Author: Latiamsar

Satellite imagery shows progress in the construction in Russia of a plant that will mass produce Iranian-designed kamikaze drones that Moscow is expected to target against Ukrainian energy facilities, a research organization said on Monday. Despite the headway, neither the United States nor its allies have imposed sanctions on the plant’s owner, JSC Alabuga, or its associated companies, said the Institute for Science and International Security report. The White House, the Russian embassy and Iran’s UN mission did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The report said a mid-September satellite image showed that new construction at the plant “directly” correlated with a leaked building…

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday accused Western nations of giving Israel a “license to kill” in its war against the Gaza Strip’s rulers Hamas. Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas gunmen poured across its border with the Palestinian territory on October 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry on Monday said more than 5,000 people, also mainly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli bombardment. AFP has been unable to independently verify the tolls. “What we hear from the mouth of the occupation (Israeli) leaders on preparations…

Israel lacks the capability to unleash a regional war across the Middle East, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said on Tuesday. “Israel, so to speak, is incapable of fighting against a small territory like Gaza and a small group like Hamas. So, does it really want to start a regional war? I don’t think the Israeli regime has that kind of capability and that kind of power,” Jalali said as cited by state news agency TASS. The ambassador said Iran will “show resilience” in case a conflict with Israel breaks out. “We have never started a war. However, if someone carries out…

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group held talks on Wednesday with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures in a key meeting of three top anti-Israel militant groups amid the war raging in Gaza. A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas’ Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps that the three — along with other Iran-backed militants — should take at this “sensitive stage.” Their goal, according to the statement that was carried on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve “a real victory for the resistance…

Between Hamas, Israel and Iran, Hezbollah treads carefully in the trenches, not to jump callously into war. Beirut, Lebanon – Hezbollah is well aware of Lebanon’s public opinion on widening the war with Israel for its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, and that it has to tread carefully, analysts say. In spite of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s careful mixing of condemnations of Israel with words of restraint in a speech on Saturday, Israel’s defence minister issued dire warnings against the Lebanese people. Following that, there was a noticeable escalation in the attacks, which…

Hamas said Thursday Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed almost 50 of the hostages its militants seized in bloody cross-border attacks as the United Nations warned “nowhere is safe” in the territory.The group’s armed wing made the claim, which AFP could not immediately verify, after Israel sent tanks, troops and armoured bulldozers into the enclave in a “targeted raid” overnight that the military said destroyed multiple sites before withdrawing.“(Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners who were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Zionist strikes and massacres has reached almost 50,” the group said…

UN refugee agency has called on armed actors within the refugee camp to immediately vacate its facilities. A United Nations agency has suspended services at the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon to protest against the presence of armed fighters around its four schools and other facilities within the area. Deadly clashes broke out at the Ein el-Hilweh camp last month after a gunman from the hardline Junud al-Sham armed group tried to assassinate Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the Palestinian political faction, Fatah, forcing hundreds to flee. Khalil’s companion, Fatah commander Abu Ashraf al-Armouchi was fatally shot and several of his…

London (04/11 – 67) US district judge, Denise Cote yesterday granted Sri Lanka’s request for a six-month halt on a creditor lawsuit against the country. Hamilton Reserve Bank, an obscure and tiny St Kitt’s bank with interesting ties, says it has accumulated a big chunk of one of Sri Lanka’s now-defaulted bonds and had been suing it for immediate repayment. Sri Lanka had asked for a stay on these legal proceedings to let it restructure its overall pile of debt in some peace and quiet, and had gotten heavyweight support from the UK, France and the US government. Judge Cote ruled, “The Court recognizes that…

The Syrian government agreed to reduce the transit fares imposed on Lebanese agricultural products by 50 percent, said Syrian Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Mohammed Hassan Qatana on Tuesday. Qatana made the remarks when meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Abbas Hajj Hassan during the United Nations Food Systems Summit held in Italy’s capital Rome, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. The Syrian minister also asked Hajj Hassan “to discuss with Lebanese authorities the possibility of securing some facilities from the Lebanese side,” said the report. In September 2018, Syria decided to raise transit fares on Lebanese products, dashing the hopes…

Brussels (3/11 – 34) Dubai is calling for a united front to spur the development of generative artificial intelligence to maximise its potential and reap economic benefits, the chief executive of the Dubai Future Foundation has said. Countries need to come together to prepare society for the innovation and to help bridge the gap between policies and the advancement of the emerging technology, which has a reported business opportunity of as much as $4.4 trillion, Khalfan Belhoul said at the Dubai Assembly for Generative AI conference on Wednesday. The industries with highest AI potential include banking, software and platforms, energy, communications and media, and health, according to the DFF.…