"Defense officials told The New York Times that senior military leaders are considering deploying a brigade combat team from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division..."
Troops foil ISWAP attack on Damasak, force terrorists to retreat
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have foiled an attempted attack by suspected Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram terrorists on military positions in Damasak, Mobbar Local… pic.twitter.com/qfjXjtrzTG
Troops foil ISWAP attack on Damasak, force terrorists to retreat
By Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have foiled an attempted attack by suspected Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram terrorists on military positions in Damasak, Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
Security sources said the incident occurred at about 8:00 p.m. on March 20 when surveillance teams detected suspicious movements around key locations in the area.
The sources said terrorists were sighted advancing from three different directions, including the Gaidam–Choukoku axis, an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp vicinity, and areas close to troop deployment and headquarters in Damasak.
DR Congo army discovers weapons cache in Ituri, urges CRP militia to surrender
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) have intensified operations against armed groups in Ituri Province, with a new weapons cache discovered in Jingo village, located in the… pic.twitter.com/WqmtqmziC8
DR Congo army discovers weapons cache in Ituri, urges CRP militia to surrender
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) have intensified operations against armed groups in Ituri Province, with a new weapons cache discovered in Jingo village, located in the Mambisa Chiefdom of Djugu Territory, officials said on Sunday.
A statement from the army indicated that the operation is part of ongoing efforts to dismantle illegal armed groups operating in the region. The recovered cache is being examined, and security forces have increased patrols in surrounding areas to prevent further militant activity.
Nigerian troops have destroyed Terrorist Bello Turji’s faction in gun battles across Zamfara and Sokoto States, neutralizing over 100 bandits including several key commanders.
The notorious kingpin is now on the run as military pressure intensifies.
Nigerian troops have destroyed Terrorist Bello Turji’s
…full name Bello Turji Kachalla (born 1994) is a notorious Nigerian Fulani bandit leader operating in North-western Nigeria, particularly Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states…
faction in gun battles across Zamfara and Sokoto States, neutralizing over 100 bandits including several key commanders.
The notorious kingpin is now on the run as military pressure intensifies.
[FoxNews] HMS Anson reportedly traveled 5,500 miles to the region as Iran launched two ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, neither of which reached its target
A British nuclear-powered submarine has been deployed to the Arabian Sea amid rising tensions in the region and came ahead of Iran’s failed ballistic missile attempt targeting Diego Garcia, a key U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean, according to reports.
HMS Anson — a Royal Navy Astute-class submarine armed with Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes — traveled about 5,500 miles from HMAS Stirling, near Perth, Australia, to the region earlier in March.
The submarine is reportedly operating in the northern Arabian Sea, positioning Britain to respond quickly if the conflict escalates.
HMS Anson periodically surfaces to maintain communications with the U.K.’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in London, GB News reported.
The outlet reported that Anson is typically based at Faslane in Scotland, where an Iranian man has been charged with attempting to gain entry.
The deployment was said to have come shortly after the U.K. government authorized the United States to use British military bases for defensive operations targeting Iranian missile capabilities that have threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement, Downing Street said the aim of those operations was to "degrade the missile sites and capabilities" used in attacks on ships, while emphasizing that Britain does not want to be drawn into a wider regional conflict.
Tensions intensified Sunday after Iran launched two ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, according to multiple reports. Neither missile reached its target; one reportedly failed in flight, while the other was intercepted.
[IsraelTimes] A local official says that the arson attack on ambulances belonging to a Jewish organization and parked at a synagogue in Golders Green, is “utterly shocking, terrifying,” and says that authorities are not taking enough action against growing antisemitism.
“The targeting of life-saving vehicles stationed the the car park of a synagogue is particularly chilling and will send shockwaves through our community at a time of already heightened fears over antisemitism in the UK,” local Golders Green councillor Dean Cohen tells the Jewish News.
“It’s beyond time for the authorities to wake and and do more to tackle this hate running riot,” he says.
The ambulances belonged to the Hatzola volunteer organization that responds to medical emergencies.
CCTV footage showed three hooded individuals pouring gasoline on the vehicles and setting them on fire.
The ambulances were parked at the Machzike Hadath synagogue in Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large Jewish community.
The Fire Service said the blaze ignited oxygen tanks on board the ambulances, causing them to explode and smash windows in nearby residential buildings.
Elsewhere in PM Sir Keir Starmer’s England, an artist displaying all aspects of Adolph Hitler’s artistic sensibility and the technical ability of a standard issue twelve year old was given wall space only because he drew his Jew-hate:
Yesterday in Margate, UK, an exhibition titled “Drawings Against Genocide” by Matthew Collings displayed monstrous blood libel, portraying Jews as demons eating children and as a blood-thirsty “Jewish lobby.”
[RedState] As annoying as their exhortations may have been when you were a youth, it turns out they were right: not having a clue can cost you everything — even your life, as this Italian couple found out the hard way:
The bodies of an anarchist couple were found beneath the rubble of a cottage on the outskirts of Rome after they blew themselves up while making a bomb.
Police believed Alessandro Mercogliano, 53, and 36-year-old Sara Ardizzone were plotting an attack against a police station and Leonardo, a defence contractor, which made parts for F-35 jets.
Traces of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used to make explosives, were found in the debris of the abandoned building beside an ancient Roman aqueduct on Friday.
Police said the pair were supporters of Alfredo Cospito, the jailed figurehead of a loosely organised anarchist network called the Informal Anarchist Federation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Unidentified drones surrounded the Barksdale air base in Louisiana, which houses B-52 long-range strategic bombers. This was reported by The Independent.
The incident occurred on March 9, but the publication only reported it on March 20. The military raised the alarm. Later, several waves of 12-15 drones were detected operating over "sensitive areas of the facility," including the runway.
The publication noted that the problem arose against the backdrop of growing concerns about the threat associated with the escalation in the Middle East.
Barksdale is the second-largest airfield in the United States Air Force, home to more than 40 B-52 bombers. Approximately 15,000 people live on the base, including active duty personnel, reservists, military families, and civilian employees.
On March 20, a drone attacked another American facility— Victoria Air Base in Iraq. Shortly before, a suicide drone carrying explosives was intercepted and shot down over a US military base near the airport in Erbil.
#1
From Stephen Bryen's substack "Weapons & Strategy"
What we know is that the drones had extraordinary range, could resist broad spectrum jamming, and featured non-commercial signal characteristics. Even more provocatively, the drones used various ingress and egress routes and operated in dispersed patterns, making traceability (by trying to triangulate on signals) virtually impossible. We do not know if the drones transmitted information while they were over the base, stored information they transmitted later, or whether the drones may have had satellite links.
#6
Barksdale is a good ways from the Gulf. Up by Shreveport.
There's only a couple of thousand places in the middle of nowhere this could nave been done from.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/23/2026 9:11 Comments ||
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#7
^Sleeper cell?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/23/2026 10:02 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Three strikes south of Iraq’s capital Baghdad target fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi, local authorities say.
The alliance, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces, but also includes some pro-Iranian groups.
“Units of the PMF were targeted by drone strikes and airstrikes, with three strikes in different locations,” says a statement from a local emergency crisis cell, adding that the positions were deserted and there were no casualties.
[IsraelTimes] Eight overnight attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics center at Baghdad’s International Airport, an Iraqi security official tells AFP.
“Eight separate attacks, carried out until dawn with rockets and drones, targeted the US center,” a senior security official tells AFP, adding that “some rockets landed near the base.”
A second security official says there had been six strikes, with a police source saying a rocket launcher was discovered in a Baghdad district near the airport.
[IsraelTimes] Prosecutors indict four Bedouin Israelis on smuggling charges, after security forces last month intercepted a drone carrying automatic weapons into Israel from Egypt.
Shortly after the IDF identified and intercepted the drone and the three M-16 assault rifles it had been carrying, police say forces tracked down and detained two men from Bir Hadaj, in the Negev, on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling attempt.
They were transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning. During interrogation, investigators realized the suspects had been involved in dozens of arms trafficking operations, successfully smuggling around a hundred weapons, police say.
Two additional suspects, also Bedouin Israelis from the Negev, were arrested in light of evidence gleaned during interrogation, according to police. All four are indicted today in the Beersheba District Court.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it killed a terror operative in the Gaza Strip earlier today who had planned to carry out attacks on Israel.
The operative “posed a real and immediate threat to Israeli citizens,” the military says, adding that “he was working to advance plans for terror attacks within the territory of the State of Israel.”
The military says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike.
Israeli strike in Gaza reportedly kills one
[IsraelTimes] Gaza media outlets affiliated with Hamas report that one person was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli strike targeting a group of Gazans in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in western Gaza City.
The Times of Israel cannot independently verify the report. There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has halted all strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure after what he described as ‘very good conversations’ aimed at ending the war, even as Tehran rejects his claim that peace talks are underway.
The President said that the US and Iran had 'very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities' over the last two days.
Trump said he had ordered the Defense Department 'to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period.'
He warned that the cessation of the strikes was 'subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.'
Iranian state media pushed back on Trump’s claims of ceasefire talks, insisting that no direct or indirect negotiations with the US have taken place.
A regime source taunted Trump by claiming after 'hearing that our targets would include all power stations in West Asia, he backed down.'
Markets rocketed after Trump's Truth Social post, with the Dow surging 1,000 points in pre-market trading, the S&P and Nasdaq each jumping more than 2 percent, while oil dropped 10 percent.
Trump's ceasefire announcement comes after he threatened over the weekend to bomb Iran's electricity grid unless the regime reopened the Strait of Hormuz with 48 hours.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/23/2026 09:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1781 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
The Trump administration is in talks with Iran’s parliament speaker to try to end the war, according to a new report.
Mohammad Baqher Ghalibaf, who threatened mass retaliation against energy facilities across the Middle East in the face of President Trump’s ultimatum over the weekend, is the “top person” speaking with the US whom the president mentioned on Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Ghalibaf is a hardliner. But, of course, pretty much everyone is in the Iranian regime, and so many of them have already been taken out. I'm guessing that one of the reasons Ghalibaf is talking now is that he doesn't want to join that list, and he sees they're running out of options. They have threats against the Strait and propaganda. But if Iran actually retaliated against the energy facilities across the Gulf States as Ghalibaf threatened, that would probably draw the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others into joining militarily against them. The Gulf States are already thinking along those lines, and now believe Iran poses a grave threat to them.
Mr. Ghalibaf is not in our archives, so the President had to reach pretty far down in the ranks to find someone both alive and willing to talk…
#14
Iran parliament speaker: Trump’s ‘fake news’ about talks designed to manipulate markets Lebanese counterpart in Beirut on October 12, 2024. (AFP)
Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf denies that any negotiations have taken place with the US after Israeli media claimed that he was the official that US President Donald Trump’s envoys have been talking to in recent days.
#15
Trump calls Hudna til the Marines arrive. Good chance to observe what they try to move.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/23/2026 15:24 Comments ||
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#16
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, please come to the white courtesy phone, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf please!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/23/2026 15:27 Comments ||
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#17
Iran has always proclaimed they wanted a final climatic battle against the Great Satan. Don't believe any cease fire/peace proposal talk from them.
Posted by: Difar Dave ||
03/23/2026 17:01 Comments ||
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Kurds from Syria's northern city of Afrin, returning from Newroz celebrations in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, were attacked by Syrian Arabs who set the Kurdish flag on fire and stepped on it. pic.twitter.com/oAwGBvuqXq
[Rudaw] Officials in northeast Syria (Rojava) said Saturday that Kurdish residents returning to the northern city of Afrin were abused following Newroz celebrations, with the Kurdish flag burned and trampled, as local authorities imposed a curfew following the incidents.
Newroz comes from Iran, the ancient Zoroastrian new year celebrated by lighting fires and family gatherings. One can see why the conquering Hayat Tahrir al Sham/Al Nusra might object to the concept of that kind of plurality.
"Serious violations were committed against Afrin Kurds, and some of them were beaten and harassed," Ahmed Hassan, head of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC), an umbrella group of Kurdish opposition parties in Rojava, told Rudaw, adding that during Friday Newroz celebration as well, "some small problems had occurred."
Newroz, which marks the first day of spring, is celebrated by millions of Kurds in the Kurdistan Region and Kurdish areas of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , Iran, and Syria, as well as by the Kurdish diaspora in the West. Celebrated annually from March 21 to 23, it is marked by outdoor gatherings, picnics, and the lighting of bonfires with family and loved ones.
Hassan said that in the center of Afrin city and on the Aleppo-Afrin road, residents were obstructed. "The Kurdistan flag is being trampled, and people are forced to walk over the flag," he said, adding that those committing the violations were people who were previously in gangs from the eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
Moslem Mohammed, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria (PDK-S), the backbone of the ENKS, told Rudaw from Aleppo province that at 10 am their party organized a Newroz ceremony in the northern Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. He said that around 10,000 people attended, including Syrian officials such as Deputy Aleppo governor Ali Hannoura.
Mohammed said that after 15 years, this was the first time a Newroz ceremony was officially held in Aleppo with a significant number of attendees, including people from Afrin.
He said the violations took place during their return to Afrin around 5 pm, when they were obstructed by dozens of people on the road in the Tal Rifaat and A’zaz areas.
Sipan Hemo, deputy to the Syrian defense minister, who was recently appointed, warned that anyone "who insults the Syrian flag or attacks the Kurds and their symbols will be held accountable."
The statement came after footage showed a group of youths taking down the Syrian flag in Kobane.
"We confirm that those who brought down the Syrian flag in Kobane and those who insult the Kurdish people and their symbols share the same mentality that aims to create division and discord," he said in a statement posted on X.
Following the violations, the Afrin security directorate announced a curfew inside the city, calling on residents to adhere to guidelines to protect public order.
In a statement, the directorate said the curfew would begin at 8 pm and continue until 2 am, adding that the measure was aimed at protecting "national unity" and "solidarity" among Syria's communities. It also called on residents to respect national symbols and preserve the values of "brotherhood and coexistence."
It warned that it "will take legal measures against anyone who violates the decision, to enforce the law and protect social peace."
In mid-January, amid an offensive by Damascus and affiliated forces that resulted in the capture of territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a "special decree" aimed at guaranteeing Kurdish "rights and certain particularities," declaring Newroz an official holiday and recognizing Kurdish as a national language.
During the January conflict, dozens of violations were committed against Kurdish residents and fighters by Damascus-affiliated forces.
🚨 UPDATE: Iran’s Yazd missile base was reported to have suffered multiple secondary explosions following U.S.–Israeli strikes, indicating the presence of stored missiles or fuel at the site. The Yazd area hosts strategic IRGC missile infrastructure, including facilities… pic.twitter.com/yWOjAfcMbo
🚨 UPDATE: Iran’s Yazd missile base was reported to have suffered multiple secondary explosions following U.S.–Israeli strikes, indicating the presence of stored missiles or fuel at the site. The Yazd area hosts strategic IRGC missile infrastructure, including facilities previously identified as storage and launch centers for long-range systems, making it a recurring target in the ongoing campaign to degrade Iran’s ballistic missile capability.
Secondary detonations are typically associated with the ignition of stored munitions or propellant, suggesting that the strike impacted ammunition or missile storage rather than only surface facilities.
[IsraelTimes] A senior Hamas moneyman was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon last week, the military and Shin Bet say.
The strike killed Walid Mohammad Dib, “a senior figure in the Hamas terror organization’s financial network,” a joint statement says.
The IDF and Shin Bet say that Dib was responsible for transferring funds to various Hamas departments in Lebanon, the West Bank, and other locations, as well as being tasked with “recruiting operatives and directing terror activity from Syria and Lebanon.”
No details are given on where or when the strike took place.
An Israeli strike last week killed another top Hamas moneyman in Lebanon, and the offices of the terror group’s “fundraising apparatus” in Sidon were targeted in a strike on March
[IsraelTimes] With the Revolutionary Guards now calling the shots in Tehran, the US and Israel know ending the conflict without removing Iran’s near-weapons-grade stockpile invites disaster
Three weeks into the war, Israel and the US have indeed carried out something akin to regime change in Iran: The supreme leader has been replaced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Consequently, Iran’s decisions are far less theological and far more military, existential, and strategic.
The lack of clarity regarding the condition of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — who is thought to have been maimed on the first day of the war — only strengthens the assessment that decisions are now mainly being made on a hardline axis, between parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi.
That hawkish line can be seen in Iran’s continuing attacks on the Gulf states and in the helplessness of relatively less extreme government figures, some of whom are trying to find a diplomatic path to end the war.
On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and proposed that BRICS (the economic bloc that includes Brazil, China, India, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa) begin negotiations with the US and Israel to halt the fighting.
In all likelihood, the request was not coordinated and does not align with the IRGC, which at this stage feels that despite the heavy toll, it can still stand up to the two powers attacking it.
The appeal to India is a desperate move by the Iranian president, who already got a cold shower from the IRGC after declaring two weeks ago 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... would stop attacking neighboring countries — only to be undercut, minutes later, by a missile attack on the United Arab Emirates.
On Saturday, for the first time since the start of the current campaign, American aircraft struck Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz. The assessment is that this was a strike involving bunker-buster bombs, since sections of that site are dug very deep underground and had not been damaged until now.
Although none of the sides involved — Iran, the US, or Israel — commented on the damage itself, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization issued a statement saying that after an inspection at the site, no radioactive leak had been detected.
One theory is that one of the underground halls at Natanz contains part of Iran’s 450-kilogram stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, near weapons-grade. It is highly possible that this was a preemptive strike intended to destroy the access routes to the site — much like the US bombing in June 2025, when the entrances to the underground facility in Isfahan were sealed. Most of the stockpile is believed to be held somewhere in the Natanz complex.
A senior Israeli military official hinted this week that when it comes to locating the stockpile, neither Israel nor the US is groping in the dark. That said, it should be emphasized that the official was very cautious, and it was impossible to get a definitive impression of just how accurate the intelligence picture on this matter really is.
It is not for nothing that the issue of the 60% enriched uranium is taking an increasingly central role in the war as it enters its fourth week.
Hours after ruling out an imminent ceasefire, US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... said Friday he was considering "winding down our great military efforts... with respect to the terrorist regime of Iran." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, similarly, sent mixed signals in his Thursday presser, insisting both that the campaign would last as long as necessary and that it would end "a lot faster than people think." For his part, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said on Saturday that the military is preparing for another two weeks of fighting.
But all sides agree that ending the war without removing the enriched material from Iran would be akin to leaving smoldering embers, and that if the current regime — regardless of who is at its helm — remains in place, efforts to break out to a nuclear bomb will be significantly accelerated.
That goal will become a central Iranian objective — possibly prioritized over rebuilding the ballistic missile program, which proved just how advanced it has become with Saturday’s launch toward the strategic US-UK military base at Diego Garcia, 2,500 miles away.
After last June’s war, and the previous rounds of direct fighting with Israel in 2024, Iran has internalized that a nuclear immunity zone is the real security barrier to any future attack.
[FoxNews] Kaveh Madani says knock-on effects on the world's economy will be 'both immediate and lasting' if conflict escalates further
Iran is poised to strike critical desalination infrastructure across the Middle East within days, escalating tensions with the U.S. and Israel and triggering global economic fallout, a U.N. official warned Sunday.
Kaveh Madani, an Iranian scientist and U.N. official, said desalination plants across the region could be hit "within the next few days," raising the prospect of a broader regional water crisis and affecting global markets.
The strike threats made by the regime on Sunday came in response to President Donald Trump's warning that the U.S. would hit Iranian power infrastructure unless the Strait of Hormuz was opened within 48 hours.
A spokesperson for the Central Headquarters of Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya (PBUH) said, "Following previous warnings, if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked by the enemy, all energy, information technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted."
"The desalination plants might be targeted again within the next few days," Madani told Fox News Digital.
"The driest region of the world might see a real water war, but the knock-on effects on the world’s economy, including the U.S., will be both immediate and lasting," Madani said, pointing to what he described as a "new phase in the conflict" involving such critical civilian infrastructure.
"Now, add the possibility of damage to the already fragile water infrastructure, including treatment plants, pumping stations, and distribution networks," he said. "The consequences would be catastrophic and lasting."
Kaveh’s warning comes as the conflict — now in its fourth week — has expanded beyond military targets. Desalination facilities, including a plant on Iran’s Qeshm Island and another in Bahrain, have allegedly already been struck.
Desalination, the process of creating drinkable water from seawater, is critical to supplying water across Israel and many of Iran’s Gulf neighbors, particularly in such arid regions where natural freshwater is scarce.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, echoed the regime’s threats in a post on X on Sunday, warning that "critical infrastructure, energy, and oil across the region will be irreversibly destroyed, and oil prices will rise for a long time" if Iran’s power plants are struck.
"With a blackout, water treatment and distribution systems will also collapse in some parts of the country," Madani clarified.
"Iran will retaliate by attacking desalination, energy, and other energy-related infrastructure in all countries in the region that are parties to the war, including Israel," he added. "The price of oil and gas will increase further, and the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, while a humanitarian disaster is created as millions of people lose access to water and electricity in the region."
"The U.S. has allegedly already attacked a desalination plant in Qeshm Island, and the Iranians have allegedly responded by striking a plant in Bahrain," he said.
"Iran is the least reliant on desalination plants, so it is explicitly including them as legitimate targets for retaliation because this is the biggest vulnerability of the other parties to the war across the Middle East," he added.
Despite that relative advantage, Iran itself has faced years of severe drought, mismanagement of water resources, and declining groundwater levels, leaving parts of the country increasingly water-stressed.
"If Iranians run out of water and/or electricity, they won’t rise up," Holly Dagres, Libitzky Family Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.
"The unfortunate truth is that the Islamic Republic would rather allow the country to burn than appear weak while it is facing an existential threat," she said.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
03/23/2026 01:19 ||
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[1840 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[IsraelTimes] Hundreds of people from multiple religious sects protest move they warn will lead to a loss of personal liberties and put an additional target on minorities
Crowds of Syrians rallied Sunday to protest authorities’ efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol in Damascus, reflecting rising anxiety in the cosmopolitan capital that Syria’s new Islamist government may threaten long-held secular freedoms.
Raising heat under the frog pot to the next notch of heat. As they always intended, because the endpoint of any caliphate is purity..
Hundreds of residents from a range of religious sects poured into a grassy square in Bab Touma, a Christian neighborhood in Damascus, chanting "Syrians are united!" and brandishing signs that urged the government to safeguard personal liberties and religious minorities.
"This is not about whether we want to drink alcohol; this is about personal freedom," said Isa Qazah, a 45-year-old sculptor from the area who joined the protest along the medieval stone lanes near Damascus’ Old City. "We have come here to defend an idea."
Heavily armed security forces surrounded the protesters. The demonstration passed without incident.
The controversy erupted last week, when the governor of Damascus issued a decree banning "the provision of alcoholic beverages of all kinds in restaurants and nightclubs" across the capital. Within three months, it says, restaurants must have tossed out their wine lists and bar and club owners must have traded their licenses for cafe permits.
The decision, which authorities said was made "at the request of the local community," came as the interim government of former Islamist rebel and now President Ahmed al-Sharaa faces growing pressure from hard-liners to impose more conservative religious values. Sharaa has not publicly weighed in on the alcohol debate.
More than a year after his movement ousted former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... , Syria is still reeling from 14 years of civil war and five decades of dictatorship as it struggles to define its future.
A member of the Alawite religious minority, Assad espoused a secular ideology to retain the support of fellow minorities in the Sunni-majority nation. Under his family dynasty, Syrians had little in the way of civic or political freedoms. But they could drink alcohol, party at nightclubs, and dress how they pleased.
After being named the interim president, Sharaa vowed to unite the country and respect pluralism. He has so far tread lightly when it comes to imposing social restrictions. Yet Syria’s many religious and ethnic groups remain on edge.
Sectarian attacks by pro-government Sunni fighters have killed hundreds of Alawites and Druze over the past year.
CONCERNS OVER FRESH VIOLENCE
Protesters on Sunday said they feared the latest alcohol restrictions could further fuel those tensions, as the decree allows alcohol to be sold in three predominantly Christian neighborhoods.
Still, establishments in Bab Touma, al-Qassaa, and Bab Sharqi cannot serve booze on site, and shops in those three areas can sell alcohol only in sealed take-away bottles. Vendors also must keep at least 75 meters (246 feet) away from mosques and schools, and 20 meters (65 feet) away from cop shoppes and government offices.
Some said that in singling out Christians, authorities are framing them as responsible for what the decree describes as "violations of public morals." Although Islamic law prohibits the consumption of alcohol, Damascus is full of secular Moslems.
"How [are our] neighborhoods violating public etiquette? The division this creates is unfair and irresponsible," said Fawaz Bahauddin Khawja, a Christian lawyer at the rally. "This is the real face of Damascus. The only flag we raise is the Syrian flag."
As criticism flared ahead of the protest, Damascus authorities issued a statement late Saturday apologizing to the city’s Christian population "for any misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the decision." It also clarified that hotels will be spared the booze restrictions.
"This decision does not interfere with citizens’ personal freedoms," the statement read. "The regulation of alcohol sales exists in all countries, with differences in how it’s applied and enforced."
[IsraelTimes] Israeli, US officials continue to tout possibility of regime change; Iran fires 10 missile salvos on Sunday, 1 projectile lands in Lebanon; Arrow 3 downs missile outside atmosphere
The United States is reportedly planning a weeks-long operation to force 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... to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli report claimed Sunday, as Israeli and American officials continued to tout the potential fall of the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s regime as a result of the escalating attacks.
Israel’s ambassador in the US, Yechiel Leiter, told CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... Sunday that the war must continue until the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s regime is degraded to the extent that it has "no power" and the Iranian people can rise up and topple it.
"What we have to focus on now is degrading to the point where they have no power left in this regime. Hopefully, that will trigger this combustion point where the people are able to take charge of their own lives. Our focus has to be on degrading this regime to the point where they no longer pose a threat to us, to the region, to the world," Leiter said.
The campaign would end, he contended, when "there is not an entity in Tehran that’s going to threaten the region."
He said that such an outcome could come about by "this regime having a change of heart," though he said that was "hard to imagine" and a popular uprising was more likely: "Probably, it’s going to take place because the Iranian people have had enough."
"I think that we need boots on the ground, but they’ve got to be Iranian boots, and I think they’re coming," he added. Asked to elaborate, he compared the situation to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and of Romania’s communist government, in the late 1980s.
"There’s a point of combustion," he said. "Look, nobody knew when the Soviet Union would collapse. Nobody knew when the Romanians would turn their guns against their... government. But it happened at some point. And if we degrade them enough, the people of Iran are going to say, we’ve had enough and we want a different regime."
The U.S. and Israel planned this operation together, we’re executing it together, and we will bring this terror regime to its knees - together. 🇺🇸🇮🇱
— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) March 22, 2026
US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both called for the Iranian people to rise up, following mass anti-regime protests there in January that were put down in a deadly crackdown.
Trump has also escalated his threats over Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route, issuing a 48-hour ultimatum on Saturday night to open it, or the US would target Iranian power plants.
If Iran does not give in to that deadline, White House officials have told their Israeli counterparts that the war will be extended to make time for a planned US operation to reopen the waterway that is expected to take several weeks, Israel’s Channel 12 reported Sunday.
US officials have been telling the Israelis that a change in strategy is needed, and that Washington will not allow Iran to take the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil flows, hostage. "We will use this to make them collapse from within," said US officials, according to the network.
Iran has contended that its civilian water and energy infrastructure have already suffered extensive damage due to what it claims are US and Israeli strikes on tens of thousands of civilian sites.
"The country’s vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime," said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency. "The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he noted, adding that efforts were under way to repair the damage.
Iran’s Red Islamic Thingy chief Pirhossein Kolivand said the total number of damaged civilian sites "has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments."
He said the figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centers and vehicles.
IRAN KEEPS FIRING CLUSTER MISSILES
Iran fired a total of 10 missile salvos Sunday at central, northern and southern Israel, some of them dropping cluster munitions that impacted in the country’s center, injuring 15 in the afternoon.
More fragments impacted without causing injuries, and at least one missile was intercepted outside the atmosphere by the long-range Arrow 3 air defense system.
Immediately after midnight Sunday-Monday, another Iranian attack caused damage but no injuries in several impacts of cluster munitions or other falling fragments in central Israel.
One ballistic missile was assessed by the IDF to have struck Lebanese territory, the first time that an Iranian ballistic missile has hit Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... during the current war. It was unclear whether Iran had been aiming for Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon or for a target in Israel.
More than 400 ballistic missiles have been launched from Iran at Israel since the start of the war, with the military reporting an interception rate of 92 percent of attacks heading for populated areas and key infrastructure.
In all, five missiles carrying conventional warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives have struck populated areas in Israel, causing extensive damage in four cases. There have also been more than two dozen incidents of missiles carrying cluster bomb warheads hitting populated areas, with over 100 separate impact sites.
The IDF said in the early morning hours of Monday that it had launched a "wide-scale" wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Tehran, targeting infrastructure of Iran’s "terror regime," without elaborating.
On Sunday, the army said that it had struck Tehran the previous night as well, hitting several Iranian weapon production sites and various headquarters of the regime.
According to the military, the targets hit by Israeli Air Force fighter jets included an Iranian army training base that included a storage site for anti-aircraft missiles; a weapons production and storage site of the Iranian defense ministry; a weapons production site of the IRGC air force; a headquarters of the Iranian intelligence ministry; and a headquarters of Khatam-al Anbiya, Iran’s military emergency command.
The IAF fighter jets dropped dozens of bombs on the sites, the military said, describing the strikes as part of a "phase of deepening the damage to the core systems of the Iranian terror regime and its foundations."
In total, the IAF has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, nuclear facilities and various headquarters.
The IDF has estimated that some 5,000 Iranian soldiers have been killed in Israeli strikes, along with tens of thousands more maimed, many of them members of the internal security forces and Basij paramilitary force.
Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the US, to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and "create the conditions" for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.
Since the war began on February 28, 15 Israeli civilians and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel in Iranian ballistic missile attacks, along with four Paleostinians in the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] The ballistic missile Iran launched at northern Israel half an hour ago apparently struck Lebanese territory, according to military assessments.
It apparently marks the first time that an Iranian ballistic missile has hit Lebanon during the current war.
It is unclear if Iran was aiming for Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon or for a target in Israel.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Syrian aviation authorities have extended flight restrictions in the country's airspace. A source in the Damascus Flight Information Region (DIR), responsible for air traffic over the country, told reporters on March 22.
Flights in the airspace are restricted until 9:00 PM UTC on March 24 (12:00 AM Moscow time on March 25), a Damascus representative clarified in a conversation with TASS.
Only Aleppo Airport will be open for aircraft arrivals and departures during the restrictions. Three air corridors have been designated for passenger flights, two of which lead to the Turkish border, and one to the Mediterranean Sea, where air traffic controllers in Nicosia, Cyprus, will take control of the flight.
Restrictions on aircraft over Syrian territory were introduced on February 28 in connection with the US and Israeli military operation against Iran.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[1766 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
A wide-scale wave of strikes on security bodies targeted: • A military base used for training soldiers and storing missile systems intended to target aircrafts • A weapons production and storage facility of the Ministry of Defense • A… pic.twitter.com/kBeQmTLhx9
A wide-scale wave of strikes on security bodies targeted:
• A military base used for training soldiers and storing missile systems intended to target aircrafts
• A weapons production and storage facility of the Ministry of Defense
• A weapons production site of the IRGC’s Air Force
• HQ of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the emergency HQ of the Internal Security Forces.
BREAKING: Iran built a subway system for ballistic missiles inside a granite mountain south of Yazd. Automated rails move warheads and transporter-erector-launchers between assembly halls, storage vaults, and three to ten blast-door exits carved into the mountainside at depths… https://t.co/vuTtgrSCeVpic.twitter.com/pTRz8vuwJ0
BREAKING: Iran built a subway system for ballistic missiles inside a granite mountain south of Yazd. Automated rails move warheads and transporter-erector-launchers between assembly halls, storage vaults, and three to ten blast-door exits carved into the mountainside at depths reaching 500 metres. A TEL rides the tracks to an exit, surfaces, fires, and retreats underground before the strike aircraft can respond. The mountain has been under construction for two decades. The IRGC did not build a bunker. It built a weapons factory with its own internal railway, buried deeper than any conventional bomb can reach.
The United States and Israel have struck Yazd Imam Hussein on March 1st, March 6th and March 17th and even earlier today!
Satellite imagery shows collapsed portals, cratered ventilation shafts, and destroyed surface infrastructure. The visible damage is real. The invisible infrastructure is intact. On March 20, a long-range ballistic missile launched from the Yazd complex, failed during boost phase, and crashed near Kohistan Park inside Yazd City itself. The launch failed. The fact that it happened at all is the proof. Three weeks of precision strikes on the portals did not stop the railway behind them from delivering a missile to a surviving exit.
The engineering is simple in concept and devastating in practice. Each blast door is a separate exit point. When one is destroyed, the rail system reroutes to another. When that door is struck, it is backfilled with soil and concrete by the IRGC from inside, then re-excavated when the bombing pauses. CNN satellite analysis confirmed the rail layouts. Alma Research mapped the tunnel networks. The IDF acknowledged that approximately 60 percent of launch infrastructure has been destroyed. The US estimated 50 percent of capacity remains. That remaining 50 percent rides underground rails that no bomb in the American or Israeli arsenal can reach at 500 metres through granite.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[1776 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
[AI] Tehran on a Fault
Tehran is situated on a highly active tectonic zone, built atop multiple dangerous fault lines, making it one of the most seismically vulnerable megacities in the world. The **North Tehran Fault (NTF)**, a major thrust fault running along the southern foothills of the Alborz Mountains, is the most prominent seismic hazard, capable of generating earthquakes exceeding magnitude 7.0. It extends approximately 110 km and has a dip-slip rate of up to **1.39 ± 0.17 mm per year**, indicating ongoing tectonic stress. Other critical faults include the **Mosha Fault** (220 km long, 16 km north of Tehran), **Rey Fault**, **Qarchak**, and **Kuhak-Lavizan**, with studies identifying five previously unknown or poorly understood active fault zones in the region.
The city’s vulnerability is intensified by its location on soft alluvial sediments, which amplify seismic shaking—similar to effects seen in Mexico City and Kathmandu. This geologic trap, combined with rapid urban sprawl over fault traces, has created a high-risk environment. Over **2.5 million people live in dilapidated structures** across 4,420 hectares of Tehran, many built without proper seismic safety standards due to decades of corruption, poor governance, and political patronage in urban planning.
Experts and scientific assessments consistently warn that a major earthquake in Tehran is not a question of *if*, but *when*. A 2018 study estimated a **40–70% probability of a major quake within 100 km of central Tehran in the next 2–12 years**. The last major quake in the region occurred in **1830**, and historical seismic cycles suggest the city is long overdue. In the event of a magnitude 7.0+ earthquake, models predict **over 6 million potential fatalities**, widespread infrastructure collapse, and the near-total paralysis of Iran’s administrative and economic core. Additionally, ongoing **land subsidence**, water scarcity, and chronic air pollution further weaken the city’s resilience.
Group used 122mm Improvised Multiple Rocket Launcher with “Arash-1” artillery rockets and “Sayyad-2” V-Tail Kamikaze Drones. pic.twitter.com/QYhtYlabnE
Israeli officials report the Lebanese army continues allowing armed Hezbollah terrorists free passage through checkpoints, refusing to stop them out of fear of confrontation.
Israeli officials report the Lebanese army continues allowing armed Hezbollah terrorists free passage through checkpoints, refusing to stop them out of fear of confrontation.
A senior Israeli official states no agreement is possible because Lebanon cannot meet Israel's minimum requirements, adding that change will only come through military action.
U.S. forces continue to eliminate the Iranian regime’s one-way attack drone capabilities, which they’ve used to indiscriminately target civilians throughout the region. pic.twitter.com/AbdLMmtoei
U.S. forces continue to eliminate the Iranian regime’s one-way attack drone capabilities, which they’ve used to indiscriminately target civilians throughout the region.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/23/2026 00:00 ||
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[1775 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
🚨 BREAKING: IDF Chief of Staff says the campaign against Hezbollah “has just begun” and stresses this is part of a long‑term, structured plan that will continue even after operations in Iran wind down.
According to military leadership, the goal is to leave Hezbollah isolated…
🚨 BREAKING: IDF Chief of Staff says the campaign against Hezbollah “has just begun” and stresses this is part of a long‑term, structured plan that will continue even after operations in Iran wind down.
According to military leadership, the goal is to leave Hezbollah isolated and weakened, dismantling its infrastructure and strike capability over time—not just immediate battlefield victories. This aligns with Israel’s broader strategy of reducing threats from Iranian proxies while protecting the home front and border communities. 🇮🇱 
⚔️ “This is a prolonged campaign and we are prepared for it,” the chief said, indicating deeper manoeuvres and attacks are ahead as part of a systematic plan.
Israeli military official:
Hezbollah made a strategic miscalculation within 48 hours of the war in Iran erupting.
The ground operation in Lebanon is aimed at protecting northern residents and accelerating Hezbollah’s disarmament. The campaign is open-ended, with no geographic… pic.twitter.com/utp4ynwXVV
Hezbollah made a strategic miscalculation within 48 hours of the war in Iran erupting.
The ground operation in Lebanon is aimed at protecting northern residents and accelerating Hezbollah’s disarmament. The campaign is open-ended, with no geographic limits.
Officials say the operation will conclude only with the destruction of Hezbollah’s capabilities wherever they exist. The objective is to establish a new security reality south of the Litani, entirely free of Hezbollah. The Bekaa Valley and other distant areas are included in the target bank.
The Israeli Air Force blew up a bridge over Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... ’s Litani River on Sunday, accusing Hezbollah of using it to move operatives and weapons into the country’s south, as Israel warned that its fight against the Iran-backed terror group had "only just begun."
The strike on the Litani’s Qasmiya Bridge was met with anger from Beirut, which warned that the step was a "dangerous escalation" and demanded that the international community intervene to deter Israel from expanding its operations in Lebanon.
Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... the Israel Defense Forces said a Hezbollah drone impacted near Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, lightly wounding a soldier. Another four troops were lightly maimed in a safety-related incident during operations in southern Lebanon later Sunday, while two others were lightly maimed in a "work accident" in northern Israel, the IDF said, adding that all seven troops were hospitalized in good condition with their families notified.
Israel has carried out massive Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Lebanon and pushed troops farther into the country after Hezbollah renewed its rocket attacks on Israel on March 2 amid the bombing campaign that the US and Israel launched 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.
The Qasmiya Bridge was the fifth to be targeted by Israel since March 2. The IDF had warned earlier on Sunday that it intended to bomb the river crossing, located along Lebanon’s coastal highway just north of Tyre, to prevent Hezbollah from moving operatives and weapons into southern Lebanon.
The warning came after Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the IDF to "immediately destroy all the bridges over the Litani River that are used for terror activity, to prevent the passage of Hezbollah Death Eaters and weapons southward."
A smaller bridge by the same name, located around a kilometer and a half from Sunday’s target, was struck by the IDF on Thursday — after issuing a warning for the area on Wednesday — resulting in a correspondent and camera operator for the Russian channel RT being lightly injured.
In its statement confirming Sunday’s strike, the IDF said the bigger Qasmiya Bridge was a "key" crossing used by Hezbollah to move operatives and weapons into southern Lebanon.
WATCH: Israeli airstrike targets Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani River in southern Lebanon pic.twitter.com/h37Vdhd14F
"The Hezbollah terror organization uses this crossing to transfer thousands of weapons, rockets and rocket launchers that it uses to carry out terror attacks from the area south of the Litani against IDF troops and Israeli civilians," the military said.
It said it struck the bridge "to prevent harm to Israeli civilians as well as to Lebanese civilians."
Footage from the aftermath of the strike showed thon the lam craters now pockmarked the bridge, but that the crossing had not been demolished.
The military also said that a separate wave of airstrikes in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon on Sunday had targeted 15 Hezbollah command centers.
Israel estimates that just under 1,000 members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force have crossed over the Litani into southern Lebanon to confront Israeli forces carrying out a ground operation in the area.
But the bridges have also been used by Lebanese civilians fleeing the fighting in the country’s south, with the UN Human Rights Office estimating that around one million people have been displaced by the renewed fighting.
Experts have warned that the targeting of civilian infrastructure, even if used for military purposes, could amount to a war crime.
"If all these bridges are struck, and the region that is south of the Litani becomes isolated from the rest of the country, then the civilian harm is going to be so immense that you have a humanitarian catastrophe as people still living in the south won’t be able to access food, medicine and other basic needs," Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Rooters on Sunday.
’PRELUDE TO A GROUND INVASION’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warned on Sunday that the strikes targeting bridges over the Litani River were a "dangerous escalation" that appeared to be a "prelude to a ground invasion," something Beirut has repeatedly cautioned against.
"These attacks constitute a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of Lebanon’s illusory sovereignty. They are considered a prelude to a ground invasion — something Lebanon has repeatedly warned against through diplomatic channels," Aoun said, according to an Arabic-language post on his office’s X account.
"The targeting of the bridges over the Litani River — a vital artery for civilian movement — constitutes an attempt to sever the geographic connection between the area south of the Litani and the rest of Lebanese territory, and obstructs the delivery of humanitarian aid," Aoun charged, saying it represents the pursuit of "Israeli expansion into Lebanese territory."
Beirut "calls on the international community — particularly the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... and members of the Security Council — to assume their responsibilities and take immediate measures to deter Israel from carrying out this attack," the president added.
But far from acceding to Aoun’s demands, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in remarks released on Sunday evening that Israel’s fight against Hezbollah "has only just begun," and said the terror group, not Israel, was to blame for harming Lebanon.
"Iran is our primary effort, and the northern arena is another central arena. They are interconnected," Zamir said while approving battle plans at the Northern Command on Saturday. "The Hezbollah terror organization constitutes a central proxy of the Iranian terror regime, and it made a grave mistake when it chose to join the campaign against Israel. This choice harms it and the State of Lebanon as a whole."
"The message is clear: There is no safe haven for the regime and its proxies, any threat to Israeli citizens will be met with a determined, precise and powerful response," he said, according to remarks published by the military.
The Lebanese government, well aware of Hezbollah’s apportioned blame, has taken steps against the terror group since it launched six rockets at Israel in the early hours of March 2, including banning its military activities and reiterating its demand for it to hand over its weapons to the state.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam doubled down on his government’s stance in an interview with the Saudi al-Hadath news channel on Sunday evening, saying it would not abandon its efforts to disarm the Iran-backed terror group, which he accused of unleashing heavy damage in Lebanon and undermining the government’s credibility.
Every rocket fired by Hezbollah has led to "10,000 displaced people" in Lebanon, he said, due to Israel’s retaliatory strikes and calls for wide swaths of the country to evacuate.
But Salam didn’t spare Israel from criticism, either, saying that its targeting of bridges in the country’s south had created a "disaster" for Lebanon, and particularly for its southern region.
Israel’s security establishment has said in an assessment to the political echelon that Hezbollah will in the coming days attempt to inflict major damage on infrastructure and sensitive facilities in Israel, Channel 12 reported Sunday, citing a security source.
According to the report, Hezbollah will be willing to engage in diplomacy to end the fighting in Lebanon only if an agreement comes as part of a broader regional deal that includes the end of the war in Iran.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Sunday that 118 children and 79 women had been killed in the renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. It has put the overall corpse count at 1,024 people, although it does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The IDF has said that it has killed over 570 Hezbollah operatives, including 220 members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since Hezbollah renewed its attacks on Israel.
More than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have also been struck, including 120 command centers, 100 weapon depots, and 130 missile launchers, according to the IDF.
In the same period, two IDF soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon in a Hezbollah attack, and an Israeli civilian was killed on Sunday morning by a projectile possibly fired by the IDF.
Hezbollah has been firing an average of about 150 rockets per day, according to the IDF. Roughly two-thirds of the daily rocket fire has been directed at Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon and along the border, with the remaining third aimed at Israel.
The IDF believes Hezbollah still possesses thousands of short-range rockets, along with hundreds of longer-range projectiles. The IDF has said that Hezbollah is launching most of its attacks from deeper within southern Lebanon, and not from close to the border.
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.
Nigerian troops have destroyed Terrorist Bello Turji’s 
[RedState] As annoying as their exhortations may have been when you were a youth, it turns out they were right: not having a clue can cost you everything — even your life, as this Italian couple found out the hard way:
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...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 
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
