Author: Mideast discourse

We will be continuing dialogue with Russia, our Black Sea neighbor, in all sectors to contribute to regional and global peace, the Turkish president said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed at the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 5 that his country can host a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, the TRT television channel reported on Saturday citing Erdogan’s statements for presidential pool journalists upon his return from Sochi. “It is crucial now to fully implement the grain export plan and substantiate this with practical steps to return to the Istanbul talks.…

Pakistan strongly condemned Israel’s deadly airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said. The killing of 10 Palestinians including a five-year-old girl in Gaza is the latest act of Israeli terrorism, Sharif tweeted on Saturday. “If impunity and barbarism had a face, it would have been that of Israel, which has targeted Palestinians without any care for consequences,” the prime minister added. Source: Xinhua

The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps lauded the Palestinian resistance groups for developing the power to deal with large-scale wars against Israel, saying the collapse of the Zionist regime may not even require a war. In a meeting with Secretary General of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhala in Tehran on Saturday, Major General Hossein Salami described the liberation of Palestine as a definite strategy. “Our goal and strategy is to liberate holy al-Quds and return the lost and occupied territories of Palestine to its true owners,” the IRGC commander said. Hailing the Palestinian resistance groups for…

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have escalated their strikes on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip in the framework of Operation Breaking Dawn, which was launched on August 5. Since the morning of August 6, Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters, combat drones and battle tanks have stuck dozens of targets of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the PIJ, across the enclave. The targets included weapons depots, rocket launch sites, mortar posts, command centers and at least one training camp. The IDF strikes on Gaza also knocked down a number of residential multi-storey buildings, which are not…

Moscow has not received any official proposals on replacing the New START arms control treaty, a senior diplomat has said Russia has not received any concrete proposals to resume talks on replacing the landmark New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), despite recent remarks by US President Joe Biden on the matter, a senior Russian diplomat said on Friday. He also signaled that the negotiations should be held without any preconditions. “Saying that you’re ready doesn’t mean you are,” the deputy head of Moscow’s delegation to the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, Andrey Belousov, told reporters. According to the diplomat,…

The Taiwan Defense Ministry said Saturday that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) may be carrying out a simulated attack against the self-ruled island. “Multiple PLA craft were detected around the Taiwan Strait, some have crossed the median line,” it said on Twitter, calling the motive a “possible simulated attack”, Anadolu Agency reported. “#ROC Armed Forces (Taiwan armed forces) have utilized alert broadcast, aircraft in CAP, patrolling naval vessels, and land-based missile systems in response to this situation,” it added, referring to combat air patrol. PLA warships and warplanes came so close to the Taiwan Island Friday that sailors and pilots…

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called today for an immediate de-escalation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the protection of civilians there, which he said is an obligation under international humanitarian law. “Ireland calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, which is an obligation under international law. I am particularly concerned about the impact on children. Ireland calls for everybody to act with restrain and reduce tensions,” Coveney said in a tweet. He added that he was “deeply concerned about the escalation in and around Gaza and the impact of the Israeli strikes on civilians.” Source : WAFA

Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday expressed its support for Palestinians in responding to the deadly Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip earlier in the day. “Hezbollah supports all the steps taken by the leadership of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to respond to the Israeli aggression and its continuing crimes,” the Lebanese Shiite political party said in a statement. The Israeli airstrikes, dubbed the “Breaking Dawn” operation, were launched against the Islamic Jihad Movement, an Islamist organization active in Gaza, to “eliminate” what the Israeli military called “the threat to the citizens of Israel.” The airstrikes “will only increase Palestinians’ determination…

The senior commander of the military branch of Islamic Jihad, who was assassinated by the Israeli regime, was one of those overseeing the construction of rockets by the Palestinian resistance. Israeli air raids on Friday killed at least ten people, including a commander of the Islamic Jihad group, as fears of an all-out war on Gaza again gripped the besieged Palestinian territory. The Israeli regime’s forces assassinated Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) northern commander, Taysir al-Jabari, FDD’s Long War Journal reported. He was one of the supervisors of resistance missiles, including the Islamic Jihad missile system that was unveiled in May…

Israeli warplanes attacked today and destroyed two residential buildings in Gaza city displacing their residents and damaging nearby houses as dozens of people were injured in the ongoing Israeli airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent. Warplanes fired missiles at a three-story building owned by the Shamlakh family in Sheikh Ijjilin neighborhood of Gaza City apparently minutes after its residents received a phone call telling them to evacuate the building since it was going to be bombed. Reports from Gaza said the building was totally destroyed and all houses around it were also heavily damaged leaving more than 100…