WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two US officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments.
Between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
While the officials didn’t give a timeline for the shipments, the totals suggest there has been no significant drop-off in US military support for its ally, despite international calls to limit weapons supplies and a recent administration decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.
Experts said the contents of the shipments appear consistent with what Israel would need to replenish supplies used in this eight-month intense military campaign in Gaza, which it launched after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas who killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
“While these numbers could be expended relatively quickly in a major conflict, this list clearly reflects a substantial level of support from the United States for our Israeli allies,” said Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that the listed munitions were the type Israel would use in its fight against Hamas or in a potential conflict with Hezbollah.
The delivery numbers, which have not been previously reported, provide the most up-to-date and extensive tally of munitions shipped to Israel since the Gaza war began.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since the start of the Gaza war, and concern is rising that an all-out war could break out between the two sides.
The White House declined to comment. Israel’s Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shipments are part of a bigger list of weapons sent to Israel since the Gaza conflict began, one of the US officials said. A senior Biden administration official on Wednesday told reporters that Washington has since Oct. 7 sent $6.5 billion worth of security assistance to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks claimed that Washington was withholding weapons, a suggestion US officials have repeatedly denied even though they acknowledged some “bottlenecks.”
The Biden administration has paused one shipment of the 2,000-pound bomb, citing concern over the impact it could have in densely populated areas in Gaza, but US officials insist that all other arms deliveries continue as normal. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States is discussing with Israel the release of a shipment of large bombs that was suspended in May over worries about the military operation in Rafah.
International scrutiny of Israel’s military operation in Gaza has intensified as the Palestinian death toll from the war has exceeded 37,000, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the coastal enclave in ruins.
Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to its longtime ally. While Biden has warned that he would place conditions on military aid if Israel fails to protect civilians and allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, he has not done so beyond delaying the May shipment.
Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fueled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in primaries and has driven pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.
While the United States provides detailed descriptions and quantities of military aid sent to Ukraine as it fights a full-scale invasion of Russia, the administration has revealed few details about the full extent of US weapons and munitions sent to Israel.
The shipments are also hard to track because some of the weapons are shipped as part of arms sales approved by Congress years ago but only now being fulfilled.
One of the US officials said the Pentagon has sufficient quantities of weapons in its own stocks and had been liaising with US industry partners who make the weapons, such as Boeing Co. and General Dynamics as the companies work to manufacture more.
US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7
https://arab.news/5q6ke
US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7
- US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles
- 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions have also been sent, according to top officials
Iranian presidential candidates accuse each other of having no plan or experience ahead of runoff
- The candidates will face Tuesday in a second and last debate
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s presidential candidates on Monday accused each other of having no solution for the country’s problems ahead of Friday’s runoff election aimed at choosing a successor for the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died last month in a helicopter crash.
During a more than two-hour debate on public TV, reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian attacked his competitor, Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator, for his lack of experience, saying: “Tell me, what single company have you ever managed to make you capable to run the country?
Jalili, who is known as the “Living Martyr” after losing a leg in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and is famous among Western diplomats for his haranguing lectures and hard-line stances, defended himself highlighting his career and several positions held, including that of top nuclear negotiator.
Pezeshkian further questioned his opponent on what plans he would have for reaching a nuclear deal, with Jalili responding he would approach it “based on strength not weakness,” without providing details.
Jalili said Pezeshkian has no plans for managing the country saying his presidency would drive the country to a “backward position,” as it was under relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021). Rouhani struck a nuclear deal with world powers that capped Iran’s uranium enrichment in return to lifting sanctions but later, in 2018, President Trump pulled the US out from the landmark deal abruptly restoring harsh sanctions on Iran.
Jalili said that “with the support of people,” Iran would achieve an economic growth of 8 percent a year, a promise Pezeshkian mocked, saying authorities should be allowed to “execute him if he failed” to deliver on it.
Iran must implement “a dynamic foreign policy” if it wants to have a successful economy, Jalili said, adding that it should not be limited to those nations that it has a problem with — a reference to the US and the western world. Instead, he said, “Iran should look to the other 200 nations in the world where “foreign relations should be improved.”
Pezeshkian said his foreign policy will be based on “engagement with the world” including engaging in “negotiations for lifting sanctions.”
Both sides promised to address the problems of the country’s poor, workers, women, ethnic groups and religious minorities, and vowed to provide better and faster Internet — a plea to a younger generation that showed apathy during Friday’s vote.
Pezeshkian and Jalili also said the low turnout in the first round — the lowest-ever poll turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history — should be probed.
“It is not acceptable that some 60 percent (of voters) did not cast a ballot,” said Pezeshkian.
The candidates will face Tuesday in a second and last debate.
Lawsuit accuses Iran, Syria and North Korea of providing support for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Israel has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry
NEW YORK: Victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel sued Iran, Syria and North Korea on Monday, saying their governments supplied the militants with money, weapons and know-how needed to carry out the assault that precipitated Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks at least $4 billion in damages for “a coordination of extrajudicial killings, hostage takings, and related horrors for which the defendants provided material support and resources.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the allegations, while Syria and North Korea did not respond.
The United States has deemed Iran, Syria and North Korea to be state sponsors of terrorism, and Washington has designated Hamas as what’s known as a specially designated global terrorist.
Because such countries rarely abide by court rulings against them in the United States, if the lawsuit’s plaintiffs are successful, they could seek compensation from a fund created by Congress that allows American victims of terrorism to receive payouts. The money comes from seized assets, fines or other penalties leveled against those that, for example, do business with a state sponsor of terrorism.
The lawsuit draws on previous court findings, reports from US and other government agencies, and statements over some years by Hamas, Iranian and Syrian officials about their ties. The complaint also points to indications that Hamas fighters used North Korean weapons in the Oct. 7 attack.
But the suit doesn’t provide specific evidence that Tehran, Damascus or Pyongyang knew in advance about the assault. It accuses the three countries of providing weapons, technology and financial support necessary for the attack to occur.
Iran has denied knowing about the Oct. 7 attack ahead of time, though officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have praised the assault.
Iran has armed Hamas as a counter to Israel, which the Islamic Republic has long viewed as its regional archenemy.
In the years since the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war of attacks on land and at sea. Those attacks exploded into the open after an apparent Israeli attack targeting Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, during the Israel-Hamas war, which sparked Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April.
Neighboring Syria has relied on Iranian support to keep embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in power amid a grinding civil war that began with the 2011 Arab Spring protests. Like Iran, Syria also offered public support for Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack.
North Korea denies that it arms Hamas. However, a militant video and weapons seized by Israel show Hamas fighters likely fired North Korean weapons during the Oct. 7 attack
South Korean officials, two experts on North Korean arms and an Associated Press analysis of weapons captured on the battlefield by Israel point toward Hamas using Pyongyang’s F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armored vehicles.
The lawsuit specifically cites the use of the F-7 grenade in the attack as a sign of Pyongyang’s involvement.
“Through this case, we will be able to prove what occurred, who the victims were, who the perpetrators were — and it will not just create a record in real time, but for all of history,” said one of the attorneys, James Pasch of the ADL, also called the Anti-Defamation League. The Jewish advocacy group frequently speaks out against antisemitism and extremism.
Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 during the Oct. 7 attack. Israel invaded Gaza in response. The war has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It doesn’t say how many were civilians or fighters.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 125 plaintiffs, including the estates and relatives of people who were killed, plus people who were physically and/or emotionally injured. All are related to, or are themselves, US citizens.
Under US law, foreign governments can be held liable, in some circumstances, for deaths or injuries caused by acts of terrorism or by providing material support or resources for them.
The 1976 statute cited in the lawsuit, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, is a frequent tool for American plaintiffs seeking to hold foreign governments accountable. In one example, a federal judge in Washington ordered North Korea in 2018 to pay $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died shortly after being released from that country.
People held as prisoners by Iran in the past have successfully sued Iran in US federal court, seeking money earlier frozen by the US
The new lawsuit joins a growing list of Israel-Hamas war-related cases in US courts.
Last week, for example, Israelis who were taken hostage or lost loved ones during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack sued the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians, claiming it has helped finance the militants by paying agency staffers in US dollars and thereby funneling them to money-changers in Gaza who allegedly give a cut to Hamas.
The agency, known as UNRWA, has denied that it knowingly aids Hamas or any other militant group.
Red Sea disruptions to continue into Q3, Maersk CEO says
- Maersk and other shipping companies have diverted vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in the Red Sea, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates higher
COPENHAGEN: The coming months will be challenging for carriers and businesses, as disruptions to container shipping via the Red Sea continue into the third quarter, Danish shipping company Maersk said on Monday.
Maersk and other shipping companies have diverted vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in the Red Sea, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates higher.
“The longer that this lasts, the more our costs will get deeply ingrained,” Maersk said in a statement, citing comments made by CEO Vincent Clerc at “a recent online event with customers.”
“We don’t know yet exactly how much of these costs we will recover and for how long. The higher rates we are seeing right now are of a temporary nature,” Clerc said.
Maersk expects to have missing positions or ships that differ in size from what the company would normally have on a given string, it said, adding that this would reduce the company’s ability to carry the current demand.
Hunger grips Yemen even more. The UN says more than half of households aren’t eating enough
- The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured much of northern Yemen including Sanaa in 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile
CAIRO: More than half of households in Yemen are not eating enough due to poor economic conditions and a months-long pause in food assistance to millions of people in the rebel-held north, the United Nations food agency said Monday.
The World Food Program update said “severe food deprivation” has reached the highest it’s ever seen in parts of northern Yemen including Al Jawf, Al Badya, Hajjah, Amran, and Al Hodeidah. WFP stopped food assistance to the north in December, citing limited funding and the lack of agreement with the rebel authorities on downscaling the program.
WFP also said the southern part of Yemen, controlled by the internationally recognized government, also has “historic highs” of insufficient food consumption.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 and has pushed the economy to the brink of collapse, affecting exports and the value of the local currency.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured much of northern Yemen including Sanaa in 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power. Much of the south including Aden is governed by the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, a United Arab Emirates-backed group that is an ally of the internationally recognized government.
Yemen is experiencing an economic divide fueled by the rivalry between the Houthi and the STC governments, who have established separate and independent central banks and different versions of the Yemeni currency, the riyal.
As of Monday, the Yemeni riyal had depreciated in Aden to an all-time low of YER 1,841 to the US dollar, but stayed stable in Sanaa at YER 530 to the US dollar, according to the Yemen Press Agency. Economists have attributed the significant devaluation in currency in STC-controlled areas to low foreign currency reserves and a decline in crude oil export revenue.
That affects people’s purchasing power. In May, essential food items were available in markets across Yemen but the most vulnerable communities could not afford them, WFP said, noting price hikes in sugar, vegetable oil, wheat flour, and red beans.
US expects no ‘fundamental change’ after Iran election
- “We have no expectation that these elections, and whatever the outcome might be, will lead to a fundamental change in Iran’s direction or lead the Iranian regime to offer more respect for human rights and more dignity for its citizens”
WASHINGTON: The United States said Monday it expected no “fundamental change” from Iran no matter who wins the presidential election runoff and said it did not consider the first round free and fair.
Masoud Pezeshkian, billed as a reformist within the cleric-led Islamic republic, placed first in the election and will go to a runoff Friday against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili.
“These elections in Iran are not free and fair,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
“We have no expectation that these elections, and whatever the outcome might be, will lead to a fundamental change in Iran’s direction or lead the Iranian regime to offer more respect for human rights and more dignity for its citizens.”
Patel also cast doubt on the official figures on turnout, which were already low.
“Even the Iranian government’s official numbers about turnout, like most other things as it relates to the Iranian regime, are unreliable,” he said.
Iranian authorities said that slightly more than 40 percent of the 61 million electorate took part — a record low turnout for the Islamic republic — and more than one million ballots were spoiled.
The poll had been scheduled to take place in 2025 but was brought forward by the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
