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Ukraine conflict will turn into World War 3 if Russia not contained: Zelensky

By
IFP Media Wire
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky

In an interview with German state broadcaster ARD, Zelensky warned that if Russia struck a NATO country it would be “the beginning of the Third World War”.

“It seems to me that the chancellor (Olaf Scholz) is aware of this risk,” he added.

He also urged Germany to use its economic weight to gather more support for Ukraine in the fight against Russia from EU partners, amid the prospect of potentially diminishing military aid from the US due to Republican objections in Congress.

“Passivity from the United States or the lack of support would be a bad signal.”

When asked whether Berlin would take a bigger role in the case if aid from the US dried up, Zelensky said: “Germany can manage to consolidate the EU.

“Many countries have important economic relationships with Germany and their economy is dependent on Germany’s decisions because Germany has a strong economy,” he added.

He also expressed his disappointment in Germany’s refusal to supply Ukraine with powerful Taurus cruise missiles and suggested Germany had not taken on “the role it should have played in the first occupation of Ukraine”.

He said that the West’s weak response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 emboldened Moscow to launch the full-scale invasion in 2022 and said responsibility goes beyond the response from Germany.

“It’s not just about Olaf Scholz,” he continued, adding, “It concerns European leaders and the US.”

US President Joe Biden has called for continued support to Ukraine in the form of crucial weapons and financial assistance, but a package of aid is being blocked in Congress with Republicans insisting it must be tied to measures against illegal migration into the US.

Zelensky said the issue does not mean Republicans as a whole are against supporting Kyiv in its fight, and that Ukraine has received backing from across the American political divide.

“There are individual Republicans who do not support Ukraine, but the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support Ukraine,” he added.

Iran: Regional resistance groups act independently, do not get orders from Tehran

By
IFP Media Wire
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Nasser Kanaani

“Iran is not involved in the resistance groups’ decisions about how to support the Palestinian people or defend themselves and the people of their countries in the face of any aggression and occupation,” Kanaani said in a statement on Monday.

He made the remarks after US President Joe Biden and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron claimed that “Iranian-backed groups” mainly based in Iraq were accountable for a drone attack on the border of Jordan and Syria on Sunday, which killed at least three American forces and wounded 34 others.

Kanaani cautioned that leveling baseless accusations against Iran is a projection and a conspiracy by those who see their interests in dragging the US feet in a new conflict in the region to cover up their own problems.

The spokesman further stated that since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in early October, Iran has repeatedly warned against the danger of the expansion of the scope of conflict in the region due to Israel’s continued attacks against the Palestinian people and the US’ full support for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in the besieged strip and the occupied West Bank.

He emphasized that the US’s insistence and continuous violation of the national sovereignty of Iraq and Syria and bombing attacks against the groups and people of Iraq, Syria and Yemen have intensified the instability in the region.

The diplomat further stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and security in the region.

Iran believes that war in Gaza is not a solution and putting an end to Israel’s attacks on Gaza and establishing an immediate ceasefire can prepare the ground for the restoration of peace to the region, Kanaani continued.

“Iran monitors the developments in the region with readiness and vigilance and the responsibility for the consequences of provocative accusations against Iran rests with the perpetrators of such baseless claims,” he added.

The attack marks the first time that US forces were killed since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza on October 7.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, claimed attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on October 7, there have been around 160 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. Most of those have been claimed by regional resistance forces.

Iran has frequently said resistance groups act on their own in response to Israeli crimes in Gaza.

PA president calls on states to reconsider halt to UN agency funding

By
IFP Media Wire
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Mahmoud Abbas

Several countries have suspended their funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after allegations arose that some of its staff members were involved in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

“Such positions, if maintained, would disproportionately punish millions of our people without just cause,” Abbas said in a statement Sunday, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency.

Abbas accused Israel of acting out of animus for the UN agency, adding, “Officials in the Israeli government openly expressed that there would be no role for UNRWA, revealing the true motive behind this campaign.”

The PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also said Sunday he hopes the “extremely dangerous” decisions to suspend funding will be “reversed”.

He added the decision to suspend aid “comes at the most difficult time, at a time when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has called for an immediate supply, and increased supplies of international aid into Gaza”.

The ICJ, which is the UN’s top court, ruled last week that Israel must act immediately to prevent a genocide in the Palestinian enclave, including ensuring access to humanitarian aid. Aid workers in Gaza warn that a famine is looming, and that hospitals are in dire shape.

The UNRWA warned Sunday that the suspension of funding would lead to halt of its lifesaving aid to Palestinians.

“UNRWA is the primary humanitarian agency in Gaza, with over 2 million people depending on it for their sheer survival,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini said in a statement.

“Many are hungry as the clock is ticking towards a looming famine. The Agency runs shelters for over 1 million people and provides food and primary healthcare even at the height of the hostilities,” he added.

People jubilating as snow blankets northwestern city of Ardebil

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Snow

Iran says has no role in deadly attack on US forces in Jordan

By
IFP Media Wire
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US Forces

The mission issued statement published late on Sunday after a drone attack on a US base on the border of Jordan and Syria that killed three American forces and injured more than 30 others.

The statement said Iran had no link to the attack, adding that the incident was part of the “conflict between the army of the United States of America and resistance groups in the region, which reciprocate retaliatory attacks”.

US President Joe Biden blamed what he called “Iranian-backed groups” mainly based in Iraq for the strike.

The attack marks the first time that US military personnel were killed since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza on October 7.

In his statement, Biden stated the attack took place in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. Jordan, however, says it did not occur on its soil but in Syria.

The US president added efforts are underway to gather the facts of the attack and vowed revenge.

“Have no doubt – we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” he stressed.

According to a statement from US Central Command, the number of those injured in the drone attack is expected to change as more people seek care. Eight personnel were evacuated from Jordan for higher-level care, but are in stable condition.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, claimed attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on October 7, there have been around 160 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. Most of those have been claimed by regional resistance forces.

Iran has frequently said resistance groups act on their own in response to Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel, Hamas advancing: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Hostages Hamas

This follows the conclusion of a summit Sunday in the French capital Paris with the participation of Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar.

“The Paris summit between Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar on the negotiations for the exchange of hostages with Hamas has ended, and there is progress in the talks,” the broadcasting authority quoted an unnamed Israeli political source as saying.

“The summit discussed a plan to release Israeli hostages in stages, while there are still gaps in demands between the conflicting parties (Israel and Hamas),” the source noted.

“The parties in the talks discussed a cease-fire (that would last) for approximately two months in exchange for the release of about 100 Israeli hostages. Priority would be given to children, women and the sick while Israel releases a large number of Palestinian prisoners,” the source added.

Israel was represented at the summit by the head of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, and that of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, according to the broadcasting authority.

Later, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief statement that “the intelligence summit in Europe – with the participation of Mossad Director David Barnea, ISA Director Ronen Bar, Maj.-Gen, (Res.) Nitzan Alon, the Director of the CIA (William Burns), the Prime Minister of Qatar (Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani) and the head of the Egyptian Intelligence Services (Abbas Kamel) – concluded a short while ago”.

It added that “there are still significant gaps which the sides will continue to discuss at additional mutual meetings to be held this week”.

There has been no official comment from Hamas, Qatar, or the US regarding what the Israeli source mentioned. However, Hamas has repeatedly confirmed that there will be no talk of a hostage swap deal before a comprehensive cease-fire and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the areas it infiltrated.

US confirms 8 service members medically evacuated, 34 injured in Jordan attack

By
IFP Media Wire
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US Forces in Syria

The “personnel that received injuries required evacuation from Jordan to higher level care”, CENTCOM said in a statement.

“The number of US personnel with injuries has increased to at least 34 service members, but we expect this number to fluctuate as service members continue to seek follow-on care.”.

CENTCOM added about 350 US Army and Air Force personnel are deployed to the base — called Tower 22 — “conducting a number of key support functions, including support to the coalition for the lasting defeat of Daesh”.

US officials say three US soldiers have been killed after “Iran-backed militants” launched a drone strike on a small US outpost in Jordan.

US President Joe Biden has vowed those responsible for the deaths of three US service members will be held accountable, and cast blame on Iran-backed militant groups.

“Today, America’s heart is heavy,” Biden said in a statement Sunday, adding, “Last night, three U.S. service members were killed—and many wounded—during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border.”

“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Biden continued.

Biden vowed the US “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing.” He called the three fallen service members “patriots”, praising their bravery and offering his grief, calling it a “despicable and wholly unjust attack”.

Israel has jailed over 6k Palestinians since start of Gaza war: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Palestine

According to the Palestinian Information Center, the Sunday report was released jointly by the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS).

Noting that the number of Palestinian children detained during the said period stands at 400, the report added that 30 of the youngsters were being held in administrative detention.

Administrative detention is an inhumane policy exercised by Israel, which allows the regime’s authorities to incarcerate Palestinians indefinitely without pressing formal charges or putting them on trial.

“The number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons is the highest since the 1987 [Palestinian] uprising [against the Israeli occupation], surging to 3,291 administrative detainees by the end of last December,” the PPS said.

The number of administrative detainees has, accordingly, gone higher than the prisoners serving ordinary sentences or awaiting trial, the society noted.

Tensions have been high across the West Bank since Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza following an anti-Israeli operation by the territory’s resistance movements, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as many as 373 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces throughout the occupied territory since the onset of the aggression, with over 4,300 others injured.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 26,422 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 65,000 others injured as a result of Israel’s brutal military onslaught.

The PPS, meanwhile, said there are currently 11 Palestinian women, out of 90 female prisoners held at the Damon jail in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories, who have been administratively detained with no indictment or trial.

It added that Israel has recently issued a four-month administrative detention order against lawyer and human rights activist Diyala Ayesh after she was kidnapped by the regime’s forces at a checkpoint in the north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The society added that over 50 other women have forcibly disappeared after being kidnapped by Israeli forces from Gaza recently.

Britain’s Royal Navy admits to ‘lack of capability’ to target Yemeni positions in Red Sea: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
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Britain’s Royal Navy

Yemen has been ramping up attacks in support of the Palestinians on vessels either owned by Israel or headed to the occupied territories in the strategic waterway.

On Sunday, Britain’s broadsheet newspaper Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed UK defense source as saying that HMS Diamond, the Royal Navy destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, lacks “the capability to fire to land targets”.

HMS Diamond, the source said, was instead involved in downing “Houthi drones targeting shipping in the Red Sea”, with the only functioning weapons systems on UK destroyers being fixed artillery guns.

Britain has joined the United States in conducting operations against the Yemeni Armed Forces and Ansarullah in an attempt to halt those attacks in the Red Sea. The US Navy has had to carry out the majority of strikes on Yemen’s mainland.

“It’s clearly a scandal and completely unsatisfactory; this is what happens when the Royal Navy is forced to make crucial decisions which can affect capability,” a former senior defense chief told the paper.

“The UK is now having to fly Royal Air Force jets thousands of miles to do the job of what a surface-to-surface missile can do.”

Conservative MP Mark Francois, a former armed forces minister, also told the Daily Telegraph that the “lack of a land attack missile from the Royal Navy’s surface fleet was specifically highlighted in a defense committee report some two years ago”.

“It is disappointing that it is still not yet in operational service.”

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against Israel in the wake of the regime’s devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on that October day.

The Yemeni Armed Forces say they will not stop the Red Sea attacks until Israel stops the ground and aerial offensives in Gaza.

The regime has killed more than 26,400 people in Gaza since early October.

US discussing withholding or delaying arms deliveries to Israel: Report

By
IFP Media Wire
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Western Weapons

According to the report, Israel has asked the US to send additional aid, including powerful aerial bombs and air defenses. NBC News cited three current and one former US official as saying that the US is “considering slowing or pausing the deliveries in the hope that doing so will prod the Israelis to take action, such as opening humanitarian corridors to provide more aid to Palestinian civilians”.

The deliveries of 155 mm artillery rounds and equipment that converts ‘dumb bombs’ into precision-guided munitions is reportedly under review by the Pentagon. At the same time, officials were quoted as saying that “no decisions have been made” on the matter, and that the US “is likely to continue to provide other conversion kits that make Israeli munitions more precise”.

The officials added that the White House is “not likely to slow the delivery of air defenses,” but “could possibly withhold or delay” offensive weapons.

The US has been urging Israel to show restraint, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying this month that the civilian death toll in Gaza is “far too high”. In December, President Joe Biden warned that Israel could lose foreign support because of “indiscriminate bombing” in the Palestinian enclave.

More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the fighting broke out in October, according to local Hamas-run authorities. Israel has rejected the accusations of “genocide”, arguing that Hamas is using civilians as human shields.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that the Jewish state’s goal in Gaza is to “eradicate” the Palestinian armed group Hamas. In a speech this month, Netanyahu vowed that the government will not “surrender” to the militants.

The Israel Defense Forces launched its operation in Gaza in response to the deadly October 7 Hamas attack, which killed some 1,200 people. More than 200 Israelis were taken captive by Hamas. Dozens of hostages were later released as part of a series of prisoner exchanges in November.

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