Breaking News! Last week I reported about failed ballistic missile launches in Sana’a, Yemen that caused massive explosions. New information has now come out. First, some quick backstory. During Operation Breaking Dawn when Israel dealt with the Gaza-based threat of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Houthis rebels of Yemen offered to help the PIJ by using rockets against Israel. Now, through a report by IDF Chief of General Staff Aviv Kohavi, we have learned that early the morning of the ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli fighters struck Sana’a causing the three enormous explosions. At the time, the local media, which is controlled by the Houthis, covered up the story and we only had leaked information to work with. Now we have learned that this operation was Israel once again destroying weapons before they had a chance to be used on us. Killed in the explosions were Iranians, Lebanese (Hezbollah), and Houthis, showing that Iran and its proxies are all working together. It also demonstrates that Israel is actively striking the proxies of Iran no matter where they are. For more information about this breaking story and how it relates to the bigger picture in the Middle East, please watch my Breaking News from this morning. It is very important that you understand how this all ties together.
Less than two weeks after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s questionable visit to Taiwan, four more American Democrat lawmakers journeyed to the island nation. It was a move designed to be provocative showing the administration’s toughness in the face of Chinese aggression. Beijing responded by shifting their latest attack submarine near Taiwan waters and holding new military exercises near the Penh Islands.
As Russia continues to develop its Kalina laser system designed to permanently “blind” enemy satellites, they are also increasing their skills with newer conventional weapons. The number of cargo flights between Iran and Russia has jumped from 3 in 2021 to at least 42 so far this year. Some of that cargo has been related to drone warfare, and Russia has depended upon Iran’s expertise in UAV weaponry, even holding a joint drone exercise with the aim of “giving Russia the experience and achievements of Iran in the field.”
The US and the EU are bending over backwards trying to get a new nuclear agreement completed with Iran. The US is willing to lift sanctions on some of Iran’s economic entities, and the EU won’t demand that Tehran explain its past nuclear activity found at various locations. But no matter what they offer, the Ayatollah’s regime wants more. The EU has stated, “This is the best offer that Iran can receive, and it is not subject to further negotiations. If Iran continues to insist, the talks will collapse.” Two days ago, Tehran gave Washington a 48-hour deadline to respond to their latest offer. The IRGC is ready to use its proxies to attack US bases if the administration refuses them.
Turkey’s military attacked American-backed Kurdish troops in northern Syria on Tuesday. At least one civilian, a child, was killed in the shelling in the town of Kobane. This is part of Ankara’s plan to create a 30-kilometer safe zone in northern Syria.
Turkey and Israel announced the resumption of normalized relations. While Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid touted how good this was for Israel to have this friend, his counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized that good relations with Israel will open the door for Turkey to “help our Palestinian brothers.”
While Turkey is possibly on the road to friendship with Israel, our nation’s enemies have been very active. Hezbollah continues their talk about a war with Israel by next month if the Karish gas rig becomes active. They have given a middle-of-the-month deadline for Jerusalem to agree to their demands. Down south, the terrorists in Gaza have been active below the ground attempting to dig a tunnel under the border. The IDF made sure it never reached its destination. Finally, a 25-year-old Palestinian terrorist opened fire at Israeli Jewish worshippers near David’s tomb in Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion. Eight were wounded in the vicious attack, and the terrorist was captured.
What is the mindset that causes these kind of acts? One only needs to look at the Palestinian leadership. On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a man who wrote his thesis about Holocaust denial and who refuses to condemn the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games, was in Berlin, Germany. From that city, of all places, he stated that “from 1947 until today, Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian villages. Fifty slaughters. Fifty Holocausts.” The reaction was immediate and strong. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned Abbas’s words, tweeting, “I am disgusted by the outrageous remarks made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. For us Germans in particular, any relativization of the singularity of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable.” Very well said, Herr Chancellor!
When the IDF wasn’t busy blowing up terrorist tunnels, they were attacking Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria. On Friday, the Israelis attacked a surveillance position in Quneitra in preparation for a potential preemptive strike on Hezbollah ahead of the beginning of the Karish gas rig operation. Two days later the air force was back in Syria conducting a massive strike near Tartus. According to a Syrian officer, an Iranian base, an air defense system, and a radar station were all hit in the attack.
The bad guys were also busy in Syria, attacking two American bases in a 24-hour span. The first was a drone attack at the Al-Tanf military base which is used for training Syrian opposition fighters. The second was a rocket attack at Green Village at the Al-Omar oil field. No casualties were reported in either incident.
Controversial novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed while on stage last week by 24-year-old Hadi Matar, who said of Ayatollah Khomeini, “I respect the Ayatollah. I think he’s a great person.” Ignoring the fatwa Khomeini put on Rushdie’s head in 1989, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said the blame for the attack does not belong with Iran but with Rushdie himself. “Salman Rushdie exposed himself to the public anger by insulting Islamic sacred topics…”, he said. Who can argue with that logical and sane reasoning? Rushdie is in the hospital on his way to recovery.
Two years ago, Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, said that Donald Trump ought to live secretly like Salman Rushdie in an obvious threat on his life. On Saturday, the Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which is essentially a mouthpiece for Iran’s Supreme Leader, reminded the world of this statement in an editorial. The piece went on to say, “The attack on [Rushdie] shows it is not a difficult job to take similar revenge on Trump and Pompeo and from now on they will feel more in danger for their lives.” This statement was published one day after the FBI reminded the former president in a very practical way that not all of the threats against him are from outside US borders.
A fire likely caused by an electrical short circuit tore through a Coptic Christian Church in Giza, Egypt, on Sunday. Forty-one people were killed, at least 15 of them were children. Condolences are pouring in from around the world.
