RSS
Iran, Its Proxies Will Meet to Discuss Retaliation Against Israel
Iranians attend the funeral procession of assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Top Iranian officials will meet the representatives of Iran’s regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen on Thursday to discuss potential retaliation against Israel after the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, five sources told Reuters.
The region faces a risk of widened conflict between Israel, Iran, and its proxies after Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on Wednesday and the killing of Hezbollah’s senior commander on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Representatives of Iran’s Palestinian allies Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Iraqi resistance groups will attend the meeting in Tehran, said the sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. Nearly all the Iran-backed proxies attending are internationally designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Iran and the resistance members will conduct a thorough assessment after the meeting in Tehran to find the best and most effective way to retaliate against the Zionist regime [Israel],” said a senior Iranian official, with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Another Iranian official said Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards will attend.
“How Iran and the resistance front will respond is currently being reviewed … This will certainly happen and the Zionist regime [Israel] will undoubtedly regret it,” General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, told state TV on Thursday.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran on Wednesday.
But Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility for the attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fueled further concern that the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza was turning into an all-out war in the Middle East.
Israeli air force chief Tomer Bar, speaking at a military graduation ceremony in Israel late on Wednesday, warned Israel will act against anyone planning to harm its citizens.
“We are also strongly prepared in defense. Hundreds of aerial defense soldiers, along with air control personnel, are stationed across the country with the best systems, ready to carry out their mission,” said Bar.
Haniyeh and the leader of the Islamic Jihad, Ziad al-Nakhala, as well as senior representatives of Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, attended the inauguration ceremony for Iran’s new president in Tehran on Tuesday.
Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassim and lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah were in Iran for the inauguration and have remained there for the funeral and meeting, sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said.
‘MAJOR REPERCUSSIONS’
Hamas’ armed wing has said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions.” Vowing to retaliate, Iran said the US bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.
“Iran asked key commanders of the Iraqi resistance groups to travel to Tehran on Wednesday to attend an urgent meeting to discuss retaliation against recent Israeli strikes, including in Lebanon and Iran and the US strike in Iraq,” said an Iraqi militia local commander.
Another militia source said the resistance group commanders left to attend Haniyeh’s funeral and also to attend a “top urgent meeting” to decide the following steps to retaliate against Israel and the United States.
Iranians turned out to mourn Haniyeh on Thursday, a day after he was assassinated.
“All fronts of the resistance will take revenge for Haniyeh’s blood,” Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
The Iran-backed Axis of Resistance includes Hamas — the Palestinian terrorist group that ignited the war in Gaza by attacking Israel on Oct. 7 — Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and various Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq and Syria. .
On April 13, Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel in what it said was retaliation for Israel‘s suspected deadly strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1, but almost all were shot down.
“Iran’s response to the assassination of Martyr Haniyeh will be stronger than before,” former senior Revolutionary Guards Commander Esmail Kosari told state TV.
The post Iran, Its Proxies Will Meet to Discuss Retaliation Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria
Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.
The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.
RSS
Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports
People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.
The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.
Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.
A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.
The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.
RSS
Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.