Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Israel-Gaza war: IDF says 24 soldiers killed in Gaza in one day

                                                         Photo-ABC News





MOUSHUMI RAHMAN MOU



The Israeli armed forces revealed that 24 of its fighters were killed in Gaza on Monday - the deadliest day for its forces since the start of their ground operations.

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It included 21 reservists who were killed in an explosion possibly caused by mines that Israeli forces planted in two structures to destroy them, the Israeli Guard Forces (IDF) said.


A rocket fired by Palestinian armed fighters is believed to have hit a tank near the structure.

                                                              Photo-CNN


IDF research occurred.


Its chief representative, Rear Chief of Naval Operations Daniel Hagari, said the defenders were killed in the focal Gaza on Monday around 16:00 (14:00 GMT) - near the Kibbutz of Kisufim on the Israeli border.


He said they were involved in an activity to encourage residents of southern Israel to consider returning safely to their homes after tens of thousands of people were evacuated following an October 7 attack by Hamas.

                                                        Photo-State Magazine


On Monday, Israel's military previously confirmed that three officers were killed in a separate attack in southern Gaza.


Israeli state leader Benjamin Netanyahu described Monday's aftermath as "one of the most troubled days since the conflict ended."

"For our legends, for our lives, we will not give up the fight until we win outright," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.


Israeli President Isaac Herzog said it was a "very disturbing morning" to learn of the level of casualties.


"For the entire country, I console the families and appeal to God for the recovery of the injured," he said.

                                                        Photo-The Economist


Israel ended the conflict with the ostensible point of destroying Hamas when a flood of its gunmen killed 1,300 people - mostly regulars - and kidnapped around 250 in an unprecedented attack.


According to the IDF site, 217 fighters have been killed since the start of Israel's ground incursion on October 27, out of 545 killed since October 7.

No less than 25,295 people – mainly women and children – have been killed in the Israeli military mission in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Wellbeing Service.


News-BBC

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Rifts emerge among top Israeli officials over how to handle the war against Hamas in Gaza

 

                                                              Photo-PBS





M.AMINUR RAHMAN


An individual from Israel's ConThe Conflict Office cast uncertainty over the country's system for handing over prisoners held by Hamas, saying only a truce can free them, while the state leader dismissed the United States' rights to re-escalate its hostilities.


The statements by Gadi Eisenkot, former head of the armed forces, marked the latest sign of conflict among top Israeli authorities over the importance of the conflict against Hamas, now in its fourth month.


In his most memorable public explanations of the course of the conflict, Eisenkot said that ensuring that the many prisoners could be released involved more than just a truce, besides spreading "hoaxes" - an analysis by top state leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the Office of Five-Party War and that demands that the pursuit of conflict will achieve its delivery.

                                                     Photo-The Guardian


Eisenkot's claims came as certain relatives of prisoners have escalated their fights, an indication of growing disappointment over the public authority's apparent lack of progress toward an agreement to hand over the remaining hostages.


Eli Shtivi, whose son Idan, 28, has been held in Gaza since he was captured by Hamas raiders during the Clan of Nova's live outside event on October 7, began a longing strike Friday night in front to Netanyahu's confidential beach house. border city of Caesarea. Shtivi vowed to eat only a quarter of a pita a day (the revealed daily feast of the prisoners) until the head of state consents to meet him. Many people joined him in what coordinators said was a short-term fight.

The other day, Israeli police armed with rifles fought with protesters who blocked a major highway in Tel Aviv to demand a quick deal to hand over prisoners. Police confined seven dissidents for short periods, according to Israeli media.

                                                            Photo-Le Monde


Meanwhile, mail began slowly returning to Gaza after a nearly eight-day power outage, the longest since the conflict began. The telephone and Internet blackout made it almost impossible for people in Gaza to communicate with the rest of the world or within the territory, hampering the delivery of philanthropic guidance and rescue efforts amid the Israeli bombardment.

For a week, Gaza's occupiers have been trying to get a signal on their phones. Many head to the ocean side, where some may find a non-Palestinian organization. With families dissipated in the small Mediterranean region, networks are critical to ensuring family members stay alive as Israeli airstrikes destroy their homes.


"The people behind me came to mind from their peers, relatives, friends and relatives," Karam Mezre said, alluding to others sitting with him on a rock next to the ocean in central Gaza, checking their phones.

                                                                     Photo-CNBC


In any case, when the mail does return, "it is irregular and not constant," said Hamza Al-Barasi, who was uprooted from Gaza City.


The power outage has also made it difficult for data to escape Gaza about daily passage and destruction by Israel's hostiles. The attack has hit much of the Gaza Strip, home to some 2.3 million people, as Israel vows to pulverize Hamas after its phenomenal October 7 attack on Israel. About 1,200 people, generally ordinary people, died in the assault, and another 250 were kidnapped. Israel has stated that more than 130 prisoners remain in Gaza, but it is not accepted that all of them are alive.

Israel's hostilities, one of the deadliest and most damaging military missions in history, have killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health experts, and wiped out more than 80% of the region's population.


Israel has also withdrawn all but a flow of supplies into the blockaded region, including food, water and fuel, sparking what U.N. officials say is a merciful debacle.

                                                                Photo-CBS


The United States, Israel's closest partner, has important areas of strength to provide and political help for the mission, but has progressively moved closer to Israel to reduce its attack and move toward designing a Palestinian state after the conflict, an idea which Netanyahu has sufficiently ruled out.


During a widely reported news conference on Thursday, Netanyahu reiterated his long-standing resistance to a two-state deal, saying Israel "should have a security command in the entire area west of the Jordan waterway."


On Friday, President Joe Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone after a glaring nearly four-week gap in direct correspondence amid central contrasts over their dreams for Gaza once the conflict ends.


Biden, for all he cares, in Friday's call reaffirmed his obligation to continue helping the Palestinians move toward statehood.

Netanyahu and Defense Pastor Yoav Courageous have also said the fighting will continue until Hamas is crushed and maintain that major military activity can secure the release of prisoners.


In any case, observers have begun to question whether Netanyahu's goals are reasonable, given the slow pace of the hostile and developing global analysis, including accusations of massacre at the United Nations world court, which Israel strongly denies. Experts blame Netanyahu for trying not to delay investigations into legislative deceptions, taking care of his alliance and postponing the elections. Polls show that the notoriety of Netanyahu, who is being investigated over corruption allegations, has declined during the conflict.


Speaking on Israeli TV Station 12's analytical program "Uvda," Eisenkot said that Israeli prisoners "will possibly return alive in case there is an agreement, related to a critical respite in the battle." According to him, the sensational rescue efforts are far-fetched, since the prisoners are clearly fanned out, many of them in underground passages.

                                                                  Photo-BBC


Ensuring that prisoners can be released by means other than an agreement "is spreading deceptions," said Eisenkot, whose son was killed in December while fighting in Gaza.


The Brave Guard cleric has said the troops weakened Hamas' order structure in northern Gaza, from which critical numbers of troops were withdrawn earlier in the week, and that the focus is currently on the southern part of the Gaza Strip. region.


However, Eisenkot also excused the idea that the military has dealt a definitive blow against Hamas.


"We have not yet reached an essential achievement, or rather something," Eisenkot said. "We did not end Hamas."

The group of attackers has continued to retaliate throughout Gaza, including in the most devastated regions, and has launched rockets towards Israel.


At his meeting, Eisenkot also stated that a negative cautionary signal against Hezbollah's civilian army in Lebanon was canceled without a second to spare during the start of the conflict. He said he was among those who opposed such a strike at an October 11 Bureau meeting that, he said, left him screaming.



Such an attack would have been an "essential mistake" and would likely have triggered a local conflict, Eisenkot said.


In a less than subtle analysis of Netanyahu, Eisenkot also said that key decisions regarding the course of the conflict should be made cautiously and that a conversation about a final plan should have started after the conflict began.


He said he analyzes every day whether he should remain in the War Office, which also includes Netanyahu, Chivalrous, former guard priest Benny Gantz and Ron Dermer, key firms serving in Netanyahu's government. Eisenkot is a parliament that is part of the Public Solidarity collusion resistance led by Gantz.


"I understand what my red line is," Eisenkot said when asked when he would stop. "It is associated with the prisoners, who are one of the targets, but on the other hand it is associated with the way we want to manage this conflict."

The conflict has spread across the Middle East, with Iranian-backed groups pursuing American and Israeli targets. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah attackers in Lebanon leads to full-scale war, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to focus on global supplies despite US-led airstrikes.


The United States on Friday launched its sixth negative mark against Houthi rebels in Yemen, eliminating the enemies with rocket launchers that were ready to fire, according to a US official who spoke about the secrecy status to examine continuing military activities. President Joe Biden has acknowledged that the siege of the attackers currently does not seem to be able to stop their attacks on delivery in the important Red Ocean corridor.


AP-News

Friday, January 19, 2024

US strikes Houthi anti-ship missiles, shipping disruptions grow

 

                                                              Photo-SCF Containers

MITALI RAHMAN MITA


The United States on Thursday sent new negative signals against Houthi foes for rocket transport aimed at the Red Ocean, as developing pressure on the region's sea lanes disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply disruptions that could reignite the expansion.

Two of the boat rockets designated for strikes by Yemen's Houthis were poised to end up in the Red Sea and were considered "an imminent threat" to shipping and US Navy ships in the district, the US military said.


Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi civilian army on ships in and around the Red Sea since November have eased trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in the escalation of conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

In the second attack on a US-operated ship in the district this week, the Genco Picardy was attacked in the Gulf of Aden late on Wednesday, setting off a fire and prompting the Indian Navy to rescue the group.

India has sent a warship to the area to protect the 22 crew aboard Genco Picardy, including nine Indians. The team was all safe and the fire was extinguished.

The Houthis say they are working firmly with the Palestinians and have taken steps to target US ships in light of American and British attacks on assembly sites.

The approach sought by U.S. President Joe Biden — a mix of limited military strikes and support — appears geared toward preventing a broader center-east struggle while Washington tries to repel the Houthis, security and military experts said.

                                                                   Photo-RunNews24


Biden acknowledged on Thursday that the strike had not stopped attacks by the attackers but said the US military response would go ahead.

"Can it be said that they are stopping the Houthis? No. Can it be said that they will advance? Indeed," Biden told reporters aboard Flying Corps One.

The Pentagon tried to portray the US attack as a watchful display of maritime defense.

"We are not at war with the Houthis," Pentagon representative Sabrina Singh said. "The Houthis are the ones who keep sending cruise rockets, hostile to deliver rockets to innocent mariners... What we are doing with our allies, is self-defense."

In the most recent sign that the Houthis are trying to go after the ships steadily, British maritime security agency Ambre said a Marshall Islands-recognized material item revealed the robots' suspicious approach 103 miles southeast of the large hauler Aden.

The Houthis have claimed responsibility, saying they targeted an American boat chemical officer with a sea-based rocket, causing a "direct hit".

"The Yemeni military confirms that retaliation for the American and British attacks is inevitable, and that any new hostilities will not be tolerated," a demand from the rally said.

In another episode, Ambrey said, a U.S.-claimed large vehicle detailed four automated ethereal vehicles approached and surrounded the ship, about 87 miles southeast of Mukalla, Yemen.

Following the attack in Genco Picardy, the US military said its forces fired 14 Houthi rockets on Wednesday that "presented an imminent danger to shipping and US Navy ships in the area". White House public safety spokesman John Kirby told columnists on board the aviation-based Armed Forces One that Thursday's strike was similar to Wednesday's.


News Source-REUTERS

Thursday, January 18, 2024

After the Tehran attack, Pakistan sent retaliatory airstrikes to Iran, killing at least 7 people

 






MITHILA RAHMAN TUSI



Pakistan's aviation-based armed forces carried out retaliatory airstrikes in Iran early Thursday morning targeting the aggressors, an attack that killed at least seven people and heightened tensions between the neighboring countries.


Attacks in Sistan and Balochistan regions followed an Iranian attack on Pakistani soil on Tuesday that killed two children in the southwestern Balochistan region. The attacks on Tuesday and Thursday appeared to target separate Baloch militant groups after the two countries claimed to be tracking down each other's sanctuaries.

The attack jeopardizes strategic ties between the two neighbors, as Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long respected each other with suspicions of aggressive strikes.


News source - AP


Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Iran says strikes targeted militant group in Pakistan

 

                                                                      Photo-France 24




MITHILA RAHMAN TUSI


Iran says it has hit an aggressor bunch in western Pakistan, its third air strike on one more country this week after prior assaults on focuses in Iraq and Syria.



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Iranian state television said the activity hit two destinations in Balochistan connected to the assailant bunch Jaish al-Adl.


Pakistani authorities said two youngsters were killed and three others harmed.


Islamabad said the air strike was an "unlawful demonstration" and cautioned it could prompt "serious outcomes".

The most recent air strike come during a period of developing pressure across the Center East, with over 100 days of extraordinary conflict among Israel and the Palestinian gathering Hamas in Gaza and US-UK air strikes on Yemen, from where Iran-supported Houthis have been going after business delivering in the Red Ocean.


Tuesday's strike in Pakistan hit a town in the huge south-western boundary region of Balochistan. Tehran said it was focusing on Jaish al-Adl, or "multitude of equity", an ethnic Baloch Sunni bunch that has completed assaults inside Iran as well as on Pakistani government powers.


Late on Monday Iran sent off terminated long range rockets against focuses in Iraq's northern city of Irbil, provoking judgment by the US.


Iran's Progressive Watchmen said they struck what they guaranteed were an Israeli "spy base camp" in Iraq's semi-independent Kurdistan Area. Four regular citizens were killed and six hurt in the assault, nearby specialists said.

Iran then, at that point, hit focuses in Syria's north-western Idlib territory, which is the final resistance fortification in the country, beyond Syrian government control, and is home to 2.9 million uprooted individuals, a large number of whom are residing in desperate circumstances in camps.


Iran's Progressive Gatekeepers said the strikes in Syria were in counter during the current month's self destruction besieging that killed 84 as groups denoted the fourth commemoration of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani's death by the US.


Tehran has proclaimed that it would rather not engage in a more extensive clash radiating from the conflict in Gaza. Be that as it may, bunches in its supposed "Hub of Obstruction", which incorporate the Houthis, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and different gatherings in Syria and Iraq, have been doing assaults on Israel and its partners to show fortitude with the Palestinians.


Following the assault an on its area, Pakistan censured what it called an "unjustifiable infringement of its airspace by Iran". It said added that it was "considerably really worried that this unlawful demonstration has occurred notwithstanding the presence of a few channels of correspondence among Pakistan and Iran".

Pakistan and Iran's relationship is sensitive however friendly. This assault occurred around the same time as Pakistan's top state leader and Iran's unfamiliar pastor met in Davos and keeping in mind that Iranian and Pakistan naval force kept military drills intact in the Bay.


However both have blamed the other for holding onto aggressor bunches that do assaults on the other in their line regions for a really long time. In 2017 the Pakistan unfamiliar service said that an Iranian robot was shot down as it was inside Pakistan region, and in 2014 Iranian security powers crossed the line to seek after aggressors.


Security on one or the other side of their common boundary, which runs for around 900km (559 miles), has been a long-running worry for the two legislatures.


Tehran has connected Jaish al-Adl with assaults last month near the boundary, which killed in excess of twelve Iranian cops.


At that point, Iran's inside serve Ahmad Vahidi said the aggressors mindful had entered the country from Pakistan.

China on Wednesday asked Pakistan and Iran to show "limitation" and "keep away from activities that would prompt an acceleration of pressure". Unfamiliar service representative Mao Ning added that Beijing saw the nations as "close neighbors".


Jaish al-Adl is the "most dynamic and powerful" Sunni assailant bunch working in Sistan-Baluchestan, as per the workplace of the US Overseer of Public Knowledge. It is assigned as a psychological oppressor bunch by Washington and Tehran.


News Source-BBC NEws

Monday, January 15, 2024

Yemen Houthi rebels fire missile at US warship in Red Sea in first attack after American-led strikes


                                                              Photo-Responsible statecraft





MITHILA RAHMAN TUSI



Yemen's Houthi rebels fired a rocket at an American destroyer in the Red Sea, but it was shot down by a US fighter jet in the latest attack to upset the global spread of Israel's conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, authorities said.


Sunday's attack marked the first US-recognized fire by the Houthis since the US and partner nations launched an offensive against the dissidents following a prolonged attack on supplies in the Red Sea on Friday.

The Houthis have designated the key passageway linking Asian and Middle Eastern fuel and cargo shipments to Europe over the Suez Canal in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, after moves to escalate the conflict into provincial unrest.


The Houthis, an Iran-aligned Shiite rebel group in the Yemeni capital in 2014, did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.


                                                           
It was not immediately clear whether the United States would fight back against the latest attack, but President Joe Biden said he "will not hesitate to take further measures to protect our relatives and, if necessary, order the free flow of world trade."


On Sunday, Houthi fire came down the path of the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the southern compass of the Red Ocean, US military headquarters said in a statement.


The US said the rocket reached the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, long held by the Houthis.

"An enemy boat sailed from the Iran-backed Houthi-controlled area of Yemen towards the USS Laboon," the headquarters said. "No injuries or damage were reported."


The main day of US-led strikes hit 28 areas on Friday and more than 60 centers were hit by rockets and bombs launched by competing aircraft, warships and a submarine. The US says the destination houses weapons depots, radars and war rooms, notable for its rugged mountainous terrain.


The Houthis are currently unable to identify the extent of casualties from the strike, which they say has killed five of their soldiers and wounded six others.


US forces attacked Houthi radar sites on Saturday.


Traffic through the Red Ocean slowed after the attack. The US Navy on Friday warned American-led ships to avoid areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the alleged airstrikes.

                                                                 Photo-MSNBC News


As far as they are concerned, the Houthis have confirmed without providing evidence that the US hit a site near Hodeidah during the same season of rocket fire on Sunday. The Americans and the Unified Realm did not recognize any strike directive - suggesting the impact may have been from a stray Houthi rocket.


Since November, dissidents have repeatedly put designated ships in the Red Sea, saying they are retaliating against Hamas for Israel's hostilities in Gaza. Regardless, they are often designated as vessels with dubious or unequivocal connections to Israel, jeopardizing transportation on an important route for global exchange.

Indeed, even the head of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Sunday noted the expansion of Houthi attacks on ships, saying that "the sea has become a battlefield for rockets, robots and warships" and accused the United States of attacking. This is due to the increase in sea pressure.


"The most dangerous thing is what the Americans have done in the Red Ocean (it) will destroy the security of all sea lanes," Nasrallah said.


But while the Biden organization and its allies have sought to calm tensions in the Middle East and prevent a larger conflict, the Red Sea attack took an enlightening step.


Saudi Arabia, which backs the Yemeni government far and wide, has been embarrassed that the Houthis are fighting, and has tried to reduce ties to attacks on Houthi areas as it tries to maintain a sensitive detente and cease-fire with Iran. It is in Yemen. The Saudi-led, US-led war in Yemen, which began in 2015, has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and regular civilians, and led to one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.

The American military did not say specifically whether the fire marked Labun, following a US precedent since the Houthi offensive began. Nevertheless, US sailors received battle stripes for their actions in the Red Ocean - which are awarded exclusively to those facing a dynamic threat with enemy forces.


News source-ABC News

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Pro-Palestinian protesters chant ‘f–k Joe Biden,’ damage fence outside White House

 

Photo The Guardian
                                                                     


M.AMINUR RAHMAN



A group of pro-Palestinian allies chanted the slogan "F-K Joe Biden" as they tore down a retaining wall outside the White House during alleged dissent on Saturday night.


Unimportant faculties were evacuated from the region as an insurance as the forced show leant, the mystery administration confirmed.

The video shows the group shaking the wall so violently that part of it becomes slightly unstable as a mob of secret administration police push back to prevent the rallyists from entering the field.


Some protestors threw water bottles and used sticks to tear apart their Palestinian banners at the officers, while others tried to climb the wall.

                                                                 Photo-The Atlantic


"F—k Joe Biden!" The marchers shouted.


"That's different! You support the killing of children!"


The counter-scale fence supported some "temporary damage," but the original White House wall and surrounding structures were left intact, a mystery administration representative told The Post.

"The problems were promptly fixed by US Secret Help Support Groups," said Lt. Paul Meher.


"As a security measure, some media and staff members near Pennsylvania Road were briefly moved while the incident continued."

                                                                  Photo-NBC News


No captures were made.


The administration quickly extended the fence in hopes of showing opposition to the White House, which was the planned climax to a walk through Washington, D.C., demanding an end to Israeli military activity in Gaza.

The convention was attended by a large number of dissidents, some holding signs that read: "No decision for Decimation Joe," "Biden has a guilty conscience" and "Let Gaza live."


Biden has been an ally of Israel and supported a "crisis deal" that a month ago sent about 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth $106M to the Jewish state.

                                                                       Photo-Al Jazeera
                               

The meeting focused on the significant loss of life in Gaza in the 100 days Israel has assembled since fighting Hamas's October 7 surprise attack on its regular citizens.


More than 23,800 people - about 66% of them women and children - have been killed in Gaza during Israeli counterattacks, according to the Hamas-run territory's Wellbeing Service.

Israel declared war on October 7 due to an exceptional cross-line attack by Hamas in which the Islamic extremist group killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250.


An expected 132 prisoners are still being held in Gaza.


News Source - The New York Post

Friday, January 12, 2024

Statement from President Joe Biden on Coalition Strikes in Houthi-Controlled Areas in Yemen

 




                                BRIEFING ROOM-THE WHITE HOUSE



Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces—together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands—successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.

 

These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history. These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation. More than 50 nations have been affected in 27 attacks on international commercial shipping. Crews from more than 20 countries have been threatened or taken hostage in acts of piracy.  More than 2,000 ships have been forced to divert thousands of miles to avoid the Red Sea—which can cause weeks of delays in product shipping times. And on January 9, Houthis launched their largest attack to date—directly targeting American ships.

 

The response of the international community to these reckless attacks has been united and resolute. Last month, the United States launched Operation Prosperity Guardian—a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.  We also joined more than 40 nations in condemning Houthi threats. Last week, together with 13 allies and partners, we issued an unequivocal warning that Houthi rebels would bear the consequences if their attacks did not cease. And yesterday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding the Houthis end attacks on merchant and commercial vessels.

 

Today’s defensive action follows this extensive diplomatic campaign and Houthi rebels’ escalating attacks against commercial vessels. These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes. I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.


Joint Statement from the Governments of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States



Recognizing the broad consensus as expressed by 44 countries around the world on December 19, 2023, as well as the statement by the UN Security Council on December 1, 2023, condemning Houthi attacks against merchant and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea, our governments issued a joint statement on January 3, 2024, which called for the immediate end of illegal attacks and warned that malign actors would be held accountable should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and the free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways. Despite this strong warning, attacks in the Red Sea have continued, including the launch of numerous missiles and one-way attack aerial vehicles against ships in the Red Sea on January 9, 2024, including U.S. and UK vessels.  On January 10, 2024, the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 2722, which also condemned these attacks and demanded that they cease.

 

In response to continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, conducted joint strikes in accordance with the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, consistent with the UN Charter, against a number of targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.  These precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of international mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways.

 

The Houthis’ more than two dozen attacks on commercial vessels since mid-November constitute an international challenge. Today’s action demonstrated a shared commitment to freedom of navigation, international commerce, and defending the lives of mariners from illegal and unjustifiable attacks.

 

Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, but let our message be clear: we will not hesitate to defend lives and protect the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats.




Thursday, January 11, 2024

From one party to one person: What was de facto is now de jure

 

                                                             Photo-Hindustan Times




MITALI RAHMAN MITA



We congratulate Sheikh Hasina for winning her fifth term as the top head of state, and fourth consecutively - the longest in our experience set. Today, in Bangladesh, everything revolves around him, which is a declaration of his power and how the base is run. From strategies to plans and their execution, from large-scale to miniature, from master plans to momentary nuances, from dabbling with flyovers to conserving green bean stew — everything has to have his immediate approval without getting bogged down in administrative mazes. All the mega projects and their smooth execution can be credited to him. There is a story that the pioneer of the fire unit group, while dousing a fire in a skyscraper in Dhaka, was caught on television pointing out the Prime Minister's immediate instructions by which he and his group had the option of controlling the fire. If it is valid, it is a picture of his unlimited power, the fantastic degree of his beneficence and absolute supremacy over all things.


According to his allies, this was deservedly because no other person before him had achieved as certain a change in Bangladesh as he did, not without establishing it.

The most recent political contest is yet another example of total oversight of major occasions in any vote-based system, facilitated by the blacklisting of resistance, which has allowed Hasina a complete free hand. It was to all intents and purposes without a hitch on the day of the final vote, because everything was done so quickly. The BNP has shown itself completely unprepared to understand Sheikh Hasina's necessary rationale and careful preparation and cares little about the heavy price they will pay both short and long for their blacklisting. Hasina's nationalistic card game was striking and brilliant, and her handling of it with great energy was masterful. Welcoming China and India into full agreement to support him is something that local and global pioneers can benefit from.

                                                                   Photo-Xinhua


As far as Sheikh Hasina's command of everything goes, the survey results tell a story that nothing else could. The Awami Association (AL) won 222 seats, and 62 seats were won by "rebels", of which 58 were long-standing Awami-League and supported by the party. Jatiya Party won 11 seats on behalf of A.League. A further two seats were won by 14-party union figures as a result of the extent to which the Awami League has indulged in using "boats" as their political race image. Thus, out of the 298 seats where the results were announced, 293 were either won by the actual A.L.I. or it was "supported" or "favored". If we add the 50 seats for women, most of which will go to the Awami League, Hasina can count at least 45 without much restriction, making a total of 338 MPs. 350's place. At what point can it be labeled as something besides one-party rule? This may very well be an example of seeking success to one's advantage, as such aggressive group power has its own inherent weaknesses.

Of the 28 ideological groups that participated in the political decision, 23 did not win a single seat, each of them lost their "stores" that they had no open support. They were brought into the fray to climb the amount of gatherings joining political contests only to claim that surveys were challenged by many gatherings.


The main party that could have checked the A.L. in any significant way - the BNP - was hit so hard, and so widely spread, that when the opportunity came to survey, it was police action, huge cases, fast-track convictions and widespread destruction. becomes The party said 13,424 BNP vanguard activists were detained till the day of the terror final polls. It likewise ensured that 499 cases were closed, 52,342 persons were entrapped as their names were remembered for Original Data Reports (FIRs). The way BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir, who deserves praise across the political spectrum, has been in jail since October 29 and has been denied bail multiple times - even last Wednesday - says it all.


Be that as it may, BNP's method of boycotting its own political decisions, which we consider self-destructive, has further added to its minimization.


                                                               Photo-Al jazeera



The main result of this political competition is the development of Sheikh Hasina as the unrivaled head of the country. He has been so for a long time now, yet the most recent political decisions have greatly consolidated that position. What was true is now by law.


Since his return from exile in India in 1982, he has been consolidating his power - first within the party and then within the government authorities - by politicizing administrators, policing, organization as a whole and the massive transport of facilities and offices, ultimately the nation as a whole, any resistance. and made him its principal chief, completely dismissing non-radical disputes.


The result of the political contest of January 7 is that there is certainly not a single person from Parliament, except a few, who does not owe his enrolment. Sangsad, which was something of an elastic stamp on his tactics, will now be more and will not address any party other than the Awami League and will not mirror the voice of anyone other than his. In the last parliament, BNP had seven MPs who criticized the government authorities whenever they got the chance. Nevertheless, in this one, even that level of rigor will be absent. It will be a chorale as far as possible.

Crazy as it may sound, Sheikh Hasina's victory is so complete that she should decide who will be the head of the opposition in Parliament. At the moment, the largest assembly other than the Awami League consists of so-called "rebels", all of whom must return to the party. Perhaps Sheikh Hasina can convince them to form a "resistance" and dictate from behind. As a result, he will be on the right side of the House and head of resistance. An unimaginable success with infinite risk - Parliament becoming a complete handmaiden and a majority rule government being put on a ventilator with complete oxygen supply in an obvious hand.

                                                                   Photo-Dhaka Tribune


A self-aggrandizing approach to talking to parties, there are few strict guidelines for winning parties from less civic voters. Awami League's vote bank is generally seen as 35-40 percent. So the overall voter turnout of 41.8 percent (according to the Political Decision Commission data) shows that Awami League's main allies were in the mood to cast ballots and non-party citizens, who were believed to be 20-25 percent, stayed away from voting as well. BNP's bank which is assessed as 30-35 percent (from past races), sums up to about 60% of voters who stayed away. So rich people who cast their ballots mainly to influence the current government should be inspected more impartially and learned from its fabricated examples.


Essentially, Sheikh Hasina currently stands out as the person who is solely responsible for whatever happens in the country. The financial turmoil expected to result from the global financial turmoil will all hit close to home, with all the blame coming his way. A rising dollar, expansion, rising costs of fundamentals, tax evasion, horrendous energy endowments and global market movements will create residual problems before all of this sinks our product. So far, the previous finance minister has announced that not all IMF conditions can be met. During the June-December period, we could not explore with our unfamiliar trade holdings. This may not be the first of several defaults that may follow.


In the last ten years, and especially in the last five years, the impurity has at one time expanded to an enormous extent; To deny it is to hide from reality. A growing measure of non-performing progress is sucking the very "blood" of our financial structure, and the primary businesses responsible for it continue to receive government blessings. The internal governance structure of the banks has weakened, making the region more powerless and endangering the entire economy. Good governance has been alarmingly neglected, leaving the basic institutions of its own policies and responsibilities. The manipulation of the overall set of laws and its specific application will weaken the certainty of the global business locality, which is of vital significance if we need to increase unfamiliar speculation. The Head of State has guaranteed us that the economy will be his primary focus. We ask him to begin his new abode with unequivocal action on previously segregated subjects.


Widespread victory may not be as smooth as it looks on a superficial level. The truth of the matter is that victories are usually sparkling, yet outright victories are certainly blinding.


News source:Daily Star-Bangladesh

Monday, January 8, 2024

Blinken due in Israel for tough Gaza talks

 

                                                                          Photo-Bruegel




M.AMINUR RAHMAN




Top US ambassador Antony Blinken was expected in Israel on Monday for troublesome discussions on the conflict in Gaza as fears develop that the contention could overwhelm the more extensive area.


Talking in Qatar on Sunday, Blinken said that Palestinians dislodged by the now four-month-old conflict should be permitted to "get back", while advance notice that the viciousness could "without much of a stretch metastasize" into a provincial clash.

Starting from the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, savagery has raised in the involved West Bank and on Israel's northern line with Lebanon, while Yemen's Huthi rebels have sent off in excess of 100 robot and rocket strikes towards focuses in the Red Ocean and Israel.

                                                                            Photo-NBC


On his fourth visit through the locale since the conflict started, the US secretary of state was booked to visit the Assembled Middle Easterner Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday prior to showing up in Israel, where he will hold chats with Israeli pioneers on Tuesday.

The US is Israel's principal partner and gives it billions of dollars in military guide, however it has developed progressively worried over the mounting regular citizen loss of life in the contention.


Washington has said that Blinken will squeeze Israel on its consistence with worldwide helpful regulation and request "quick measures" to support help to Gaza.

                                                                              Photo-CNN


The Hamas-run service of wellbeing said Monday eight individuals had been killed in an Israeli strike close to Deir Al-Balah in focal Gaza.


The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas' phenomenal October 7 assault on Israel, which brought about around 1,140 passings, the majority of them regular folks, as per an AFP count in view of true Israeli figures.


The assailants, considered a "psychological militant" bunch by the US and European Association, likewise took around 250 prisoners, 132 of whom stay in imprisonment, as per Israel. No less than 24 of them are accepted to have been killed.


Israel has answered with persevering siege and a ground attack that have killed something like 22,835 individuals, the greater part of them ladies and youngsters, as per the Hamas-run wellbeing service in Gaza.

No less than 85% of Gaza's 2.4 million individuals have been dislodged by battling, as per UN figures.


"I awaken thinking this is a spending bad dream, yet it is a reality," said Gaza occupant Nabil Fathi, 51.


"Our home and my child's home have been obliterated and we have 20 individuals martyred in our loved ones. I don't have any idea where we will go regardless of whether I make due."


- Writers killed -


Two writers working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network were killed on Sunday when their vehicle was struck in southern Gaza's city of Rafah, close to the boundary with Egypt, the telecaster said.


They were named as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer who likewise worked for AFP and different media associations, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the child of Al Jazeera's Gaza department boss who had before lost his better half and two different youngsters in an Israeli strike.

Witnesses let AFP know that two rockets were terminated at the vehicle - - one hit the front of the vehicle and the other hit Hamza who was sitting close to the driver.


The Israeli armed force let AFP know that it had "struck a fear monger who worked an airplane that represented a danger to IDF troops", adding that it was "mindful of the reports that during the strike, two different suspects who were in a similar vehicle as the psychological oppressor were likewise hit".


In Qatar, Blinken censured the passings as an "unbelievable misfortune".


The Council to Safeguard Writers says something like 79 columnists and media experts, by far most Palestinian, have been killed starting from the beginning of the conflict.


Worldwide guide bunches said Israeli assaults on one of Gaza's last working medical clinics had constrained them to clear.

                                                                         Photo-Al-jazeera


The World Wellbeing Association said Sunday it had emptied in excess of 600 patients from the Al-Aqsa medical clinic in focal Gaza following "disturbing reports of expanding threats".


Specialists Without Boundaries said a day sooner it had emptied its staff from a similar emergency clinic after a slug entered a wall in the emergency unit.


- 'All out triumph' -


The Israeli armed force - - which professes to have "destroyed" Hamas' tactical initiative in northern Gaza - - revealed killing more "psychological militants" in focal Gaza, remembering for a robot strike in the Bureij displaced person camp.


A tactical assertion said troops had found an underground "weapons creation site" in the blockaded Gaza Strip's north worked by Hamas.


Israeli Top state leader Benjamin Netanyahu promised again at a bureau meeting on Sunday that "what occurred on October 7 won't repeat".

"This is the responsibility of my administration and this is the motivation behind why our fighters in the field are giving their lives. We should go on until absolute triumph," he said.


- 'Superfluous conflict' -


In the West Bank, involved by Israel beginning around 1967, destructive viciousness has flooded to levels concealed in almost twenty years.


An Israeli strike on Sunday killed seven Palestinians in the northern city of Jenin, the Ramallah-based Palestinian wellbeing service said, likewise revealing an eighth casualty by Israeli fire in a different episode.


An Israeli boundary cop was killed when a side of the road bomb hit her vehicle during a strike on Jenin, and an Israeli non military personnel was killed in a different shooting close to Ramallah, Israeli authorities said.

Afterward, Israeli police said that officials answering a vehicle slamming assault at a West Bank designated spot shot a Palestinian young lady, with doctors affirming the three-year-old kid's demise.


Viciousness persevered along Israel's northern line, with Hezbollah saying on Saturday it had terminated 62 rockets at an Israeli army installation, days after it faulted Israel for a strike in Beirut that killed Hamas' representative chief Saleh al-Aruri.


The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah "military locales" accordingly, while armed force representative Daniel Hagari cautioned the Hamas partner against "hauling Lebanon into a pointless conflict"


.

Friday, January 5, 2024

Court documents naming Jeffrey Epstein's associates unsealed

 

                                                                           Photo-BBC





M.AMINUR RAHMAN 



The documents stem from a 2015 civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell.



The first batch of many pending court filings related to late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public Wednesday, and on the record, they included arguments from lawyers for Virginia Giffre -- an alleged survivor of Epstein. who sought to remove former President Bill Clinton as part of his defamation claim against Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell.

In recently unsealed material, Giuffre's legal advisers wrote that Clinton "is a key person who can provide information on her cozy relationship with the Litigant and Mr. Epstein."

                                                                     Photo-Rolling Stone


The record, dated June 14, 2016, is when Giuffre's lawyers first indicated their desire to fire Clinton for her announcement, as ABC News recently reported. Giuffre's legal advisers began casual discussions with Clinton's lawyers five days earlier, on June 9, 2016, ABC News detailed.


The now-unredacted report clearly reveals why Giuffre's attorneys looked to Clinton's announcement.

"In a 2011 meeting, Ms. Giuffre referred to Respondent and former President Bill Clinton's close personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Although Ms. Giuffre made no allegations of illegal activity by Bill Clinton, Ms. [Ghislaine] Maxwell referred to Ms. Giuffre in her statement to President Clinton ' Denial is one of the delusions' that he alluded to in his public statements that formed the basis of this case. In addition to the defendant and Mr. Epstein, former President Clinton is an important person who can provide information about him. The comfortable relationship with the respondent and Mr. Epstein and Mrs. Maxwell's opposition to the case,” the report said.

                                                                          Photo-BBC


Accordingly, Maxwell's lawyers have pointed out that "every case of the offended party against President Clinton must have been disproved," according to another report unsealed Wednesday.


Giuffre guaranteed to a reporter in 2011 that he saw Clinton on Epstein's secret Caribbean island shortly after his administration ended, ate with him, and claimed Maxwell saw Clinton flying to the island in a "major, dark helicopter." Geuffre later denied seeing the helicopter flight.

"Subsequently with the record, the aggrieved party's case about Clinton's presence on the island and the fully prepared anecdote about the evening gathering that resulted has been fully exposed ... the relevance of any announcement she might have added is non-existent," the recently released report said.


Giuffre's motion to fire Clinton was rejected by a government judge in a yet-to-be-revised request, ABC News recently revealed.


                                                                          Photo-NPR

Geoffrey made no claims of misconduct against Clinton. After Epstein's capture in 2019, Clinton's rep denied that Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein's wrongdoing, denied that Clinton had ever been on Epstein's secret island, and said that the former president had not spoken to Epstein in more than 10 years.


The records unlocked Wednesday are critical to a long-running defamation claim filed by Geoffre against Maxwell. Gueffre vouched that she was a high school sex slave for Epstein and was manipulated by him and Maxwell into mating with influential men.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month that more than 150 names of "John and Jane Dose" referred to in the records had no legal basis to proceed with the disguise. Preska had requested to open the lock from January 1.


Epstein's additional partners are named in the record, including Andrew the ruler.

                                     

In response to the report's arrival, Geuffre's counsel, supervising associate Sigrid McCauley of Boyz Schiller Flexner, said the general public has a right to find out what happened to Epstein.


"The general public has pondered and many have demanded to know exactly how Epstein operated his massive, global sex-trafficking effort and pulled it off for a really long time. Who empowered and worked with him and who participated in an activity that brought untold "His search. Mischief and perversion for the existence of unending young women and young women was immediately revealed," the claim read. "A portion of these questions have been answered; many remain unanswered. Some equity for survivors has, no doubt, been accomplished; not nearly as much as expected and deserved. In any case the public premium should serve to acquaint itself with the scale and scope of Epstein's racket. Which adds to the significant objective of stopping sex anywhere that exists and being more responsible.

                                                                     Photo-Fox News


Late Wednesday night, Maxwell's lawyer, Arthur L. Aidala and Diana Fabi Samson likewise issued a declaration: "Ghislaine Maxwell has not accepted any circumstances regarding the court's new choice to unlock the reports of Giuffre v. Maxwell because these revelations make little difference to her or his case. Coming attraction."

"Ghislaine's attention is focused on the upcoming redistricting debate in order to plead for the entire case to be pardoned," their claim goes on. "He is certain that he will receive equity in the next Circuit Court of Requests. He reliably and energetically maintains his innocence."


Source: ABC News

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