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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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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip

Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.

The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.

Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.

He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.

The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.

Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.

Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.

Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.

Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.

The post Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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