Middle East

Israel’s new aggression against Syria, puts Aleppo airport out of service

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The Israeli regime has carried out the second airstrike in a matter of one week against Syria’s Aleppo International Airport in the country’s northwest, knocking the facility out of service.

According to a Syrian military source, the regime’s new act of aggression targeted the facility “at approximately 11:35 p.m. (20:35 GMT) on Saturday,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

The source added that the attack came from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, leading to material damage and putting the airport out of service.

Israel had targeted the airport last time on Thursday, when it also struck the Damascus International Airport in the country’s capital.

The military source said, “This new aggression confirms the criminal approach of the Israeli occupation entity, which is clearly embodied in its continuing crimes against the Palestinian people and the massacres it commits against innocent civilians, including women and children.”

The agency was referring to the regime’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed close to 2,300 Palestinians and injured nearly 10,000 others.

The Israeli aggression targeting Syria “is also clear evidence that this terrorist enemy does not respect international laws and norms, and by attacking civilian airports, it proves that it is the origin of terrorism and the greatest supporter of terrorist organizations in the region and Syria in particular,” the report concluded.

Israel has been attacking the positions of Syria’s military and its allies since 2011, when the country found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed violence and terrorism.

Tel Aviv’s attacks mostly target the positions of Syria’s allies that have been aiding the country in its uphill battle against foreign-sponsored terror groups.

Damascus has repeatedly complained to the United Nations over the Israeli assaults, urging the world body’s Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. Its demands, however, have fallen on deaf ears.

Middle East

Thousands of Danish, Swiss demonstrators condemn Israel’s ruthless killing of Palestinians

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Thousands of people in Denmark and Switzerland have attended pro-Palestinian rallies in protest at the Israeli regime’s massacre of Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Saturday rally in Copenhagen, which was one of several planned across Denmark, took place under tight police surveillance.

The demonstration took place on the eighth day of the Israeli regime’s relentless onslaught against Gaza, which has so far left nearly 2,300 Palestinians dead and nearly 10,000 injured.

The demonstrators converged at Norrebro in western Copenhagen, many carrying flags and banners with slogans such as “A genocide is unfurling” and “Stop killing innocent Palestinian children.” Other banners read “Long live Palestine” or denounced the United States and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One marcher told AFP that it would be “naive” to think that such actions could stop Israel.

“We are doing this to appeal to other countries and call on them to contribute to respect for international human rights and not lie, not hide what is happening,” he added.

Another participant said, “People must speak up more about what is happening in Gaza at the moment as millions of civilians are being killed and it’s not acceptable.”

Meanwhile, several thousand of people demonstrated in a pro-Palestinian rally in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday.

Police and organizers said around 6,000 people attended the rally, marching behind a banner reading “Free Palestine” and chanting “Long live Palestine” and “Israel: assassins.” Dozens of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags.

Cardboard placards read, “What you’re calling ‘self defence’ is actually a genocide,” “End Israeli apartheid,” “Boycott Israel” and “We want peace in Palestine and not a Palestine in pieces.”

One boy held a placard reading: “Save the children of Gaza.”

The demonstration came after the Israeli regime’s aircraft pummeled northern Gaza with fresh airstrikes on Saturday.

Israel’s military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods of Gaza.

The regime is simultaneously imposing an all-out siege on the Palestinian territory, choking up the flow of foodstuff, medicines, and fuel towards the sliver, and disrupting its supply of water and electricity.

While Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has announced that its “guns and rockets” are with Palestinian fighters, Iraq’s anti-terror group, Kata’ib Hezbollah, has threatened to target American bases in the Arab country and the entire region if the United States intervened in the ongoing fighting between the Palestinian fighters and the Israeli regime.

Middle East

‘If Israel’s crimes continue, no one can guarantee regional conditions will remain same’

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Iran’s foreign minister has slammed Israel’s brutal massacre of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying that changes in the regional conditions are possible if Israel’s crimes against Palestinians continue.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Saturday meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in Doha. The Iranian top diplomat was in the Qatari capital as part of a regional tour that has already taken him to Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.

“If the Zionist regime’s crimes against the people and citizens of Palestine continue, nobody can guarantee that conditions in the region will remain the same,” Iran’s top diplomat said.

His remarks came after the Israeli regime called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, declaring a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The operation was launched by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements last Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

As many as 2,269 people, including over 700 Palestinian children, have been so far killed and 9,814 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.

Adding to his Saturday remarks, Amir-Abdollahian called the Israeli regime’s daily massacre of hundreds of Palestinians intolerable.

“It is not tolerable that the Zionist regime kills hundreds of Palestinians every day and this war crime as well as the blockade of Gaza and cutting access of [the people of Gaza] to water and food and medicines must come to an end,” he said.

Slamming the United States’ approach to Israel’s crimes in Gaza, Amir-Abdollahian said, “While a great number of Palestinians are being killed by the Zionist regime on a daily basis, the US administration calls on others to show self-restraint. At the same time, it has increased its all-out military support for the criminal Zionist regime.”

He also expressed gratitude towards Doha for its supportive position concerning Palestine amid the current developments.

Israel’s military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods of Gaza.

The regime is simultaneously imposing an all-out siege on the Palestinian territory, choking up the flow of foodstuff, medicines, and fuel towards the sliver, and disrupting its supply of water and electricity.

Earlier in Lebanon, the Iranian foreign minister warned that the Palestinian resistance groups would tap into their various capacities if the Israeli regime pressed ahead with its barbaric onslaught against the besieged territory. And in Syria, he said the region’s resistance groups were ready for all scenarios in the face of the Israeli regime.

While Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has announced that its “guns and rockets” are with Palestinian fighters, Iraq’s anti-terror group, Kata’ib Hezbollah, has threatened to target American bases in the Arab country and the entire region if the United States intervened in the ongoing fighting between the Palestinian fighters and the Israeli regime.

Last Tuesday, Iraq’s anti-terror group Kata’ib Hezbollah threatened to target American bases in the Arab country and the entire region if the United States intervened in the ongoing fighting between the Palestinian fighters and the Israeli regime.

For his part, the Qatari official described continuation of the dire situation in Gaza, including the Israeli regime’s attacks on the Palestinian people, as a cause for concern.

He said the issue of Palestine was the most pressing issue for the entire Muslim world, saying that regional countries are united in their support for the Palestinian people amid the Israeli atrocities.

Middle East

Iran ranks first in ophthalmology in West Asia: official

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Chairman of the Ophthalmology Department at Iran’s Health Ministry, Dr. Mahmoud Jabbarvand, said Iran has been welcoming millions of medical tourists on a yearly basis and that no Iranian patient is sent abroad for medical treatment.

“Given the scope of research and studies in the field of ophthalmology, Iran is comparable to the world’s advanced countries,” Jabbarvand said in an interview with IRNA published on Saturday to mark World Sight Day.

“Because of the extensive range and outstanding quality of ophthalmic services and treatment here in Iran, no patient is sent abroad and even many patients from different countries, especially neighboring ones, travel to the country for treatment,” he said.

He further said that Iran has gained the expertise to domestically manufacture artificial corneas, adding that artificial cornea transplant is performed on patients who neither can receive human tissue nor stem cells.

Those who have undergone the surgery have managed to regain their full eyesight, Jabbarvand said.

He explained that 2,500 ophthalmologists are currently active in Iran, which has achieved significant progress in the field of stem cell application.

Iranian specialists can skillfully undertake meticulous applied research, he noted.

“Due to the great expertise and dazzling performance of our doctors, coupled with the efficient operation of state and private hospitals, patients who are diagnosed on time will quickly undergo surgery and regain their sight,” the top Iranian health official said.

Iran’s scientific community has remained productive in recent years, even as economic sanctions have made it difficult for universities to buy some of the most advanced equipment or send talented students to Europe or the United States to attend scientific meetings.

Tehran, Mashhad, Yazd, Shiraz and Ahvaz are among the top destinations chosen by medical tourists, who choose to cross borders to seek affordable treatment in Iran.

MNA/PressTV

Middle East

Largest Palestinian news page removed from Facebook: Report

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US company Meta reportedly removes QNN from Facebook amid brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza.

US internet company Meta has removed the largest Palestinian news page from its popular social media platform Facebook amid a brutal war launched by Israel against the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.

The Quds News Network (QNN) said in a Saturday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that its Arabic and English news pages had been deleted from Facebook in a move that it described as “complete alignment with the Israeli occupation government.”

The QNN also shared a picture on X with the title “Meta bows to Israel’s request and removes Quds News Network.”

It said its page on Facebook had 10 million followers and was the largest such Palestinian page running news content.

After operating for more than a decade on various social media platforms, the QNN has become increasingly popular since last week when Israel launched an offensive against Gaza in response to a brief but massive operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas that targeted the Israeli-occupied territories.

More than 2,260 people have been killed and thousands more injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, a besieged enclave on the Mediterranean that is home to 2.3 million Palestinian people.

The QNN said in its statement that before deleting its page, Facebook’s parent company had removed posts and issued warnings and restrictions to the news network despite the fact that it had been “fully complying with Meta’s defined media standards.”

It said deleting its page from Facebook showed how biased Meta is toward the demands of the Israeli regime, adding that the move was a clear example of suppressing freedom of opinion and expression, and deprived the Palestinians of their right to convey and cover events taking place in Gaza to the world.

Middle East

Israeli ‘killing machine’ have to be stopped: Raeisi

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In a phone call with Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik on Saturday, Raeisi warned the unlimited support by Western countries, particularly the United States, for the crimes of Israel has led to more complications and deterioration of the situation, Press TV reported.

He said the Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm following the intensification of the regime’s crimes in recent months. The operation, he said, has upset the Zionist-Western calculations.

The Iranian president also raised the alarm about plots by Israel and its allies to carry out a massacre in Gaza and force the Palestinians to evacuate the city as the Tel Aviv regime continues to cut off water and electricity and prevents the entry of medicine and food.

Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, for his part, voiced support for the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in defense of the oppressed people of Palestine and stated that “we should not allow the policy of displacing the oppressed people of Palestine and imposing displacement on them to happen once again.”

The Sultan further agreed with the opinion asserted by the President of Iran regarding the power and capabilities of the Islamic Ummah to stop the ongoing process of oppression and violence in Gaza, and noted, “We are in contact with all parties who can be effective and play a role in stopping these crimes.”

The president has also held with the prime minister of Iraq and the Emir of Qatar to discuss the Zionist regime’s war on Gaza following its defeat against the Palestinian resistance in the Al-Aqsa Storm operation. 

KI

Middle East

US-backed Zionist project doomed to fail: Haniyeh

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Head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, says the Israeli regime is carrying out its crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip with the support of the United States, stressing that the “US-backed Zionist project” will fail as the path of resistance will continue.

Haniyeh made the remarks during a speech on the recent developments in Gaza on Saturday.

“What Israel is doing is with the support of the US and Western countries based on the issue of double standards and lies. The US administration is giving everything it can, all the coverage for this killing,” he said, adding that resistance will not give up the fight for the rights of Palestinians despite the pressure from the West.

Haniyeh further criticized the misinformation, with which the media machine amplifies the Israeli regime’s lies, emphasizing that “resistance fighters, unlike the enemy, do not target civilians, children, or elderly people.”

The top Hamas official hailed the protests across the world against the Israeli regime and in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the resistance movement, calling for popular movements worldwide to continue their support for Palestine.

Haniyeh also said Palestinians will not leave Gaza or the West Bank to migrate to Egypt, following the Israeli army’s order to evacuate Gaza.

“People of Gaza are deeply rooted in Gaza and they will not leave their homeland,” he stressed.

Israel launched the deadly strikes on the coastal area last Saturday after the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying regime.

Hamas said that its operation came in response to Israel’s violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing Israeli settler violence.

The Western governments, in particular the US, the UK, Germany, and France, have offered “steadfast support” to Israel amid the regime’s incessant bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip over the past few days.

Middle East

Preventing genocide in Gaza requires Muslims urgent action

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Iran’s President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi and Iraq’s Prime Minister held a phone conversation on Saturday to discuss the latest developments in the region.

Expressing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s deep concern over the inhumane actions and the killing of innocent people in Gaza, the Iranian president said, “The Zionist regime is trying to avenge the defeat it suffered at the hands of the Resistance forces on the battlefield by resorting to collective punishment and committing systematic crimes against defenseless and innocent civilians.”

Raeisi described cutting off water and electricity and preventing fuel and food supplies to the Gaza Strip as clear examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity, elaborating more that, “What we witnessed in Gaza was the result of rage at the atrocities and crimes by the Zionists, while the leaders of the Zionist regime tried to attribute it to external factors.”

The President pointed out that lifting the inhuman blockade on Gaza and preventing the ongoing genocide in the region requires immediate action from all Islamic nations, stressing that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to take collective action with Iraq and all other Islamic countries in this regard.”

The Iraqi prime minister, for his part, expressed his gratitude to the principled positions of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the government and the people of Iran in supporting the oppressed people of Palestine, saying, “What is happening in Gaza today is a genocide in retaliation for the great defeat that the Zionist regime suffered in the battlefield against the Resistance Mujahideens.

Al-Sudani added that the Zionist regime’s authorities are seeking to avenge their defeat by attacking innocent civilians, thus all Islamic countries have a duty to use all their capabilities and potential to stop this.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s operation in southern occupied territories last Saturday have killed at least 2,215 people, including 724 children, the Palestinian health ministry said Saturday.

KI/5911647

Middle East

Day 8: Death toll from Israeli war on Gaza climbs to 2,269, including over 700 children

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Nearly 2,270 people, including 700 Palestinian children, have been killed as the Israeli war on the besieged Gaza rages on.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced in a statement on Saturday that 2,269 Palestinians have been killed and another 9,814 injured ever since the Israeli strikes began on October 7. Over 700 children are among the fatalities.

This comes as more than 420,000 people are displaced within the Gaza Strip. A total of 270,374 out of 423,378 internally displaced people are located in UN shelters and schools.

At least 15 hospitals have also been damaged by Israeli shelling and air raids.

Israeli strike at school in Jabalia kills 27 Palestinians 

Meanwhile, renewed Israeli airstrikes near a school on Saturday afternoon have killed more than 20 Palestinians.

According the media office of the Gaza-based Interior Ministry, The attack targeted areas adjacent to al-Fakhura School in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, leaving at least 27 civilians, including children, dead.

The Israeli air raids also resulted in the injury of more than 80 people.

Haniyeh: Zionist project supported by US will fail

Additionally, the head of the political bureau of Hamas resistance movement says the atrocious Israeli military campaign against Gaza, supported by the United States, will eventually fail.

Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks in a televised speech on Saturday, saying all Palestinian factions support the resistance front in the face of the occupying Israeli regime. He also denounced the mass displacement of Gazans as a result of the Israeli strikes.

“The Gaza-based Palestinian resistance fighters, unlike the Zionist enemy’s troops, do not target civilians, children or elderly people,” Haniyeh said.

“Resistance will not give up the fight for the rights of the Palestinian nation despite pressure from the West to renounce the struggle,” the senior Hamas official said.

Haniyeh also called upon popular movements worldwide to continue their support for Palestinians.

Gaza hospitals given final warning to be evacuated or bombed

Furthermore, a Palestinian doctor said the Israeli military has given them a final notice to leave hospitals in northern Gaza before they start bombing them.

Sohaib al-Hems said staff of al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia and the General Services Hospital in Gaza City are refusing to leave. 

“We will die in the hospitals. More than 27 ambulances have been targeted just now, and dozens of medical staff and patients have been killed,” Hems said. “Do not stay silent over what’s happening in Gaza. We will not forgive you.”

UN: Water runs out in Gaza

The United Nations also said more than two million people are risk in Gaza as water runs out.

It has become a matter of “life and death,” Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, said.

According the UNRWA, no humanitarian supplies have been allowed into Gaza since last Saturday.

“Fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for 2 million people,” Lazzarini said.

“If not, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly and women. Water is now the last remaining lifeline. I appeal for the siege on humanitarian assistance to be lifted now,” he added. 

Clean and drinking water is running out, forcing people to use dirty water from wells and increasing risks of waterborne diseases, the UNRWA noted. 

Water supply has also been impacted by the total electricity blackout imposed by Israel since October 11.