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Hezbollah: Israel poses strategic threat to region and beyond

Press TV – July 3, 2025

Sheikh Naim Qassem, the leader of Hezbollah, declared Israel not only an occupier of Palestine but a strategic threat to Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, the broader region, and global stability.

In a televised address on Wednesday, Qassem emphasized that Israel’s ideology, actions, and ambitions endanger Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike, destabilizing both regional and global peace.

He noted that the regime’s ideology, behavior, and vision endanger both regional stability and global peace.

Qassem said that since the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel took effect, the regime has not stopped its aggression and has violated the agreement more than 3700 times.

He stressed that the regime must adhere to the terms it agreed upon with Lebanon and stop its acts of aggression.

The Hezbollah leader said the movement will not be swayed by threats, nor will it accept surrendering its weapons to Israel.

Qassem firmly rejected calls for Hezbollah to disarm, asserting that Lebanon’s defense and sovereignty are internal matters, immune to external pressures.

“We will not submit to humiliation, abandon our land, or compromise under threats,” he stated, stressing that discussions about Hezbollah’s weapons are a domestic issue, with no role for Israel in dictating terms.

Qassem said Hezbollah’s resistance is a defense against a strategic threat impacting multiple nations, including Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.

Describing Israel as an existential danger, Qassem noted, “Israel’s threat is not limited to Muslims; it endangers Christians and Jews as well.”

He criticized the regime’s ideology and actions as a risk to global peace and called on those who avoid confronting Israel to resist on humanitarian grounds.

“Coexisting with an expanding, invasive danger is impossible,” he warned, emphasizing Hezbollah’s resistance as rooted in human, Islamic, and national values for future generations.

Lebanese state must address ongoing violations

In late June, Qassem stated that Israel’s continued aggression, including attacks on Nabatieh, the targeting of civilians in southern Lebanon, and strikes on the money exchange sector, is now the Lebanese state’s responsibility to address.

“The state must apply pressure and fulfill its duties,” he urged, rejecting claims that Hezbollah provides pretexts for Israeli attacks.

He cited Israel’s occupation of 600 km² of Syrian territory, destruction of capabilities, and attacks on Iran as evidence of unprovoked aggression.

“You must understand this cannot continue,” Qassem told the public. “Do you imagine we will remain silent forever? All of this has limits.”

July 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Qatari-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal: What does it include?

Al Mayadeen | July 3, 2025

Baruch Yadid and Amichai Stein, analysts at the Israeli outlet i24NEWS, have revealed the terms of a proposed ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, aimed at stopping the Israeli war on Gaza.

According to the report, the proposal is essentially a modified version of the earlier Witkoff Plan. “Israel”, the United States, and intermediary nations are now awaiting Hamas’ response after “Israel” reportedly conditionally agreed to the outline.

This approval reportedly followed a meeting between Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

Multiple sources confirmed that “Israel” has agreed, with certain conditions, to resume negotiations on ending the war even after the 60-day ceasefire period. A source further stated that the Trump administration made it clear the ceasefire would be extended beyond 60 days if talks were deemed serious.

During this time, the US President would commit to ensuring the continuity of the ceasefire. However, the report notes that “Israel” has not pledged to end the war, but rather to engage in dialogue aimed at ending it. Regarding the scope of Israeli withdrawal during the ceasefire, two sources indicated that negotiations are still ongoing over the scale of the withdrawal and the future deployment of Israeli forces.

The plan includes the release of 10 captives held by Hamas, eight on the first day and two on the 50th day, as well as the return of 18 bodies. In return, a two-month ceasefire would be implemented, during which negotiations would be held to reach a permanent end to the war, with each side presenting its demands.

Captive exchange, withdrawal schedule

The release schedule for captives and bodies is as follows:

  • Day 1: Release of 8 live captives
  • Day 7: Return of 5 bodies
  • Day 30: Return of 5 additional bodies
  • Day 50: Release of 2 live captives
  • Day 60: Return of 8 additional bodies

Humanitarian aid will flow immediately upon Hamas’ acceptance of the proposal, in line with the January 9 agreement, with sufficient quantities and oversight from the UN and the Red Crescent.

On day one, following the release of the eight captives, “Israel” is expected to begin withdrawal from northern Gaza according to pre-agreed maps. By day 7, after the return of five bodies, withdrawal from southern Gaza is to commence. Additionally, technical teams will work on delineating withdrawal boundaries in swift follow-up negotiations.

Long-term negotiations 

Phase five of the agreement initiates negotiations for a permanent ceasefire, beginning on day one of the truce. On Day two, arrangements will be launched across four key areas:

  1. Criteria for exchanging remaining prisoners
  2. Declaration of a permanent ceasefire
  3. Long-term security arrangements in Gaza
  4. Commitment to international guarantees

The United States, under the Trump administration, has pledged to guarantee the ceasefire for the full two months and potentially beyond, should serious negotiations continue. There will be no official ceremonies or public displays during prisoner exchanges.

Information sharing on prisoners, captives 

On day 10, Hamas will provide full information (proof of life, medical records, or confirmation of death) for all remaining captives. In return, “Israel” will share comprehensive data on Palestinian prisoners detained since October 7, 2023.

Mediators, including Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, will be responsible for ensuring the negotiations progress sincerely. Should the talks require more time, the ceasefire may be extended according to agreed-upon protocols.

If a final agreement is achieved, the remaining captives will be released.

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce the agreement, with the United States reaffirming its commitment to fostering good-faith negotiations. Also, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to lead the dialogue aimed at bringing the war to a conclusion.

Hamas says mediation efforts ongoing

On another note, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas confirmed on Wednesday that mediators are exerting intense efforts to bridge gaps between negotiating parties and lay the groundwork for a potential framework agreement to end the ongoing war on Gaza.

In an official statement, Hamas said it was approaching the current phase of talks with a high sense of responsibility, holding national consultations to evaluate the proposals received from mediators.

The movement emphasized that its primary objective in these discussions is to achieve a deal that guarantees a complete end to Israeli aggression, ensures the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and enables the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

July 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Best-Selling Apps Made By Israeli Spies

A new frontier for the BDS movement

Nate Bear – ¡Do Not Panic! – July 2, 2025

The developers behind hundreds of Android and iPhone apps with billions of downloads are former Israeli spies whose apps are generating significant revenues for Israel’s genocidal war economy.

The apps I’ve identified range from innocuous image and video editing apps to casual games, and most users won’t be aware they’re installing Israeli products on their phones. Many of these app developers operate under the radar, their ownership structures are opaque and the identity of their owners isn’t commonly known.

The identification of these apps should add another frontier to the boycott, divest, sanctions movement, as it provides a straightforward way for ordinary people to avoid Israeli products that contribute to apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The proliferation of these apps on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store also raises questions over privacy and the harvesting of personal data, given the reputation of Israeli technology and past scandals involving spyware being smuggled onto devices by apps made in Israel.

One of the most significant Israeli app holding companies and developers is ZipoApps, whose model is to buy-out and monetise apps at a large scale. The apps owned by Zipo (which also goes by the name Rounds.com) include a suite of photo and video editing apps that have received hundreds of millions of total installs. Individual apps include Collage Maker Photo Editor and Instasquare Photo Editor: Neon, both of which have received more than 50 million downloads from the Google Play Store. Other ZipoApps products include baby photo editing and retouching tools. In 2022, the founder and CEO of Zipo, Gal Avidor, told an interviewer (in his only interview to date), that all the founders of the company are former Unit 8200 Israeli intelligence personnel. On Reddit, users have complained about ZipoApps approach to privacy and data mining. One popular group of tools known as Simple Gallery went from free and open source to a paid product with ads and trackers just one week after ZipoApps acquired it.

Another Israeli-owned photo editing app on the Play Store is the AI-powered Bazaart, which was founded by Dror Yaffe and Stas Goferman, two former IDF intelligence officers. Goferman far exceeded his mandatory service, spending a decade in the IDF up to 2011.

Facetune, made by the developer Lightricks and available for Android and iPhones, is another Israeli photo editing app with over 50 million installs. Users on the Apple Store have called Facetune, which demands access to unique identifiers and your location, a scam. The co-founder of Lightricks, Yaron Inger, spent five years in Unit 8200.

If you’re into mobile gaming, or if you create mobile games to sell, you will have come across Israeli company Supersonic from Unity, probably without knowing it. With billions of downloads in recent years, Supersonic is one of the largest mobile game publishers in the world with revenues estimated at around $23 million per year. Earlier this year the company reported that they owned three of the top ten most downloaded casual player mobile games in the world: Build a Queen, Going Balls, and Bridge Race. Trash Tycoon is another popular title. The company also has a game called ‘Conquer Countries’ which has been downloaded millions of times and on its advertising tile features a cartoon version of Donald Trump. The founder of Supersonic, Nadav Ashkenazy, spent seven and a half years in the IDF where he rose to become the head of operations for the Israeli air force, managing almost half the full-time staff. You can see all Supersonic’s games here.

A better-known Israeli mobile game app maker whose revenues we don’t have to estimate is Playtika. Listed on the NASDAQ, Playtika brings in revenues of more than $2.5 billion, generating significant taxes for Israel’s mass slaughter machine. Playtika, which builds gambling apps, is firmly enmeshed in the genocidal Israeli war machine. The company was founded by Uri Shahak, son of the former head of the IDF, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and last year its annual report revealed that 14% of its staff had been called up as reservists to participate in the genocide in Gaza. Current CEO Robert Antokol says the company has a “responsibility” to Israel and the taxes paid by its staff are “wonderful for the Israeli economy.”

Another Israeli company whose apps have been downloaded billions of times is Crazy Labs. With an estimated company value of around $1 billion and sales estimated at up to $200 million, Crazy Labs is another app maker integral to the Israeli economy. Its best-selling titles are Phone Case DIY, Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir, and Sculpt People. You can see the full list of the Crazy Lab apps on the Google Play Store. The founders of Crazy Labs are all ex-IDF, including Sagi Schliesser, who well exceeded his mandatory service by staying in the IDF and helping build the digital architecture of apartheid for eight years.

An app you may have heard of, but not have known is Israeli, is Moovit. The urban transport app was founded by a number of ex-IDF including Nir Erez who spent years at the IDF’s specialist computing centre known as Mamram, which Israeli propaganda says creates ‘cyber warriors.’ As the unit which runs the military’s intranet, Mamram is central to Israel’s genocide of Gaza. Moovit, which has close to one billion users and delivers significant revenues to Israel, has been an official partner of the Olympic Games, the European football championships and also partners with Microsoft.

With hundreds of millions of installs, Call App, which screens phone calls for spam, is another product of Israel’s military economy. The founder and CEO of Call App, Amit On, spent three years in Unit 8200 in the 2000s. The app has over 100 million users.

On the ride-hailing front, Gett, which is focused on corporate passengers and is particularly popular in London as a way to hail black cabs, was founded by ex-Unit 8200 Roi More and Shahar Waiser. A notable mention for GPS navigation app Waze, probably the most famous Israeli app of the last decade, acquired by Google in 2013 for $1.3 billion and also founded by ex-Unit 8200 spies.

Another fast-growing Israeli app which has been featured on Oprah, in the New York Times and on CNN is Fooducate, whose founder, Hemi Weingarten, flew bombing missions for the Israeli air force.

This expose, which follows my investigations into former IDF and Unit 8200 working in AI for the big tech giants, and those working at Meta and Google, further confirms how deeply and insidiously embedded Israel is in our digital lives.

These investigations also reveal how Israel is foundationally reliant on being in a permanent state of dominance over the Palestinians, because the only thing of value the country produces are tech companies founded by ex-IDF. Without being able to train their citizens as spies and soldiers, and butcher Palestinians at will, Israel’s economy would collapse.

Yet most people who use these apps will have downloaded them in good faith with little idea they are contributing to Israel’s occupation-apartheid-genocide economy. In addition, these apps will be gathering information and data, including large amounts of personal images, and delivering them to devotees of Israel committed to maintaining the country as an apartheid state.

So check your phone and please spread the word.

Delegitimising, defunding and deleting Israeli products is one easy step we can all take to help dismantle Israel’s machinery of genocide.

July 2, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Solidarity and Activism | , , | Leave a comment

$1.5bn up in smoke: US THAAD missile stockpile dries up defending Israel against Iran

By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | July 2, 2025

According to American media, defense news outlets, and independent analysts, the 12-day Israeli military aggression against Iran significantly depleted the US stockpile of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptor missiles.

Citing official sources, American magazine Newsweek reported on Friday that the US transferred a substantial portion of its advanced missile defense capabilities to support the Israeli regime, an effort with questionable results and a critical impact on US strategic reserves.

THAAD, developed by Lockheed Martin arms manufacturing company, is a key component of Israel’s multi-layered air defense architecture. It is designed to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles, including those launched from Iran and Yemen.

The US-made system is capable of targeting short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase, whether inside or outside Earth’s atmosphere.

THAAD uses a “hit-to-kill” method, relying on kinetic energy rather than explosive warheads to destroy incoming threats, intercepting at altitudes of up to 150 km and ranges between 150-200 km.

Operated exclusively by American personnel, the US military maintains eight THAAD batteries with an estimated 350–400 interceptors in total. The eighth battery was activated during the June 20 Israeli aggression against Iran and is capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles.

Deployment in the occupied territories

At the outset of the Israeli aggression against Iran, seven THAAD batteries were operational, two of which had been deployed in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The first THAAD battery was stationed there in October 2024, following Iran’s “True Promise 1 and 2” operations, during which Israel’s domestic air defense systems, David’s Sling, Arrow 2, and Arrow 3, suffered notable failures. A second battery was deployed in April 2025.

These US-operated systems played a crucial role during the June 2025 confrontation with Iran, although their exact deployment locations remain classified for military reasons.

THAAD air defense system

Based on available information, of the remaining US THAAD batteries, two are deployed within the United States, one in Texas and another in Guam.

The rest are stationed overseas in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the UAE being the only country to have formally purchased its own THAAD systems.

A THAAD battery is a mobile, self-contained missile defense unit. Each battery typically comprises six truck-mounted launchers, with each launcher carrying eight interceptor missiles, amounting to a total of 48 interceptors per battery.

In addition, the system includes an AN/TPY-2 radar for long-range detection and tracking (up to 2,000-3,000 km), a fire control and communication system for coordinating intercepts, along with support equipment and approximately 100 personnel to operate the unit.

Given the deployment of two batteries in the occupied Palestinian territories, it can be estimated that the Israeli regime had access to at least 96 interceptor missiles.

However, the actual number was likely higher due to frequent resupply efforts during engagements with Yemeni ballistic missiles and in preparation for the broader conflict with Iran.

Mixed performance against Yemeni missiles

Despite being touted as one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, THAAD’s performance against Yemeni ballistic missile attacks has been mixed, even according to Israeli and Western sources.

While some interceptions have been claimed as successful, there have been notable failures.

By the end of March 2025, six successful interceptions of Yemeni missiles had been reported. However, on May 4 and May 9, THAAD failed to intercept missiles targeting Ben Gurion Airport.

In both instances, Israeli sources asserted that the incoming missiles were ultimately intercepted by the Arrow missile defense system instead.

This claim has been met with skepticism, as the Arrow system typically engages threats at far greater distances, tens or even hundreds of kilometers away, yet the airport was struck directly.

The Israeli regime’s own admission that multiple systems were used against the same class of Yemeni missiles suggests that the interception cost is significantly higher than commonly assumed. Rather than a one-to-one missile-to-interceptor ratio, several interceptors, possibly from different systems, may be required to ensure a successful shootdown.

Despite ongoing claims by American and Israeli officials about the effectiveness and reliability of both THAAD and Arrow systems, Yemen has continued to target Ben Gurion Airport as part of its retaliatory operations. The continued threat and perceived vulnerability led nearly all international airlines to suspend flights to and from Israel.

Yemeni missile hits Ben Gurion Airport on May 4, after unsuccessful interception with THAAD

The most commonly used long-range weapon in the Yemeni arsenal is the Palestine-2 – a two-stage hypersonic ballistic missile capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 16 and equipped with a maneuverable warhead. This type of missile poses a significant challenge to traditional missile defense systems, including THAAD.

Technologically, THAAD faces several limitations. These include radar difficulties in distinguishing between actual warheads and decoys, vulnerability to saturation by large-scale missile barrages, and diminished effectiveness against newer hypersonic and maneuverable missile designs.

The system also relies exclusively on US personnel for its operation, which can limit rapid adaptability in dynamic combat scenarios.

THAAD has experienced test failures in the past, raising concerns about its reliability and operational readiness. These failures have been linked to software bugs, mechanical faults, and targeting system errors, factors that cast doubt on its real-world performance under pressure.

Failures against Iranian missile strikes

During the 12-day war of aggression against Iran, THAAD’s performance deteriorated significantly, highlighted by its low interception rate and the rapid depletion of US and Israeli interceptor stockpiles.

On the eve of the Israeli aggression, approximately 100 THAAD interceptor missiles were positioned in the occupied Palestinian territories. In response, Iran launched between 370 and 500 ballistic missiles during its retaliatory operations, a volume that far exceeded available THAAD capacity.

While Israel also relied on other systems such as David’s Sling, Arrow-2, and Arrow-3, the sheer scale and intensity of Iran’s response shifted the strategic balance. The damage inflicted throughout Israeli-occupied territories underscored this imbalance.

In the initial days of the war, Iran deliberately used older liquid-fueled ballistic missiles to exhaust enemy air defenses. More advanced and maneuverable missiles were introduced only after Israel’s interceptor supply had been significantly drained.

Although no official statistics have been released regarding the number of THAAD interceptors used or their success rates, available evidence suggests a poor performance.

High-altitude kinetic interceptions, hallmarked by bright explosions visible across the region, were rare, and many may have involved Arrow systems instead of THAAD.

A particularly telling open-source analysis, based on video footage by Jordanian photographer Zaid M. Al-Abbadi, missile ignition signatures, and geolocation data, estimated that Israel used 39 THAAD, 34 Arrow-3, and 9 Arrow-2 interceptors during just one of more than 20 Iranian missile barrages.

Given such high rates of interceptor use, analysts believe THAAD batteries likely exhausted their missile supply within the first four to five days of the conflict.

This rapid depletion, combined with underwhelming interception success, highlights the system’s limitations in a high-intensity, multi-wave missile war.

THAAD interceptor launch

Exhausted stockpiles and soaring costs

Estimates from military experts and news outlets place the unit cost of a single THAAD interceptor between $12 million and $15 million. However, other sources suggest the real cost is significantly higher.

In a statement to Newsweek, Sidharth Kaushal of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) noted that while the production cost of a THAAD interceptor is approximately $18 million, the total cost rises to $27 million when research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) expenses are factored in.

Estimates of total THAAD-related spending during the recent conflict vary. Analysts suggest that between $500 million and $800 million worth of interceptors may have been expended, corresponding to the use of 40 to 60 missiles.

On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing Israeli military sources, reported that approximately 200 American and Israeli interceptor missiles were launched in total, at an estimated cost of 5 billion shekels – nearly $1.5 billion.

What all sources agree on is that the THAAD interceptor stockpile has been significantly depleted. At least one full battery’s worth, 48 interceptors, is believed to have been expended.

Considering the two THAAD batteries deployed and the high operational tempo due to prior Yemeni missile attacks, the actual figure may be closer to 96 interceptors. This would represent a reduction of roughly 30 percent of the entire US THAAD interceptor stockpile.

Open-source analysts also highlight the limited pace of US procurement: only 41 THAAD interceptors have been ordered over the past three years, including units designated for export customers. This slow replenishment rate underscores the vulnerability of even advanced missile defense systems when faced with sustained, high-volume missile warfare.

In stark contrast, Iran and China maintain vast ballistic missile arsenals, numbering in the thousands, making the rapid depletion of the US inventory, largely to defend Israeli territory, all the more striking.

Newsweek contacted the Pentagon for comment regarding the depletion and cost implications. The Department of Defense declined to elaborate, stating only that it had “nothing to provide.”

July 2, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Iran presidential decree officially suspends cooperation with IAEA

Al Mayadeen | July 2, 2025

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued a decree suspending the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to a report by Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.

The decision comes amid heightened tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program and follows recent legislative developments from the Iranian parliament.

Last week, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced that lawmakers had enacted a law mandating the suspension of cooperation with the IAEA, which he described as “Israel’s protector and servant.”

Ghalibaf argued that continued cooperation with the IAEA was untenable as long as the security of Iran’s nuclear facilities remained unresolved, claiming the agency’s impartiality had been compromised by its ties to “Israel”.

Grossi barred from Iran’s nuclear facilities 

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, announced on Sunday that IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has been barred from accessing Iranian nuclear facilities or placing surveillance cameras there, after Iran suspended all cooperation with the nuclear watchdog.

“We will no longer give Grossi permission to be present at [Iran’s] nuclear facilities and install cameras [there] because we saw information about our facilities in documents received from … the Israeli regime,” Haji Babaei told ISNA news agency.

The Islamic Republic further exposed profound cooperation between the IAEA and the Israeli occupation, which prompted Iran to obtain, through a major intelligence operation, a vast trove of highly classified strategic documents and information tied to “Israel”, well-informed sources told Al Mayadeen last month.

The sources told Al Mayadeen that the data included “thousands of documents related to the Israeli occupation’s projects and its nuclear facilities.”

According to the sources, the operation took place some time ago, but the enormous volume of documents and the need to safely transport the entire haul into Iran “required keeping the matter under secrecy.”

July 2, 2025 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , | Leave a comment

Aid as ambush: The horrifying new face of Israel’s Gaza war

By Eva Bartlett | RT | June 30, 2025

For nearly 630 days, the world has watched the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, primarily by bombing, sniping, and starvation. Off-camera, we’ve read about the rape and torture of Palestinian hostages, including the torturing to death of three doctors from the enclave.

For the last 100 days, Israel has reinforced a full blockade on Gaza, depriving starving Palestinians of food, drinking water, medicines, and fuel – meaning ambulances cannot function. This is following prior blockades last year, and the overall blockade of the strip, which has lasted over 17 years.

Since late May, we’ve been seeing horrific video footage of skeletal Palestinians lined up hoping for food aid being gunned down by US mercenaries and Israeli soldiers.

Israel has endlessly bombed Palestinians, destroyed hospitals and abducted doctors and patients. It has bombed churches, schools, UN centres and tents housing displaced Palestinians – in supposed “safe zones” where they were ordered by the Israeli army to flee to. It has killed over 200 journalists and deliberately targeted medics. To those only paying attention recently, these crimes go back decades, and extend to the Israeli army and illegal colonists’ crimes against Palestinian civilians, including children, in the West Bank. Add to this the Israeli bombardment of civilian areas of Lebanon and Syria over the years, and now Israel’s recent unprovoked bombings of Iran.

Suffice it to say that when Israel came under the barrage of Iranian retaliatory missiles, reports of some 30 Israeli civilians suffering panic attacks garnered little sympathy.

Again, those who have been paying attention for longer than two years would also recall previous Israeli wars on Gaza, like in 2014, when Israelis gathered with drinks and snacks on hillsides to rejoice in the bombing of the enclave, or the 2009 t-shirts celebrating snipers killing pregnant women with the phrase “one shot, two kills”.

In 2010, when writing about a traumatized 10 year old I’d met who could no longer walk normally nor speak after the terror of having Israeli tanks shelling his home, I cited a study by the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme which stated that “91.4 percent of children in Gaza displayed symptoms of moderate to very severe PTSD.”That was fifteen years and numerous Israeli wars on Gaza ago.

The US-Israeli “humanitarian” death traps

The killing of Palestinians in Gaza didn’t stop when Israel attacked Iran. The most insidious new invention is the recently-created US-Israeli “aid” group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The Israeli authorities accuse Hamas of stealing aid, and based on this unproven accusation, have deemed that long-established UN aid agencies could no longer operate in Gaza, insisting instead that a group staffed with armed combat veterans (mercenaries is a better word) is better equipped to ensure that food reaches famished Palestinians.

It is outrageous that in spite of some media coverage, Israel has been allowed to for months (over a year, really) block the entrance of thousands of aid trucks amassed outside of Gaza, only to then dictate that hired gunmen would be in charge of “distributing aid.”

The massive irony and duplicity is that even Israeli and Western media have reported on the actual thieves of aid in Gaza: not Hamas, but an ISIS-linked group under the protection of the Israeli army.

As the independent media outlet The Cradle reported, the group’s leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, “is a known leader of armed gangs linked to ISIS and involved in looting aid under Israeli protection… Multiple reports, including from Haaretz and The Washington Post, confirm that these gangs have been seen looting in full view of Israeli forces, who neither intervene nor prevent the theft.”

In a subsequent post, The Cradle cited the Israeli Army Radio as reporting: “Israel has transferred weapons to members of the militia…The militia operates mainly in the Rafah area, which the Israeli army has occupied and cleared. The militia’s tasks include preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and fighting Hamas.”

What is apparently happening is that starved Palestinians, after walking many kilometres to the distribution sites, are then corralled into tight enclosures and fired upon by the “aid” mercenaries.

Jonathan Whittall, the Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA) described the situation as “conditions created to kill, carnage, weaponized hunger, a death sentence for people just trying to survive.”

In a clip posted on June 23, Whittall said, “Israeli authorities are preventing us from distributing through these systems that we’ve established and that we know work. We could reach every family in Gaza, as we have in the past, but we’re prevented from doing so at every turn.”

More recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed Whittall, saying: “Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people. People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence.” The UN’s own humanitarian efforts are being “strangled” by Israel, he said, and even the aid workers themselves are starving.

The aid-seeking civilians are reportedly being shot in the head and chest, in what looks more like execution than “warning shots” or “crowd control”.

The victims include an 18-month old girl whose X-ray shows a bullet lodged in her chest. According to Ramy Abdu, Chairman of the non-profit Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the girl was shot while in her mother’s arms on the way to a GHF aid point.

As far back as last July, an article in The Lancet warning that the total number of Palestinian civilian deaths caused directly and indirectly by Israeli attacks since October 2023 could reach “up to 186,000 or even more.”Other estimates were even more grim, include that of Norwegian Dr. Mads Gilbert, who has worked extensively from Gaza over the years, who said the number of those dead or soon to die could be over 500,000.

Fast forward to a recent report by Yaakov Garb of Ben-Gurion University, published via the Harvard Dataverse. It describes the false aid distribution design as, “all adjacent to Israeli military installations… manned by armed combat veterans backed by Israeli soldiers. The design creates a ‘chokepoint’ or ‘fatal funnel’ – a predictable movement path from a single entry to a single exit with no cover or concealment.”

It is the graphic on page five which caught people’s attention.  From a population of 2.2 million before the genocide, the graph only accounts for 1.85 million, leaving many asking, where are the remaining 350,000 people? This makes the concerns voiced a year ago more valid.

In his report, Yaakov Garb wrote, “The Israeli military has an obligation, as the occupying power in Gaza, to supply the population with humanitarian relief… If an attacker cannot adequately and neutrally feed a starving population in the wake of a disaster it is ongoingly creating, it is obligated to allow other humanitarian agencies to do so.”

But instead, every day we see new horrors of emaciated Palestinian civilians desperately braving death in hopes of securing food for their families… and being gunned down by the Israeli army and the mercenaries it backs.

It seems, at least, that these actions are finally catching up with Israel, meaning a lack of support for or trust in the state or its representatives, and a global demand for justice for Palestinians.

To cite Craig Mokhiber, a human rights lawyer and former senior UN Human Rights official, who posted recently on X:

“The (Israeli) regime is on trial for genocide. Its leaders are indicted for crimes against humanity. Israel is isolated. The regime is now almost universally despised, just as the Nazi and apartheid regimes were despised. People across the world stand overwhelmingly with Palestine. You don’t come back from apartheid & genocide.”

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years).

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Syria’s Jolani is a US-Israeli ‘intelligence tool’ working to advance their interests: Activist

By Sally Ahmed | Press TV | July 1, 2025

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the head of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led regime in Damascus, is a US-Israeli “intelligence tool” working to advance their interests, according to a Syrian political activist.

In an interview with the Press TV website, activist Mohammed al-Jajeh described the situation in Syria roughly six months after the collapse of the Assad government as “catastrophic by all measures” and said “no one” in the country, including ethnic and religious minorities, is safe.

The country, he said, has descended into “a dangerous slide into chaos,” marked by “ethnic and sectarian purges,” particularly targeting minorities such as Alawites, Christians, Ismailis, Shias, and even moderate Sunni Muslims.

Al-Jajeh noted that members of the former Syrian president’s Alawite sect have been subjected to a “fierce campaign of revenge,” citing reports of “horrific” massacres in Syria’s western coastal region.

Among the incidents he referenced was the killing of more than 70 civilians in the village of Ain al-Tinah, adding that thousands of Alawites have been forcibly displaced, with their homes and properties seized in the provinces of Tartus and Latakia.

‘Minorities as easy targets’

In reference to pledges made by the HTS regime to uphold the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, the Sweden-based Syrian political activist dismissed those promises as “empty.”

“Christians have become easy targets for militias and extremist Salafi groups,” he said, referring to the latest attack on Mar Elias church in Damascus.

On June 22, a man with a rifle entered the church and shot at worshippers, killing 25 people and wounding dozens of others, before blowing himself up.

The activist said Christians’ homes have been ransacked and monasteries have been looted, adding that cases of abductions among Christians and mass exodus from towns like Maaloula and Sednaya have been reported, due to the inaction of the Jolani regime.

Al-Jajeh noted that people from the Ismaili sect have also been a target for kidnappings and attacks since Assad’s fall, adding that a civil activist named Hilal Samaan was assassinated “just for calling for coexistence”.

Speaking about the violence targeting Shia Muslims, al-Jajeh said that sectarian killings have become routine. Individuals are often questioned about their religious affiliation at checkpoints, and in some cases, he noted, they are killed solely because of their names or how they pronounce certain words.

He added that even moderate Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority of Syria’s population, are not spared from violence and intimidation.

According to al-Jajeh, religious scholars and preachers who oppose extremism or foreign intervention have been either assassinated or forcibly removed from their mosques.

Stressing that the state “has collapsed”, al-Jajeh said “the institutions are absent, the law is not enforced, and power is divided among warring factions, some of which are loyal to Turkey and some others to the [Persian] Gulf [Arab] states and foreign militant groups of various nationalities.”

Since Assad’s fall, the activist said, rights groups have recorded “more than 1,200 sectarian violations”, “over 30,000 people” have been trapped in prisons with an unknown fate and “more than 5,000” abducted girls have been taken as captives.

“Syria after Assad: No one is safe,” he emphasized.

‘Jolani is a trained agent’

Amid Israel’s expansion of its occupation into Syrian territories beyond the already-occupied Golan Heights following the fall of the Assad government, al-Jajeh said this further proves Jolani is merely an American-Israeli intelligence asset, positioned in Syria to advance a broader agenda.

Referring to Jolani’s public statements expressing a willingness to normalize relations with Israel and declaring that his top priority is fighting the former Syrian government.

“This is the language of a trained agent who knows what the West wants to hear, and sends reassuring messages to Tel Aviv,” he stated.

Al-Jajeh emphasized that Jolani, who was previously affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh, is ultimately “just a tool” and “a minor detail” in what he described as the U.S.-led project for a “new Middle East.”

“Abu Mohamad al-Jolani is neither a revolutionary, a rebel, nor a warlord. He is a carefully trained American-Israeli intelligence tool, speaking in measured language and acting within defined boundaries,” he remarked.

Despite Jolani’s offer to normalize ties with Israel, the activist noted that the regime continues to attack Syria because it “knows its real size and continues to strike Syria because it simply despises the agents even if they serve it.”

‘It’s a gang, not an army’

Commenting on the Jolani regime’s plan to incorporate thousands of foreign Takfiri militants into the country’s new military, al-Jajeh said this move is aimed at tightening Jolani’s grip on power, slamming it as “the most dangerous, unannounced demographic change process”.

The activist said the decision comes as the new ruler “doesn’t trust the Syrian people” and seeks to recruit foreigners “who don’t speak Arabic, don’t know the geography [of the country] and have not any belonging to the territory” to just carry weapons and “obey his orders without question”.

He described those militants as “tools ready for killing, in exchange for salaries, housing and insurance”.

“This army is not built to protect Syria, but to protect the ruler from the Syrians themselves.”

To stay in power, the activist said Jolani aims to create “a personal army that owes him complete loyalty” and “does not hesitate to open fire at Syrians simply because they are not ‘one of them’.”

“Whoever brings in strangers to rule over their people does not run a state; rather, they run a gang, that’s waiting for the moment of explosion,” he added.

‘Syria as part of new regional deal’

Commenting on recent remarks by Turkey’s defense minister where he announced that Ankara has no immediate plans to withdraw from Syria, al-Jajeh said this is “a declaration of actual occupation and a direct message stating: ‘This land is no longer yours, but it has become part of the new regional deal’.”

The activist referred to the role played by Turkey in the foreign-backed militancy that erupted in Syria in 2011, saying Ankara “was not a ‘supporter of the revolution’ as it claimed, but rather one of its architects”. This was “tailored to its national interests”, he added.

Al-Jajeh noted that Turkey facilitated the passage of thousands of foreign militants into Syria in the very early days of the militancy, allowed the entry of weapons to the al-Nusra Front, trained the Takfiri militants in camps on its territory, and provided them with medical and logistical support.

“What is happening today is a clear implementation of a soft partition plan,” he stated.

Al-Jajeh also referred to “the imposition of Turkish education” in the schools of Idlib, Afrin and al-Bab, the raising of Turkish flags in institutions, the changing of streets names to Turkish names, the issuance of temporary identity cards to residents, the use of Turkish language in administrative dealings, and the establishment of large military bases in Aleppo.

“These are not emergency measures to protect ‘the borders’, but rather complete practices of political and administrative occupation,” he said.

The security situation in Syria remains tenuous after militant factions, led by HTS, toppled President Assad’s government and took control of Damascus on December 8, 2024.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli army expands Syria occupation with new base in Quneitra

The Cradle | July 1, 2025

Local sources in southern Syria say Israeli forces have established a new base on Eastern al-Ahmar hill in Quneitra governorate, according to a report by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar published on 1 July.

The hill lies adjacent to a nearby Israeli base established months earlier on the western side of the same ridge.

Local tribal sources told Al-Akhbar that Israeli forces are “rapidly working to turn it into a key operational hub,” prompting fears among residents of a repeat of the destruction in al-Hamidiyah, where on 17 June, troops demolished 16 homes.

A UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrol arrived ten days later only to assess the damage.

Israeli troops have also begun building a new outpost near Beer Ajam and stepped up patrols inside Syrian villages, including Abu Madrah farm near Saida al-Golan.

Roads connecting villages within the Quneitra buffer zone have been destroyed, raising concerns that Israel intends to impose de facto borders. Residents now face the choice of fleeing or living under occupation.

The occupation has spread to other parts of southern Syria, including Hader and Mount Barbar, while UN forces remain confined to passive observation. The fate of 22 detained Syrians remains unknown, with UNDOF reportedly telling local officials that their release “depends on broader peace negotiations.”

The expansion comes as Israeli officials openly link normalization with Syria to retaining control of occupied territory, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar declaring on 30 June that Tel Aviv “will not withdraw from the Syrian [Mount] Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh).”

This followed National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi’s admission of ongoing daily talks with the Damascus government.
A day earlier, US President Donald Trump lifted most sanctions on Syria, citing the “positive actions” of the new government under Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly the leader of Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch. Conditions reportedly included normalization with Israel and the expulsion of Palestinian factions.

According to Israel’s Channel 12, an imminent Israeli-Syrian security agreement is expected to include several key components: an update to the 1974 disengagement agreement signed following the 1973 October War, intelligence coordination between Syria and Israel aimed at countering Iranian and Hezbollah activity in southern Syria, an Israeli acknowledgment of the Syrian identity of the Shebaa Farms, and a potential trilateral arrangement involving Jordan regarding the waters of the Yarmouk Basin.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Settlers as human shields: Israel’s militarization of civilian areas in Tel Aviv and Haifa

Press TV | July 1, 2025

The recent Iranian retaliatory strikes against the Israeli regime as part of Operation True Promise III have cast a spotlight on a longstanding and notorious military strategy: the placement of critical military facilities deep within densely populated ‘civilian’ areas.

Reports and field evidence from the retaliatory strikes that inflicted heavy and irreparable blows on the regime again point to the fact that the regime uses settlers as human shields.

In a report published Sunday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz acknowledged that Iranian missile strikes during the 12-day war imposed by the regime targeted only Israeli military installations.

However, the report noted that many of these facilities are deeply embedded within civilian areas, referring to illegal settlements mostly in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

One key example cited was the Kirya, Israel’s central military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv: The Kirya Complex in a ‘civilian’ maze

The Kirya military-intelligence complex in central Tel Aviv was among the first and most significant targets hit by Iranian missiles late on June 13, hours after the Israeli regime carried out an unprovoked and unlawful aggression on Iranian soil, leading to the assassination of many senior military commanders, scientists and ordinary civilians.

Often referred to as the “Israeli Pentagon,” the Kirya houses the ministry of war affairs, military intelligence offices, and various covert installations used in war against Iran, Lebanon and Gaza.

These are concealed in high-rise buildings that are civilian or semi-civilian in nature.

Despite being heavily fortified and protected by multilayered Israeli-American air defense systems, the Kirya was struck early during Iran’s True Promise III operation.

Foreign journalists confirmed damage to towers in the area, even as Israeli media censored coverage under regime pressure. Leaked footage from an Israeli settler showed plumes of smoke and audible panic – “They hit the Mossad!” exclaimed the witness.

Military facilities in settlements

Kirya is located in one of Tel Aviv’s most densely populated districts. Beneath its surface lie numerous underground military facilities, identified by Iranian intelligence following Tehran’s acquisition of sensitive Israeli military and intelligence data in early June.

The district includes:

  • Matcal Tower – Headquarters of top Israeli military leadership
  • Marganit Tower – Home to strategic communications operations
  • The Bor (“The Pit”) – A heavily fortified underground command center.

These installations are surrounded on all sides by settler infrastructure, including residential buildings, schools, and commercial zones, blurring any clear separation between military and non-military zones, as a deliberate strategy to use settlers as civilian shields.

Haifa: Ports, bases, and civilians intertwined

As in Tel Aviv, Haifa’s strategic military assets are tightly interwoven with ‘civilian’ life.

The most prominent is the Haifa Naval Base, home to the regime’s Mediterranean fleet and submarine corps. Located on the northwest side of Haifa’s busy port complex, the base sits amid one of Israel’s most important economic and ‘civilian’ hubs.

Recent months have seen most maritime traffic rerouted from Eilat to Ashdod and Haifa, further increasing the ‘civilian’ presence around these strategic assets.

Residential conversion of military zones

The Bahad 600 naval training base has undergone rapid conversion into a residential area, with new apartment blocks and even a children’s hospital constructed adjacent to operational military facilities. This proximity exemplifies the ongoing militarization of ‘civilian’ areas.

To the north lies the Rafael Advanced Military Systems complex, covering several square kilometers. It produces Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile systems, cruise missiles, and armored vehicle solutions.

Surrounding this are major industrial zones, Kiryat Nahum, Kiryat Ata, and Nesher, which combine military functions with chemical, cement, and energy industries. For example:

  • Haifa refinery: Processes two-thirds of the Israeli regime’s oil supply.
  • Nesher cement plant: Supplies 60 percent of the regime’s domestic cement needs.
  • Communications antenna at Giv’at HaHagan: A key hub linking northern military commands with Tel Aviv.

Mount Carmel’s militarized natural reserve

The most notorious site is the Mishmar military base, constructed within the protected Mount Carmel National Park. It features visible radars and Iron Dome missile platforms.

The base lies just 300 meters from the University of Haifa’s student dormitories. borders archaeological sites and sanctuaries and is built amid sensitive ecological zones and hiking trails.

Among these historical and religious sites is Derech HaDorot (Road of the Millennia), an open-air museum with Bronze Age and Roman structures and Hurshat HaArba’im (Grove of the Forty), a sacred site for the Druze community.

Despite its cultural and environmental sensitivity, the Mishmar site is now heavily militarized, showcasing the regime’s prioritization of military over the safety of settlers or heritage preservation.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , | Leave a comment

OPCW members condemn Israeli attack on Iran’s chemical facilities

Press TV – July 1, 2025

A majority of the member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has condemned Israel’s recent acts of aggression against Iranian chemical and industrial facilities.

The condemnation was issued during a special session of the OPCW Executive Council in The Hague, convened at Iran’s request.

At the session, Hadi Farajvand, Iran’s ambassador to the Netherlands and permanent representative to the OPCW, highlighted the killing of women and children, scientists, and civilians, as well as the targeting of research centers, including petrochemical facilities and chemical research centers.

He cited the harm to civilians, the risk of chemical substance release, environmental damage, and threats to critical infrastructure.

Farajvand underscored a series of violations by the Israeli regime, including breaches of humanitarian law, disregard for international legal norms, violations of peremptory norms (jus cogens), failure to adhere to any treaties or conventions on weapons of mass destruction, and a record of attacks on chemical facilities in Syria and Lebanon.

During the session, Iran’s ambassador proposed that the OPCW Executive Council establish a working group aimed at adopting binding decisions to prevent attacks on chemical facilities during conflicts and called for appropriate measures to be taken in this regard.

During the 12-day aggression by the Israeli regime against Iran, several chemical facilities and fuel storage sites were targeted, resulting in significant environmental damage.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Environmentalism, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Iran unity foils West plans for regime change: Responsible Statecraft

Al Mayadeen | July 1, 2025

Washington is now looking into dividing Iran, with neo-conservative think tanks openly promoting the Balkanization of Iran, a strategy that is bound to destabilize Iran and the region, according to Responsible Statecraft on Tuesday. 

United States foreign policy has a troubling tendency to promote the fragmentation of nations it deems adversarial.

Now, neoconservative think tanks like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and their allies in the European Parliament are openly pushing for Iran’s disintegration, a reckless strategy that would further destabilize the Middle East, trigger catastrophic humanitarian crises, and provoke fierce resistance not only from Iranians but also from US partners in the region.

Think tanks push for fragmentation based on ethnicity

Amid the war “Israel” waged on Iran in mid-June, FDD analyst Brenda Shaffer posited that Iran’s ethnically diverse population structure presented an exploitable strategic weakness.

According to Responsible Statecraft, Shaffer advocated for the disintegration of Iran along ethnic divisions, drawing parallels to the breakup of Yugoslavia, while concentrating significant efforts on fostering separatist movements in Iranian Azerbaijan, home to Iran’s largest ethnic minority group, the Azeris. However, she consistently failed to acknowledge her ties to the Azeri state oil company SOCAR.

Her position mirrors a recent Jerusalem Post editorial that, during the initial wave of triumphalism following “Israel’s” strikes in this month’s war on Iran, urged Trump to publicly endorse the dismemberment of Iran.

The editorial specifically advocated for forming a “Middle East coalition for Iran’s partition” while proposing “security guarantees for Sunni, Kurdish and Balochi minority regions seeking independence,” in addition to previously endorsing US and Israeli support for the secession of northwestern Iran’s Azeri-majority areas referred to as “South Azerbaijan” from Iran.

Popular uprising or scenarios for regime change?

Meanwhile, a foreign affairs spokesperson representing a centrist liberal faction within the European Parliament organized a discussion forum titled “The Future of Iran,” which while framed as an examination of potential pathways for what they termed a “successful” uprising against the current Iranian government, appeared to focus primarily on scenarios for regime change.

The panel’s composition featured only two Iranian speakers, both ethnic separatists from Azerbaijan and Ahwaz, revealing the organizer’s true agenda: promoting regime change.

Since unilaterally cutting ties with Iran’s official institutions in 2022, the European Parliament has become a platform for fringe exiled groups. These include monarchists, the controversial MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq), and ethnic separatists, all of whom now operate with growing visibility in EU political spaces.

Delusions of division

What these think tanks and organizations forget, Responsible Statecraft highlighted, is that Iran is not a fragile country on the brink of collapse; it is a 90-million-strong country with a deep sense of historical and cultural identity.

While the proponents of the Balkanization of Iran focus on the ethnicities in Iran, they underestimate the unifying effect of Iranian nationalism on these diverse groups.

Shervin Malekzadeh, a scholar who recently wrote in the Los Angeles Times, observed that academic research overwhelmingly recognizes Iranian politics as fundamentally rooted in a profound, enduring national identity.

This identity transcends the country’s internal ideological divides, which means Iran’s political dynamics unfold within this unifying framework of nationalism, which has shaped all major factions, from monarchists to Islamists to leftists.

Foreign pressure only made Iran more united

Moreover, decades of foreign pressure, sanctions, covert ops, and war have only hardened Iran’s unity, making the separatist approach dangerously naive; this approach, pushed heavily by pro-“Israel” neocons, already failed in Iraq and Syria, leaving chaos instead of victory.

This approach further demonstrates its advocates’ glaring disregard for actual conditions, as seen with Shaffer, a leading proponent of Azerbaijani irredentism, who even applauded Israeli strikes on Tabriz, the cultural and economic center of Iranian Azerbaijan.

Beyond being morally reprehensible, this strategy fundamentally misreads Iran’s domestic realities, with Shaffer and like-minded advocates operating under the flawed assumption that increased external pressure on Tehran would spark rebellions among Azeris and other minority groups against the central government.

Contrary to separatist expectations, “Israel’s” recent attack produced the same rally-around-the-flag effect seen across Iran, demonstrating how deeply Iranian Azerbaijanis are woven into the national fabric, as evidenced by the fact that both the country’s highest officials, Iranian Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei and President Massoud Pezeshkian, are of Azeri heritage.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Tehran emerges stronger as Netanyahu’s Iran war backfires: FP

Al Mayadeen | July 1, 2025

In a scathing analysis of the recent 12-day Israeli war on Iran published by Foreign Policy (FP) on Tuesday,  a senior nonresident fellow at the Center for International Policy, Sina Toossi, argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s high-stakes offensive not only failed to achieve its strategic aims but also significantly undermined “Israel’s” long-term deterrence. The war ended swiftly, leaving behind no decisive victory.

The operation began with a wave of covert actions, decades of intelligence work culminating in drones assembled inside Iran, sleeper cells launching bombings, and high-profile assassinations. These were soon followed by a series of conventional airstrikes on military and nuclear sites, including Natanz and Fordow. But as Toossi notes, the campaign extended far beyond strategic targets: residential areas, prisons, media offices, and police stations were also struck, indicating a broader attempt to incite chaos and unrest.

According to the FP, the human cost was staggering. At least 610 Iranians were killed, including 49 women, 13 children, and five healthcare workers, with nearly 5,000 more injured. Medical facilities and emergency services were also hit. In response, Iranian missile and drone strikes on “Israel” killed at least 28 settlers, injured over 3,200, and displaced more than 9,000. Public infrastructure and buildings sustained extensive damage.

War on Iran fell far short of its objectives

Despite Netanyahu’s declared intention to cripple Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities, Toossi argues the campaign fell far short of its objectives. Iran’s retaliation was swift and calculated, targeting Israeli settlements and strategic assets, reported FP. After the United States joined by bombing Iranian nuclear sites, Tehran escalated further, striking the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a move that drew Washington deeper into the war.

Just 12 days after “Israel’s” initial strikes, a cease-fire was reached under undisclosed terms, leaving the regional balance precariously unresolved.

While “Israel” managed to inflict tactical damage on Iranian command and scientific infrastructure, Toossi stresses that strategic outcomes are what truly matter, and by that measure, the war was a failure.

Iran’s nuclear infrastructure appears largely intact. Intelligence reports suggest sensitive materials may have been moved ahead of the attacks. Moreover, Iran had already initiated construction of a fortified, undisclosed enrichment facility, possibly untouched.

The aftermath of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities 

In a critical shift, Iran’s parliament passed a bill to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency just days after the cease-fire. One Iranian lawmaker stated, “Why was our nuclear facility attacked, and you remained silent? Why did you give the green light for these actions?”

As Toossi warns, by attacking nuclear sites while demanding oversight, the US and “Israel” may have inadvertently legitimized the pursuit of a nuclear deterrent.

The FP argues that its ballistic arsenal successfully pierced both Israeli and US air defenses, targeting refineries, military bases, and research centers. Though censorship in “Israel” limited public data, over 41,000 compensation claims were reportedly filed due to war damage. Meanwhile, “Israel” expended an estimated $500 million worth of US-supplied THAAD missile interceptors.

A ceasefire was necessary to ‘save Israel’

Economic disruption was also severe. Ben Gurion Airport was shut down, financial activity slowed, and capital outflows surged. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon bluntly stated that the ceasefire was necessary to “save Israel,” while Donald Trump admitted that “Israel” had been hit “very hard.”

In a revealing statement, Trump also announced that China would be permitted to buy Iranian oil to help Iran “get back into shape.”

That said, Toossi highlights how Iran’s retaliatory strategy was calibrated and symbolic. After an Israeli drone strike on an Iranian refinery, Iran responded by hitting a refinery in Haifa. After “Israel” attacked suspected nuclear research centers, Iran struck the Weizmann Institute of Science near Tel Aviv, long believed to be part of “Israel’s” nuclear research apparatus. These strikes demonstrated Tehran’s capacity for restrained but potent retaliation.

On the domestic front, instead of sparking internal collapse, the war triggered a surge of national unity across Iran. As Toossi observes, the strikes unified a polarized society in resistance to foreign aggression. Civil society, from Gen Z activists to artists and athletes, mobilized in solidarity. Citizens opened their homes to the displaced, and the indiscriminate loss of civilian life only deepened collective resilience.

Crucially, this war erupted just as Iran was re-engaging in nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. Many Iranians had pinned hopes on the election of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and his promise of diplomacy and economic reform. Instead, they watched their country being bombed during peace efforts.

Netanyahu’s war boosts Iran’s unity and deterrence

Toossi contends that the long-standing belief in Washington that Iran’s government is one blow away from collapse has now been discredited. Far from eliminating the threat posed by Iran, Netanyahu’s war has exposed “Israel’s” vulnerabilities and rallied Iranian nationalism, the author stressed.

In a paradoxical outcome, the war may enhance Iran’s diplomatic leverage. Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff continue to insist that Tehran must abandon uranium enrichment, yet Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have reaffirmed: “Iran will never give up this right.” Meanwhile, Trump has floated lifting sanctions and allowing Chinese oil purchases as part of “great progress” toward de-escalation.

July 1, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

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