US Announces $2 bn in New Ukraine Military Aid

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
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US Announces $2 bn in New Ukraine Military Aid

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)

The United States will send Ukraine a new military aid package worth $2 billion, a top US official said Thursday, a day before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.

"Today, the United States announced a further $2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN.

He did not give details of the types of armaments to be expected in the package, said AFP.

Sullivan, who accompanied President Joe Biden on a surprise trip into Kyiv this week, said US officials were constantly deciding how "to give Ukraine the tools that it needs to win."

He noted that while in Kyiv, Biden had delivered to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "an announcement of more artillery, more ammunition, more HIMARS," in addition to previous pledges of US armored vehicles and at a later date, tanks.

HIMARS are a US multiple rocket system that Ukrainian forces have used to devastating effect against the invading Russians.



Iran Vows Response to Guards Deputy Commander Killing in Lebanon

A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Iran Vows Response to Guards Deputy Commander Killing in Lebanon

A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)
A demonstrator stands in the rain holding up a picture of late Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli air strike the previous day, during an anti-Israel protest in Tehran's Palestine Square on September 28, 2024. (AFP)

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the killing by Israel of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander in Beirut was a "horrible crime" that would not go unanswered.

Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday in which Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah also died.

"There is no doubt that this horrible crime committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) will not go unanswered," Araqchi said in a statement addressed to the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that Iran-aligned armed groups would carry on confronting Israel with Tehran's help following the killing of Nasrallah, Iranian state media reported.

An alliance known as the Axis of Resistance, built up over decades with Iranian support, includes the Palestinian group Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Yemen's Houthis, and various Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.

"We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance," Qalibaf said.

He also issued a warning to the United States.

"The US is complicit in all of these crimes and...has to accept the repercussions," he said.

Iran's Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, asked about Nasrallah's assassination, told state media on Sunday Iran would react at an appropriate time of its choosing against Israel.