Top Hamas leader killed
The top leader of Hamas, chief of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in an Israeli air strike in Tehran. He was under n the Israeli radar since October 7, 2023, when Hamas had entered southern Isreael and murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Haniyeh too lived in Qatar, as do several top Hamas leaders. He was a key to the negotiations about the release of the hostages taken by Hamas. He was last seen at the inauguration of the newly elected president of Iran.
An Israeli attack reportedly targeted a building where the Hamas leader was staying, thereby eliminating him. Significantly, his killing follows the death of Fuad Shakr, a military commander of Hezbollah. He too was eliminated in an air strike in Beirut in retaliation to a reported Hezbollah strike in the Golan Heights killing 12 civilians, including children.
The operation in Tehran follows similar other strikes by Israel on Iranian soil. Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, has threatened to strike back against Israel.
With Beirut on alert, and Hezbollah expecting more attacks from the Israeli Defense Force, the latest action in Tehran bodes ill for the Middle-East. There are serious fears of a major escalation erupting in the region.
Hezbollah strike sparks fear of escalation
The conflict in the Middle-East is now taking a deadly new turn. The sudden attack by the Iran-backed Hezbollah in the occupied Golan Heights has resulted in the death of 12 Israeli citizens, including children and teenagers playing in a soccer field. Such a strike is unprecedented in recent times because, the Hezbollah, despite the rhetoric and few missile and rocket launches, has not really chosen to target Israel.
In the similar vein, Israel too has been rather soft towards the heavily armed militant group based in Lebanon. However, now, Israel has opened another front, and has launched a major strike on Hezbollah. This has led to a serious fear that the conflict in the area might escalate and acquire dangerous proportions. Hezbollah has denied that it is behind this attack.
Hezbollah backs a free and sovereign Palestine. They have led an armed struggle against Israeal since decades. Thousands of Palestinian refugees are still stranded in the sprawling refugee camps in Lebanon. In the last battle, significantly, the Hezbollah had scored a victory against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
This bloody attack on civilians have created resentment and dismay across the Western world, and in the Middle-East countries. Why the armed outfit chose to target civilians, remains a mystery. Earlier, the fact that the Hamas killed several civilians in the attack on Israel-occupied territory on October 7, 2023, did not go very well with a lot of people across the world, including those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Western authorities and the US are worried that the precarious situation can lead to an escalation in this vulnerable region — already on the brink. They have reportedly asked the Lebanese government to restrain Hezbollah, even if Israel intensifies its retaliation.
Interestingly, it has been reported that Israel has shown its willingness for a solution after the attack. A full-scale war should not to be allowed to erupt and a UN-backed demilitarized zone should be created in southern Lebanon.
In any case, after the Gaza Genocide, which continues till this day, Israel has been cornered and isolated in the international arena. Benjamin Netanyahu is now openly being called as a war criminal who is directly guilty of genocide. With the hostage crisis still not solved, and protests growing inside Israel, his days seem to be numbered. Therefore, opening another front against Hezbollah might turn out to be counter-productive for Tel Aviv.
The brilliant art and beauty of Simon Arianne Biles
If gymnastics can become an art-form, there was an artist at play, and in full bloom, in Paris.
It was, as if, the entire world had gathered to watch the genius of Simon Arianne Biles. The brilliant gymnast has yet again arrived to mesmerise the crowd with her magical movements, her artistic acrobatic performance, and her stupendous athletic feats, impossible to achieve by any living human being. One of the greatest in global athletics, with a record number of medals at the highest level, she did not fail her admirers this time as well.
Biles and her American mates had a difficult start in this Games. They had to begin on the balance beam, which is not easy. The balance beam is a serious test of gymnastic skills. It creates stress.
Despite the tension, she entered the final with a fabulous score of 59.566, the highest in the Olympic cycle. Her movements were lucid, and her feat, magnificent. Currently, she leads Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.
Simone is an American-Belizian. She was born on March 14, 1997. Till Paris, she has won 7 medals in the Olympics, and has a record of winning 30 World Championship medals, perhaps the finest in the history of the game.
China’s shadow looms
Japan and America has yet again exchanged strong signals of their military ties, with China’s shadow looming in the backdrop.
Defense heads and top officials of Washington and Tokyo met in
Tokyo recently, to consolidate their defense ties. Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, called it as “one of the strongest improvements” in defense ties with Japan in the last 70 years”. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was part of the talks.
In the Asia-Pacific zone, China was dubbed as the biggest strategic challenge. China responded with an interesting statement. Foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said: “Japan and the United States keep saying that they want to promote regional peace and security and maintain a rules-based international order. In fact, they form cliques, engage in small circles, manipulate group politics, and create camp confrontations.”
Lin said that their understanding “”disregards facts, reverses right and wrong, and maliciously attacks China’s foreign policy … exaggerates and stirs up China’s threat”.
Good news seems to have arrived in Iran after a long time. And his name is Masoud Pezeshkian, its new, ‘reformist’ president. `
Iran has a terrible human rights record. Dissidents, singers, filmmakers, students, and women activists have been put in jail for unknown terms. Even a Noble Prize winner is still rotting in prison, despite fervent international pleas seeking her freedom.
With its economy in bad shape, and trapped as it is in the clutches of a regime led by Islamic hardliners, the victory of the new president could not be conceived just a few weeks ago. Nor could it be ever imagined that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who presides over this orthodox regime,would welcome this educated head of state. Not only that, he has praised Pezeshkian as “wise, popular, honest and scholarly”.
Pezeshkian has said that the people of Iran have vote for a different kind of society. He has promised an easing of censorship, more democracy, and loosening up of ties with the US and Western countries. The move to build ties with the West is driven by the unhappy fact that the growth rate is down, while inflation stalks the nation, even while American sanctions has squeezed Iran dry.
Significantly, the new president has promised to control the moral police. This vigilant force has been a terror on the streets of Tehran. It was they who had murdered a young Kurdish girl in Tehran: Mahsa Amini. Her crime — she was wearing her hijab in a wrong manner.
Her murder triggered a mass uprising of women, unprecedented in the history of the world. Sick and tired of the moral police and this heartless regime which has backed it, tens of thousands of women took to the streets of Tehran, and other towns across Iran. They burnt the hijab and cut their hair in public squares and street crossings, they sang and danced around bonfires, and they took on the establishment with a moral and political force not seen in the women’s movement across the world, since very, very long.
School girls and boys soon joined them in solidarity, so did ordinary citizens and male students, across university campuses. Mothers joined their daughters in protests. And even funerals became an occasion for protests with mourning becoming a symbolic cry against organised repression.
The peaceful and protracted movement, which attracted global attention, was crushed; women were beaten up and jailed. And, yet, the fire it had ignited remained burning in the sky, as songs and poetry flooded social media space in support of the women. The movement was kept alive across the country, despite the repression. Solidarity groups across the world joined them.
Predictably, in the last parliamentary elections held in early March, there was mass boycott by all concerned, especially women. By withdrawing from the electoral process, voters, especially women, were sending a clear message — you can win by hook or crook, but you have already lost the mandate! And we have rejected you!
The hardliners won, but the voter turn-out was so pathetic that it all became a shameful sham. Even in Tehran, the majority of citizens refused to come out and vote.
That is why there is hope from the new president. He is a well-known physician and surgeon, and has done a stint as health minister. In the days to come, he will be walking a tight rope because the hardliners will be waiting for the first chance to embarrass and weaken him. Iran desperately needs far-reaching and radical reforms. Surely, Masoud Pezeshkian has a lot on his plate.
North Korea: Vaccines for mothers and kids
The UN has dispatched over four million vaccines to North Korea, targeting approximately 600,000 pregnant mothers and children.
The first of three shipments has reached Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, according to the UN children’s fund. The delivery is being organised by UNICEF, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), and WHO.
After the pandemic, there has been a serious gap in the immunisation process in North Korea. The vaccines will help in reducing this gap.
The vaccines include, Measles-Rubella, Tetanus-Diphtheria, Bacille Calmette-Guerin, Hepatitis B, and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine. The vaccines will help against Hepatitis B, tetanus, measles and polio.
“The return of essential vaccines marks a significant milestone towards safeguarding children’s health and survival in this country,” said Roland Kupka. He is representing UNICEF for North Korea.
No one knows the health condition of the people of North Korea since the curtain is under an eternal iron curtain. In this absolute dictatorship run by one family, there is no individual or media freedom, or freedom of expression. Entry and exits to the country are under surveillance and controlled. Even during the pandemic, it was impossible to know the state of the country. It is therefore hoped that the vaccines will help the isolated people of this country.
Pak army: Clandestine fake news campaign
There are unconfirmed media reports that army personnel who are still working on the ground, have been clandestinely enrolled by the top brass of the Pakistani army. They have been enrolled to organise and operate secret social media campaigns against judges, social activists, members of the civil society, and journalists, among others, whom the army commanders consider as political opponents. The programme is reportedly called Army Awareness Network (AAN).
It is alleged that fake online accounts have been created to spread fake messages. Former prime minister, Imran Khan, and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), has been particularly targeted.
In what has taken a section of the Pakistani army by surprise, some officers have been posting stuff to manipulate public perception. Interestingly, these posts are anonymous. As in all other countries, barring military dictatorships, or totalitarian regimes, the army is not allowed to participate in politics.