Important Takeaways:
- Iran has warned its neighbors in the Gulf with American military bases not to be involved in any potential strike — days after raising its alert level as the US increased its military presence in the region.
- Iran issued notices to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and Bahrain to warn them against allowing the US use of air space or territory lest it be considered an act of hostility, an Iranian official said.
- Tehran has rejected President Trump’s offer of talks to curb its nuclear program, although secret, informal discussions are thought to have taken place over the past few weeks in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
- Analysts believe that Iran, having lost its frontline offensive with the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the defeat of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, will want to cling to its nuclear program as its last military strategy.
- “Iran had wanted to extend a nuclear umbrella over its terrorist proxies as they attack Israel and moderate Sunni states. Iran will therefore want to cling to its nuclear program as the anchor for its planned recovery and to draw out talks with the Trump administration to gain time and legitimacy for its alarming nuclear progress,” said Yaakov Lappin, an Israeli security analyst.
- On Friday, Iran raised its alert level and said it was ready to deliver immediate responses in the event of an attack.
- While Trump has said that he prefers to reach a deal with Iran, he holds the Islamic republic responsible for attacks by its ally, the Houthis in Yemen, on Israel and on international waterways.
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Important Takeaways:
- For 14 years, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war. Until three months ago, dictator Bashar al-Assad controlled the government, but he was overthrown by the Jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization.
- While Assad had many faults he did protect the Christian minority in Syria. However, as noted by commentator Tucker Carlson, as the civil war progressed, “The percentage of Christians in Syria went from ten percent to two percent.”
- His removal was celebrated by neocons in this country, the same ones who worked to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. While both were brutal dictators, their removal led to even worse results. Today, Iraq is a strong ally of Iran, the world’s foremost benefactor of terrorism, while Libya has been splintered into regions controlled by rival Jihadist organizations.
- On Thursday, predictable revenge killings started in coastal areas of Syria, such as the town of Baniyas, still loyal to Assad. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, over 1,000 people were killed, including 745 innocent civilians.
- Throughout the region, innocent civilians were killed by Sunni Muslim gunmen affiliated with the HTS government. The victims included Christians and “members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.” Christian holy sites were also desecrated.
- He said the Jihadist murderers “asked residents for their IDs to check their religion and their sect before killing them. He said the gunmen also . . . stole cars and robbed homes.” To avoid the “executions,” some Alawites fled to Lebanon, while others took refuge at a Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria.
- In response to the carnage, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that our country “stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities.” He called for a full investigation by Syrian authorities. France also expressed its “deep concern” about the massacre and called for an independent investigation to “shed full light on these crimes.”
- Unfortunately, much of the international community has been silent about these atrocities. Even worse, the European Union (EU) exonerated the Jihadist government for the massacre. In their statement, the EU condemned “the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-Assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of Syria and all violence against civilians.” CBN News
- The new U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who predicted these problems in Syria was accused of being a Russian spy for meeting with Assad in 2017
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Important Takeaways:
- “Turkey is bombing and massacring Kurds tonight. No protests, no marches, no media coverage, no condemnations from UN, no ICC arrest warrants for Erdogan. Since 1914 Turkey has killed over 1.5 million Kurds. Stop Kurdish genocide.” — Hemdad Mehristani, researcher, X, October 23, 2024.
- If Turkey has the right to respond to a terrorist attack by bombing dozens of targets belonging to Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, why is Israel being condemned for responding to the October 7 Hamas-led atrocities against its own citizens? Just because of the “two-state solution”: Michigan and Minnesota?
- Not only is Erdogan lying when he accuses Israel of “genocide,” but he is also proving that he is a big hypocrite. If he is really worried about the safety of the Muslims in the Gaza Strip, why does he continue to support Hamas, while denying Israel the right to defend itself against Islamist terrorism? If he believes that he has the right to bomb Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, why is he denouncing Israel for taking the same action against Palestinian Islamist terrorists?
- The complicit silence of the anti-Israel groups on US university campuses towards Turkey’s crimes is simply evidence of a staggering racism and hypocrisy.
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Important Takeaways:
- Supreme leader defends Iran’s attack on Israel as ‘legitimate’, and calls on Muslim countries to unite.
- “The resistance in the region will not back down even with the killing of its leaders,” Khamenei said, calling Iran’s attack on Israel “legal and legitimate”.
- “The operations were … in return for the heinous crimes committed by this bloodthirsty criminal entity,” he said.
- He said Iran would fulfill its “duty” to allies in a considered manner.
- It was the supreme leader’s first such sermon in more than four years, coming just before the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel
- Iran’s proxies in its “axis of resistance” – Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq – have carried out attacks in the region in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
- Addressing massive crowds, Khamenei issued a rallying call to Muslim nations – “from Afghanistan to Yemen, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon” – saying they should unite against common “enemy” Israel, which he claimed had deployed “psychological”, “economic” and “military” warfare against them.
- Early on Friday, Israel hit Beirut with a barrage of attacks reportedly targeting senior Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine, a putative successor to Nasrallah.
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Important Takeaways:
- Middle East crisis looks set to explode into all out war as America threatens retaliation for rocket blast that hit soldiers in Iraq – as military scrambles destroyers and fighter jets to Israel
- American defense officials are planning for the crisis in the Middle East to become even worse following a rocket blast that injured several soldiers at a military base in Iraq Monday.
- The base in the west of the country was targeted by two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets amid soaring tensions in the Middle East – with Iran threatening to strike Israel as early as Monday night.
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Monday night the US was deploying additional fighters, carrier strike groups, ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the region, as Israel awaits retaliation from Iran for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
- ‘These posture adjustments add to the broad range of capabilities the US military maintains in the region, including the USS Wasp amphibious ready group/Marine expeditionary unit operating in the eastern Mediterranean,’ a DOD spokesperson said.
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Important Takeaways:
- We Are Just One Step Away From An Apocalyptic War In The Middle East
- Did you see what just happened in Damascus? In an absolutely stunning move, Israel took out the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Needless to say, the Iranians are absolutely furious and they are promising a “harsh” response.
- The building that was destroyed by the IDF airstrike was reportedly directly next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus…
- A building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus has been destroyed in an airstrike, reportedly killing a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and five others – with state media saying Israel was behind the attack.
- Pictures show the building in Syria’s capital razed to the ground, with huge plumes of smoke rising from the site following the explosion this afternoon and emergency workers rushing to the scene.
- This particular building was apparently the residence of the Iranian ambassador to Syria.
- The Syrian government says that the missiles that destroyed this building were fired from the Golan Heights…
- The Syrian Ministry of Defense responded with a statement.
- “This evening, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus,” it said.
- “Our air defenses responded to the missiles and shot down some of them. The aggression led to the destruction of the entire building and the martyrdom and injury of everyone inside.
- “Work is underway to recover the bodies of the martyrs, treat the wounded and remove debris.”
- It appears that the IDF was targeting a gathering of very important regional leaders.
- Mohammad Reza Zahedi was among those that were killed. He was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps…
- Another important Iranian military official named Haji Rahimi is also dead…
- In fact, Iran’s ambassador to Syria has already publicly stated that the response will be “harsh”…
- As Zero Hedge has aptly noted, if Iran’s response is too severe, it could spark “an all-out regional war”…
- Depending on Iran’s response, this could be the start of an all-out regional war. For months now, Iranian-made ballistic missiles and drones have rained down on Israel, fired by Iran’s proxies in Lebanon and Yemen. This new brazen Israeli attack on Iran’s embassy takes things into uncharted territory, and also opens up the potential for the Iranians to target Israeli embassies abroad.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) banned eight local banks from making US dollar transactions on 4 February, in an attempt to avoid sanctions and US financial restrictions.
- A CBI document lists the banned banks as Ahsur International Bank for Investment, Investment Bank of Iraq, Union Bank of Iraq, Kurdistan International Islamic Bank for Investment and Development, Al-Huda Bank, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance, Arabia Islamic Bank, and Hammurabi Commercial Bank.
- “We commend the continued steps taken by the Central Bank of Iraq to protect the Iraqi financial system from abuse, which has led to legitimate Iraqi banks achieving international connectivity through correspondent banking relationships,” a US Treasury Department spokesman said on Sunday.
- The measures come after Iraqi officials met with the US Treasury Department’s top sanctions official Brian Nelson last week.
- The Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament made a statement on 31 January calling for the sale of oil in currencies other than the US dollar, aiming to counter US sanctions on the Iraqi banking system.
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Important Takeaways:
- Iran-Backed Attacks on U.S. Troops in Middle East Reach Nearly 100
- The number of attacks as of Thursday was 97 since October 17, the official said. At least 66 troops have been injured in these attacks, including at least 19 who were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.
- Despite the Pentagon conducting five counter strikes — three against weapons storage facilities linked to the attacks and two against perpetrators, the attacks have not stopped.
- The uptick in attacks against U.S. forces has occurred against the backdrop of the Israeli military offensive against Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, after it conducted an attack against Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,200.
- The Pentagon announced Thursday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is heading to the Middle East this week to meet with the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, and Israel.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Speaking outside the White House on Wednesday, reporters asked Biden if the mercenary insurrection last week, reportedly against the Russian defense department, weakened Putin domestically.
- “It’s hard to tell,” Biden responded.
- “He is clearly losing the war in Iraq,” Biden said. “He’s losing the war at home and has become a bit of a pariah around the world.”
- Biden was on his way to Chicago to deliver an address on what his White House is calling “Bidenomics,” amid a struggling economy when he made the gaffe.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Iraq’s High Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Trump Over Killing of Iranian Commander
- “President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zaidan, announced on Thursday the issuance of an arrest warrant for former U.S. President Donald Trump.”
- The arrest warrant charges Trump with premeditated murder. While the warrant is clearly symbolic, a conviction of this nature carries the death penalty.
- The court said the investigation into the killings was still ongoing, AP reported.
- After Iran shot down a U.S. drone in June, John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser at the time, urged Trump to retaliate by signing off on an operation to kill Soleimani, officials said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also wanted Trump to authorize the assassination, officials said.
- In April 2019, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton “helped prod Trump to designate the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization,” NBC News stated.
- “White House officials at the time refused to say whether that meant the United States would target Revolutionary Guard leaders as it does the leadership of other terrorist groups…”
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