Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute

Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute
No one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday. (AP)
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Updated 20 June 2025
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Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute

Israeli scientists reel after Iranian missile strikes premier research institute
  • “It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner

REHOVOT, Israel: For years, Israel has targeted Iranian nuclear scientists, hoping to choke progress on Iran’s nuclear program by striking at the brains behind it.
Now, with Iran and Israel in an open-ended direct conflict, scientists in Israel have found themselves in the crosshairs after an Iranian missile struck a premier research institute known for its work in life sciences and physics, among other fields.
While no one was killed in the strike on the Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, it caused heavy damage to multiple labs on campus, snuffing out years of scientific research and sending a chilling message to Israeli scientists that they and their expertise are now targets in the escalating conflict with Iran.
“It’s a moral victory” for Iran, said Oren Schuldiner, a professor in the department of molecular cell biology and the department of molecular neuroscience whose lab was obliterated in the strike. “They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel.”
Iranian scientists were a prime target in a long shadow war
During years of a shadow war between Israel and Iran that preceded the current conflict, Israel repeatedly targeted Iranian nuclear scientists with the aim of setting back Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel continued that tactic with its initial blow against Iran days ago, killing multiple nuclear scientists, along with top generals, as well as striking nuclear facilities and ballistic missile infrastructure.
For its part, Iran has been accused of targeting at least one Weizmann scientist before. Last year, Israeli authorities said they busted an Iranian spy ring that devised a plot to follow and assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist who worked and lived at the institute.
Citing an indictment, Israeli media said the suspects, Palestinians from east Jerusalem, gathered information about the scientist and photographed the exterior of the Weizmann Institute but were arrested before they could proceed.
With Iran’s intelligence penetration into Israel far less successful than Israel’s, those plots have not been seen through, making this week’s strike on Weizmann that much more jarring.
“The Weizmann Institute has been in Iran’s sights,” said Yoel Guzansky, an Iran expert and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. He stressed that he did not know for certain whether Iran intended to strike the institute but believed it did.
While it is a multidisciplinary research institute, Weizmann, like other Israeli universities, has ties to Israel’s defense establishment, including collaborations with industry leaders like Elbit Systems, which is why it may have been targeted.
But Guzansky said the institute primarily symbolizes “Israeli scientific progress” and the strike against it shows Iran’s thinking: “You harm our scientists, so we are also harming  scientific cadre.”
Damage to the institute and labs ‘literally decimated’
Weizmann, founded in 1934 and later renamed after Israel’s first president, ranks among the world’s top research institutes. Its scientists and researchers publish hundreds of studies each year. One Nobel laureate in chemistry and three Turing Award laureates have been associated with the institute, which built the first computer in Israel in 1954.
Two buildings were hit in the strike, including one housing life sciences labs and a second that was empty and under construction but meant for chemistry study, according to the institute. Dozens of other buildings were damaged.
The campus has been closed since the strike, although media were allowed to visit Thursday. Large piles of rock, twisted metal and other debris were strewn on campus. There were shattered windows, collapsed ceiling panels and charred walls.
A photo shared on X by one professor showed flames rising near a heavily damaged structure with debris scattered on the ground nearby.
“Several buildings were hit quite hard, meaning that some labs were literally decimated, really leaving nothing,” said Sarel Fleishman, a professor of biochemics who said he has visited the site since the strike.
Life’s work of many researchers is gone
Many of those labs focus on the life sciences, whose projects are especially sensitive to physical damage, Fleishman said. The labs were studying areas like tissue generation, developmental biology or cancer, with much of their work now halted or severely set back by the damage.
“This was the life’s work of many people,” he said, noting that years’ or even decades’ worth of research was destroyed.
For Schuldiner, the damage means the lab he has worked at for 16 years “is entirely gone. No trace. There is nothing to save.”
In that once gleaming lab, he kept thousands of genetically modified flies used for research into the development of the human nervous system, which helped provide insights into autism and schizophrenia, he said.
The lab housed equipment like sophisticated microscopes. Researchers from Israel and abroad joined hands in the study effort.
“All of our studies have stopped,” he said, estimating it would take years to rebuild and get the science work back on track. “It’s very significant damage to the science that we can create and to the contribution we can make to the world.”


Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
Updated 5 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
  • Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month

Yemen’s Houthis claimed a missile launched at Israel’s main civilian airport, after the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from the Arabian Peninsula country.
The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv with a “Zulfiqar ballistic missile” and drone, military spokesman Yehya Saree said late Wednesday.
In the video statement, he also announced drone attacks on military targets and the southern Israeli port of Eilat.
The Houthis have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since the Gaza war began in October 2023, sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.
In response, Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month.
The Israeli military had said that “following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, one missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted.”
Early on Wednesday, pro-government forces in Yemen said they seized “750 tons of weapons” en route from Iran to the Houthis.
US Central Command hailed the operation, calling it “the largest seizure of Iranian advanced conventional weapons in their history.”
Tarek Saleh, who heads the Yemeni National Resistance Forces, said in a post on X that the seizure included “naval and air missile systems, an air defense system, modern radars, drones, monitoring devices, anti-tank missiles, B-10 artillery, tracking lenses, sniper rifles, ammunition, and military equipment.”
Earlier this month, the Houthis resumed deadly attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they accuse of having links to Israel, to force Israel to end the Gaza war.


50 dead and injured in Iraq shopping mall fire: governor

Updated 41 min 47 sec ago
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50 dead and injured in Iraq shopping mall fire: governor

50 dead and injured in Iraq shopping mall fire: governor
  • Around 50 people were killed and injured in a fire that swept through a shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, state media said Thursday
BAGHDAD: Around 50 people were killed and injured in a fire that swept through a shopping mall in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut, state media said Thursday.
“The number of victims has reached about 50 people, martyrs and injured, in the tragic fire at a major shopping center,” Wasit province governor Mohammed Al-Miyahi told the official INA news agency.
The blaze at the Hyper Mall broke out late Wednesday, but the cause has yet to be identified, said Miyahi.
Ambulances were still transporting casualties as late as 4:00 am, filling beds of a hospital in Kut, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
An AFP correspondent said the mall had opened just five days ago. Initial reports suggested the fire started on the first floor.
The correspondent reported seeing charred bodies in hospital.
Miyahi declared three days of mourning in the province and said local authorities would file a lawsuit against the building and mall owner.

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
Updated 17 July 2025
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Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
  • “We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters

BAGHDAD: A massive fire in a hypermarket in Al-Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 60 people dead and 11 others missing, the city’s health authorities and two police sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-story building in Al-Kut overnight as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos.
“We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters.
“We have more bodies that have not been recovered still under fire debris,” city official Ali Al-Mayahi told Reuters.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but the province’s governor said initial results from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, the state news agency (INA)reported.
“We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,” INA quoted the governor as saying.


Syria’s Sharaa says protecting Druze citizens is ‘our priority’

Syria’s Sharaa says protecting Druze citizens is ‘our priority’
Updated 17 July 2025
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Syria’s Sharaa says protecting Druze citizens is ‘our priority’

Syria’s Sharaa says protecting Druze citizens is ‘our priority’
  • Syria’s interim president says does not fear war, will defend our people
  • Israel vows to protect Druze in southern Syria

DAMASCUS/CAIRO: Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said on Thursday that protecting Druze citizens and their rights is “our priority,” as Israel vowed to destroy Syrian government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria.
In his first televised statement after powerful Israeli air strikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Sharaa addressed Druze citizens saying “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party.”
“We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” he said.
He added that the Syrian people are not afraid of war and are ready to fight if their dignity is threatened. Israel’s airstrikes blew up part of Syria’s defense ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw. The attacks marked a significant Israeli escalation against Sharaa’s Islamist-led administration. They came despite his warming ties with the US and his administration’s evolving security contacts with Israel. Describing Syria’s new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has said it will not let them move forces into southern Syria and vowed to shield the area’s Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze minority.
The US said the fighting would stop soon.
“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria. We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media.
The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to address the conflict, diplomats said.
“The council must condemn the barbaric crimes committed against innocent civilians on Syrian soil,” said Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. “Israel will continue to act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders, anywhere and at any time.”

WARPLANES OVER DAMASCUS
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 169 people had been killed in this week’s violence. Security sources put the toll at 300. Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
Reuters reporters heard warplanes swoop low over the capital Damascus and unleash a series of massive strikes on Wednesday afternoon. Columns of smoke rose from the area near the defense ministry. A section of the building was destroyed, the ground strewn with rubble.
An Israeli military official said the entrance to the military headquarters in Damascus was struck, along with a military target near the presidential palace. The official said Syrian forces were not acting to prevent attacks on Druze and were part of the problem.
“We will not allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold,” said Eyal Zamir, Israel’s military chief of staff. Sharaa faces challenges to stitch Syria back together in the face of deep misgivings from groups that fear Islamist rule. In March, mass killings of members of the Alawite minority exacerbated the mistrust.
Druze, followers of a religion that is an offshoot of Islam, are spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
Following calls in Israel to help Druze in Syria, scores of Israeli Druze broke through the border fence on Wednesday, linking up with Druze on the Syrian side, a Reuters witness said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military was working to save the Druze and urged Israeli Druze citizens not to cross the border. The Israeli military said it was working to safely return civilians who had crossed.
Israeli Druze Faez Shkeir said he felt helpless watching the violence in Syria.
“My family is in Syria — my wife is in Syria, my uncles are from Syria, and my family is in Syria, in Sweida, I don’t like to see them being killed. They kicked them out of their homes, they robbed and burned their houses, but I can’t do anything,” he said.


Starvation among kids in Gaza reaches record levels, humanitarian chiefs tell UN Security Council

Starvation among kids in Gaza reaches record levels, humanitarian chiefs tell UN Security Council
Updated 17 July 2025
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Starvation among kids in Gaza reaches record levels, humanitarian chiefs tell UN Security Council

Starvation among kids in Gaza reaches record levels, humanitarian chiefs tell UN Security Council
  • More than 5,800 children diagnosed with acute malnutrition last month, triple the number compared with February
  • UNICEF chief Catherine Russell says children are being killed and maimed as they queue for food and medicine

NEW YORK: Children in Gaza are suffering from the worst starvation rates since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023, aid officials told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, in a devastating assessment of the conditions young Palestinians in the territory face as they try to survive.

“Starvation rates among children hit their highest levels in June, with over 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished,” said the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher.

Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on humanitarian aid earlier this year, and has only allowed a trickle of relief supplies to enter the territory since the end of May. The effects on the health of children have been catastrophic, according to the details presented to members of the Security Council. Levels of acute malnutrition have nearly tripled since February, just before the total blockade on aid was imposed.

“Children in Gaza are enduring catastrophic living conditions, including severe food insecurity and malnutrition,” UNICEF’s executive director, Catherine Russell, told the council.

“These severely malnourished children need consistent, supervised treatment, along with safe water and medical care, to survive.”

Yet youngsters in the territory are being killed and maimed as they queue for lifesaving food and medicine, she added. Last week, nine children were among 15 Palestinians killed by an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah while they waited in line for nutritional supplies from UNICEF.

“Among the survivors was Donia, a mother seeking a lifeline for her family after months of desperation and hunger,” Russell said.

“Donia’s 1-year-old son, Mohammed, was killed in the attack after speaking his first words just hours earlier. When we spoke with Donia, she was lying critically injured in a hospital bed, clutching Mohammed’s tiny shoe.”

Russell painted a bleak picture of desperation for the 1 million Palestinian children in the territory, where more than 58,000 people have been killed during the 21 months of war.

Among the dead are 17,000 children — an average of 28 each day, the equivalent of “a whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” Russell said.

Youngsters also struggle to find clean water supplies, she added, and are therefore forced to drink contaminated water, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks; waterborne diseases now represent 44 per cent of all healthcare consultations.

“Thousands of children urgently need emergency medical support,” Russell said, and many of those suffering from traumatic injuries or severe preexisting medical conditions are at risk of death because medical care is unavailable.

She repeated calls from other UN officials for Israel to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza “at sufficient speed and scale to meet the urgent needs of children and families.”

A new aid-distribution system, introduced and run by Israel and the US, has sidelined traditional UN delivery mechanisms and restricted the flow of humanitarian supplies to a fraction of what was previously available.

Since the new system, run by the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, hundreds of people, including children, have been shot dead as they gathered to collect aid.

Russell urged the Security Council to push for a return to UN aid-delivery systems so that essentials such as medicine, vaccines, water, food, and nutrition for babies can reach those in need.

Fletcher, the humanitarian chief, told the council that the shattered healthcare system in Gaza meant that in some hospitals, five babies share a single incubator and pregnant women give birth without any medical care.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher speaks to delegates about the situation in Gaza during a United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York City on July 16, 2025. (REUTERS)

He said the International Court of Justice has demanded that Israel “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,” and added: “Intentionally using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare would, of course, be a war crime.”

During the meeting, Israel faced strong criticism from permanent Security Council members France and the UK.

The British ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, described the shooting of Palestinians as they attempted to reach food-distribution sites as “abhorrent.”

She called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and said the UK “strongly opposes” the expansion of Israeli military operations.

French envoy Jerome Bonnafont said Israel must end its blockade of humanitarian aid, and denounced the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation system as “unacceptable and incompatible” with the requirements of international law.

He said an international conference due to take place on July 28 and 29 at the UN headquarters in New York, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, would offer a “pathway toward the future” and identify tangible ways in which a two-state solution might be reached to end the wider conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Dorothy Shea, the ambassador to the UN from Israel’s main international ally, the US, said the blame for the situation in Gaza lay with Hamas, which continues to hold hostages taken during the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the conflict in Gaza.