News of the World
04-06-2024, 06:59 AM
USA
Then allow them to finish the job without any more pressures from the WH, you idiot.
So killing innocent people doesn't matter if you're in charge of any US military branch?
[spoiler=LaGuardia Tower: Go Around]
EUROPE
MIDDLE EAST
Just Another Quake?
Quote:An unusual East Coast earthquake shook millions of people from New York and Philadelphia skyscrapers to rural New England on Friday, causing no widespread damage but startling an area unaccustomed to temblors.
The U.S. Geological Survey said over 42 million people might have felt the midmorning quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, or about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of New York City and 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.
People from Baltimore to Boston and beyond felt the ground shake. Nearly 30 people were displaced when officials evacuated three multifamily homes in Newark, New Jersey, to check for damage. Officials around the region were inspecting bridges and other major infrastructure, some flights were diverted or delayed, Amtrak slowed trains throughout the busy Northeast Corridor, and a Philadelphia-area commuter rail line suspended service as a precaution.
Pictures and decorative plates tumbled off the wall in Christiann Thompson’s house near Whitehouse Station, she said, relaying what her husband had told her by phone as she volunteered at a library.
“The dogs lost their minds and got very terrified and ran around,” she said.
Whitehouse Station Fire Chief Tim Apgar said no injuries were reported, but responders fielded some calls from people who smelled gas. Nearby, the upper portion of the 264-year-old Col. John Taylor’s Grist Mill historic site collapsed onto a roadway, according to Readington Township Mayor Adam Mueller.
In a 26th-floor midtown Manhattan office, Shawn Clark felt the quake and initially feared an explosion or construction accident. It was “pretty weird and scary,” the attorney said.
Earthquakes are less common on the eastern than western edges of the U.S. because the East Coast does not lie on a boundary of tectonic plates. But 13 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or stronger have been recorded since 1950 within 500 km (311 miles) of Friday’s temblor, the USGS said. The strongest was a 5.8-magnitude quake in Mineral, Virginia, on Aug. 23, 2011, that jolted people from Georgia to Canada.
Rocks under the East Coast are better than their western counterparts at spreading earthquake energy across long distances, scientists note.
“If we had the same magnitude quake in California, it probably wouldn’t be felt nearly as far away,” said USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso.
Over a dozen aftershocks were reported in the ensuing hours in the region, including a 4.0-magnitude quake early Friday evening, according to the USGS.
Immigration
Quote:Migrants at the United States-Mexico border say they “want [President Joe] Biden to win” the 2024 presidential election, while others hope to get released into the nation’s interior before election day — knowing their chances will be nearly eliminated under a second term of former President Donald Trump.
In interviews with The Free Press’s Peter Savodnik, migrants waiting to cross the southern border said they vastly prefer Biden to Trump in this year’s election, primarily because they say their chances of being freed into the U.S. interior are high with the current administration.
With Trump, though, they see those chances as disappearing.
“I want Biden to win,”45-year-old Daniel Cortez of Honduras, currently living in a migrant camp in northern Mexico, told Savodnik.
Richard Betancourt, a 46-year-old Venezuelan citizen also living at the migrant camp, said, “If it’s Trump, it doesn’t matter how much I work or want to work, they won’t let me in.”
Alejandra Falcon, a 26-year-old Venezuelan citizen, said she is waiting to use the magic words — “credible fear” — to get into the U.S. after scheduling a border appointment via Biden’s “CBP One” mobile app.
Falcon told Savodnik she is not particularly worried about what will become her life after crossing the border. Instead, she is concerned with who wins on November 5. Mainly, she wants to get into the U.S. before that day to secure her chances of staying.
“If [Biden] doesn’t win, I can’t imagine what will happen,” Falcon said.
White House on Hamas
Quote:On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that Israel hasn’t fulfilled its duty to protect civilians and allow humanitarian assistance and “we have tens of thousands of dead and injured Palestinians. Now, some of them are Hamas, no question about that. But the toll’s just been too high.”
Kirby said that Hamas has to be totally eliminated and there was a ceasefire on October 6 that Hamas broke.
Host Martha MacCallum then asked, “Isn’t it Hamas’ fault that these people are suffering?”
Kirby responded, “Hamas started this war, as you said, no question about that, this conflict wouldn’t exist without Mr. Sinwar’s decision to violate that ceasefire, but what we’ve also said is that, Israel, in addition to having the obligation to go eliminate that threat, they also have an obligation to do everything possible to protect civilians and to allow humanitarian assistance. And we just haven’t seen them meet those obligations to the degree that’s needed. I mean, we have tens of thousands of dead and injured Palestinians. Now, some of them are Hamas, no question about that. But the toll’s just been too high. We want Israel to succeed here, of course we do, but how they do it matters as well, for the long-term, for their own security.”
In March, President Joe Biden said that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas].”
Then allow them to finish the job without any more pressures from the WH, you idiot.
White House on Aid Workers
Quote:On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to questions on how the 2021 U.S. strike in Afghanistan that killed an aid worker is different from the Israeli strike that killed World Central Kitchen workers are different by stating that it’s “imprudent to try to compare two things that happened three years apart in two different conflicts.” And there was an independent investigation of the Afghanistan strike, “and that independent investigator found that there was no need for personal accountability to be had, but did find that the U.S. military needed to make some systemic changes, procedural changes in how we looked at intelligence and acted on that intelligence.”
Host Martha MacCallum asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:25] “When we left Afghanistan, we had a similar, tragic Hellfire missile attack that landed and killed ten people, a man who was carrying water, bringing water as part of humanitarian aid, and, at that point, when you were asked, what are we going to do about that, who’s accountable for that? This is what you said, John.”
She then played video of Kirby saying, “None of their recommendations dealt specifically with issues of accountability. … So, I do not anticipate there being issues of personal accountability to be had with respect to the August 29 airstrike.”
MacCallum then asked, “So, there were seven children that were killed by that U.S. Hellfire missile, no accountability, you said, was part of the plan. So, why is this so different than what we did there?”
Kirby answered, “Well, look, these are events that happened three years apart, two different geographic locations, two different countries, two different sets of circumstances, two different types of threat[s] that were being evaluated, and [two completely] different militaries that were involved, with two different chains of command. So, I think we’ve got to be careful comparing both events too closely. We, too, had an independent investigation, Martha, of that incident, and that independent investigator found that there was no need for personal accountability to be had, but did find that the U.S. military needed to make some systemic changes, procedural changes in how we looked at intelligence and acted on that intelligence. The Israelis, similarly, have said the same thing about this event this week with the WCK strike, that they’re going to make some systemic changes. Now, we’re glad to hear that and we’re going to be watching to see what those changes are and how they can put them into effect. But these are two different events.”
MacCallum then cut in to say, “They’re not that different though, John. … This was a trigger moment, it appears, for the White House, because, obviously, the momentum has been building to take a harder line against Israel and their tactics, but this was the event that really pushed things over the edge. And so, why is it so different, in terms of what Israel carried out, in the midst of war — and these aid workers, and my heart breaks for them, as it does for the seven children who were with this man underneath this Hellfire missile — but the aid workers know that they are in a war zone and that they are taking a tremendous risk, at risk of their own safety.”
Pentagon
Quote:Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder dodged a question Thursday about why no one in the U.S. was held accountable for a mistaken 2021 drone strike, while demanding Israel punish officials for a similar incident.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, the Biden administration claimed that a drone strike on a target in Kabul was a “righteous” strike on a terrorist in the wake of the attack on the international airport that killed 13 U.S. personnel.
Later, the U.S. admitted that the drone attack had targeted an innocent aid worker, who died along with two adults and seven children from his family. No one was ever fired, or reprimanded, for the mistake or the false explanation.
Yet in recent days, President Joe Biden and White House officials have demanded that Israel hold officials accountable for a mistaken drone strike on World Central Kitchen aid workers who were mistaken for terrorists.
The question was posed by Washington Times reporter Mike Glenn. From the Pentagon’s own transcript:
Q: Yes. Thanks, Pat. In August 21, 2021, the U.S. launched a drone strike that killed seven children and three adults for several days. People in this building, including your predecessor and the former chairman, insisted it was a righteous nation. Nobody was punished for it. Nobody lost their job over it. I mean, is it really — is the U.S. really in a position to be outraged about what happened in Israel since it seems to almost mirror what happened in the — what the U.S did in Afghanistan?
GEN. RYDER: Yes, Mike, I mean, I – I appreciate the question but, you know, I – I – I’m not going to be able to talk about the past. All I can talk about today is the present. And the fact is, you know, seven civilians who were delivering food to people who are in extreme need were killed in an airstrike. So it’s a tragic situation, I think we can all agree. And so I’ll just leave it there.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby, who demanded accountability from Israel this week for the World Central Kitchen tragedy, said in 2021 that no U.S. officials or soldiers would be blamed for the Kabul strike: “What we saw here was a breakdown in process, and execution in procedural events, not the result of negligence, not the result of misconduct, not the result of poor leadership,” he said, when he was the Pentagon’s spokesman.
So killing innocent people doesn't matter if you're in charge of any US military branch?
Biden & Xi in Tibet? Not at all!
Quote:President Joe Biden repeated a debunked lie on Thursday that he has traveled 17,000 miles with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Biden said Thursday at a Greek Independence Day Reception:
I was once asked by Xi Jinping in — I traveled 17,000 miles with him in Tibet. I was on the Tibetan Plateau. And he looked at me, and he said to me, ‘Can you define America?’ And I could say the same thing if he asked me to define Greece. I said, ‘Yes, one word,’ — and I mean this sincerely; it’s reg- — it’s recorded. I said, ‘One word: possibilities.’ ‘Possibilities.’
There is no evidence Biden ever traveled 17,000 miles with Xi.
The Washington Post‘s fact checker, Glenn Kessler, in 2021 even gave Biden three Pinocchios for the claim. As Kessler pointed out, Biden has been repeating this story since 2016, with no evidence to back it up.
Ironically, Politico associate editor Catherine Kim wrote in a recent newsletter that it was former President Donald Trump — not Biden — that has touted his relationship with Xi.
Kim wrote:
Even amidst his threats of tariffs, the former president has never held back on his praise for Xi, recently calling him a ‘very good friend of mine during my term.’ Biden does not share the same admiration: He’s publicly called Xi a dictator, a term that has received vigorous pushback from China’s foreign ministry.
Kim also highlighted a New York Times report that alleged that China had launched a social media operation to help Trump win in 2024.
The Rock Won't Endorse Biden
Quote:Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has expressed regret about endorsing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back in 2020, saying his decision stoked division that he doesn’t want to see happen again.
As a result, the actor said he won’t be endorsing any presidential candidates in 2024.
In an interview with Fox News this week, Dwayne Johnson admitted he isn’t happy with the current state of the U.S., though he stopped short of blaming the Biden administration.
‘The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was one I thought was the best decision for me at that time,’ he told Will Cain on Fox and Friends. “I realize now going into this election, I will not do that.”
“My goal is to bring this country together,” he added. “I will keep my politics to myself. It is between me and the ballot box. Like a lot of us out there, not trusting of all politicians, I do trust the American people and whoever they vote for that is my president and who I will support 100 percent.”
Judge McAfee vs Trump
Quote:The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others rejected on Thursday arguments by the former president that the indictment seeks to criminalize political speech protected by the First Amendment.
The indictment issued in August by a Fulton County grand jury accused Trump and 18 others of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia after the Republican incumbent narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump’s attorneys argued that all the charges against him involved political speech that is protected even if the speech ends up being false.
But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote that at this pretrial stage he must consider the language of the indictment in a light favorable to the prosecution. The charges do not suggest that Trump and the others are being prosecuted simply for making false statements but rather that they acted willfully and knowingly to harm the government, he wrote.
“Even core political speech addressing matters of public concern is not impenetrable from prosecution if allegedly used to further criminal activity,” the judge wrote.
He added that even lawful acts involving speech protected by the First Amendment can be used to support a charge under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, which prosecutors used in this case.
But McAfee did leave open the possibility that Trump and others could raise similar arguments “at the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record.”
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in an email that Trump and the other defendants “respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee’s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges.” He called it significant that McAfee made it clear they could raise their challenges again later.
NY AG Letitia James
Quote:New York Attorney General Letitia James is questioning whether the surety company covering former President Donald Trump’s $175 million bond is capable of fulfilling its obligation.
On April 1, Trump posted a $175 million bond to prevent James from seizing assets after an appeals court ruled the former president could post the bond amount to cover a civil fraud judgment of $464 million.
The appeals court ruling guaranteed Trump could appeal the judgment.
The firm that underwrote the bond is Knight Specialty Insurance Company. The company essentially promised to cover the $175 million bond if Trump loses his appeal and fails to pay. Trump paid Knight Specialty Insurance Company a fee and pledged cash as collateral to obtain Knight Specialty Insurance Company’s coverage.
James questions the company’s ability to cover the sum of the bond, a Thursday court filing showed. Judge Arthur Engoron, who determined Trump’s civil judgment, tentatively scheduled a hearing for April 22 to discuss James objections, the New York Times reported:
In a court filing on Thursday, Ms. James noted that Knight was not registered to issue appeal bonds in New York, and so she demanded that the company or Mr. Trump’s lawyers file paperwork to “justify” the bond within 10 days. Ms. James is seeking to clarify whether Knight, which had never posted a similar court bond before aiding Mr. Trump, is financially capable of fulfilling its obligation to pay the $175 million if Mr. Trump defaults.
Even if Knight lacks the funds itself, the company should be able to tap the collateral Mr. Trump pledged.
In a statement on Thursday, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, Christopher M. Kise, slammed Ms. James, calling her case a “baseless and vindictive political crusade” and her objections to the bond an effort “to stir up some equally baseless public quarrel in a desperate effort to regain relevance.”
House Republicans & Devon Archer
Quote:Top House Republicans this week subpoenaed Biden business records linked to Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s business associate.
The records are related to “AlixPartners,” an entity that apparently holds documents related to the Biden business.
AlixPartners is a global advisory firm under the leadership of Simon Freakley, who allegedly offered his children counseling the day of former President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
“We along with @JudiciaryGOP are subpoenaing certain records in the possession, custody, or control of Devon Archer that are relevant to the impeachment inquiry,” the House Oversight Committee posted on X.
During Archer’s transcribed interview with investigators in July 2023, he said AlixPartners held documents that were of interest to House investigators.
Archer’s transcript reads:
Investigator: Do you have any text messages or emails with any Burisma associates or Hunter Biden or any other Biden associates in your possession?
Archer: No.
Investigator: Where are they?
Archer: They would be easily found in my discovery from my case.
Investigator: What about related to Rosemont Seneca Partners? Are all of your — are all of the materials related to Rosemont —
Archer: Yeah, I don’t have — like, as far as documents, I don’t have any — I don’t have — I barely have email.
Investigator: Is there any —
Archer: I don’t have a computer.
Investigator: Excuse me?
Archer: I don’t have a computer.
Investigator: Is there anyone holding any of your documents that you’re aware of at the moment?
Archer: AlixPartners.
Investigator: What documents are they holding?
Archer’s Lawyer: Sorry. They are retained through counsel. So that’s us.
Investigator: So you have the documents. Boies Schiller has —
Archer’s Lawyer: We have some documents. I’m not saying responsive to your specific question. We have some documents.
Archer is widely known for telling the impeachment inquiry that Hunter placed Joe Biden on speakerphone multiple times with his business associates.
[spoiler=LaGuardia Tower: Go Around]
Quote:A Southwest Airlines flight is under investigation after it nearly hit LaGuardia Airport’s air traffic control tower on March 23 during inclement weather.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are working to determine what happened when Southwest Airlines flight 147, which was journeying from Nashville to New York City, veered off course as it tried to land that afternoon, the New York Post reported on Friday.
At the time, the weather caused extremely low visibility, per NBC New York.
When the pilots received the green light a second time to land, an air traffic controller told the pilots, “Go around! Go around! Fly runway heading climb and maintain 2,000! Climb and maintain 2,000! Two thousand!”
The plane had dropped so low that the controllers saw the bottom of the aircraft as it flew past them, according to the NBC report. Per the Post, the controller said the plane failed to line up with the runway.
After being diverted to Baltimore, the flight landed safely.
An airline spokesperson said leaders are reviewing what happened as part of its safety systems.
Cash Heist
Quote:Thieves made off with approximately $30 million on Easter Sunday in “one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The heist took place on Sunday night at a money storage facility in Sylmar, where cash from businesses in the region is handled and stored, said L.A. Police Department Cmdr. Elaine Morales.
Morales said the culprits were able to access the building, as well as the safe where the money was kept.
“Law enforcement sources said the burglary was among the largest in city history when it comes to cash, and the total also surpassed any armored-car heist in the city,” according to the report.
“Sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that a burglary crew broke through the roof of the Gardaworld building on Roxford Street to gain access to the vault. But it is unclear how they avoided the alarm system,” the report continues, noting that the Canada-based company did not respond to requests for comment.
Business operators did not discover the theft until they opened on Monday. A local news helicopter video revealed a “large cut on the side of the building covered by a piece of plywood,” the report states.
EUROPE
Ukraine War
Quote:Over a dozen military jets were destroyed or damaged in a massive drone strike against a Russian airbase overnight, Kyiv claims, while asserting a like-for-like drone strike by Russian forces against a Ukrainian base failed to damage aircraft.
Ukraine launched one of its largest drone strikes against Russia of the war overnight, they said on Friday morning, claiming some 50 drones were sent to a military airfield in Morozovsk, Rostov Oblast around 60 miles east of the Ukrainian border. A statement by Ukrainian intelligence services, which launched the raid, claimed the Russian airbase is home to Su-34 fast bomber and and Su-27 fighter jets.
The Ukrainian intelligence agency hailed the “impressive” outcome of their operation, claiming “at least” six Russian military aircraft destroyed and eight damaged, as well as 20 Russian soldiers killed or injured. They said the “special operation” would “significantly reduce the combat potential” of Russia to strike at Ukraine.
As is typical in the Ukraine war, Moscow had its own version of events, stating it had shot down or otherwise intercepted 44 drones in the Morozovsky area and that the only damage was to a local power substation.
Meanwhile, Russia launched its own drone and missile strikes against Ukraine overnight, also targeting a military airfield as both sides apparently attempt to degrade the airpower of the other without resorting to the complex business of shooting down jets mid-flight. Ukraine dismissed the effectiveness of the Russian strike, saying that while hangar buildings at the Korotych airfield near Kharkiv were indeed damaged, the facility is actually disused so there was no equipment or personnel present to be hit.
Fighting the Russian air force is a particular priority for Ukraine, particularly as Russia switches its strategy to launching large numbers of cheap, plentiful, and powerful glide bombs at Ukrainian positions. Converted from legacy Soviet-era ‘dumb’ munitions, glide bombs kits strap folding wings, a control tail, and simple satellite navigation kit to the bombs to make a cost-effective guided weapon.
Each of the converted KAB-1500 bombs weighs one and a half tons or 33,000 pounds, most of which is the high explosive warhead.
Estonia Asks UK to Reintroduce Conscription
Quote:Russia needs a stronger deterrence to stop its aggressive moves on mainland Europe and a UK reintroduction of conscription would go some way to foiling Moscow’s predatory ambitions, Estonia Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Thursday.
Kallas made her call during an interview with the BBC in her prime ministerial office in Tallinn.
Estonia’s leader since 2021 sees conscription as another integral part of both providing a deterrence to Russia but also stronger defence if it does attack.
“We have a reserve army of 44,000 people that would equal, for Great Britain, around two million people. Two million people who are ready to defend their country and know what they have to do,” she told her interviewer.
After she mentions Britain unprompted, she was asked whether she would in fact recommend conscription to the UK as others already have.
“Of course, every country decides for themselves, we are all democracies, but I recommend this in many aspects.”
Kallas was reminded that the head of the British Army was rebuked by Downing Street after saying Britain should train a “citizen army” ready to fight a war on land in the future and quickly responded.
“Well it doesn’t surprise me because we have different historical backgrounds. We have lost our independence and freedom once and we don’t want to lose it again. They say that you only understand freedom and what it means when you don’t have it.”
Ex-Macron Adviser
Quote:A former advisor to President Emmanuel Macron has warned that if France continues down the same path with the green agenda, the country will likely face a “social revolt” far greater than the Yellow Vest movement or the recent bout of farmer protests.
“It’s going to end very badly,” warned David Djaïz in an interview this week with the Paris-based conservative news magazine Le Point.
The left-wing public intellectual and Emmanuel Macron’s former rapporteur for the government’s National Council for Refoundation (CNR) accused the government and political elites in France of being “content to manage the decline”.
Djaïz, an ardent believer in the need for a green transition of the economy in France and in Europe as a whole, argued that there is a “deficit of strategic thinking” in the halls of power, saying: “I saw from the inside how intellectually and operationally the state was exhausted.”
“This is going to end very badly. France could experience a huge public finance crisis, or a social revolt compared to which the Yellow Vests and the farmers are appetizers,” he warned.
Populist uprisings have been a defining feature of the government of Macron, a former Rothschild banker who has been branded as the “president of the rich“.
In 2018, the Yellow Vest movement — Named after the yellow safety vests French motorists are required to keep in their vehicles — threw the country into chaos as hundreds of thousands protested for months against Macron’s attempts to impose burdensome carbon taxes, which would have had a disproportionate impact on the working-class people, particularly commuters.
More recently, weeks of farmer protests shut down major highways throughout France amid a Europe-wide uprising against the Green New Deal agenda, globalist free trade schemes, and mountains of regulations and paperwork threatening the ability of farmers throughout the bloc to stay in business.
MIDDLE EAST
General Salami
Even if his surname sounds like an April fools' joke, it's totally real, guys! 
Quote:The commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, taunted the U.S. on Friday by declaring it “wildly hated by the world, especially in Muslim-dominated countries.”
AP reports Salami spoke against a backdrop of thousands chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America” as they marched in a funeral procession in Tehran for the seven Revolutionary Guard members killed in an airstrike widely attributed to Israel that destroyed Iran’s Consulate in the Syrian capital.
“The Zionist regime is like a dagger that the satanic British regime stabbed the body of the Islamic nation with 75 years ago,” Salami said, adding that the “Zionist regime is still alive with the United States’ artificial respiration.”
The mass public display came at a time of heightened concerns about possible retaliation by Iran for Monday’s strike that killed 12 people, including four Syrian citizens and a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, according to officials cited by AP.
The protesters in the capital headed to Tehran University where Salami gave his speech that promised “no threat will go unanswered” in retaliation for Israel’s apparent strike, the AP report set out.
“The collapse of (the Zionist regime) is very possible and close with God’s grace,” Salami continued, adding the U.S. has become “wildly hated by the world, especially in Muslim-dominated countries.”
The public funeral coincided with Iran’s annual rally Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Palestinians that has been held on the last Friday of Ramadan since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hamas & Islamic Jihad in Lebanon
Quote:Radio Farda on Friday quoted sources affiliated with Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon that have been holding “secret strategy sessions” with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Lebanese Hezbollah’s underground lairs.
According to Radio Farda’s sources, the meetings began a few weeks ago and have featured appearances from high-ranking Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers.
One of those IRGC officers, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was killed on April 1 in an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Iran has vowed revenge against Israel for the strike, and the Israelis are taking the threat seriously by shifting to a war footing.
Representatives of Yemen’s Houthi insurgents, who have wantonly attacked international shipping in the Red Sea for months and largely shut down one of the world’s most important sea lanes, also reportedly attended the Lebanon strategy sessions.
The hosts for the secret meetings were Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorists, who have themselves been launching rockets and drones at civilian targets in northern Israel. Since the early days of the Gaza war, Israel has been concerned that Hezbollah might attack in force and open a new battlefront in Lebanon.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech in which he declared support for Iran’s “right” to “punish” Israel for the airstrike that killed Zahedi. Nasrallah described that strike as a “turning point” in the regional conflict.
“Be certain, be sure, that the Iranian response to the targeting of the consulate in Damascus is definitely coming against Israel,” Nasrallah said, boasting that his forces could support Iran with weapons they have not revealed yet.
Regional analysts suspect Iran does not relish the prospect of directly attacking Israel and would much prefer to continue operating through terrorist proxies. The notion that all of those proxies have been gathering for secret strategy sessions with Iranian officers and Hamas representatives is troubling.
Top Jihadist Killed
Quote:Maysr al-Jabouri, a leading Iraqi jihadist widely known by the alias “Abu Maria al-Qahtani,” was killed on Thursday by a suicide bomber. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, but the rival militants of the Islamic State are the most likely suspects.
Qahtani was a former Iraqi insurgent who fought against U.S. troops in the early 2000s. He migrated to Syria and became a co-founder of Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front — al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria during the long and bloody civil war against dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Nusra Front eventually sought to distance itself from al-Qaeda, rebranding itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2016. HTS became one of the most powerful elements of the loose anti-Assad jihadi coalition after international attention turned to the rising Islamic State and the “caliphate” it carved from captured territory in Syria and Iraq.
In August 2023, Qahtani fell out with HTS, which suspended him from its leadership for “improper use of social media and external communications.” The terrorist group he co-founded imprisoned him for about seven months until he was acquitted on March 7.
The precise circumstances of his downfall were a bit murky, but he was suspended shortly after a close associate named Abu Yazan al-Dairi was accused of communicating with the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in Syria. Qahtani became an outspoken critic of al-Qaeda around the time of the Nusra Front / HTS schism, so some observers saw his suspension as revenge by al-Qaeda loyalists.
The Assad regime ultimately prevailed in the Syrian civil war with help from Russia and Iran, but HTS and some other jihadi groups still control some territory in Syria. HTS currently controls about half of Syria’s Idlib province.
The local population has been protesting against the harsh misrule of the jihadis, who have brought widespread starvation and poverty to the towns they control. HTS and its current leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, responded with harsh crackdowns on protesters and the murder of dissenters.
Israel on Aid Workers
Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Friday that it had concluded its probe into the deaths of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen, noting the reasons for the mistake and holding several officers accountable.
The IDF had fired on the convoy in the sincere but mistaken belief that it contained Hamas gunmen, after one gunman had been identified atop one of the vehicles earlier in the night, but before the convoy had entered a local warehouse. The WCK logo, painted atop the vehicles, was not visible at night to the infrared cameras used by drones.
Still, the IDF fired two officers and reprimanded several others for what it said were violations of regulations.
In a statement, the IDF said (translated from Hebrew by the author, with assistance from Google Translate):
Yesterday (Thursday), the investigation of the difficult incident in which seven workers of the humanitarian organization WCK were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of the fire of our forces was completed. The investigation was carried out by the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s investigation mechanism led by Major General Yoav Har-Even, and was presented to the Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
The event took place on April 1, 2024, during an operation to transfer humanitarian aid of the WCK organization to the Gaza Strip. The investigation shows that the IDF forces identified one gunman on one of the aid trucks, and later believed that there was another gunman.
After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid was unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly believed that the armed men were in the escort vehicles and that they were Hamas terrorists. The forces did not identify the vehicles in question as being associated with the WCK organization.
Following a misidentification, the forces attacked the three WCK vehicles, based on the misunderstanding that there were Hamas operatives in them, thus resulting in the death of seven innocent humanitarian aid operatives. The attack on the three vehicles was carried out in serious violation of the relevant orders and instructions.
The conclusions of the investigation show that the incident could have been prevented, and at the same time, those who approved the attack were convinced that they were attacking armed Hamas operatives and not WCK operatives. The damage to the aid vehicles is a serious mistake, which resulted from a serious failure, as a result of wrong identification, a mistake in decision-making and an attack contrary to the orders and instructions to open fire.
After the findings of the investigation were presented, and following the dire consequences of the incident, the Chief of Staff decided to take the following command steps: against the brigade support commander, an officer with the rank of major, removal procedures will be taken. Removal procedures will be taken against the brigade commander, an officer with the rank of colonel in the reserves.
In addition, processes of command reprimand will be taken against the brigade commander and the commander of division 162. Also, the Chief of Staff decided to reprimand the commander of the Southern Command for his overall responsibility for the incident.
The IDF takes seriously the serious incident that claimed the lives of seven innocent, uninvolved humanitarian aid personnel. We express our deep sorrow for the loss, and share in the grief of the families and the WCK organization. We attach the utmost importance to the vital humanitarian activities of the international aid organizations, and we will continue to work to coordinate and assist their activities, while ensuring their safety and safeguarding their lives. The laws of war and the avoidance of harm to innocents. The IDF will learn the lessons of the incident, and will assimilate the necessary lessons for future events.
The reprimand to the head of the IDF’s Southern Command, General Yaron Finkelman, is a serious measure and a possible blow to military morale. Finkelman has been an inspirational figure to Israeli soldiers and the public since the start of the war, when he broadcast an uplifting message to soldiers who were about to head into battle in Gaza.
The IDF will also require humanitarian aid vehicles to use special stickers that are visible to infrared cameras, the Times of Israel reports.
Netanyahu's Spokeswoman on Biden & Hamas
Quote:On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Netanyahu Spokesperson Tal Heinrich said that Netanyahu and President Joe Biden had a “good call” and the U.S. and Israel agree on the need to eliminate Hamas while minimizing civilian harm and the desire to free the hostages. She also responded to the Biden administration threatening changes in its policy if Israel doesn’t change by saying that “People have to understand that Hamas, they want international pressure to be applied on Israel instead of on them” and “there will be no humanitarian pause in the fighting, no ceasefire that will leave our hostages in Gaza and leave Hamas in power. That is unacceptable on our end.”
Co-host Sandra Smith played video of Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, “With regard to our policy in Gaza, look, I’ll just say this, if we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our own policy.”
Smith then asked, “So, this is the messaging. How would you characterize this moment in the war?”
Heinrich responded, “You see — first, it’s every moment in this war, including right now, is a moment for moral clarity. This is another moment for moral clarity. People have to understand that Hamas, they want international pressure to be applied on Israel instead of on them and, again, let them live another day and stay in power. There’s a lot of talk I’m hearing about an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting, so to say, a ceasefire. It’s important to understand, there will be no humanitarian pause in the fighting, no ceasefire that will leave our hostages in Gaza and leave Hamas in power. That is unacceptable on our end.”
Heinrich also stated that the U.S. will have to explain what it means by changes in policy.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
