Iran’s Velayati Incites Syrian Tribes against US Forces

Top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati. (AP file photo)
Top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati. (AP file photo)
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Iran’s Velayati Incites Syrian Tribes against US Forces

Top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati. (AP file photo)
Top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati. (AP file photo)

Top foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, received in Tehran on Saturday the leaders of several Syrian tribes from east of the Euphrates River where US troops are deployed.

Addressing his guests, he said that Iran opposes the establishment of a buffer zone in Syria and rejects any foreign meddling there or in any other country in the region.

He condemned US President Donald Trump’s remarks that American forces were in Syria to protect its oil fields, saying instead that Washington was seeking to rob this oil wealth in violation of international law, reported Russia Today.

On the drafting of a new Syrian constitution, he stressed that any change must be introduced by the Syrians themselves, not foreign countries.

Iran will confront “enemy” plots to divide the region, vowed Velayati.

Tehran has sought in recent months to recruit Syrians to its groups in the Deir Ezzour region, close to where American forces are deployed.

Meanwhile, Israel had reportedly carried out a strike against an Iranian military base in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier this week that highly explosive rockets had struck Brigade 47 that is affiliated with pro-Iran militias in Alboukamal in eastern Deir Ezzour. The source of fire remains unknown.

The group speculated that the rockets may have been dropped by drones.



5.6 Magnitude Quake Shakes Buildings in Taiwan, Series of Temblors Hit the Island

Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
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5.6 Magnitude Quake Shakes Buildings in Taiwan, Series of Temblors Hit the Island

Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook buildings in Taiwan on Thursday morning, as a series of temblors hit the island, causing little damage but possibly portending more seismic activity in the near future.
The biggest of the quakes hit at 10:11 a.m. (0211 GMT) in Chiayi county’s Dapu township at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the Central Weather Agency and the U. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the capital, Taipei, where buildings swayed slightly, The Associated Press reported.
That was followed shortly afterward by at least a dozen smaller quakes in Dapu. No damage or casualties were immediately reported.
All were aftershocks from a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck Dapu on Jan. 21 and sent 15 people to the hospital with minor injuries and damaged buildings and a highway bridge.
Last April, a magnitude 7.4 quake hit the island’s mountainous eastern coastal county of Hualien, killing at least 13 people, injuring more than 1,000 others, collapsing a hotel and forcing the closure of Toroko National Park. That was the strongest earthquake in 25 years and was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.
Taiwan is going through a period of increased seismic activity that could lead to further aftershocks or new quakes, according to the CWA and earthquake experts.
Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean from Chile to New Zealand where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The 1999 magnitude 7.7 quake killed 2,415 people, damaged buildings around the island of 23 million people and led to tightened building codes, better response times and coordination and widespread public education campaigns on earthquake safety.
Schools and workplaces hold earthquake drills, while cellphones buzz whenever a strong earthquake is detected.