Tehran [Iran], August 19 (ANI): Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Major General Ali Abdollahi, on Wednesday warned that countries on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf should not assist or facilitate US military forces, saying Tehran is closely monitoring military activity at regional bases, according to an official statement cited by IRIB.
France says settler violence justifies its sanctions against Israeli minister Ben Gvir French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot condemned on Wednesday violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and added that this justified France's recent sanctions against Israel's far-right police minister Itamar Ben Gvir. "What is happening today in the West Bank is utterly disgraceful and should fill us all with revulsion," Barrot wrote on X. "This is why we have sanctioned Israeli minister Ben Gvir, whose recent comments are unacceptable and inhuman," added Barrot.
Israel admits that it fired on vehicle carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 08/19/2026 - 16:17 Military opens criminal investigation into the killing of nine people in January 2024, but says there was no criminal misconduct in three other cases Hind Rajab, five, was killed by Israeli forces in February 2024 alongside six members of her family and two paramedics (Screengrab/X) Off Israel ’s military has for the first time admitted that it opened fire on a vehicle carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family in Gaza City two-and-a-half years ago. The military said it would open a criminal investigation into the killing of nine people on 29 January 2024, including Hind. On that date, the Palestinian girl initially survived an Israeli attack on a vehicle which killed several members of her family.
Israeli plans to build on the area east of Jerusalem - which would divide the occupied West Bank in two - have long been internationally condemned.
Israel’s Ben Gvir boasts of planned execution facility for Palestinian prisoners Israel ’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasted on Tuesday about the construction of a facility intended for the execution of Palestinian prisoners. “In this place, the terrorists will be executed,” Ben Gvir said in a video posted on Instagram, where he has around 150,000 followers. In the video, Ben Gvir points towards what appears to be an active construction site and says the complex will include “viewing chambers where crime victims will be able to come and watch” Palestinians being hanged.
(260819) -- YINCHUAN, Aug. 19, 2026 (Xinhua) -- Mohammad Abdi (R) learns Baduanjin, a traditional Chinese breathing and stretching exercise, at Ningxia Chinese Medicine Research Center in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on Aug. 15, 2026.
Gas stations in parts of Tehran closed after running out of fuel Wednesday, while motorists elsewhere in the Iranian capital waited up to an hour to fill their tanks amid mounting fears of a fuel price hike, locals told Iran International.
Houthis threaten wider escalation against Saudi Arabia Yemen’s Houthis say they have established three rules of engagement: countering Saudi restrictions with a maritime blockade, striking Saudi military deployments and defending Yemen’s sovereignty. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Houthi forces had targeted eight Saudi oil vessels since banning all Saudi maritime shipping on July 20. He said five attacks occurred in the Red Sea and three in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea.
With Iran making ship traffic perilous, a U. S. operation offers a way out for some energy exports, stealthily shepherding tankers on dangerous journeys.
Israel’s Ben Gvir boasts of planned execution facility for Palestinian prisoners Submitted by Nadav Rapaport on Wed, 08/19/2026 - 14:45 National security minister says a new site will be used to hang Palestinian detainees Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir points to a construction site he says will be used to hang Palestinian prisoners (@otzma_yehudit/Instagram) Off Israel ’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasted on Tuesday about the construction of a facility intended for the execution of Palestinian prisoners. “In this place, the terrorists will be executed,” Ben Gvir said in a video posted on Instagram, where he has around 150,000 followers. In the video, Ben Gvir points towards what appears to be an active construction site and says the complex will include “viewing chambers where crime victims will be able to come and watch” Palestinians being hanged.
UK jury fails to convict activists over direct action at Israeli arms factory A jury has failed to convict eight Palestine Action supporters accused of helping coordinate direct action against an Israeli weapons manufacturer linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The judge discharged the jury after it returned no convictions against Madeleine Norman, Hannah Davidson, Teuta Hoxha, Aleksandra Herbich, Ian Sanders, William Plastow, Julia Brigadirova and Sean Middlebrough. Prosecutors charged the defendants with criminal damage and violent disorder over the August 2024 action at an Elbit Systems facility in Filton, near Bristol.
Foreign interference is real - but the UK should look beyond the usual culprits Submitted by Mustafa al-Dabbagh on Thu, 08/13/2026 - 13:16 Foreign money and foreign direction should be treated as a problem regardless of which state masterminds it An Extinction Rebellion protest outside 55 Tufton Street on 20 December 2025. Tufton Street houses think tanks and lobby groups that have shaped UK policy (Andrea Domeniconi/SOPA Images via Reuters Connect) On Last month the British government added interference in the democratic process to the National Risk Register , ranking it alongside cyberattack and pandemic as a threat to national security. The framing is consistent, and mostly justified: the National Security Act 2023 , the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, and the Defending Democracy Taskforce target China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, and parliament's committees have documented sustained hostile efforts to shape British politics.
WASHINGTON -- The Caspian Sea is emerging as a potentially important logistics corridor in the expanding military relationship between Russia and Iran as they look to move goods beyond the reach of Western naval power. The corridor opens a route that could allow Moscow and Tehran to exchange large quantities of cargo through an inland sea that Western navies cannot directly enter.
'Playing with fire': Israel's Syria strike tests Turkey after Mecca defence pact Submitted by Ragip Soylu on Wed, 08/19/2026 - 12:41 Ankara insiders see the attack as an attempt to undermine the defence pact and send a warning ahead of Erdogan’s planned Damascus visit Anti-government fighters check a Syrian army jet after they took over a military airbase near the central city of Hama, on 6 December 2024 (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP) Off Turkey has sought to downplay Tuesday’s Israeli strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in northern Syria, about 70km from the Turkish border, viewing them as an election stunt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has recently portrayed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani as enemies of Israel in his election campaign materials. However, the attack - which immediately followed the signing of the Mecca defence agreement between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan - suggests that Israel may be seeking to undermine Ankara's credibility as an ally in Syria.
President Masoud Pezeshkian's government has formally opposed a bill aimed at countering foreign intelligence infiltration, saying it violates citizens' rights, restricts academic ties and could accelerate the emigration of Iranian experts and researchers.
US seeking ‘honourable exit’ as regional influence fades, says Iran Iran’s parliament speaker says foreign powers are losing their grip on the Middle East as a regional order takes shape. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf linked the shift to two commanders assassinated by the United States in January 2020. “Dear Abu Mahdi and Haj Qassem!
Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has strongly backed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, warning that Iran could face serious problems if the opportunity created by it is lost.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Israeli regime drone strike on a police post in central Gaza City killed six people and wounded others, according to a local ambulance source.
Israeli drone strike kills nine in Gaza City The number of people killed in an Israeli drone strike on central Gaza City has increased to nine, an ambulance official has told Al Jazeera correspondents. The latest update raises the death toll from six reported earlier in the attack.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime is using settler violence to advance plans to annex the occupied West Bank and ethnically clean the territory from the territory, Mustafa Bargouthi, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.
