Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei thanked the country’s armed forces for their attack this month on Israel, saying the country had demonstrated its power regardless of how many targets were hit, Iran’s official news agency reported on Sunday.

In its first ever direct attack on Israel, Iran sent a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones on April 13 in what it said was retaliation for Israel’s suspected deadly strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1.

Most of the missiles and drones were shot down by Israel and its allies and the attack caused modest damage in Israel.

“How many missiles were launched and how many of them hit their target is not the primary question, what really matters is that Iran demonstrated its power during that operation,” Khamenei said on Sunday.

Early on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources said was an Israeli attack. Tehran played down the incident and said it had no plans for retaliation – a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.

“In the recent operation, the armed forces managed to minimize costs and maximize gains,” Khamenei added, urging military officials to “ceaselessly pursue military innovation and learn the enemy’s tactics.”

The post Supreme Leader Khamenei Says Iran Demonstrated its Power Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

i24 News – With the report that the U.S. State Department is planning to issue sanctions against an IDF unit, politicians across the political spectrum have come out aghast that its biggest ally would take such a dramatic step amid the ongoing war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and centrist war cabinet minister Benny Gantz all issued statements condemning the move and promising to take action to prevent it. The IDF has also issued a response to the sanctions, defending the Netzah Yehuda Battalion’s achievements in defending the security of The State of Israel.

In the statement, the IDF says it does “not recognize” the matter of this sanction and will continue to internally investigate any “unusual event in a matter-of-fact manner and in accordance with the law.”

In his response on X, Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote, “The IDF must not be sanctioned!”

אסור להטיל סנקציות על צבא ההגנה לישראל!
**
אני פועל בשבועות האחרונים נגד הטלת סנקציות על אזרחים ישראלים, כולל בשיחות שלי עם בכירי הממשל האמריקני.

בשעה שחיילינו נלחמים במפלצות הטרור, הכוונה להטיל סנקציה על יחידה בצה״ל זה שיא האבסורד ושפל ערכי.

הממשלה בראשותי תפעל בכל האמצעים…

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 20, 2024

“At a time when our soldiers are fighting terrorist monsters, the intention to issue sanctions against a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low,” he added, saying he had been in talks with administration officials to block the move.

For his part, former IDF chief and ex-defense minister Benny Gantz called the Netzah Yehuda battalion “an integral part of the IDF.” He wrote on X, “We have great respect for our American friends, but imposing sanctions on the unit is a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our shared enemies at a time of war.” Gantz also promised to take action to prevent the sanctions.

Lapid, called the sanctions a “mistake,” saying it would cause “serious injury to Israel’s status as a state of law and another serious erosion of our international status.” He pointed the blame at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for fueling settler extremism and not wanting the police to enforce the law on Israelis in the West Bank. On Friday, the U.S. issued another round of sanctions targeting extremist settlers involved in violent incidents with Palestinians. However, according to a report by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, the incident reportedly driving the American decision took place during Lapid’s short term as interim prime minister.

הסנקציות האמריקאיות על גדוד נצח יהודה הן שגיאה ועלינו לפעול כדי לבטלן.

מקור הבעיה אינו בדרג הצבאי אלא בדרג המדיני. העולם מבין ויודע שהשר בן גביר אינו מעוניין שהמשטרה תאכוף את החוק באיו״ש והשר סמוטריץ׳ לא מתנגד לטרור היהודי ולהתפרעויות המתנחלים הקיצונים.
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— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) April 21, 2024

National Security Minister Ben-Gvir asked the Prime Minister on Sunday to urgently convene the security cabinet to discuss the planned measures. Earlier, Ben-Gvir railed against the United States in a post on X, writing that sanctions against IDF soldiers were a “red line,” and promised to absorb the unit into the police under his ministry if they passed.

According a report on Saturday from the Axios news site, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will soon announce the unprecedented move against an IDF unit. The Netzah Yehuda battalion, a largely ultra-Orthodox infantry unit, has been accused of violence against Palestinians on several occasions. The incident reportedly leading to the State Department’s decision occurred in 2022, when an elderly Palestinian-American man died after being detained, handcuffed, and was abandoned in a field in freezing conditions.

According to Israel’s public broadcasting radio station Kan Reshet Bet, U.S. officials had requested materials several times from the military prosecutor’s office, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry on investigations into attacks on Palestinians involving soldiers from Netzah Yehuda. According to Israeli sources, the Americans were not satisfied with the results of the investigations nor the manner in which they were handled.

When asked to comment on the sanctions over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the Leahy Laws. Passed in the 1990s, the laws prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights and have not been brought to justice. As a result, Netzah Yehuda would be preventing from training with U.S. soldiers or receiving American weapons.

The ultra-Orthodox unit was removed from serving in the West Bank in December 2022, and has been deployed to Gaza during the current war against Hamas.

The post Israeli Political Echelon United in Condemnation of Planned U.S. Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday welcomed the passage of $60 billion in aid for Ukraine by the U.S. House of Representatives but urged Washington to quickly turn the bill into law and proceed with the actual transfer of weapons, saying long-range arms and air defense systems were top priorities.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Zelensky said the passage of the bill would send a powerful message to Russia that Washington stands by Kyiv and that it would not be “a second Afghanistan.”

“I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces of Ukraine and we will have a chance for victory,” Zelensky said through an interpreter.

During the interview he repeatedly urged U.S. lawmakers to take swift action to pass the bill in the Senate. He said Ukraine urgently needed U.S. long-range weapons including ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) and air defense systems to turn around its fortunes on the battlefield.

“This is crucial. These are the priorities now,” Zelenskiy said.

ATACMS are long-range guided missiles. The White House last October confirmed that it had provided Kyiv with a type of ATACMS capable of hitting targets up to 165 km (102 miles) away.

Ukraine had repeatedly asked the U.S. administration for the ATACMS and pledged not to use them inside Russia’s territory.

The U.S. House of Representatives, with broad bipartisan support, passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Aid for Ukraine had been held up for months, because of the opposition of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who urged Republican lawmakers to block it.

Almost 26 months since the 2022 invasion, Russia is slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and has ramped up its bombardments of cities and towns behind the front lines amid a slowdown in Western military assistance.

The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. U.S. leaders, from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, had been urging Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.

The Senate is set to begin considering the bill on Tuesday, with some preliminary votes that afternoon. Final passage is expected sometime next week, which would clear the way for Biden to sign it into law.

WEAPONS IN TRANSIT NEXT WEEK

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that military equipment including the longer-range ATACMS should be “in transit by the end of the week.”

“I believe the administration was prepared over the last couple of months to prepare or to provide ATACMS. It is written into this legislation,” Warner said.

Ukraine last October said it has used the long-range missiles for the first time, inflicting heavy damage on two airfields in Russian-occupied areas.

Deploying the weapons would allow Ukrainian forces to disrupt previously unreachable supply lines, air bases and rail networks used by Russia in occupied territories, senior officials say.

Zelensky declined to provide a timeline when asked how long it would take Ukraine to “turn the corner on Russia” and whether Kyiv would need as much aid this time next year.

He said Kyiv had lost the initiative in the fighting in the eastern part of the country, but that once the weapons arrive it will have the chance to stabilize the situation.

“Giving U.S. specific timeline of the war, well, it depends on how soon we get this aid,” he said.

The post Zelensky Urges Speedy Passage of Ukraine Aid in US Senate, Transfer of Weapons first appeared on Algemeiner.com.