[American Mind] This past February, in England, the Speaker of the House of Commons publicly admitted that normal parliamentary procedure was abandoned when members were threatened by Islamists and their leftist allies. The Scottish National Party had proposed that MPs vote in favor of or against an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, without additional conditions such as requiring the release of hostages. This presented moderate Labour MPs with a dilemma—vote, de facto, in favor of Hamas or court the wrath of the far-Left and Islamists inside England.
In response, after speaking with Labour’s Keir Starmer, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle broke the rules. To relieve the pressure on Labour, Hoyle improperly ordered that MPs first vote on a Labour amendment which called for a ceasefire conditional upon the release of hostages. Therefore, moderate Labour MPs were released from the pressures of voting on the SNP motion. Hoyle not only violated parliamentary procedure, he baldly admitted doing so in order to relieve members from violent threats: "What appears to have swayed the Speaker’s decision were warnings from Labour that its MPs feared for their safety and that of their families if they couldn’t register publicly that they had voted for an unconditional, ’immediate humanitarian ceasefire.’"
Never before in its modern history has the House of Commons so cravenly capitulated to threats of violence against its members. The House stood up to the royal pretensions of Charles I, who would have neutered the Commons and ruled as an absolute monarch. The House as a whole may have appeased the Nazis out of fear of general war, but never from personal fear. In his memoirs, Churchill tells us—with barely disguised enthusiasm—that upon the eve of war, he and his trusty bodyguard Thompson armed themselves and stood guard overnight at Chartwell in case German agents or sympathizers targeted Churchill personally. Chamberlain and the appeasers were deluded, but sincerely believed that their policy was best for England. Any hint of personal threat or violent intimidation directed at the House would have been met with outrage and united fortitude. The Provisional Irish Republican Army not only assassinated members of the British elite such as Lord Mountbatten, but also attacked members of the House. The Conservative Party conference was hit with a sophisticated bomb in 1984, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was nearly killed. But the leadership and body of the House and British state stood firm in the face of personal danger. The British continued to alternately contain and target the Provos until the latter gave up the armed struggle and, disarmed, entered politics instead.
The leftist-Islamist alliance, therefore, has succeeded where would be tyrants, Nazis, and the most proficient terrorist organization in European history all failed. the House of Commons capitulated. That the capitulation was over a procedural question is irrelevant. What was done by the Speaker cannot be undone, and presumably, since those who threatened violence achieved their goals, will be repeated in one form or another. What are the likely consequences, internally and externally, and what can we Americans learn from this event, observing, in horror and fascination, as a once great and civilized nation slowly but surely descends into barbarism?
#3
I see where you're going with this B. The difference between the UK and us is that we still have our guns. Whether or not we still have the "stones" to protect our Republic - it's not a Democracy - or not remains to be seen.
[IsraelTimes] The six defendants were acquitted this month of aggravated burglary in the raid, in which a police officer’s spine was allegedly fractured in a filmed sledgehammer attack
Six British anti-Israel, pro-Paleostinian activists will face a retrial on a number of charges relating to a 2024 raid on Israeli defense firm Elbit’s UK factory, after they were acquitted of the charge of aggravated burglary earlier this month.
The retrial will concern criminal charges on which the jury failed to reach verdicts, according to UK media reports. It is due to take place in February 2027.
The initial verdict on the raid, in which a police officer’s spine was allegedly fractured in a filmed sledgehammer attack by an activist, drew criticism from police, politicians and Jewish communal groups. Jewish organizations spoke out again the following week, when the UK’s High Court struck down a government ban on Paleostine Action as a terror group.
Now, all six defendants — Samuel Corner, 23, Charlotte Head, 29, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 — will stand trial for criminal damage charges. In addition, Head, Corner, and Kamio are charged with violent mostly peaceful disorder, a charge on which the other three were acquitted.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said aggravated burglary charges against 18 other defendants are being dropped.
Corner faces the charge of causing grievous bodily harm in connection with the sledgehammer attack. Footage of the incident shows him striking a policewoman with a sledgehammer and reportedly fracturing her lumbar spine.
The attack on the female officer left her initially unable to drive, dress or shower without assistance, she has said, adding that she took medication to handle the "intense pain." She could not work for three months, the BBC reported, and was later put on restricted duties.
Prosecutors said the raid caused about 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) of damage.
The charges came after Paleostine Action carried out a meticulously planned assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, in the early hours of August 6, 2024.
Some eight months later, in June 2025, Paleostine Action activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized two planes, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage. The following month, Britannia proscribed Paleostine Action as a terrorist organization, making it a crime to be a member.
Last week, Britannia’s High Court struck down that decision, though it kept the ban in place pending another hearing while the government prepares an appeal.
The trial on the Elbit attack began in November. Prosecutors told a jury at London’s Woolwich Crown Court that the six were part of a larger group that used a white former prison van to ram their way into the factory and then smash equipment.
The six defendants said they were simply motivated to destroy weapons to stop what they described as Israel’s "genocide" in 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... , and disavowed violence against people, despite the police bodycam footage of the sledgehammer attack.
Corner had denied causing grievous bodily harm with the intent to hit a female police sergeant. He testified that he only swung the sledgehammer at the police officer to protect one of his friends.
They were all acquitted of aggravated burglary after more than 36 hours of deliberation, with the jury unable to reach verdicts on the other charges. The defendants hugged in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery, who cheered loudly after the judge had left the court.
That decision sparked a backlash from British politicians and Jewish groups, who charged that the verdict set a dangerous precedent.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wrote to Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson urging him to seek a retrial, warning the verdict "risks giving the green light to mob violence in pursuit of a political objective."
Jewish organizations also condemned the outcome. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was "concerned by the troubling verdicts acquitting members of Paleostine Action," warning against "perverse justifications being used as a shield for criminality."
In an op-ed published in The Telegraph, former Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard charged that the acquittals "are telling British Jews they have no future here," and said the decision may be "the single most significant case in the history of Anglo-Jewry since 1945."
On February 7, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would seek a retrial.
"The allegations in this case are extremely serious — including the alleged breaking of a police officer’s back with a sledgehammer — and it is only right that all steps are taken to ensure that justice is pursued fully and in accordance with the law," the UK Campaign Against Antisemitism group said in a statement following that announcement.
[IsraelTimes] Fiona Monro escapes conviction for criminal damage over 2024 incident in Brighton when she removed photo of Tsachi Idan, who was abducted on Oct. 7 and murdered in captivity
A British woman who is married to a Jewish anti-Zionist activist has been convicted of theft in connection with a 2024 incident in which she removed an Israeli hostage poster and threw it in the trash.
Fiona Monro,
…who does not claim to be Jewish herself, yet arrogantly claims to commit crimes on behalf of the entire people — just what we want…
58, of Brighton, England, was found guilty of theft, but not convicted of criminal damage in charges stemming from a February 2024 incident in which she took a large laminated poster of Israeli hostage Tsachi Idan that was hanging in a memorial in a public park and disposed of it.
A relative of Idan who lives in a neighboring town, Hove, returned the poster to the memorial site after Monro threw it away. A week later, Monro also wrote the phrase "Pray for the 30,000 murdered Paleostinians" on the memorial but was acquitted of charges related to the vandalism, according to Brighton and Hove News.
The incident came at a time when Israeli hostage posters were being vandalized frequently by activists across the globe who said they were protesting the war in Gazoo. The war began when Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
During the assault, gunmen stormed the Idan home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, shooting dead the oldest daughter, Maayan, in front of her father. A video, filmed by the terrorists and circulated on social media, showed gunmen standing over the rest of the family as they huddled on the floor of their home. Idan was eventually abducted and killed in Hamas captivity, and his remains were returned to Israel a year ago during a negotiated ceasefire.
“This crime was one out of 50 times the memorial was vandalized and it took two years to get justice. But it is possible to get a win,” Heidi Bachram, one of the memorial’s organizers, told the Jewish News following Monro’s conviction. “We cannot let hateful people get away with attacking us.”
Monro told police that the memorial located in Brighton’s Palmeira Square “did not represent the Jewish community,” citing her marriage to the prominent activist Tony Greenstein. Greenstein was expelled from Great Britain’s Labour Party in 2018 over his social media comments about Israel, which his party deemed antisemitic.
“The board was clearly there to justify the genocide that was happening,” Monro said in the police interview. “A large laminated board with a photograph of a hostage was highly inflammatory to many people in that community, [who] clearly found it very upsetting to have that constantly thrust in our face daily.”
After Monro’s lawyer, Hamish McCallum, requested that the jury consider whether it was proportionate to convict her on the basis she was exercising her right to express her political views, Judge Stephen Mooney rejected the proposal.
“This is not therefore a case of the state seeking to prosecute the defendant disproportionately for expressing her own views or otherwise interfering with her rights,” said Mooney. “It is a case of the state prosecuting the defendant for putting her views above those of others and causing them wholly unnecessary distress by so doing.”
Mooney gave Monro an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered her to pay $1,637 in prosecution costs.
[Breitbart] United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, met with Venezuela’s “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez and other members of the nation’s socialist regime Wednesday in a surprise visit to Caracas.
Keeping the kids on track by reminding them where the rails are.
Gen. Donovan’s visit marks the first time a U.S. military delegation visits Venezuela since the January 3 arrest of deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Donovan’s hours-long lightning visit occurred hours after Rodríguez met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
The SOUTHCOM commander was accompanied by Ambassador Laura F. Dogu, Chargé d’Affaires to the Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU) and by Joseph M. Humire, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and the Americas.
“During the meeting, the leaders reiterated the United States’ commitment to a free, safe and prosperous Venezuela for the Venezuelan people, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere,” SOUTHCOM said in a press release.
“Discussions focused on the security environment, steps to ensure the implementation of President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan – particularly the stabilization of Venezuela – and the importance of shared security across the Western Hemisphere,” the statement concluded.
In a social media post, SOUTHCOM detailed that Gen. Donovan began his agenda by meeting with his team of Joint Force service members, “once again standing watch at U.S. Embassy facilities – and his interagency partners.”
The commander then met with the Venezuelan interim authorities to assess the security situation in the country, He then met with interim authorities to assess the security situation, ensure implementation of President Trump’s three-phase plan towards restoring democracy in Venezuela, and advance the goal of a “Venezuela aligned with the United States.”
“The United States reaffirms its commitment to a free, secure, and prosperous Venezuela for the Venezuelan people, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere. SOUTHCOM is committed to advancing the National Security Strategy by working with partner nations to build a secure and prosperous future for the hemisphere,” the U.S. embassy in Caracas said on a social media post alongside a Spanish translation of SOUTHCOM’s press release.
It's hard to put into words just how historic this is, but it's yet another win for the Trump administration. I just Googled it to see if the MSM is reporting on it — so far, it looks like just a few outlets, like the Jerusalem Post and Reuters, are the only others mentioning it. That could change tomorrow, but the media does not like to celebrate these wins. I will.
Here are some other things you might not find in the MSM.
I've seen many headlines that Venezuelans are somewhat worried about the country's future, and I'm sure some are, but according to a poll from Gold Glove Consulting, 72% felt that the country is "moving in the right direction following [Nicolás] Maduro's January 3 capture."
When it comes to hypothetical elections that will hopefully be held at some point in the not too distant future, Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader María Corina Machado wins by a landslide with at least 67% of the vote. Only 25% of people said they wanted to Delcy to stay in place. I'm shocked it's even that high, but I do hear from many people that there are some, mostly older, holdouts in the country who still support the regime. Thankfully, the young people seem to be heading in the opposite direction.
All of that said, 58% are concerned about security.
There are still some bad actors within the regime, and they keep testing Delcy, Marco Rubio, and Trump. As I wrote earlier this week, 86-year-old Evanan Romero, a U.S. citizen who is helping the Trump administration court oil investors, was arrested last Friday. He was held for about four days and released on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently, the reason was a charge that dated back to a 2010 case, but since Romero comes and goes from Venezuela often, many exiles have said the reasons were political or an attempt to disrupt the forward movement of the energy sector.
As I said on Tuesday, "I suspect he's correct, and it is related to some old case, or other factions of the regime, like Diosdado Cabello, are attempting to assert their authority a little bit — authority they don't seem to realize that they no longer have." The fact that he was released quickly may prove that they were reminded they no longer have that authority and are not exempt from another Delta Force visit.
Speaking of political prisoners, there have been no major updates this week on releases. The human rights group Foro Penal said as of Wednesday night that only 448 releases have been confirmed. That said, there is some talk that the proposed amnesty bill that was introduced late last month will go up for a second round of discussions in the Chavismo National Assembly on Thursday afternoon. I'll keep an eye on that.
Speaking of chatter, several people in various exile communities have reported that MAGA Delcy is currently in the process of removing portraits of Maduro and Hugo Chávez from Miraflores Palace. I can't confirm this, but it's made for some good jokes and memes.
If you'll remember, last week, during an interview with NBC, she asserted that Maduro is still the rightful president of Venezuela, and the MSM ran with this as if it meant something. When questioned about it earlier this week, Trump said, "I think she probably has to say that. I think politically maybe she has to say that, but the relationship with Venezuela… well, she's doing a really good job, and I fully understand."
I can't say this enough — the woman is walking a fine line between doing exactly what Trump tells her to do and trying to keep the other Chavistas happy. We're not out of the woods yet, but we're making progress.
Last but not least, speaking of opposition leader Machado, she appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News on Wednesday night, and said she is quite anxious to get back to Venezuela and help with the transition. Of course, it's not safe for her to do so yet, but she did say something interesting: There are over a million Venezuelans living in exile in the U.S. She estimated that 70% will voluntarily return home once a democracy is in place. That's a big number, but I can say that I've personally met and talked to many over the last year who are ready to return home and make their country great again and see their families and friends. With any luck, they'll get to do that soon.
[IsraelTimes] Australian police say they have launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began yesterday in Australia.
The letter sent to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west yesterday contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the “Muslim race,” local media report.
Police say they had taken the letter for forensic testing, and would continue to patrol religious sites, including the mosque, as well as community events.
The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire.
Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent to the Lakemba Mosque’s staff in January.
The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, tells the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) it had written to the government to request more funding for additional security guards and CCTV cameras.
Some 5,000 people are expected to attend the mosque each night during Ramadan. More than 60 percent of residents in the suburb of Lakemba identify as Muslim, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemns the recent string of threats.
“It is outrageous that people just going about commemorating their faith, particularly during the holy month for Muslims of Ramadan, are subject to this sort of intimidation,” he tells ABC radio. “I have said repeatedly we need to turn down the temperature of political discourse in this country, and we certainly need to do that.”
The threats targeting the mosque follow the Bondi mass terror shooting on December 14, in which gunmen killed 15 people attending a Hanukkah celebration.
[RedState] YJCMTSU
A Liberian national who federal authorities say had no legal status in the United States was allegedly working as a Minnesota corrections officer, posing as a U.S. citizen, and at one point serving in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard before going AWOL. According to USCIS, the case was uncovered through “Operation Twin Shield,” a DHS enforcement effort targeting immigration fraud in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
If the allegations are accurate, this was not a clerical error. It was a years-long chain of deception that reached into immigration vetting, military service, and public safety employment. That is a wholesale systems breakdown.
Here is how it broke on X.
BREAKING:
This is wild one.
DHS announces the ICE arrest of a Liberian illegal alien who they say was working as a Minnesota corrections officer while also being AWOL from the PA National Guard, all while masquerading as a U.S. citizen despite having no legal status in the U.S. DHS says 45-year-old Morris Brown was identified as part of the major operation into MN investigating aliens involved in fraud.
He’s also alleged to have committed marriage fraud and made repeated false claims to U.S. immigration authorities.
Full details 👇
The release lays out a troubling timeline.
According to USCIS, Morris Brown, 45, was arrested Jan. 15 in Minneapolis for multiple immigration violations, including overstaying a student visa and making false claims to U.S. citizenship.
Through the joint efforts of Department of Homeland Security agencies USCIS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Morris Brown, a 45-year-old illegal alien from Liberia, was arrested Jan. 15 in Minneapolis by ICE for multiple violations of U.S. immigration law, including overstaying his student visa and making false claims to U.S. citizenship.
Brown entered the U.S. in 2014 on a student visa that was terminated in 2015 after he failed to enroll in a full course of study. Despite losing status, DHS says he joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014, went AWOL in 2015, and was ultimately discharged under other-than-honorable conditions in 2022.
In 2020, he applied for a Green Card under the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness program. USCIS denied that application due to misrepresentations, including failure to disclose prior military service and a false claim to U.S. citizenship. But to his credit, he'd not yet run for Congress.
In 2024, according to the release, he applied to naturalize based on prior military service. During that review, investigators uncovered alleged marriage fraud and additional false claims to U.S. citizenship. They also learned he was working as a Minnesota corrections officer by claiming to be a U.S. citizen despite having no lawful status.
A corrections officer is not a low-trust job. It involves supervising inmates and operating inside secure facilities. It requires background checks and eligibility verification. If these allegations hold, someone who overstayed a visa and allegedly falsified citizenship claims cleared multiple layers of screening.
And this is not an isolated episode. No discussion of student loans. Just curious.
Last October, ICE arrested a visa overstay in suburban Chicago who had recently been sworn in as a local police officer and authorized to carry a firearm while on duty.
“Illegal aliens are prohibited from owning or possessing firearms — full stop,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Sam Olson. “This is the second known instance in recent months of a local police department hiring an illegal alien and unlawfully issuing him a firearm while on duty in violation of federal law. It is alarming how local jurisdictions continue to disregard federal law to the detriment of their communities.”
Two different states. Two public safety roles. The same vulnerability.
To be clear, Brown’s case will be adjudicated in court, and allegations are not convictions. But the timeline in the DHS release spans 2014 through 2024, including immigration benefit applications processed during the Biden administration.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/19/2026 06:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1757 views]
Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
#1
Takes the prize. How could anyone else even come close.
At least three people were killed when a truck transporting liquid gas in Chile's capital of Santiago crashed and exploded, authorities said on Thursday.
𝗧𝗧𝗣 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗷𝗮𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 Following a deadly attack on Pakistani security forces in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that killed about a dozen… https://t.co/NfIJwCSePtpic.twitter.com/zMpUhJXNzQ
Following a deadly attack on Pakistani security forces in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that killed about a dozen personnel, an audio message attributed to the TTP militant group's unit commander and district military commission member Mawlana Malang Bacha surfaced online.
In the message, he congratulated his fighters on what he described as a successful operation, offered prayers for those who supported and facilitated the attack, and urged TTP members to remain vigilant. He warned that the Pakistani military would likely seek retaliation in response to the losses.
[IsraelTimes] More than 150 European ex-diplomats and lawmakers urge France’s foreign minister to retract “inaccurate” comments about UN Palestinian territories rapporteur Francesca Albanese, whom he wants to resign. "She's one of us!"
France and Germany have called for Albanese to step down over remarks in which she referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticizing “most of the world” and the media for enabling Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
Critics and Israel have accused the UN Special Rapporteur of referring to Israel as a “common enemy,” while Albanese has denounced this as a “manipulation” and “completely false.”
In response to a question about the comments, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on February 11 told parliament she should step down.
In an open letter sent to AFP, the former diplomats criticize what they call “the use of inaccurate and manipulated elements to discredit a holder of an independent UN mandate.” They call on Barrot to “retract his inaccurate statements about Ms. Albanese and correct them.”
“This controversy must not divert attention from the massacres of civilians, nor from the humanitarian crisis and the massive human rights violations taking place in Gaza,” say the signatories.
The letter, written in French, was signed by mostly former foreign ministers and diplomats from the Netherlands. More than a dozen current members of parliament and senators from Europe were also among the signatories, along with a former foreign minister of South Africa.
Albanese has a long history of making statements accused of being antisemitic, anti-Israel and pro-Hamas.
[IsraelTimes] Popular anti-Israel conservative commentator briefly visits country to interview Huckabee; friend of the two who was present for interview says Carlson told her that Trump wants GOP infighting over Israel reined in
#2
Grom, I’ve read that the practice is totally woke, so likely management agrees with her. If there are to be consequences, it’ll have to come from the DOJ.
[IsraelTimes] Israel is holding some 300 Palestinians captured in Israel and alleged to have perpetrated massacres, rape and other atrocities during the invasion
After some two years of deliberations, the Attorney General’s Office announced earlier this week that the state’s prosecution services have agreed that a special military tribunal proposed in a bipartisan Knesset bill will be the framework for trying Paleostinian Lions of Islam accused of committing massacres and other atrocities in the October 7, 2023, invasion.
Various proposals had been considered for trying the assailants through Israel’s criminal prosecution system, but the Attorney General’s Office said that the prosecution services had agreed for the alleged perpetrators to be tried under the terms of the emerging Knesset law.
The Attorney General’s Office said on Monday night that this decision had been made in a recent meeting involving the attorney general, the state attorney and the IDF Military Advocate General.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 Paleostinian terrorists, mostly from Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... , but including other terror groups, invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, at multiple points on the Israel-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, and carried out a series of massacres in which some 1,200 people were killed.
These assailants also kidnapped 251 people as hostages and took them captive to the Gaza Strip, while also committing a wave of other atrocities, including rape and torture, and documenting the savagery on bodycams the Lions of Islam wore during the attack.
Security forces captured approximately 300 of the invaders inside Israel following the attacks, and have held them in various detention centers since, with Israeli law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies deliberating over the last two years on how best to put them on trial.
Under legislation that has passed its first reading in Knesset and is currently being prepared for its final two readings, a special military tribunal will be established to try the terror operatives who allegedly carried out the October 7 atrocities.
The legislation was submitted jointly by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman of the coalition and Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, of the opposition, and is being deliberated in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which Rothman chairs.
Under the legislation, the tribunal will be able to charge the assailants with all relevant crimes, including genocide under the terms of Israel’s 1950 Law for the Prevention of Genocide, harming Israeli illusory sovereignty, causing war, assisting an enemy during a time of war, and terror charges under Israel’s 2016 law for combatting terrorism.
Those convicted of genocide charges would be liable to the death penalty Each case would be heard by a panel of three judges, in which the chief presiding judge would be a retired district court judge sitting alongside two other judges who are qualified to serve as district court judges and have expertise in criminal law.
Appeals could be made within the tribunal system to an appeals bench which would consist of a chief presiding judge who is either a retired Supreme Court judge, a retired district court president, or the president of a military appeals court.
Alongside that judge would sit two retired district court judges.
A key aspect of the trials will be that they are public and will be broadcast on a website set up for this purpose.
The legislation also stipulates that anyone who is suspected, charged, or convicted of October 7 crimes cannot be released through prisoner release agreements.
Whatevs. It’s not like the PA is actually going to stop supporting its pet terrorists. Anyone seriously ordering a stop would be assassinated tout suite, and all involved know it. So they’ll never earn the right rule Gaza again.
[IsraelTimes] Coordination committee falls short of membership on board overseeing Gaza rebuild, but formalizes initiative’s ties to Ramallah amid Israeli objections
The US has approved the establishment of a coordination committee between the Paleostinian Authority and the US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... ’s Board of Peace, a US official and a Paleostinian official told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.
The committee will formalize ties between the PA and the Board of Peace, which is overseeing the postwar reconstruction of 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... . PA Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa is representing Ramallah on the panel and Gaza High Representative Nickolay Mladenov is representing the Board of Peace, the two officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... The creation of the panel is something of a compromise for the PA, which has been seeking to gain membership on the Board of Peace, particularly in light of Israel’s representation on the body made up of world leaders and headed by Trump.
Ramallah is hoping the new committee will be officially announced before the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting on Thursday in Washington, the Paleostinian official said, adding that the PA will still continue to seek representation on the Board of Peace or its advisory Gaza Executive Board.
The Paleostinian official credited lobbying from Arab countries on the Board of Peace for Washington’s acquiescence to the establishment of the coordination committee.
The PA has already been in contact with Mladenov and other members of the Board of Peace’s Gaza Executive Board, so the practical significance of the new committee is minimal. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... the PA is seeking to gain influence over decision-making regarding Gaza’s reconstruction, given that Ramallah’s assistance will be needed in order for it to succeed.
While a separate committee of Paleostinian technocrats has been tasked with replacing Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... in governing Gaza, that panel will likely have to rely on civil servants and police forces who are currently on the PA payroll.
Moreover, the PA has access to land registration documents in Gaza, which will be needed in order to compensate property owners if their land is used for reconstruction projects being advanced by the Board of Peace.
The Paleostinian official clarified that the PA is eager to assist the Board of Peace as well as the technocratic committee dubbed the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... Ramallah wants to have a formal role in the process to ensure that the initiative leads to the eventual reunification of Gaza and the West Bank under one political entity and believes official ties to the Board of Peace will advance that aim.
Israel and the US, which controls the Board of Peace, have opposed a more high-profile role for the PA in Gaza, arguing that Ramallah first needs to undergo significant reforms.
Israel lashed out last month after the NCAG updated its logo to one nearly identical to the PA.
The PA insists it is engaged in comprehensive reforms, including scheduling elections and scrapping its welfare program, which critics have dubbed "pay-to-slay" because it awarded stipends to security prisoners based on the length of their sentence.
But Ramallah says its efforts to improve efficiency are significantly hampered by Israel’s withholding of over $4 billion in Paleostinian tax revenues, in violation of the Oslo Accords.
The withholding of those funds, which make up the majority of the PA’s revenue, has left Ramallah unable to pay the full salaries of public sector employees for the past year, further moving the PA to the brink of collapse.
While PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> was not invited to Thursday’s Board of Peace inaugural meeting, NCAG chief commissioner Ali Shaath is slated to attend, the US official said.
Asked for comment, the US State Department did not deny that Washington had given a green light for the new communication channel between the PA and the Board of Peace.
"The Board of Peace is pursuing all 20 points of President Trump’s plan, which speaks for itself. We’re not going to comment on diplomatic conversations," said a statement to The Times of Israel attributed to a Trump administration official.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
In theory the endless attacks on PM Netanyahu must eventually reach a tipping point when the Deep State and left wing of Israeli politics will overcome voter preference for Bibi. In practice theory seems to be missing a key factor.
[REGNUM] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under attack from his own security forces. Recently, veterans of the Israel Security Service (Shin Bet) published an open letter accusing the prime minister of undermining the "security foundations" of the Jewish state. 51 experts?
The appeal was signed by around forty influential "retirees," five of whom previously headed this agency. The prime minister is being criticized for attempting to shift responsibility for the failures in the initial stages of the war with Hamas to the national intelligence services, and primarily to counterintelligence, which allegedly prevented the leadership from making the right decisions until the very end.
However, in reality, the struggle between the parties is not so much for truth, but for seats in the new convocation of the national parliament.
ZERO READINESS
The open letter from the "security officials" was a reaction to the Israeli Prime Minister's scathing speech in the Knesset in early February. From the podium, Netanyahu practically bluntly accused the counterintelligence service of unprofessionalism.
Among other things, he accused the security forces of failing to decipher Hamas's "secret language": the field commanders who organized Operation Al-Aqsa Flood used emojis to encrypt their orders, which prevented the counterintelligence agency's much-vaunted automatic message filtering system from detecting them in advance. Meanwhile, the Shin Bet "human operators," supposedly tasked with selectively reviewing messages filtered by the system, ignored this task.
The prime minister's accusations included other ones. Netanyahu cited declassified reports and statements from former heads and high-ranking commanders of the intelligence services (primarily the Shin Bet) to the members of parliament present at the meeting, which echoed the idea of "cautious appeasement" of the enemy.
The Prime Minister said the number of Hamas forces in the reports received was "dramatically underestimated," and their combat readiness level was assessed as "insignificant" even on the eve of the October 7, 2023, attack.
Moreover, the security forces allegedly constantly put a spoke in the wheel of their superiors—opposing the "proactive occupation" of the Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu and several other "hawks" insisted on; criticizing the idea of mass assassinations of Hamas field commanders according to the "Iranian model," fearing the exposure of their own agents in the Palestinian exclave; and torpedoing the launch of the offensive on the Rafah crossing and strikes against Hamas-allied forces in Lebanon and Yemen until the very end.
Netanyahu did not miss the opportunity to summarize that some of the successful operations against Hamas were carried out by Israel “not thanks to, but in spite of” its own counterintelligence.
RIGHT OF REPLY
The retirees reacted harshly to the accusations, accusing Netanyahu of "undermining the country's security for the sake of his own selfish interests."
The ringleader of the critical campaign was the previous head of counterintelligence, Ronen Bar, with whom Netanyahu is in ongoing open conflict. It was his idea to gather together respected security officials and jointly approach the prime minister with an open complaint. They even managed to persuade Ami Ayalon (the service's director from 1995 to 2000), who had been absent from the country's political life for over a decade and had been living a quiet life as a professor, to join in.
Bar is playing a dangerous game. And not only because he resigned only recently (and was sent into exile amid scandal and the use of every bureaucratic lever available to the Knesset). It's because of his plans to reshape the country's political landscape.
For example, former Shin Bet chiefs Yuval Diskin and Yoram Cohen, who signed the complaint, received repeated invitations from centrist parties to join them as delegates, but declined these offers under the pretext of their own apoliticality. Netanyahu's challenge, however, is forcing them into active political games and pushing them to join the opposition.
The simultaneous return of so many influential heavyweights to Israeli politics could dramatically shift the balance of power in favor of the left. Public opinion polls already show a symbolic gap in the hypothetical mandates between the government and the in-system opposition, and the emergence of new prominent players on the other side of the fence will only reinforce this trend. Moreover, Bar himself, as a "victim for the truth," appears to the opposition as an excellent coalition driver.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
There are many pressure points that disgruntled "security officials" can exploit—from stalled judicial reform and the controversial law conscripting ultra-Orthodox Israelis into the military, to the country-dividing case of top Israeli officials lobbying for Qatari interests. Netanyahu and his lieutenants are directly involved in most of these crises.
Out of professional solidarity, the prime minister will clearly be reminded of the controversial appointment of David Zini, a loyal "army man," to the post of Shin Bet head. Zini not only demonstrated incomplete suitability, failing some of the specialized entrance tests, but also found himself at the center of a scandal involving a smuggling bridge to the Gaza Strip, one of the organizers of which was his own brother.
The combined charges are enough to damage the ratings of the Prime Minister's Likud party, not to mention the numerous corruption scandals that regularly rock the ruling bloc.
However, as last year's experience with the "pilots' letter" (signed by over a thousand Israeli officers, including top generals) demonstrated, Netanyahu has the resources to divide his opponents and prevent the full-fledged formation of a security wing in the Knesset on the eve of the elections.
Partly in the prime minister's favor is the fact that most of the former heads of counterintelligence are in conflict with the "army" MKs (including their leader, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz ), who, although they criticize Netanyahu, like him, mainly blame the failures of the Shin Bet.
Building a strong inter-party alliance under these conditions will be difficult, if not impossible, and Netanyahu understands this perfectly well. Therefore, he is increasingly welcoming the army, calling them the aggrieved party in the multi-faceted conflict in Gaza.
#1
Lapid is a clown. Bennet is a great disappointment - especially every time he opens his mouth. Yair Golan should've born in USA - he'd become a prominent D politician. The pack of ex-generals are motivated by "I've been Chief of Staff - next step is PM". Thank you very much for your service - but Itzhak Rabin & Ehud Barak were more than enough.
#2
The intelligence failure of Oct 7 has never been addressed to my satisfaction. Mossad is the best. So how did Hamas leap the fortified and guarded border and pull off a 9/11 style tragedy?
This isn't the Rio Grande.
The US deep state are incompetent as we've seen with their bungling but Mossad? I saw an account of how they killed all the Iranian generals and it's genius. Will post tomorrow.
#3
/\ It does seem a bit incredulous that pre-staging, communications (signals), and human intelligence of an attack of that magnitude of Oct 7, to include ultralight aircraft could have gone undetected. Not to mention target location and large attendance of the music festival.
Intelligence failures do of course happen, but that is why you do not rely on 'single source' methodologies. After 9/11, perhaps our own "failures" should undergo another in-depth examination.
I'll stop short of suggesting a tactical trigger. The possibility however, should not be totally discounted.
#6
Remember Yom Kippur war? They stage preparations, IDF responds. They postpone. Israel cannot call up reservists every time Gazans stir up. Therefore, deterrence should be based on retaliation - and here we have Jew hating "International Community".
#7
/\ Mobilization is certainly an issue. How long does it take to "mobilize" an F-15I “Ra’am” to spoil a pending attack ?
A few years after Operation Babylon, I walked over the carnage still in place at Iraq's Isirak nuclear facility. The entire operation lasted an estimated 4 minutes.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian Authority decries ‘dangerous escalation’ as police grant Jewish visitors extra hour at flashpoint site; Temple Mount activist calls move ‘slight concession’
Police extended visiting hours for Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by an hour more than is customary during Ramadan on Wednesday, the first day of the Islamic holy month.
The change comes as Israel has repeatedly shifted norms on the flashpoint holy site where the Biblical Jewish temples stood and that today houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Shrine under far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Jewish visitors were able to ascend the flashpoint holy site in the morning from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m., following pressure from activists. In previous years, visiting hours during Ramadan were from 7 to 11 a.m, with the al-Aqsa compound completely closed to Jewish visitors throughout the afternoon.
The extra hour was allotted as "compensation" for the site’s afternoon closure, Haaretz reported.
The Paleostinian Authority denounced the departure from the status quo as a "dangerous escalation" and warned that the extra hour may morph into a permanent policy extending beyond Ramadan, in a statement quoted by Ottoman Turkishstate-run news agency ...and if you can't trust the state-run news agency who can you believe?... Anadolu.
A front man for Beyadenu, an organization dedicated to cementing a Jewish presence at the site, said the extra hour was a "slight concession" following meetings between Temple Mount activists and senior coppers in the Jerusalem District.
He noted that Wednesday is the first day of the Hebrew month of Adar, and claimed that over 1,000 Jewish worshipers ascended the Temple Mount in the morning and night prior to mark the occasion.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Non-Moslem prayer has, until recently, been forbidden atop the Temple Mount due to a string of agreements known as the status quo between Israel and Jordan, which administers the site through the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.
While in the past, police would eject or detain Jewish visitors caught praying on the Temple Mount, this policy has largely fallen to the wayside over the past three years under Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly demanded that police allow Jews to pray there.
Jewish visitors have been permitted in recent years to pray and prostrate themselves in the eastern part of the complex, but are still forbidden from visiting the site during certain hours, and cannot pray near the Dome of the Rock.
In January, Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled, a confidant of Ben Gvir, was appointed to the sensitive position of Jerusalem District commander.
Peled, who formerly served as deputy police chief, replaced Deputy Commissioner Amir Arzani, who went on leave under reported pressure from Ben Gvir, after he pushed back against the far-right minister’s attempts to further relax Jewish prayer restrictions on the Mount.
Two weeks after Peled began his role in the district, police began allowing Jewish worshipers to ascend the Temple Mount with printed prayer sheets, in a further challenge to regulations barring non-Moslem prayer at the site.
Police appeared to confirm their official sanction of non-Moslem prayer in a statement at the time that stressed that officers work to "enable freedom of worship and visitation at the Temple Mount for all religions and communities."
RAMADAN RESTRICTIONS
Also Wednesday, Israel announced that it would cap the number of Paleostinian worshipers from the West Bank attending weekly Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound at 10,000 during Ramadan.
Mirroring last year’s criteria, only males aged 55 and up, women 50 and up, and children 12 and below when accompanied by a first-degree relative will be permitted to attend prayers at Al‑Aqsa — Islam’s third-holiest site — the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said.
The restrictions apply only to the 10,000 Paleostinians travelling from the West Bank, and not to Moslem Arab Israelis.
COGAT said that following a security assessment, the politicianship "accepted the recommendation of the defense establishment regarding the framework for the entry of Paleostinian worshipers to the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the month of Ramadan."
"This is intended to allow and facilitate freedom of worship and religion for the public, subject to maintaining security stability," the Defense Ministry body said.
COGAT said that "all permits are conditional upon prior security approval by the relevant security authorities," and in addition, "residents traveling to prayers at the Temple Mount will be required to undergo digital documentation at the crossings upon their return to the areas of Judea and Samaria [West Bank] at the conclusion of the prayer day."
During Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Paleostinians traditionally attend prayers at Al‑Aqsa, Islam’s third‑holiest site.
Since the war in 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... broke out after the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... massacre, the attendance of worshipers has declined due to security concerns and Israeli restrictions.
Last year, Israel also granted 10,000 permits for West Bank Paleostinians with the same age restrictions. Before the war, some Gazooks were also granted access to al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan.
The Paleostinian Jerusalem Governorate said this week that Israeli authorities had prevented the Islamic Waqf — the Jordanian‑run body that administers the site — from carrying out routine preparations ahead of Ramadan, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.
A senior imam of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad al-Abbasi, told AFP that he, too, had been barred from entering the compound.
"I have been barred from the mosque for a week, and the order can be renewed," he said.
Abbasi said he was not informed of the reason for the ban, which came into effect on Monday.
[Liberty Nation] The United States and Iran held their second round of nuclear weapons talks on Feb. 17. Early reports suggest that the negotiations, though brief, yielded some positive results. When adversaries meet to reach common ground, the first steps are confidence-building measures to create an atmosphere in which there is no confusion about each side’s position. However, there is a difference between establishing trust and simply stalling.
FORMIDABLE US FORCE IN THE REGION SHOULD CONCERN IRAN
The United States is adding a compelling dimension to the talks by positioning two carrier attack groups in the Gulf region: The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently there, and the USS Gerald R. Ford is en route, expected to arrive in two weeks. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board asked an important question: "Does Iran have two weeks to spare? Perhaps, as a second US aircraft-carrier strike group heads to the region. But on [Feb. 17], Axios reported that the US moved more than 50 F-35, F-22, and F-16 jet fighters to the region in the preceding 24 hours."
The Trump administration’s message is clear: "The US is not going to talk forever. Iran will bring the talks to a successful (’successful’ on US terms) conclusion or suffer devastating consequences." Whether that motivated Iran to be more accommodating is difficult to say, but, according to Reuters, "Iran and the United States reached an understanding on [Feb. 17] on main ’guiding principles’ in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said." A US official familiar with the discussions told NBC News that "progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss." Others called these comments too "vague" to be substantive and overly encouraging.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
02/19/2026 11:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1786 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Expecting talks with Iranians to be actually productive and lasting is like asking Santa again for a pony...they get more time for the stall and you get another gift wrapped bag of horse-sh*t!
#2
...On the other hand...the Iranians may be locked into their own fantasies and have lost the keys. I think there's a surprisingly large chance that Khamenei doesn't know how bad things got torn up last summer, so there's that. And then they have GOT to be telling themselves that the Americans attacking last year was a fluke, that we'll never actually try to put them out of business.
[IsraelTimes] Iran has been pressing the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah to join any potential war against Israel if one breaks out, the Ynet news site reports.
The report, which does not cite any sources, says that Israel is “closely monitoring the situation and has conveyed very clear warnings to Hezbollah that if it decides to intervene, this time the blow will be very painful.”
According to Ynet, the IDF has prepared a plan to “significantly strike” Hezbollah, following efforts by the Iran-backed terror proxy to restore its capabilities in Lebanon.
In recent months, there has been an uptick in Israeli strikes against Hezbollah operatives and assets in Lebanon, though the report claims that the terror group’s recovery outpaces the military’s efforts to weaken it.
The report adds that Israel is also prepared for the possibility that other Iranian proxies will join a war if one breaks out.
#2
If Iran has to 'press' them, it really is a sign of weakness.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/19/2026 10:18 Comments ||
Top||
#3
ARAMCOns visited Beirut - "The Paris of the Middle East" - often in the pre-war period. It was only a 6-hour DC-4 flight! Booze, gambling, vice, gold souks, etc. We used to stay in the Phoenicia Hotel overlooking the sea.
I remember the road from the airport to the Hotel went right next to a typical arab shanty town. This was known as Shatila PaleO camp of later fame.
[IsraelTimes] The United States is planning to withdraw all of its 1,000 troops from Syria over the next two months, according to US media reports.
Washington will end its presence in the country after the Syrian government extended its control over the country and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces once key to fighting Islamic State (IS) pledged to integrate into the state, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Television network CBS also reports on the plan, citing unnamed US officials.
The decision comes after US forces recently withdrew from some bases in Syria including Al-Tanf and Al-Shadadi, which were used in the US-led international coalition’s fight against IS.
Washington has drawn close to Syria’s new authorities since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, and has transferred thousands of IS fighters from prisons to secure facilities in Iraq.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump has been told by his top national security advisers that the American military could launch strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, CBS News reports, though he has still yet to make a decision on whether to green light an attack.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the US broadcaster says the timeline for a decision is expected to extend beyond this weekend, adding that the Pentagon is temporarily shifting some personnel out of the Middle East in the coming days as it readies for a potential Iranian counterattack if the US strikes.
#1
Not could, but when. The Iranian leadership will never give into all of what Trump is requiring for peace. A quick search has the USS Ford arriving in the area around the February 19th. We maybe just waiting for the right weather and moon conditions at this point.
[IsraelTimes] Islamic Republic has buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the US in June war, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and worked on and obscured missile bases
Satellite images show that 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... has recently built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, experts say, advancing the work under the shadow of tensions with the US that have threatened to erupt into war.
That military site was reportedly bombed by Israel in 2024. In addition, images show that Iran has buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the US during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last June, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and has repaired missile bases struck in the conflict.
They offer a glimpse of Iranian activities at some of the sites at the center of tensions with Israel and the US, as Washington seeks to negotiate a deal with Tehran on its nuclear program while threatening military action if talks fail. The US has built up forces in the region in recent weeks.
Iran has threatened to strike Israel and US targets in the region in response to an American attack. The Islamic Theocratic Republic has also consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, including during the negotiations with the US this month.
However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Prior to the June war, Israel said Iran had taken steps toward weaponization.
The second round of Iran-US talks took place on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said afterward that an understanding had been reached on the main "guiding principles," but work still needed to be done.
US Vice President JD Vance said some progress had been made but added that US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... "has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through."
Satellite images show Iranian work at several sites. Some 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Tehran, the Parchin complex is one of Iran’s most sensitive military sites. Western intelligence has suggested Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations there more than two decades ago.
Israel reportedly struck Parchin in October 2024. Satellite imagery taken before and after that attack shows extensive damage to a rectangular building at Parchin, and apparent reconstruction in images from November 6, 2024.
Imagery from October 12, 2025, shows development at the site, with the skeleton of a new structure visible and two smaller structures adjacent to it. Progress is also apparent in imagery from November 14, with what appears to be a metallic roof covering the large structure.
But imagery from December 13 shows the facility partly covered. By February 16, it cannot be seen at all, hidden by what experts say is a concrete structure.
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), in a January 22 analysis of satellite imagery, pointed to progress in the construction of a "concrete sarcophagus" around a newly built facility at the site, which it identified as Taleghan 2. It also noted construction at the site in October.
ISIS reported in November that imagery showed "ongoing construction and the presence of what appears to resemble a long, cylindrical chamber, maybe a high-explosives containment vessel, likely measuring approximately 36 meters long and 12 meters in diameter, placed inside a building."
"High-explosive containment vessels are critical to the development of nuclear weapons," ISIS added, "but can also be used in many other conventional weapons development processes."
William Goodhind, a forensic imagery analyst with Contested Ground, which analyzes satellite images, said the roof had a similar hue to the surrounding area, adding: "It has most likely been covered with dirt to obscure the concrete colour."
ISIS founder David Albright wrote on X, "Stalling the negotiations has its benefits: Over the last two to three weeks, Iran has been busy burying the new Taleghan 2 facility ... More soil is available and the facility may soon become a fully unrecognizable bunker, providing significant protection from aerial strikes."
The Isfahan complex is one of three Iranian uranium enrichment plants bombed by the United States in June.
In addition to facilities that are part of the nuclear fuel cycle, Isfahan includes an underground area where diplomats say much of Iran’s enriched uranium has been stored.
Satellite images taken in late January showed new efforts to bury two tunnel entrances at the complex, ISIS reported on January 29. In a February 9 update, ISIS said a third entrance had also been backfilled with soil, meaning all entrances to the tunnel complex were now "completely buried."
A February 10 image shows all three tunnels buried, Goodhind said.
ISIS reported on February 9 that "backfilling the tunnel entrances would help dampen any potential Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... and also make ground access in a special forces raid to seize or destroy any highly enriched uranium that may be housed inside difficult."
ISIS has reported that satellite images point to ongoing efforts since February 10 to "harden and defensively strengthen" two entrances to a tunnel complex under a mountain some two kilometers (1.2 miles) from Natanz — the site that holds Iran’s other two uranium enrichment plants.
Imagery shows "ongoing activity throughout the complex related to this effort, involving the movement of numerous vehicles, including dump trucks, cement mixers, and other heavy equipment," ISIS wrote.
Iran’s plans for the facility, called Pickaxe Mountain, are unclear, ISIS said.
About 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Shiraz in southern Iran, the Shiraz South Missile Base is one of 25 primary bases capable of launching medium-range ballistic missiles, according to Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli organization. Alma assessed that the site had suffered light, above-ground damage in last year’s war.
A comparison of images taken on July 3, 2025, and January 30 shows reconstruction and clearance efforts at the main logistics and likely command compound at the base, Goodhind said.
"The key takeaway is that the compound has yet to return to its full operational capacity from prior to the airstrikes."
Some 40 km north of the city of Qom, the Qom Missile Base suffered moderate above-ground damage, according to Alma.
A comparison of images taken between July 16, 2025, and February 1 shows a new roof over a damaged building. The roof repairs appear to have begun on November 17 and were most likely complete 10 days later, Goodhind said.
Stalling the negotiations has its benefits: Over the last two to three weeks, Iran has been busy burying the new Taleghan 2 facility at the Parchin military complex with soil. Once the concrete sarcophagus around the facility was hardened, Iran did not hesitate to move soil over… pic.twitter.com/AowjWFFd92
High-resolution satellite imagery of the large tunnel complex at Kolang-Gaz La Mountain, aka Pickaxe Mountain, from February 10 shows ongoing efforts to harden and defensively strengthen two of the tunnel entrances into the facility. Imagery shows ongoing… pic.twitter.com/j3N2LLeZhB
NEW: High resolution satellite imagery taken yesterday shows the extent to which Iran has covered the tunnel entrances at the Esfahan nuclear complex with soil. The middle and southern entrances are unrecognizable and fully covered in soil. The northernmost tunnel entrance which… pic.twitter.com/baYI2zCuN0
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The Syrian government is interested in Russia maintaining its military presence in the region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated thisin an interview with Al Arabiya TV on February 18.
"Regarding our military facilities, we're currently discussing them. The Syrians, I repeat, are interested in our continued presence," the minister noted.
Lavrov explained that the Syrian authorities highly value the stabilizing role of the Russian presence at two bases – in Khmeimim and Tartus.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa raised the issue of Russian military bases during talks in the Kremlin.
[AYMENNALTAMIMI] Repeatedly railing against the new Syrian government as an ‘apostate’ entity and lambasting it for various policies such as not confronting Israel and engaging with U.S. President Donald Trump, the Islamic State clearly intended to target the government.
Until today, all the attacks claimed by the group in Syria since the fall of the Assad regime reflected a continuation of the group’s insurgency against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the north and east of the country.
The group has now claimed its first operation against the new Syrian government in the ‘badiya’ region (steppes) of eastern al-Suwayda’ province in the south of the country (where the group had previously had an insurgent presence back in 2018).
[IsraelAlma] On February 1, 2026, Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced that Internal Security Forces had exposed a terrorist cell active in the Damascus area that had carried out rocket launches toward the Al-Mezzeh district and the adjacent military airport. During the raids, all members of the cell were detained, and UAVs prepared for further terrorist activities were seized.
According to the official Syrian announcement, the detainees admitted to ties with external actors and claimed that the weapons seized originated from Lebanese Hezbollah. Nevertheless, Hezbollah quickly issued an official statement in which it rejected and condemned all allegations attributed to it.
What insights can be drawn regarding the UAVs seized in Damascus in early February when compared to the findings from the most recent war against Hezbollah, during which the organization launched a range of different UAV types (see appendix) at military and civilian targets in Israel?
There are several documented cases of Hezbollah reconnaissance / intelligence-gathering UAVs that crashed in Israeli territory and remained relatively intact, allowing for technical examination of their characteristics. These include a UAV intercepted by the IDF in March 2020; a UAV that crashed in Margaliot in December 2023 which remained intact; and another UAV that crashed in Beit Jann in August 2024, also without significant structural damage.
These UAVs, beyond their designation for reconnaissance / intelligence-gathering, apparently also served as decoy platforms intended to occupy, expose, or disrupt air defense systems, as part of a broader operational array.
It should be emphasized that we cannot state with certainty that the UAVs confiscated from the terror cell in Damascus are identical to any of Hezbollah’s UAVs described in this document. Nevertheless, a visual comparison of some of the aforementioned platforms (for example, the Hezbollah UAV that crashed in Beit Jann in August 2024) indicates a clear similarity to the UAVs seized by Syrian Internal Security Forces in Damascus — a similarity that is unlikely to be coincidental. Despite the fall of the Assad regime, Iran and Hezbollah continue to maintain an active presence in the Syrian arena, which they exploit, among other purposes, as a base for terrorist activity against both the new regime and Israel.
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.
[American Mind] This past February, in England, the Speaker of the House of Commons publicly admitted that normal parliamentary procedure was abandoned when members were threatened by Islamists and their leftist allies. The Scottish National Party had proposed that MPs vote in favor of or against an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, without additional conditions such as requiring the release of hostages. This presented moderate Labour MPs with a dilemma—vote, de facto, in favor of Hamas or court the wrath of the far-Left and Islamists inside England.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...
