“UKMTO has received a report of an incident 52 nautical miles south of Aden, Yemen.” the statement reads.
“The master of a merchant vessel reported a missile impacted the water in close proximity to the vessel.”
“The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of all.”
UKMTO recommended that vessels “transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.”
MP/PR
Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani made the remarks at a UN Security Council session on “The situation in the Middle East: (Syria)” on Tuesday.
The following is the full text of Iravani’s speech.
Thank you, Mr. President,
We thank Ms. Nejat Roshdi, Deputy Special Envoy, and Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, the Director of the Coordination Division, OCHA, for their briefings.
Mr. President,
The Syrian people continue to suffer from humanitarian crises, aggression, foreign occupation, and terrorism.
Through unlawful occupation, inhumane sanctions, politicizing the return of refugees and IDPs, and preventing international support for Syria’s reconstruction, certain Western countries are responsible for the prolongation of the conflict as they attempt to impose their own will on the Syrian people.
Such attempts are unlawful and immoral and serve only to prolong the crisis and worsen the suffering endured by the Syrian people.
The international community must not leave the Syrian people alone in their struggle against terrorism, foreign occupation, and the economic terrorism caused by unlawful sanctions.
The sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria must be fully respected by all as was mandated by the Security Council resolutions.
Any separatist agendas and illegitimate self-rule initiatives must be rejected and all foreign forces whose presence is illegal in the territory of Syria by the Syrian Government must withdraw from Syria.
In this context, the full, immediate, and unconditional withdrawal of US forces from Syria is essential for the peace and stability of Syria.
Instead of combatting terrorism, they continue supporting UN-designated terrorist groups such as Al-Nusrah Front (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) as well as looting the oil and wealth of the Syrian people.
Combating terrorists in Syria must be continued until the full removal of their threats. This must be done with the utmost care for the lives of civilians.
Terrorists must not be allowed to continue taking a large number of civilians as hostages and turn places like Idlib into their safe haven.
We strongly condemn Israel’s continued aggressions against Syria’s sovereignty, targeting civilians and vital infrastructure. The occupation of the Syrian Golan by this occupying regime is unlawful.
Mr. President,
Iran remains committed to a political resolution of the situation in Syria and will continue supporting a truly Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process.
The resumption of the meetings of the Constitutional Committee as an effective mechanism for advancing the political process is necessary.
It must operate without any external interference or pressure or setting any artificial deadline to conclude its work.
We continue to support the efforts of the United Nations and the Special Envoy, Mr. Pedersen, for the political settlement of the Syrian crisis. Iran will spare no efforts to that end.
In this context, we support the special envoy’s efforts to resume the ninth round of constitutional discussions in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq as a viable option that has received support from most parties involved.
Along with our Astana format partners, we are committed to working towards long-term and sustainable normalization in and around Syria.
Mr. President,
Parallel to the political process, international efforts must continue to facilitate Syria’s reconstruction and the safe return of refugees and IDPs to their original places of residence in Syria.
The interest of millions of Syrian refugees must not be held hostage for political gains by certain powers. The humanitarian community faces its most challenging funding landscape. The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 requiring $ 4.07 billion is only 13.4 percent funded significantly less at this time than last year.
It is regrettable that Western countries have ignored the dire humanitarian and economic situation on the ground and continue to pursue their political agenda at all costs.
We call on donors to fulfill their pledges and we hope their support will ensure sufficient and predictable funding.
We commend the tireless efforts of UN agencies and humanitarian partners in their work towards alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people.
However, preventing the diversion of aid to terrorist organizations in the northwest region and ensuring transparent and non-discriminatory aid distribution are essential aspects that need careful consideration.
We emphasize the need for unhindered humanitarian access through cross-line routes, and in full coordination with the Syrian government.
As we have said before, providing immediate assistance is crucial but not a sustainable solution in the long term.
Efforts must focus on rebuilding critical infrastructure to create conditions for the safe return of refugees and IDPs.
I thank you.
MNA/
In order to continue confronting the occupation of the Zionist regime, helping the residents of Gaza and in response to the killing of the Palestinian civilians by the Zionists, the Iraqi resistance fighters targeted the military air base of the Israeli regime in Eilat with a drone, the statement reads.
The Zionist media earlier reported the activation of the alarm due to the danger of unknown drones infiltrating the airspace of Eilat port in the south of occupied Palestine.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper also reported an explosion in the Port of Eilat and the interception of a drone.
This is while videos published from the Port of Eilat on social media show that a projectile has hit an area on the coast.
Over the last few months, the Iraqi resistance has targeted sensitive targets in Eilat, southern occupied Palestine.
It has warned that if the Zionist regime continues its attacks on the Gaza Strip, it will intensify its operations against the Zionist regime’s positions.
MNA/
An official with Syria’s Defense Ministry says the country plans to demobilize tens of thousands of reservists starting from next month, marking the nation’s defeat of foreign-backed terrorists.
“Tens of thousands will be demobilized by the end of the current year, and the same next year, while maintaining combat readiness and acting in the interests of the people,” Major General Ahmed Suleiman told Syrian state television.
According to the official, the demobilization of reservists will be based on a three-phase plan beginning next month and running until the end of October 2025.
Suleiman also announced that reserve service, which currently set at six years, will be reduced to a maximum of two years in the final phase.
The plan aim to “achieve an advanced army that relies on voluntary enlistment, through a new volunteer contract”, Suleiman said.
Under the new volunteer contract, anyone who has completed five years of service and does not wish to continue will be discharged.
The official noted that those who enlisted voluntarily and have served for 10 years will be exempted from all reserve service.
The Syrian army comprises three major groups: soldiers who enlist voluntarily, conscripts serving compulsory military service, and reservists, who have finished their service but can be summoned for additional duty at any time.
Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by a campaign of militancy and destruction sponsored by the US and its allies.
In recent years, however, Syrian government forces have managed to win back control of almost all regions from terrorist groups.
The US military has stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oil fields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder Syria’s natural resources. Former US President Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hezbollah announced that its fighters targeted buildings used by enemy soldiers in the Al-Metula settlement with appropriate weapons, hitting them directly which resulted in their catching fire, and resulting in casualties among those inside, leaving them killed and injured, reported by IRNA, citing Beirut-based Al Manar TV Network.
It added that the attacks were in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks on the southern villages and the safe homes, particularly targeting buildings in the towns of Khiam and Kfar Shuba.
Also, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the surveillance equipment in the vicinity of the Birket Risha site with appropriate weapons, hitting it directly and destroying it.
Regional resistance groups, including Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and Yemen’s Ansarullah, have declared that they will continue their attacks on the Israeli military bases in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war in the enclave last October.
RHM/IRN
The chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement says late Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and former Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian played a major role in victories scored by the resistance factions.
“Martyr Raeisi and martyr Amir-Abdollahian scored significant gains for the resistance and the region and brought the positions of various countries closer to Palestine,” Ziad al-Nakhaleh said at a ceremony held in Tehran on Thursday.
“This was a gain for Palestine and the entire region,” he told the event to mark the 40th day since the passing of President Raeisi in a helicopter crash, hailing the country for taking the upheaval in its stride with fortitude and composure.
Referring to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, Nakhaleh said President Raeisi defended Palestine in all international forums, adding his statements are still “effective.”
“We will not forget the positions of the Iranian president and his martyred foreign minister in support of Palestine,” he added.
The helicopter carrying president Raeisi and his entourage crashed when it was on its way to Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azarbaijan province.
Amir-Abdollahian along with Friday Prayers leader of Tabriz city Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, and Malek Rahmati, the governor of East Azarbaijan Province, as well as crew members and a bodyguard also lost their lives in the crash.
The incident engulfed Iran in shock and grief and generated a groundswell of support and solidarity from Muslims and non-Muslims across the world.
Nakhaleh also thanked Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Iran’s officials and nation for their unflinching support for the Palestinian people and resistance.
“God willing, we will continue together [on the path to] towards the victory of al-Quds and Palestine,” al-Nakhaleh added.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 37,765 Palestinians and injured over 86,429. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
The late Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti played a key role in shaping Iran’s post-revolution constitution and administrative structure and was a leading figure in the history of Shiite thought.
He also made significant contributions to the country’s judicial system on the international stage.
Beheshti was responsible for identifying and mentoring several influential politicians in the Islamic Republic.
He held important positions including Secretary General of the Islamic Republic Party and head of the Iranian judiciary. Additionally, he chaired the Council of Islamic Revolution and the Assembly of Experts. With a PhD in philosophy and fluency in English, German, and Arabic, Beheshti was a highly educated and multilingual individual.
On February 3, 1979, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, appointed Beheshti as a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Council, and he soon became the council’s first secretary.
On June 28, 2009, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that the Haft-e Tir event was significant because we lost some of the most honorable and prominent revolutionary figures in the bombing.
Martyrs such as Beheshti, who was an exceptional and unique figure of the Revolution, sacrificed their lives for the cause, Ayatollah Khamenei added.
He further noted that the Islamic Republic, particularly the judiciary, owes a great deal to the esteemed figure, Shahid Beheshti. During his short tenure in the judiciary from late 1358 to early 1360, martyr Beheshti implemented many innovations, achieved numerous advancements, and laid out long-term plans for the judiciary.
Late Iranian Martyr President Ebrahim Raeisi has described Martyr Beheshti as the architect of the judicial system of the Islamic Republic and stated, “Martyr Beheshti was responsible for a short period of time in the judicial system, but due to his sincere, faithful, scholarly, disciplined, state-oriented personality and the view of the organization that he had previously had made, in this short period of time, he became the source of great actions”.
The President continued, “Although Martyr Beheshti had an effective position in an important political organization, no one can claim that he deviated from the path of fairness and justice in his work. He was in no way influenced by false atmospheres. This characteristic of his was derived from the practical life of the prophets and imams, who were not affected by anything other than God’s fear and pleasure”.
Brief biography
Beheshti was born in Isfahan in 1928. He studied at the University of Tehran and under Muhammad Hussein Tabatabaei in Qom.
From 1965 to 1970, he led the Islamic Center in Hamburg, where he was responsible for the spiritual leadership of religious Iranian students in Germany and Western Europe.
In the early 1960s, he was involved in activities against the monarchy and was arrested several times by Shah’s secret police, the SAVAK.
Beheshti joined Ayatollah Khomeini in Najaf, Iraq, where the latter was in exile, and became part of Imam Khomeini’s underground movement.
Tragically, Beheshti and more than 70 members of the Islamic Republic Party were martyred in the Hafte Tir bombing on June 28, 1981, carried out by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), which included four cabinet ministers and 23 members of parliament.
Following his martyrdom, Ayatollah Khomeini referred to Beheshti as a “national figure” for Iran.
Each year, a commemoration ceremony is organized to mark the day of Beheshti’s assassination in the country.
Ayatollah Beheshti played a crucial role in establishing Iran as an Islamic republic in 1979.
Judiciary Week in Iran was named after the martyrdom of Beheshti along with 72 colleagues who were martyred in a terrorist bomb blast in June 1981.
Reported by Amin Mohammadzadegan Khoyi
The forces released the video on Wednesday, identifying the missile in question as “Hatem-2” and the vessel against which it was deployed as “MSC SARAH V.”
The statement accompanying the video noted that the footage’s release marked the first time ever when the projectile was being revealed.
“The hit was accurate,” it also said of the operation, according to Press TV.
The statement went on to list some of the features of the missile such as its solid-fuel propulsion, intelligent control system, and its maneuverability capability.
It said “Hatem-2” had “several generations with different ranges” and attributed its production to the Yemeni Military Manufacturing Authority.
Since October 7, when the Israeli regime began waging a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, the Yemeni forces have been staging numerous operations targeting Israeli ships or those heading towards the ports of the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli war has so far claimed the lives of more than 37,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 86,300 others.
The Yemeni forces have vowed to keep up their strikes as long as the Israeli regime sustained the brutal military onslaught and a simultaneous siege that it has been enforcing against Gaza.
Wednesday’s video did not mark the first time, when the forces were revealing deployment of new projectiles and other military hardware in their October-present anti-Israeli operations.
MNA
The United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warns of “apocalyptic” consequences if Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip spills into Lebanon.
Griffiths made the warning in Geneva on Wednesday as escalating strikes between Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah and Israel sparked fears of another conflict in the region.
“We are worried about the potential for further tragedy and deaths,” he said. “It’s potentially apocalyptic.”
A war involving Lebanon, Griffiths said, “will draw in Syria… it will draw in others. It’s very alarming.”
And “it will of course have an impact on Gaza; of course it will have an impact on the West Bank.”
He said Israel’s bloodiest-ever military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is in its eighth month now, “has taught us a new level of tragedy and cruelty.”
The regime’s military forces have so far killed more than 37,700 Palestinians in Gaza.
“But we are all worried that it may only be the beginning,” said Griffiths.
On Monday, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the current phase of war with the Hamas resistance movement is winding down, setting the stage for the military to send more forces to its northern border.
Netanyahu made the threat as the regime’s forces remain mired in the conflict the regime started on October 7, 2023.
Region cannot afford another war: EU’s Borrel
European Union foreign policy Chief Josep Borell also raised the alarm about a possible conflict between Israel and Lebanon, calling for “immediate de-escalation” of tensions along the border.
Met w/ Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib. We discussed how to ensure immediate de-escalation across the Blue Line & how to reinforce efforts towards a political solution acceptable to all.
Lebanon, Israel & the region cannot afford another war. The EU would be affected too. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/0ChxGnDNrO
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) June 26, 2024
Borell said he discussed the matter with Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib on Wednesday.
He wrote on X that they “discussed how to ensure immediate de-escalation across the Blue Line & how to reinforce efforts towards a political solution acceptable to all.”
“Lebanon, Israel and the region cannot afford another war,” he said. “The EU would be affected too.”
Several Palestinians were also injured by Israeli Occupation forces’ gunfire early Thursday in the city, pro-Palestinian Roya News reported.
The Israeli Occupation deployed military reinforcements, including dozens of snipers positioned on rooftops of commercial buildings, homes, and throughout the city’s central areas. This led to violent clashes and explosions echoing across Jenin.
On Wednesday evening, the Israeli Occupation forces arrested three residents from Jenin. The Palestinian Prisoners Club reported that the forces stormed the city and its outskirts from Al-Nasira Street. Prior to this, Israeli Occupation special forces infiltrated the city, arresting former prisoners Jamal Hawil, Jamal Zubeidi, and Abdul Ghani Abu Al-Hayja at the camp entrance.
Intense confrontations erupted around Jenin Cinema, Al-Dakhiliya roundabout, and the edges of Jenin camp. Soldiers fired tear gas canisters into the yard of Jenin Governmental Hospital and shot at residents and their vehicles.
MNA
