Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Trump Tower Damascus? Syria seeks to charm US president for sanctions relief
2025-05-13
Very pragmatic, and clearly determined to ensure that his caliphate will be permanent, unlike those feckless ISIS losers.
[IsraelTimes] With Gulf help, Sharaa launches bid to get face time with Trump during his Mideast visit, with a pitch that includes a detente with Israel and US access to Syria’s oil and gas

A Trump Tower in Damascus, a detente with Israel and US access to Syria’s oil and gas are part of Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s strategic pitch to try to get face time with US President Donald Trump
...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets...
 during his trip to the Middle East, according to several sources familiar with the push to woo Washington.

Jonathan Bass, an American pro-Trump activist who on April 30 met Sharaa for four hours in Damascus, along with Syrian activists and Gulf Arab states has been trying to arrange a landmark — if highly unlikely — meeting between the two leaders this week on the sidelines of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
 and the United Arab Emirates.

Syria has struggled to implement conditions set out by Washington for relief from US sanctions, which keep the country cut off from the global financial system and make economic recovery extremely challenging after 14 years of grinding war.

Bass hopes that getting Trump into a room with Sharaa, who still remains a US-designated terrorist over his al-Qaeda past, could help soften the Republican president and his administration’s thinking on Damascus and cool an increasingly tense relationship between Syria and Israel.

Part of the bet for the effort is based on Trump’s history of breaking with longstanding US foreign policy taboos, such as when he met with North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
n leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
 in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea in 2019.

"Sharaa wants a business deal for the future of his country," Bass said, noting it could cover energy exploitation, cooperation 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and engagement with Israel.

"He told me he wants a Trump Tower in Damascus. He wants peace with his neighbors. What he told me is good for the region, good for Israel," said Bass.

Sharaa also shared what he saw as a personal connection with Trump: both have been shot at, narrowly surviving attempts on their lives, Bass said.

Syrian officials and a presidency media official did not respond to a request for comment.

Sharaa spoke with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists...
 on Sunday, according to the Syrian presidency.

A person close to Sharaa said afterwards a Trump-Sharaa meeting remained possible in Saudi Arabia, but would not confirm whether Sharaa had received an invitation.

"Whether or not the meeting takes place won’t be known until the last moment," the person said.

’PUSH UNDERWAY’
To be clear, a Trump-Sharaa meeting during the US president’s visit to the region is widely seen as unlikely, given Trump’s packed schedule, his priorities and lack of consensus within Trump’s team on how to tackle Syria.

A source familiar with ongoing efforts said a high-level Syria-US meeting was set to take place in the region during the week of Trump’s visit, but that it would not be between Trump and Sharaa.

"There is definitely a push underway," said Charles Lister, head of the Syria Initiative at the Middle East Institute.

"The idea is that getting to Trump directly is the best avenue because there are just too many ideologues within the administration to get past."

Washington is yet to formulate and articulate a coherent Syria policy, but the administration has increasingly been viewing relations with Damascus from a perspective of counterterrorism, three sources including a US official familiar with the policy-making said.

That approach was illustrated by the make-up of the US delegation in a meeting last month between Washington and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in New York, which included a senior counterterrorism official from the State Department, two of the sources said.

US officials conveyed to Shibani that Washington found steps taken by Damascus to be insufficient, particularly on the US demand to remove imported muscle from senior posts in the army and expel as many of them as possible, the sources said.

The US Treasury has since conveyed its own demands on the Syrian government, bringing the number of conditions to more than a dozen, one of the sources said.

The US State Department declined to disclose who attended the meeting from the US side and said it does not comment on private diplomatic discussions.

White House National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt said the actions of Syria’s interim authorities would determine the future US support or possible sanctions relief.

’OLIVE BRANCH’
A key aim of Syria’s overtures to Washington is communicating that it poses no threat to Israel, which has escalated Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in Syria since the country’s rebels-turned rulers ousted former strongman Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
 last year.

Israel says the strikes were largely aimed at destroying Syria’s military and chemical arsenal to stop them falling into the hands of the new regime.

Israel’s ground forces have also occupied a buffer zone in southwestern Syria along the border, while the government has lobbied the US to keep Syria decentralized and isolated.

The IDF described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, though Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area "indefinitely."

Israel has also said it aims to protect Syrian minority groups. Sectarian violence in Syria has escalated in recent weeks, as Islamist supporters of the country’s new regime have targeted Druze communities in festivities in southern Syria. Reports have put the corpse count from the fighting at around 100.

Israel has vowed to protect the Syrian Druze community from threats, and the IDF has struck targets in the country as a "warning" to the new regime.

Syria’s government has condemned Israel’s strikes as escalatory and as foreign interference, and says the new government in Damascus is working to unify the country after 14 years of civil war.

Sharaa last week confirmed indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at calming tensions, after Rooters reported that such talks had occurred via the UAE.

In a separate effort, Bass said Sharaa told him to pass messages between Syria and Israel that may have led to a direct meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials.

But Israel soon resumed strikes, including one near the presidential palace, which it framed as a message to Syria’s rulers to protect the country’s Druze minority amid festivities with Sunni holy warriors.

"Sharaa sent the Israelis an olive branch. Israel sent missiles," Bass said.

"We need Trump to help sort this relationship out."

Trump says US ‘may very well’ lift sanctions on Syria, give them a ‘fresh start’
But what must HTS agree to, to get such a thing? President Trump is transactional…
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump hails Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and thanks him for hosting direct talks between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday.

He tells reporters during a White House press conference that he may even fly to Turkey to join those talks. He is flying to Saudi Arabia later today, and will be in Qatar and the UAE on Thursday.

Trump says Erdogan and others have asked him to lift US sanctions on Syria.

“We have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start,” Trump says.

Turkey is the largest foreign backer of the new Islamist regime in Syria led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the overthrow of dictator Bashar Assad.

Israel has cautioned the US against warming up to Erdogan and the new regime in Syria.

Related:
Ahmed al-Sharaa 05/09/2025 On the brink of a collision: Erdogan and Netanyahu are waiting for Trump to reconcile them
Ahmed al-Sharaa 05/08/2025 Syria confirms backchannel dialogue with Israel on security matters
Ahmed al-Sharaa 05/07/2025 Syria says Israeli strikes to be a key focus of Sharaa’s meeting in Paris with Macron


Link


China-Japan-Koreas
DPRK officially confirms Korean forces are fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine
2025-04-29
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 officially confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia, two days after Moscow's top military leadership acknowledged the move.

State news agency KCNA reported that the ruling Workers' Party Central Military Commission had sent a written statement to state media, including the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, affirming the deployment.

It said the decision was ''fully in line with the provisions and spirit'' of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed between Pyongyang and Moscow, calling the dispatch ''the most faithful practical expression'' of the agreement's implementation.

In the statement, the Central Military Commission said North Korean forces participated in operations in Russia's Kursk region ''under the order of the Supreme Commander'' and declared that the campaign to repel Ukraine's ''adventurous armed invasion'' had ended in victory.

The commission said North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
 had determined that the situation triggered Article 4 of the treaty, which obligates both countries to provide military and other assistance if either comes under armed attack, in line with the UN Charter and their respective domestic laws. Kim ordered the deployment and notified Russia, it said.

North Korea's statement follows Russia's chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, on Saturday hailing the ''heroism'' of the North Korean soldiers, who he said ''provided significant assistance in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces'', while reporting to Putin that Kursk had been regained from Ukrainian forces.
Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Chinese Soldiers Captured Fighting Inside Ukraine, Zelensky Claims
2025-04-09
[BREITBART] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says his forces engaged a squad of Chinese citizen fighters inside the territory of Ukraine, implying this means Ukraine is now fighting China as well as Russia and North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
Footage of a restrained soldier appearing to explain his experience in a battle in a mix of Chinese and English to his captor has been published by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking alongside Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever during that nationalist politician's first trip to Kyiv, Zelensky said during a battle in Donetsk — a Ukrainian region since the end of the Cold War — his armed forces engaged a squad of half a dozen Chinese soldiers.

Two of them were captured, he said, stating they found on the men ''documents, their passports, even credit cards. They are Chinese citizens. I think this is a very important element''. Zelensky said ''we have information'' there are more Chinese fighters '' in the occupier's units'' than just this small group, and ''we are currently verifying all the facts''.

Both the Russian military and Armed Forces of Ukraine allow foreign volunteers or mercenaries to join, and it is in no way clear whether these claims imply whether the Chinese soldiers were their on their own initiative or on that of Beijing. Zelensky, however, tacitly implied their capture meant an official Chinese deployment on behalf of Moscow.

If true this would be a very serious matter. The arrival of North Korean troops last year caused concern worldwide, but they were not deployed to Ukraine itself, but were used to defend mainland Russia itself from Ukraine's counter-invasion. Per Zelensky's claim, today's Chinese fighters were engaged in combat inside Ukraine itself.
Link


China-Japan-Koreas
DPRK condemns US acts of war against Yemen — Hodhod Yemen News Agency
2025-03-20
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 condemned recent deadly Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s carried out by the US and British warplanes on Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
''Washington 'indiscriminately' targeted civilians and property in Yemen by mobilizing air and naval forces, including an aircraft carrier,'' the KCNA state news agency quoted Ma Dong Hui, North Korea's ambassador to Yemen as saying.

''The military attack by the United States is a violent mostly peaceful violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, and is a blatant infringement on the territorial illusory sovereignty of another country that cannot be justified by any means,'' Ma said.

While condemning the US-led attacks on Yemen, the North Korean envoy said that Washington was ''obsessed with realizing geopolitical ambitions'' through ''illegal and reckless military actions.''
Link


Home Front: WoT
Brown professor and kidney transplant doctor Rasha Alawieh has been deported back to Lebanon over her Hezbollah affiliation.
2025-03-18
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

The Times of Israel lays it all out:
US customs officials expel Lebanese doctor before hearing, against court order
Officers deport Rasha Alawieh after reportedly finding ‘sympathetic photos and videos’ of Hezbollah figures on her phone, say they were unaware of court order barring her expulsion
Foreigner who supports a listed terror group is here on a temporary visa? Send her home — there are plenty of foreigners with her skills who don’t feel the need to carry Nasrallah videos on their phone so they’re always available.
A doctor from Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
 who arrived at the Boston airport was deported over the weekend without explanation, despite having a US visa and a job teaching at Brown University.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh had been granted a visa on March 11 and flew into Boston on Thursday, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by a cousin, Yara Chehab, in federal court.

Upon landing, Customs and Border Protection officers detained her at the airport for at least 36 hours, through Friday, and planned to send her back to Lebanon.

Three days later, Justice Department lawyers claimed that officers deported Alawieh after finding "sympathetic photos and videos" of prominent Hezbollah figures in the deleted items folder of her cellphone, Politico reported Monday.

"CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined," Assistant US Attorney Michael Sady wrote in the court filing.

US District Judge Leo Sorokin issued an earlier order on Friday that an in-person hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday, with Alawieh brought to court. The order barred Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice to the judges.

But on Saturday, the cousin filed a motion claiming customs officials "willfully" disobeyed the judge by putting Alawieh on a plane headed for Gay Paree, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon.

Sorokin seemed to concur with the cousin’s claim, writing that there was reason to believe customs officials had knowingly flouted his previous order, the New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
 reported.

However he apparently walked this back just as the hearing was set to begin Monday morning, according to CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
, after reportedly receiving testimony that customs officials had only been made aware of his order following Alawieh’s departure from the US.

Lawyers for the government explained in a court filing Monday that officers at the airport did not receive notice of the order until she "had already departed the United States," the judge noted. They asked that the petition be dismissed.

The judge put a hearing on her case on hold, to give Sorokin’s lawyers time to prepare.

Alawieh, a 34-year-old kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.

She had worked at Brown prior to the issuance of her H-1B visa, which is granted to skilled foreign nationals to work in the US, the complaint said.

She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University. Before that, she had completed a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moved to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she finished in June.

A spokesperson for Brown said Alawieh is an employee of Brown Medicine, with a clinical appointment to Brown.

Her expulsion is the latest move against a foreign-born person with a US visa in the past week, after an anti-Israel student activist at Columbia University was arrested and another student’s visa was revoked.

The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants colonists to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.

"My colleagues and I are outraged over Dr Alawieh’s deportation. She is a valued colleague and we hope for justice and her return to Rhode Island," said George Bayliss, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University.

US Representative Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, a Democrat, said in a statement over the weekend that is "committed to getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security to provide Dr. Alawieh, her family, her colleagues, and our community the clarity we all deserve."

Brown University Tells International Students, Staff to Avoid Travel Abroad
[MSN-WSJ] Brown University is warning international students and staff members not to travel outside the country after one of its professors with a work visa was deported after a trip to Leb


In a campuswide email sent Sunday and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Brown said that "out of an abundance of caution" it was asking those from outside the U.S.—including those with visas or green cards—to postpone or delay personal travel abroad.

Brown, whose campus is in Providence, R.I., said potential changes in travel bans and re-entry requirements "may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned." The Ivy League school said it was making the recommendations ahead of spring break, which is next week.

The email follows the detention and deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown University and kidney-transplant specialist. Immigration officials held Alawieh, a holder of a Brown-sponsored H1B visa, at Logan International Airport when she was trying to re-enter the U.S. from a trip to Lebanon, her home country.

The H1B visa program, created by Congress in 1990, allows high-skilled foreign workers to come to the U.S. Visa holders can eventually apply for green cards and stay in the country indefinitely.

Homeland Security said Alawieh returned to Lebanon "to attend the funeral of His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
—a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree."

Federal prosecutors said Alawieh had pictures on her phone of Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
, the leader of Iran, and that she deleted the photos shortly before returning to the U.S.
A little more than just innocent photos. She showed awareness and intention.
Alawieh told immigration agents that she doesn’t support Hezbollah.
Then why did she go halfway around the world to attend that funeral?
She said she is a member of WhatsApp groups with families and friends who share such photos, according to a transcript of her interview with Customs and Border Protection, filed to the U.S. District Court in Boston.

Alawieh said that Nasrallah, a Shia Moslem, was highly regarded in the Shia community as "a religious figure," prosecutors wrote. Alawieh follows him for his religious and spiritual teachings but not his politics, prosecutors said.
In Islam the two are linked.
Earlier this month, other schools warned about travel ahead of spring break. Dartmouth College told international staff and students to be aware of possible travel bans.

Columbia University, meanwhile, told international students to "exercise caution" when traveling abroad. It also asked those from countries that were part of previous travel bans, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
, Pakistain, Somalia, Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
, Syria, Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
 and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, to "avoid non-essential travel outside of the U.S."
Link


Home Front: WoT
US judge dismisses rescued hostage’s lawsuit against company that employed his captor
2025-02-04
[IsraelTimes] Almog Meir Jan filed suit against People Media Project, employer of Abdallah Aljamal, a Hamas operative and journalist who held hostages in his home; judge says suit can be refiled

Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan’s lawsuit against a US-based nonprofit that allegedly employed his captor was dismissed Friday by a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, who ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the company was aware that its employee was a Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
 operative.

US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright
…appointed by the Biden administration at the end of 2023, she is said to be one of the youngest judges on the federal bench…
did, however, allow Meir Jan to refile the suit, giving him the chance to amend his claim to provide evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.

Meir Jan filed the suit in July 2024 against People Media Project,
..a name that DOGE, or perhaps Secretary of State Marco Rubio, should be interested in…
a United States-based nonprofit that has ties to the journalist who held him captive.

Meir Jan, 22, was held by Abdallah Aljamal, a front man for the Hamas-run labor ministry 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...
 who has contributed to several news outlets in the past, and who was a correspondent for the Paleostine Chronicle, which is run by the nonprofit.

Meir Jan, along with hostages Shlomi Ziv, 40, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, was rescued from Aljamal’s home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat on June 8 of last year. Hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was held some 180 meters (200 yards) away, was also rescued. Despite their buoyant appearance upon their return, the four were said to have faced harsh conditions in captivity.

The four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the forest outside Kibbutz Re’im near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led bandidos snuffies stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Three-hundred and sixty people were killed in the Nova massacre.

Aljamal, his wife Fatma and father Ahmad Aljamal were all killed during the hostage rescue mission. The family’s children survived.

The family was said to be known to have ties to Hamas, but residents told The Wall Street Journal at the time they were unaware that hostages were being held at the Aljamals’ family home.

Meir Jan’s lawsuit alleged: "Under the leadership of Defendants [editor-in-chief] Ramzy Baroud and [People Media Project governor] John Harvey, Defendant Paleostine Chronicle employed Hamas Operative Aljamal and offered him its US platform to write and disseminate Hamas propaganda, ultimately subsidized, through its status as a tax-exempt charitable organization, by US taxpayers."

The lawsuit was submitted to Washington state’s Western District court.

After review of the suit, Judge Cartwright determined that since Meir Jan’s "complaint does not allege actual knowledge, his compensation allegations must be dismissed."

The judge added that nowhere in Meir Jan’s lawsuit does he allege that the "defendants gave Aljamal money for the purpose of committing terrorism or aiding Hamas."

"Instead, he seeks to hold them liable for compensating Aljamal for writing articles, because Aljamal used that money to enable Jan’s imprisonment." she added.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
 under court precedent, the judge granted Meir Jan an opportunity to amend his complaint if he can find additional evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.

Meir Jan’s lawsuit followed others filed by victims of October 7 in US courts. On July 1, 2024, October 7 victims sued Iran, North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 and Syria, seeking at least $4 billion in damages from the countries for aiding and abetting Hamas’s terror onslaught. A week before, victims sued for $1 billion in damages from UNRWA, the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 aid agency for Paleostinian refugees, accusing it of funneling money into Hamas’s coffers and letting the terror group use the agency’s facilities.

Israel has said that numerous Hamas operatives were posing as journalists in Gaza.
Related:
Almog Meir Jan 12/23/2024 Report: Failed IDF raid that resulted in death of hostage Sahar Baruch was meant to rescue Noa Argamani
Almog Meir Jan 06/16/2024 Citing rescued hostage, captive soldier’s mom says women were held as slaves
Almog Meir Jan 06/11/2024 How Yamam rescued the hostages under heavy enemy fire

Related:
Abdallah Aljamal 07/14/2024 Freed Russian Kozlov Speaks of Torture in Hamas Captivity
Abdallah Aljamal 06/18/2024  Gaza reporter who harbored Israeli hostages at his home wrote for US-based The Palestine Chronicle
Abdallah Aljamal 06/11/2024 Did Gazan who held Israeli hostages work for Al Jazeera and US-based charity?

Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Iran and Russia to ink ‘strategic partnership’ deal as Tehran seeks money, arms
2025-01-14
[IsraelTimes] Pezeshkian to sign accord during talks with Putin in Moscow days before Trump inauguration; similarly named pact with Pyongyang has seen North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
 will host his Iranian counterpart this week for the signing of a "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty between Moscow and Tehran, the Kremlin said Monday.

Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will discuss plans for expanding trade and cooperation in transport, logistics and humanitarian spheres along with "acute issues on the regional and international agenda," during a visit to Moscow Friday, Russia said.

Ukraine and the West have accused Tehran of providing Moscow with hundreds of exploding drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine and helping launch their production in Russia. The Iranian drone deliveries, which Moscow and Tehran have denied, have allowed for a barrage of long-range dronezaps on Ukraine’s infrastructure.

Iran, in turn, wants sophisticated Russian weapons like long-range air defense systems and fighter jets to help fend off possible attacks by Israel. Both countries are heavily sanctioned by the US.

Tehran has long hoped to obtain advanced Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia to upgrade its aging fleet that’s been hobbled by international sanctions, but only received a few Yak-130 trainer jets in 2023.

Pezeshkian will visit Moscow three days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
, who has pledged to broker a peace deal on Ukraine, but who is thought likely to take a harder line against Iran.

Tehran likely hopes to secure financial and defense promises from Moscow. Putin signed a similarly named treaty with North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 last year, further strengthening his alliance with Pyongyang.

Under that agreement, both sides committed to provide military assistance in case the other was invaded or attacked. North Korea has since sent thousands of soldiers to fight against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s western Kursk region, hundreds of whom have been killed or maimed, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western intelligence.

The West and Ukraine have also long accused North Korea of sending millions of artillery shells and missile components to Russia.

The trip comes with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
facing increasing pressure as Israeli military planners flirt with the possibility of taking action against the country’s nuclear program following previous strikes that knocked out many of its air defense batteries.

The last several months have also seen Iran’s so-called "axis of resistance" shattered after attempting to open up a multi-front war against Israel in support of the Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
 terror group 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...
Iran’s economy remains in tatters after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018, and also ordered the killing of an IRGC general in a dronezap in Iraq in early 2020.

At a summit of the BRICS group in Kazan last year, Putin told Pezeshkian he valued "truly friendly and constructive ties" between Russia and Iran.

However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
 there has been growing discontent over Russia within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force answerable only to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...>
Last week, an audio recording leaked into the Iranian media with a Guard general blaming Russia for many of the woes Iran had suffered in Syria.

On Friday, Iranian state TV showed the head of the Guards touring an underground missile plant in Iran and claiming that production had ramped up, denying claims that Israel’s strikes had harmed its ability to produce new weapons.

Iran was set to hold nuclear talks with La Belle France, Britannia and Germany in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
 on Monday. Since the US pulled out of the deal, Iran has enriched large stockpiles of uranium to 60 purity, a level with no civilian application, and only a short step away from weapons-grade levels.

In January, US news website Axios reported that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had presented President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant....
 with options for a potential US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities if Tehran moved toward developing an atomic weapon before January 20, when Trump takes office.
Link


Home Front: Politix
Trump names Richard Grenell to lead presidential envoy for special missions
2024-12-15
[NYPOST] President-elect Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
 tapped his former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell to lead the presidential envoy for special missions, he announced on Truth Social Saturday night.

Trump said Grenell, an outspoken champion of the 45th president's America First credo, will focus on some of the ''hottest spots'' around the world, including North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 and Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
''In my First Term, Ric was the United States Ambassador to Germany, Acting Director of National Intelligence, and Presidential Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia Negotiations,'' Trump wrote.

''Previously, he spent eight years inside the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
 Security Council, working with North Korea, and developments in numerous other Countries. Ric has a B.A. from Evangel College and an M.P.A from Harvard. Ric will continue to fight for Peace through Strength, and always put AMERICA FIRS
...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies...
T.''

Grenell, 58, became the first openly gay man to serve in a cabinet-level position when Trump appointed him acting director of national intelligence in February 2020. The appointment came after he resigned from his Berlin-based role and as a special envoy for peace talks between Serbia and Kosovo.
Related:
Richard Grenell 11/14/2024 Purges and Counter-Revolution: Who Will Rule America in the Coming Years
Richard Grenell 11/07/2024 Trump backers, former officials being considered for top posts in 2nd administration
Richard Grenell 09/09/2024 Former Farrakhan Organizer Keith Ellison Reportedly On Kamala Short List For U.S. Attorney General

Link


China-Japan-Koreas
Trump team considering direct talks with North Korean leader
2024-11-28
…which should be enough to have him reconsider his choices…
[KhaamaPress] Rooters reported that Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
’s team, the elected president of the United States, is discussing the possibility of reviving direct negotiations with Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
, the leader of North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
On Tuesday, November 26, Rooters reported that many people in Trump’s team believe direct talks with Kim Jong-un are the best way to improve relations.

According to the report, discussions among Trump’s close circle on this issue are ongoing, but Trump has not yet made a final decision.

During his first term as president, Trump initiated direct negotiations with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. He met with Kim several times, including a historic handshake and dialogue at the border between North and South Korea.

After Trump’s defeat to Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant....
 in the 2020 election, direct talks with North Korea were halted, and North Korea signed a strategic pact with Russia.

Earlier, Trump appointed Alex Wong, one of the key figures in advancing direct talks with North Korea during his first term, as his deputy national security advisor.

The potential revival of talks with North Korea reflects Trump’s ongoing interest in engaging with Kim Jong-un despite the challenges faced during his previous term. Direct diplomacy, which was a hallmark of Trump’s approach to North Korea, had gained some attention and support for its potential to ease tensions.

As the situation develops, it remains to be seen whether Trump will proceed with this initiative or whether his administration will focus on other diplomatic strategies. Regardless of the outcome, the implications for U.S. foreign policy and relations with North Korea will be significant in the coming years.
Related:
North Korea: 2024-11-25 Ukrainian General Staff: There were almost 200 clashes on the front
North Korea: 2024-11-24 Gazprombank Sanctioned Effective Tomorrow - SWIFT System Severed
North Korea: 2024-11-24 At least Six Russian Wagner Group Mercenaries Killed in Islamist Attack in Mali
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Pager, walkie-talkie explosions took 1,500 fighters out of action – Hezbollah source
2024-09-26
[IsraelTimes] Officials within the terror group say chain of command remains intact, and fighters are trained to operate even if it breaks down, pointing to underground arsenal, tunnel network

The explosion last week of thousands of Hezbollah’s communication devices across Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. 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. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 put 1,500 fighters out of commission due to their injuries, with many having been blinded or had their hands blown off, a Hezbollah official told Rooters.

While that is a major blow, it represents a fraction of Hezbollah’s strength, which a report for the US Congress on Friday put at 40,000-50,000 fighters. The terror group’s leader, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
, has said it has 100,000 fighters.

The blasts, which were widely blamed on Israel, were closely followed by IDF aerial assaults over the past week that have left the powerful Lebanese Shiite terror group and political party reeling.

Yet Hezbollah’s flexible chain of command, together with its extensive tunnel network and a vast arsenal of missiles and weapons it has bolstered over the past year, is helping it weather the unprecedented Israeli strikes, three sources familiar with the Lebanese group’s operations said.

On Friday, Israel killed the commander who founded and led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Ibrahim Aqil. And since Monday, Lebanon’s deadliest day of violence in decades, the health ministry says more than 560 people, among them 50 children, have died in air barrages. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel said it targeted homes where Hezbollah emplaced rockets, missiles and other arms, having repeatedly called on residents to flee.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Sunday that Aqil’s death had shaken the organization. Israel says its strikes have also destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rockets and shells.

But two of the sources familiar with Hezbollah operations said the group swiftly appointed replacements for Aqil and other senior figures killed in Friday’s Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
 in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Nasrallah said in an August 1 speech that the group quickly fills gaps whenever a leader is killed.

Since October 8, when Hezbollah began firing at Israel in support of its ally Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
 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 an 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...
, it has redeployed fighters to frontline areas in the south, including some from Syria, the three sources said.

It has also been bringing rockets into Lebanon at a fast pace, anticipating a drawn-out conflict, the sources said, adding that the group nevertheless sought to avoid all-out war.

Hezbollah’s main supporter and weapons supplier is Iran. The terror group is the most powerful faction in Tehran’s "Axis of Resistance®" of allied irregular forces across the Middle East. Many of its weapons are Iranian, Russian or Chinese models.

The sources, who all asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, did not provide details of the weapons or where they were bought.

Hezbollah’s media office did not reply to requests for comment for this story.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said that while Hezbollah operations had been disrupted by the past week’s attacks, the group’s networked organizational structure helped make it an extremely resilient force.

"This is the most formidable enemy Israel has ever faced on the battlefield, not because of numbers and tech but in terms of resilience."

POWERFUL MISSILES
Fighting has escalated this week. Israel killed another top Hezbollah commander, Ibrahim Qubaisi, on Tuesday. For its part, Hezbollah has shown its capacity to continue operations, firing hundreds of rockets toward Israel in ever deeper attacks.

On Wednesday, warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv as a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defense systems, the Israeli military said. Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the border.

The group has yet to say whether it has launched any of its most potent, precision-guided rockets, such as the Fateh-110, an Iranian-made ballistic missile with a range of 250-300 kilometers (341.75 miles). Hezbollah’s Fateh-110s have a 450- to 500-kilogram warhead, according to a 2018 paper published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Hezbollah’s rocket attacks are possible because the chain of command has kept functioning despite the group suffering a brief spell of disarray after the pagers and walkie-talkies detonated, one of the sources, a security bigshot, said.

The three sources said Hezbollah’s ability to communicate is underpinned by a dedicated, fixed-line telephone network — which it has described as critical to its communications and continues to work — as well as by other devices.

Many of its fighters were carrying older models of pagers, for example, that were unaffected by last week’s attack.

Rooters could not independently verify the information. Most injuries from the exploding pagers were in Beirut, far from the front.

Hezbollah stepped up the use of pagers after banning its fighters from using cellphones on the battlefield in February, in response to commanders being killed in strikes.

If the chain of command breaks, frontline fighters are trained to operate in small, independent clusters composed of a few villages near the border, capable of fighting Israeli forces for long periods, the senior source added.

That is precisely what happened in 2006, during the last war between Hezbollah and Israel, when the group’s fighters held out for weeks, some in frontline villages invaded by Israel.

Israel says it has escalated attacks in order to degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and make it safe for tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes near the Lebanon border, which they fled when Hezbollah began firing rockets on October 8.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has said it prefers to reach a negotiated agreement that would see Hezbollah withdraw from the border region but stands ready to continue its bombing campaign if Hezbollah refuses, and does not rule out any military options.

Hezbollah’s resilience means the fighting has raised fears of a protracted war that could suck in the US, Israel’s close ally, and 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
— especially if Israel launches, and gets bogged down in, a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Monday of "irreversible" consequences of a full-blown war in the Middle East. A US State Department official said Washington disagreed with Israel’s strategy of escalation and sought to reduce tensions.

UNDERGROUND ARSENAL
In what two of the sources said was an indication of how well some of Hezbollah’s weapons are hidden, on Sunday rockets were launched from areas of southern Lebanon that had been targeted by Israel shortly before, the two sources said.

Hezbollah is believed to have an underground arsenal and last month published footage that appeared to show its fighters driving trucks with rocket launchers through tunnels. The sources did not specify if the rockets fired on Sunday were launched from underground.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday’s barrage had destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets and munitions.

Israel’s military said long-range cruise missiles, rockets with warheads capable of carrying 100 kilograms of explosives, short-range rockets, and explosive UAVs were all struck on Monday.

Rooters could not independently verify the military claims.

Boaz Shapira, a researcher at Alma, an Israeli think tank that specializes in Hezbollah, said Israel had yet to target strategic sites such as long-range missiles and drone sites.

"I don’t think we are anywhere near finishing this," Shapira said.

Hezbollah’s arsenal is believed to comprise some 150,000 rockets, the US Congress report said. Krieg said its most powerful, long-range ballistic missiles were kept below ground.

Hezbollah has spent years building a tunnel network that by Israeli estimates extends for hundreds of miles. The Israeli military said Monday’s airstrikes hit Hezbollah missile launch sites hidden under homes in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has said it does not place military infrastructure near civilians. Hezbollah has issued no statement on the impact of Israel’s strikes since Monday.

TUNNELS
The group’s arsenal and tunnels have expanded since the 2006 war, especially precision guidance systems, leader Nasrallah has said. Hezbollah officials have said the group has used a small part of the arsenal in fighting over the past year.

Israeli officials have said Hezbollah’s military infrastructure is tightly meshed into the villages and communities of southern Lebanon, with ammunition and missile launcher pads stored in houses throughout the area. Israel has been pounding some of those villages for months to degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.

Confirmed details on the tunnel network remain scarce.

A 2021 report by Alma, the Israeli think tank, said Iran and North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
 both helped build up the network of tunnels in the aftermath of the 2006 war.

Israel has already struggled to root out Hamas commanders and self-reliant fighting units from the tunnels crisscrossing Gaza.

"It is one of our biggest challenges in Gaza, and it is certainly something we could meet in Lebanon," said Carmit Valensi, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, a think-tank.

Krieg said that unlike Gaza, where most tunnels are manually dug into a sandy soil, the tunnels in Lebanon had been dug deep in mountain rock. "They are far less accessible than in Gaza and even less easy to destroy."
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report doubts accuracy of Iran’s advanced Emad missile, used to attack Israel in April
2024-09-05
[IsraelTimes] Analysts say missiles that targeted Nevatim base had a much larger ‘error circle’ than Tehran has claimed

As 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 Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
threatens to retaliate against Israel over the liquidation of Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
 leader Ismail Haniyeh
...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
 in Tehran, the accuracy of the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s long-vaunted missile program has been called into question.

A new report by experts shared exclusively with The News Agency that Dare Not be Named suggests one of the advanced missiles Tehran would use in any future attack against Israel is far less accurate than previously thought.

The finding comes months after a US-led coalition shot down many drones and missiles launched by Iran in an April attack on Israel. Other projectiles apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight.

Here are some takeaways about Iran’s ballistic missile threat:

IRANIAN MISSILES HAD POOR ACCURACY
Analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies examined the Iranian strike on the Nevatim Air Base some 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Jerusalem in the Negev Desert. They believe Iran used its Emad missile, a variant of the country’s Shahab-3 missile built from a North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
n design.

Assuming Iran targeted Israeli F-35I fighter jet hangars, the James Martin analysts measured the distance between the hangars and the impact zones of the missiles. That gave an average of about 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) for the "circular error probable" — a measurement used by experts to determine a weapon’s accuracy based on the radius of a circle that encompasses 50 percent of where the missiles landed.

That’s far worse than a 500-meter (1,640-foot) error circle first estimated by experts for the Emad. Iran separately advertised the Emad to potential international buyers as having a 50-meter (164-foot) circle.

MANY PROJECTILES WERE SHOT DOWN IN ATTACK
The US, the United Kingdom, La Belle France and Jordan all shot down incoming fire. The Americans claimed to have downed 80 bomb-carrying drones and at least six ballistic missiles. Israeli missile defenses were also activated, though their initial claim of intercepting 99% of the projectiles appeared to be an exaggeration.

US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told the AP they assessed that 50% of the Iranian missiles failed at launch or crashed before reaching their target. That raises further doubts about the abilities of Iran’s missile arsenal.

Iran launched April’s unprecedented massive direct attack on Israel after its consular building in Damascus was struck, killing several senior officers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, including two generals.

No one was killed in the attack, but one girl was injured from shrapnel in the south and later recovered.

QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY FUTURE STRIKE BY IRAN
Iran shares no border with Israel, and the two countries are some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) apart at the shortest distance. That makes Iran’s missile program vital in any direct military attack. The longer the distances, the greater any slight errors in the missile’s guidance system become, along with the effects of wind and other weather.

However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 Iran’s poor performance in April and years-long sabotage campaigns targeting its ballistic missile program raise questions about whether it would be able to accurately strike targets at that distance.

Iran could also enlist help from allied terrorist organizations such as Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. 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. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s Hezbollah and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
 rebels to try and overwhelm Israel’s defenses. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire on August 25.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung...
 Iran continues to make threats about its ability to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Pressure over its inability to deter Israel could see it weaponize a program it has long insisted is peaceful.
Related:
Nevatim Air Base: 2024-04-17 U.S., Not Israel, Shot Down Most Iran Drones And Missiles
Nevatim Air Base: 2019-03-05 U.S. Sends THAAD To Israel For First Time
Nevatim Air Base: 2016-05-11 Why Only Israel Can Customize America's F-35 (At Least For Now)
Related:
Emad missile 04/04/2016 Iranian military official warns US: Stay away from Iran's red lines
Emad missile 03/09/2016 Iran missile tests did not violate nuclear deal: White House
Emad missile 01/01/2016 US preparing sanctions on Iran over ballistic missile program -sources


Link


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Countries where Elon Musk's X social network is banned
2024-09-01
[GEOTV] With its ban of X, which went into effect on Saturday, Brazil joins a small club of countries to have taken similar measures against the social network, most of them run by authoritarian regimes.

Beyond permanent bans, some nations have temporarily restricted access to X, formerly Twitter, which has often been used by political dissidents to communicate.

These have included Egypt in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
 in 2014 and 2023, and Uzbekistan around that country's 2021 presidential election.

Here is a list of some of the others:

China

Beijing banned Twitter in June 2009 — before it secured the prominent place it enjoyed in Western media and politics for much of the 2010s.

The block came two days before the 20-year anniversary of the government's crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital's Tiananmen Square.

Since then, many Chinese people have turned to home-grown alternatives such as "Weibo" and "WeChat".

Iran

Twitter was also blocked by Tehran in 2009, as a wave of demonstrations broke out following a contested June presidential election.

The network has nevertheless been used since then to pass information to the outside world about dissident movements, including the demonstrations against Iran's repression of women's rights since late 2022.

Turkmenistan

Isolated Central Asian country Turkmenistan blocked Twitter in the early 2010s alongside many other foreign online services and websites.

Authorities in Ashgabat surveil closely citizens' usage of the internet, provided through state-run monopoly operator TurkmenTelecom.

North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
Pyongyang opened its own Twitter account in 2010 in a bid to woo foreigners interested in the country.

But the application has been blocked along with Facebook, Youtube and gambling and pornography websites since April 2016.

Internet access beyond a few government websites is under tight government watch in the regime, with access restricted to a few high-ranking officials.

Myanmar

X has been blocked since February 2021 in Myanmar, when authorities took aim at the app for its use by opponents of the military coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government.

Since then, the junta has kept a tight grip on internet access in the country.

Russia

Access to Twitter was throttled from 2021 by Moscow, which complained the site was allowing users to spread "illegal content".

A formal ban came in March 2022, just after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Many Russian users continue to connect to X via VPN services that allow them to get around the block.

Pakistain

X has been banned since parliamentary polls in February this year. Pakistain's government says the block is for security reasons.

Venezuela

...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
Nicolás Maduro
...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet...
, who was declared winner of July's presidential election despite grave suspicions of fraud, ordered access to X suspended for 10 days on August 9 as security forces were violent mostly peacefully putting down nationwide demonstrations.

The block has remained in place beyond the expiry of the 10-day period.

Brazil

The country's block on X has come from the judiciary, via Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes.

He has highlighted the reactivation of accounts that had been ordered suspended by Brazilian courts.

Users connecting to X via a VPN face a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) per day.
Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More