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Iran Hints at Supplying Syria with Khordad Missile System

Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdessi/File Photo
Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdessi/File Photo
    Damascus - Dubai - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran Hints at Supplying Syria with Khordad Missile System

Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdessi/File Photo
Police officers stand amid the rubble of a damaged building at the site of a rocket attack in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of central Damascus, Syria, February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Firas Makdessi/File Photo

Iranian state television announced on Friday that Iran is likely to sell surface-to-air missiles to Syria, to help it boost air defenses in the face of repeated Israeli airstrikes.

“Syria needs to rebuild its air defense network and requires precision bombs for its fighter planes,” Reuters quoted the Iranian state broadcaster as saying.

“It is very likely that we will witness the supply by Iran of radars and defense missiles, such as the 15 Khordad system, to reinforce Syria’s air defenses,” the Iranian TV added, noting that only parts of a recent defense agreement with Syria were being publicized.

The Iranian announcement comes days after a report stated that Sunday’s rocket attack on Damascus, which Syria blamed on Israel, hit a facility where Iranian officials were meeting to advance programs to develop the capabilities of Tehran’s allies in Syria.

A source close to the Syrian government told Reuters that the strike hit a gathering of Syrian and Iranian technical experts in drone manufacturing, but added that no top-level Iranian was killed.

“The strike hit the center where they were meeting as well as an apartment in a residential building. One Syrian engineer and one Iranian official - not high-ranking - were killed,” the source told Reuters.

Syrian state media said at the time that Israel carried out airstrikes shortly after midnight on Sunday, targeting several areas in the Syrian capital, killing five and wounding 15, including civilians.

An Israeli military official declined to confirm or deny that Israel was behind the attack, but said some of the casualties were caused by errant Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

Reuters reported that a second source, who spoke to Syrian security personnel briefed on the matter, said Iranians were attending the meeting of technical experts in an Iranian military installation in the basement of a residential building inside a security compound.

He said one of those killed was a Syrian army civil engineer who worked at Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, which Western countries say is a military institution that has produced missiles and chemical weapons. Damascus denies this claim.

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World

Trump Calls Iran Conflict ‘Small Potatoes’ and Defends Vance’s Position That It’s Not a ‘War’

US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to beef, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, US, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to beef, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, US, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Calls Iran Conflict ‘Small Potatoes’ and Defends Vance’s Position That It’s Not a ‘War’

US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to beef, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, US, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump attends an event to sign executive orders related to beef, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, US, September 4, 2026. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump on Friday said the conflict in Iran is “small potatoes” as he defended Vice President JD Vance for asserting that months of on-and-off attacks in the Middle East are not a “war.”

Asked during an Oval Office exchange about Vance’s comments made a day earlier, Trump said US strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and “a lot of people don’t call it a war." The conflict has cost US taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 US service members dead.

“I can understand what he’s saying,” said Trump. He added: “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing."

Vance, during a White House press briefing Thursday, rejected the use of the word “war” to describe the US fighting with Iran and steered clear of predicting that the six-month-old conflict would be over by November’s midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their narrow majorities in Congress.

“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said after being asked about whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 elections. “Right now, there is no active shooting.”

Vance’s assertion came even as Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for rounds of US strikes on Iran earlier in the week.

Trump in Friday's exchange with reporters added that the US death toll in the Iran conflict is relatively lower than some other recent US wars. The US and Israel have only carried out air strikes in the Iran war, which began Feb. 28, and have not deployed troops into the country.

“We did Venezuela and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody,” said Trump, referring to the January US military operation to seize former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to New York City to face federal drug trafficking charges. “And this, we lost 18 people. And, in Vietnam we lost 100,000 people. And in other conflicts, we lost tens of thousands of people.”

A total of 58,220 members of the US armed forces died during the Vietnam War, according to records from the US National Archives.

Pressed by a reporter on describing the conflict as “small potatoes" when 18 US service members have been killed, Trump responded by reiterating his argument that the conflict — one that he said at the outset of the war would last a matter of weeks — has led to the defanging of Iran's nuclear program.

“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Trump said.

World

UN Approves Resolution in Support of Map that Shows Africa's True Size

FILE PHOTO: A vendor sells a map of Africa along the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi April 24, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A vendor sells a map of Africa along the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi April 24, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
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UN Approves Resolution in Support of Map that Shows Africa's True Size

FILE PHOTO: A vendor sells a map of Africa along the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi April 24, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A vendor sells a map of Africa along the streets of Bujumbura, Burundi April 24, 2015. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

The United Nations on Friday voted for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting countries' true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent is peripheral.

Togo led the initiative to further the African Union campaign to limit use of the Mercator map, which distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles. It makes Greenland appear roughly the same size ⁠as Africa, though Africa ⁠is about 14 times larger.

"A fair world begins with a fair map," Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told Reuters ahead of Friday's vote.

The resolution promotes the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately portrays the size of the continents.

It is not legally binding and it "in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited," the Togolese ministry ⁠said in a statement.

The resolution passed in the UN General Assembly by a vote of 164 to 1 with 6 abstentions.

The United States, the only country to vote against the resolution, said it promoted an "ideological agenda" and was a distraction from the "genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations".

The Mercator map remains widely used in classrooms, but Togo hopes to change its school geography materials by the end of the year, Dussey told Reuters.

"Togo will be the first country to change our own geography books," Dussey said.

"In the classroom, we need to change it ⁠to give an ⁠example to all the countries in the world."

Togo will press other governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to move away from the centuries-old Mercator projection, Dussey said, adding that Equal Earth offers "the best perception" of the world.

Togo plans to meet African Union member states and supporters from other regions within the next six months to agree on how to promote wider adoption, Dussey said.

Dussey said the discussion about next steps would need to include companies operating mapping, GPS and other location-based technologies.

Dussey linked the campaign to adopt the map to wider African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies, while saying it was not an attack on Europe or any other civilization.

The Mercator map's widespread use is a consequence of colonization, he said.

"The world is changing. Africa also is changing."

World

Philippine VP is Ordered Arrested for Threats Against the President

FILE -Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she speaks during a press conference in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, File)
FILE -Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she speaks during a press conference in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, File)
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Philippine VP is Ordered Arrested for Threats Against the President

FILE -Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she speaks during a press conference in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, File)
FILE -Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she speaks during a press conference in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, File)

A Philippine court ordered the arrest of Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday over charges that she publicly threatened to have the president and two other people assassinated.

Duterte was already impeached by the House of Representatives in May on the same charges as well as alleged financial anomalies, The Associated Press reported. Her troubles are part of a high-stakes political showdown pitting her against her rival, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. A conviction could derail her plans to seek the presidency in 2028, when Marcos' six-year term ends.

A lawyer of the vice president, who has denied the charges, suggested she will post bail to avoid detention while facing trial by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

“She has no intention of evading the law and will continue to exercise all her legal remedies,” Paul Lawrence Lim said in a statement, without elaborating.

The charges stem from a threat made by Duterte in a 2024 online news conference to have Marcos, his wife and then-House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself was killed, as their political disputes escalated. The vice president then warned that her threat wasn’t a joke.

She later said she wasn’t threatening Marcos but was expressing concern for her own safety. Her remarks set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns.

Marcos and Duterte were running mates in the 2022 elections in a whirlwind alliance that combined the vote-getting power of two of the country’s most formidable political dynasties, but the union rapidly fell apart.

The vice president is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos’ predecessor. Rodrigo Duterte was arrested last year on orders of the International Criminal Court and detained in The Hague, where he is scheduled to face trial over alleged crimes against humanity on Nov. 30.

The charges are in connection with brutal anti-drugs crackdowns that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead while Duterte was in power. He has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings but repeatedly threatened suspects with death while in office.

Last May, the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos’ allies, voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of confidential state funds and her threats against Marcos, his wife and Romualdez.

The Philippine Senate, acting as an impeachment court, opened her televised trial in July.

If convicted of the charges, Duterte may be permanently disqualified from holding public office and will prohibit her from seeking the presidency in 2028.

Marcos and the Dutertes have contrasting geopolitical leanings. Marcos has expanded defense engagements with the United States, his country’s treaty ally, as his administration stood up to China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Rodrigo Duterte had nurtured cozy ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin while threatening to sever ties with Washington. The vice president has come under fire for not condemning China’s assaults, including with the use of powerful water cannons, against Filipino forces and fishermen in the disputed waters.