Important Takeaways:
- Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the ambassadors of Britain, France, and Germany to question what it referred to as their “irresponsible stance” regarding Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Reuters reported, citing Iranian media.
- The three European countries condemned Iran’s drone and missile attack against Israel, which went through Saturday night into Sunday and were in retaliation for a bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1, which has been blamed on Israel.
- Later, the director for Western Europe at Iran’s foreign ministry accused the three countries of “double standards”, noting they opposed earlier this month a Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have condemned the alleged Israeli attack in Syria.
- Tehran Warns Against Israeli Counterstrike, Threatens US Bases If Washington Assists
- Just hours after the unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel, top Iranian military leaders threatened to launch even larger attacks if the Jewish state decides to launch a counterstrike.
- Bagheri further warned the U.S. that Iran would attack U.S. military bases in the Middle East if Washington took part in facilitating an Israeli counterstrike on Iranian soil.
- IRGC Commander Hossein Salami indicated a shift in strategy when he stated that Saturday’s attack has created a “new equation.” He warned that Iran would launch similar attacks from its territory in response to any future Israeli military actions that threaten Iranian interests in the Middle East and beyond.
- Israeli President Calls Iran’s Attack A ‘Declaration Of War’ Says Israel Is ‘Considering All Options’
- While emphasizing that Israel is not seeking war, Herzog characterized the attack as a “declaration of war” and underscored the need for a firm response to Iranian aggression.
- While expressing Israel’s restraint and ongoing dialogue with international partners, Herzog stressed that all options are being considered to address the threat posed by Iran. He reiterated that Israel’s primary objective is the protection and defense of its people and reiterated that the country is not seeking to escalate the conflict into full-scale war.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israel beefs up air defenses, calls up troops as Iran payback for Syria strike looms
- Speculation suggests Iran could attack Israel from its own territory rather than through proxies, sparking wider hostilities
- Both Iran and its proxy Hezbollah have vowed that Israel will not go unpunished for the Monday attack on a consular building next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most senior official in Syria, along with his deputy, five other IRGC officers, and at least one member of the Hezbollah terror group.
- Zahedi was reportedly responsible for the IRGC’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and was thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries.
- The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.
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Important Takeaways:
- GOP hawks press Biden to target Iran directly over soldiers’ deaths
- “Last night, three U.S. service members were killed —and many wounded — during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday morning.
- Biden said the U.S. is “still gathering the facts of this attack,” but “we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
- According to U.S. central command, 25 service members were wounded in the attack.
- What they’re saying: Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called for “serious, crippling costs” to Iran, “not only on front-line terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honor.”
- Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said in a statement the attacks the U.S. has carried out on Iranian proxies outside Iran “will not deter Iranian aggression,” calling to “strike targets of significance inside Iran.”
- “The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief.”
- John Cornyn, in a post on the social media site X, said: “Target Tehran,” later specifying that he wants the U.S. to strike Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. and its Quds Force branch.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hezbollah says it is introducing new weapons in ongoing battles with Israeli troops
- The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his fighters have introduced new weapons, including a missile with a heavy warhead in the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that they will keep using the tense frontier to pressure Israel.
- Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also blasted the United States over the Israel-Hamas war, saying it is the only country that can stop Israel’s wide offensive on the Gaza Strip but doesn’t do so. He said attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, that Washington says have reached more than 40 rockets and suicide drone attacks, will continue until the war in Gaza comes to an end.
- Nasrallah’s comments came as the situation along Lebanon’s southern border continues to escalate. Hezbollah on Friday attacked northern Israel with three suicide drones after an Israeli strike in central Syria killed seven Hezbollah fighters.
- Hezbollah officials say that by attacking Israeli posts along the border, the Iran-backed group is keeping three Israeli army divisions busy at a time when Israeli troops are pushing into the Gaza Strip where more than 11,000 people have been killed over the past five weeks, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
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Important Takeaways:
- US launches airstrike on site in Syria in response to attacks by Iranian-backed militias
- Two U.S. F-15 fighter jets dropped multiple bombs on a weapons storage facility near Maysulun in Deir el-Zour that was known to be used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, U.S. officials said.
- “The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
- A military official told reporters in a call that people were seen at the warehouse during the day as the U.S. military watched the site for hours, but the number decreased to about “a couple” overnight when the strike occurred. The official said the strike triggered secondary explosions, indicating the presences of weapons, but the U.S. believes that no civilians were killed and any people at the warehouse were tied to the Revolutionary Guard or militia groups.
- The strike, said a senior defense official also on the call, was aimed at “disrupting and degrading the capabilities of groups directly responsible for attacking U.S. forces in the region” by specifically targeting facilities associated with the Revolutionary Guard. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide an assessment of the strike.
- This is the second time in less than two weeks that the U.S. has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which U.S. officials say have carried out at least 40 such attacks since Oct. 17.
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Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- Panic as Turkey, Syria rocked again by 6.3M earthquake
- A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southern Turkey near the Syrian border late on Monday, setting off panic and further damaging buildings two weeks after the country’s worst earthquake in modern history left tens of thousands dead.
- Two Reuter’s reporters said the tremors were strong and lasting, damaging buildings and leaving dust in the night air in central Antakya city, where it was centered. It was also felt in Egypt and Lebanon, Reuter’s reporters said.
- The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the tremor struck at a shallow depth of 2 km (1.2 miles).
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Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- Earthquakes that killed thousands in Syria and Turkey are world’s deadliest in nearly two decades
- As of Feb. 16, ten days after the initial 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region, more than 41,000 people are known to have died. That earthquake was only the start of the growing disaster, with another 5.7 magnitude quake hitting the following day and hundreds of aftershocks in between.
- The earthquakes are the deadliest to occur in the world since a massive 2005 quake in Pakistan killed more than 70,000 people.
- In 2011, nearly 20,000 people were killed after a 9.0 quake off of Japan’s coast triggered a tsunami.
- And the year before [2010] that, a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti devastated the capital city, Port au Prince, with a death toll estimated at 200,000 or more.
- 2018 in Indonesia at least 4,340 people were killed by the earthquake and its torrential aftermath, including at least 1,200 in the tsunami
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Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- Turkey Probes Contractors as Earthquake Deaths Pass 33,000
- The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes that struck nine hours apart in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria rose to 33,185 and was certain to increase as search teams find more bodies.
- As despair bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescues, the focus turned to assigning blame.
- Turkey’s construction codes meet current earthquake-engineering standards, at least on paper, but they are rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings toppled over or pancaked down onto the people inside.
- Rescue crews have been overwhelmed by the widespread damage that has affected roads and airports, making it even harder to move quickly.
- Erdogan has acknowledged the initial response was hampered by the damage. He said the worst-affected area was 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter and home to 13.5 million people.
- In Syria’s northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets.
- The overall death toll in Syria stood at 3,553 on Saturday, although the 1,387 deaths reported for government-held parts of the country hadn’t been updated in days. Turkey’s death toll was 29,605 as of Sunday
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Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- No room for the dead as cemeteries in earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria fill up
- Bodies are piled up in stadiums or car parks for identification; coffins are being brought in and mass graves dug
- At least five imams have rushed to Nurdağı to officiate a ceaseless rush of mass funerals, sometimes for as many as 10 victims at once. Officials brought in deliveries of coffins from neighboring villages and as far as Istanbul to provide a final resting place for the overwhelming numbers of corpses arriving in the town.
- Country’s worst natural disaster in a generation, the death toll has surpassed 21,000 and Nurdağı and towns across southern Turkey and northern Syria are scenes of apocalyptic levels of destruction.
- “Forty per cent of the people who lived in this town could be gone,” said Sadık Güneş, an imam in Nurdağı.
- Across northern Syria, people now living in tents in the snow began burning whatever they could to keep warm. Food and other basic goods remained scarce.
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Mathew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places
Important Takeaways:
- As the temperatures plunged, anger started to rise in Turkey over the government’s response to two massive earthquakes this week.
- On Thursday, the number of those killed by the tremors in Turkey and neighboring Syria passed 20,000.
- With their homes destroyed, thousands spent a freezing Wednesday night amid the debris in the streets of Adiyaman, huddled around small fires and with little shelter. Electricity and water were nonexistent in the southern city.
- Fearful of another earthquake, some chose to stay out in the open, avoiding buildings that appeared intact, and to brave the subzero temperatures.
- Osman Yıldırım, a civil engineer, said “The government didn’t take necessary steps to minimize risks through urban planning, low-rise buildings, construction codes and strict control,” he said, adding that as a result “new buildings and old buildings collapsed.”
- Opposition leaders and some social media users also blasted his government’s decision to block access to Twitter for about 12 hours, from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday, as people scrambled to find loved ones and share information on arriving aid and the location of those still trapped in rubble.
- Turkish authorities said they were targeting disinformation and, on Thursday, Erdogan, hit back at critics saying “dishonorable people” were spreading “lies and slander” about the government’s actions.
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