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Hezbollah Commander Training Russians in Operation of Iranian Drones, Ukrainian Intelligence Says
Ukranian emergency workers outside a house in the city of Kharkiv destroyed by an Iranian-made drone fired by Russian forces, Photo: Reuters/Pavlo Pakhomenko
A senior Hezbollah commander is leading training sessions for Russian troops in the use of Iranian-made drones to prosecute Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian intelligence report.
Ukrainian media sources on Monday quoted the assessment of Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) that Kamal Abu Sadiq — a commander of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization — is training the Russians with the assistance of officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian soldiers are being schooled in the operation of drones, including the Shahed-136/-131, the Ababil-3 and the Qods Raab 85, which have been used to deadly effect against civilian population centers in a war fast approaching its second anniversary.
The training is taking place at the Shayrat Airbase in the Syrian city of Homs. The Israeli Air Force has launched airstrikes against Shayrat on several occasions since the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in Israel, which triggered a new round of tensions between Israel and Iran’s regional allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The Ukrainian intelligence report highlighting Abu Sadiq’s role comes one week after the GUR revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime is recruiting mercenaries in Syria — where Russian arms helped to secure the dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad during that country’s devastating civil war — to fight in Ukraine.
In a post on the Telegram social media channel, the GUR said “the aggressor state of Russia is recruiting mercenaries in Syria to participate in hostilities against Ukraine.” It noted that about 1,000 newly-recruited mercenaries were being trained in urban warfare techniques at the Kuweires Military Aviation Institute near the city of Aleppo. From Kuweires, the mercenaries were taken “to the Khmeimim air base, and from there to the territory of the Russian Federation,” the GUR said. “After arriving in Russia, they are issued Russian passports, and then mobilized into the occupation army.” An accompanying video showed some of the mercenaries brandishing Russian passports just five days after submitting their applications.
“Recruiting Syrians for the war indicates the deterioration of the moral and psychological state of the Russian occupying forces due to large-scale losses,” the GUR post observed.
Iran has emerged as one of Russia’s key allies since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine, providing the Russian regime with military and diplomatic support. Recent efforts in the US to bolster Ukraine’s defensive capabilities have been blocked by Congressional Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump, who last week threatened to allow the Russians “to do whatever they hell they want” to European allies who fail, on his terms, to contribute a significant portion of their national budget to defense.
On Monday night, the US Senate approved a $95 billion aid package that includes $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel in its war against Hamas. However, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to block the bill over a dispute concerning security arrangements on the US-Mexico border, saying that “any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border.”
The post Hezbollah Commander Training Russians in Operation of Iranian Drones, Ukrainian Intelligence Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.