Author: Steven Sahiounie

Russia and China have prevented the passage of a US-drafted UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that had said Israel, which has killed more than 6,500 people as part of its underway war on Gaza, has been acting in “self-defense.” The draft was put to vote on Wednesday. The United Arab Emirates also voted no, while 10 members voted in favor and Brazil and Mozambique abstained. Israel launched the devastating war on October 7 after the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance groups staged Operation al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise attack on the occupied territories, in response to the Israeli regime’s intensified crimes against…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Israel’s war with Palestinians in Gaza could spread well beyond West Asia if the bloodshed in the region could not stop soon. Putin made the comments on Wednesday during a meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths in Kremlin, Reuters reported. He said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished by Israel. The Russian leader said he told other world leaders in phone calls that if bloodshed did not stop, there was a risk of a much wider conflagration. “Our task today, our main task, is to…

Libya’s eastern-based parliament has ordered departure of the ambassadors of the countries that support the Israeli regime, which has brought the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip under a hugely-deadly war. “We demand that the ambassadors of the states which support the Zionist entity in its crimes leave the territory [of Libya] immediately,” the parliament said in a statement on Wednesday. The legislature also threatened to cut energy supplies to the countries in question. “If the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy do not stop, we demand that the Libyan government suspend the export of oil and gas to the…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the country’s mission to the UN played a very active role in preventing a lopsided US draft resolution on the ongoing war on Gaza, citing its failure to address stability, security and peace in the region. Amir-Abdollahian made the comment while speaking to reporters upon his arrival in New York to attend a Thursday session of the United Nations General Assembly amid Israel’s unrelenting bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7. “The key point is that our mission in New York worked actively to prevent the adoption of the resolution] as with…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that he canceled a planned visit to the occupied territories as a result of the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza, calling the Palestinian resistance group Hamas “liberators, not terrorists.” Speaking at the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan said that before October 7, when the conflict erupted, he had planned to visit the occupied territories but then canceled his plans. “Relations could have been different but that will no longer happen, unfortunately,” Erdogan said, blasting the Israeli regime for taking advantage of Turkey’s “good intentions.” Erdogan condemned…

Eight former officers of the Indian Navy have been handed the death penalty in Qatar on charges of working as spies for Israel. Media reports said a Qatar court announced the death penalty for eight Indian military veterans on Thursday. The convicted officers are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Rajesh Gopakumar. The men had been working for a private firm when they were detained by the Qatari intelligence service in August last year. The retired officers were arrested on charges…

The Israeli military says that its ground forces carried out an overnight “targeted raid” in the blockaded Gaza Strip and then withdrew as part of preparation for a ground incursion to the small territory. In an X post on Thursday, the regime’s military said that its troops used tanks in their overnight raid on northern Gaza “as part of preparations for the next stages of combat.” It claimed that the occupation soldiers struck numerous Palestinian fighters, infrastructure, and anti-tank, guided missile launch positions, and then left the area at the end of their raid. It did not mention any casualties among Israeli forces.…

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called for mass protests in the coming days to demand the opening of the Rafah border crossing and an end to the Israeli regime’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In a statement on Thursday, the movement called on Palestinian people in the occupied territories and across the world, as well as all the Arab and Muslim world, to stage mass protests on Friday and Sunday under the slogan “Open the Rafah crossing” and “Stop the genocidal war on Gaza.” “We call on our people throughout the homeland and outside, and on all the members…

Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah will not relent in supporting the Gaza Strip even if armies from around the world line up against the besieged Palestinian territory, says a senior official. Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, deputy head of the executive council of Hezbollah, said Thursday Hezbollah’s latest operations near the border have proven that Gaza is not alone. Resistance fighters in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, he said, will continue backing the blockaded Palestinian territory “with their weapons and blood.” He said despite the enemy’s maritime military buildup, Hezbollah has not abandoned its duty to support Gaza. If all the fleets of the world’s…

Ankara-West Jerusalem exploration plans in the Mediterranean have reportedly been halted over the Gaza conflict Türkiye has suspended plans to engage in the joint exploration of energy resources with Israel in the Mediterranean, as well as plans to export gas to Europe, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed official. This comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized West Jerusalem over the bombardment of Gaza and canceled his previously-planned visit to the state. Speaking in parliament earlier on Wednesday, Erdogan said that Hamas was not a terrorist organization, but “a liberation group waging a battle to protect its lands and people,” and…