As internet restored, online Iran protest videos show chaos

The graphic showing Internet access being restored in Iran is seen in this screen grab taken from a social media video on Nov. 23, 2019. Netblocks.org/via Reuters)
Updated 24 November 2019
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As internet restored, online Iran protest videos show chaos

  • New videos purport to show the demonstrations over gasoline prices rising and the security-force crackdown
  • Authorities have yet to give any overall figures for how many people were injured, arrested or killed

DUBAI: Machine gun fire answers rock-throwing protesters. Motorcycle-riding Revolutionary Guard volunteers chase after demonstrators. Plainclothes security forces grab, beat and drag a man off the street to an uncertain fate.
As Iran restores the Internet after a weeklong government-imposed shutdown, new videos purport to show the demonstrations over gasoline prices rising and the security-force crackdown that followed.
The videos offer only fragments of encounters, but to some extent they fill in the larger void left by Iran’s state-controlled television and radio channels. On their airwaves, hard-line officials allege that foreign conspiracies and exile groups instigated the unrest. In print, newspapers offered only PR for the government or had merely stenographic reporting at best, the moderate daily Hamshahri said in an analysis Sunday.
They don’t acknowledge that the gasoline price hike Nov. 15, supported by its civilian government, came as Iran’s 80 million people already have seen their savings dwindle and jobs scarce under crushing US sanctions. President Donald Trump imposed them in the aftermath of unilaterally withdrawing America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Authorities also have yet to give any overall figures for how many people were injured, arrested or killed during the several days of protests that swept across some 100 cities and towns.
Amnesty International said it believes the unrest and the crackdown killed at least 106 people. Iran disputes that figure without offering its own. A UN office earlier said it feared the unrest may have killed “a significant number of people.”
Starting Nov. 16, Iran shut down the Internet across the country, limiting communications with the outside world. That made determining the scale and longevity of the protests incredibly difficult. Some recycled days-old videos and photographs as new, making it even more difficult.
Since Saturday, Internet connectivity spiked in the country, allowing people to access foreign websites for the first time. On Sunday, connectivity stood nearly at 100% for landline services, while mobile phone Internet service remained scarce, the advocacy group NetBlocks said.
The restoration brought messaging apps back to life for Iranians cut off from loved ones abroad. It also meant that videos again began being shared widely.
Recently released videos span the country. One video from Shiraz, some 680 kilometers (420 miles) south of Tehran, purports to show a crowd of over 100 people scatter as gunfire erupts from a police station in the city. One man bends down to pick up debris as a person off-camera describes demonstrators throwing stones. Another gunshot rings out, followed by a burst of machine gun fire.
In Kerman, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Tehran, the sound of breaking glass echoes over a street where debris burns in the center of a street. Motorcycle-riding members of the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary Guard, then chase the protesters away.
Another video in Kermanshah, some 420 kilometers (260 miles) southwest of Tehran, purports shows the dangers that lurked on the streets of Iran in recent days. Plainclothes security forces, some wielding nightsticks, drag one man off by the hair of his head. The detained man falls at one point.
“Look, (the agents) wear styles like the youth,” one man off-camera says, swearing at them.
On Sunday, it remained unclear if and how widespread any remaining demonstrations were. The acting commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ali Fadavi, repeated the allegation that America was behind the protests, without offering any evidence to support his claim.
“Why did (the Americans) get angry after we cut off the Internet? Because the Internet is the channel through which Americans wanted to perform their evil and vicious acts,” Fadavi said. “We will deal with this, Islamic Republic supporters, and our proud men and women will sign up to make a domestic system similar to the Internet with operating systems that (the Americans) can’t (control) even if they want.”
That likely refers to what has been known as the “halal net,” Iran’s own locally controlled version of the Internet aimed at restricting what the public can see. The system known as the National Information Network has some 500 government-approved national websites that stream content far faster than those based abroad, which are intentionally slowed, activists say. Iranian officials say it allows the Islamic Republic to be independent if the world cuts it off instead.

But while Fadavi earlier said the protests were put down in 48 hours, he also acknowledged the scope of the unrest by comparing it to Operation Karbala-4, one of the worst military disasters suffered by Iran during its bloody 1980s war with Iraq.
That scope could be seen in one video. In the capital, Tehran, footage earlier aired by the BBC’s Persian service shot from a car purports to show a tableau of violence on Sattarkhan Street, as anti-riot police officers clashed with protesters.
In the video, a woman’s scream rises over the shouts of the crowd as plainclothes security forces wearing white surgical masks accost one man, who puts his hands up to his face and hunches over to shield his body. Men walk backward to watch the chaos amid police with batons and riot shields, then run.
A woman in a green headscarf argues with one anti-riot police officer in front of a car.
“What do you say?” the police officer asks.
“He kicked my car,” she responds.
“Move,” the police officer orders. “Whom do you want to blame in this situation?”
Someone chases a man in front of a bank as people curse. The car makes a right-hand turn onto another street. A police officer off-camera shouts: “Come here!”
“Go, go, go!” a woman in the car cries out.
The car speeds away, passing burning debris. The clip ends. It lasts only 35 seconds.


Egypt’s foreign minister discusses Iran nuclear negotiations, Gaza with US envoy

Updated 4 sec ago
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Egypt’s foreign minister discusses Iran nuclear negotiations, Gaza with US envoy

  • Badr Abdelatty says US-Iran negotiations are an important opportunity to achieve calm in the region
  • Oman to host sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the US on Sunday

LONDON: Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs, emphasized the need to persist in negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program during a phone call with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Abdelatty said the negotiations are an important opportunity to achieve calm, avoid escalation, and prevent the region from sliding into greater instability, WAM, the Emirates News Agency, reported.

Oman will host the sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the US on Sunday, Oman’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

Abdelatty and Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy for the Middle East, on Thursday addressed Egyptian and US efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. They discussed the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as the flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian coastal enclave, according to WAM.

The Egyptian foreign minister highlighted the need for a lasting resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that meets the region’s aspirations for peace and stability.


France’s Macron praises Palestinian president’s ‘genuine willingness’ for peace

Updated 5 min 16 sec ago
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France’s Macron praises Palestinian president’s ‘genuine willingness’ for peace

  • Mahmoud Abbas’ commitment to elections and reforms welcomed
  • Comments come ahead of 2-state conference in New York next week

LONDON: France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ “concrete and unprecedented commitments” after receiving a letter from the latter ahead of the UN-backed Saudi-French conference on a two-state solution in Palestine.

In his letter on Monday, which was addressed to Macron and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abbas outlined the main steps to be taken to end the war on Gaza.

He called for the demilitarization of Hamas, the release of hostages, a ceasefire in Gaza and deployment of international forces to protect “the Palestinian people,” while reaffirming his commitment to reforms and elections.

Abbas also demanded an end to “the occupation and conflict once and for all” and halting settler activities.

In a post on X, Macron described the letter as “a decisive moment, praising the Palestinian leader for charting “a course toward a horizon of peace.”

 

 

“Concrete and unprecedented commitments that demonstrate a genuine willingness to move forward,” said Macron.

France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair the high-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Question and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in New York next week.

The conference at the UN’s headquarters aims to achieve concrete steps toward the two-state solution.

In his letter, Abbas stressed the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to presidential and general elections within a year across the Occupied Territories — including East Jerusalem — under international supervision.

“The Palestinian people are entitled to live in freedom and dignity in their homeland. Palestine and Israel are entitled to exist as states, in peace and security, in conformity with international law,” Abbas wrote in his letter.

Reaffirming his commitment to the two-state solution, he said: “We are ready to conclude within a clear and binding timeline, and with international support, supervision and guarantees, a peace agreement that ends the Israeli occupation and resolves all outstanding and final status issues.”


Iraq reports 19 Congo fever deaths already this year

Updated 12 June 2025
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Iraq reports 19 Congo fever deaths already this year

  • Congo fever is a viral disease which is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during or immediately after slaughter

Baghdad: Iraq said Thursday it has recorded 19 deaths from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever already this year and urged farmers and abattoir workers to step up precautions when handling livestock.

A total of 123 cases have been recorded nationwide, health ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr said in a statement, adding that 36 of them were reported in the poor southern province of Dhi Qar, which is heavily dependent on livestock farming.

Congo fever is a viral disease which is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during or immediately after slaughter, according to the World Health Organization.

It has a fatality rate of between 10 and 40 percent, and most cases have been reported in the livestock industry.

A previous surge in infections in Iraq in 2022 saw at least 27 deaths, compared with just six cases for the two decades from 1989 to 2009.

The WHO attributed that flare-up to a rise in the tick population resulting from the failure to carry out pesticide spraying campaigns in 2020 and 2021.


Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers

Updated 25 min 28 sec ago
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Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers

  • Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas
  • UN and major aid groups have rejected Israeli and US-backed GHF initiative

CAIRO: A unit of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of them.

The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.

The Israeli military circulated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s statement on its social media accounts but declined to provide its own account of what happened.

Aid initiative already marred by controversy and violence

The aid group’s operations in Gaza have already been marred by controversy and violence since they began last month, with scores of people killed in near-daily shootings as crowds headed toward the food distribution sites inside Israeli military zones. Witnesses have blamed the Israeli military, which has acknowledged firing only warning shots near people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

Earlier this week, witnesses also said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many.

The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and US-backed initiative, accusing them of militarizing humanitarian aid at a time when experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and renewed military campaign.

Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. Abu Shabab’s militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the food distribution points set up by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN trucks.

GHF has denied working with the Abu Shabab group.

‘They were aid workers’

In a statement released early Thursday, the foundation said Hamas had attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen “local Palestinians working side-by-side with the US GHF team to deliver critical aid” near the southern city of Khan Younis.

“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.”

It did not identify the men or say whether they were armed at the time.

Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical adviser to US President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings “absolute evil” and lashed out at the UN and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them.

“The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,” he wrote on X.

Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing UN-run system, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza. UN officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, but say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.

UN officials say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, and that it allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by controlling who has access to it and by essentially forcing people to relocate to the aid sites, most of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza.

Hamas says it killed traitors

Hamas has also rejected the new system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas-run police’s Sahm unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting.

The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them.

Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident, said he was at the scene of the killings and that crowds were celebrating them, shouting “God is greatest” and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Israel.

Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying they clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the images shared by Sahm were of Abu Shabab fighters.

The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers.

Mounting lawlessness as Israel steps up military campaign

Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed a complete ban on imports of food, fuel, medicine and other aid before easing the blockade in mid-May.

The ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force, which maintained a high degree of public security before the war, has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces with airstrikes. The military now controls more than half of the territory.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.

Israel’s offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90 percent of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed.


Palestinian Authority says Internet down in Gaza after attack on fiber optic cable

Updated 12 June 2025
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Palestinian Authority says Internet down in Gaza after attack on fiber optic cable

  • Maintenance and repair teams unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable
  • ‘Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday’

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fiber optic cable it blamed on Israel.

“All Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,” the PA’s telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.

“The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable.

“The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,” it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza “for weeks and months.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were “directly targeted by occupation forces.”

It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.

“The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.”

Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, said that “mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity” in Gaza for the time being.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.