UNITED NATIONS: Iran is turning Syria into the “world’s largest military base”, spending up to $35 billion on missile factories and an 82,000-strong deployment in the country to threaten the region, Israeli diplomat Danny Danon said on Thursday.
Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said he was disclosing classified intelligence to the UN Security Council to show how Tehran’s “tentacles of terror” were spreading and posed a danger to Israel, the rest of the Middle East and beyond.
“Iran’s military is actively training these militant extremists from all over the world and using Syria as its strategic base,” Danon told UN diplomats in New York.
“It is also building missile factories in Syria, in effect turning the innocent people in the surrounding area into human shields. Iran is turning the entire country of Syria into the largest military base in the world.”
Iran’s UN ambassador was set to speak later at the same meeting. Tehran asserts that its military operations in Syria are against Daesh and other groups in support of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Tehran commands 82,000 fighters in Syria – 3,000 from its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, 9,000 from its proxy militia Hezbollah, 10,000 Shiite recruits from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan and some 60,000 local fighters, Danon said.
The Islamic Republic has spent as much as $35 billion on bases, troops and missile factories in Syria, he said. It spends $800 million annually on Hezbollah, and $100 million each on proxy militias in Yemen, Gaza, Syria and Iraq, Danon added.
Sanctions relief under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the US and other world powers unfroze cash now being spent by Iran’s generals, he said. Such spending grew from 17 percent of the government’s budget in 2014 to 22 percent in 2017.
“That’s $23bn spent on missiles, arms and other weapons of war,” he said. “The Shiite Crescent searches far beyond Israel, and it is larger and more powerful than ever, and it is aiming for the whole world.”
Syria’s eight-year-old war has claimed 500,000 lives and forced 5.5 million Syrians to flee the country.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries, the US and Israel have repeatedly warned of Iranian aggression in the region, which Tehran denies. Saudi Arabia was also set to address the UN Security Council on Thursday.
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Iran building ‘world’s largest military base’ in Syria: Israeli diplomat
Iran building ‘world’s largest military base’ in Syria: Israeli diplomat
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Gaza health officials say strikes kill 21 after Israel says shots wounded officer
GAZA CITY: Gazan health officials said Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed 21 people in the Palestinian territory, with Israel’s military saying it struck after gunfire targeting its troops wounded an officer.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
The latest bloodshed came days after Israel partly reopened the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only exit for Gazans that does not pass through Israel.
The health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said that 21 people were killed in a series of strikes, with at least 38 others wounded, updating an earlier figure given by the territory’s civil defense agency.
Among the dead were three children, said the agency, which operates as a rescue force under the Hamas authority.
“We were sleeping when suddenly shells and gunfire rained down on us,” said Abu Mohammed Haboush, whose son was killed.
“Young children were martyred, my son and my nephew were among the dead. We lost many young men,” he said, adding that he and his family were living far away from the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces are stationed.
AFP images showed mourners offering prayers in the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where several bodies wrapped in white shrouds were laid out.
An AFP photograph showed a relative holding a body of a child wrapped in a shroud at the hospital as relatives gathered around him.
Shortage of medical aid
Three bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital after Israeli strikes hit homes and tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern Khan Yunis area, the civil defense agency said.
Fourteen more bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital, its director Mohamed Abu Salmiya said in a statement.
“We also received dozens of wounded. The situation is extremely difficult in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” Abu Salmiya said.
Israel scrutinizes all aid into besieged Gaza, a tiny coastal territory surrounded by fences, walls and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli military said it had launched strikes after “terrorists opened fire on troops” Wednesday, seriously wounding an officer, adding that it considers the incident a violation of the ceasefire.
It said the troops came under attack near the “Yellow Line,” without specifying which side of the line the troops were on.
The ceasefire took effect after two years of war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Following what was reportedly US pressure, Israel allowed the opening of the Rafah crossing, but limited passage to patients and their travel companions.
Sick and wounded Gazans have begun crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment since Monday.
On Tuesday, 45 people crossed into Egypt and 42 entered the territory, a source at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told AFP.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, those meant to enter during the day on Tuesday arrived in Gaza through Rafah in a large bus, an AFP journalist reported.
‘My homeland’
Relatives of those returning from Egypt screamed in joy, hugging and crying.
“I am so happy to be back with my husband, my children, my family, my loved ones, and of course, my homeland,” Fariza Barabakh, who returned that day, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, thank God. What can I say? My two young children didn’t recognize me, but thank God. I hope it will be alright,” Yusef Abu Fahma, another returnee, told AFP.
Gaza’s health ministry says at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed over the same period.
Saturday was among the deadliest days, with the civil defense agency reporting at least 32 people killed in Israeli attacks, which the military said were in response to a Hamas ceasefire violation.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
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