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Divisions over Gaza ‘paralyzed’ UNSC: Guterres

By
IFP Media Wire
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António Guterres

Addressing Qatar’s Doha Forum, Guterres stated the council was “paralyzed by geostrategic divisions” that were undermining solutions to the Israel-Hamas war which started on October 7.

The body’s “authority and credibility were severely undermined” by its delayed response to the conflict, he said two days after a US veto prevented a resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

“I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared,” he told the forum, adding, “Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it.”

“I can promise, I will not give up.”

Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after two months of fighting that have left more than 17,700 people dead in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The secretary-general deployed the rarely-used Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to bring to the council’s attention “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.

The rule had not previously been invoked by a UN chief in decades.

“We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system,” Guterres told the Doha Forum.

“The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” he added.

Upgraded indigenous drone joins Iran Army

By
IFP Media Wire
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The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was unveiled during a ceremony at Khatam Al-Anbia Air Defense Academy in Tehran on Sunday in the presence of a group of military commanders and officials.

The Karrar drones armed with Majid missiles are capable of intercepting and engaging any flying objects and hostile targets. They successfully performed operations during a large-scale drone drill by the Islamic Republic of Iran Army in October.

Speaking at the event, Chief Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said that the development demonstrated “another stage [in the process] of upgrading the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force”.

“Today, the [Iranian] Army meets its own needs through the cooperation of its scientists with the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, and knowledge-based cores. This is because strengthening the defense power across land, sea and air borders is an inseparable principle of the Army,” he added.

Mousavi also advised the enemies to reconsider their air-to-air combat strategies, especially in the field of UAVs, noting that Iran Army’s Air Defense Force has the upper hand in aerial combats.

“Enemies oppose Iran’s power… Experience has proven that our power drives the enemy to despair.”

Commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard has also described Karar drone as “a great achievement made by our country’s youth”.

He said that the achievement was gained after one year of round-the-clock research and schientific works by Iran Army’s Air Defense Force and the Defense Ministry.

“Unmanned aircraft and drones are not comparable to manned ones in terms of price, and we can perform the operations that a manned aircraft does with completely Iranian and indigenous drones and use its capabilities at a much lower price,” Sabahifard added.

Voting begins for Egypt presidential election

By
IFP Media Wire
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Egypt Election

The electoral process will take place over three days from 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) until 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) local time, with results due to be announced on Dec. 18.

While President al-Sisi is poised to win a third term, his opponents are Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Abdel-Sanad Yamama, leader of the Egyptian Wafd party, and Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party.

In Egypt’s 27 governorates, voting began in 11,631 polling stations in 9,376 main electoral centers, according to national news agency MENA. About 67 million voters are entitled to vote.

The National Elections Authority said it approved 24 embassies, 67 diplomats, and 220 international observers from 14 foreign organizations, along with 68 local organizations and 22,340 personnel from six local NGOs to observe the elections.

The voting process for Egyptians abroad took place from Dec. 1-3 at 137 headquarters of Egyptian diplomatic missions in 121 countries.

President al-Sisi won his first and second terms in 2014, and 2018, while constitutional amendments later extended the presidential mandate from four to six years and allowed him to run for a third term.

US has not given any deadline to finish Gaza operation: Israel

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israeli Army

“They understand that they are not in a position to tell the IDF how long it needs in order to achieve the goals. The good thing is that they share the same goals. … It is correct to assume that we cannot measure this in weeks, and I’m not certain that it could be measured in months,” Hanegbi said.

CNN has previously reported that US officials expect Israel’s operation targeting the southern end of the strip to last several weeks before it transitions, possibly by January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas fighters and leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials.

The White House is deeply concerned about how Israel’s operations will unfold over the next several weeks, a senior US administration official said. The US has warned Israel firmly in “hard” and “direct” conversations, the official added, that the Israeli Defense Forces cannot replicate the kind of devastating tactics it used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.

Hanegbi added that he did not think Hamas leadership had expected the scope of Israel’s response to the attacks on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed.

“I do not think that (Yahya) Sinwar (Hamas’ leader in Gaza) realized that the IDF will actually reach any point they want inside Gaza, (and) kill over 7,000 terrorists,” he said.

“This is the minimal estimate, it could be higher since we don’t know everything,” he added.

“We are getting very close to the control and command centers of Hamas in Jabalia and Shejaiya, the strongholds of persistent resistance in the northern Gaza Strip. And in the south, we’re operating fiercely.”

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces issued what it called “an urgent appeal” for civilians to leave neighborhoods in the southern city of Khan Younis, as clashes continue in different parts of the strip.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements waged Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the regime in response to the Tel Aviv’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against the Palestinians.

The regime has killed at least 17,500 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza since. More than 46,000 people have been wounded as well.

US approves emergency sale of tank ammunition to Israel amid Gaza war

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israeli Army

The US State Department confirmed its decision on Saturday, saying it had notified Congress the previous day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” of tank shells to Israel. The emergency determination was made in the context of protecting US national security interests, the department added.

Approvals of such arms sales rarely bypass congressional oversight and are ostensibly granted only when the executive branch sees the need to deliver weapons as too urgent to wait for lawmakers to take action. The deal with Israel includes nearly 14,000 high-explosive tank rounds. The M830 high-explosive shells are capable of destroying tanks and other armored targets.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the State Department said in a statement.

“This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives. Israel will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense,” it added.

The emergency approval comes as Biden’s administration struggles to gain congressional approval for $106 billion in supplemental security spending, including $14.3 billion for Israel. The US House passed a bill last month that would grant $14.5 billion in aid for West Jerusalem, but Biden has insisted that funding for Israel and Ukraine be bundled together. Republican lawmakers have held up approval for additional aid to Kiev after previously approving $113 billion in outlays, citing concern that Washington is merely prolonging the conflict with Russia without having a clear strategy for victory.

Some Democrats have suggested that any military aid given to Israel should be made contingent on taking steps to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. Nearly 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and 1.9 million people have been displaced since the war began in October. The conflict was triggered when Hamas launched surprise attacks on villages in southern Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages back to Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian rallies on rise across US

By
IFP Media Wire
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Pro-Palestine Rally

As Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip have ramped up and the death toll has increased, a growing proportion of the demonstrations have been in support of Palestinians.

Opinion polling shows that younger Americans in particular have grown more sympathetic to Palestinians since the start of the conflict.

More than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its military campaign, according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza. Around 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel.

ACLED defines protests as three or more participants in a non-violent demonstration. Protests are added to the dataset if they are reported from a list of news and NGO reports. ACLED groups the demonstrations into three categories.

Protests are categorized as pro-Israel when the messaging supports Israeli civilians targeted by Hamas, supports the Israeli government’s operations in Gaza, or condemns the Hamas attack.

Protests are categorized as pro-Palestinian when the messaging supports the Palestinian governments and its civilians, or condemns the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and settlements in the West Bank.

Neutral protests call for peace and don’t mention support or condemnation of either party to the conflict.

Initially after the Oct. 7 attack, most of the demonstrations in the US were in solidarity with Israel. Within a week, with the Israeli military response underway, pro-Palestinian protests began to outnumber pro-Israeli protests, according to the data.

Nonetheless, nearly half of all pro-Israel protests worldwide included in ACLED’s tracker have taken place in the US, far more than in any other country.

Iran president says Syria foiled US, Israeli plots

By
IFP Media Wire
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Raisi made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous in Tehran on Saturday.

“The enmity of the US and Zionist regime towards Syria was rooted in resistance of the Syrian government and nation and the defeat of their plots, particularly regarding the collapse of the terrorist-Takfiri groups,” the Iranian president said.

He added that the Palestinian resistance groups succeeded in disgracing Israel and its main accomplice — the United States — over the past 60 days despite lack of air and sea forces.

The Israeli regime failed to achieve any of its goals except for the killing of innocent women and children, he noted.

“If it were not for the intelligence, military, security, financial and media assistance of the US, the Zionist regime would have collapsed by now,” Raisi emphasized.

He stated the unprecedented wrath and hatred towards Israel and its allies in the world public opinion proved Iran’s right stance over the past 43 years on the fake and criminal nature of the regime.

The Iranian president emphasized that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ operation against Israel — known as Operation Al-Aqsa Storm — has expanded the borders of the resistance front from the region to the whole world.

“We have no doubt that just as the nations of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon achieved victory against the United States and its allies, the Palestinian people will also emerge victorious in this battle,” Raisi pointed out.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Israel has killed nearly 17,800 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza since. More than 48,780 people have been wounded as well.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Raisi pointed to deep-rooted and strategic relations between Tehran and Damascus and stressed the importance of accelerating the implementation of bilateral agreements.

Iran and Syria enjoy broad capacities to further expand bilateral cooperation in the economic, commercial and political fields, he said, expressing hope that the two sides would draw plans to make use of their potential as soon as possible.

The Syrian prime minister, for his part, described his current visit to Tehran as a turning point for bilateral strategic ties.

Arnous said the agreements signed between Tehran and Damascus during his trip, particularly in the financial, banking, energy, tourism and trade sectors, showed that the two sides are determined to further improve cooperation.

Russia says won’t allow existence of ‘Nazi state’ on its border

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

In an exclusive interview with AFP published on Saturday, Zakharova confirmed that the goals of “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine, as declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the onset of the conflict in February 2022, remain unchanged.

According to Zakharova, the events surrounding the Ukrainian crisis have underscored Russia’s belief in the necessity of launching its special military operation.

“From the very beginning of the hostilities, the [Ukrainian] neo-Nazis have been cynically using the civilian population as ‘human shields’ and brutally treating Russian prisoners of war. Their main goal in this conflict is to kill as many Russians as possible,” Zakharova explained.

“We will not allow the existence on our borders of an aggressive Nazi state from whose territory there is a danger for Russia and its neighbors.”

Asked about the prospects of somehow settling the conflict, Zakharova said that the only way to reach a “lasting peace” was, effectively, meeting all of Russia’s demands.

“It is necessary to confirm the neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status of Ukraine, carry out its demilitarization and denazification, acknowledge new territorial realities, and ensure the rights of Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities living in this country,” she added.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that Russia remains ready to resolve the conflict through diplomacy, stating that Moscow has never refused to do so. However, to make such negotiations possible, “the Kiev regime and its Western curators” must take “practical steps and show goodwill”.

Thus far, neither of them have shown such “political will”, she stated.

“A comprehensive, sustainable and just resolution of the conflict over Ukraine depends, to a large extent, on addressing its very causes. The West must stop pumping up the Ukrainian military with weaponry, while Kiev must cease hostilities and withdraw its troops from Russian territory,” Zakharova explained, referring to the four formerly-Ukrainian regions – Zaporozhye, Kherson, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics – that were incorporated into Russia after referendums last fall.

US, Israel clueless on Gaza conflict: Iran FM

By
IFP Media Wire
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Hossein Amirabdollahian

“The US and Israel neither have a strategy on how to maintain the [Gaza] war nor do they know how to achieve a ceasefire,” Amirabdollahian addressed a group of university students at Tehran University on Saturday.

“Resistance factions have declared they have so far mobilized between 10 and 12 percent of their forces, and are fully prepared for a prolonged war with Israel.”

The Iranian minister said Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance groups against the Tel Aviv regime on October 7, not only shattered Israel’s security apparatus, but the very structure of the occupying entity.

“Seven security agencies were working round-the-clock at the time, and had employed sophisticated devices. Still, Hamas poured cold water on all the schemes,”he added.

The minister stated even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had acknowledged Israeli officials’ shock and bewilderment when he visited Tel Aviv on October 13.

Those who once claimed Israel has the fourth strongest military in the world can’t get over the shock from the Hamas operation, the top Iranian diplomat continued.

Amirabdollahian also highlighted that resistance groups have announced that they will keep rocket and drone strikes against bases housing US occupation forces across the region over Washington’s support for the Israeli regime’s unrelenting onslaught on Gaza.

The minister said Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was purely Palestinian and that Americans have urged Iran in private messages to call upon resistance groups to stop attacks on US military installations in Iraq and Syria. Amirabdollahian added Iran has, in return, responded that these groups operate independently and make their own decisions.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements waged Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against the Palestinians.

The regime has killed at least 17, 800 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza since. More than 46,000 people have been wounded as well.

Yemen says to strike all ships in Red Sea en route to Israel

By
IFP Media Wire
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Saree made the warning in a statement on Saturday, as Israel continues its brutal war and total blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“If Gaza does not receive the food and medicine it needs, all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, will become a target for our armed forces,” he said.

Saree went on to say that the order to prevent the passage of all ships to the occupied territories was issued after the success in preventing the Israeli ships from sailing in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

He also emphasized that all ships from around the world can continue their commercial activity, except those related to the Israeli regime or destined for the ports of the occupied territories.

The latest development came hours after Saree said the Yemeni armed forces have hit targets deep inside the Israeli-occupied Palestine as part of its operations to support the people of Gaza.

The Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a relentless military campaign against Gaza in early October.

On December 4, the Yemeni army targeted two Israeli ships in the Red Sea as they were attempting to cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Reports have shown that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

Yemeni forces have also launched missile and drone attacks on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine after the occupying regime’s aggression on Gaza.

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