TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s state television said authorities have foiled massive cyberattacks that sought to target public services, both government and privately owned.
The report late on Sunday said Iran thwarted the attacks that planned to target the infrastructure of more than 100 public sector agencies. It did not elaborate or name specific examples of public sector agencies, organizations or services but said the incidents happened in recent days.
The report said that unidentified parties behind the cyberattacks used Internet Protocols in the Netherlands, Britain and the United States to stage the attacks.
Iran occasionally announces cyberattacks targeting the Islamic Republic as world powers struggle to revive a tattered nuclear deal with Tehran.
In October, an assault on Iran’s fuel distribution system paralyzed gas stations nationwide, leading to long lines of angry motorists stranded in long lines and unable to get subsidized fuel for days. In July, a cyberattack on Iran’s railway system caused chaos and train delays.
Iran disconnected much of its government infrastructure from the Internet after the Stuxnet computer virus — widely believed to be a joint US-Israeli creation — disrupted Iranian centrifuges in the country’s nuclear sites in the late 2000s.
State TV says Iran foiled cyberattacks on public services
https://arab.news/56k5r
State TV says Iran foiled cyberattacks on public services
- The report said that unidentified parties behind the cyberattacks used Internet Protocols in the Netherlands, Britain and the United States to stage the attacks
Iraq says it will prosecute Daesh detainees sent from Syria
- Iraq government says transfer was pre-emptive step to protect national security
- Prisoners have been held for years in jails and camps guarded by the Kurdish-led SDF
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said on Thursday it would begin legal proceedings against Daesh detainees transferred from Syria, after the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria triggered concerns over prison security.
More than 10,000 members of the ultra-hard-line militant group have been held for years in about a dozen prisons and detention camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeast.
The US military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq and that the operation could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria.
It cited concerns over security at the prisons, which also hold thousands more women and children with ties to the militant group, after military setbacks suffered by the SDF.
A US official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 200 low-level Daesh fighters escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison, although Syrian government forces had recaptured many of them.
Iraqi officials said Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani mentioned the transfer of Daesh prisoners to Iraq in a phone call with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on Tuesday, adding that the transfers went ahead following a formal request by the Iraqi government to Syrian authorities.
Iraqi government spokesperson Basim Al-Awadi said the transfer was “a pre-emptive step to protect Iraq’s national security,” adding that Baghdad could not delay action given the rapid pace of security and political developments in Syria.
Daesh emerged in Iraq and Syria, and at the height of its power from 2014-2017 held swathes of the two countries. The group was defeated after a military campaign by a US-led coalition.
An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 Daesh detainees, including Iraqis and foreigners, and said the number of future transfers would depend on security and field assessments. The spokesperson described the detainees as senior figures within the group.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said Iraqi courts would take “due legal measures” against the detainees once they are handed over and placed in specialized correctional facilities, citing the Iraqi constitution and criminal laws.
“All suspects, regardless of their nationalities or positions within the terrorist organization, are subject exclusively to the authority of the Iraqi judiciary,” the statement said.
Iraqi officials say under the legal measures, Daesh detainees will be separated, with senior figures including foreign nationals to be held at a high-security detention facility near Baghdad airport that was previously used by US forces.
Two Iraqi legal sources said the Daesh detainees sent from Syria include a mix of nationalities, with Iraqis making up the largest group, alongside Arab fighters from other countries as well as European and other Western nationals.
The sources said the detainees include nationals of Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Sweden, and other European Union countries, and will be prosecuted under Iraqi jurisdiction.
