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Pentagon Rebuffs Allegations Iran Behind Mysterious Drones Flying Over New Jersey
Drones are seen at a site at an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on April 20, 2023. Photo: Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
The Pentagon batted down claims by US Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) on Wednesday that Iran has spy drones flying over the state of New Jersey.
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that the US Defense Department does not believe that the drones floating over New Jersey originate from “a foreign entity or adversary.”
“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” Singh said.
The Pentagon’s comments came after Van Drew dropped bombshell allegations about the drones during an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner earlier on Wednesday. The lawmaker stated that Iran, which US intelligence agencies have for years identified as the world’s chief state sponsor of global terrorism, has used a stealth drone to illegally surveil America from the air for around a month.
Van Drew said that during his time on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, particularly its subcommittee on aviation, he has “gotten to know people, and from very high sources, very qualified sources, very responsible sources.”
“I’m gonna tell you the real deal. Iran launched a mothership probably about a month ago that contains these drones,” Van Drew said. “It’s off the east coast of the United States of America. They’ve launched drones.”
The lawmaker dismissed the notion that the drones are from US agencies, stating that American lawmakers would have been informed. He also stated that the drones are far beyond the technological capabilities of the standard hobbyist, suggesting that an “adversarial country,” such as Iran, was most likely responsible for the drones.
He added that Iran “made a deal with China to purchase drones, motherships, and technology.”
Van Drew asserted that the drones traveling over American airspace should be “shot down” and that the “military is on alert” over the matter.
Faulkner noted that US President-elect Donald Trump possesses a large home in New Jersey, referencing his large estate and golf club in Bedminster, potentially intensifying the national security threat that the drones present.
Van Drew claimed that the drones are “across the country” and that the federal government must “get them down” before they further compromise American security.
New Jersey residents have raised alarm bells over the past few weeks over mysterious drones traversing across their skies. Thus far, the federal government has been unable to determine the exact origin of the drones. An FBI official told Congress on Tuesday that the agency has not pinned responsibility for the drones on any individual party.
Iran has an extensive history of attempting to puncture the American national security apparatus. The country has been accused of attempting to embed spies within American institutions and agencies. It has also been accused of encouraging violent protests and spreading anti-Israel, Islamist propaganda across social media platforms in an attempt to disrupt American society.
Iran additionally plotted an assassination attempt against Trump, according to the US Department of Justice.
The post Pentagon Rebuffs Allegations Iran Behind Mysterious Drones Flying Over New Jersey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.