ANBAR: Two armed drones targeted Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad air base, which hosts US forces and other international forces in western Iraq, a security source and a government source told Reuters on Tuesday.
The attack in the early hours of Tuesday, which the sources said did not cause casualties or damage, is the latest in a series of attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria, as tensions soar over the Israel-Hamas war.
US and coalition troops have been attacked at least 23 times by rockets and drones in Iraq and Syria from October 17 to 30, according to the US Defense Department website citing a senior US defense official.
There has been an increase in attacks on US forces since the conflict in Israel broke out on Oct. 7 and Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target US interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza.
A group called the “Islamic resistance in Iraq” has endorsed Tuesday’s attack.
On Monday, four Katyusha rockets were fired at Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad air base, an attack also claimed by the same group.
Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq have consistently demanded the expulsion of American troops after a US air strike in Baghdad killed senior Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in 2020. The militia groups since then resorted to rocket attacks on US forces in the country and the embassy in Baghdad.
These attacks stopped when Prime Minister Sudani — nominated by the coordination framework, the largest parliamentary bloc composed of an alliance of Iran-aligned factions — assumed power last year.
Calls for the expulsion of US troops have also been relatively quiet since then. But these demands, along with the attacks, have resumed in connection with increased Israeli bombardment on Gaza.
In the latest such call, on Monday, Iraqi politician Hadi Al-Amiri, leader of the Political and Military Badr organization close to Iran, urged the government to “take all necessary measures to set a serious, specific, and short-term timetable for the exit of international coalition forces from Iraq.”
Amiri’s call comes a few days after Iraq’s Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government and lawmakers to close the US embassy in Baghdad in response to Washington’s “unfettered support” for Israel.
Drones target Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad air base, no casualties, damage
https://arab.news/ghzjt
Drones target Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad air base, no casualties, damage
- Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target US interests if Washington intervened to support Israel
Netanyahu asks court to postpone corruption trial summons: lawyer
- US President Donald Trump called for the case against the Israeli prime minister to be canceled altogether
- Israel’s opposition leader warned Trump against interfering in Israel’s internal affairs
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday to postpone his testimony in his long-running corruption trial, after US President Donald Trump called for the case to be canceled altogether.
In a filing to the tribunal, Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad said the premier’s testimony should be delayed in light of “regional and global developments.”
“The court is respectfully requested to order the cancelation of the hearings in which the prime minister was scheduled to testify in the coming two weeks,” the filing said.
It said Netanyahu was “compelled to devote all his time and energy to managing national, diplomatic and security issues of the utmost importance” following a brief conflict with Iran and during ongoing fighting in Gaza where Israeli hostages are held.
Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a “witch hunt.”
In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the Netanyahu trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero,” after the end of a 12-day war with Iran.
Netanyahu on Thursday thanked Trump for his “heartfelt support for me and your incredible support for Israel and the Jewish people.”
“I look forward to continue working with you to defeat our common enemies, liberate our hostages and quickly expand the circle of peace,” Netanyahu wrote on X, sharing a copy of Trump’s Truth Social post.
Israel’s opposition leader warned Trump against interfering in Israel’s internal affairs.
“We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country,” Yair Lapid said in an interview with news website Ynet.
Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
In the trial that has been delayed many times since it began in May 2020, Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.
In a first case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage in two Israeli media outlets.
Jordan condemns Israeli settlers’ ‘terror attacks’ on Palestinian villages in West Bank
- Foreign ministry spokesman says Jordan ‘rejects these attacks and the escalation of settler terrorism against the Palestinian people’
LONDON: Jordan on Thursday condemned “terror attacks” by Israeli settlers that resulted in the killing of four Palestinians in two towns in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs blamed the Israeli forces for the settlers’ “terrorist attacks” in the village of Kafr Malik, where three Palestinians were killed by soldiers and several others injured during clashes between residents and settlers.
Sufian Qudah, the foreign ministry spokesman, said Jordan “rejects these attacks and the escalation of settler terrorism against the Palestinian people.”
He said that Israeli government policies incite violence against Palestinians and give settlers “the impunity” to carry out “more crimes against the Palestinian people.”
He reaffirmed Jordan’s call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an end to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave since late 2023.
On Wednesday, four Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, including three in the village of Kafr Malik and a 15-year-old boy, Rayan Tamer Houshiyeh, who was shot by Israeli troops in Al-Yamoun, northwest of Jenin.
In a separate incident, 13-year-old Ammar Mutaz Hamayel succumbed to his injuries on Monday after being shot by Israeli forces. Hamayel was from Kafr Malik, which has a population of about 2,500 Palestinians. The village is 17 kilometers northeast of Ramallah and is surrounded by the Israeli settlement of Kokhav HaShahar.
No known intelligence that Iran moved uranium, US defense chief says
- Several experts cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of highly enriched uranium out of the Fordow plant before US strikes
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program over the weekend.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said.
After the strikes, several experts also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors.
They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing “unusual activity” at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the near weapons-grade 60 percent highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack. Hegseth’s comments denying those claims came at a news briefing where he accused the media of downplaying the success of US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program following a leaked, preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggesting they may have only set back Iran by months.
Hegseth said the assessment was low confidence, and, citing comments from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, said it had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged by recent US strikes, and that it would take years to rebuild.
Russia says against Iran suspending IAEA cooperation
- Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow wanted continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA(Reuters)
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday spoke out against Moscow’s key ally Iran suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), after Iranian lawmakers voted in favor of halting work with the UN nuclear agency.
“We are interested in continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, so that everybody respects Iran’s repeated statements that Iran does not have and will not have plans to develop a nuclear weapon,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
The decision by Iranian lawmakers, taken after a 12-day war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear sites, still requires the approval of Iran’s Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.
Lavrov said the decision was of “an advisory nature” to Iran’s executive branch.
Moscow provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even as the United States launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend.
Russia and Iran signed a milestone strategic agreement earlier this year, but it does provide for mutual assistance in the case of aggression.
Iran is Russia’s second close ally to come under pressure in the Middle East in recent months, after Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria was toppled last December.
It could be a sign that Russia’s influence in the region is waning, as Moscow has to relocate resources and divert attention to its Ukraine offensive, according to Nikita Smagin, an independent expert on Russia-Iran relations.
Russia “is potentially losing its status as a superpower, at least as it perceived in the Middle East,” he told AFP, adding that “its allies are being simply knocked out of the game, one after another.”
Palestinians reject Israeli claims of Hamas looting Gaza aid
- Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions
GAZA CITY: A committee representing influential families in Gaza on Thursday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s accusation that some aid entering the war-torn Palestinian territory was being looted by Hamas.
After Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on Gaza, aid began being allowed in at a trickle in late May.
Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions, with chaotic scenes and near-daily deaths marring aid distribution.
In a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz published late Wednesday, Netanyahu said there was “information received today indicating that Hamas is once again taking control of humanitarian aid entering the northern Gaza Strip and stealing it from civilians.”
He announced that he had instructed the military to draft a plan “to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid.”
A statement from Gaza’s higher committee for tribal affairs — a non-Hamas affiliated committee created during the war — on Thursday rejected the claim that Hamas was stealing aid.
“Gaza’s tribal leaders affirmed that all aid is fully secured under their direct supervision and is being distributed exclusively through international agencies,” the committee representing influential families said.
“The securing of aid has been carried out purely through tribal efforts,” it added.
The statement rejected Netanyahu’s comments as “false claims” and called for a United Nations delegation to determine if aid was being correctly dispatched in Gaza.
AFP footage from Wednesday showed a truck convoy led by a UN vehicle carrying aid into northern Gaza after entering through the Zikim gate, south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Masked and armed young men could be seen riding atop the large aid bundles on the five trucks.
The men told AFP they were protecting the convoy from being looted before reaching its final destination.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared a video on Telegram on Thursday appearing to show masked, armed men standing on top of aid trucks.
“Today, what was known all along is becoming clear: Hamas is taking control of the food and goods,” the caption said, calling on Netanyahu to halt the entry of aid into Gaza.
AFP could not independently verify whether the video shared by Ben Gvir showed a truck after being looted by Hamas or being protected from theft by locals.
Israel began allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza at the end of May, much of it going through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and bypassing the UN-led distribution mechanism.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, GHF’s operations have been marred by chaotic scenes, deaths and neutrality concerns, with the UN and major aid groups refusing to work with it.
The GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points.
