Author: Steven Sahiounie

Israeli occupation forces Tuesday dawn blew up the family home of prisoner Osama Bani Fadl in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus. Large forces from the occupation army stormed the town late at night and surrounded the family home of prisoner Osama Bani Fadl in the Diriyah neighbourhood, before blowing it up. The house is located in a three-storey building. The occupation forces carried out an arrest campaign and field investigation in the town of Aqraba, targeting a number of youths. Local sources reported that the occupation forces detained both Obaida Aws Bani Fadl and Alaa Saud Taha, after…

The Israeli regime has detained 46 Palestinian journalists since October 7, when it began its ongoing genocidal war on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) provided the information in a statement on Monday, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.. It added that 32 journalists are still in confinement, including 19 who are being held under the regime’s notorious administrative detention policy, which allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians indefinitely without pressing formal charges or putting them on trial. Some of the detained journalists have been accused of possessing a “secret file,” while some others are being held under the pretext of…

Bilateral relations, as well as current regional developments, expected to be discussed during his visit Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein will visit Türkiye on Tuesday to discuss the bilateral relations and regional issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Hussein will be accompanied by Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet al-Abbasi with a high level delegation. “During the visit, various aspects of our bilateral relations will be taken up in detail and current regional issues will be discussed,” the statement said. Source: Anadolu Agency

By Wesam Bahrani American news outlets have cited US intel officials as saying that almost half the bombs used by the Israeli regime in its war on the besieged Gaza Strip have been unguided “dumb” bombs. These bombs, such as the M117, first entered service in the 1950s and are exactly the same unguided M117 bombs seen in photos published by the Israeli military that regime warplanes have extensively dropped on Gaza since the events of October 7. It is, however, unclear how many tons of explosives the Israeli military is injecting into these bombs. What is particularly alarming is that…

David Cameron will meet French President Macron, Italian Prime Minister Meloni and his two counterparts during the Tuesday stops to address the “desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza”, according to a UK government press release. During the trip, Cameron will “reiterate his call for a sustainable ceasefire” and push for better European coordination to bring life-saving aid into Gaza, the statement says. Source: AlJazeera

By Humaira Ahad “When a nation seeks its freedom, it will always prevail. The occupation will never succeed in planting defeat in our hearts, because we summon our courage from our faith in God and the legacies of all the nations that sought and achieved their freedom and dignity.” This is an excerpt from a letter Nael Saleh al-Barghouti wrote from an Israeli jail, which Palestinian journalist and author Ramzy Baroud reproduced in his 2019 book ‘These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons’ in a chapter titled ‘Love Behind Bars’. Barghouti is the longest-serving…

Hezbollah resistance movement says it has struck an Israeli settlement situated near the Lebanese border with the occupied territories in response to the regime’s earlier attack on civilians attending a funeral procession in southern Lebanon. “Islamic Resistance announces the launch of a missile barrage targeting the occupied village of al-Khalsa (known as the settlement of Kiryat Shemona)…on Monday, December 18, 2023,” the movement said in a statement carried by Lebanon’s al-Manar television network. The movement added that the attack came in response to an earlier Israeli strike on a funeral procession in the town of Aita Shaab in southern Lebanon, adding, “The Resistance…

The UN Palestinian refugee agency says since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza in early October almost 1.9 million have been internally displaced. While obtaining an accurate figure of the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) remains challenging, nearly 85 percent of the population is estimated to be forcibly displaced, UNRWA said in a report on Monday. The report added it was “the largest forced displacement of Palestinians” since the Nakba or “Catastrophe” when more than 700,000 Palestinians were evicted from their lands as Israel was created in 1948. “Conditions in Gaza are catastrophic. Under relentless bombardment, thousands of civilians…

“The Yemeni Armed Forces will turn the Red Sea into a graveyard of the US-led coalition if the alliance decides to take any action against Yemen,” Yemen’s defense minister has denounced the formation of a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of merchant vessels bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, cautioning the Western alliance that any assault on Yemeni soil will have dire consequences. “We are in possession of munitions and military gear that can sink your warships, submarines and aircraft carriers,” Major General Mohammad al-Atifi said on Monday. “The Yemeni Armed Forces will turn…

BNPL platform Tamara becomes 1st Saudi fintech unicorn after $340m funding round    RIYADH: Buy now, pay later platform Tamara has become the first Saudi fintech startup to reach a $1 billion valuation after raising $340 million in its series C funding round, according to a statement. Led jointly by SNB Capital and the Public Investment Fund’s Sanabil Investments, the capital injection bolsters Tamara’s position in Saudi Arabia’s fintech landscape as it aims to diversify its offerings. The company plans to utilize the money for new products and services beyond the BNPL model and target sectors such as…