Russia has received hundreds of Iranian drones to attack Ukraine: White House

This April 4, 2023, satellite image courtesy of MAXAR Technologies shows the Alabuga special economic zone in Russia. Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory on its territory that “could be fully operational early next year,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on June 9, 2023. (AFP Photo / Satellite image © 2023 Maxar Technologies)R
This April 4, 2023, satellite image courtesy of MAXAR Technologies shows the Alabuga special economic zone in Russia. Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory on its territory that “could be fully operational early next year,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on June 9, 2023. (AFP Photo / Satellite image © 2023 Maxar Technologies)
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Updated 09 June 2023
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Russia has received hundreds of Iranian drones to attack Ukraine: White House

Russia has received hundreds of Iranian drones to attack Ukraine: White House
  • Washington says drones were built in Iran, shipped across Caspian Sea then used by Russian forces against Ukraine

WASHINGTON D.C.: The White House said on Friday that Russia appeared to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine.
Citing newly declassified information, the White House said the drones, or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), were built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
“Russia has been using Iranian UAVs in recent weeks to strike Kyiv and terrorize the Ukrainian population, and the Russia-Iran military partnership appears to be deepening,” White House spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
“We are also concerned that Russia is working with Iran to produce Iranian UAVs from inside Russia.”
Kirby said the US had information that Russia was receiving materials from Iran required to build a drone manufacturing plant that could be fully operational early next year.
“We are releasing satellite imagery of the planned location of this UAV manufacturing plant in Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone,” he said.
The US has previously sanctioned Iranian executives at a defense manufacturer over drone supplies to Russia. Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but said in they past they were sent before Russia’s February invasion. Moscow has denied its forces used Iranian drones in Ukraine.
Support between Iran and Russia was flowing both ways, Kirby said, with Iran seeking billions of dollars worth of military equipment from Russia including helicopters and radars.
“Russia has been offering Iran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles, electronics, and air defense,” he said.
“This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine, to Iran’s neighbors, and to the international community. We are continuing to use all the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities including by sharing this with the public – and we are prepared to do more.”
Kirby said the transfers of drones constituted a violation of United Nations rules and the United States would seek to hold the two countries accountable.
Britain, France, Germany, the US and Ukraine say the supply of Iranian-made drones to Russia violates a 2015 UN Security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal.
Under the 2015 UN resolution, a conventional arms embargo on Iran was in place until October 2020.
Ukraine and Western powers argue that the resolution includes restrictions on missiles and related technologies until October 2023 and can encompass the export and purchase of advanced military systems such as drones.
The Iranian and Russian missions to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US accusations.
“We will continue to impose sanctions on the actors involved in the transfer of Iranian military equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Kirby said.
He said a new US advisory issued on Friday aimed “to help businesses and other governments better understand the risks posed by Iran’s UAV program and the illicit practices Iran uses to procure components for it.”
The advisory highlighted key items sought by Iran for its development of drones, including electronics such as processors and controllers.


US defense chief says Israel must shield civilians to win in Gaza

US defense chief says Israel must shield civilians to win in Gaza
Updated 8 sec ago
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US defense chief says Israel must shield civilians to win in Gaza

US defense chief says Israel must shield civilians to win in Gaza
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday urged Israel to protect civilians as it battles Hamas in Gaza, saying that shielding noncombatants is necessary for victory in the urban fight against the Palestinian militant group.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed the day before after a week-long truce between the two sides collapsed, with both sides blaming the other for the breakdown of the deal and the resumption of violence.
Austin told the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that he had “learned a thing or two about urban warfare” while fighting in Iraq and leading the campaign against Daesh.
“Like Hamas, Daesh was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against Daesh worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors, even during the toughest battles,” Austin said.
“The lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians,” he said.
“In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”
The latest round of fighting in the long-running conflict between Israel and Hamas began when the Palestinian militant group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people.
Israel responded with a relentless land and air campaign on Hamas-controlled Gaza that the group’s officials say has killed more than 15,000 people.
Those deaths have provoked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for armed groups to carry out attacks against American troops in the region as well as on Israel.
Israel has faced drone and missiles launched from Lebanon and Yemen, while American forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in a series of attacks that have injured dozens of US personnel.
Washington has blamed the attacks on its personnel on Iran-backed forces and responded with air strikes on multiple occasions in recent weeks.
“We will not tolerate attacks on American personnel. And so these attacks must stop,” Austin said. “Until they do, we will do what we need to do to protect our troops — and to impose costs on those who attack them.”

Pakistan ex-PM Khan replaced as party head

Pakistan ex-PM Khan replaced as party head
Updated 58 min 30 sec ago
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Pakistan ex-PM Khan replaced as party head

Pakistan ex-PM Khan replaced as party head
  • Gohar Khan a ‘temporary arrangement,’ says PTI’s media spokesman
  • Imran Khan has been locked up since August while awaiting trial in several cases

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently in jail facing myriad charges he says are rigged to keep him from contesting elections next year, was replaced on Saturday as head of the party he founded, officials said.

Khan launched the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in 1996, failing to win a single seat in an election the next year but growing rapidly to become the biggest bloc in the National Assembly following the 2018 vote, propelling him to the premiership.
He was ousted last year in a vote of no confidence brought by a coalition headed by two long-established parties that have shared power for much of Pakistan’s history, when the military hasn’t been in charge. Khan, who has been locked up since August while awaiting trial in several cases, including an allegation of leaking state documents, was replaced as party chairman by Gohar Khan, a barrister not related to Imran, a party official said.

Imran Khan. (AFP)

The change was forced after the Election Commission of Pakistan warned PTI last month they risked losing their emblem — a cricket bat — unless an internal ballot was held for party officers.
Election symbols are crucial in a country where the adult literacy rate is just 58 percent, according to World Bank data.
Khan, a former international cricketer, who captained Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1992, was barred from standing in the party poll while in prison. “This is a temporary arrangement,” said Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, PTI’s media spokesman.
PTI is struggling against a widespread crackdown, with leading party figures either jailed or forced to leave the party.
Politicians in the South Asian country are often tangled in legal proceedings that rights monitors say are orchestrated by the powerful military, which has ruled the country directly for more than half of its history and continues to enjoy immense power.
“A PTI supporter will vote for the election symbol, for Imran Khan,” political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said on Saturday.
“He (Khan) remains the moral leader of the PTI.”
Also on Saturday, a hearing into a graft case Khan faces at a special court inside the jail where he is held was adjourned, with his lawyers protesting that media had been barred despite another judge ordering the trial to be open.
On Wednesday, a court quashed a graft conviction against three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned from self-imposed exile in October to launch a political comeback.
Sharif is currently on bail appealing several convictions for corruption in an attempt to clear his name ahead of elections scheduled in February.
His younger brother Shehbaz Sharif came to power in the coalition that ousted Khan.

 


France, Philippines eye security pact to allow joint military combat exercises

France, Philippines eye security pact to allow joint military combat exercises
Updated 02 December 2023
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France, Philippines eye security pact to allow joint military combat exercises

France, Philippines eye security pact to allow joint military combat exercises
  • France has deployed its navy ships to the South China Sea to promote freedom of navigation and push back against Chinese expansionism

MANILA: France and the Philippines are considering a defense pact that would allow them to send military forces to each other’s territory for joint exercises, the Philippine defense chief said on Saturday after holding talks with his French counterpart.
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a joint press conference with French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu that they were seeking authorization from their heads of state to begin negotiations.
“We intend to take concrete steps into leveling up and making more comprehensive our defense cooperation, principally by working to get authorization from our respective heads of state and relevant agencies to begin negotiations for a status of visiting forces agreement,” Teodoro said.
“The first goal is to create interoperability or a strategic closeness between both armed forces, see how both navies work together, how air forces work together,” Lecornu said through an interpreter. The Philippines has such an agreement — which provides a legal framework for visits of foreign troops — only with the United States, its longtime treaty ally, and with Australia. Negotiations between the Philippines and Japan are also underway for a reciprocal access agreement that would allow Japanese and Philippine troop deployments to one another for military exercises and other security activities.
The Philippine and French defense chiefs agreed to deepen defense cooperation, including by boosting intelligence and information exchanges to address security threats, Teodoro said.
They agreed to sustain Philippine and French ship visits and underscored the importance of upholding international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, he said.
That language has often been used by the US and the Philippines, along with their allies, in their criticism of China for its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.
France has deployed its navy ships to the South China Sea to promote freedom of navigation and push back against Chinese expansionism. China claims virtually the entire waterway and has constructed island bases protected by a missile system in the past decade, alarming smaller claimant states, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Washington has repeatedly warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

 


7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern Philippines and tsunami warnings are issued

7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern Philippines and tsunami warnings are issued
Updated 02 December 2023
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7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern Philippines and tsunami warnings are issued

7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern Philippines and tsunami warnings are issued
  • The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially said that based on the magnitude and location, it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines
  • In Japan, authorities issued evacuation orders in various parts of Okinawa Prefecture

MANILA: A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck Saturday off the southern Philippine coast, prompting many villagers to flee their homes in panic around midnight after Philippine authorities issued a tsunami warning.
The quake struck at 10:37 p.m. at a depth of 32 kilometers (20 miles), according to the US Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially said that based on the magnitude and location, it expected tsunami waves to hit the southern Philippines and parts of Indonesia, Palau and Malaysia. But the center later dropped its tsunami warning.
In Japan, authorities issued evacuation orders in various parts of Okinawa Prefecture, including for the entire coastal area, affecting thousands of people.
Teresito Bacolcol, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told The Associated Press his agency advised residents along the coast of southern Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move farther inland.
Owners of boats in harbors, estuaries or shallow coastal waters off the two provinces should secure their boats and move away from the waterfront, the quake agency said in its tsunami warning. Boats already at sea should stay offshore in deep waters until further advised, it said.
Based on the quake’s magnitude, Bacolcol said a 1-meter (3.2-foot) tsunami may hit but the wave could be higher in enclosed coves, bays and straits.
Villagers were fleeing their homes to safety around midnight in Hinatuan town and outlying areas in Surigao del Sur province, according to authorities and the government’s disaster-response agency, which said that it could not immediately provide specific details.
Pictures posted on Hinatuan government’s Facebook account show residents fleeing to higher ground on foot or aboard cars, trucks, motorcycles and tricycle taxis at night.
More than three hours after the quake hit, Bacolcol said there was no report of a tsunami hitting the coast from his agency’s field offices but added authorities would continue monitoring.
The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.


Japan looks to Saudi Arabia for ‘new forms’ of collaboration: Shikata

Japan looks to Saudi Arabia for ‘new forms’ of collaboration: Shikata
Updated 02 December 2023
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Japan looks to Saudi Arabia for ‘new forms’ of collaboration: Shikata

Japan looks to Saudi Arabia for ‘new forms’ of collaboration: Shikata
  • With COP28 talks taking place in the UAE, decarbonization is part of many countries’ objectives and green strategies

DUBAI: Japanese Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs Shikata Noriyuki told Arab News Japan that deep ties between his country and Saudi Arabia will pave the way for more opportunities to collaborate.

“There are emerging opportunities for a new way of life,” he said. “Especially if Saudi Arabia takes a leading role in presenting this new way of life with regards to sustainability issues.”

With COP28 talks taking place in the UAE, decarbonization is part of many countries’ objectives and green strategies.

Shikata said that when Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio visited Saudi Arabia in July, it was clear that the Kingdom was on a path to transformation.

“We sense very rapid change taking place in the Kingdom. It’s very impressive,” he added.

Japan is also working on its own transformation, specifically a green one. The cabinet secretary said, however, that the change will need collaboration with the Gulf region as well as other Asian countries.

“We want to work on joint projects or investments to encourage such a green transformation in the rest of Asia,” he said. “This is kind of conducive to our vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

At COP28, Japan introduced its new strategy to achieve a carbon-zero economy, which includes the idea of carbon pricing for the first time.

Japan not only will focus on the carbon emissions of major corporations, but also target zero-emission housing.

“This includes insulated windows to avoid extra heating costs,” Shikata said.

Other initiatives have been put in place, including the newly announced India-Middle East trade corridor.

“Japan is very attentive to this connectivity initiative between India and the Middle East,” he said, adding that a similar project is in the works with other Asian countries.

“We want to combine smart houses and urban transport so that we are eventually talking about smart, sustainable and carbon-neutral cities,” Shikata told Arab News Japan.

The conditions in Gaza have also been a topic of conversation at COP28, and Japan has consistently supported a two-state solution in order to realize peace.

“We have been working on the Jericho Agro-Industrial Park and trying to create jobs,” the cabinet secretary said, adding that Japan is encouraging its companies to invest. “However, with the political situation, it is very difficult to encourage investment.”

The industrial park aims to develop a fully functional and operational innovation business center in Palestine’s Jericho to improve the competitiveness of local businesses operating there.

There have been reports that Israeli strikes since Oct. 7 had damaged Japan International Cooperation Agency offices in Gaza.

However, Shikata said that once the situation in the enclave calms down, Japanese organizations will have “good motivation to go back and support reconstruction.”

* This article originally appeared on Arab News Japan, click here to read it.