Indian captain of Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker faces 10-year jail term in UK
RT | November 11, 2026
The Indian captain of an oil tanker is facing up to ten years behind bars in the UK after being detained for allegedly breaching Western sanctions on Russia, in a case that has drawn fierce criticism from international seafaring unions.
Ajay Pant was commanding the MV Smyrtos when the British authorities intercepted the vessel in international waters and detained him in June.
The Smyrtos has been branded a so-called ‘shadow fleet’ tanker, so named for transporting crude oil and petroleum products from Iran and Russia in defiance of unilateral Western sanctions against them. China, India, and the rest of the Global South, as well as Russia, have argued that the sanctions are illegal because they have not been approved by the United Nations Security Council.
Pant’s appeal will be heard on Thursday. His earlier bail plea was denied because the UK court claimed he could receive Russian help to abscond or flee.
The 38-year-old father-of-two is from the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, and is the primary caregiver of his elderly parents. His wife, Ritu, has publicly advocated for his release and called him a “scapegoat.” She has pointed out that the vessel’s owners are responsible for cargo and routing decisions. Pant was also the only individual charged by the UK authorities.
The owner of the vessel is Hong Kong-based Zhao Yao Shipping, SeaTrade Maritime News reported. Chennai-based Vika Line Marine Services is its international safety manager.
Most of the ship’s 24-member crew had returned to their home countries by August, news reports say, while some are still on the Smyrtos, which is anchored off the coast of Weymouth and Portland in Dorset, England.
India said on Tuesday it has stepped up diplomatic efforts to help Pant.
“We have been in touch with the lawyers of Captain Pant as well as his family,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said. “The High Commission has paid several visits to Captain Pant to check on his well-being. We have also facilitated the visit of his family members, his wife in particular.”
The vessel has been under EU and UK sanctions since October 2025. It was flying the Cameroon flag when it departed Russia with its cargo, but the African nation removed the vessel from its national ship registry a few days before its interception.
The UK authorities claim that when a vessel is considered stateless, Britain has a right to exercise powers under its domestic legislation.
Experts and the Seafarers Union, however, say the detention of the captain of a ship in international waters creates a worrying precedent. They point out that this is the first time that a European nation has held a ship captain on such charges.
“Seafarers will often not know that their ship might be carrying sanctioned oil, and that they’re potentially open to getting caught up in a geopolitical conflict,” Steve Yandell, coordinator of the seafarers’ section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, was quoted as saying by AFP.
The Forward Seamen’s Union of India has demanded a faster trial. “It is a minimum requirement of the international unions that there should be a fast trial court for such cases, when a foreign seafarer is detained in a third country,” FSUI official Manoj Yadav said. A trial that could last four weeks has been reportedly scheduled for December 15.
The development is especially concerning for India, which has an estimated 320,000 seafarers working on ships across the globe.
Zelensky’s Critics Vanish Into Ukrainian Secret Prisons – Source
Sputnik – 09.11.2026
Critics of Zelensky end up at secret torture sites, which Ukraine uses as a tool of reprisal, a source in the resistance movement in Odessa told Sputnik.
“It’s a case of ‘one hand washes the other’ – those who disagree with Zelensky’s regime and critics of Ukrainian law enforcers end up in these prisons. In fact, for this criticism they are reported, and the person is taken to this institution under unclear circumstances. For the authorities, they play the role of cleaners. These prisons are needed by the authorities, which is why they exist and why no one touches them,” a member of the Odessa resistance said.
One example is a Ukrainian torture site called the “Library” that had been discovered near Mariupol, the source said.
“Why aren’t criminal cases opened? Who in their right mind in today’s Ukraine would open a case against, say, ‘Azov’? Whoever opens one will end up in that prison themselves,” the person said.
Secret torture sites have existed in Ukraine since 2014— a fact Russian authorities have repeatedly highlighted. The issue struck a chord with Ukrainians on Monday, when a crowd gathered outside a house in a Kiev suburb where people were reportedly being held and beaten in the basement.
The Ukrainian authorities are trying to intimidate the population: a medic who arrived at the secret prison, an ambulance driver, and another woman have already been arrested, and other protest participants are being sought.
Ukraine arrests woman who exposed Azov battalion’s ‘torture chamber’
RT | November 4, 2026
A Ukrainian court has ordered pretrial arrest without bail for the woman who raised allegations of torture at a facility in Kiev operated by the notorious neo-Nazi-linked Azov unit.
The scandal erupted on Monday after allegations emerged that dozens of men were being beaten and held for ransom at a private house outside Kiev. Furious relatives and local residents gathered outside the property, leading to clashes with the authorities.
Valentina Molodaya arrived at the house in an ambulance and livestreamed herself pleading to be allowed inside to examine men she claimed were being held there in appalling conditions.
At a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, Kiev’s Solomiansky District Court ordered Molodaya held for 60 days without bail. She is suspected of obstructing military activities, disclosing military locations and organizing mass unrest.
Molodaya denied accusations of organizing unrest and claimed that she is a medic who came to the house after being tipped off about a man who had allegedly been taken from hospital after surgery and beaten while held at the property.
However, prosecutors are calling Molodaya’s qualifications and motivations into question, accusing her of being paid to stage a provocation. She has also been added to the notorious Mirotvorets website – which publishes personal information on people it considers “enemies” of Ukraine – as an alleged “professional provocateur” and is accused of taking part in Russian “information campaigns.”
Despite early claims by Ukrainian officials that only two men were being held inside the building, an Azov representative has since acknowledged that at least 26 “mobilized men” were staying there.
The building is a “temporary deployment site” for Azov’s 1st Corps, which admitted that at least four of the men held inside were injured. All four were “detained for going AWOL,” it claimed.
Many more such facilities are scattered across Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky’s chief-of-staff, Kirill Budanov, admitted to enraged Ukrainians at the scene of the protest on Monday night.
Azov, which was formally incorporated into Ukraine’s National Guard in November 2014, has previously faced allegations of operating torture sites in Mariupol and elsewhere in Donbass. Between 2014 and 2021, Ukrainian forces arbitrarily detained an estimated 2,300 people and subjected around 1,500 detainees to torture or ill-treatment, the UN human rights office reported in 2021. Ukraine’s SBU and nationalist “volunteer battalions” were among the most prevalent perpetrators, it said.
The Pits: Zelensky’s torture chamber network in the public eye
By Tim Kirby | Strategic Culture Foundation | November 3, 2026
Bizarre uprisings are happening everywhere across the European continent right now except for Russia; France is burning, German youth are violently refusing to serve in the military and Poland’s constitutional tribunal is under attack. Now, on the eastern front of ‘civilization’ shadowy figure Kirill Budanov’s words have failed to divert the attention of the Ukrainian and global Media to a secret prison network used against their own citizens. His attempts to calm an angry public didn’t seem to go too well as he was supposedly struck by pepper spray or some sort of gas before the night was through.
Kirill Budanov is Ukrainian presidential office chief and the youngest ever head of Ukrainian military intelligence, who obviously has very close ties to Zelensky. He is considered to be a terrorist by the Russian side officially and a blood enemy unofficially. On the dark streets of Kiev, speaking into the blinding lights of cameras he told the Ukrainian public about the situation around an unofficial (potentially Azov) prison near Kiev, referred to as ‘The Pit’ where military-related, i.e. force conscripted, prisoners are unlawfully being held in the finest traditions of the enlightened West.
New Resistance had the following breakdown of the story which concisely explains everything:
Several people were beaten to death in a basement used as a torture chamber near Kiev, where dozens of men were being held – this was stated in the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada).
The deceased are being registered as “missing.” This is happening in over a hundred other similar torture chambers across Ukraine, emphasized Deputy Dmytruk:
People are being kidnapped and tortured. Some are sold to military units, others to their relatives. Those who are weaker simply die from torture and the conditions of their confinement. This is how the entire “mobilization” system currently operates…
… Budanov says that uncovering a torture chamber in Kiev “harms the unity of Ukrainians” and to “prioritize the interests of the nation”
Budanov framing the exposure of violence as a threat to unity rather than addressing the abuse itself mirrors the classic dynamic of fascist states, where perpetrators view public accountability, not the cruelty itself, as the true offense.
This story should come as no surprise to anyone who monitors Russian politics as one of the many justifications for the start of the Special Military Operation was the fact that the Kiev side had been using secret prisons to ‘disappear’ locals in the Donbass for many years. They also used brutal torture and humiliation within these facilities which is what is presumed to be happening at The Pit on the edge of Ukraine’s capital city. In fact, if you are curious about these secret prisons you can auto-translate this extremely detailed breakdown by RIA Novosti of the use of these locations in the Donbass during the period of 2014-2022 by the Ukrainian Military and Azov Battalion, who are considered terrorists within Russia.
The important thing that must be understood is that Kiev’s Pit is not a singular incident but one of a network of such facilities that has been being used since the Maidan. This is not speculation but a fact. The Pit is not an exception but standard practice when a government comes into force that sees the majority of their own citizens as being subhuman and are financed by those elites who see all Ukrainian citizens as subhuman. This is all part of the culling of modern Ukraine, it bears all the colors of the globalist methodology.
This young man leaving the facility mentally and physically broken has become the symbol of this secret prison network
So the question is, why is this happening now, why are secret prisons that have existed since the Maidan, that have been exposed multiple times, now a cause for public outrage and uprisings? The answer to that may be simple; the Zelensky regime is losing its grip on society. If a powerful state can make you disappear into a secret prison network at the click of their fingers no one will say a word, but if a weak regime tries to do so, resistance is no longer futile or suicidal, but nearly obligatory.
We can see in various videos of the outrage outside The Pit that the regime is losing control even in front of its own journalists that it bought and paid for. The single largest tactical change in the entire war was Zelensky’s “40 days of terror” during the summer of 2026 that attacked all sorts of civilian infrastructure in Russia. This move forced the Kremlin to respond in kind, escalating their efforts radically and has thus led to Russia destroying seemingly every data center, gas station, factory, locomotive, and warehouse in Ukraine.
The situation is now so dire that the once safe epicenter of the Zelensky regime, the city of Kiev, has now been reduced to 19th century living standards for many. The mayor of Kiev even told the public that it is time to flee the capital. Until the 40 Days of Terror, trying to rescue a loved one being held at a secret detention facility would surely mean that you would be there next. Perhaps now the realities on the ground have changed to the degree that one can even spray some sort of gas at Kirill Budanov and not be punished for it.
Of course, even if the Ukrainian public is now fully aware of something, the Western Mainstream Media will make sure to cover it up. Norwegian professor and author Glenn Diesen had the following to say about this issue:
“The political-media establishment has a busy day ahead: whitewashing Zelensky’s torture chambers, downplaying the revelations, and making sure the story disappears from public view.”
These words are absolutely true. However, no PR campaign will be able to hide the coming fall of Kiev from the world’s public. Even the people who are ‘in the know’ are acknowledging that the capital city’s head is metaphorically on the chopping block. Real-estate prices are crashing and sales are down to record lows as the city becomes empty and may be unlivable soon. The ‘orcs’ are on the horizon and it is unclear who will hold the town when this entire horrible war comes to its final conclusion.
As Russian forces draw near and continue to batter the Kiev regime’s infrastructure into pulp we should expect to see more and more uprisings, for the powers that be may not be able to stop them. Although there is probably still plenty of fight left in Zelensky thanks to cheap drones in big numbers, he cannot hold on forever, nor can Kiev maintain itself as a city without functioning electricity, water and sewage. The Grim Reaper is staring down at the entire capital sharpening his scythe while waiting.
In closing it is important to note that Budanov had to often speak in Russian to properly address the enraged crowd. Something about that fact is quite fitting.
Moscow mocks Kiev’s language hypocrisy exposed by ‘torture chamber’ scandal
RT | November 3, 2026
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has questioned Kiev’s enforcement of mandatory Ukrainian-language rules for officials after Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide was filmed speaking Russian while trying to defuse a riot over a suspected “torture chamber” site.
Kirill Budanov, the head of Zelensky’s office, was filmed on Monday evening speaking Russian during a confrontation sparked by shocking revelations about a black site operated by the neo-Nazi-linked Azov unit, which is part of Ukraine’s National Guard.
Several other people at the scene also spoke Russian, including a distressed teenager who was escorted out of the facility, the exact purpose of which remains disputed.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Zakharova asked Ukrainian language commissioner Elena Ivanovskaya whether she intended to fine Budanov, the teenager and the media outlets that broadcast their exchange.
Budanov did speak Ukrainian when addressing reporters during the same events, as required by Kiev’s language policy. However, footage from the scene shows him switching to Russian during more tense moments of the confrontation.
Ivanovskaya previously launched an official investigation into officers from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) who spoke Russian during a volatile argument that eventually escalated into a gunfight in September.
The Ukrainian government has pursued policies aimed at removing Russian culture from public life and promoting Ukraine’s national identity. The measures are supported by ultranationalist groups, which played a prominent role in the 2014 overthrow of the government, but have faced opposition from more moderate sections of Ukrainian society.
Many senior officials in Zelensky’s administration, including Zelensky himself, are widely believed to speak Russian in private, with occasional slips of the tongue caught on camera lending credence to that perception.
Russian is also frequently heard in recordings involving figures suspected of profiting from corruption networks within the Ukrainian government. Surveillance tapes released by anti-corruption agencies investigating members of Zelensky’s inner circle have repeatedly featured suspects discussing their alleged criminal activities in Russian.
Moscow has cited Kiev’s language policies as evidence of systemic discrimination against ethnic Russians in Ukraine and identified the issue as one of the underlying causes of the conflict between the two countries.
The riot in the village of Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, where the alleged secret Azov prison was located, erupted following accusations that military deserters were being detained, tortured and held for ransom at the facility.
Budanov acknowledged that there were “many” similar places across Ukraine and welcomed the exposure of suspected abuses at the site.
Azov commander Denis Prokopenko, meanwhile, accused the civilians involved in the confrontation of “sabotage” and “creating imagery that benefits Russia.” He delivered his video statement in angry Ukrainian.
The teenager’s role in the incident remains unclear. He told Budanov that he was 14 years old and had arrived at the facility “with guys” who subsequently fled, leaving him behind.
Military ‘torture chamber’ triggers new scandal in Kiev
RT | November 2, 2026
Protesters have attempted to storm an alleged secret military prison outside Kiev, accusing its operators of torturing soldiers and denying them medical assistance. The scandal escalated into violent clashes, prompting the personal intervention of several senior officials, including the head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office.
The incident unfolded on Monday in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital, where a private house allegedly used to hold mobilized men and suspected deserters became the center of a rapidly escalating confrontation.
Videos circulating on social media and published by Ukrainian news outlets showed attempts to force open the property’s gates, confrontations between protesters and unidentified individuals, and visibly injured men later emerging from the building after medics were finally allowed inside.
Suspected torture chamber exposed
The scandal began after reports spread that armed men were holding up to 40 people “hostage” in the basement of the house, allegedly subjecting them to beatings and denying them contact with relatives. Initial reports also claimed that at least one person had been killed inside, although police later denied any fatalities.
Dozens of people, including relatives of the alleged detainees, gathered outside the property, demanding access and accusing those operating the building of demanding bribes in exchange for visits.
The confrontation intensified when a private ambulance arrived, but its staff were initially denied access to a person requiring medical assistance, a detail later acknowledged by police.
Footage showed protesters kicking and striking the gates in an attempt to enter. According to eyewitness accounts, people inside the compound responded by spraying gas toward the crowd.
A female medic was eventually admitted alongside a police officer. After examining the occupants, she told reporters that approximately 25–30 people were inside and that four seriously ill men required hospitalization.
The four were subsequently taken for treatment. Ukrainian media published footage showing men with apparent bruises and other injuries. One was reportedly suffering from a serious spinal condition, although the cause and extent of his injuries remain unclear.
One of those escorted out of the building was said to be just 14 years old, according to videos from the scene. The circumstances of his presence at the facility, and whether he had been detained remain unverified.
‘We don’t torture – we form units’
As the footage spread, senior Ukrainian officials rushed to contain the escalating scandal. Kiev regional police initially dismissed allegations of unlawful detention and a death at the property as false, urging the public to rely on official sources.
National Guard commander Aleksandr Pivnenko personally arrived at the scene, telling the crowd that the building was merely a temporary accommodation and processing center for mobilized servicemen awaiting transfer to training facilities.
“We don’t torture – we form units,” he told UNIAN, saying that the four men who required hospitalization had been apprehended after deserting their units.
Azov, the National Guard formation that originated as a neo-Nazi volunteer battalion in 2014, subsequently acknowledged that the facility belonged to one of its units. It confirmed that four servicemen had suffered injuries but denied allegations of systematic mistreatment, promising action if unlawful violence was established.
Budanov admits numerous similar facilities exist in Ukraine
The scandal soon drew Kirill Budanov, Zelensky’s chief of staff and former military intelligence chief, who personally arrived at the scene to “find out what the f*** is going on,” as he put it. He said some relatives had been allowed to inspect the building and speak to those inside, while investigators were examining the conditions at the facility.
Budanov also acknowledged that Ukraine had multiple “similar facilities” and promised to launch an investigation into how they operate.
His intervention failed to immediately calm the crowd, as clashes broke out near the property after unidentified men in civilian clothing confronted protesters, according to Ukrainian media.
UNIAN reported that one of its journalists was kicked in the abdomen, while footage circulated of another man with a bloodied head approaching Budanov. The official advised the injured man to contact police.
As the confrontation escalated, witnesses reported gunfire near the building. Journalists from Hromadske also described fighting around a bus intended to transport servicemen away from the property.
Nothing to see here, go home
The confrontation flared again as authorities attempted to transfer the remaining servicemen from the building. Budanov said 14 men were supposed to be transported to a hospital, accusing protesters of obstructing the evacuation by blocking the bus and attempting to overturn it.
Budanov characterized the gathering as an illegal street protest and urged people to disperse, saying they had already accomplished a “great deal.”
Despite official attempts to reassure the public, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry announced a formal investigation into the facility, confirming that the State Bureau of Investigation and the military ombudsman’s office had become involved.
Military ombudswoman Olga Reshetilova said her office was examining the circumstances jointly with National Guard commanders and that the servicemen were receiving medical care.
A darker history of secret prisons
The scandal has revived questions about unlawful detention and torture in Ukraine, practices documented by international human rights organizations since the 2014 Maidan coup and the outbreak of the conflict in Donbass.
In a 2016 investigation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented secret detention facilities operated by Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, in Kharkov and several other cities. Accused of being “pro-Russian separatists,” former detainees described prolonged imprisonment without trial, beatings, electric shocks, and other forms of torture.
The investigators also documented credible allegations of abuses involving nationalist volunteer formations, including Azov and Aidar. Ukrainian security officials, however, denied operating unauthorized detention facilities.
Brutal mobilization and mass desertion
The latest scandal comes amid growing public resentment over Kiev’s increasingly coercive recruitment campaign, widely known as busification, in which military enlistment officers forcibly apprehend men in public places and transport them to recruitment centers.
Videos of violent detentions, confrontations with bystanders, and attempts by civilians to rescue men from recruitment officers have become a recurring feature of Ukrainian social media.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged abuses within the recruitment system, while reports of beatings, prolonged confinement, and deaths following encounters with recruitment officers have intensified public scrutiny.
The problem is compounded by widespread desertion. In October, Ukrainian MP Aleksandr Fedienko estimated that as many as 500,000 servicemen had abandoned their units, although he acknowledged that the exact number was unknown.
Netizens condemn Japanese drama for projecting Japan’s wartime atrocities onto Chinese characters
Season 2 of Japanese drama Vivant Photo: Screenshot from CCTV News
Global Times | October 25, 2026
By portraying Chinese characters as perpetrators of ruthless violence while casting Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) intelligence operatives as defenders, the season 2 of the Japanese drama Vivant has recently drawn criticism from Chinese netizens, who argue that its depiction turns historical reality on its head while ignoring Japan’s wartime atrocities.
The TBS drama series – a spy suspense story in which an alleged unofficial intelligence unit of the SDF operates across the globe — has attracted a passionate fanbase. Its currently airing season 2 opened with a household rating of 18.8 percent, the highest for a TV drama this year, according toa commentary article by Japanese media Toyo Keizai.
What draws attention is the portrayal of the enemies in the series, the article noted. Scenes in which the Chinese organization subjects kidnapped members of the SDF unit to brutal torture are repeated with unrelenting intensity.
It is rare for Japanese TV dramas to explicitly portray a real-life country as the enemy, the article noted.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also made a reference to the drama, saying that she has been recording Vivant and hopes to binge-watch it over the year-end and New Year holidays, according to Japanese media outlets.
China’s CCTV News report on Sunday revealed that the drama features scenes in which Chinese personnel cut off the fingers of and stab Japanese intelligence operatives in the abdomen. Such acts bear striking similarities to the torture inflicted on Chinese nationals by invading Japanese troops during the World War II.
The drama distorts the truth by attributing these atrocities to modern Chinese characters. Beneath the surface, it subtly glorifies Japan’s cross-border overseas operations, blurs the functional boundaries of the SDF and implicitly promotes an expansionist narrative, per CCTV News.
Following the report, the topic “Japanese drama Vivant smears China” quickly became a trending topic on Chinese social media.
One Chinese netizen Luoxuchen noted that while previous content avoided sensitive topics by setting the story in a fictional country, this season directly names China, signaling that anti-China narratives in Japanese cultural entertainment have shed their disguise and become open.
Some netizens pointed out that Japan’s acts of distorting history are commonplace. “This is a familiar tactic of Japan, and vigilance must never be relaxed.”
The drama has even drawn criticism from some Japanese netizens. One netizen and history scholar @mas_yamazaki said that while the drama explicitly names “China,” it portrays Chinese people as “cruel,” “stupid” and “incompetent,” shows viewers weekly scenes of Japanese people being brutally tortured, and then coolly depicts SDF members slaughtering dozens of the “evil Chinese.”
“TBS broadcast this kind of drama in 2026, with major companies such as Japan Airlines as sponsors. The country is sick,” the netizen said.
“I’m quietly intrigued by the process of how content like this gets approved within the framework of commercial broadcasting,” another Japanese netizen @kyou_kore_mite wrote.
In the 2026 defense white paper released in August, Japan smeared and accused China, hyped up the “China threat,” while continuously accelerating its remilitarization.
China has already repeatedly urged Japan to reflect on its historical crimes, earnestly draw lessons from history, stop making excuses for its military buildup, and not go further down the wrong path, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian during a press conference.
A West Bank War for Netanyahu’s Election Campaign, Could It Backfire?
By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | October 25, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a new military operation in the occupied West Bank to collectively punish the people of al-Khalil, all in the lead-up to the scheduled national elections early next week. Is the Premier playing with fire?
Following years of ever-escalating settler violence and the intensification of Israel’s military occupation across the occupied West Bank, two Palestinian men in their twenties – Hamouda and Firas al-Ja’ba – decided to carry out a resistance operation against an Israeli army guard post.
The two resistance fighters carried out their attack, injuring four Israeli soldiers and killing two, using pistols and a rifle near the Farsh al-Hawa checkpoint in al-Khalil. The Israeli army called in backup, leading to an armed clash in which both of the Palestinians were killed during a 20-minute clash.
From the CCTV footage of the clash, it appears as if the two Palestinians were not professionally trained and acted alone. No Palestinian movement claimed the attack, although it was widely praised. Israel was quick to blame Hamas and then launch a new military campaign targeting the entire city of al-Khalil.
There are a number of reasons that the attack, which, although the most significant carried out in the West Bank in over a year, is not exactly unusual, has been reacted to in the way we see today.
One reason for this enormous overreaction is that Netanyahu is looking for a boost in the polls. He evidently believes that by launching a brutal crackdown in the West Bank, his population will respond positively and he may win some more votes come Tuesday.
This is why the Israeli Prime Minister claimed that the planned campaign against al-Khalil will be an operation “unlike any seen since the Six-Day War”. He is trying to play on Israeli nationalism, referencing the June 1967 war, during which the Israelis occupied the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. Evidently, this is hyperbole, but it doesn’t mean that the campaign will not be brutal.
Another reason why the attack has been transformed into such a major issue is that it is massively embarrassing to both the Israeli army and Netanyahu personally. Although the two Palestinian fighters do not appear to have had any professional training and did not act on behalf of any resistance group, the Israeli media, military, and government are saying the opposite.
The Israelis are claiming that Hamas was involved; they are also spinning a hero story that by calling in backup they managed to thwart a much larger attack that was planned on Israeli settlers and that what happened was actually a success story of sorts.
This is because the truth exposes the unprofessionalism and cowardice of the Israeli occupation soldiers. Two untrained individuals managed to kill a Staff Sergeant and a Sergeant, injured four others, while all the female soldiers on scene hid from the attackers. In addition to this, it took 20 minutes for them to take care of the threat posed to their forces; they also needed to call in backup despite clearly outnumbering the two gunmen already. Accepting the reality would mean accepting that the army is pretty incompetent, and the Israeli public will believe any narrative that allows them to ignore this truth.
Another element of this is that if you tell the public that the Israeli army managed to thwart a major attack, it shows that under Netanyahu’s leadership, he has learned the lesson from October 7, 2023. The narrative being sold to Israelis is that now the army is acting pre-emptively; it is launching a major campaign to prevent another major attack like the one that happened on October 7. Israelis also simply enjoy watching Palestinians suffer.
However, by launching such a collective punishment campaign, there is a chance that the Israelis could end up getting burned, even if not immediately. West Bank Palestinians have been placed under tremendous pressure; by launching an intensive campaign of this nature, it could end up pushing some people over the edge.
Although the rhetoric surrounding the campaign suggests that the Israeli military is seeking to turn the largest populated city in the occupied West Bank into Gaza, this is unlikely to be what they will do. Instead, they will carry out raids, make life an inconvenience, even more than before, likely killing some innocent people while kidnapping random Palestinians while going through their neighborhoods.
The most intensity will be focused on a few specific neighborhoods that will get the worst treatment. But escalating too hard, too fast, could end up triggering a unifying event, especially due to the Israeli soldiers being psychotic and not even following their own rules. Ultimately, it is because of the checkpoints, killings, torture, and daily harassment that Palestinians carry out resistance attacks like the one we saw this Friday morning.
It is only a matter of time until the pressure being placed upon the people of the West Bank will explode. What makes this predicament starkly different from that of Gaza is that when the situation deteriorates, the Israelis have already entrenched themselves so deeply within that territory that they are extremely exposed.
Netanyahu loves to pledge his intentions to collapse the Palestinian Authority (PA) and annex the West Bank, but this is just posturing for gullible Israeli fanatics who don’t understand how everything works. If the PA does collapse and there is a push to annex the territory officially, then the settlements will be indefensible.
Just as the Israeli public truly believes that they have “the most moral army on earth”, they also believe that they are physically superior too. The former is about as accurate as the latter.
During the Gaza Genocide, the West Bank strategy has been to subdue the Palestinians through brute force and to collaborate with the PA in order to ensure there is no major uprising. It has, until now, worked. However, that strategy of constant torment and increasing pressure also “worked” until October 7, 2023.
People will not live under such horrendous conditions forever; it is only a matter of time before the situation there dramatically changes. Such a shift could occur over something relatively small. When you constantly play with fire, you get burnt.
If the West Bank’s population were to enter a sustained popular uprising, the Israeli military would struggle to subdue it. In the event that other fronts of its regional war were to open, this could be a major strategic catastrophe.
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.
Moscow blasts UN for ignoring torture of Russian POWs
RT | October 17, 2026
The UN should resist pressure from Kiev’s Western backers and finally address the issue of widespread abuse of captured Russian servicemen in Ukrainian secret prisons, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik has said.
During a conversation with the chairman of the UN Committee Against Torture Claude Heller on Thursday, Miroshnik said that Moscow is aware of a whole network of such detention facilities, operating in Ukraine’s Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, and Sumy Regions as well as in the country’s capital, Kiev.
The Russian servicemen are “going through hell” in so-called “transit prisons,” which are set up at deployment points of Ukrainian military units and nationalist battalions, he said.
“The thugs, who hide their faces behind masks… and address each other only by their call signs, subject the captured Russian troops to inhuman abuse. Waterboarding, electrocuting, baiting with dogs and amputations performed without anesthesia are just a few examples of the techniques systematically employed by the Ukrainian tormentors,” the envoy, who is charged with documenting Kiev’s war crimes, stressed.
According to Miroshnik, captured troops are usually sent to those facilities in the early stages of their imprisonment, where they are held in cages, pits, and stone dungeons.
The Kiev government does not allow ombudsmen and human rights activists into those “torture chambers,” but the Russian authorities have gathered hundreds of accounts of survivors detailing what has been happening there, he said.
“This information had been passed on to the UN Secretariat on more than one occasion,” but no action followed, Miroshnik added.
By ignoring the existence of the secret prisons and systematic torture of Russian troops, the global body “encourages the spread of such criminal practices and disregard for the relevant UN Convention,” he added.
“Many experts are aware of this disgraceful phenomenon, yet there is a lack of political will to overcome the pressure from the foreign accomplices to the conflict, who shield the Kiev regime from accountability and prevent a thorough investigation of its conduct,” the envoy said.
While turning a blind eye to the torture of Russian troops, the UN published several reports accusing Russia of mistreating Ukrainian prisoners, based on accounts by POWs returned by Moscow to Kiev. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has labeled those accusations of abuse “disinformation.”
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the UN Secretariat was unable to properly perform its duties as most key positions are occupied by representatives of NATO countries.
The current team, led by [UN General-Secretary] Antonio Guterres, who is a Portuguese national, “promotes biased approaches and double standards, effectively serving the interests of a group of Western nations,” Lavrov insisted during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Guterres in Islamabad: Genocide, cowardice, and the cage of Imran Khan
By Junaid S. Ahmad | MEMO | October 7, 2026
There are careers that end in triumph, careers that end in scandal, and careers that achieve the rarer distinction of staging their own final indictment. António Guterres has found his in Islamabad.
After nearly a decade as Secretary-General of the United Nations, he arrives in Pakistan in the twilight of his tenure and performs the ritual that has come to define him: smile warmly, praise generously, deplore abstractly, and avoid saying anything that might seriously inconvenience the powerful men standing beside him. His record is littered with eloquent concern, grave warnings and solemn appeals. What it has lacked, again and again, is the one quality that gives moral language meaning: courage when courage carries a cost.
In Islamabad, the performance is almost indecent. Guterres praises Pakistan as a source of “solidarity and solutions,” commends the “resilience” of its people, and assures them that the United Nations stands with them. Meanwhile, former prime minister Imran Khan remains imprisoned after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his detention arbitrary.
UN experts have raised concerns about his treatment, prolonged isolation and conditions of confinement; the UN Committee Against Torture has separately highlighted broader allegations of politically motivated detention, torture, intimidation and repression.
Guterres does not need opposition politicians or troublesome journalists to brief him. He could simply read his own institution’s reports. But that would ruin the choreography.
So the Secretary-General moves through meetings with Pakistan’s political and security establishment while one of the country’s most popular and persecuted political leaders sits behind bars. Outside the diplomatic bubble, Khan’s supporters confront barricades, arrests and the familiar machinery of coercion. The Pakistani state, chronically incompetent at governing, once again discovers astonishing administrative efficiency when citizens decide to protest.
And Guterres praises their resilience. The euphemism is almost grotesque. A population is subjected to repression, institutional decay and coercive politics, and the world’s senior international diplomat congratulates it for enduring the experience. It is the diplomatic equivalent of praising a prisoner’s fortitude while refusing to ask who locked the cell.
But Islamabad is not a lapse in the Guterres record. It is the culmination of it.
The same moral evasion has defined his response to Gaza. For years, Guterres has described the catastrophe in increasingly apocalyptic terms: mass death, starvation, displacement, destroyed hospitals, shattered families, collective punishment and violations of international law. He has rarely lacked adjectives for horror.
What he lacked was willingness to name its most consequential possibility. Genocide.
When confronted directly, Guterres retreated into procedure, insisting that such a determination belonged to the courts. It was bureaucratic cowardice dressed as juridical sobriety. Apparently, a Secretary-General may describe the destruction of a people in exhaustive detail, denounce their starvation, mourn their children and warn of their dehumanization — but the moment the facts threaten to crystallize into the politically dangerous word, he develops an almost priestly devotion to institutional restraint.
The absurdity became complete when UN experts explicitly warned of genocide and a UN Commission of Inquiry later concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. The institution Guterres leads could say what Guterres himself repeatedly would not. This was not neutrality. It was evasion refined into method.
That is the essence of the Guterres tenure: moral vocabulary without moral escalation. He has perfected the art of sounding anguished while remaining politically non-threatening. His speeches travel bravely to the edge of the necessary conclusion, stare into the abyss, invoke international law, then retreat into another carefully worded appeal to governments that have already demonstrated their contempt for it.
Gaza became a theatre of catastrophic adjectives without commensurate political naming. Pakistan now becomes a festival of diplomatic compliments beside a prison cell.
The parallel is devastating. In Gaza, the UN system could document devastation while its Secretary-General recoiled from the word that carried the greatest political charge. In Pakistan, UN mechanisms can document arbitrary detention, abuse and repression while their chief shakes hands with the authorities presiding over the system they have condemned.
That is not merely institutional contradiction. It is leadership failure.
No serious person expects a UN Secretary-General to command armies, free prisoners by decree or compel governments into decency. But the office possesses one form of power that cannot be dismissed so easily: moral authority. Guterres has spent much of his tenure conserving it so carefully that, when history demanded its expenditure, there was often nothing to show for it.
He has confused caution with wisdom and diplomatic acceptability with statesmanship. But statesmanship is not the art of saying only what power can comfortably tolerate. Its purpose, at decisive moments, is precisely the opposite.
And so Islamabad is a fitting final tableau: Guterres praising resilience while surrounded by evidence of why resilience is necessary; representing institutions whose own findings he seems unwilling to embody; smiling through repression in Pakistan after years of speaking around genocide in Gaza.
History will not care how many statements he issued, how solemnly he frowned, or how often he invoked international law.
It will ask what he said when speaking plainly became dangerous. Too often, António Guterres chose not to. He saw almost everything. He described almost everything. And when history demanded courage rather than description, he chose cowardice.
They see them, then kill them: Israeli quadcopters track, deliberately target civilians in Gaza
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor | September 12, 2026
Geneva – The Israeli military continues to use armed quadcopter drones to carry out deliberate killings of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the killing of at least 60 civilians by gunfire from these drones or by munitions dropped by them since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025 through early September 2026.
The repeated occurrence of these incidents after the ceasefire, and the targeting of children, displaced people, farmers, shepherds, and people returning to check on their homes, reveals a continuing pattern of the deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians, in which Israel employs military technology capable of identifying specific individuals, tracking their movements, and striking them with precision, despite the clear civilian status of those targeted and their non-participation in hostilities or posing of any imminent threat to Israeli forces or others.
Quadcopters are small, multi-rotor tactical drones, some systems of which can be operated by a single soldier. They can be equipped with daytime and thermal cameras, target-identification and tracking systems, and weapon stabilization systems. Depending on the mission, some models can also be fitted with 5.56mm and 7.62mm weapons or 40mm explosive munitions, enabling the operator to closely monitor individuals, track their movements, and then fire at them or drop munitions toward them with a high degree of accuracy.
These technical capabilities give the operator the ability to observe the targeted person, verify their identity, and track their movements before opening fire. This greatly narrows the margin for error in target identification and heightens the obligation to refrain from an attack when the civilian nature of the target becomes apparent or when there is any doubt as to their status. The repeated killing of children, displaced people, farmers, and shepherds by direct gunfire or munitions dropped from these drones, despite their clear civilian status and absence of any direct participation in hostilities or imminent threat, therefore provides, taken together, strong evidence that civilians themselves were intentionally selected as targets of attack, rather than being killed as a result of mistaken identification or accidentally struck. Such attacks are prohibited in themselves and cannot be justified by military necessity or subjected to a proportionality assessment, since a direct attack against a civilian is prohibited from the outset and cannot be made lawful by invoking military necessity or the rules of proportionality.
The data Euro-Med Monitor has collected shows that at least 60 civilians have been killed in attacks carried out by quadcopters since the ceasefire, while Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the same period had reached 1,368 as of the date of the statement.
Field monitoring revealed three main patterns in the use of these drones. The first involved precise and direct gunfire against individuals whom the operator could see and distinguish; the second involved dropping explosive munitions on civilian gatherings and tents housing displaced people; and the third involved using these drones to impose fire control over areas adjacent to what is known as the “Yellow Line,” by targeting civilians as they attempted to reach their homes and lands or carry out their work there.
Under the first pattern, Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented the killing of 12-year-old Abdullah Nour Saeed Dawas on the evening of 11 April 2026, after a quadcopter opened direct fire on displaced people in the vicinity of Abu Hussein Schools and Al-Fakhoura Health Centre in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. It also documented the killing of 26-year-old Fatima Al-Zahra Ramzi Ahmed Al-Ma’ni by fire from the same type of drone east of Deir al-Balah on 21 May 2026. It further documented the killing of 62-year-old Nidal Eid Salmi Abu Halib on 11 October 2025, after an Israeli quadcopter opened direct fire on him while he was heading to inspect his family’s home in Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis.
Under the second pattern, Euro-Med Monitor documented the killing of at least three civilians on 6 December 2025 after a quadcopter dropped an explosive munition on a group of civilians near Al-Atatra roundabout in Beit Lahia. It also documented the killing of Fadi Adel Khalif on 20 February 2026 after an Israeli drone dropped a bomb on his tent in the northern Gaza Strip, and the killing of 52-year-old Inaam Abdullah Al-Attar on 17 July 2026 after a bomb was dropped near Abu Tammam School in Beit Lahia.
The third pattern involved the use of quadcopters to impose fire control over areas adjacent to the “Yellow Line” and target civilians as they attempted to reach their lands and sources of livelihood. Euro-Med Monitor documented the killing of 42-year-old shepherd Raafat Adel Ibrahim Barika by fire from a drone of this type in the Al-Shakoush area near the “Yellow Line,” northwest of Rafah, on 22 May 2026. It also documented the killing of farmer Hamouda Fayeq Al-Attar on 29 August 2026 while he was working on his land east of Al-Masdar village, coinciding with the Israeli forces’ advance along the line in the area.
Children were among the victims of this precision weapon. Euro-Med Monitor’s field documentation is consistent, in terms of pattern, with the findings of a multidisciplinary report published by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute on 17 June 2026. The report was based on 18 cases involving children who were killed or wounded by gunfire that was examined and documented by a physician who participated in preparing the report during her work in Gaza Strip hospitals between August and September 2024. Witnesses who brought the children to hospital reported that quadcopters were responsible for the gunfire in 90 percent of the cases, while most wounds were caused by single, small-calibre bullets that struck the head, neck, chest, or abdomen.
The report presented five detailed cases supported, in each instance, by X-ray images or diagrams based on clinical photographs and witness testimonies. One case involved a seven-year-old child who was wounded inside an area designated as humanitarian while playing in the street, with no one else in the surrounding area being struck by gunfire. Medical, imaging, and ballistic analysis in three cases concluded that the entry angles and trajectories of the bullets were from above, consistent with gunfire originating from a drone. Although these incidents occurred in 2024, these findings are consistent with the pattern documented by Euro-Med Monitor at a later stage and constitute strong evidence of the use of precise, targeted gunfire directly and deliberately against children.
Euro-Med Monitor documented the circumstances of a child’s injury that resulted in permanent mobility impairment after he was directly shot by a quadcopter, providing additional evidence that Israeli forces deliberately used these drones to kill and inflict serious harm without any justification.
In testimony to Euro-Med Monitor’s team, the father of 11-year-old Amir Mohammed Khalil Shaath, a resident of Qizan Rashwan south of Khan Younis who was displaced to an area near Al-Sikka, adjacent to the Yellow Line, described what happened, saying: “On that day, 12 August 2026, I received a text message inviting them to collect a food parcel, so I went with my son Amir to the designated warehouse in the afternoon. On our way back on foot to our residential area in Al-Sikka neighbourhood, at around 5 p.m., we came under random and intense gunfire from a quadcopter flying at low altitude between abandoned residential buildings. This was followed by the dropping of an explosive bomb, which caused a violent explosion and sent shrapnel flying. Metal fragments became lodged in my son Amir’s skull and thigh, causing fractures and severe damage to the skull bones, and he lost consciousness for a long period as a result. He was taken to Nasser Hospital, where doctors said that if he had arrived a few minutes later, he would have died from internal bleeding in the brain. Medical teams managed to control the bleeding, but the fragments lodged in his skull could not be removed with the locally available capabilities. The child sustained a permanent mobility impairment, losing the ability to walk or stand. Medical teams declared that the available local treatment options had been exhausted and recommended that he travel abroad for treatment to remove the fragments lodged in his skull.”
The operator’s ability to clearly see the targeted person, distinguish their status, and track their movement before opening fire, and then strike them with a single bullet or guided munition, effectively eliminates the pretext of mistaken target identification, particularly when the target is a child, farmer, or shepherd carrying no weapon and posing no threat. This demonstrates that these civilians were not struck accidentally, but were deliberately selected as targets of attack.
Targeting these civilians establishes the intent to kill them and constitutes wilful killing and direct attacks against civilians, both of which are war crimes. Because such conduct occurs as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza, with knowledge of that attack, it also constitutes the crime against humanity of murder. Within the context of Israel’s commission of genocide, it falls under the material act of killing members of the protected Palestinian group and, alongside the other acts, policies, and statements, constitutes additional evidence of the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a substantial part of the Palestinian group.
Euro-Med Monitor calls on the international community, particularly states parties to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to take immediate and coordinated action to halt all international crimes being committed by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, foremost among them the crime of genocide in its various acts and means of implementation, including the deliberate killing of civilians using armed quadcopters. We call on these states to employ all available political, economic, diplomatic, and legal means to fulfil their obligation to prevent genocide and ensure respect for international humanitarian law, and to refrain from providing any support or assistance that contributes to the continuation of these crimes.
Euro-Med Monitor also calls on states, the United Nations, and international investigative mechanisms to take urgent measures to ensure the preservation and acquisition of all evidence related to these attacks, including drone camera recordings, flight and positioning data, firing records, the types of munitions used, mission orders, rules of engagement, and targeting data, as well as the names of operators and commanders who ordered or authorised the attacks, and to prevent the destruction, alteration, or concealment of such evidence.
We further urge the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to include the use of armed quadcopters in the ongoing investigation into the Situation in Palestine and to investigate the individual criminal responsibility of operators and those who issued or authorised targeting orders, as well as the responsibility of commanders who knew or should have known that these crimes were being committed and failed to take the necessary measures to prevent them or punish those responsible.
Euro-Med Monitor also calls on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to investigate these incidents as a systematic pattern of deliberate killings and to identify the types of drones and munitions used, their manufacturers and suppliers, and the relevant supply chains, and to request all related recordings, digital data, and military orders.
We also call on states to impose an immediate and comprehensive ban on the export, transfer, re-export, or financing of armed drones to Israel, including their components, munitions, sensors, targeting and tracking software, maintenance services, training, technical upgrades, spare parts, and brokering, as well as to suspend existing licences and contracts and halt all forms of military and security cooperation that could contribute to or facilitate the commission of these crimes.
Euro-Med Monitor also calls on manufacturers and suppliers to halt any direct or indirect support that could enable such uses, trace the components of their systems, preserve sales, end-user, maintenance, and upgrade records, and fully cooperate with international investigative mechanisms.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also urges states to investigate individuals suspected of responsibility for these crimes and prosecute them before their national courts where jurisdiction exists, including on the basis of universal jurisdiction; impose targeted sanctions on officials and entities involved in these crimes; work to ensure access for international investigators and forensic experts to the Gaza Strip; protect witnesses and survivors; and guarantee victims and their families the right to truth, justice, and full reparation.
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