Israel has been very busy in the war against terrorists this past week. Friday night saw two strikes against Syria. One was centered around Damascus and involved three parts: 1) a large hangar at the airport that was holding Iranian weapons and components, 2) an air defense battery south of Damascus, and 3) an Iranian militia outpost also in southern Damascus. Three Syrian soldiers were killed in the attack. The second strike was in Tartus, along the coast in northwestern Syria. An Iranian cargo ship, the ARZIN, had unloaded and pulled away. That was when Israel hit the suspicious load and destroyed it. This is the second Friday in a row that Israel has hit Syria. You can hear more details about these strikes on my Breaking News.
Two days later, on Sunday, Israel struck again, this time in Tehran. Two assailants rode up on a motorcycle next to Col. Hassan Sayad Khodayari while he was in his car outside his home. They fired five shots, killing the senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in broad daylight. Khodayari oversaw a weapons technology project that was transferring plans and parts for converting Hezbollah’s “dumb” rockets into precision, accurate “smart” rockets. Why would Israel risk this kind of assassination, especially after America has asked them not to? The country is taking advantage of a closing window of opportunity, recognizing that once a nuclear deal is signed, their hands will be tied against such actions. You can hear more details about the assassination in my second Breaking News post from last week.
There was an explosion earlier today at one of the factories at the Parchin military base in Iran. While Iran calls it an industrial accident, reports are that it was actually an attack by armed drones. Like the TESA centrifuge plant in Karaj that was damaged by a drone attack in June 2021, Parchin is part of Iran nuclear program with its uranium enrichment plants.
Iran continues to seek ways to smuggle its oil into the market. A loaded Russian oil tanker, LANA, had been detained seven-weeks ago in Greece. Its cargo has now been determined to contain Iranian crude and has been seized. The shadowy tanker appears to have been loaded with the Iranian oil back in August 2021 and has been looking for a place to offload its cargo ever since. The oil is being transferred to the tanker, ICE ENERGY, for transportation to the US.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury has placed new sanctions against numerous people and companies they say are part of a smuggling network that helps fund the IRGC and Hezbollah. Included in the list are Iranians, Turks, Russians, Chinese, Emiratis, and Lebanese. Hundreds of millions of dollars had been collected through the illegal activities with the beneficiaries being the Quds Force, Hezbollah, and the many Iranian-supported proxy terrorist militias.
With the door to Russian natural gas closing, the EU is turning to Israel for its supply. Accelerated negotiations are taking place that will open the doors for the import of Israeli gas through Egypt. The anticipated signing of an agreement in summer will be an action that Russia will surely not like.
After a three month siege at the Azovstal Steel Factory in Mariupol, the 900+ remaining Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered and been sent to a prison colony in Russian territory. This is just one of the continuing victories for Russia in its invasion into Ukraine. I am certainly not on the side of the Russians when it comes to this tragic war. However, I am also not going to go along with much of the media and say that the Russian attack is falling apart. As of now, it is mostly all bad for Ukraine and mostly all good for Russia.
The government of recently re-elected Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary has received emergency powers which will allow the country to respond more quickly and decisively in light of the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The world is on the brink of an economic crisis,” said Orban.
China, Russia, and North Korea have all given their greetings to Joe Biden during the US president’s visit to Japan. China and Russia gave a tip of the cap by conducting a joint military air exercise that brought them over the Sea of Japan. North Korea said hello by firing three ballistic missiles into the same waters.
However, their friendly wave was late as usual, coming a few hours after Biden had ended his trip. There is no report on whether a card or a gift basket was included in any of the welcomes.
