The US will face grave consequences if hostilities in Gaza are not brought to an end, Iran’s defense minister warned on Sunday.
“Our advice to the Americans is to immediately stop the war in Gaza and implement a ceasefire, otherwise they will be hit hard,” Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani said, as cited by IRNA.
Iran has been actively calling for the end of the bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave and has repeatedly accused Washington of fuelling tensions in the Middle East since Israel began its military operations in Gaza following an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas that left some 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, dead.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Israel was committing “war crimes and genocide” with the “full support” of the US government.
“Israel’s criminal acts, fully supported by the United States, portray the arrogant spirit of Washington which incited hatred among nations across the world,” Kanaani said, according to Press TV.
Washington has refused to call for a full ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, opting for a “humanitarian pause” instead. The Pentagon has also shipped additional weapons to the IDF and dispatched a naval armada to the western Mediterranean Sea to show support for Israel.
Israel and the US, meanwhile, are accusing Iran of orchestrating Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians and supplying the group with weapons. The Pentagon also said that Iran was backing militias, which conducted drone and rocket attacks on US bases in the Middle East. Tehran, for its part, has endorsed Hamas’ deadly October 7 incursion into Israel, but claimed that it was an “entirely Palestinian” raid.
Israel has responded to the October 7 incursion by imposing a nearly complete blockade on Gaza and striking what it says are Hamas-linked targets. More than 9,000 Palestinians, including thousands of women and childrens, have been killed, according to the Hamas-run local authorities.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4. Kiev has deployed brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment, including Leopard and Challenger tanks. In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev's push had failed, with Ukraine suffering casualties estimated at more than 90,000.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of Russian reconnaissance officers from the Yug Battlegroup destroying Ukrainian warehouses and fortifications on the eve of their professional holiday.
Also, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Yug Battlegroup in the Donetsk region had repulsed an enemy attack during the day, with Ukrainian forces losing up to 235 servicemen and eight pieces of equipment.
Watch Ukrainian Infantry Be Demolished by Russian Armed Forces
The Russian Armed Forces are successfully using drones in the special military operation in Ukraine for precise artillery targeting.
The Russian Defense Ministry has published footage of Russian forces from Battlegroup Yug wiping out Ukrainian troops near the settlement of Spornoye. The released video shows the Russian military striking Ukrainian forces.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine's counteroffensive had failed completely, but that Kiev was preparing new offensive operations in certain areas of the hostilities, of which Russia was aware and to which it was responding accordingly.
West's Proxy War in Ukraine Exposed NATO's 'Failed' New Warfare Tactics
The Kiev regime has been sending its troops against Russian defenses, racking up massive human losses while failing to turn the tide of its botched counteroffensive, despite massive shipments of NATO weaponry. Furthermore, Russia's state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been used en masse to target Ukrainian military equipment.
The Ukraine conflict has not only compellingly shown that modern-day warfare has changed, but has also exposed the complete failure of NATO war tactics in the face of these new conditions, reported military-focused US publication 19FortyFive.
NATO patrons of the Kiev regime have been increasingly exasperated over how Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed to deliver results, despite the billions' worth of weapons continuously sent there. Both Western supporters of Kiev and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky have been egging on Ukrainian troops towards “massive assaults” that “have become suicidal,” the publication stated. But the “fast, large-scale blitzkrieg they envisioned” remained a figment of their imagination.
One of the reasons for this is that the advance of drone technology has transformed warfare into a "war of a thousand cuts," the outlet said.
The colorful reference relates to Lingchi, a form of capital punishment that results in a slow, lingering death. Traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), it was meted out to offenders in Asian countries like China, Vietnam, and Korea. The practice is believed to have ended around the early 1900s.
Current warfare is similarly “more gradual,” the report insisted. It drew attention to how NATO doctrine put into practice in its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine clashed with the demands of the times. Furthermore, Ukrainian troops’ training by NATO failed to “cover the reality of modern drone warfare,” the outlet stated, referencing US Army veterans’ expert opinions.
Thus, the alliance’s “offensives based on combined arms maneuver,” such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) breaching defense lines, supported by an array of artillery and air power, failed to work for Ukraine, as per the columnist. Ukrainian attempts at assaults utilizing large armored units resulted in heavy losses. Such attacks, where success hinges on a superlative level of coordination, is a feat that NATO armies “spend years” honing, it was added. However, in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, staffed with mostly recently mobilized civilians, such attacks become what pundits call a “meat grinder.” Furthermore, throwing such troops at Russia’s superlative defense lines, with vast minefields, anti-tank ditches, and anti-tank pyramid-shaped concrete defense obstacles, known as "dragon's teeth," is futile – something that Russia has been proving repeatedly throughout its special military operation.
At this point, it should be noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are running out of manpower amid their accrued losses. Ukraine has been under martial law since February 24, 2022, with men between the ages of 18 and 60 forbidden from leaving the country. Draftees are often handed notices in various public places, with use of force increasingly required from security forces and military personnel conducting raids on potential draftees. Recently, there have been scores of protests in Ukrainian cities, with people demanding a cap of 18 months on the currently open-ended mandatory military service for draftees. Ukrainian officials believe that tens of thousands of "draft dodgers" have fled to Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, and other European countries to obtain refugee status there.
Russia’s state-of-the-art Lancet kamikaze drones have also recently gotten deadlier, after being equipped with automatic guidance systems, Russian military observers pointed out. Furthermore, there have been reports that the Russian Armed Forces are discussing the possibility of creating separate units armed with mini-attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
“There is an ongoing active discussion about creating separate units or attached units armed with mini-attack drones, which will allow to standardize the use of this type of weapon, increase its distribution in the troops and enhance combat effectiveness,” an informed source told Sputnik earlier.
Accordingly, inflicting “a sufficient number of small cuts” may determine the outcome of modern-day warfare, the outlet emphasized.
Russia's drone warfare achievements on the special military operation battlefront, allowing for unnecessary risks to its troops to be cut back on, while conducting surgical strikes on the enemy, are proof of that statement.
Russia's new nuclear-powered submarine Imperator Alexander III carried out a successful test launch of the Bulava ballistic missile, designed to carry nuclear warheads, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
"Firing a ballistic missile is the final element of state tests, after which a decision will be made to accept the cruiser into the Navy," the defence ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
President Vladimir Putin has been pushing for Russia to maintain its nuclear deterrent to counter what he calls growing security threats, as ties between Moscow and the West have hit new lows over the war Russia launched in Ukraine in 2022.
The intercontinental missile, launched from an underwater position in the White Sea off Russia's northern coast, hit a target thousands of kilometres away on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East, it said.
The ministry did not say when the test occurred.
The Borei class strategic-missile cruiser is equipped with 16 Bulava missiles and modern torpedo weapons, it said.
Putin took part in a ceremony in December setting the Imperator Alexander III afloat, TASS state news agency said.
The navy has three nuclear-powered submarines of the Borei class in service - one is completing tests and three more are under construction, the defence ministry said.
The 12-metre (40-foot) long Bulava missile, which has an estimated range of around 8,000 km (5,000 miles) and can carry up to six nuclear warheads, has become the cornerstone in the naval part of Russia's nuclear triad.
In a statement in the early hours of Sunday, the ministry said that the submarine ‘Emperor Alexander III’ had “successfully launched the Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea to the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.” It added that the missile was fired underwater and that its warheads reached the target on time.
Russian military officials also noted that the test concluded the vessel’s sea trials, the results of which will determine whether the ‘Emperor Alexander III’ officially joins the Russian Navy. Built as part of Project 955 Borei, it was laid down in late 2015 and launched in 2022. The fleet currently has three active boats of this class, with three more under construction.
The ministry also released a video capturing the moment of the missile launch, with a large roaring fireball bursting into the night sky.
The ship bears the name of the Russian emperor, who ruled the country in the late 19th century. Known for his conservative policies, Alexander III was nicknamed ‘The Peacemaker’ because Russia fought no major wars during his reign.
Alexander III is also credited with the phrase “Russia has only two allies – its Army and its Navy.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the submarine can carry both advanced torpedoes and 16 Bulava ballistic missiles. The latter weapon, which entered service in 2018, can carry nuclear warheads and has been described as the future cornerstone of the country’s nuclear triad.
At least fifty-one individuals were killed as a result of an Israeli air strike against the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central part of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
The Israeli Air Force attacked a residential building in the refugee camp on Saturday evening, Wafa informed. Women and children make up the majority of victims, the news agency noted. Information was also received about dozens of victims, with many of them still under rubble.
Strikes were also delivered against residential quarters in the north and the west of the Palestinian enclave, apart from the Al-Maghazi camp.
Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and more than 200 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria.
Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza has intensified, particularly in the north where many civilians remain trapped and unable to flee.
At least 47 people killed in an Israeli attack on al-Maghazi refugee camp while six people killed in Jabalia refugee camp.
Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza as a slow, rolling and gradual advance of land forces along three main axes.
From the north, armoured and mechanised units moved at Gaza City in two columns across the 6km (3.7-mile) front.
The second column moved along the Mediterranean beaches. And the third group advanced from the east, across relatively easy ground that consists of desert and farmland, with a few tiny hamlets unsuitable to mount a determined defence.
While establishing facts on the ground is not easy, information from both sides and non-combatants seems to confirm that the front lines have moved.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied that any senior commander was present in the tunnels and called the claim an Israeli pretext for killing civilians.
Meanwhile, hospitals were overwhelmed with victims, Palestinian state news agency Wafa and Gaza's Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.
“Hundreds of victims, including martyrs and wounded, have arrived at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip following the occupation's targeting of citizens' homes in Jabalia camp,” the ministry said.
Dr Atef Kahlout, head of the Indonesian Hospital, told The National that about 400 people had been killed or wounded in the air strikes.
The hospital, which can accommodate 257 patients, is about 2km from the location of the attack, he said.
“We are having to treat victims on the floors [as] we have nowhere to put them. People are coming in with fourth-degree burns, some bodies headless and in pieces,” said Dr Kahlout said.
“What else can you expect from air strikes that hit buildings made up of four to six floors?”
Dropping an atomic weapon on Gaza is 'one of the possible options': Israeli Minister
An Israeli minister was slammed after he said Israel could drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza
Speaking to Radio Kol Berama, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the far-right Otzma Yehudir party also said he would favor the return of settlements in the enclave while suggesting Palestinians in Gaza to move to “Ireland or deserts”.
In separate remarks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed the minister for his comments.
Amihai Eliyahu, an Israeli minister from the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, said one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip.
Asked whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza as Israel intensifies attack, the Heritage Minister Eliyahu said “this is one of the possibilities.”
However, he is not part of the security cabinet formed to make wartime decisions, nor does he have any influence to direct the war cabinet's actions against Hamas.
“Amichai Eliyahu’s words are detached from reality,” Netanyahu said. “Israel and the IDF are acting in accordance with the highest standards of international law in order to prevent harm to uninvolved people, and we will continue to do that all the way to victory.”
