, as components of the terrorist organization.
Trump’s plan calls for the Islamist terror group to lay down its weapons and hand over governance to a committee of Paleostinian technocrats who would manage Gaza’s police as Israeli troops withdraw. Talks on disarming Hamas have been delayed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, Rooters has reported.
HAMAS TAKES PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT ITS POLICE
On the ground in Gaza, mostly unarmed officers dressed in navy police uniforms patrol the streets in the seafront sliver of Gaza where Hamas retained control under an October ceasefire following two years of war.
Officers could be seen directing traffic and patrolling markets and tent encampments in Gaza City on Monday.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Israel had killed more than 2,800 Gaza coppers since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led gunnies launched their deadly invasion of southern Israel, triggering the war in Gaza
Dozens of Hamas coppers have been killed since the ceasefire, including at least 10 since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on February 28, Thawabta said.
To try to avoid more losses, he said, "operational orders and precautionary measures" had been issued "to reduce risks to police personnel, including reorganizing movements and deployments." He gave no further details.
Israel says its attacks in Gaza that have struck and killed coppers have been aimed at eliminating threats to its troops from Hamas. Israeli troops remain deployed in the roughly 53% of Gaza under Israel’s control.
In Israel’s most recent strikes, Gaza medics said nine coppers were killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on a car in Zawayda in central Gaza on Sunday.
The bombed-out remnants of the car, stained with blood, were left on the street, surrounded by destroyed buildings.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had struck an armed Hamas cell that it said was planning to carry out an attack on Israeli troops, and that six people were killed.
צה"ל חיסל חוליית מחבלי חמאס שקידמה מתווה טרור נגד כוחותינו: חוסלו מחבלים שהשתתפו בטבח ה-7 באוקטובר
אתמול, זיהו כוחות צה״ל חוליית מחבלים חמושים מארגון הטרור חמאס, שתכננו לבצע מתווה טרור נגד כוחותינו.
צה״ל תקף וחיסל את המחבלים החמושים במטרה להסיר את האיום.
… IDF Eliminates Hamas Terrorist Cell Advancing Terror Plot Against Our Forces: Terrorists Who Participated in the October 7 Massacre Eliminated
Yesterday, IDF forces identified an armed terrorist cell from the Hamas terror organization that was planning to carry out a terror plot against our forces.
The IDF attacked and eliminated the armed terrorists in order to remove the threat.
It can now be confirmed that among the terrorists who were attacked and eliminated:
Rami Ibrahim Harab and Muaz Ziad Dra - two Nukhba terrorists who infiltrated the country's territory during the murderous massacre on October 7, who planned to carry out terror plots targeting IDF forces operating in the Strip in the immediate time frame
Abd Muhammad Amzi - a terrorist in the "Popular Resistance Committees" terror organization, an organization operating to advance terror plots under Hamas sponsorship
Tufiq Khaldi - a terrorist of the Hamas terror organization
Together with the terrorists, three additional Hamas terrorists were eliminated.
IDF forces under Southern Command are deployed in the area in accordance with the agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat
Neither Hamas nor the IDF responded immediately to a request for comment on the discrepancy in the death figures.
’STRIKES AIM TO DISRUPT HAMAS’ SECURITY EFFORTS’
Paleostinian political analyst Reham Owda said Israel’s attacks on Gaza police highlighted Israeli concerns about Hamas tightening its grip on Gaza in areas under its control.
"These strikes aim to disrupt Hamas’s security efforts in the territory and convey a clear message that Israel will not accept any expanded security role for Hamas within Gaza," Owda told Rooters.
Israel has insisted that Hamas completely disarm and has warned that should it fail to do so, Israel will resume its military offensive to do so.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 670 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Four IDF soldiers have been killed in Gaza in the same period.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a local armed Hamas commander, Mohammad Abu Shahla, in Khan Younis in the south, Hamas and medics said, and overnight, two men on a cycle of violence shot and maimed a senior Hamas police officer in Gaza City. Hamas blamed that attack on "Israeli collaborators."
Israel did not immediately comment on the incidents.
Abdallah al-Araisha, a Paleostinian living in a tent encampment in Gaza City, said the police had been helping to fight crime and protect people across Gaza, where most of the population of over 2 million is internally displaced.
"Without the police, we would be ruined," Araisha said.
🇮🇷 #Iran - 🇮🇱 #Israel: Iran launched a renewed missile attack across central Israel earlier today.
Multiple residential buildings were hit as a result of the strike. Although many missiles were "intercepted", their cluster sub-munitions still struck targets on the ground.… pic.twitter.com/5yjPWmSwt4
Iran launched a renewed missile attack across central Israel earlier today.
Multiple residential buildings were hit as a result of the strike. Although many missiles were "intercepted", their cluster sub-munitions still struck targets on the ground.
According to Israeli media, at least three people were reported to have been “lightly injured.”
Splinters and stubbed toes do not win a war, guys.
Courtesy of Lord Garth:
Three Palestinian Women killed near Hebron by Iran Cluster Bomb Missile
[MSN-Jpost] Three Palestinian women were killed in an Iranian missile attack in the West Bank late on Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, in the first deadly Iranian strike there, and the first to kill Palestinians, since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The missiles struck a hair salon in the town of Beit Awwa, southwest of Hebron, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA reported. Thirteen were wounded, one of them seriously.
The Israeli military said it understood the strike was caused by a cluster munition, a warhead that splits into tiny bomblets that scatter into a disparate area.
Most Israelis have access to bomb shelters that protect them from cluster munitions and falling debris, but virtually no such shelters exist for Palestinians in the West Bank.
Many Palestinians rely on either the sound of sirens from Jewish settlements or neighboring cities in Israel to alert them to rocket volleys.
At least 15 people have been killed in Israel since Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran at the end of February.
Iranian ballistic missile strikes Wednesday night killed a man in central Israel and at least three women in the southern West Bank, first responders said.
The man, a 30-year-old foreign worker, sustained critical injuries from shrapnel in Moshav Adanim and was declared dead a short while later, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. He was not immediately named.
Police and medics said they were responding to reports of impacts in central Israel, as footage showed the ballistic missile launched by Iran carried a cluster bomb.
In the Hebron-area village of Beit Awwa, roughly an hour before, an apparent cluster munition killed at least three people. WAFA the Paleostinian Authority’s official news agency, identified them as Sahira, Amal and Mais Masalma, ages 50, 36 and 17, respectively. It was not immediately clear how they were related.
Another cluster munition hit the Israeli community of Neta, just over the Green Line from Beit Awwa, damaging a home but causing no injuries, according to rescue services.
Earlier Wednesday, a 44-year-old man and two children aged 13 and 12 in central Israel’s Petah Tivka were lightly maimed in another Iranian ballistic missile attack, medics said. Several cluster munition impact sites were reported in central Israel, one of which caused damage to a home.
Three other Iranian missile attacks since Wednesday morning also set off sirens in the areas of Haifa, the Galilee, the Golan and near southern Israel’s Eilat, without any injures reported.
About half the ballistic missiles launched by Iran at Israel in the current war have carried cluster bomb warheads, according to the IDF. A couple in their 70s were killed early Wednesday by a cluster munition that hit their home in central Israel’s Ramat Gan. Iran acknowledged firing cluster munitions, saying it was to avenge Israel’s killing of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani earlier this week.
Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the gondola was dangling by a single thread of rope.
Jack! Cynthia cried. I just realized I'm afraid of heights! I don't even like high heels!... Iran-backed Hezbollah also attacked Israel on Wednesday, including launching rockets at the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... border area — some 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... — apparently for the first time since the Iran-backed terror group renewed its attacks on Israel earlier this month.
The long-range projectiles struck open areas, according to the military. No injuries were reported.
During the attack, sirens also sounded in nearby Ashkelon as well as in northern Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, where the rocket caused damage but no injures, according to rescue services.
Minutes earlier, Hezbollah launched a small number of projectiles at central Israel and the Galilee. Sirens had sounded in Tayibe, Qalansawe, Kfar Saba and other nearby towns northeast of Tel Aviv, as well as in several communities in the Galilee. No injuries were reported.
The projectiles were either intercepted or landed in open areas, according to the IDF.
Sirens also sounded earlier Wednesday warning of a Hezbollah drone attack in the Galilee Panhandle and Golan Heights, with no injuries or damage reported.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/19/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1766 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
TW, the war they are trying to win is in the media, not the morgues.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/19/2026 9:16 Comments ||
Top||
#5
^2
The Islamic Republic has been emplacing missiles for several decades. The design of the missile bank has changed, the location has changed, the type of missile has changed. But before the 12 day conflict in 2025, they probably had 40k missiles and 2k launchers.
it is somewhat like trying to get rid of all the roaches once you realize there is an infection and you don't want to use super killer pesticide because you have children and pets
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/19/2026 9:42 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I have repeatedly said that 21st Century war will dictate the creation of a carrier-based version of the A-10. Needed it ten years ago, especially need it now.
We also need MORE of them, or a follow-on aircraft. The Air Force is stupid to hate them. The Army doesn't.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/19/2026 13:35 Comments ||
Top||
#3
@ Institutional fighter pilot arrogance. The US Air Farce doesn't want slow, ugly combat aircraft and doesn't want to do air to mud in close proximity to the front lines to destroy such unimportant things like tanks, AFV's, etc. They want to go fast in 'sexy' aircraft bombing high value targets.
#4
F6 Source - "A US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, sources tell @halbritz"
Potentially Chinese or Russian ADA, possible updates or replacements?
&
@OrenCNN
.
#6
I thought they got rid of these years ago. Slow, highly vulnerable to SAMs and replaced by the Super Tucano and others. It's a tank-killer, not a maritime interdiction platform.
Also it was designed by a Nazi. One who got every medal the Nazis could award so Hitler designed a special one that only he got. Remained an unrepentant seething mass of hate until the day he finally became a good Nazi.
I fear someone is a victim of too much sugary breakfast cereal.
AI summary: The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II ("Warthog") was designed by a team at Fairchild Republic led by Chief Engineer Alexander Kartveli in the late 1960s.
During the war, Karveli was in New York working for Republic Aviation Company designing fighter planes. There appears to be no evidence he ever kissed a Nazi on the lips.
[IsraelTimes] Defense minister reveals IDF has free hand to ‘eliminate’ any senior Iranian security figures; Wall Street Journal reports Iranian security officials being hunted with drones
The Israel Defense Forces killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, in an overnight Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Tehran, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, adding that "significant surprises" were expected later in the day.
Khatib was the third senior Iranian official slain within 24 hours.
"On this day, significant surprises are expected across all arenas that will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Hezbollah in Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... ," Katz said during a security assessment, in remarks provided by his office.
"The intensity of the strikes in Iran is increasing. The Iranian intelligence minister Khatib was also eliminated overnight," he said.
Hours later, Israel attacked Iran’s largest gas-processing facility, in the Bushehr Province.
Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "authorized the IDF to [eliminate] any senior Iranian figure... without the need for additional approval."
Khatib, who had served as intelligence minister since 2021, was targeted by Israeli Air Force fighter jets in the capital, Tehran.
The military said the Intelligence Ministry is "the Iranian terrorist regime’s primary intelligence organization, which also played a key role in supporting the regime’s repression and terrorist activities."
The ministry "possesses advanced intelligence capabilities, overseeing surveillance, espionage, and the execution of covert operations worldwide, particularly against the State of Israel and Iranian citizens," the IDF said.
As intelligence minister, the IDF said, Khatib "played a significant role during the recent protests throughout Iran, both with regards to the arrests and killing of protesters, as well as shaping the regime’s intelligence assessment," and during protests in 2022-2023 over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, in police custody.
The IDF said Khatib also led the ministry’s "terror activities against Israeli and American targets around the world, as well as activities directed against targets within Israel" during the current war.
On Tuesday, Israel announced it had killed Ali Larijani, a top security official believed by some to be running Iran amid the war, and Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ volunteer Basij militia.
Throughout the war, Israel has been using targeted airstrikes and loitering drones to hunt and kill officers of the Iranian regime’s internal security forces, chasing them from headquarters to backup locations and even to tents and buses on the side of the road, The Wall Street Journal reported early Wednesday.
Soleimani was killed in a tent in a wooded area of Tehran, where he’d withdrawn with his deputies after Israel bombed the Basij headquarters and other official gathering places. An ordinary Iranian had tipped off Israeli intelligence about the commander’s location, the report said.
According to the article, after the US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> and dozens of other high-ranking Iranians, starting the war, the IDF followed intelligence that security forces planned to use sports arenas as mustering points. After watching the sites fill up, Israel struck the stadiums, killing hundreds of members of the security services and military.
That the stadiums — in particular Azadi Stadium, in Tehran — were struck was widely reported at the time, but their use as gathering points for security officers was not known. Regime officials condemned the strikes as attacks on civilian targets, without acknowledging their use.
Israeli intelligence officials have also been calling individual police commanders, warning them to stand down in the case of a civilian uprising. The Journal said it reviewed the contents of one call in which a Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... agent warned a senior police commander, in Persian: "We know everything about you." The policeman reportedly said: "I’m a dead man already. Just please come help us."
According to the report, Iranians have reported a sense of disorder taking hold, with police unable to carry out some of their regular duties, and advising shopkeepers to close up at night and leaving previous investigations on hold.
Some security officers, afraid for their safety, have started sleeping in mosques, vehicles, or tents. Some have pleaded with residents to let them sleep inside apartment buildings, or have set themselves up in stairwells, prompting the residents to evacuate for fear of an Israeli strike, the report said.
According to the newspaper, Israel aims not only to disrupt the command and control of the agencies and degrade their enforcement abilities, but also to show Iranian civilians that agents of the regime are under attack.
DRONES HOVERING IN TEHRAN, TAKING OUT CHECKPOINTS
Over the past week, the Israeli Air Force has been striking members of Iran’s oppressive Basij paramilitary force and its checkpoints across Tehran and elsewhere. The Journal reported that the IAF had sent "fleets of loitering drones" to carry out the strikes.
On Thursday alone, the IDF said it struck Basij soldiers at more than 10 checkpoints and positions in Tehran.
The military said one target was an "emergency position" of the Basij and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, "which had previously served as a football club."
A source in Tehran told the Journal that police moved another checkpoint in the city’s Vanak neighborhood under a highway bridge to avoid being struck. The report said that much of the intelligence about roadside targets has come via tips from ordinary Iranians.
The IDF said the strikes were "inflicting deep and ongoing blows to the capabilities of the Basij unit."
Last week, the IDF also said it had struck members of the Basij force at checkpoints in Tehran.
Though the US and Israel have said that only Iranians themselves can topple the Islamic Theocratic Republic, both countries have spoken of creating the conditions for a popular uprising.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Iranians to challenge the Islamic Theocratic Republic during the holiday of Nowruz, saying Israel was "watching from above." The remark came despite another report that Israeli officials had warned last week that, as things stood, Iranians would be "slaughtered" if they erupted into the streets.
The US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 after a massive US military buildup in the region and repeated threats by US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... to strike Iran, first over its crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January and then over its nuclear program. Iran has responded to the bombing with missile and dronezaps across the region.
It’s unclear how many people were killed in Iran’s brutal crackdown, with estimates from human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... and opposition groups running at between 7,000 and 36,000 people killed, mostly protesters.
With speeds over 186 mph, these Ukrainian drone interceptors are being sought by the U.S. and its Gulf allies to take down Iran's Shahed drones. The Ukrainian-made interceptors cost about $2,000 to make, compared to $4 million missile interceptors the U.S. and its allies are… pic.twitter.com/eYSRK4qKzc
[IsraelTimes] Army says it will bomb Litani River crossings used by Hezbollah as it repeats warning for south Lebanon residents to flee northward following Hezbollah rocket barrage on north
Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... on Wednesday killed at least 14 people and maimed dozens, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as the Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah targets in response to the Iran-backed terror group’s rocket barrage on northern Israel overnight.
The military also renewed its call for residents of Hezbollah’s southern Lebanon heartland to flee northward, and said it would bomb crossings used by Hezbollah to move troops and equipment south over the Litani River, which runs some 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the Israeli border.
Israel has escalated airstrikes and pushed troops farther into Lebanon after Hezbollah earlier this month started launching attacks on Israel for the first time since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement, which ended over a year of conflict.
Hezbollah has said the strikes were in response to both Israel’s continued presence and strikes in Lebanon since the agreement, and the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on February 28.
Israeli strikes on central Beirut’s Basta and Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhoods on Wednesday morning killed at least 12 people and maimed 41, said Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
"It was at 4 a.m., we were asleep," said Sara Saleh, a 29-year-old woman displaced from Beirut’s southern district, a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold.
"We fled in our pyjamas," she told AFP, after she and her family fled a school they were sheltering in nearby.
Among those killed were the director of political programming for Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV and his wife, while their children and grandchildren were maimed, the network said.
The IDF had issued an evacuation warning for one building in Beirut’s Bachoura neighborhood, saying it would target facilities used by Hezbollah. In the morning, the military said the Air Force had struck facilities of Hezbollah’s quasi-bank al-Qard al-Hasan in Beirut.
Also in Beirut, the military said a strike carried out by the Israeli Navy targeted a "key" Hezbollah operative. No further details were given.
The IDF said it also struck command centers "deliberately embedded within the civilian population" in the southern coastal city of Tyre, which it described as a Hezbollah "center of gravity." The Tyre area had already been partially evacuated of civilians, and the military issued a new warning ahead of the strikes.
A building collapses in Beirut following an Israeli strike after the Israeli military called on residents of the city's central neighbourhood to evacuate, warning of an imminent attack on the Lebanese capital targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah pic.twitter.com/vQpWZQs68m
Another airstrike in south Lebanon targeted a headquarters of the Imam Hossein Division, an Iranian militia that operates alongside Hezbollah, the military added.
Lebanon’s health ministry said two people, including a civil defense rescuer, were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle near the main seaside road in Sidon. There was no immediate comment from the military on that strike.
Later on Wednesday morning, the military targeted gas stations in Lebanon that it said were owned by Hezbollah.
Al-Amana, a fuel distribution company that is owned by Hezbollah, has been under US sanctions since February 2020. The IDF said the company "constitutes fundamental economic infrastructure that supports Hezbollah’s military capabilities."
The strikes on al-Amana were intended to cause a blow to both the terror group’s income and mobility, according to the IDF.
"The targeted assets generate millions of dollars of profits for the terror organization. These funds are funneled through accounts owned by Hezbollah’s al-Quard al-Hassan Association, and fund Hezbollah’s terror activity," the military said.
The military also repeated its call, which was first issued on Thursday and renewed on Tuesday, for residents of southern Lebanon to flee north of the Zahrani River, which runs about 18 kilometers (11 miles) north of the Litani River, where the IDF said it would target crossings used by Hezbollah.
The IDF has assessed that just under 1,000 members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force crossed the Litani River into southern Lebanon to confront Israeli forces carrying out a ground operation. So far, the IDF said it has killed at least 200 Radwan operatives, who the military says are deployed in small cells across nearly every village in southern Lebanon and are mostly retreating after encountering Israeli forces. "Run awayyyy!"
"Due to Hezbollah’s activities and the movement of terror operatives to southern Lebanon under the cover of the civilian population, the IDF is forced to carry out extensive and precise strikes against Hezbollah’s terror activities," said army front man Col. Avichay Adraee on Wednesday.
To "prevent the transfer of reinforcements and combat equipment, the IDF intends to attack crossings on the Litani River" in the afternoon, said Adraee. Addressing south Lebanon residents, he added: "For your safety, you must continue moving to the area north of the Zahrani River and refrain from any movement southward that could endanger your lives."
Last week, the military struck a bridge on the Litani River that it said was being used by Hezbollah as a "key crossing" to move from northern to southern Lebanon.
IDF SAYS IT THWARTED OVER HALF OF OVERNIGHT ROCKET BARRAGE
The IDF said Wednesday that it thwarted more than half of Hezbollah’s overnight rocket barrage on northern Israel, and assessed that the terror group plans to launch similarly large attacks every few days.
According to military estimates, Hezbollah intended to fire at least 100 rockets. In practice, it mustered around 40 short-range rockets, several missiles, and five drones.
Most of the rockets were intercepted, landed in open areas, or fell short in Lebanon. One, however, struck a home in the northern city of Karmiel, causing damage. All five of the drones were intercepted, according to the IDF.
The Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on Hezbollah rocket launchers, launch teams, and command centers both before and during the barrage, aiming to disrupt it. The military said several launchers were destroyed before they could be used, and at least 10 more were struck afterward.
In recent days, Hezbollah has been firing an average of about 150 rockets per day, according to the IDF, which assesses that the group is attempting to periodically escalate with larger barrages like the one planned last night. Roughly two-thirds of the daily rocket fire has been the border, with the remaining third aimed at Israel.
The IDF believes Hezbollah still possesses thousands of short-range rockets with ranges of up to 40 kilometers (24.8 miles), along with hundreds of longer-range projectiles. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... most of the terror group’s remaining capabilities are now based deeper in southern Lebanon, including north of the Litani River. As a result, short-range rockets are largely limited to targeting troops in southern Lebanon or Israeli communities in the Galilee, rather than cities deeper inside Israel.
The military also assesses that Hezbollah has decentralized its rocket array, using launchers with fewer barrels spread across more locations. While this makes them harder to detect and destroy, it also reduces the number of rockets that can be fired at once.
Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... the IDF and the Shin Bet internal security service said Wednesday that a senior Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... moneyman was killed in an Israeli strike on the offices of Hamas’s "fundraising apparatus" in Sidon on Sunday. Wissam Mustafa Hussein Taha operated under Hamas fundraising chief Essam Khashan and had worked "to raise hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide for Hamas," the Shin Bet said, adding that the funds "are used to finance terrorism, military buildup, and salaries for operatives in the military wing."
The IDF on Wednesday also published footage showing the identification of Hezbollah operatives transporting weapons in southern Lebanon, before being targeted in an airstrike. The operatives were identified by troops of the 91st "Galilee" Regional Division moving RPGs and other weapons out of a car. A short while later, an Air Force drone struck and killed the Hezbollah members, the IDF said.
In another incident, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade identified two Hezbollah operatives who had launched rockets at Israeli forces, and a short while later, they were struck and killed, the military said.
Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, troops of the 300th "Baram" Regional Brigade recently demolished over 80 Hezbollah sites, the IDF said, adding that the brigade killed two Hezbollah operatives who emerged from one of the sites.
STRIKES IN LEBANON KILLING OR WOUNDING A CLASSROOM OF KIDS EVERY DAY, SAYS UN OFFICIAL
IDF strikes in Lebanon have killed over 900 people and displaced more than a million since Hezbollah renewed its attacks on Israel, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 111 children have been killed and 334 maimed in Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, according to Lebanese health ministry figures.
"That’s a classroom of children every day since the beginning of the war that’s either killed or injured in Lebanon," UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban told Rooters in Beirut on Wednesday.
Israel says it does not deliberately target civilians and that it takes multiple steps, including early evacuation warnings, to mitigate harm to civilians before strikes on terror targets take place.
Children across the region have "paid a terrible price" as the war has expanded across the Middle East, with Iran launching missiles and drones throughout the region in response to the continued US-Israeli bombing campaign, said Chaiban.
"The first thing we’re calling for is a de-escalation, a political way forward to this war," he said.
On Wednesday, La Belle France’s special envoy for Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said Hezbollah "bears full responsibility for the resumption of fighting in Lebanon" but "Israel’s response has been disproportionate and counterproductive, as it unites various actors against Israel."
Speaking to the La Belle France Info radio station, Le Drian accused Israel of spurning offers by the Lebanese government to enter into negotiations, and of driving the mass displacement in Lebanon with the IDF’s evacuation warnings.
Israel and the US have criticized the Lebanese state for failing to disarm Hezbollah in accordance with the November 2024 ceasefire agreement. Le Drian said the state had taken steps toward disarmament.
"Israel occupied Lebanon for many years and did not succeed in eliminating Hezbollah’s military capabilities," Le Drian said. "It cannot now demand that the Lebanese government achieve this in three days under bombardment."
[IsraelTimes] Two IDF soldiers, operating to counter rocket and drone attacks, were struck and wounded by Hezbollah anti-tank missile; while responding, troops misidentified UN peacekeepers.
[IsraelTimes] Impact expected to be far-reaching, with Brent crude soaring to over $108 a barrel; Qatar, UAE condemn ‘irresponsible’ escalation as Iran warns it will take ‘an eye for an eye’
A natural gas refinery at the South Pars gas field on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, in Asaluyeh, Iran, on March 16, 2019. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
The Israeli Air Force struck Iranian gas infrastructure in the country’s south on Wednesday, in a coordinated effort with the United States that experts warned would send ripples through the global economy and further expand the regional conflagration.
The strikes, launched on the 18th day of the US-Israeli offensive against the Iranian regime, targeted Iran’s massive offshore South Pars natural gas field, located in the Bushehr Province. Iranian state media reported additional strikes targeting oil facilities in Asaluyeh.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes on the gas facility, but an Israeli official confirmed the strike was carried out by the IAF.
It marked the first time that Israel attacked natural gas facilities in Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... during the ongoing campaign, after the US struck the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s oil export hub on Kharg Island over the weekend, although it said it hit only military sites on the island.
A US defense official confirmed to the Axios news site that the South Pars strike was coordinated with and approved by Washington. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome... Gulf nations, which were likely to bear the brunt of any Iranian retaliation, slammed the move as "dangerous and irresponsible."
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts of a refinery had been hit, workers had been evacuated to a safe location and emergency crews were trying to put out a fire. State media later said the fire was under control.
Iran warned that it would retaliate by targeting energy installations across Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , the United Arab Emirates and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , whose own North Field gas field is connected to South Pars.
It specifically threatened Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and its Jubail Petrochemical Complex. It also threatened the UAE’s Al Hasan Gas Field and the petrochemical plants and a refinery in Qatar.
A source familiar with the matter later told Rooters that Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG installations were being evacuated as a precaution.
KNOCK-ON EFFECT FELT ABROAD
The impact of the strikes was felt immediately, both in the region and beyond, as gas imports to neighboring Iraq were halted, and the price of Brent crude oil jumped to just shy of $110 a barrel, around a six percent increase in price.
The price of crude oil had already skyrocketed since February 28, as Tehran shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of oil and liquefied natural gas is normally shipped past its coast, but consuming nations have hoped the disruption will be short-lived as long as production infrastructure is spared.
Iran’s offshore South Pars gas field makes up around a third of the world’s largest reservoir of natural gas, and the country’s gas production totalled 276 billion cubic meters in 2024, with 94% consumed in Iran, according to data by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
Sanctions and technical constraints have meant that most of the gas Tehran produces from South Pars is for domestic use, although a portion is also exported across the border to Iraq, which is highly dependent on it. Around 30% to 40% of Iraq’s gas and power needs are supplied by Tehran.
Following the attack, however, Iran diverted its gas domestically, halting the flow to Iraq. Iraqi authorities said they were expecting a knock-on effect on power supplies there.
"Depending on the damage to the South Pars, it will likely affect Iran’s ability to send gas to power electricity plants domestically and domestic energy supplies for gas processing," explained Karen Young, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, to The Times of Israel.
"Iran has promised to retaliate mostly on petrochemical facilities and refineries in UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia," she said, in what would be "one step further to disruption of global energy markets," this time focused "less on crude transit and more on refined products."
"Iran does not export LNG [liquified natural gas], rather it exports gas through pipelines to neighboring countries," she explained. "So, if there is a disruption to domestic supply, it could shift to stop exports to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... member, but not the most reliable... and Iraq."
Turkey, unlike Iraq, did not immediately acknowledge any changes to its gas imports from Iran.
Iraq’s state news agency said later on Wednesday that the country’s state oil company SOMO had signed contracts with international carriers and buyers to export crude oil via Turkey, Jordan and Syria.
The regional response to the Israeli strikes was not a warm one, as the Gulf states found themselves once again in the line of fire as Iran warned it would retaliate by striking their own gas facilities.
DANGEROUS AND IRRESPONSIBLE
Qatar, in a statement published by foreign ministry front man Majed al-Ansari on X, panned Israel for the "dangerous and irresponsible" action.
As a close US ally and host to the largest US airbase in the region, Qatar blamed the attack on Israel without mentioning any US role.
"The Israeli targeting of facilities linked to Iran’s South Pars field, an extension of Qatar’s North Field, is a dangerous & irresponsible step amid the current military escalation in the region," he wrote.
"Targeting energy infrastructure constitutes a threat to global energy security, as well as to the peoples of the region & its environment," he continued, calling on all sides not to target "vital facilities."
The UAE, like Doha, noted that Iran’s South Pars field is connected to Qatar’s North Field, and warned that the strikes "represented a dangerous escalation."
The targeting of energy facilities, it said, "entails serious environmental repercussions and directly endangers civilians."
While neither Israel nor the US commented directly on the strike or took responsibility for it, a US official and a second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem coordinated its strikes on the South Pars natural gas field with the US.
The source familiar with the matter said the US was aware of the attack ahead of time, but did not take part in it.
Channel 12 cited an unnamed official who said the goal of the attack was to communicate to Tehran that the longer it blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the worse it would be for Iran’s energy infrastructure.
"It was a signal to the Iranians about what might come next," the official said.
Another official told Ynet that the strike was intended to increase domestic pressure on the regime by ramping up the anger against it.
"There will be power and gas outages," the unnamed official predicted. "The regime will probably reduce the supply of gas to consumers, and from there, the pressure will increase."
The official predicted that Iran would likely try to target Israeli national infrastructure in retaliation, on top of the Gulf facilities it has already threatened.
STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE
Beyond the material damage feared by the Gulf states, experts warned that the consequences of the Israeli strike could be far-reaching and impact global markets.
"This could have strategic significance — even [marking] a turning point in the war — not because of the importance of this specific facility for Iran, significant as it may be, but because this is the first time gas facilities in Iran have been meaningfully struck," explained Yoel Guzansky, a Gulf expert at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies.
"Iran is capable of, and may now choose to, target gas and oil facilities in the Gulf states," he said. "This could escalate the war to a new level, severely impacting international markets and the ability of Gulf states to export oil and gas."
This, in turn, he predicted, could "trigger a further response from the United States and Israel, potentially including strikes on even more significant Iranian oil infrastructure — chief among them Kharg Island."
Trump has already threatened to carry out additional strikes on Kharg Island "just for fun," after the US struck military targets on the oil export hub on Saturday.
"This could mark a very dangerous escalation [in] the war," Guzansky said.
Hinting at the potential for this scenario to play out, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Qhalibaf warned on X on Wednesday evening that Tehran would be seeking "an eye for an eye."
"A new level of confrontation has begun," he added.
QatarEnergy says in a statement that early Thursday “several of its liquefied natural gas facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizable fires and extensive further damage” after a previous attack.
The company notes that the earlier attack on the Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday had already caused extensive damage to a gas-to-liquids facility.
Trump writes on Truth Social that Israel “violently lashed out” at South Pars “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East,” while insisting that only “a relatively small section” of the oil field has been hit.
The US president claims that the US “knew nothing about this particular attack.”
However, US and Israeli officials briefing reporters earlier Wednesday said that Jerusalem did in fact coordinate the strike with Washington, after the latter fumed over an uncoordinated IDF strike on a Tehran fuel facility earlier in the war.
Trump notes that while Qatar was also not involved in the Israeli attack, Iran “unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion” of Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquified natural gas production facility.
“NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent — in this case — Qatar,” Trump writes.
If such an Iranian attack takes place, the US — “with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars gas field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” Trump adds.
“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so,” he says.
#1
Qatar is a US ally, we've got a huge airbase there protecting Doha.
What do we do if our allies attack each other?
What was the plan if Turkey and Greece went to war?
That's the whole point of a hegemon, isn't it? To stop the squabbling kingdoms from warring amongst themselves? Like King Arthur did to Britain.
#3
What was the plan if Turkey and Greece went to war?
[AI] Turkey-Greece War Scenario
A war between Turkey and Greece would likely result in **mutually assured destruction**, with both nations suffering catastrophic economic, infrastructural, and human losses. The conflict would probably begin over long-standing disputes in the Aegean Sea, such as **maritime borders**, **island militarization**, or **energy exploration rights**, potentially triggered by Greece extending its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles—a move Turkey has declared a *casus belli*.
**Military conflict** would likely start with intense aerial and naval engagements. Greece, with highly trained pilots and advanced Rafale jets, would face Turkey’s larger but less operationally ready air force. Turkish drones like the Bayraktar TB2 could target Greek defenses, while Greece’s submarine capabilities and anti-drone systems might counter naval threats. The mountainous terrain and island geography would make amphibious invasions extremely difficult, likely leading to a **bloody stalemate**.
**NATO’s role** would be critical but divided. As both countries are NATO members, the alliance would face internal strain. The U.S. and France are likely to support Greece, while Turkey’s strategic control of the Bosporus and Incirlik Air Base complicates intervention. However, **direct NATO involvement is uncertain**, and a prolonged war could fracture the alliance, especially if Germany and others hesitate due to economic or diaspora concerns.
**Global consequences** would be severe. Russia could exploit NATO’s disunity, drawing Turkey closer or advancing its own interests. China’s Belt and Road Initiative would face disruptions, and a massive refugee crisis could flood Europe. Global energy prices would spike, financial markets would destabilize, and **cyber warfare** could cripple infrastructure on both sides.
Despite aggressive rhetoric, **full-scale war is considered unlikely** by analysts and public opinion in both countries. Nationalism and historical grievances fuel tensions, but mutual economic collapse—especially for Greece’s tourism-dependent economy and Turkey’s struggling lira—makes war irrational. Diplomatic channels, NATO de-escalation efforts, and international pressure are seen as more probable paths forward.
[IsraelTimes] Mossad agent tells senior cop he’s on a ‘blacklist,’ augurs his demise in taped call obtained by WSJ, as Israel hopes crippling of domestic security forces will help lead to uprising
Israeli efforts to topple Iran’s regime in the ongoing war have expanded into the realm of psychological warfare, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which claimed intelligence officials have been placing threatening phone calls to Iranian internal security forces.
The calls are apparently part of a larger campaign by Israel to lay the groundwork for an uprising to oust the Islamic Theocratic Republic by weakening the morale of its public security personnel, including the Revolutionary Guard’s domestic security arms, the Basij militia and special police forces, per the Wednesday report.
The Wall Street Journal detailed one such phone exchange between a Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... agent and police commander, in a taped call obtained by the American outlet.
In Farsi, the Israeli agent was reportedly heard saying, "We know everything about you. You are on our blacklist, and we have all the information about you," to which the commander replied, "OK."
The agent seemed to urge the officer to join in, or at least step aside, in the case of an uprising against the regime. "I called to warn you in advance that you should stand with your people’s side... if you will not do that, your destiny will be as your leader," he said.
"Brother, I swear on the Koran, I’m not your enemy," the commander reportedly responded. "I’m a dead man already. Just please come help us."
Aside from phone calls, Israeli strikes targeting rank-and-file officers have sent forces scrambling for cover. The strikes are reportedly part of a division of labor by the US and Israel, in which the former goes after the regime’s "military and industrial power" while the latter targets "structures of internal control."
This began with the targeting of command centers, then the targeting of local sports complexes — which Israeli intelligence officials quickly learned were being used as backup gathering spots for internal security forces. The Wall Stree Journal said the strikes on these stadiums were among the deadliest so far in this war.
Israel has reportedly since shifted its focus to individual checkpoints and roadblocks operated by members of the oppressive Basij paramilitary volunteer force, targeting personnel with fleets of loitering drones.
These efforts have played second fiddle in the public eye to the high-profile liquidations of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> and Ali Larijani, the powerful secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, but have thrust Iran’s law enforcement system into limbo nonetheless.
At least three different checkpoints were targeted Thursday last week, including at the Imam Reza Highway and on Shahed Street in northern Tehran. On Sunday night, Israeli forces hit 11 checkpoints. According to the report, many of the strikes were guided by tips from ordinary Iranians.
Residents reported security personnel taking over schools, sports halls and other civilian buildings to evade loitering drones. When security officers take cover in apartments, many tenants evacuate, fearing a strike.
Some residents told the Wall Street Journal that police were seen sleeping in tents and buses.
Israel has also struck police warehouses, destroying computer equipment, vehicles and police gear, according to target lists cited in the report. Motorcycle units — which have been crucial to the regime in suppressing protests — were another target for the Israeli Air Force.
The report said that investigations into crimes like theft that happened before the war are up in the air with police under attack, while quoting a Tehran resident who said police told him and other shop owners to close before dark, since their security could not be guaranteed by cops.
Despite major setbacks for the regime, its forces have managed to stave off meaningful collective dissent.
Though Israeli officials told the Wall Street Journal that strikes have made a significant dent, it is difficult to gauge to what extent the regime’s command structure has been disrupted, due to its tight grip on internet activity.
Meanwhile,
...back at the desert island, Irene was indignant at the thought of doing such a thing without benefit of clergy... experts speculated that if the Islamic Theocratic Republic manages to hold onto power, it will emerge more emboldened and hardline than it was before, with one telling the newspaper that "they are seeing a decaying system before their eyes... But it would take a lot more attacks to turn the tables."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the assassination of Hassan Ali Marwan, commander of the Imam Hussein Division, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, in Beirut. The IDF press service reported this on March 18.
It is specified that Marwan was responsible for coordination between the division and senior military officials of Hezbollah and the Quds Force. He also directed missile and drone launches against Israel and IDF units in southern Lebanon.
It is noted that the IDF also killed the division's previous commander, Ali Maslam Tabajeh, as well as his deputy and several other soldiers. Marwan, who had previously been responsible for the division's operations, was then appointed to replace the deceased Tabajeh.
Marwan became the third unit commander to be killed since the start of the operation against Iran.
How soon until the IDF is inside their training loop, and they lose track of the executive bathroom key?
Earlier, the IDF reported strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The statement clarified that the attacks followed the evacuation of civilians near the Lebanese city of Tyre. Shortly before, the IDF also reported a strike on Hezbollah launchers.
On March 18, Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that at least four people were killed and seven were wounded in an Israeli air strike on central Beirut.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
