#Iraqi Armed Forces

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 🚀💥 🚨

SCENES FROM U.S. STRIKES LAUNCHED AGAINST IRGC TARGETS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA

📹 Footage from missile strikes launched by the United States Armed Forces against IRGC-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

After the landing of a barrage of missiles, misfires can be seen crashing to the ground after hitting an ammunition depot in Al-Qaim and causing several explosions which burn near the bottom of the scene.

The United States says it targeted IRGC Quds Forces and allies in response to the recent deaths of three U.S. service members in a drone strike by Resistance forces in the west of Iraq which targeted Tower-22, an illegal U.S. outpost on the border of Jordan and Syria which overlooks the refugees of American-sponsored wars.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[thatonehistorynerd]

Love this show <3

[indynerdgirl]

On October 7, 2001, the President announced that the United States had begun military action in Afghanistan, launching Operation Enduring Freedom. Now, 22 years later, we are asking for the public's input in the design of a Memorial on our National Mall honoring those who have served and continue to serve in this multigenerational war. Help design history and give your input today.

[totallyhussein-blog]

For World War II veteran Peter Essa, he carried his wound for 78 years

Private First Class Peter Essa, a Chaldean American and World War II veteran, seemed to have unknowingly carried a piece of World War II with him for the last 78 years. Wooden fragments from the bullet he was shot with in the invasion of Normandy were found in his ankle two months ago after he visited a doctor because of a swollen ankle.

Essa was drafted into the war when he was just 18-years-old, having to leave his mother, father and six sisters. He was born in the United States in 1925 after his parents immigrated from Iraq. His mom came to the United States in 1908 and his dad in 1914.

Following his summoning into war, he then had to report for training along with other soldiers who’d been drafted. His first training base was Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he trained for two weeks before moving to Camp Van Dorn in Centreville, Mississippi. He said he was there for 11 months before the recruit training in Fort Meade, Maryland. His last training stop was Camp Shanks in Orangeville, New York, which was actually named “Last Stop USA.”

Upon arriving in Europe, Essa recalled a large ship coming into the harbor near the ship he was aboard, where he saw General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill preparing to give orders. Essa said they began to speak to the soldiers over a loudspeaker about an invasion and that’s when they knew something serious was coming.

As Zeina Jaafar explained in the Arab American News; They were preparing for “Operation Overlord”, also known as D-Day; the invasion of Normandy, France that commenced on June 6, 1944. Essa said this was his first day in combat and unbeknownst to him, the invasion in which he would be shot and wounded.

Soldiers were transferred to smaller landing crafts that took them closer to the shores of Normandy, where German troops were stationed in the distance. Essa said that as they reached the shoreline, they were dropped from the landing crafts into water up to their necks. With their rifles over their heads, he said they trekked through the water to reach the beach.

In the midst of fighting back, Essa was shot by a German wooden bullet in his left ankle. He immediately screamed for help and stated that the pain was so immense that he believed he would not make it. “When I got shot, I thought I was killed,” he said. Sergeant Durham carried Essa on his back to safety, where he was then taken by jeep to a field hospital and treated by the medics. Unfortunately, that sergeant was killed in combat shortly after, Essa said.

Following his treatment in England, he was then sent to Crile Military Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Here, Essa went through a total of six surgeries and was awarded the Purple Heart. He set the scene of being awarded whilst sitting in a hospital bed and still recovering from being shot. He was officially discharged from the war in 1945 as his injury was too severe for him to return.

His life post war of course looked much different than going into active combat. He used the GI Bill, which helps World War II veterans pay for school, and attended a butchers school. He then took a trip to Iraq in search of a wife. He then married a woman named Samira, from Baghdad, and moved her to the States, where they had five children. 

Essa was also awarded the Bronze Star for his service and his wife recalled two soldiers appearing at their house in Metro Detroit asking for him. She said they saluted him as soon as he came to the door, and that alone brought her to tears.

Last November, Essa said he noticed pain and swelling in his left ankle, where he’d been shot 78 years earlier. Essa said that as the surgeon was cleaning out his wound, he started pulling wooden fragments out of his ankle with utter confusion as to what what those pieces could be. He then informed the doctor that he’d been shot with a wooden bullet in World War II.  

Peter Essa has carried a piece of the war with him from the day he was shot in the invasion of Normandy, but is fortunately now relieved of the pain that bullet cost him.

[zvaigzdelasas]

“It is a huge escalation, involving perhaps 15-20 missiles,” [...]

"It seems like things are spiralling. There's no way they're firing ballistic missiles and not expecting casualties."[...]

The escalation is part of the [PMF's] campaign to pressure the US to leave Iraq. There are about 2,500 American military trainers in the country under the International Coalition against ISIS. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani [...] has criticised militias for attacking coalition troops on Iraqi territory, but has upped his calls for US forces to leave the country as the conflict escalates. Mr Al Sudani has also fiercely condemned US counter strikes against the militias [which are largely a formal part of the Iraqi Armed Forces] as a “violation of sovereignty”.[...]

The rivalry between US forces and Kataib Hezbollah[, one faction of the PMF, ] is bitter and goes back to the US occupation of Iraq, when the militia killed and wounded hundreds of US soldiers.

Baghdad committed to end presence of US troops in Iraq: Iraqi general - AlMayadeen

Spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) Brigadier General Yahya Rasool stated on Sunday that the government of Iraq is determined to terminate the deployment of foreign troops associated with the US-led military coalition, which was originally formed to combat ISIS. "The Iraqi government is resolute to put an end to the deployment of foreign forces in the country. It has devised a vision plan for the next stage, which includes joint technical activities intended for the US-led coalition's departure and subsequent security and military cooperation," Rasool stated. He further stressed that the presence of the US-led military coalition in Iraq is no longer deemed necessary, noting that the capabilities of Iraqi forces are high enough to address terrorism-related issues themselves. On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani reiterated the call for the coalition's departure. "The end of the US-led coalition mission is a necessity for the security and stability of Iraq. It is also a necessity for preserving constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries," Sudani stated during a televised event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Sudani has consistently expressed the desire for foreign troops to leave Iraq, with the country adopting a law to expel foreign forces following the assassination of top Iraqi and Iranian anti-terror commanders in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020. [...]

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh admitted earlier this week that US forces in the region came under attack 140 times [since 7 Oct]. Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, Singh disclosed that the attacks have been "persistent and alarming."

21 Jan 24

[transmutationisms]

also the idea that military spending is just inherently wrong or to be avoided is often framed from such an imperial core perspective... like i do understand the urge to be like "the us spends a kajillion trillion dollars on its military and doesn't provide basic services to people or develop its infrastructure" or whatever but in addition to the obvious point that you're talking about the distribution of imperial riches instead of an actual end to imperialism, it's also just like, kind of inherently a useless mode of argument for anything other than scoring a few rhetorical points. like even within the us it doesn't really apply because usually there are numerous factors as to why something is shit, like for example because car companies and manufacturing interests have significantly moulded infrastructure and urban development for the last century, or because many welfare programs are funded and de-funded in explicit eugenic attempts to policy-engineer a whiter population.

and then when people try to just apply the military spending argument elsewhere it becomes particularly absurd because most countries don't spend nearly as much on their militaries in the first place, and also people will try to make this argument about military forces that exist in direct response to imperial and colonial aggression and occupation. like you can't just interpret every military force or armed struggle as though it is also the us military. what makes imperial powers' militaries bad isn't some abstract badness of violence but the fact that these forces exist to advance imperial interests. arming hamas fighters to resist israeli occupation and arming usamerican drones to bomb iraqis are not comparable acts in any way except on the most ahistorical and idealist conception of what war is and what it does. like even if hamas's resources were fungible in the way this line of thinking presumes it would still be defensible to spend them on arms, whereas even if us military money came out of a magic funnel in the sky it would still be an imperial force.

[phoenixyfriend]

Suggested topics to call your reps about today, 1/30/24!

I’ve been doing two subjects per call recently; one is almost always about the events in the middle east, and then one is domestic policy. I’m including a bit of verbiage you can use as basis for what you say (if you agree with me), for a few of these.

BOTH SENATE AND HOUSE:

Foreign Policy: Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, this arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked.

Warn Congress to reaaaaally think about whether a strong response to the incident in Jordan, currently attributed to an Iraqi group backed by Iran, if we're truly looking to avoid a wider regional war as claimed. There is already growing unrest in Yemen and the threat of another civil war, fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and now the situation with the Islamic Resistance. Caution them against an overreaction of the kind that the US has a tendency towards.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed.

FOR THE HOUSE: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it.

Domestic Policy

House of Representatives:

Expansion of the child tax credit. The House of Representatives is currently voting on whether or not to expand the child tax credit that was instated during COVID-19. This credit offers a return on taxes for individuals with children, but currently does not apply to families that are too poor to qualify. During COVID, this tax credit was expanded to include those families, and child poverty fell to record lows, but as it was a temporary measure, those children are getting left behind again. Given the effectiveness the expansion of this tax regulation showed in the past, it would be a net positive for the country as a whole to codify it more permanently.

Other things coming up in the next week if you think your rep might be receptive:

H.R. 6976: Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act: Vote no. This act is discriminatory and enforces harsher penalties on immigrants than in legal citizens. While DUIs are a significant issue, enacting stronger guidelines on a small portion of the population that is already at risk from discriminatory police action is not a solution.

H.R. 6679: No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act - Vote no or dismiss if possible. Terrorism is already considered a reason to reject immigrants. This bill is pointless peacocking. You have better things to do with your time.

H.R. 6678: Consequences for Social Security Fraud Act - Vote no. This proposed act is discriminatory and enacts unduly harsh sentences against minorities. The system already has punishments for fraud; this specific act is unnecessary.

H.R. 5585: Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act - Are you sensing a pattern? It's discriminatory! Evading law enforcement on a motor vehicle is already illegal, you do not need to ADD IMMIGRATION PENALTIES.

Senate:

Abortion rights. Domestically, for the senate, push for abortion rights.

Specific things coming up in the next week if you think your Senator might be receptive:

H.R. 6914: Pregnant Students’ Rights Act - Call to ask that the resolution EXPLICITLY include abortion access, or otherwise vote against. This passed the house on strict party lines; other than a handful of abstentions, the vote was all republican for and all dems against. The text of the proposal is explicitly anti-abortion.

H.R. 6918: Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act - same as above, it was very partisan in the house vote, though less explicitly anti-abortion in the text. Nonetheless, it focuses explicitly on protecting funding to "pregnancy centers," which are often anti-choice and dedicated to pushing patients towards keeping a baby they don't want.

DOMESTIC POLICY, BOTH BRANCHES OF CONGRESS: Border policy is currently being hotly debated and negotiated. A very strong policy in favor of the Republican party is the status at the moment. Even some democrats are in favor of it due to small border communities being ill-equipped to handle large numbers of migrants, and states usually removed from the situation getting migrants bussed in from Texas despite telling Texas to knock it off. Despite some Republicans saying that they have gotten everything they could want out of the current deal, the party at large is refusing to pass it as the politics of the debate are more useful to the coming election than actually passing policy. This is also causing delays in passing the federal budget.

I... don't actually want to tell anyone WHAT to think of the border policy since I do not have any real knowledge on the budget impacts and resources dictating the actual problems (nor the racism or xenophobia, that part is obviously bullshit). I can recognize that too some degree, there is a genuine issue of manpower and budget restriction impacting the ability to house and process immigrants.

However, DREAMers are not being considered in the current deal, the delays in the deal are impacting the federal government and threatening a partial shutdown, and people are STILL getting hurt and even dying at the border.

I would focus on protection for DREAMers, chastising the Republicans for deliberately delaying the budget in order to use the border as a reelection premise instead of actually working on the policy they claim to want (emphasize that they are going to lose votes for focusing on reelection at the expense of their people), and protection for children, parents with those children, and nonviolent migrants in general.

[eretzyisrael]

Former Miss Iraq pays sympathy visit to site of Hamas slaughter

Sarah Idan (left), former Miss Iraq, on a visit to the site of Kfar Aza, one of the sites ravaged by Hamas terrorists on 7 October

“I visited Kfar Aza, a place where the heart-wrenching horror of Hamas’s infiltration led to a massacre of innocent Israeli families right in their homes,” tweeted Idan, a Democrat running to represent California’s 30th congressional district in place of Adam Schiff, who is vying to enter the U.S. Senate in 2024.

“Located just a mile from Gaza, we stood witness as the Iron Dome intercepted rockets launched by Hamas. I brought my old uniform from Iraq to be mentally prepared, but I was still shocked and at a loss for words. Never in my life, not even amidst the terror of ISIS, have I seen such barbarity. What was once a vibrant community now echoes with a haunting silence of tragedy,” she continued.

By “uniform,” Idan means the camouflage pants, T-shirt reading “Fight Back” and combat boots that she wore as a translator for U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

“I don’t care what’s your religion if your God permits you to do this in his name then your God is wrong. My mind is still traumatized by the scene, the smell of the dead bodies. Shame on those pretending the massacre didn’t happen,” she tweeted.

More than a hundred civilians were murdered and others were kidnapped from Kfar Aza when 3,000 heavily armed Hamas terrorists forced their way across the border and rampaged across the northwestern Negev, murdering around 1,200 persons in total, mostly civilians, wounding thousands more and taking some 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Idan and her family were forced to flee Iraq after she posed for a selfie with Miss Israel Adar Gandelsman at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas in 2017 and wearing a bikini in a swimsuit competition.

Her Iraqi citizenship revoked, Idan immigrated to the United States in 2017.

On May 19, she filed her candidacy for the California seat, which includes the cities of Burbank and West Hollywood, and parts of Glendale and Pasadena.

Read article in full

Iraq beauty queen:’people in Israel looked like my people’

Miss Iraq rebuilding relations between Arabs and Jews

Brave Iraqis get awards for advocating normalisation

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Wed morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🔻No rockets since 5pm yesterday.

🔸Relative quiet… is the war winding down? On the enemy side, it is their holiday and they are focusing on prep instead of attacks for the moment.  On the Israel side, also prep for a Rafah operations and dealing with US political pressures — while the hostages (if alive) languish in hellish conditions.

▪️CANADA BANS ARMS TO ISRAEL.. (but not to Hamas) Canada announced a ban on arms exports to Israel due to Israel defending itself from Hamas.  The Canadian government's decision to stop the supply of arms to Israel comes against the backdrop of growing pressure from the NDP, the left-wing wing of the government on which Trudeau's coalition depends for its continued survival, which claims in recent weeks that it is not doing enough to "protect the civilian population in Gaza." 

▪️UK SAYS CEASEFIRE SHOULD BE PERMANENT.. Britain's Foreign Minister, David Cameron: "We must try and turn a ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. This will happen if several conditions are fulfilled - we must remove the Hamas leadership from Gaza and we must dismantle the terrorist infrastructure”.

▪️MORE ON EILAT MISSILE.. Sunday night, a cruise missile from the Houthis / Yemen fell in an open area north of Eilat. The Air Force wishes to confirm it was being monitored.

▪️IRAQI MILITIAS, WE ATTACKED ISRAEL AIRPORT.. The pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claim again: we attacked Ben Gurion Airport with a suicide drone.

▪️A NUMBER OF SENIOR HAMAS PEOPLE TAKEN OUT.. over the past week, 3 Hamas commanders as well as other Hamas leadership types have been eliminated.

▪️DEAD SEA DRILL.. an exercise will take place in the Dead Sea area, in order to maintain the alertness and competence of the forces. The exercise will begin in the afternoon and end in the night, and as part of it, a lively movement of the security forces will be felt in the area.  IT’S A DRILL.

▪️PROTESTS.. Distraught hostage families together with “the women's protest” group block Ayalon North highway: "This is on you - do not return from Qatar without a deal."  The police forced them to the side of the highway, where they are being allowed to continue their protest.

[papasmoke]

so in the new call of duty game where they have you play as the special forces orc who calls in the airstrike on Soleimani and they've rewritten history so that we (the US) blew him up in the middle of nowhere for an arms deal with Russia instead of in the middle of an airport on the way to a diplomatic meeting with the Iraqi government. Not really any worse than the previous game where they attributed the highway of death to the Soviets but doing that with an incident so recent is pretty insane. Maybe in the next game they'll have you play as some 19 year old suburban troop prick in 2003 who personally breaks into Iraq's national museum to steal 5000 year old historical artifacts, and the game says it's because Saddam secretly in the middle of the US invasion ordered his soldiers to smash all the artifacts out of spite so you're actually saving them. Another game where you personally initiate the My Lai massacre except the game paints the victims of the slaughter as armed aggressors and the primary antagonist of the game is that helicopter crew who intervened to save the surviving villagers. Nothing is beyond the pale, why not flat out claim we never invaded Iraq in 2003 at all and that that was Russia's doing too?

[magz]

Lets Talk Palestine, summary. March 31 to April 5, 2024. Quote:

March 31. Day 177 - Easter

✝️ Israel denied Palestinian Christians — the oldest in the world — access to the old city in Jerusalem

🇫🇷 France to prosecute its citizens serving in IOF for implicated war crimes after video showed French citizen assaulting Palestinian hostages

• 77 Palestinians killed, 108 injured in last 24 hours

🇮🇶 Iraqi group’s drone strikes & damages Israeli naval base in Eilat in southern Palestine, bypassing Jordanian & Israeli air defense to do so (📸 above)

• Another massacre of aid seekers at Kuwaiti roundabout killed 17 & wounded 30. This major aid distribution point now dubbed a “deathtrap”

🏥 Israeli bombing of tents housing displaced Palestinians at al-Aqsa Hospital kills 4, wounds 17 incl. journalist

• IOF abducts 14 in overnight raids in West Bank

🏥 26 patients killed in Israel’s siege of Shifa Hospital. The remaining 107 patients face mass disease spread

🐀 Palestinian Authority President Abbas swears in new unelected gov’t

April 1. Day 178

🏥 IOF withdraws from Shifa Hospital after 2-week siege that completely destroyed the hospital as they set fire to buildings (📸 above). 400+ bodies of Palestinians executed by IOF found, many missing body parts, showing signs of torture

•⁠ 63 killed, 94 injured in Gaza in last 24 hours

•⁠ ⁠Israeli army report admits that IOF executed Palestinians for crossing arbitrary invisible “kill zones” determined by IOF

🇸🇾🇮🇷 Israel strikes & destroys Iranian consulate in Syria, killing 7 in a dangerous regional escalation

•⁠ ⁠4 foreign @ wckitchen aid workers (incl. Australian, British & Polish) & their Palestinian translator killed by Israeli targeted bombing of their car while distributing food

•⁠ Hamas says the Palestinian Authority & Egyptian officials coordinated w/ Israel to infiltrate Gaza via Rafah crossing as an "intelligence plan" disguised as "distributing aid". PA denies the accusation; 6 PA officers were arrested by Hamas. The PA seeks to administer Gaza post-genocide

April 2. Day 179

• 71 Palestinians killed, 102 injured in Gaza in last 24 hours

•⁠ ⁠Netanyahu claims yesterday’s attack killing 7 foreign aid workers (🇦🇺, 🇨🇦, 🇬🇧, 🇺🇸, 🇵🇱) was “unintended”. But the workers were in a deconflicted zone, coordinated movement w/ Israel, & were in clearly marked @ wckitchen cars

👆UK & Australia summon Israeli ambassadors, demanding accountability; but US & Canada accept Israel’s excuse that the killing was unintended

🇺🇸⁠ Alarming level of US intelligence sharing w/ Israel since Oct 7 from Gaza surveillance. US unsure of its intel’s contribution to civilian deaths

• Knesset (Israel Parliament) pass bill paving way to ban Al Jazeera, claims it poses threat to international media & freedom of the press

• Multiple aid orgs incl. @ aneraorg & @ wckitchen halt Gaza operations after yesterday’s attack + aid shipment returns to Cyprus w/ 240 tons of undelivered aid. Due to Israel targeting humanitarian workers

• World Bank: Gaza infrastructure damage estimated at $18.5bn

April 3. Day 180

• After 6 months of genocide, Israel has killed 32,975 Palestinians, not including thousands buried under rubble; incl. 14,500 kids, 140 journalists & 484 medical staff. Starvation & disease are expected to kill even more as Israel prevents aid

🇺🇳 UN Human Rights Council to consider draft motion for arms embargo on Israel to halt arms sales

• 30% of children under 2 in Gaza are ‘acutely malnourished’

🇺🇳 UN suspends night aid deliveries in last 48 hours after Israel’s killing of 7 @ wckitchen aid workers

⚖️ The PA attempted to arrest a Palestinian resistance fighter in Tulkarem (West Bank), and later PA forces killed Motassim Al-Arif of Tulkarem Brigades (local resistance group), making him the 7th Palestinian resistance fighter killed by the PA since Oct 7. This sparked Tulkarem brigades to initiate a state of “civil disobedience” in Tulkarem. The attempted arrest of the Hamas leader occurred in Jenin (West Bank) and is another escalation of clashes between the PA and Palestinian resistance groups in the West Bank

🇬🇧 YouGov Poll: 56% UK voters support ban of arms export to Israel

April 4. Day 181

‼️ Gaza death toll surpasses 33,000 not including thousands under rubble

•⁠ ⁠Israel’s bombing of Gaza is driven by flawed AI software with little human review of the thousands of Palestinians placed on its ‘kill list’. The AI accounts for 5-10 ‘acceptable civilian deaths’ per targeted resistance fighter

[Magz note: This is a part of Israel's various efforts to kill Palestinians / "Hamas" with more efficiency and ease for the IOF. Other examples being robot dogs and high-tech missile launchers and dropping specialized bombs on highly-concentrated "concentration camp" of Gaza. In this case, the machine-learning database is called "Lavender", and 'identifies' targets that 'might' have any connection to Hamas at all, so the IOF directs "dumb bombs" on the targets. The unspoken implications is that the targets' identifications would include potential family members and friends - thus having as many as 37000 target list total for "Hamas", as the dehumanization of Palestinians is to idenitfy them all as inherently "terrorist". ("‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets", The Gaurdian article. Article date: April 4, 2024)]

🇮🇷 Israel evacuated several of its embassies abroad, halted deploying combat units & called reservists in response to Iran’s threats of retaliation after Israel killed 7 Iranian personnel in strike on its consulate in Syria. Israel taking Iran’s threat seriously

• Israeli doctor reveals catastrophic conditions for Palestinian captives incl. requiring amputations from being shackled for 24 hours, regularly blindfolded, denied toilet access & surgeries without proper medical care

• IOF strikes homes in ‘safe zone’ Rafah, killing 8+ Palestinians

🇱🇧 2000 acres of Lebanese farmland destroyed by Israeli bombardment

• IOF shot & killed 28-year-old Asad Amr in Jenin in West Bank

April 5. Day 182

•⁠ ⁠On Palestinian Children’s Day, Israel has killed 14,000+ children in Gaza, 117 in West Bank since Oct 7. 31 kids killed by starvation while 50,000+ are acutely malnourished, 200 kids held captive by Israel & 17,000+ unaccompanied or separated from immediate family

⚖️ Colombia follows Nicaragua in requesting to join South Africa in ICJ genocide case against Israel

🇺🇳 UN Human Rights Council passes non-binding motion urging states to halt arms sales to Israel, citing ICJ ruling; US voted against. First time UNHRC takes a position since Oct 7

•⁠ Israel to open Beit Hanoon crossing to north Gaza & Ashdod port temporarily; analysts say it’s inadequate as Gaza subject to ‘catastrophic starvation’ by Israel’s blockade

•⁠ After international outrage, Israel dismisses 2 officers & reprimands 3 for attack killing 6 foreign aid workers, but no criminal trials or real accountability

•⁠ Israeli sniper kills Palestinian while filming an Israeli raid from his rooftop in West Bank

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 🔞☠️ 🚨 Three martyrs arrive at Al-Qaim hospital in western Iraq after U.S. "retaliatory" strikes against "IRGC"-backed militias. The U.S. says it launched strikes against 85 targets in Iraq and Syria.]

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 🛩️🚀💥 🚨

💥U.S. MILITARY LAUNCHES WAVE OF STRIKES AGAINST IRGC TARGETS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA💥

The United States Armed Forces launched a wave of "retaliatory" strikes against supposed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iraq and Syria Friday after previously blaming Iran for the recent deaths of three American soldiers by Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

Although many of these groups receive funding and purchase arms from Iran, the White House has yet to produce evidence that any these Militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, take literal orders from Iran, or that Iran even knew anything about the attacks on American bases.

Iran, for its part, denies involvement in the drone strikes that killed three U.S. soldiers on the border of Jordan and Syria, and denies knowing about it in advance.

Still, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement on the social media platform X, announcing that U.S. had "conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups."

U.S. forces launched strikes against "85 targets" in Iraq and Syria, utilizing "numerous aircraft," including long-range bombers "flown from the United States."

According to CENTCOM, the attacked also used "125 precise munitions" striking "command and control operation centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities" belonging to Militia groups "and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated the attacks" against U.S. and partner countries in the region.

In Iran, President Ebrahim Raeisi vowed to respond to any attack by U.S. Forces, telling reporters earlier Friday that Iran has "said many times that we will not be the initiator of any war, but if a country or a cruel force wants to bully the Islamic Republic of Iran, it will respond firmly."

Despite the death of three U.S. service members and the wounding of dozens as a result of the recent strikes on U.S. bases, all of which are located in the middle of the desert overlooking refugees of U.S. wars, yet no one in the U.S. mainstream media seems capable of asking just what American soldiers were doing on the border of Jordan and Syria in the first place?

And how does having U.S. soldiers in a post in the deserts of the Levant, overlooking the refugees of war or stealing Syrian oil is making America a safer place? Or how a regional war in the Middle East will lower inflation rates, slow the growth of U.S. public and private debt, solve homelessness, immigration or crime?

#source

#source2

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

Capt. Doug Zembiec, the commanding officer of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, gives orders to his men over a radio prior to leaving their secured compound for a short patrol in the city of Fallujah on April 8, 2004.

He was nicknamed the "Lion of Fallujah" as a result of his heroic actions commanding Echo Company during Operation Vigilant Resolve in 2004. As a rifle company commander, Zembiec led 168 Marines and Navy Corpsmen in the first conventional ground assault into Fallujah. He earned the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device and also received two Purple Hearts due to wounds incurred in action.

Years later, Zembiec was serving in the Ground Branch of the CIA's Special Activities Division in Iraq when he was killed by small arms fire while leading a raid in Baghdad on May 11, 2007. Zembiec was leading a unit of Iraqi forces he had helped train. Reports from fellow servicemen that were present when he was killed indicate that he had warned his troops to get down before doing so himself and was hit by enemy fire. The initial radio report indicated "five wounded and one martyred" with Zembiec having been killed and his men saved by his warning.

(Photo by: Sgt. Jose E. Guillen)

[laundryandtaxes]

Even if you are fundamentally pro-Israel, it should deeply offend you to have your president go on television and imply that the eradication of Hamas is anything close to a real possibility. It means that he believes that you are stupid, because he is fully aware that one cannot kill ideas or sufficiently populated movements no matter whether you believe those movements are good or bad- if it was possible to just "defeat" or "eradicate" ISIS, it would have been done by now. This rhetoric is spit in your face coming from a man who just pulled the country out of 20 years of sending young men to be blown to bits with, ostensibly, the two primary goals of forcing several peoples to accept a nation being thrust upon them, and to eradicate umbrella term terrorist groups that have nonetheless continued to successfully murder scores of innocents all over the globe.

Anyone serious about finding plausible resolutions to any conflict knows that an end to conflict either simply delays further war, or it brings enemy combattants (rifles and all, ideology you find heinous and all) to the table. When the US forcibly disbanded the Iraqi army simply to make an example of Hussein, it sent hoardes of armed men home with their service rifles, a foreign power in their land at which to aim them, and little hope of integrating into the new Iraqi state, and this inevitably folded new men under the blanket of "insurgency" who would otherwise not have been under that blanket. When the US refused to hold serious talks with Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives together, it wasn't cutting the legs off the Taliban. Everyone knew this, which is why the US later sat right down with Taliban leaders later to negotiate a ceasefire that made no pretense of extending to Afghan national troops.

I do not say any of this to say this is good or even acceptable. I say this to say that, if anyone knows better than to talk of just getting rid of the terrorists so that the terrorism stops, it's Joe Biden, and when he insists otherwise he is insulting your intelligence.

[totallyhussein-blog]

The Iraqi Children Foundation intervenes in the lives of orphans and street children who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation by criminals, traffickers and extremists. The organization was set up ten years ago by Americans who saw the need to help rebuild Iraq after so many years of conflict.

"It was a privilege to travel to Iraq this past month, to visit our programs and meet with our partners. It is so important to experience our programs first hand. During this trip, I visited our Hope Buses and Street Lawyers in Baghdad, and our Center for Girls in Mosul."

Liz McRae is the Executive Director of the Iraqi Children Foundation and in this interview, Hussein Al-alak speaks with Liz McRae about the work of the ICF, along with finding out more about their upcoming ‘In Their Shoes’ global 5K run this Saturday, on May 21st, 2022.

You can read Hussein's interview with Liz here on Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra) or over on the Iraq Business News. As last year’s 'In Their Shoes' 5K saw virtual participants from all continents, if you can’t attend in person or take part virtually, please consider making a donation to the ICF.

All pictures taken from the In Their Shoes 5K 2021. First published on Iraq Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)

[zvaigzdelasas]

Iraq’s government has accused the United States-led international coalition forces of carrying out a drone strike targeting an Iran-aligned paramilitary group in the capital, Baghdad, that killed and wounded several people. The strike on Thursday targeted the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi. Hajj Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi (Abu Taqwa), a senior PMF commander, was among those killed.[...]

“The Iraqi armed forces hold the forces of the international coalition responsible for this attack,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office said in a statement, calling it a “dangerous escalation and aggression”.

Iraq’s foreign ministry also condemned the attack, calling it an “aggression” on an Iraqi security facility. “Iraq reserves its right to take a firm stance and take all measures that deter anyone who tries to harm its land and security forces,” it said in a statement.[...]

There was no immediate comment from US officials, whose forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria have faced a surge in attacks since the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.[...]

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, a group of Iranian-backed armed organisations – calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq – has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the war against Hamas that has killed more than 22,000 people in Gaza, and that they aim to push US forces out of Iraq.

4 Jan 24