[IsraelTimes] New York City’s first lady does not, however, address social media praise of Palestinian terrorists or liking an Instagram post celebrating October 7
Rama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has apologized for "harmful" social media posts she made as a teenager, responding publicly after a conservative news outlet combed through her online profiles and resurfaced material, including a post in which she used an anti-gay slur.
In an interview with the arts website Hyperallergic, Duwaji, an illustrator, said she felt "a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others," adding that "being 15 doesn’t excuse it."
"I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry," she said in the interview, published Wednesday, in response to a question about adjusting to life as a public figure.
Duwaji did not specify which comments she was referring to, nor did she address other, more recent social media activity regarding Israel that has attracted heavy scrutiny as Mamdani tries to ease concerns among some in the US city’s Jewish community over his own criticism of Israel’s treatment of Paleostinians.
Last month, The Washington Free Beacon reported on years of Duwaji’s online activity across a handful of social media platforms, finding she had shared posts praising female Paleostinian gunnies who participated in plane hijackings and bombings in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 2015, she shared a post in which someone else wrote that Tel Aviv was occupied Paleostinian land and "shouldn’t exist."
Duwaji also once used a racial slur for Black people while affectionately addressing a friend and used an abbreviated slur for gay people in 2013.
The mayor has previously said his wife is a "private person" who does not hold a formal position in City Hall. Asked Thursday about which specific posts his wife regretted, Mamdani demurred.
"She shared some of her reflections in this interview. I won’t add much to them. What I will say, however, is that she is someone of incredible integrity," Mamdani told news hounds.
He added that questions about Duwaji’s social media activity were "part and parcel" of his own choice to run for mayor, "a decision that has ramifications for those that I love."
Separately, Duwaji has also come under criticism for liking an Instagram post that appeared to cheer Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel. The Free Beacon has also reported that Duwaji provided an illustration for an essay by an author who described the October 7 attack as "spectacular" and had called Jewish Israelis "rootless soulless ghouls."
Mamdani has previously said his wife had been commissioned to illustrate an excerpt of a book by a third party, and said she had never engaged or met with the author, and that Duwaji had not seen the author’s previous comments. He called the author’s rhetoric "patently unacceptable" and "reprehensible."
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] American media outlets claim that China may have transferred not only satellite reconnaissance data to Iran, but also something more serious.
1. All of these statements, once again, aim to shift responsibility for the failure of American aggression onto China. They claim that regime change in Tehran failed because China secretly intervened and interfered.
I suspect we are not done yet, so failure has not yet occurred.
2. It is also necessary to explain the high accuracy of Iranian strikes, which in just a couple of weeks destroyed most of the expensive American radars in the region, including a key facility in Qatar.
To be fair, they are much more accurate than the Houthis. On the other hand, since most of what they shoot off are not permitted by the US, the IDF, or the Gulf countries to hit whatever they are actually pointed at, who knows how accurate they really are?
3. Questions also arise about why it was announced that Iran's air defenses had been destroyed, when in fact, the air defenses operated until the last day of the war, systematically damaging the US and Israeli air forces.
What a happy place you live in, Colonel, where everything is just as you believe.
4. Accusations that China supplied radars to Iran (regardless of the fact that such supplies in themselves violate nothing – UN sanctions against Iran were lifted several years ago) should explain how Iran managed to shoot down a certain percentage of cruise missiles. American media outlets claim that China may have secretly supplied Iran with X-band radars to combat low-flying targets.
5. However, the Pentagon has not detected any traces of the use of the latest Chinese air defense systems, nor any signatures of the latest Chinese radars. Meanwhile, even during the attempts to overthrow the regime in Tehran across the street, the operation of modern Russian electronic warfare systems, supplied to Iran in recent years, was observed. Furthermore, the presence of equipment in Iran that interfered with Starlink's operation during protests was claimed, a claim confirmed by American sources.
6. Of course, Iran could have simply hidden some of the hypothetical supplies underground, as it did with the S-400, Su-35, Mi-29, and other Russian-supplied aircraft. American objectively verified videos show no evidence of the destruction of Russian or Chinese military equipment.
7. Officially, China and Russia have not confirmed the supply of various military equipment to enhance Iran's defense capability, either during or after the war. And they clearly have no intention of doing so in the future. At the same time, Iran's significant preparations for war with the United States are clearly evident, and they clearly could not have done so without the support of Iran's strategic partners.
I believe the actual extent of Russia and China's aid to Iran will be revealed over time,
…no doubt…
but certainly not now.
One can know without revealing — Mossad did so for decades, until one day the nuclear research archive appeared in Jerusalem, and on another day all the pagers blew up without warning. Let us all look forward to unexpected revelations.
The main thing is that this support produces military and political results. The March round of war demonstrated that Iran is quite capable of effectively fighting back and inflicting damage on aggressors.
A classic Pyrrhic victory, in fact. A couple more rounds of that and there will be no Mullahcracy left, among other items of interest.
Naturally, supplying weapons, ammunition, and intelligence to Iran does not violate any international obligations of Russia and China. The United States is doing the same with respect to Ukraine and Taiwan. But it is terribly offended if someone does the same against its goals and interests.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/18/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1769 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
However, a person might ask.
Did the TDS Democrats and the Globalists with their propaganda machines, assisted in writing and releasing this factually inaccurate statement?
[IsraelTimes] Despite telling police ‘they have money and power, I should never have worked for a Jewish woman,’ appeals court denies Algerian caretaker was driven by Jew hatred
A French appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a nanny from Algeria who was convicted of poisoning the Jewish family she worked for was not motivated by antisemitism.
The personal jihad of poison — we’ve been following this story.
The decision by the Versailles Court of Appeal comes months after the nanny, identified as Leïla Y., 42, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the Nanterre criminal court in December for attempting to poison the Jewish family she worked for with cleaning supplies.
During her arrest and a subsequent search of the home on Feb. 5, 2024, Leïla Y. told police, "Because they have money and power, I should never have worked for a Jewish woman; she only brought me trouble."
Despite the nanny’s comments, the Nanterre court rejected the aggravating circumstance of antisemitism in the case, and the Versailles Court of Appeal ruled in its latest decision that the nanny’s remarks did not constitute antisemitic statements.
The family’s lawyers, Patrick Klugman and Sacha Ghozlan, decried the ruling in a blurb, saying that they would seek to appeal the decision again.
"This decision makes judicial repression of antisemitism impossible and turns legal texts, meant to be protective, into mere useless scraps of paper," Klugman and Ghozlan said. "Faced with such a decision, litigants risk losing all confidence in and protection from the judicial institution."
The family’s lawyers also called on the French Minister of Justice and the National School for the Judiciary to "thoroughly review both initial and ongoing training of judges in combating racism and antisemitism," and urged the prosecutor general to file an appeal "in the interest of society."
Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of La Belle France, called the ruling "incomprehensible" in a post on X, adding that it "raises questions about the willful blindness in French society toward antisemitism when it forms the backdrop of cases without being the sole element."
"Are there contexts that make antisemitic remarks acceptable to the point that the justice system refuses to see them?" Arfi continued. "This legitimation of antisemitism is one more step in its tragic banalization since October 7."
The ruling comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in La Belle France since the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -led attack on Israel from 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 follows several high-profile court cases in recent years that have sparked outcry within the country’s Jewish community about how the French judiciary prosecutes antisemitism.
On Thursday, French politicians withdrew an antisemitism bill hours before it was set for debate that would have made it illegal to "implicitly" condone or incite terrorism or call for the destruction of a state recognized by La Belle France. A similar law is expected to be introduced by French politicians in June.
[NY Post] Fake News
The US Navy denied a report Friday that warships deployed to the Middle East were short on food and sailors were purportedly being served what some on social media described as “rationed slop.”
“Recent reports alleging food shortages and poor quality aboard our deployed ships are false,” read a statement released by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, run by Adm. Daryl Caudle.
“Both USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli have sufficient food onboard to serve their crews with healthy options,” the statement continued. “The health and wellbeing of our Sailors and Marines are my top priority, and every crew member continues to receive fully portioned, nutritionally balanced meals.”
Caudle’s denial follows a USA Today report which included shocking images of the mostly empty lunch trays allegedly being served on the two warships.
“The [Navy] is correct. More FAKE NEWS from the Pharisee Press,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.
“My team confirmed the logistics stats for the Lincoln & Tripoli. Both have 30+ days of Class I supplies (food) on board. NavCent monitors this everyday, for every ship,” Hegseth continued. “Our sailors deserve — and receive — the best.”
USA Today also reported that care packages weren’t getting to troops in the Middle East due to an indefinite suspension on mail deliveries to military ZIP codes in the region.
The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations indicated that suspension has now been lifted.
“Regarding mail and personal packages, a temporary hold on sending mail into theater, due to combat operations, has been lifted,” Caudle said. “Our logistical network is highly adaptable, and we remain committed to supporting our warfighters as they execute Operation Epic Fury.
“The [Navy] possesses an unmatched logistics capability to sustain operations at sea, and routine menu adjustments are simply how we optimize our endurance to keep our warships in the fight.”
#3
It's obviously false because the complainers would have taken pictures of the steam tables of the chow line to show insufficient food. Just low-level traitors trying to embarrass the Navy and the Trump administration. They're not very good at this with their room temperature IQs.
[Regnum] On April 17, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded an end to arms sales to Israel.
He claimed that the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, facilitated the attack on Iran. It launched the offensive in Lebanon and continues to harm civilians in the West Bank and Gaza. Was he sipping a margarita with a "Maryland Man" at the same time? POS
"We must not send taxpayer-funded bombs and equipment that enable this brutality. We must stop [US President Donald ] Trump's arms shipments," Van Hollen wrote on social media.
Why Israel is on-shoring weapons and ammunition manufacturing, and will be giving up all donations from the American government two years from now. And then the honourable senator will still be unhappy, because his real goal is the eradication of the Jewish state.
[IsraelTimes] Parliament unanimously backs sending demining and security units to international force being put together; state says move mirrors NATO support it received after war with Serbia
Boom! VP JD Vance is going to have to take a stand on the issue at some point, no matter how inclusively Big Tent he wants to be.
[IsraelTimes] People who want to sow discord in this country are not welcome, Yehuda Kaploun says, while denying report claiming US would ban specific European politicians
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the US special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism, said this week that the United States will bar individuals from attending the World Cup who are accused of fostering antisemitism in their home countries.
"The president and the secretary of state have made it perfectly clear that people who want to sow discord in this country are not welcome here," Kaploun told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday. "People who want to bring their brand of hate to the United States with antisemitism are not welcome. Coming to this country is a privilege. It’s not a right."
Kaploun’s comments on a potential ban were first reported by Euractiv, which said he told a European Jewish Association conference in Brussels that the United States was "holding countries accountable for ministers who are saying things, and they are not being allowed into the country."
But Kaploun dismissed Euractiv’s report that the United States would institute a ban specifically on European politicians, instead saying that "everybody is judged as an individual."
"If there is a minister who is promoting, you know, there are people who are promoting right-wing antisemitism or left-wing antisemitism," Kaploun said. "Either way, coming to the United States is a privilege, not a right, and everybody is judged on making sure that they’re going to be coming to this country, that they’re going to not ferment hate."
The FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted in cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19, will be the organization’s largest event to date, featuring 48 national teams.
The countries that qualified include several that have battled openly — and in some cases literally — with Israel, such as Iran, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and South Africa. (Israel, which has faced widespread calls to be banned from the Union of European Football Associations, will not participate, having lost in qualifying competition last year.)
Participating countries also include several where antisemitism is seen to be on the rise or where US officials have sparred with leaders over issues related to Jewish safety — for example, Belgium, where the US ambassador recently challenged the health minister publicly over the arrest of mohels who performed Jewish circumcisions.
Kaploun, who was confirmed as antisemitism envoy in December, has taken aim at antisemitism in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... in recent months, including in January when he split with the president of the Conference of European Rabbis over the root of antisemitism in the region.
Kaploun’s comments came as FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed at CNBC’s Invest in America Forum on Wednesday 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 participate in the World Cup, despite its ongoing war and fragile ceasefire with the United States and Israel.
"The Iranian team is coming for sure, yes," Infantino said. "We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. As I said, that would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play."
On Thursday, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA World Cup task force, told Politico that the Trump administration did expect Iran to be in attendance.
"I’m not going to speak for the Iranian team, but I will say that the president, when I’ve talked to him, has invited the Iranian team here," Giuliani said. "The president of FIFA made a statement, I think, yesterday, that they’re going to be coming. So we expect them here."
Discussing who could be affected by potential bans, Kaploun pointed to those involved in the October decision by England’s Aston Villa Football Club to prohibit Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending a match, as well as individuals tied to the violence in Amsterdam last year that left several Maccabi Tel Aviv fans injured.
"Those people who are responsible for what occurred in Amsterdam at the soccer matches, or who are responsible for the lies that ended up resulting in tourists, people, not being allowed to come to a soccer match — those people who do those things will be held accountable and aren’t welcome to come to the United States of America," Kaploun said.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] US President Donald Trump publicly reconciled Lebanon and Israel. The White House makes no secret of its view that the ten-day ceasefire is a prelude to a long-term deal with Iran.
The Middle East is promised a quick exit from its protracted crisis. But Israeli leaders appear to be less than thrilled with the diplomatic approach the White House has chosen.
SUDDEN PEACE
Trump announced a breakthrough in resolving the situation in Lebanon with his characteristic eloquence. He did so not from the White House, but on the social media platform TruthSocial.
"I just had excellent talks with the highly respected President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon and Prime Minister Bibi (Benjamin) Netanyahu of Israel. The two leaders agreed that to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire," the president wrote.
The news predictably caused a sensation. Especially since the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, which began earlier this week, had de facto stalled due to excessive pressure on the Arab delegation.
The Israelis made a demand: to assist in disarming the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which had entrenched itself in southern Lebanon, but at the same time not to interfere in the construction of a “security zone” along the northern border of the Jewish state and not to raise the issue of refugees from the south.
Lebanese government negotiators offered few objections to the announcement, which was not well received by the public. Fearing a social upheaval, Beirut opted at one point to tone down media activity altogether.
A little later, he even leaked to the press information about certain "counterconditions" presented to Israel to balance the future deal. Without their acceptance, the Lebanese authorities allegedly refused to engage with Netanyahu's cabinet, even by telephone.
But even with this public distancing, the search for a compromise solution apparently continued. Only the leaders of Lebanon and Israel spoke not to each other, but to Trump and his team, who subsequently came up with a peace formula that would satisfy everyone. It envisioned a ceasefire, a halt to fighting along the current front line, security guarantees for diplomats and negotiators, and a permanent peace treaty.
Interestingly, Lebanese Hezbollah, which was not formally involved in the process, accepted Washington's conditions in exchange for a commitment to cease attacks on its infrastructure.
DISPUTES IN ISRAEL
Although the news of the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon should have eased the situation in the Middle East somewhat, Washington failed to present it correctly.
Trump made a false start and announced an agreement between the parties even before it had been formalized on the ground. While the Lebanese elites barely reacted to the news, it sparked a storm of indignation in Israel.
An emergency cabinet meeting, convened remotely by Netanyahu, was held in a heated atmosphere. Many ministers expressed outrage at having learned of the ceasefire from newspapers and social media rather than from the country's leadership. And even as a fait accompli. Although the issue had been briefly discussed in the Knesset (parliament) at least several times, no one had ever voted on it, fearing social unrest.
The most controversial aspect of the peace regime was its format. Trump's "freeze here and now" formula forced the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to remain at the positions they already held, without the opportunity to consolidate more advantageous positions or complete previously launched offensive operations.
This, in particular, undermines Israeli efforts to attack Bint Jbeil, a key Hezbollah defensive hub in southern Lebanon.
The city was planned to be completely captured before the meeting of the Lebanese and Israeli delegations in Washington on April 14 and used as a bargaining chip. However, due to intense resistance from Shiite militias, the IDF was only able to advance in a few neighborhoods, primarily in the so-called Old City. But now it will be difficult to build on this success. Therefore, security officials expressed more than a little skepticism about the new agreement.
Nevertheless, the Israelis had no choice but to accept the conditions announced by Washington, albeit with a universal reservation regarding the right to "proactively respond to emerging threats."
Interestingly, just minutes before the ceasefire came into effect, IDF forces launched a massive airstrike on Lebanese territory. Approximately 400 targets were attacked—most of them within southern Lebanon, but at least a few strikes were also recorded in central Lebanon. The Israeli General Staff commented on the operation tersely: "The army suppressed previously identified Hezbollah firing positions." In the event of further attacks, the army reserved the right to respond proportionately.
However, after the agreement formally entered into force, the parties did indeed cease military activity.
A DANGEROUS GAME
Although the ten-day ceasefire gave Israel the opportunity to regroup and refresh its forces in Lebanon, and to temporarily ease social tensions stemming from government-initiated mobilization measures, it did not bring any real relief to Israeli society.
The freeze in the offensive revealed that during its duration, troops had managed to take control of, at best, a fifth of southern Lebanon. This is at odds with the army leadership's forecasts and casts a shadow on Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir.
The opposition, willy-nilly, compares Operation Raven's Roar to Hertzi Halevi's "Northern Arrows" in 2024, noting that Israel achieved greater success with less financial and image-boosting investment. This fuels discussion about the elite personnel crisis sparked by Netanyahu.
Moreover, with the cessation of hostilities, Israeli authorities were left alone to deal with disgruntled residents of the north. Settlers and farmers affected by Hezbollah shelling received minimal compensation from the government, but no guarantees of continued security.
Netanyahu's promise to "push back the hooligans" from the northern border now seems completely unrealistic in their eyes. In 2022, the "hawkish coalition" led by the current prime minister was able to significantly strengthen its support precisely thanks to the votes of revanchists from the north, and the current despondent mood risks robbing them of at least 5% of the electorate.
Finally, the state's image and credibility are at stake. For the second time since the beginning of 2026, Israel finds itself in a position where Washington is confronting it with the fait accompli of a peace agreement. First with Iran, and now with Hezbollah.
This approach to the issue angers not only the hawks, but also relatively moderate politicians who don't like to follow Washington's orders and rely on Trump's consistency.
Washington has recently sharply increased direct contacts with Hamas for the first time since the peace agreement of the fall of 2025, and new diplomatic pirouettes are looming on the horizon, which the Jewish state is anxiously awaiting.
All of this looks very much like the White House's attempts to muster more arguments and, through security guarantees for individual members of the pro-Iranian proxy system, persuade Tehran to compromise. And judging by the gradual softening of the Iranian elites' rhetoric, the tactic is working. At least the Persians are in no hurry to take up arms or drag their Middle Eastern allies into new battles.
For this reason, Israeli authorities have seriously begun to develop scenarios for diplomatic resistance and to choose tactics that, on the one hand, will allow them to solve their own military-political problems in the region, and on the other, will not interfere with Washington's pursuit of the "historic deals" so beloved by Trump.
Israel is not quarreling with the U.S. They’re taking a break, preparing their lists for the next round, and waiting to see what the Mad Mullahs and Hezbollah do next — start to work on peace or explode into war again.
[IsraelTimes] All wartime restrictions lifted for israeli public; 10-day ceasefire appears to hold even as Lebanese media report Israeli strike on motorcycle; Hezbollah says ‘finger on the trigger’
[IsraelTimes] Cars line up to cross destroyed Qasmiyeh Bridge over Litani River after Lebanese army bulldozes new path: ‘If the situation allows, we will stay and we will not leave our land again’
As a shaky ceasefire between Israel and Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... appeared to hold Friday morning, displaced Lebanese residents began trickling home and discovering whether or not their houses were still standing.
US President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... announced the ceasefire between the governments of Lebanon and Israel on Thursday. The Lebanese government has been sharply at odds with Hezbollah over the Iran-backed terror group’s decision to enter the war, and has sought its peaceful disarmament for a year. Hezbollah and its Iranian patron openly seek to destroy Israel.
In the southern village of Jibsheet, a trickle of residents returned to flattened apartment blocks and streets littered with chunks of concrete, twisted aluminum shutters and dangling electrical wires.
"I feel free being back," said 23-year-old Zainab Fahas. "But look, they destroyed everything: the square, the houses, the shops, everything."
In the southern Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik, Ahmad Lahham, 48, waved the yellow Hezbollah flag. He stood on a mountain of rubble that was his apartment building and also housed a branch of Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard al-Hassan.
Iran’s pressure in its talks with the US brought the truce, he claimed, condemning Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel.
"Only the Iranians stood with us, no one else," he asserted, calling Lebanon’s leaders "the leadership of shame."
Nearby, Ali Hamza said he had just "inspected my home and praise God the building is still standing."
But he said, "People are scared to come and live, and it is impossible to live in these circumstances, and with these smells. A full return is difficult now, despite the hardship of displacement."
In Qasmiyeh in south Lebanon, cars were driving across a makeshift crossing over the Litani River, hastily erected after the 10-day ceasefire came into effect at midnight local time. Israel destroyed all the bridges over the Litani during the war, blowing up the one at Qasmiyeh on Thursday.
Three bulldozers, under the supervision of the Lebanese army, worked from dawn to fill the crater left by the bombing.
As soon as it was passable, cycle of violences and then cars began crossing in single file, some honking their horns in celebration and waving yellow Hezbollah flags.
By 9 a.m., the highway linking the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre was jammed for kilometers, with tens of thousands of cars heading south, many packed with mattresses, kitchenware, and blankets.
Ghufran Hamzeh, who waited at the Qasmiyeh bridge with her son, traveled from Beirut.
"When we fled, it took 16 hours on the road, and today it’s the same thing," she told AFP, "but that’s not important. What’s important is that we’re returning to our village and our land."
"I don’t know if my house is destroyed or not," she added. "If it’s destroyed, it changes nothing. I will pitch a tent in front of it and stay there."
Sitting on a twisted piece of metal, the asphalt scattered with chunks of iron and concrete from the bombed bridge, she smiled as the bulldozers worked.
"They said the truce is for 10 days, but if the situation allows, we will stay and we will not leave our land again."
In the largely destroyed southern city of Nabatieh, some returning residents defiantly said they would stay. Others said there was nothing to come back to.
"There’s destruction and it’s unlivable. Unlivable. We’re taking our things and leaving again," said Fadel Badreddine, who came with his young son and wife. "May God grant us relief and end this whole thing permanently — not temporarily — so we can return to our homes and lands."
Trump told news hounds after the ceasefire was announced that Lebanon and Israel would work towards a longer-term deal, and said Lebanon had agreed to "take care of Hezbollah."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he had not agreed to Hezbollah’s demand to withdraw IDF forces that invaded southern Lebanon, and would maintain an extensive "security zone" up to the border with Syria.
Hezbollah said any ceasefire must not allow Israel freedom of movement within Lebanon. In a statement, the terror group claimed the presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese territory granted Lebanon and its people the "right to resist."
[IsraelTimes] Leader says talks now focused on restoring UN buffer zone, will later shift to future of Golan; all bases in Syria that hosted US troops now under state control, Damascus says
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Thursday that talks with Israel on a potential security agreement haven’t reached a dead end, but he accused Israel of acting with "brutality" in the country.
"We are serious about reaching a security agreement that preserves regional stability," Sharaa, whose jihadist-led forces ousted longtime strongman Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... in 2024, told The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... ’s Anadolu news outlet.
"The negotiations have not reached a dead end, but they are progressing with great difficulty due to Israel’s insistence on maintaining a presence on Syrian soil," he said.
Israel launched a wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against Syrian military assets in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, saying it could not risk powerful weapons getting into the wrong hands. The Israel Defense Forces also took control of a buffer zone previously controlled by the UN. Since then, Israel has demanded a demilitarized zone in southern Syria.
The IDF also intervened last year during unrest in the Druze-majority area of Sweida, at the urging of Druze in Israel. Sharaa’s forces have been accused of atrocities against members of the minority group, which Israel has vowed to protect.
In light of all these developments, Israel and Syria’s new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks since the end of last year, and after negotiations in January — and under US pressure — they agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism as they edged toward a security agreement.
Sharaa, in Turkey for the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, told Anadolu that "Israel responded to Syria with great brutality, targeting numerous Syrian sites, violating Syrian illusory sovereignty and occupying parts of the territory adjacent to the already-occupied Golan Heights."
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it, a move that Syria and most countries don’t recognize.
At the forum itself on Thursday, Sharaa affirmed Syria’s claim to the territory, saying that "the Golan is the right of the Syrian people, and no country will give up part of its land." But he acknowledged that negotiations are taking place in several stages.
In the first stage, talks are focusing on an agreement based on the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement, which was signed in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and established the UN buffer zone.
"That agreement held for 50 years until Israel violated it after the fall of the Assad regime," Sharaa said. "Later, if this succeeds, we will enter long-term negotiations to resolve the issue of the occupied Golan."
SHARAA: IDF CAMPAIGN IN LEBANON MUST NOT BE LINKED TO SYRIA
Anadolu also asked Sharaa about "Israeli Premier [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s recent statement linking Israel’s presence in Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... to reaching the Druze population in Syria."
It was not immediately clear what statement the question was referring to, but it came after renewed fighting in Lebanon following the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group’s attacks on Israel starting March 2. The fighting paused at midnight Thursday-Friday, with the adoption of a US-declared 10-day truce amid peace negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.
Israeli officials have said, amid the renewed fighting, that the IDF is establishing a demilitarized "security zone" in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, until the threat of Hezbollah is removed.
In response to the question, Sharaa said: "As for the war being waged on Lebanon, there are many other solutions available that do not involve directly targeting buildings and infrastructure. Lebanon cannot withstand a conflict of this scale. Linking these developments to southern Syria represents a major threat to regional security, not just to Syria alone."
SYRIA: ALL BASES THAT HOSTED US TROOPS NOW UNDER STATE CONTROL
Also Thursday, the Syrian foreign ministry said the Damascus government had taken control of all military bases that had previously hosted US troops in the country.
The ministry issued a statement welcoming "the completed handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government," adding that the move was carried out "in full coordination between the Syrian and American governments."
The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which had been key to the fight against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group (ISIS), has in recent months been made to integrate into the central Syrian state, after an offensive by Sharaa’s forces into areas that broke away during the civil war, and a subsequent ceasefire and integration deal.
Syria’s foreign ministry said that "the extension of Syrian state authority over areas that had previously been outside its control... is the result of the Syrian government’s sustained efforts to unify the country within the framework of a single state."
The handover also "reflects the successful integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into national structures, and the Syrian state’s assumption of full responsibility for combating terrorism and addressing regional threats on its territory," the statement added.
Damascus said it viewed the US move as reflecting "a shared assessment that the circumstances which originally necessitated the American military presence in Syria... have fundamentally changed."
"The Syrian state is today fully capable of leading counterterrorism efforts from within, in cooperation with the international community," it added.
The US Central Command, which is responsible for American troops in the Middle East, told AFP that US forces "have completed turning over all of our major bases in Syria, as part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition."
"US forces continue to support partner-led counterterrorism efforts, which are essential to ensuring the enduring defeat" of ISIS, the command said.
EU PLANNING TO RELAUNCH FORMAL TIES TO SYRIA, MEMO SAYS
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , meanwhile, plans to deepen its engagement with Syria by relaunching formal political contacts and paving the way for closer economic and security ties, according to a document seen by Rooters.
The background paper, produced by the bloc’s diplomatic arm and circulated to EU member countries this week, said the EU would fully resume its 1978 cooperation agreement with Syria and begin a High-Level Political Dialogue, an EU term for formal and structured talks, with the country’s transitional authorities on May 11.
In a notable policy adjustment, the EU also said it would "reframe and adapt" its sanctions regime to maintain leverage while engaging with Syria’s leadership and targeting spoilers of the transition, according to the paper.
The paper outlined plans to step up economic engagement, including a framework for trade and investment, mobilizing private sector funding and supporting reforms to improve Syria’s business environment through a new technical assistance hub.
It also said the EU would work with authorities on facilitating the "safe, voluntary and dignified return" of refugees and displaced people.
Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... hosts over 1 million Syrian refugees and asylum seekers, roughly half of whom are in Germany. Their return has been on top of the agenda in most discussions between European capitals and Damascus since Assad’s ouster in late 2024.
On security, the paper said the EU could support training for Syrian police and institutional capacity-building in the interior ministry, alongside cooperation on counterterrorism and efforts to address drug trafficking and organized crime.
The document also underscored EU backing for implementing the agreement struck in January between Damascus and Kurdish-led authorities.
[IsraelTimes] Declaring his country ‘stands before a new phase,’ Lebanese president says it’s ‘not a sign of weakness’ to negotiate with Israel, which he only directly mentions while urging IDF withdrawal
[MAIL] Donald Trump turned his fire on NATO as he celebrated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, branding the alliance 'useless.'
'Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He said that he replied that 'useless' NATO should 'stay away' because they just 'want to load up their ships with oil.'
Trump’s rhetoric in recent days, particularly his anger over NATO’s refusal to back his blockade of the vital oil route, has fueled speculation he could move to pull the US out of the defensive alliance.
On Friday, the Iranian regime declared the Strait 'completely open' following Israel’s 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon.
Iran’s foreign minister announced Friday morning on social media that 'all commercial vessels' are now permitted to pass through the critical oil chokepoint, marking a full reopening after nearly a month-long shutdown.
#16
Leaving aside tangible benefits such as preventing a bunch of homicidal maniacs from getting nuclear weapons, this war has allowed us to discover a lot of actionable information, one of which is who we can count on in a fight. And it ain't western Europe.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/18/2026 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Re #7 good , not gonna affect me. Sit over there and look down your pretentious ass nose and talk shit. You're all useless and you know it, just can't admit it. I wouldn't give a fuck if every damn one of you was speaking russian by the end of the week.
Posted by: chris ||
04/18/2026 12:38 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Actually I do speak Russian. We thought it was a good idea to learn the language of the enemy when we were standing watch at the Fulda gap with our American allies and friends, back in the 1980s.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/18/2026 12:59 Comments ||
Top||
#19
EC, we're still your friends and allies but right now we're not on the same page about defense.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/18/2026 13:08 Comments ||
Top||
#20
EC, that was a long time ago. Germany had a very credible military, a sane energy policy and limited immigration. Disastrous decisions have upended all of these features of your country.
#21
A number here also speak Russian, some no doubt for the same reason as European Conservative. Not me, because my university cancelled the intro course two semesters in a row for lack of sufficient interest (so I took Hebrew instead — and the professor had been my first Hebrew school teacher, which ruined my plans for cruising through the course).
But I don’t see Russia driving through Poland to reach Europe, given they’re being held in Ukraine. The real concern for Europe is the Moslem colonists:
According to the 2026 NRW crime report (2025 data), non-Germans commit 5.3× more murders, 4.9× more robberies, 5.3× more residential burglaries, and 5.1× more shoplifting offences. pic.twitter.com/RD0YTJXrUW
#22
Glad you know Russian,just speaking for myself, I haven't seen any of you as "friends" for years. Probably the same reason you know English as well.
Posted by: chris ||
04/18/2026 14:42 Comments ||
Top||
#23
מוות וחיים ביד הלשון
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/18/2026 15:28 Comments ||
Top||
Sez who? No, I'm not being snarky. It's a real question. Whether you are dealing with tribes or nation-states, usually there is some leader, president, chief, council or prime minister who speaks for the group. Currently, some number of Iranian leaders have been removed from the board. Combine that with the decentralized Iranian 'mosaic' defense and you have the question "Who speaks for Iran?".
Identifiable parties are the Aytollah ImNotInaKoma, Foreign Minister Argh-something, Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf who I think might represent the military, and of course, the IRGC.
Being decentralized is great for survivability, but bad for command and control. Example: those little IRGC scamps just attacked an Indian tanker after it was given permission to transit by one of the other players. Oopsie!
I suspect this situation will sort itself out on the Iranian side in the usual way, but it will involve another couple cycles of Bomb->Pause->Negotiate before it gets settled with some kind of partnership between the government and the military. Worse case, the IRGC come out on top and then it is war to the knife. Oh, well!
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] If the United States does not end the naval blockade of Iran, retaliatory measures will be taken. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei warned on April 17.
"If the naval blockade continues, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take the necessary retaliatory measures, there is no doubt about that," the Iranian news agency Defapress quoted him as saying.
Baghaei also threatened that Iran would take action if the US violated these promises. He added that the Americans apparently intended to violate them.
On April 17, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that the Islamic Republic was temporarily opening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels in honor of the ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. He also emphasized that travel must follow the agreed-upon route.
US President Donald Trump subsequently stated that the US would continue the blockade of Iranian seaports despite the decision to open the Strait of Hormuz. He said this measure would remain in place until Washington and Tehran fully implement the deal.
A new navigation regime has been established in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Naval Command announced this on April 17.
Under the new rules, merchant and transport vessels are now required to adhere exclusively to a designated route, as deviation from it could result in retaliatory measures from Iranian forces, the command said in a statement on the X social media platform.
Furthermore, according to IRGC Navy representatives, passage of any military vessels through the strait remains strictly prohibited. Movement is permitted only with prior approval from Iranian military leadership.
The IRGC added that shipping will resume once the ceasefire in Lebanon is implemented.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/18/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1888 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Oh nos, I guess we should just tuck our tail and walk away,
Posted by: chris ||
04/18/2026 2:10 Comments ||
Top||
L’armement saisi au #BurkinaFaso 🇧🇫, au #Mali 🇲🇱 et au #Bénin 🇧🇯 sur la période 2024-2025 a considérablement renforcé le #JNIM, lui permettant de multiplier ses actions sur plusieurs fronts. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/roCg6Gkvmo
The weaponry seized in Burkina Faso, in Mali and in Béninover the 2024-2025 period has considerably strengthened the JNIM, enabling it to multiply its actions across several fronts.
More
#BurkinaFaso The army announced that between April 1 and 13, it conducted a series of operations combining ground offensives and airstrikes across various locations in the Liptako, Nakambé, and Boucle du Mouhoun, inflicting heavy losses on armed groups.
The army announced that between April 1 and 13, it conducted a series of operations combining ground offensives and airstrikes across various locations in the Liptako, Nakambé, and Boucle du Mouhoun, inflicting heavy losses on armed groups.
Also reportedly, operation in Soum on April 13, more than 100 terrorists were neutralized.
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.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...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 
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
