TOP STORIES
IDF Says It Found Proof Hamas Developed Cruise Missile Capabilities, Aided By Iran | Times Of Israel
Israeli soldiers in Gaza uncovered equipment being used by Hamas to develop precision-guided missiles under Iranian tutelage, the military said Sunday. Such technology would represent a dangerous upgrade to the terror group’s weapons capabilities. The announcement came as fighting in Gaza entered a third month since war broke out on October 7, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaling that Israel was not yet ready to wind down its war against Hamas, even as US President Joe Biden’s top diplomat headed to the region to redouble pressure for a shift to lower-intensity fighting.
Islamic State Raid In Iraq Kills 2 Pro-Iran Fighters | VOA
Two fighters from Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi alliance have been killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, the pro-Iranian Hashed and an Iraqi security source said Sunday. The two fighters "succumbed after having been wounded while they were confronting an attack" by jihadis late Saturday in Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, the Hashed said in a statement carried by Iraqi state media. A security source, speaking to AFP on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the death toll and said that IS attacked a Hashed "(military) post on Saturday night" in the area of Al-Zarka in the province's north. Hashed al-Shaabi is a coalition of mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units that have been integrated into the regular armed forces.
Iran Arrests Suspects After IS Attack In Kerman | DW
Iranian authorities have arrested a number of suspects in relation to the blasts that killed 89 people at the grave of General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday in the city of Kerman, Iranian media reported. Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi said five people had been arrested in five different provinces, according to state news agency IRNA and semi-official agency Tasnim. The news of the arrests, provided without further information, came as the victims of those attacks — which were claimed by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) — were laid to rest. Iranian media reported that 30 of the victims had been under the age of 18, and nine were 10 or younger.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Israel Discovers Evidence Of Iran Helping Hamas Build Precision Missiles | Foreign Desk
... The IDF shared their discovery on X (Twitter), displaying images of a rocket engine and warhead. The Iranian-sponsored weapons manufacturing plant was found as part of an operation to expose a 330-foot terror tunnel. “These findings show Iran is clearly trying to develop the precision of Hamas’ arsenal, using the model it employed with respect to Hezbollah,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). “It shows an attempt to nurture a local capability in Gaza to increase the precision of its missiles,” he added. The IDF troops also found numerous terror tunnels and rocket launching pads used to target Tel Aviv Israeli communities near the Gaza border, said Colonel Zuckerman.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Exclusive: US Intelligence Confirms Islamic State's Afghanistan Branch Behind Iran Blasts | Reuters
Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that Islamic State’s (ISIS) Afghanistan-based branch carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters on Friday. "The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable," one source said. That source and a second, both of whom requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, said the intelligence comprised communications intercepts, without providing further details. The collection of the intercepts has not been previously reported.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Woman In Iran Gets 74 Lashes For ‘Public Morals’ Violation | Al Arabiya
Iranian authorities have whipped a woman 74 times for “violating public morals” and fined her for not covering her head, the judiciary said. “The convicted, Roya Heshmati, encouraged permissiveness (by appearing) disgracefully in busy public places in Tehran,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said late on Saturday. “Her penalty of 74 strokes of the lash was carried out in accordance with the law and with sharia,” and “for violating public morals,” Mizan said.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran Lays To Rest Victims Of IS Twin Bombings | Al-Monitor
"We will find you wherever you are," Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said at the funeral ceremony, addressing the bombers' accomplices. Raisi vowed to avenge the killings, adding: "The time and place will be determined by our forces". Iran's intelligence ministry said one of the suicide bombers was a Tajik citizen while the identity of the other had yet to be determined. "Nine other members of the terrorist group's support network and its associates were identified and arrested in six provinces," the ministry said in reference to IS.
Iran's Security Apparatus Under Fire Over Kerman Twin Blasts | Iran International
Amid growing public pressure for accountability over the deadly bomb attack in Iran on January 3, authorities are scrambling to defend the security apparatus. In the wake of the deadly explosions that targeted a memorial ceremony for slain Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani at his grave, the Islamic Republic authorities are in hot water over the intelligence lapses and security failures that led to the incident, claimed by ISIS. Trying to mend their blemished reputation, senior officials claim that they have arrested tens of people and foiled several other bombing attempts planned for the day, which saw the biggest terror attack since the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979. The blasts were described as "two suicide explosions" that killed about 90 people and injured over 200 others.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Iran Guards Commander Challenges ‘Enemy’ Naval Presence In Region | Al Arabiya
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Saturday to reach “the enemy” far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels. “Today, we are facing an all-out battle with the enemy,” said Guards commander Hossein Salami at a ceremony in the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, where the Guards’ navy unveiled a new ship named “Abu Mahdi” and 100 missile launchers.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
The Frenemies Who Could Challenge The West’s Sanctions Regime | Bloomberg
The BRICS grouping has long been distinguished by a consistent failure to live up to potential. The internal contradictions are crippling: Divergent interests between members make it difficult to develop any shared policies. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are commodity exporters; India and China are importers. Brazil, India and South Africa are democracies; Russia and China only pretend to be. And India and China, as everyone knows, don’t exactly see eye to eye on anything.
Israeli Strike On Lebanon Kills Senior Commander In Elite Hezbollah Unit | Reuters
An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters. The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force. They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm. "This is a very painful strike," one of the security sources said. Another said, "things will flare up now." Israeli bombardment has killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas's attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7. Another 19 have been killed in Syria.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Missiles, rockets and drones struck targets around the Middle East this week as the United States, Israel and others clashed with Iran-allied militant groups — with attacks hitting in vital Red Sea shipping lanes, along Israeli-Lebanon borders emptied by fleeing residents and around the region’s crowded capitals and U.S. military installations. Together, Israel and its U.S. allies were facing two realities they knew all too well going into the war in Gaza: The Gaza-based Hamas militant group is far from alone as it battles for its survival. And by launching an all-out campaign to eliminate Hamas as a fighting force, Israeli and American leaders also are confronting simultaneous attacks from a strengthening defensive alliance of other armed militant groups linked with Hamas and Iran.
UK May Strike Houthi Drone Sites Within Days In Blow To Iran Ambitions | Daily Express
British forces could strike Houthi drone bases in Yemen within the week, following a decision in Whitehall to offer commanders a tentative green light for action. The plans - first revealed by the Sunday Express two weeks ago - represent an ambitious multi-platform operation involving UK Special Forces, the Royal Navy and the RAF. It follows a final warning by the US, UK and ten other states to rebels in Yemen that they will face serious consequences if they continue to ambush commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Defence secretary Grant Shapps confirmed that Britain would “not hesitate to take necessary and proportionate action”.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraq Prepares To Close Down US-Led Coalition's Mission – PM | Reuters
The Iraqi government is beginning the process to remove the U.S.-led international military coalition from the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said on Friday. The U.S. has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says advises and assists local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated. Sudani's statement came a day after a U.S. strike killed a militia leader in Baghdad, prompting anger among Iran-aligned groups which demanded the government end the presence of the coalition in Iraq.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
France And Iran Discuss Risks To Mideast Stability | Reuters
France's foreign minister said on Saturday that she had told her Iranian counterpart that the risk of a Middle East regional conflagration had never been greater and that Tehran and its proxies needed to end their destabilising activities. "Iran and its associates must immediately stop their destabilising actions," Catherine Colonna said on social media platform X after speaking with Hossein Amirabdollahian. "No one would gain from escalation."
As families of Flight PS752 victims mark the fourth anniversary of the aircraft's destruction, the federal government isn't ruling out designating the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization — a measure the families have demanded for years. PS752 was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020, killing all 176 people onboard, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. The Iranian government claimed in a 2021 report that the airliner was shot down accidentally after being "misidentified" by an air defence unit as a "hostile target" — a conclusion Canadian safety officials say Iran failed to support with evidence.
MISCELLANEOUS
Maersk Says To Avoid Red Sea For Foreseeable Future | Al-Monitor
Shipping giant Maersk said Friday that it would divert all vessels around Africa instead of using the Red Sea and Suez Canal for the "foreseeable future" after Yemeni rebels attacked its merchant ships. The Danish company cited the highly volatile situation and noted that the security risk remains high. "We have therefore decided that all Maersk vessels due to transit the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden will be diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future," it said in a statement.