Archive for Mid-East News

| August 11, 2020
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Beirut Port explosion exposes suspicious “labyrinth network of tunnels.”

As images and videos shown world-wide of the exposed underground openings at the blast-site by SkyNews and Russia’s Sputnik News, the Lebanese Armed Forces have continued to deny the existence of the tunnels.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

 

Videos circulating online, as well as rumors and reports, indicate that “tunnels” have been found in the wake of the Beirut explosions. Some have asserted that this is evidence of Hezbollah “tunnels” storing weapons at the Port of Beirut, while others think they were used for human trafficking. Both SkyNews and Russia’s Sputnik News claimed there was a “labyrinth network of tunnels.”

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| August 8, 2020
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Unscheduled port visit with ammonium nitrate years ago led to Beirut’s disaster

A Russian ship transporting 2,750 tonnes of highly combustible ammonium nitrate was to be delivered to a Mozambique explosives maker, but was diverted in an unscheduled stop to Lebanon, where it was subsequently stored in a manner not in accordance with accepted safety standards in a Beirut port hanger.

By Reuters

 

The chemicals that went up in flames in Beirut’s deadliest peace-time explosion arrived in the Lebanese capital seven years ago on a leaky Russian-leased cargo ship that, according to its captain, should never have stopped there.

“They were being greedy,” said Boris Prokoshev, who was captain of the Rhosus in 2013 when he says the owner told him to make an unscheduled stop in Lebanon to pick up extra cargo. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| August 1, 2020
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Israel’s ‘no longer kept secret’ flightpath to the Arabian Gulf

According to ‘Aviation Bridge’ CEO, the private Israeli airline has recently begun advertising its executive jet flight services from Israel to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

By Itay Blumenthal

 

Business and privet jets flying from Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport to the United Arab Emirates are a fairly regular occurrence, although such flights have been usually kept under wraps. But now that the two countries have begun to cement their relationship, such flights are no longer kept secret.

This is the case with private Israeli airline “Aviation Bridge,” which has recently begun advertising flights to the Persian Gulf States on their website, including Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 12, 2020
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Iran explosions are likely Israeli ‘covert espionage campaign’, not “accidents”

REPORT: Fox News strategic analyst US General Jack Keane [Ret.] suggested that Israel was conducting a smart and successful covert campaign against the Iranian nuclear and missile-delivery programs, with the help of local dissidents, “and they may not be finished yet.”

By Tal Polon

 

Retired US Army General and Fox News strategic analyst Jack Keane said that the series of explosions that have taken place recently at locations around Iran are no accident, contrary to what Iran has claimed.

“In the past several months, there have been dozens of so-called ‘accidents’ the Iranians claim are taking place […] That is no longer a credible claim, considering the sheer numbers of them,” Keane told Fox News. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 7, 2020
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#FakeNews NYT: Israel behind bombing of Iran’s uranium facility

Still depending on unnamed sources, the New York Times blames Israel for planting a powerful explosive device in a warehouse where Iranian state researchers worked on advanced nuclear centrifuges, destroying the facility.

By i24NEWS, Associated Press

 

Israel was behind Thursday’s bomb attack on the Iranian Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper cited a Middle Eastern intelligence official as saying that Israel was able to plant a powerful explosive in a warehouse where researchers worked on advanced centrifuges.

The NYT also cited a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps with knowledge on the matter as confirming that Iranian investigators established that the blast had been caused by a bomb. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| July 5, 2020
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Fourth mysterious explosion in Iran translates to ‘reprisal or humiliation’

Tehran says Saturday’s massive fire that damaged a power plant in the restive Khuzestan province also “was an accident”… but was it?

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

 

Iran is under intense pressure after four serious explosions that appear to have damaged key infrastructure linked to its missile and nuclear program, as well as other facilities.

On Saturday yet another massive fire damaged a power plant in its restive Khuzestan province. Iran said, once again, this was an accident. But quietly Iran is letting it be known that there are concerns, including through commentary at its major media suggesting it might respond to the attacks. Continue Reading »

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| June 22, 2020
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Palestinian whistleblower exposes Abbas’ skimming of billions for his family

BREAKING: The whistleblower, Yasser Jadalah, a former senior PA official in the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas handed over hundreds of secret files to the EU exposing the biggest financial scam in history! BILLION$ sent in humanitarian aid for the Palestinians are secretly redirected to Abbas’ sons & grandchildren’s bank accounts.

By Yochanan Visser

 

A new scandal involving Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas and his closest advisers erupted this week at the same time that Hamas in Gaza was exposed as a bunch of liars over the narrative that the population in the coastal enclave is starving because of what is falsely portrayed as an Israeli blockade – in reality, non-existent – of the Strip. Continue Reading »

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| June 16, 2020
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U.S. at odds with Jordan’s reluctance to extradite Palestinian terrorist

The FBI is demanding Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, wanted for conspiring to use a WMD against American nationals, and helped orchestrate the 2001 massacre at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem where 15 people were killed, be extradited from Jordan immediately.

By Associated Press

 

The U.S. is considering withholding aid to one of its closest Arab partners, Jordan, in a bid to secure the extradition of a woman convicted in Israel of a 2001 bombing that killed 15 people, including two American citizens.

The administration says it’s weighing “all options” to press Jordan to extradite Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, who is wanted by the U.S. Continue Reading »

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| June 10, 2020
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Palestinian PM threatens declaration of statehood if Israel annexes W. Bank

Palestinian PM said that if Israel advances annexation, which he claimed to be an “existential threat” to the Palestinians, it will be a serious violation of agreements that President Abbas terminated last month.

By Elior Levy

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that If Israel annexes part of the West Bank, the Palestinians will unilaterally declare a state based on the pre-1967 lines.

Propagandists and Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh

Speaking at a foreign press conference in Ramallah on Tuesday, Shtayyeh said that if Israel moves ahead with annexation, which he called an “existential threat” to the Palestinians, it will be a serious violation of agreements with the PA. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| June 8, 2020
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Dubai official: ‘It’s time Gulf states normalized ties with Israel’

REPORT: Long-time critic of the Palestinian leadership, corruption and abandonment of their responsibilities to the people, former Dubai Police Chief stirs controversy on Twitter by calling out neighboring Gulf States for pretending they do not wish they had open ties with Israel.

By ILH Staff

 

Former Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim sparked controversy over the weekend when, in a series of tweets, he called on of Persian Gulf states and the rest of the Arab world to admit they want to establish open diplomatic relations with Israel, Channel 12 News reported on Saturday.

Tamim is known as the police officer who exposed the Mossad intelligence agency’s connection to the 2010 assassination of Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades co-founder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Continue Reading »

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| May 12, 2020
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Qatar Airways invites Israeli medical workers to fly for free

Although Israel isn’t on Qatar Airways maps, its CEO said that “healthcare professionals from every country in the world will be eligible for tickets…including our neighboring countries, including the State of Israel.”

By LAHAV HARKOV

 

Israeli medical professionals can get some of the 100,000 free flight tickets distributed by Qatar Airways, the airline’s CEO Mr. Akbar Al Baker said on Monday night.

Al Baker said that “every single country in the world, including our neighboring countries, including the State of Israel, will be allocated numbers of tickets, depending on population and the size of the country… proportionately to the 100,000 tickets we are offering.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 5, 2020
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Attributed to Israel: 14 pro-Iranian militiamen killed in Syria

Although the Syrian state media did not report this third airstrike in less than a week, a Britain-based Syria observer NGO reported Israel was most likely behind this latest attack that killed 14 Iraqi & Iranian militia combatants on Tuesday.

By AFP

 

Overnight strikes on positions held by Iranian-backed militias and their allies in eastern Syria killed 14 fighters, a war monitor said on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the strikes in the desert near the town of Mayadin, which came minutes after Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli strikes over the north of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 4, 2020
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Egypt acknowledges destroying over 3,000 Gaza terror-tunnels

The Egyptian Army Spokesperson admitted in a TV interview, that to curtail terrorism in the Sinai, the army destroyed over 3000 terror & smuggling tunnels on their Gaza border, some were as long as 3 km and as deep as 30 meters.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

Egypt has destroyed more than 3,000 tunnels along its border with the Gaza Strip in the past five years, Egyptian Army Spokesperson Tamer Al-Refai has revealed.

In an interview with the private Egyptian news channel Extra News on Sunday night, he said: “In 2015, the [Egyptian] government took a decision to establish a buffer zone along the border [with the Gaza Strip]. Continue Reading »

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| March 30, 2020
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Palestinians stop producing fake coronavirus masks, hand sanitizer

Over 40 Palestinians arrested on charges of manufacturing ineffective face masks, useless hand sanitizers and price gouging according to a PA official.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

The Palestinian Authority has in the past two weeks closed several factories and businesses whose owners were caught manufacturing unlicensed face masks and hand sanitizers that were being sold to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

More than 40 suspects have been arrested on charges of fraud, price gouging and manufacturing unlicensed products, said an official with the PA Ministry of National Economy.

The crackdown came in response to complaints from many Palestinians that the products did not meet the standards and regulations of the PA Ministry of Health and Ministry of National Economy, the official said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| March 17, 2020
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Palestinians tell ICC they have sole sovereignty over ‘State of Palestine’

Pandering to the court with platitudes and  yarns, the Palestinians submit their report to the ICC, attesting, “The State of Palestine affirms that it has sole sovereignty over the territory of the State of Palestine, occupied in 1967, which comprises the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and which is also recognized by the international community.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

The Palestinians on Monday submitted their observations to the International Criminal Court regarding the ICC prosecutor’s request for a determination on the scope of its jurisdiction in the “State of Palestine.”

On January 28, the ICC Pretrial Chamber ordered setting the procedure and schedule for submission of observations on the prosecutor’s request, resubmitted on January 22, under article 19(3) of the Rome Statute related to the scope of the court’s territorial jurisdiction in the “Situation in the State of Palestine.” Continue Reading »

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