• It is the 91st day of the war: “More than 22,700 Palestinians dead,” including around 8,000 children, according to Hamas. In Israel, 1,200 people died in the attack on October 7th.
• Nasrallah: “We will respond to the attack on Beirut.”
• Rhetoric and few facts: Why has Hezbollah not wanted to get involved in the war between Israel and Hamas?
• But does Israel have the atomic bomb? The “doctrine of ambiguity” (and slip-ups) regarding nuclear forces.
4:01 p.m. – Golden Globe organizers are preparing for protests in Gaza
Golden Globes organizers are preparing for the possibility of protests related to the war in Gaza on the sidelines of tomorrow night's live broadcast of the awards ceremony. The evening, broadcast on CBS, will be the first in Hollywood's awards season since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which could provide a high-profile platform for protesters for and against Israel. “Beverly Hills police are working with other agencies and the FBI to prepare for possible demonstrations,” The Hollywood Reporter has learned. “At the moment we have no news of any threats against the event or its participants. However, we are aware of what is happening in the world and for this reason we have mobilized more personnel,” said Lieutenant Renato Moreno. Pro-Palestinian protesters, often led by a coalition of Zionist Jewish organizations, have blocked traffic in the Los Angeles area in recent weeks to draw attention to the situation in Gaza. A solidarity march is planned for tomorrow afternoon in front of the Israeli consulate, calling for a ceasefire and an end to American aid to Israel. The consulate is about five kilometers from the Beverly Hilton, the hotel where the Globes are taking place that evening.
3:35 p.m. – Tehran, joint maneuvers between Iranian and Iraqi militiamen at the border
Iran has announced a joint exercise between the Basij, the paramilitary force supporting the Pasdaran, and a pro-Iran Shiite militia from Iraq, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, also known as Al-Hashd ash-Sha' bi). The military maneuvers will take place on the Arvand River, which marks the border between Iran and Iraq, and will also involve 313 speedboats and mark the fourth anniversary of the death of the Iranian military strategist and Al-Qods Special Forces commander. Qassem Soleimani and PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed together in the same attack in Baghdad on January 3, 2020 by an American drone. “The exercise is a demonstration of unity and joint struggle against global arrogance,” said Mehdi Hashemi, one of the commanders of the Pasdaran Naval Forces, on the occasion, adding that “the resistance front and freedom-seeking nations will continue to fight until then “The Zionist regime has been wiped out,” alluding to Israel.
4:00 p.m. – IDF, “40 Hezbollah rockets on Israel, no casualties”
Dozens of rockets, over forty, were fired from Lebanese territory into Israel without causing any casualties or injuries. Alarm sirens sounded in ninety communities in the north of the country. This was reported by the IDF. The rockets targeted the Mount Meron area. This, Hezbollah said in a statement, was the “first response to the criminal assassination of the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri,” who was killed in Beirut last Tuesday. Further launches affected the Metula and Margaliot areas.
3:00 p.m. – Meeting with Erdogan Blinken ended after two hours
The closed-door meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ended after almost two hours. The face-to-face meeting took place at one of the presidential residences in Istanbul in the presence of the top intelligence agencies of both countries, Ibrahim Kalin for Turkey and Jeffry Flake representing the CIA. Before Erdogan, the American Secretary of State had an almost two-hour conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. According to the Ankara Foreign Ministry, the main topics of the dialogue between Fidan and Fake were Israeli military operations and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The two also discussed NATO enlargement to include Sweden, the fate of which depends on the expected ratification by the Turkish parliament. This is the first leg of the mission that will take Blinken to several countries in the Middle East and the Mediterranean in the coming days. The head of US diplomacy is about to leave for Greece and will be in Israel on Monday.
2:41 p.m. – Israel responds to Hezbollah attacks and attacks in Lebanon
Israel has carried out a series of attacks in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel this morning. The Israeli army made the announcement by saying its warplanes had attacked a number of Hezbollah-administered sites in the areas of Aita al-Sha'ab, Yaron and Ramya. The Guardian writes it. The targets included a launch site and military buildings.
2:32 p.m. – Borrell: “It is necessary that Lebanon does not get involved in the war”
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, hopes that Lebanon is not “entangled in a regional conflict” despite hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in the south of the country. “It is absolutely necessary to avoid regional escalation in the Middle East, it is absolutely necessary to prevent Lebanon from being drawn into a regional conflict,” Borrell said while speaking to his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut. “I send the same message to Israel: no one will emerge victorious from a regional conflict.”
2:21 p.m. – Iran: Enemies stay away from our naval radars
“Enemies should avoid being near our naval radar near Iran as it would be harmful to them,” Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami warned during a ceremony in Bandar Abbas. “The final maritime limits of our combat power are unlimited and we will continue to strengthen our sea power against threats,” he added.
The Abu Mahdi warship and 100 missile and torpedo boats joined the Revolutionary Guards' naval forces in the southern waters of the Persian Gulf on Saturday: “We must combat the threats comprehensively, so our strategy is to strengthen military defense capabilities.” vital resources wherever necessary to safeguard our national interests,” he concluded, quoted by Fars.
12.41 p.m. – Blinken meets Erdogan in Istanbul
The meeting between American Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently taking place in Istanbul. American diplomatic sources reported this to AFP. The focus of the talks is the war in Gaza and Sweden's accession to NATO, which is still blocked by Turkey.
11:14 a.m. – Hamas: 22,722 Palestinians killed and 58,166 injured
The number of Palestinians who have died since the start of the conflict rises to 22,722, 122 of whom died in the last 24 hours. This was announced by the Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Gaza Strip. There are 58,166 injured.
11:06 a.m. – The Blinken-Fidan meeting begins, the one with Erdogan is expected
The meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan began a few minutes ago. Blinken landed in Istanbul last night, the first stop in a series of meetings the US diplomatic chief has planned in various countries in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Blinken is expected to meet President Erdogan later, around 1 p.m. Italian time. The face-to-face meeting between the two is highly anticipated due to the tensions that preceded it. In fact, the Turkish head of state is by far the most critical of Israel within NATO.
8:43 a.m. – Netanyahu's right-wing extremist hardliners: “I dream of theocracy”, “Free weapons for all”
(by Francesco Battistini, sent to Tel Aviv) The Congo is nothing. From someone who once urged “true Jews” not to let their wives give birth near Arab women; of another who, as a young man, kept in his living room the portrait of an exterminator of Palestinians in mosques; from another who, before October 7, considered himself Nero and dreamed of burning Gaza with all its inhabitants: from all this extreme nationalist and religious right, it is not surprising that even the idea of solving the problem was born war by deporting all Gazans to Africa or wherever.
Read the article here.
08:40 – Hezbollah claims to have fired 62 rockets towards northern Israel
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets into northern Israel this morning in an “initial response” to the killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri. Haaretz reported this, citing a statement from Hezbollah that 62 rockets were fired.
08:30 – Hamas: “I hope Blinken has learned his lesson”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken must have “learned his lesson” and should now “focus on the mistakes made by blindly supporting Israel.” These are the words of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Times of Israel reports. “We hope that Mr. Blinken has learned the lessons of the last three months and recognized the magnitude of the mistakes the United States made by blindly supporting the Zionist occupation and believing its lies that led to unprecedented massacres and crimes “War against our people in Gaza,” Haniyeh said on the day the American official began his umpteenth trip to the Middle East and is now in Turkey (see block at 8.13).
8:27 a.m. – IDF: 40 rockets from Lebanon to Mount Meron
About 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Mount Meron area in northern Israel. This was reported by the Israeli military, according to the Times of Israel. The IDF (Israeli Army) also claims to have attacked a terrorist cell in southern Lebanon that was responsible for some rocket attacks.
8:13 a.m. – Blinking in Turkey, focus on the crisis in Gaza and on Sweden in NATO
American diplomacy chief Antony Blinken is in Turkey today, the first stop on a regional tour of the Middle East that will take him to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Qatar to demand more aid for Gaza and beyond to speak as if to prevent a regional conflagration, three months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. This is the US secretary of state's fourth mission since October, which promises to be very difficult given disagreements between the US and Israel over Tel Aviv's ongoing attacks on Gaza. At a meeting in November, Blinken told Netanyahu that the Israelis needed to accept a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow more aid to flow to the war zone and allow civilians to flee areas under attack. But Erdogan remains one of Israel's harshest critics because, for the strongman from Ankara, who has failed to play a mediating role between Israelis and Hamas, Israel is a “terrorist state” and the Islamist group a “group of liberators.”
The other reason for the visit is Sweden's NATO membership: Turkey, along with Hungary, is the last NATO member blocking the Scandinavian country's path to joining the alliance.
6:15 a.m. – The number of nightly Israeli attacks on Gaza increases: 21 dead
According to Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera, the death toll from the Israeli bombings in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah last night has risen to at least 21 dead and several injured. In particular, 18 victims were recorded in a house in the al-Manara district of Khan Yunis, south of Strisci. The other three were found in the rubble of a house in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Palestinian enclave.
3:59 a.m. – Media in Gaza: “At least 15 dead in new Israeli attacks”
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, at least 15 Palestinians died and several others were injured in a bombing by Israeli warplanes this evening in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip and Khan Yunis in the south.
3:28 a.m. – Nasrallah: “ISIS is a tool of the Americans”
According to the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, ISIS is an instrument in the hands of the Americans: he said this in a speech broadcast live on television from a secret location. According to Nasrallah, “the United States using ISIS as its instrument” was behind the double attack last January 3 in Kerman, Iran, which left dozens dead and was claimed by ISIS.
3:05 a.m. – Nasrallah: “We will respond to the Israeli attack on Beirut”
“Israel’s war against Lebanon would be a bad choice” – that’s what Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in his televised speech. “We will not remain silent after the Israeli attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut” and “we will respond to the enemy,” emphasized Nasrallah. “It would be more dangerous to remain silent than to face the consequences of our response.” The battlefield will speak for itself. And the battlefield cannot wait.”
02:54 – Rwanda: “No talks with Israel about transfers from Palestinians”
The Rwandan government has denied recent reports in the Times of Israel that the African country had discussed the possibility of accepting Palestinians “transferred” from Gaza. Kigali “notes misinformation published by a media outlet supporting talks between Rwanda and Israel on the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza. This is completely false,” the Rwandan Foreign Ministry said in a post on its X account.
“Such a discussion has not taken place before or in the past and such misinformation should be ignored,” it added. A few hours earlier, the same denial had come from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Three days ago, Zman Yisrael, the Israeli newspaper's Hebrew-language portal, wrote about the Netanyahu government's secret talks with several countries about a “voluntary” migration program for Palestinians.
2:22 a.m. – USA: up to $10 million for information on Hamas financiers
The United States has offered a reward of up to $10 million for anyone who can provide information about five Hamas financiers or information that can dismantle the financial mechanisms of the group that rules Gaza. This was announced by the US State Department, specifying that the rewards will be provided for information about any source of Hamas's income, i.e. plans that benefit Hamas. The five financiers identified by Washington are Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Khair, Amer Kamal Sharif Alsshawa, Ahmed Sadu Jahleb, Walid Mohammed Mustafa Jadallah and Muhammad Ahmad 'Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah, all of whom have already been designated as global terrorists by the United States.
02:01 a.m. – Rhetoric and a few facts: Why has Hezbollah not wanted to join the war between Israel and Hamas to date?
Every time Nasrallah opens his mouth, Lebanon trembles. There are fears that he will declare war to save the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, take advantage of the dispersal of Israeli forces and ultimately focus on Jerusalem. In the rhetoric of “resistance to the Zionist entity” and “martyrdom for the liberation of Al-Quds” (Jerusalem), it would be a coherent decision. Instead, even after Al Arouri's death, Nasrallah hesitates: “Retribution will come,” but not immediately. Translated, Al Arouri is not worth war. Just like bloody Israeli revenge in Gaza. Hezbollah has expressed solidarity with Hamas but has limited bombings within 10 kilometers of its border. Basically, Nasrallah has not wanted to expand the conflict. Why?
00:14 – But does Israel have the atomic bomb? The “doctrine of ambiguity” (and slip-ups) regarding nuclear forces
(by Davide Frattini, Jerusalem correspondent) The white dome in the Negev Desert bears his name. But already 67 years ago, when he began to buy the projects and parts to implement these plans from the French, until the end without the certainty of having enough funds to pay the middlemen, Shimon Peres was convinced that The operations should remain opaque at the nuclear center in Dimona. He explains this in his autobiography, published a year after his death in 2017, quoting Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan: “The reputation of having power is itself power.”