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US launches airstrike on site in Syria in response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias
US launches airstrike on site in Syria in response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias.....»»
Beware of terror’s seduction
Major league media spanning the world have fallen prey to the sweet seduction of the ratings game to forget about disseminating the truth, which is what journalism is all about. Terrorist forces have proven themselves adept in the art of deception that it lured the eminent The New York Times, or NYT, with its lies. Among the most prominent American newspapers, NYT, to its credit, issued an unprecedented “editorial note” admitting that a story it ran on the bombing of a Gaza hospital “left readers with an ‘incorrect impression,’” saying that its staff should have been more careful in the initial presentation of information and in explaining what could be verified. NYT had prominently and repeatedly featured Hamas’s claim that an Israeli airstrike caused last week’s blast at Gaza City’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. The note it issued on Monday acknowledged that its coverage should have been more journalistically rigorous. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza immediately blamed the 17 October explosion on an Israeli airstrike amid the war that erupted when the Palestinian terror group killed over 1,400 people in Israel in its assault on 7 October. Hamas provided no evidence to back up its false claim or for its claim that hundreds had been killed, but international media, including the NYT, swallowed the claims hook, line, and sinker. Shortly after, Israel produced evidence showing the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch from Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, an assessment endorsed by the United States, which has said it has data that supports this. NYT admitted that its initial reports “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.” In Britain, the BBC and other media outlets were also criticized by government lawmakers for rushing to report the Hamas version of events. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons last week, “We don’t treat what comes out of the Kremlin as the gospel truth; we should not do the same with Hamas.” In the war coverage, it must be clear there is no moral equivalence between Israel, a legitimate democracy, and Hamas, a terrorist organization that employs lies as a weapon. Media reports often frame both sides as being equivalent and engaged in a tit-for-tat. Hamas is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip, but major democracies consider it a terror organization. Israel, as a free and democratic sovereign state, does everything to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas is an Iran-backed terrorist group that openly seeks the destruction of Israel and actively hunts Israeli civilians to murder or abduct. It deliberately fires projectiles into civilian areas to kill as many Israelis as possible. Israel’s military specifically targets Hamas infrastructure, such as rocket launchers and production facilities, terrorist headquarters, terror tunnels, weapons warehouses, and senior terror leaders. Israel employs a tactic known as “roof knocking,” which warns civilians to evacuate a building through text messages and phone calls before targeting it for destruction. In contrast, the American Jewish Committee said Hamas deliberately puts Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. Hamas fires rockets and stores weapons in civilian areas, including around homes, schools, offices, mosques and hospitals. Hamas staged a large-scale incursion into southern Israel on 7 October during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, where over 600 Israelis were murdered. Often, the conflict with Hamas and other terrorist groups, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is framed as a dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. Any coverage of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad must mention that both terror groups are armed, trained, and financially supported by Iran. While its origins are with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has been funded, armed, and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps since the early 1990s. Equating Israel with Hamas would provide legitimacy to the use of terror tactics, which most nations have vowed never to consider as a subject of negotiation. The post Beware of terror’s seduction appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Saudi urges nationals to leave Lebanon
As tensions increased along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, Saudi Arabia yesterday urged all its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately.” The embassy of the Gulf state in Beirut said it was “closely following developments” in southern Lebanon, where at least 18 people have been killed in clashes between Israel and Hezbollah. Most of those killed were fighters, but two civilians and a Reuters journalist were among them. On the Israeli side, at least three people have died. Last 7 October, the Palestinian militant organization Hamas launched a massive attack against Israel, killing more than 1,400 people — mostly civilians — by shooting, stabbing, and setting properties on fire. Israeli retaliatory airstrikes on the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of almost 3,500 persons, predominantly civilians. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah, a militant group with roots in Lebanon and supported by Iran, like Hamas, have engaged in several hit-for-hit episodes. Hezbollah demanded a “day of rage” following a rocket attack on a Gaza hospital that resulted in the deaths of hundreds on Tuesday. Despite Israel’s denial, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday to protest the airstrike. Saudi Arabian citizens still in Lebanon were advised to “exercise caution and avoid areas where gatherings and demonstrations are taking place,” said a statement from the Saudi embassy. This week, Kuwait issued a similar travel advisory to its residents. The foreign ministry of Kuwait advised people who wanted to go to Lebanon to “be patient and postpone travel during this stage” and to those who were already there to “return voluntarily if there is no urgent need for their presence.” The post Saudi urges nationals to leave Lebanon appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Gaza and West Bank death toll now 2,383 Palestinians – ministry
GAZA — The death toll in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank reached 2,383 Palestinians dead and 10,814 injured on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian health ministry sources. In Gaza, the death toll climbed to 2,329 Palestinians killed and 9,714 wounded, while in the West Bank, 54 were recorded dead and 1,100 wounded since the conflict between Hamas and Israel started on Oct. 7. READ: Gaza braces for Israeli ground assault Women in Gaza: ‘We are humans’ Meanwhile, Israel bombed an entire neighborhood belonging to Abu Dakkah family in Kha Younis on Saturday (October 14). ‘We are humans. Where are you Arabs?’ said Palestinian women screaming, after the Israeli airstrike on their neighborhood. READ: Palestinians in Gaza face hard choices : Stay home under airstrikes or flee under airstrikes? Israeli deadline to flee south of Gaza “We will not leave; we will stay here, our land, civilization, and sacred places are here. Jerusalem is ours, the land is ours and the olive trees are ours,” said Ibrahim Abu Dakkah, accusing Israel of attempting to displace Palestinians. More than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to flee south, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had only just begun to retaliate for last week’s Hamas rampage across southern Israel. READ: What we know about Israel’s war with Hamas Total siege in Gaza Israel has since put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total siege and bombarded it with unprecedented air strikes. Gaza authorities say 1,900 people have died. The Gaza Health Ministry reports that Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours have so far resulted in the deaths of 324 Palestinians and the injuries of 1,000 more. Among the dead, there are at least 126 children and 88 women.” READ: Evacuation of Filipinos in Gaza mandatory as PH ups alert level to 4.....»»
IN PHOTOS: A week of war brings grief to Israelis, Palestinians
The carnage began with a violent cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians. Israel’s retaliatory response was swift, and by the middle of the week, the full destructive force of its military was bearing down on the Gaza Strip amid mounting threats of a ground invasion. The toll, whether caused by bullets or air strikes, has brought unimaginable grief for Israelis and Palestinians alike. In wrenching scene after wrenching scene, relatives weep over their dead, whose lives were suddenly and violently cut short in an erupting war that has shattered thousands of families. In the southern city of Sderot, an Israeli woman clings to a body lying in the road next to an overturned motorcycle. Now covered in a white sheet with a black boot poking out, the person was killed by Hamas militants the day they broke through the fortified border with Gaza. The woman cries in agony as she lays her head on the person’s chest. Miles away in Gaza City, two Palestinian women comfort one another in a crowd gathered to mourn those killed by an Israeli airstrike. One, looking weary and exhausted, gazes upward in sorrow. These images, taken by Associated Press photographers on the ground on both sides of the conflict, provide a window into the unbearable losses of this past week. RELATED STORIES Gaza braces for Israeli ground assault Israel troops start ground raids in Gaza A week into war, Gazans flee homes as Israeli ground offensive looms.....»»
Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11
President Joe Biden called Monday for Americans to unite despite bitter political differences as the United States marked the 22nd anniversary of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks. Bells were rung and the names of nearly 3,000 people were read out in somber ceremonies in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania where the hijacked planes struck. "Let's honor September 11 by renewing our faith in one another," said Biden, speaking at a US military base in Anchorage, Alaska as he traveled back from a trip to India and Vietnam. "We must never lose our sense of national unity, so let that be the common cause of our time." Speaking in front of a huge flag, Biden added that "terrorism, including political and ideological violence, is the opposite of all we stand for as a nation." His speech comes as the United States is increasingly polarized, with tensions likely to increase as Biden, a Democrat, heads into a likely election rematch next year with Republican former president Donald Trump. Trump has been indicted four times since April, including for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, with the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack by his supporters still fresh in the public's memory. 'Never forget' In New York, Vice President Kamala Harris and current and former mayors joined victims' families at the 9/11 memorial on the site of the World Trade Center twin towers brought down by two aircraft flown by hijackers. The names of the more than 2,600 who died in New York were read out by family members and young relatives not alive at the time of the attack. "I wish I had a chance to really know you. Everyone in the family misses you. We will never forget," said the grandson of firefighter Allan Tarasiewicz, who was killed at age 45 during rescue operations at the World Trade Center. At the Pentagon in Washington, where the attackers plunged a third aircraft into the headquarters of the US military, a sailor rang a ship's bell for each of the 184 killed there. And in western Pennsylvania, where a fourth hijacked plane apparently heading toward Washington was forced to crash, bells were rung for each of the 40 passengers and crew who died. "September 11 made America a nation at war, and hundreds of thousands stepped up to serve our country in uniform," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon ceremony. "I know that it aches to remember this milestone year after year... The men and women of the Department of Defense will always remember." Across New York City, in Congress and elsewhere, a moment of silence was held to mark the attack, plotted by Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was found and killed nearly a decade later by US Navy Seals in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan. Biden noted in his speech that he himself had given the order for bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri to be sent to the "gates of hell" last year in an airstrike in Afghanistan. "The soul of America is the fortitude we found in the fear of that terrible September day," he added. "The terrorists believed they could bring us to our knees, bend our will, break our resolve. But they were wrong, they were dead wrong." The post Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Zelensky: Russia will be defeated ‘as Nazism was’
Kyiv, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday vowed that Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine like Nazi Germany was beaten in World War II, commemorating Victory in Europe Day. “All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated,” Zelensky said in a video statement standing in front of a war memorial. “Just as we destroyed evil together then, we are destroying a similar evil together now,” he added. His address came on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender to allied forces on May 8, 1945 and one day ahead of Victory Day in Moscow, celebrating the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II. Zelensky said he had submitted a bill to parliament to formally commemorate World War II in Ukraine on 8 May and celebrate Europe Day on 9 May distancing itself further from Moscow. He said the Kremlin was responsible for “aggression and annexation, occupation and deportation,” as well as “mass murder and torture.” “All of this will be answered by our victory — the victory of Ukraine and the free world.” The address came hours after Ukrainian forces said they had downed 35 attack drones launched by Russia, which left five people wounded in Kyiv. In the southern region of Odessa, officials reported an airstrike hitting a warehouse, in which three people were injured. The post Zelensky: Russia will be defeated ‘as Nazism was’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Myanmar junta freeing 3,000 prisoners
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s junta said on Monday it would release more than 3,000 prisoners to mark the Buddhist New Year, without specifying whether those jailed in its bloody crackdown on dissent would be freed. The military has arrested thousands since its coup more than two years ago that plunged the country into turmoil and sparked widespread clashes with anti-coup fighters. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing “pardoned 3,015 prisoners... to mark Myanmar New Year, for the peaceful mind of the people and on humanitarian grounds,” the junta’s information team said in a statement. It did not say whether anti-junta protesters or journalists jailed covering the coup will be among those freed. Shortly after its coup, the junta released around 23,000 prisoners, with some rights groups at the time fearing the move was to free up space for opponents of the military as well as to cause chaos in communities. The country typically grants an amnesty to thousands of prisoners to mark its traditional Buddhist New Year holiday — which in previous years have been joyous affairs with city-wide water fights. But this year streets in many major cities were silent in boycott after a military airstrike on a village in a resistance hotspot that media and locals said killed more than 170 people. More than 21,000 people have been arrested since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, according to a local monitoring group. Suu Kyi has been detained since the early hours of the coup. The post Myanmar junta freeing 3,000 prisoners appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Filipinos in Israel told to stay away from Gaza, Lebanon borders
MANILA - Filipinos in Israel are advised to be vigilant and stay away from Golan Heights and places near the Lebanon and Gaza borders.The advisory was issued on Saturday as tensions flared between Palestinian militants and Israelis after the latter launched an airstrike on "Islamic Jihad tar.....»»
Army spokesman sees many NPA rebels killed after airstrike, heavy firefighting in Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY––A heavy firefight followed by a military airstrike resulted in the deaths of an undetermined number of rebels in a remote village in Dolores town, Eastern Samar on Monday, August 16, 2021. Captain Reynaldo Aragones, spokesperson of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, Samar, could not yet give more details about the […] The post Army spokesman sees many NPA rebels killed after airstrike, heavy firefighting in Eastern Samar appeared first on Cebu Daily News......»»
World travel situation improves
My last air travel was from Dubai in early February. We actually had second thoughts about going to the Middle East because of the mounting tension from the US airstrike that killed Iran’s top security and intelligence commander......»»