TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted a drill Saturday launching anti-warship ballistic missiles at a simulated target in the Indian Ocean, state television reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.
Footage showed two missiles smash into a target that Iranian state television described as “hypothetical hostile enemy ships” at a distance of 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles). The report did not specify the type of missiles used.
In the first phase of the drill Friday, the Guard’s aerospace division launched surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and drones against “hypothetical enemy bases.” Iranian state television described the drill as taking place in the country’s vast central desert, the latest in a series of snap exercises called amid the escalating tensions over its nuclear program. Footage also showed four unmanned, triangle-shaped drones flying in a tight formation, smashing into targets and exploding.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have increased amid a series of incidents stemming from President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Amid Trump’s final days as president, Tehran has recently seized a South Korean oil tanker and begun enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels, while the US has sent B-52 bombers, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine into the region.
In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills as the country tries to pressure President-elect Joe Biden over the nuclear accord, which he has said America could reenter.
Iran fired cruise missiles Thursday as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported, under surveillance of what appeared to be a US nuclear submarine. Iran’s navy did not identify the submarine at the time, but on Saturday, a news website affiliated with state television said the vessel was American. Helicopter footage of the exercise released Thursday by Iran’s navy showed what resembled an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, the USS Georgia, which the US Navy last month said had been sent to the Arabian Gulf.
Iran has missile capability of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), far enough to reach archenemy Israel and US military bases in the region. Last January, after the US killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, Tehran retaliated by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops, resulting in brain concussion injuries to dozens of them.
Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program among other issues in withdrawing from the accord.
When the US then increased sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development.
Iranian Guard holds anti-warship ballistic missile drill
https://arab.news/ybkkq
Iranian Guard holds anti-warship ballistic missile drill
- Footage showed two missiles smash into a target that Iranian state television described as “hypothetical hostile enemy ships”
- In recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills as the country tries to pressure President-elect Joe Biden over the nuclear accord
Migrant boats capsize off Yemen and Djibouti, leaving at least 2 dead and 186 missing
- Two of the boats capsized off Yemen on Thursday, said Tamim Eleian, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration
Two of the boats capsized off Yemen on Thursday, said Tamim Eleian, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration. Two crewmembers were rescued, but 181 migrants and five Yemeni crewmembers remain missing, he told The Associated Press.
Two other boats capsized off the tiny African nation of Djibouti around the same time, he said. Two bodies of migrants were recovered, and all others on board were rescued.
According to the IOM, 558 people died in 2024 along the route used by many migrants leading from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Hamas urges Trump to meet and ‘respect’ freed Palestinian prisoners
- More than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners were currently being held in Israeli prisons
Gaza City: Hamas on Friday urged US President Donald Trump to meet with Palestinian prisoners freed during the ongoing truce in Gaza, following his meeting with released Israeli hostages the day before.
Just as he spoke of the “unbearable suffering” of Israeli hostages, the US president should “show the same level of respect to freed Palestinian political prisoners and allocate time to meet and listen to their stories,” senior Hamas leader Basem Naim wrote in an open letter addressed to Trump.
More than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners were currently being held in Israeli prisons, he said.
On Thursday, Trump met in the Oval Office with eight former Israeli hostages who were released as part of the truce agreement that took effect on January 19.
The first phase of the agreement led to the release of 33 hostages, including eight who were deceased, in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinian detainees.
In late November 2023, 105 hostages had already been freed during a one-week truce in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, 58 are still being held in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli military.
Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 48,446 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures reliable.
Residents of Israel’s north slowly returning home after Hezbollah truce
“Now that everyone is back, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Yakuti, 40, standing on her freshly washed patio and breathing in the crisp country air.
“It’s great here. We have a beautiful moshav, a beautiful view,” she added, referring to what Israelis call a small agricultural community. “It’s simply great to be back home.”
On October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel triggered war in Gaza, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group declared its support for the Palestinian militants and began firing rockets into northern Israel.
For their own protection, the Israeli military ordered Yakuti, her family, friends and neighbors to leave Dovev, and they were sent to live in a hotel in the city of Tiberius, further south.
In total, the hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah displaced around 60,000 residents of northern towns and villages, according to official data.
Half are yet to return home.
On the Lebanese side, more than one million people fled the south of the country, around 100,000 of whom are still displaced, according to the United Nations.
On November 27, 2024, after more than a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war during which Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon, a truce agreement came into force.
Israeli authorities have said residents of northern border communities could return home from March 1.
Yakuti, who retrained as a beautician during the time she was displaced, said she immediately packed up her belongings, bid farewell to the “kind” hotel staff and moved back into her two-story home.
From her living room and patio, she has a clear view of a Lebanese village that was emptied of its residents following evacuation calls issued by the Israeli army in September ahead of its ground offensive.
“I’m not afraid and not shaking. The army did its job and carried out its work,” the mother of three said, adding: “I’m at peace with my decision to return here, and I wouldn’t give up my home and my moshav even if the war continued.”
Rockets, mortars
While many of Dovev’s residents were returning this week, the scene was not so joyous in other communities along Israel’s northern border.
In the kibbutz community of Hanita, Or Ben Barak estimated that only about 20 or 30 families out of around 300 had come back.
“At first, there was this kind of euphoria when they announced that we could return,” said Ben Barak, who counts his grandparents among the founders of the 97-year-old kibbutz.
“But now people are also seeing that the place isn’t quite ready for living yet.”
Ben Barak, 49, pointed out the multiple places where rockets and mortars had fallen, as well as the damage done by the heavy Israeli military vehicles such as tanks that passed through on their way into Lebanon.
Asked if he was concerned about security now the war was over, Ben Barak said that what worried him more was “what will happen with the community. Who will come back, how they will come back, and how many will come back?“
“I believe that in Lebanon, the army fought very hard and did everything it needed to do, but the real question is how to maintain this quiet,” he said.
“That’s the challenge — how to guarantee a peaceful life for the next 20 to 30 years. That’s the challenge for the state, and that will also determine whether people stay here.”
Just down the hill from the still abandoned streets of Hanita, the town of Shlomi appeared to be returning to life.
At Baleli Falafel, Yonatan Baleli stuffed pita with salad and tahini as a long line of hungry customers waited to blaring trance music.
“I feel much safer than before, but do I feel 100 percent safe? No,” said Ronit Fire, 54.
“It’s not pleasant to say this, but it feels like it’s just a matter of time,” she said, adding that she believed there would be another war in the future.
“The next time will come again at some point,” said Fire.
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Clashes in Syria’s coastal region between government forces and Assad loyalists kill more than 70
- Government forces send major reinforcements overnight to the cities of Latakia and Tartus as well as nearby towns and villages
- The clashes are the worst since Bashar Assad was removed from power in early December
LATAKIA: Clashes between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad in the country’s coastal region have left more than 70 people dead and an area outside government control, a war monitor said Friday.
Government forces sent major reinforcements overnight to the cities of Latakia and Tartus as well as nearby towns and villages that are the heartland of the minority Alawite sect and a base of support for Assad, to try to get the situation under control, state media reported.
The clashes are the worst since Assad was removed from power in early December by insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS. Since Assad’s fall, there have been some sectarian attacks against members of his minority Alawite sect. These incidents have occurred despite the fact that officially the new authorities have said they are against collective punishment or sectarian vengeance.
On Friday morning, large numbers of troops were deployed in Latakia and no civilians were seen in the street as a curfew that was imposed in the city and other coastal areas remains in force. Members of the security force said there were some clashes in one of the city’s neighborhoods but most of the city was calm and under government control.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said that since the clashes began on Thursday afternoon, 35 members of government forces, 32 fighters loyal to Assad and four civilians have been killed.
The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said the outskirts of the coastal towns of Baniyas and Jableh are still under the control of Assad loyalists. He added that Assad’s hometown of Qardaha and many Alawite villages nearby are also outside government control.
A Qardaha resident told The Associated Press via text messages that The situation “is very bad.” The resident, who asked that his name not be made public for safety reasons, said government forces are firing with heavy machine guns on residential areas in Qardaha.
Another resident said that they have not been able to leave their homes since Thursday afternoon because of the intensity of the shooting.
Abdurrahman said the clashes began when a security force tried to detain a wanted person near Jableh and was ambushed by Assad loyalists.
Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has left more than half a million people dead and millions displaced.
Nine Egyptians freed after 19 months in Sudanese captivity
- The Rapid Support Forces falsely accused them of spying for the Egyptian intelligence service
FAYOUM, Egypt: Nine Egyptians freed after being held for 19 months by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces arrived in Egypt to celebrations on Thursday morning as the Sudanese army advanced in Khartoum.
“Praise be to God. A new age begins for us today. Our life starts anew from today,” said Ahmed Aziz Masry surrounded by dozens of people who came to congratulate him on his return to the village of Abo Shanab.
Residents flooded the streets of the village, 110 kilometers southwest of Cairo, home to seven of the freed captives.
Sudan has been at war since fighting broke out in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over disagreements ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. The war has caused a humanitarian disaster, with mass displacement and widespread hunger.
A UN report published on Thursday found “a widespread pattern of arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees” by both the RSF and the Sudanese army.
The freed Egyptian captives had been working in Khartoum for years importing household goods and small electric appliances.
One, Emad Moawad, said he had a plane ticket to return to Egypt after the fighting started, but the airport was closed. “Sixty-five days later, the RSF raided our house and held us captive for over 19 months.”
Masry said the RSF falsely accused them of spying for the Egyptian intelligence service.
“Every few months, they would tell us they are releasing us but then put a blindfold on our heads and send us to another prison,” Masry said. At their fifth prison, the warden summoned Masry to his office to answer a phone call, and the voice on the other end said the situation had been resolved.
“A few weeks ago, they drove us to the last point controlled by the RSF and from there to the Sudanese Army, which took us to the Egyptian embassy then to Cairo.”
