Important Takeaways:
- The raid on Sunday was the first ground operation the IDF has conducted in recent years against Iranian targets in Syria.
- The destruction of the factory appears to be a significant blow to an effort by Iran and Hezbollah to produce precision medium-range missiles on Syrian soil.
- Two sources said Israel briefed the Biden administration in advance of the sensitive operation and the U.S. didn’t oppose it.
- Two sources with direct knowledge told Axios the Iranians began building the underground facility in coordination with Hezbollah and Syria in 2018 after a series of Israeli airstrikes destroyed most of the Iranian missile production infrastructure in Syria.
- According to the sources, the Iranians decided to build an underground factory deep inside a mountain in Masyaf because it would be impenetrable to Israeli air strikes.
- The sources claimed the Iranian plan was to produce the precision missiles in this protected facility near the border with Lebanon so that the delivery process to Hezbollah in Lebanon could take place quickly and with less risk of Israeli airstrikes.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- The story of the transfer of Iranian missiles to Russia is not just about the missiles; it is about the larger symbol.
- “We are aware of the credible information provided by allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said, according to reports. The reports claim Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. Russia has been fighting a war against Ukraine for more than two years. The Iranian ties with Russia are not new; the countries have worked together for decades on various issues, and Iran increasingly wants to partner with Russia on numerous issues.
- Iran’s Mehr News also reported on the claims. Iran’s foreign ministry has denied the claims.
- The CNN report noted that it is not clear when the missiles were delivered. “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Friday that Ukraine urgently needed more air defense systems,” CNN noted.
- Reports that Turkey will attend an upcoming Arab League meeting and that Turkey and the Syrian regime could reconcile are also part of the story. Syria’s regime is a key ally of Moscow. Iran uses Syria to threaten Israel. Iran traffics weapons via Syria to Lebanon and also bases weapons in Syria.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- The Israeli military conducted a massive military operation in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing at least nine people in a string of fierce gunbattles across Jenin and other major cities as tensions heightened in the war that already has laid to waste most of Gaza.
- Katz accused Iran of trying to establish an eastern terrorist front against Israel in the West Bank “according to the Gaza and Lebanon model,” by financing terrorists and smuggling weapons from Jordan.
- Israel said the Wednesday’s military operation followed a sharp rise in militant activity there in recent months.
- “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required,” Katz said. “This is a war for everything and we must win it.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- The Biden-Harris administration has not lifted a finger against Iran for a reported 200 attacks on US troops in the Middle East, which include firing on US Navy ships, closing the Suez Canal, launching a Hamas-Hezbollah-Houthi War against Israel, not to mention the atrocities Iran’s regime commits every day against its own people. By ignoring sanctions against Iran and presenting no deterrence, the administration has, in fact, set up Iran to do all of that.
- The US could probably close down Iran’s election-interference activities, but [m]ore to the point, the administration has the same goal as the Iranian regime: it does not want Trump elected, either.
- These Iranian efforts include fraudulent websites posing as news sites, and the impersonation of social and political activist groups “to stoke chaos, undermine trust in authorities, and sow doubt about election integrity.” — Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, August 9, 2024
- [T]here can be no doubt that a Trump presidency poses a genuine threat to Iran. Meanwhile, the lavish gifts, accommodations and appeasement that the Biden administration continues to shower upon the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, ensures the Islamic regime’s survival.
- The Kamala Harris campaign has previously said it had no indication it was hacked. Of course, why would Iran seek to harm Harris’s campaign in any way, when her presidency would guarantee the continuation of appeasement and accommodation that has been the norm for the Democratic party ever since Barack Hussein Obama was president?
- The million-dollar question is what the Biden-Harris administration is doing to deter, discourage and hold accountable Iran’s Islamist regime for seeking to influence, destabilize, and hack the US elections? The answer appears to be: nothing
- The Biden-Harris administration itself, after all, has been infiltrated by Iranian agents, as an investigation by Semafor showed last fall, with at least three Iranian agents working directly under U.S. Special Representative for Iran Rob Malley.
- One of the agents, Ariane Tabatabai…. has been allowed to keep not only her job at the Pentagon, but her security clearance as well.
- In the end, the Biden-Harris administration itself is the most important shill for Iran…. Why would the Biden-Harris administration want to deter Iran from anything?
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Some see God’s divine intervention in an earthquake that struck southern Syria and Lebanon on the very day as an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel was anticipated.
- Israel has been bracing for an attack by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah ever since the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
- Some have felt the delay in a response may have been because the Islamic State wanted to wait for the Tisha B’Av, or the 9th of Av on the Jewish lunar calendar, which began on Monday evening and continued until nightfall on Tuesday.
- However, the Associated Press reported that a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Hama at 11:56 p.m. local time Monday night. The official Syria state news outlet said it was a 4.8 magnitude quake. Aftershocks continued into Tuesday morning.
- “In Damascus and Beirut — the capital of neighboring Lebanon, where the earthquake was also felt — residents descended to the streets fearing a stronger quake that would collapse buildings,” according to the AP.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Within the last month, nearly all major Western and international airlines have announced suspensions and cancelations of their service to both Tel Aviv and Beirut. This also as foreign nationals have scrambled to get out of both countries, given ongoing fears of the outbreak of bigger regional war involving Iran and Hezbollah attacking Israel.
- While American Airlines was among the many carriers announcing temporary pauses in service, it has just issued a surprising lengthy extension to this suspension in flights. On Friday, the Fort Worth-based company announced it doesn’t plan to resume flights to Tel Aviv until April 2025.
- This is a longer cancelation than any other airline, including in all of Europe, so far as a result of the Gaza war and related fears of regional escalation and spillover.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Along with a surge of combat aircraft and warships, President Biden dispatched three of his top Mideast advisers, including CIA Director Bill Burns, to the region this week to try to delay Iranian and Hezbollah military retaliation against Israel, and to use that borrowed time to craft an offramp from the collision course that ultimately risks a regional war that could draw in U.S. forces.
- But it is unclear how long Iran and its proxies may hold off. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that an Iranian attack could come with “little or no warning, and certainly could come in the coming days.”
- But multiple sources in the region told CBS News that Iran’s government continues to internally debate whether to use military force as it did on April 13, when it launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel, or whether to conduct a covert intelligence operation.
- The U.S. assesses that Hezbollah could launch an attack with little to no warning.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Israel is preparing for a large-scale military attack from Iran, defense minister Yoav Gallant, has told his US counterpart.
- It comes as the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has ordered a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, as well
- The US and other allies continue to push for Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire agreement over the war in Gaza that could help calm soaring tensions in the region.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri Kani on Sunday that the Chinese Communist Party supports Iran “defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity” prior to an expected Iranian attack on Israel.
- In the context of highly elevated tensions between Israel and Iran, exacerbated by Iran’s belligerent remarks, the Chinese government moved to lend its support to the world’s premier sponsor of terrorism, which is believed to spend $100 million a year on Palestinian terrorists such as Hamas.
- “China supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security and national dignity in accordance with the law, and supports the Iranian side in its efforts to maintain regional peace and stability,” Wang reportedly told Bagheri, according to the Chinese government newspaper Global Times.
- “Wang said that China has always upheld justice in Middle East affairs and supported all parties in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests,” the newspaper continued, “especially in supporting the restoration of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinians.”
- On Haniyeh’s killing, Wang reportedly said that China “firmly opposes and strongly condemns the act of assassination and considers it a serious violation of the basic norms of international relations.”
- Wang further described the incident with Haniyeh as “a grave infringement on Iran’s sovereignty, security and dignity, and a direct undermining of the cease-fire negotiation process in Gaza, as well as an impact on regional peace and stability.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Iran is accelerating online activity that appears intended to influence the U.S. election, in one case targeting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack, Microsoft said Friday.
- Iranian actors also have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke division and potentially sway American voters this fall, especially in swing states, the technology giant found.
- The findings in Microsoft’s newest threat intelligence report show how Iran, which has been active in recent U.S. elections, is evolving its tactics for another election that’s likely to have global implications. The report goes a step beyond anything U.S. intelligence officials have disclosed, giving specific examples of Iranian groups and the actions they have taken so far.
- The report also reveals how Russia and China are exploiting U.S. political polarization to advance their own divisive messaging in a consequential election year.
- Iran’s U.N. mission sent The Associated Press an emailed statement: “Iran has been the victim of numerous offensive cyber operations targeting its infrastructure, public service centers, and industries. Iran’s cyber capabilities are defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces. Iran has neither the intention nor plans to launch cyber attacks. The U.S. presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere.”
- Microsoft’s report aligns with recent warnings from U.S. intelligence officials, who say America’s adversaries appear determined to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims ahead of November’s vote.
Read the original article by clicking here.
