[DM] Beijing is orchestrating a proxy war by targeting deadly strikes on US bases throughout the Middle East, a former UK intelligence officer revealed. Shocking! Absolutely shocking.
China's involvement in the US-Iran conflict threatens to redraw the security map in the region and could alter the security balance in the Pacific, sources say.
That is because with every successful Iranian strike, the Communist state is learning how to penetrate US defences.
The conflict in the Middle East – which has destroyed US hardware worth billions of pounds and killed 16 American soldiers – is exposing the vulnerability of US 'forward airfields' in locations such as Guam in the Pacific. Guam, Nebraska, and Nevada.
Two US personnel died on Saturday in an attack on the Muwaffaq air base in Jordan, while on the same night Iranian missiles struck other US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Figures in May revealed at least 228 US military structures had been hit since the conflict began – and the figure is likely to be much higher on Monday.
That decimated inventory includes fighter jets, intelligence-gathering aircraft and key radar, communications and air defence equipment.
Blackburn: Reports of China, Russia Intel Given to Iran Suggests an ‘Axis of Evil’
Jeff Poor19 Jul 20268
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the Republican nominee for governor in Tennessee, reacted to reports that Iran could be receiving intelligence from Russia and China that is allowing it to strike targets with “unusual precision.”
During an appearance on FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” the Tennessee lawmaker called Russia and China, along with North Korea and Iran, the “axis of evil.”
“I was reading earlier open-source intelligence and their reporting that U.S. officials suspect China or Russia may be feeding Iran targeted data after Tehran struck sensitive sites within unusual precision — with unusual precision,” host Maria Bartiromo said. “How are they finding out specifically where our bases and information infrastructure is? Do you believe China is behind it?”
Blackburn replied, “Of course China is involved in this, Maria. China is part of that axis of evil. You have got Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. They are partners in this, and we know that they are sharing data. We know that they have been building, Iran’s been building drones that Russia is using as they’re fighting Ukraine. And you look at this neighborhood that they have developed with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea and you know their goal, China’s goal, is to be globally dominant by 2050.”
“It is one of the reasons we have to block some of this activity that they’re doing in the Middle East with Russia and also with Cuba,” she added.
#2
Iran has been using a Chinese-built TEE-01B satellite, which provides high resolution imagery, in a deal with a Beijing based high-tech company.
Defense Security Asia 16 April 2016.Iran Buys Chinese Spy Satellite to Map U.S. Bases Before Middle East Missile Strikes
Leaked documents suggest Iran’s Revolutionary Guard used the Chinese-built TEE-01B reconnaissance satellite to monitor American air bases, naval facilities and logistics hubs before and after missile and drone attacks across the Middle East.
#3
And we (reluctantly, myself included) continue to shop at Target, Walmart, Best-Buy, Amazon, and others where the shelves are stocked with Chinese manufactured products.
When will we awaken? These people are NOT our friends, and those who collaborate with them in India may not be either.
Trivandrum, officially known as Thiruvananthapuram, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala, located in the extreme south of India along the Arabian Sea.
Trivandrum is situated on the west coast of India near the southern tip of the mainland, making it the southernmost district of Kerala. The city lies between 8°29′15″ North latitude and 76°57′9″ East longitude and covers an area of approximately 214 km², with a population of around 957,730 in the city and over 1.7 million in the metropolitan area
Kerala’s proximity to China is mainly through maritime trade routes and the Mumbai–Kanyakumari Economic Corridor, not direct road projects. The state’s own road developments, like the Coastal Highway, are domestic but part of a larger national connectivity strategy that could link to international trade, including with China.
🚨North Korea just said they’ve officially crossed the point of no return — an attack on Iran would signal them to strike the heart of the American empire with its entire arsenal. US response: if you cross that line, there will be no North Korea left to regret it. Patriots, North… pic.twitter.com/XlvbZOHgUd
[IsraelTimes]Pro-Israel group throws its weight behind Democrat senate candidate Haley Stevens, who is facing Muslim progressive Abdul El-Sayed in state with nation’s largest US Arab community.
#1
Giving to AIPAC is tax-deductible. It's important.
Democrats flooded Michigan, once one of the whitest states in America, with Muslims in the first place. Now they're electing them to Congress.
#UPDATE: US Funding Threatens United Nations UNSOS Future as 480 National and 800 International Staff Face Job Loss
The United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) could shut down by December 31, 2026 if its funding crisis is not resolved, putting more than 1,200 UN… pic.twitter.com/96A1XWopmW
#UPDATE: US Funding Threatens United Nations UNSOS Future as 480 National and 800 International Staff Face Job Loss
The United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) could shut down by December 31,2026 if its funding crisis is not resolved, putting more than 1,200 UN employees at risk of losing their jobs and threatening the future of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), according to sources familiar with the situation.
The potential closure could affect 480 national staff and 800 international staff working for UNSOS, who may lose their positions or be forced to return to their home countries if alternative funding arrangements are not secured before the end of the year.
According to internal sources, the United States has indicated that it will oppose any attempt by the UN Security Council to continue financing UNSOS beyond the end of 2026, raising concerns over the future of the UN office responsible for providing critical logistical support to AUSSOM.
“The possible closure of UNSOS would also jeopardize the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), undermining the security architecture that has supported the fight against Al-Shabaab for 18 years,” sources said.
[IsraelTimes] EyesAtop’s universal remote controller allows a single soldier to fly different types of UAVs at once, giving the IDF an edge on battlefields being transformed by cheap drone tech
[IsraelTimes] Figures come from Settlements Ministry budget allocations for ‘at-risk youth’ in West Bank, providing settlement municipal authorities with NIS 12M for outpost youth residents
A recently published document by the Settlements and National Missions Ministry has shown that there are some 650 Israeli youths living mostly in illegal outposts in the West Bank.
The figures come from a call-for-applications document issued by the Settlements Ministry on May 27 this year, outlining how settlement regional councils can apply for ministry funding under a program supposedly designated to help at-risk Israeli youths in the illegal outposts in the West Bank.
The Peace Now organization, which campaigns against the settlements and which discovered the document, said, however, that the money made available specifically for residents of such outposts was instead just another way for the state to fund these illegal enterprises.
State funding for illegal settlement outposts is particularly controversial, due to the large-scale, systematic involvement of outpost residents in attacks against, and harassment of, local Paleostinians, which have resulted in deaths, injuries, and the displacement of dozens of Paleostinian communities since the current government took office in December 2022.
Critics such as Peace Now allege that the violence is part of a coordinated campaign to expel Paleostinians from Area C of the West Bank, which is being supported and funded in numerous ways by the state.
The majority of the 650 youths listed by the Settlements Ministry as living in outposts likely live in the estimated 204 illegal farming outposts spread across the West Bank, 130 of which were established since the current government entered office in December 2022.
The youths, often school dropouts, do volunteer work on these farms, regularly taking sheep and goats to pasture in large tracts of land in the West Bank, where they frequently, and deliberately, clash with local Paleostinians.
According to Peace Now officials who discovered the document, the numbers provided mean that the total number of inhabitants of the outposts could lie between 1,000 and 1,200 people.
That figure is based on the total number of farming outposts and the fact that most such outposts usually have just one or two young couples living in them, together with a handful of youths.
Peace Now also estimates that in addition to the 650 youths living in outposts recognized and assisted by settlement regional councils, another 100 youths live in outposts that the regional councils have not had a hand in establishing, including in Area B of the West Bank, where Israelis are legally prohibited from living.
Accurate figures regarding the number of activists involved in the establishment and running of the farming outposts have been hard to come by, and the Settlements Ministry call for applications appears to be the only formal government document providing an insight into the number of inhabitants in these dwellings.
The call for application document from the Settlements Ministry, run by Minister Orit Strock of the ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, details various budget allocations available to settlement regional councils for the purposes of assisting youths who have dropped out of school and are in "at-risk situations" in the West Bank.
Among the available budgetary assistance is NIS 5.5 million ($1.8 million) for food, clothing and "economic expenses" for youths actually living in the outposts.
The document records the specific number of youths living in outposts by municipal region of the West Bank for the purposes of determining the available budget allocation.
[IsraelTimes] After Omri Ronen says he would support army refusal to prevent government’s alleged judicial ‘coup,’ defense minister vows not to allow ‘scourge of refusal’ among ranks
Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF on Sunday to remove an anti-government activist, who is a member of the Brothers in Arms movement and of Yair Golan’s The Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... party, from any army reserve duty after he appeared to encourage refusal to serve on political grounds.
Omri Ronen, an Israel Defense Forces officer in the elite Maglan unit who has served more than 350 days of reserve duty since October 7, 2023, told Channel 12 news on Saturday that Israelis should "do everything to prevent a coup d’état... including refusing to report" for military service.
Ronen’s grandmother, Nira Ronen, 86, was murdered by murderous Moslems who stormed into Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023.
A statement issued by the Defense Ministry said Katz views such remarks by active reservists "with great severity," and reiterates his policy that there is "no place in the reserve forces" for anyone who explicitly or implicitly calls for refusal to serve or incites against military service.
Katz declared "zero tolerance" for refusal to serve, saying he has instructed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to ensure Ronen is removed "from any framework of service in the IDF."
"I will not allow the scourge of refusal to return to the ranks of the IDF — for any reason," Katz said, adding that the same policy will apply in any similar future case and insisting that the military "must remain outside political disputes and only serve Israel’s security."
The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi criticized Katz, writing on X that those who "legislate laws for draft dodging, harm the army, foment a coup d’état and are destroying Israel from within will not preach morality to us."
Lazimi was referring to a law passed last week by the Knesset that suspended the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers, as demanded by ultra-Orthodox coalition members who oppose their community members serving in the military as is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis. Critics accuse the law of effectively legitimizing ongoing mass non-enlistment in the ultra-Orthodox community at a time when the IDF has repeatedly said it needs thousands more soldiers and reservists have been forced to spend long months in service to maintain manpower.
Katz has previously banned other reservists from serving over political remarks, including Democrats leader Golan. Last year, Katz banned Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff, from reserve duty, from wearing a military uniform and from entering army bases, following the left-wing politician’s statement that Israel’s government was killing babies in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... "as a hobby." Amid outcry from both the left and the right at the time, Golan refused to walk back his statement, saying at a presser that he had not criticized the military or troops, but rather the hard-right government directing its actions in the Gaza war at the time.
In December 2024, Katz banned Eyal Naveh, a former member of the Sayeret Matkal commando unit and a leader of the Brothers in Arms movement, who had called for reservists not to show up for their military duty in 2023 as the government advanced its controversial judicial overhaul.
In the months leading up to the multifront war sparked by Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... ’s October 7 attack, leaders of Brothers in Arms announced that some 10,000 reservists would suspend their volunteer reserve duty in protest of the government’s plans at the time to overhaul the judicial system.
Despite the threat, the IDF experienced an unprecedented 120% turnout rate for reservists on October 7, 2023, when the Paleostinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that triggered a war in the Gaza Strip.
[IsraelTime] While external review found welfare payments now conditioned on financial status instead of prison sentence, State Department says it didn’t examine ‘clandestine bypass channels’
The US State Department on Sunday accused the Paleostinian Authority of trying to "dupe" the international community into believing it ended a welfare system that incentivized attacks on Israelis, dismissing an external audit that suggested otherwise.
PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> signed a decree in February 2025 ending the previous program, which conditioned payments to Paleostinian security prisoners on the length of their sentence, and established a new system that tied all welfare stipends to recipients’ financial situation.
Initial skepticism in Washington over the announcement intensified when it was discovered the following November that a subsequent round of payments was made under the previous mechanism. Abbas fired his finance minister over the transgression, but Ramallah has failed to earn the Trump administration’s trust on the issue.
In an attempt to demonstrate its seriousness, the PA commissioned the prominent global consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal to conduct an audit of its new welfare system being run out of the Paleostinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI or "Tamkeen" in Arabic).
Earlier this month, the PA announced that the audit had confirmed that the reform of its welfare program is being properly implemented.
The US responded by calling on the PA to publicly release the audit. Last week, Ramallah released A&M’s summary of the audit, which confirmed Ramallah’s own description of the results.
The audit identified the batch of illicit payments under the previous system that was made in November 2025, but noted that the PA had informed A&M that those were for previously accrued obligations before the February 2025 reform was announced. The audit said additional documentation was still needed to independently verify that the old payment mechanisms have been permanently shut down.
Overall, though, the auditors concluded that the reform has largely succeeded in separating the new cash assistance program from the previous prisoner payment system, while recommending stronger documentation, automation and financial controls to ensure the separation remains permanent.
Asked for comment on the matter, a State Department spokesperson again offered a dismissive response.
"The review commissioned by the PA examined only the new social payments institution ("Tamkeen") without looking into the various clandestine bypass channels that the PA built around it, under the international community’s radar," the spokesperson said in a statement to The Times of Israel.
"This review alone cannot serve as any proof that ’pay-for-slay’ payments have stopped. It did not receive, nor examine, any evidence on the continuing payments to Death Eaters and their families, which are disguised as fake wages and pensions or simply handed in cash," the State Department spokesperson said, suggesting that those are the methods that the PA is now using to pay the families of prisoners and slain attackers, albeit without providing evidence.
The Israeli government has made similar accusations.
"The PA is trying to mislead the international community that it met its commitment to end ’pay-for-slay’ by presenting the A&M review as proof. The fact that the PA has not published the full review should be enough to raise suspicion that such disclosure would expose its deceit," the statement continued. A source familiar with the matter said the remainder of the audit is largely technical, but said the PA has handed over the document in its entirety to the Trump administration.
"The EU and other international donors must not be duped by this deception. Reviews and accounting audits will not uncover the full scope of the PA’s new terror-payments scheme which, like sophisticated large-scale money-laundering operations, is designed specifically to evade such scrutiny," the State Department spokesperson claimed.
"The onus should be on the PA to prove that it ended ’pay-for-slay’ in a genuine and irreversible manner," the spokesperson continued. "The PA’s tricks and manipulations are obvious and will not succeed. The PA must end all forms of encouragement, glorification and rewards for terrorism."
The PA hoped that a "kosher" stamp from a respected independent company would certify a reform of its welfare program that has long been demanded by the international community.
Ramallah believed the audit’s positive results would be enough to convince the US to conduct a similar review of the program so that Washington can deem Ramallah to be in compliance with congressional legislation that bars aid to the PA so long as payments to prisoners based on the length of their sentence continue.
That law — the Taylor Force Act — requires the US secretary of state to update Congress every 180 days on whether the PA has ceased the old controversial welfare scheme. The last report to Congress in April determined that it was still in place, but it relied exclusively on open-source information from the Israeli government and several organizations that have long been critical of the PA.
Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Standing Buffalo drew a bead on his old enemy and squeezed the trigger... Israeli officials have been working to discredit PA assertions that the payments to the families of prisoners have ended, with a European diplomat telling The Times of Israel that Israeli counterparts are requesting meetings to make the case against the veracity of Ramallah’s reform.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the A&M audit is not to be taken seriously because only intelligence agencies would be able to detect the payments that are continuing under the table.
The official said the PA is also continuing the policy of rewarding prisoners by giving jobs to some of those who have been released by Israel.
A Paleostinian official argued that Israel’s campaign against the PA reform is part of a broader effort to delegitimize Ramallah and bring about its collapse.
Jerusalem is currently blocking the transfer of billions of dollars in Paleostinian clearance revenues, which make up the bulk of the PA’s budget and have left Ramallah unable to pay the salaries of more than 150,000 babus government employees.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also taken steps to severely hobble the Paleostinian banking sector, which, as a result, has been unable to make use of billions of shekels that are languishing in vaults in the West Bank.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] As Israel becomes bogged down in the Lebanon conflict, its military leadership faces new challenges, often not directly related to the fighting.
One of them is the growing tendency toward vandalism among military personnel. Seeking to cope with stress, Israeli soldiers deface local buildings, and the most zealous ones destroy Christian symbols and war memorials.
The Israeli command is at a loss. Although vandalism is currently being portrayed as localized incidents, its frequency is increasing, partly due to the propaganda attacks of far-right forces. This does little to enhance the popularity of the Israeli army (IDF) among the relatively neutral segment of the local population.
When Hamas went into southern Israel, they also grafittied the buildings they attacked — and those they didn’t, showing which were to be attacked by those following. Have you complained about that off-putting, unpunished lack of discipline, Mr. Tsukanov, or is it just the Israeli army that you object to?
GRAFFITI FEVER
During Israel's current campaign against Lebanon's Hezbollah (which has been ongoing, intermittently, since 2024), the IDF has been gripped by a "graffiti fever."
Residents of border settlements in southern Lebanon have repeatedly complained that after Israeli forces entered their settlements, the walls of their houses quickly became "covered with scribbles" – both inside and out.
The inscriptions were mostly symbolic—not just unit names, fellow soldiers' names, and song lyrics, but also puns, threats, and curses directed at the enemy. In this way, the soldiers demonstrated that they had suppressed the resistance and were in complete control of the situation.
And at the same time, they relieved stress after protracted battles. Over time, an informal competition even arose between the forward units to see who could leave the most personal marks on the walls of the buildings they stormed.
However, given that most of the buildings had already suffered serious damage from artillery strikes or had subsequently been destroyed by engineer units, the Israeli army command turned a blind eye to this controversial tradition—remembering that with this gesture, IDF soldiers were copying the actions of their "big brothers" in the US and British army units, and sometimes simply paying tribute to comrades who had fallen in battle.
The appearance of pro-Israeli graffiti on various memorial sites (for example, on the monument to the victims of the Hula massacre) was interpreted as “enemy provocations” and was investigated by local authorities only formally.
TRAMPLING OF SYMBOLS
However, while the painting of abandoned houses was seen by many as innocent pranks, cases of Israeli soldiers desecrating Christian symbols caused far greater outrage.
The most high-profile incident occurred in the village of Dabel in southern Lebanon, where, at the end of April 2026, several IDF soldiers removed a statue of Jesus Christ from its pedestal, turned it upside down, and smashed the Savior's head with a construction hammer.
The incident provoked criticism of Israel, echoed by leaders of major Christian denominations. A senior Vatican official, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, addressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reminding him that Jesus visited southern Lebanon, not to destroy, but to build. The cleric thus made it clear that the Vatican will not allow the desecration of sacred sites and, if necessary, may take action against the Israeli leadership.
The Prime Minister's Office quickly took the hint and rushed to publicly apologize for "excesses on the ground." A similar tone was immediately echoed by the Foreign Ministry and the General Staff, and the command of the group in Lebanon received a prompt reprimand and also rushed to investigate the incident.
The story didn't end there. Seeking to make amends with the locals, the Israelis promptly sent a new crucifix to the village. This managed to provoke yet another scandal. The "gift" given to the residents of Dabel turned out to have been illegally removed from a neighboring village, which had previously been subjected to massive Israeli air and artillery strikes.
Only a few buildings (including a small church) remained in the village, from which the artifact was requisitioned. It was identified by several refugees who had arrived in Dabel earlier. This further angered the local Christians: it seemed the Israelis were trying to deceive them and literally sell the stolen goods.
Ultimately, Pope Leo XIV had to intervene personally. On his orders, the Vatican ambassador, along with representatives of the Italian army from the local UN peacekeeping mission, brought a new statue of Christ to Dabel and erected it in its place. The conflict seemed to have been resolved.
But not for long. Already in early May—less than two weeks after the incident in Dabel—videos of the desecration of a statue of the Virgin Mary leaked online. The photographs, widely circulated by the press, show an Israeli soldier holding a cigarette in his mouth, hugging the statue of the Virgin Mary, and holding a lit cigarette to its face. Moreover, the photo was taken in the same town.
This time, the IDF didn't wait for reprimands from the capital or the Holy See, but commented on the incident itself, promising "harsh and exemplary punishment" for those who blasphemed against the faith. Subsequently, the soldiers involved in the mockery were subject to disciplinary action, and one was placed under short-term arrest. However, the Christian community considered these decisions too lenient and formal.
Even attempts to delicately explain the IDF fighters' questionable motives after the fact failed to defuse tensions. The idea that the soldiers were "just fooling around" and not fully aware of their actions was promoted, while prolonged stress and the constant threat to life inherent in a combat zone contributed to the confusion.
This sounded, to put it mildly, unconvincing, especially in regard to the case of the deliberate destruction of the crucifix. Moreover, it fostered the conviction that for a portion of Israeli society, particularly among right-wing youth, such attitudes toward foreign holy sites are becoming the norm, and that the central authorities are secretly condoning it, ignoring such incidents.
Subsequently, Lebanese Christians repeatedly raised allegations of further attacks on Christian symbols and religious sites, but the IDF remained silent, promising to investigate "after the situation stabilizes." The Lebanese central government ignored the issue entirely.
A BLOW TO ONE'S OWN
The Israeli military leadership drew certain conclusions from the situation.
Directives were issued to frontline units banning "active photography and video recording" in combat zones, as well as "other behavior that could offend the local population." Commanders were also warned that they would be held personally responsible for the actions of their subordinates that would become public knowledge.
For a while, this actually helped—the topic hadn't been on the agenda for several months. However, a new episode finally occurred in mid-July. And this time on Israeli territory.
In Metula (Northern District), several IDF soldiers desecrated a memorial to fallen fighters of the South Lebanon Army (IDAL), Israel's allies in a previous campaign. Among other things, they tore down and trampled the Lebanese flag.
It later emerged that the arrested soldiers showed little remorse for their actions. They even considered them partially justified, as they had recently returned from southern Lebanon, where "they were killed under those same flags."
It is also symbolic that the attack on the memorial, which was created, incidentally, at the initiative of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, occurred on the eve of the anniversary of the heaviest battles with Hezbollah and Amal units, from which the IDF fighters suffered the main losses.
Army leadership initially intended to turn the incident into a show trial to discourage other soldiers from attacking monuments, but changed their minds at the last minute. The soldiers received the same disciplinary sanctions as their "colleagues" in Dabel. And that was the end of it.
However, the search for a solution within the General Staff is unlikely to end. After all, every problematic episode—regardless of the actual damage—has severely damaged the reputation of the Israeli army and tarnished its image in the eyes of the local population, who are already uneasy about the presence of uninvited guests in the south of their country.
Washington is preventing the IDF from fully establishing itself in the so-called "security zone" in Lebanon; sooner or later, the Jewish state will need a replacement. But the creation of a new IDF is hampered by the negative legacy of vandalism and sacrilege, while Lebanese Christians, previously relatively inert, are becoming increasingly unfriendly toward the Israeli contingent and are pressuring Beirut to take action.
Israeli commanders on the ground, who are being pressured to shift responsibility for early warning of incidents, simply shrug their shoulders. They can't strictly prohibit soldiers on the front lines from "expressing themselves." Not only because they're physically unable to keep track of everyone, but because over time, this practice has become commonplace for many.
It was encountered in the Gaza Strip, Syria, and other areas of the front. The IDF archives contain numerous provocative images of Israeli soldiers (for example, members of the Haganah, the predecessor of the current IDF) filmed in enemy territory. Therefore, local commanders will likely only monitor the most high-profile and controversial incidents, leaving most military "pranks" out of consideration.
Furthermore, the general information environment influences the assessment of the situation. Over the past several years, IDF troops stationed in Lebanon have been systematically indoctrinated to believe that border residents are all Hezbollah loyalists who condone its subversive activities against Israel. Therefore, they pose a threat to national security that must be neutralized.
It is not surprising that some of the military personnel eventually began to perceive the residents of the Lebanese border area as a “temporary obstacle,” which led to a corresponding attitude.
The military leadership is still pondering how to break the symbolic impasse and improve relations with the local population without angering its own veterans, some of whom still perceive vandalism as an acceptable way to "de-escalate tension."
#3
This is propaganda designed to drive a wedge between patriotic Americans and our best ally. Especially the false allegations of anti-Christian acts. Christian Zionists (millions of them!) are the bedrock of the US-Israeli alliance. The Second Coming of Jesus can only happen if a State of Israel exists, it's right there in their Bible. Only half a million voting Jewish people in America, not enough to win a state legislature seat.
#5
The second coming of Christ is in the Christian New Testament, my dear, not the Jewish Old Testament. As far as the Jews are concerned, the first coming of the Messiah has not yet happened.
Someday we will all know the truth. In the meantime, those who believe must rely on faith.
And the knowledge that sometimes excitable young men can be thoughtless idiots.
Again, 7 million Jews in America, not half a million — that’s France’s Jewish population.
[AnNahar] The expanding U.S. military campaign against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has put three small islands that sit at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in the crosshairs once again.
The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb — which were seized in 1971 by Iran from what would become the United Arab Emirates — have become a garrison for Iran, helping it exert significant control over the strait, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas passes in peacetime.
U.S. strikes on two of the islands in recent days have renewed speculation about the fate of these small, rocky isles, whose ownership remains disputed.
Three islands sit along the route to the Strait of Hormuz
The land mass of all three islands totals just about 10 square miles (25 square kilometers). But they carry oversized strategic importance given they sit along the deep-water route taken by ships passing between the strait and the Gulf.
The largest, Abu Musa, has a village on it but primarily serves as a base for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has stationed fast boats and missiles — both of which have been used to harass ships in the strait — on the island. It also hosts air defense systems. The same goes for Greater Tunb Island, while the much-smaller Lesser Tunb only has a military presence.
Because of their strategic importance, regional powers have long fought for control of the islands.
Iran, then under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, took the islands by force on Nov. 30, 1971, two days before the formation of the United Arab Emirates. The shah, as America's top security ally in the region, received little pushback at the time.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran used the islands as a base to target shipping during the "Tanker war" of the 1980s, when the U.S. Navy escorted oil tankers through the region under Iranian fire. Iran used the islands to both monitor the strait and launch vessels to lay mines or openly attack vessels in that conflict.
U.S. estimates suggest Iran attacked over 160 ships in that confrontation. So far in the current war, there have been over 50 attacks targeting vessels and oil rigs, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy. That includes some incidents of the U.S. firing on ships it accuses of trying to break its blockade on Iran.
The islands have become US military targets
In recent days as part of the escalation in fighting, the U.S. military launched strikes on both Abu Musa and Greater Tunb islands. Some analysts have speculated that American forces might invade.
"Together they act as a layered denial system to the most critical energy chokepoint in the world," Isabel Oakeshott, a columnist for The Telegraph who now lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, wrote in the newspaper. She equated Abu Musa to "a fixed aircraft carrier" for Iran.
Taking the islands likely would be possible for the U.S., which has both paratroopers and Marines in the region. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... they likely would be exposed to Iranian attack while there.
"Without prepared, hardened fortifications to provide cover — even with air support from nearby naval assets — force protection would be an enormous challenge," warned Brandon Carr, an analyst with the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which calls for restraint in American military operations abroad.
"The Marines would come under fire from Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, severely limiting their ability to project power into the strait."
The dispute over the islands hangs over the conflict
In recent years, the United Arab Emirates successfully lobbied both China and Russia to include language in joint statements about resolving the ownership of the islands through either negotiations or an international court decision.
That infuriated Tehran — but the world largely ignored the dispute.
"What the world called a bilateral territorial dispute was, from the beginning, a strategic claim on a global chokepoint," wrote Noora Mohammed Al Murry, an Emirati legal scholar, in April.
"Managed ambiguity, in a waterway this consequential, is not a neutral position. It is a choice with a price, and the world is now holding the invoice."
Oakeshott, the columnist, predicted that the UAE, which hosts U.S. forces and has repeatedly come under Iranian fire in the war, would likely push to get the islands once the conflict ends.
The U.S. campaign may force the issue to a head, some 55 years after the late shah warned the strait could become a "nuisance" for the world.
"It does not take a big boat to carry a bazooka and a few shells," the shah told The Guardian newspaper in 1971. "But the trouble that it could cause is tremendous."
#1
One airstrike. Twelve aircraft (six for Greater Tumb, six for Lesser Tunb). 720,000 lbs high explosives (60,000 per aircraft). One time. Problem solved.
Our "Leadership" has GOT to get out of this habit of only exerting the minimum amount of pressure to try to get the job done. Overwhelming force is still a winner.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/20/2026 7:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I can’t see us successfully attacking with lesser or greater Tubn. Nobody can type them into a battle plan without overriding spellcheck.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/20/2026 8:58 Comments ||
Top||
[AnNahar] Hezbollah has held a mass funeral for dozens of people, most of them fighters killed in the most recent fighting with Israel, in southern 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.... 's Majdal Selm.
The Iran-backed group does not reveal the number of fighters it has lost in the latest war.
But it has organized several funerals during the current lull in fighting, which followed the June 17 signing of a U.S.-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... memorandum of understanding.
In the heavily-damaged village, Hezbollah buried 44 people, 39 of them fighters and four civilians said to have been killed in Israeli operations, and one man who died of natural causes.
An AFP correspondent saw trucks carrying the coffins to the burial site as weeping women held portraits of the dead and of Iran's late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> , who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran in February.
Many Lebanese have been unable to bury their loved ones in their home towns while the fighting was still raging.
Shiite Moslem rites provide for temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the dear departed cannot be buried where they wished.
"You are invited to participate in the blessed funeral of Majdal Selm's deaders," read an announcement to Hezbollah's supporters, with the names of the dead.
A previous announcement widely shared online had 129 names, but the Majdal Selm municipality dismissed the figure as "inaccurate and baseless".
The funeral took place as President Joseph Aoun headed to Washington where he is expected to meet his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... following the latest round of Israel-Lebanon talks, which wrapped up earlier this week.
Israel and Lebanon began U.S.-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal and permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war.
On June 26, they reached a framework agreement in Washington under which the Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese Army is to deploy, starting with two "pilot zones".
The agreement is contingent on the disarmament of Hezbollah, which has flatly rejected both the deal and the negotiations.
[IsraelAlma] In December 2018, the IDF exposed six Hezbollah offensive tunnels that had penetrated Israeli territory and were intended to serve as an underground platform for the Radwan Unit’s invasion of the Galilee.
In August 2021, the Alma Center published a special report entitled “Hezbollah’s Land of Tunnels – The North Korean and Iranian Connection.” The publication emphasized the strategic tunnels possessed by the organization.
Over the past several years, we have monitored Hezbollah’s “Land of Tunnels,” a vast and clandestine project developed over at least two decades with North Korean and Iranian assistance. The project encompasses strategic tunnels, tactical tunnels, approach tunnels, offensive tunnels, and, in our assessment, also includes explosive tunnels.
Following the outbreak of the war in October 2023 and continuing to the present day, large portions of Hezbollah’s “Land of Tunnels” have been publicly exposed, including strategic tunnels (located within Hezbollah’s operational centers of gravity in southern Lebanon and smuggling tunnels along the Syria–Lebanon border), tactical tunnels (throughout the entire “Yellow Line” area in southern Lebanon), and approach tunnels (in the contact line area). In addition to these, dedicated underground infrastructures (for example, for the storage of weapons or for the launching of rockets or UAVs) have been exposed, constituting an integral part of the “Land of Tunnels.”
At present, we are working on a comprehensive mapping and research project concerning the “Land of Tunnels” project in light of its exposure during the recent war.
Realistic assessments by military engineering and operational construction experts worldwide estimate Hezbollah’s total investment in its underground infrastructure in Lebanon over the past two decades at billions of dollars (at least between $1 billion and $3 billion).
Any estimates lower than those presented above, if they exist, are underestimations and do not reflect the engineering and logistical reality on the ground, for several principal engineering, geological, and economic reasons:
QUANTITY OF TUNNELS AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
In reality, as has been revealed, these are not isolated tunnels or individual shafts, but rather interconnected and fortified underground defense systems (underground routes and subterranean combat infrastructure). Beneath many villages (almost every Shiite village in southern Lebanon), extensive networks were excavated, comprising dozens of shafts, storage facilities, living quarters, and command posts interconnected with one another.
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.
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
...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....
