Allow me to bring you up to speed concerning the most exciting region of the world.
For the most up-to-date news concerning Iran’s nuclear program, I encourage you to tune in to my Middle East Update from last week. However, the Islamic Republic is active in more ways than one. In fact, considering its involvement in military enhancement, cyberwarfare, movement of weapons, and more, one can only come to the conclusion that the self-proclaimed Shiite empire is preparing for war.
One example of its military advancement is the pursuit of new submarines, destroyers, and other naval vessels. And similar to Israel, the Iranian Air Force conducted a large-scale drill last week. Make no mistake – though Iran seems to be putting itself in the spotlight, Israel has been anything but passive about the regime’s activity. At the end of last week, the IDF’s chief of staff ordered the increase of military exercises should a strike on Tehran’s nuclear program prove necessary in the near future.
The Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, bless his heart, even took to Twitter, stating, “Israel needs to set aside tens of billions of dollars – to repair the damage caused by Iran’s devastating response to any Israeli military attack on Tehran’s nuclear program.”
Earlier this week, three buses of Iranian-backed fighters entered the Syrian city of Al-Bukamal. However, the regime ought to put an emphasis on defending its homeland, as another large fire broke out at a power station in the Hormozgan province. And just this week, a cyberattack of massive proportion significantly distorted the country’s gas system, causing a host of delays and additional complications.
Just nights ago, the Israeli Air Force, via Apache helicopters, struck multiple Iranian-backed military sites near the Golan Heights. The sites were connected to another proxy of Tehran, Hezbollah. The morning after the strike, the IDF left a stern message on leaflets in the Quneitra area.
Saudi coalition sources reported early this week that recent strikes on Tehran’s proxy in Yemen, the Houthi rebels, have resulted in nearly 300 deaths and dozens of destroyed vehicles. Tragically, a Houthi ballistic missile landed in a civilian area in northern Yemen, killing over 100 people and destroying many homes. Terror shows no partiality.
Following the Iranian-sponsored attack on a US military base in southeastern Syria last week, the US announced that it killed a senior al-Qaeda operative in another part of the country.
The Turkish lira continues to plummet, as it has dropped to a new low of 9.5 liras for one US dollar. Thursday, Turkish commandos were dispatched to Idlib, Syria. So, you can bet Erdogan will continue his military pursuit in Syria while his own people suffer!
In Sudan, the military (which is the strongest power) just came to the conclusion that politicians are playing a dangerous game and decided to restore order by dissolving the government for the moment. Unlike the failed coup attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood a few months ago, this is actually being carried out by those in power. Will things remain this way? Probably not. However, seeing a military dissolve a government that might be going the wrong way has been seen before (i.e. July 2013 in Egypt – General A-Sisi removed Mohammad Morsi). Ultimately, the military believes the government isn’t functional enough.
Israeli Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days. One unconfirmed Arab report suggested that Bennett may have persuaded Putin to refrain from selling military weapons to Tehran. If true, this is a major blow to the Iranians.
Now that there’s less accountability in the White House as well as my own country, ISIS carried out a brutal terror attack on civilians in Diali, Iraq today. This is just the tip of the iceberg as it pertains to my concern for what’s going on in America. You have ISIS resurging in the Middle East and you have Tehran about to acquire a nuclear weapon. Yet, Israeli settlements in the West Bank is the focus (and is being criticized by the US). Perhaps priorities need to be reevaluated.
