Israeli tank, aircraft attack Gaza security posts
The
Israeli military says an aircraft and a tank have targeted two
security posts in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The
attack on Thursday night had no casualties, Reuters reported, citing
residents of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
The
Israeli army claimed that the attack was a response to rocket attacks
from Gaza earlier in the day.
"In
response to... projectiles fired at Israel throughout the day... an
IDF tank and an IAF aircraft targeted two military posts in the Gaza
Strip. The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the hostile activity
perpetrated against Israel from the Gaza Strip," it said in
a statement.
However,
no claim of responsibility has so far been made by the Palestinian
resistance movement.
Reuters
said the al-Tawheed Brigades claimed responsibility for the missile
launches from Gaza.
The
Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The
blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as
unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
The
Israeli regime denies about 1.8 million people in Gaza their basic
rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs with proper wages as well
as adequate healthcare and education. The Tel Aviv regime has also
waged several wars on Gaza since 2008. Thousands of Gazans have been
killed or maimed in the Israeli wars and a significant portion of
infrastructure has been destroyed.
Israeli
attacks like the one on Thursday have been taking place on a regular
basis since the regime's latest war on Gaza in early July 2014.
The
development came a day after US President Donald Trump said he would
recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the new capital of Israel, escalating
tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel
regards Iran-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, blaming
the group for firing rockets into Israeli territory as well as other
provocations. Tel-Aviv has waged two wars against Hezbollah, with the
latest conflict in 2006 leaving over a thousand civilians dead in
Lebanon during a month of fighting. Hezbollah convoys inside Syria
have also been a frequent targets of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes
in recent years.
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah backs call for new Palestinian intifada
Lebanese
Hezbollah has backed calls by the Palestinian armed group Hamas to
launch a new uprising against Israel in response to the US
recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, Hassan
Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, said in a televised address.
“The
most important response would be a Palestinian uprising and an
Islamic summit that would declare Jerusalem as the eternal capital of
Palestine,” Nasrallah said, as quoted by Lebanon’s Naharnet TV.
"We
support the call for a new Palestinian intifada [uprising] and
escalating the resistance which is the biggest, most important and
gravest response to the American decision," he added.
Nasrallah
also called for unity and support for the resistance among Muslims in
the face of Wednesday’s announcement by President Donald Trump.
Earlier
Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said “we should call for, and
we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist
enemy" in response to the US move.
Trump’s
unilateral decision on recognizing the contested city of Jerusalem as
Israel's capital was taken despite the Palestinians viewing the
eastern part of the city as the future capital of their sovereign
state.
Nasrallah
pointed out that Washington disregarded the Palestinians “although
it is the guarantor of the agreements” between Israel and the
Palestinians. Trump, by his announcement, told Israel that Jerusalem
“is for you, and it is under your sovereignty,” Hezbollah's
leader said.
He
warned that Muslim people and their sacred sites in the city,
including the al-Aqsa Mosque, are now in “extreme danger.”
“Do
not be surprised if one day we wake up to find al-Aqsa Mosque
demolished,” Nasrallah declared calling for a Monday rally in the
Lebanese capital, Beirut. “What will be the fate of the Palestinian
residents in Jerusalem? What will be the fate of the Palestinian
properties in Jerusalem? Will they be appropriated or demolished?”
Israel
regards Iran-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, blaming
the group for firing rockets into Israeli territory as well as other
provocations. Tel-Aviv has waged two wars against Hezbollah, with the
latest conflict in 2006 leaving over a thousand civilians dead in
Lebanon during a month of fighting. Hezbollah convoys inside Syria
have also been a frequent targets of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes
in recent years.
“The
support of Hezbollah is a quite an important and a meaningful factor”
for the Palestinians, Vyacheslav Matuzov, Society for Friendship and
Business Cooperation with Arab Countries, told RT. However, he said
it would require the Palestinian Authority to encourage an intifada
and for the people to “go out into the streets.” Matuzov said
he's unsure if Mahmoud Abbas is eager to support calls of an uprising
as voiced by Hamas and Hezbollah. “For now, it’s a diplomatic
rivalry,” the former emissary said, referring to the Palestinian
president’s consultations with foreign leaders on the issue of US
recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
US troops may become targets after US Jerusalem decision - Iraqi paramilitary group
The
US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may become a
“legitimate reason” to attack American troops in Iraq, Shia
paramilitary group Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba said.
“Trump's
stupid decision... will be the big spark for removing this entity
[Israel] from the body of the Islamic nation, and a legitimate reason
to target American forces,” said Akram al-Kaabi, the Iraqi
organization’s leader, as cited by Reuters.
The
US, which is leading a large-scale operation against Islamic State
(IS, formerly ISIS) in Iraq, has about 5,200 troops in the country,
according to the latest statement from the US Defense Department.
Nujaba,
mostly made up of Iraqis, has about 10,000 fighters, according to
Reuters data. Being a part of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization
Forces (PMF), the group is considered to be one of the most important
militias in Iraq.
In
November, Ted Poe from the US House of Representatives proposed
imposing “terrorism-related sanctions” on Nujaba. The text of the
document says Nujaba is “an affiliated faction” of the
US-designated foreign terrorist organization Kata’ib Hezbollah,
which also fights with the PMF.
Nujaba’s
leader Akram al-Kaabi was earlier designated by the Department of the
Treasury “for threatening the peace and stability of Iraq.” The
bill claims Kaabi took part in “multiple mortar and rocket attacks”
on the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2008.
On
Wednesday, Donald Trump officially announced his decision to
recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, where he plans to
relocate the US Embassy. The president admitted the move will cause
dissent, but says it could help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A
number of world powers, including Germany, Turkey, and Russia,
expressed grave concern over the Trump administration’s decision.
On
Thursday, the Iraqi government demanded the US reverse its decision
to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “We caution against
the dangerous repercussions of this decision on the stability of the
region and the world,” a government statement reads. “The US
administration has to backtrack on this decision to stop any
dangerous escalation that would fuel extremism and create conditions
favorable to terrorism.”
Marines snipers on rooftops of US embassy in Amman
The
Jordanian newspaper, Al-Ghad, removed pictures and story on Twitter
about US Marines snipers on rooftops of US embassy in Amman. It seems
ordered were issued to the king from DC.
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