Israel Releases Names of Iran Officials Working against Tel Aviv in Syria

 Funeral of two Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed by Israeli missiles in Syria last March held in Tehran on April 4 (AFP).
Funeral of two Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed by Israeli missiles in Syria last March held in Tehran on April 4 (AFP).
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Israel Releases Names of Iran Officials Working against Tel Aviv in Syria

 Funeral of two Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed by Israeli missiles in Syria last March held in Tehran on April 4 (AFP).
Funeral of two Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed by Israeli missiles in Syria last March held in Tehran on April 4 (AFP).

Top military officials in Tel Aviv revealed on Monday details of an upcoming Israeli battle against Iran in Syria, where there are attempts to build an advanced Iran-made missile defense system that relies on Russia’s expertise in advanced missiles such as the S-300 and S-400.

Those who will activate the system include several generals and senior officers from the Revolutionary Guards.

Even though Israel has attacked and thwarted Iran’s primary attempts to anchor its forces in Syria, the Revolutionary Guards have yet to abandon their agenda for strengthening their presence in the Levantine nation, senior military officials told Hebrew media under the conditions of anonymity.

In recent years, the Revolutionary Guards has been trying to surround Israel with a belt of missile batteries that can withstand airstrikes and shoot down aircraft, which poses a strategic security threat to the Jewish state.

According to the Israeli officials, which included research and intelligence figures, ten senior Revolutionary Guards officials have been killed in Israeli operations so far.

The Israelis also disclosed the names of several Iranian and Hezbollah officials who are conducting operations on Syrian soil to alter the balance of power with Israel.

It was evident that the Israelis publishing these names and linking them to the names of killed leaders was a hint of a threat to their lives.

Ali Hassan Mahdavi, the head of the Syria and Lebanon division in the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm, was among the names listed by the officials and published by the Haaretz newspaper.

Mahdavi had replaced Javad Ravari, who was dismissed earlier over condescending and violent behavior against Syrian army officials.

Israeli officers claimed that Iran is planning to establish air defense networks not only in Syria, but also in Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon, aimed at other armies in Gulf countries and other countries in the region.



Taliban Leader Dismisses Foreign ‘Threats’

 A poster of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada along a road in Kabul (Wakil KOHSAR / AFP/File) 
 A poster of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada along a road in Kabul (Wakil KOHSAR / AFP/File) 
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Taliban Leader Dismisses Foreign ‘Threats’

 A poster of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada along a road in Kabul (Wakil KOHSAR / AFP/File) 
 A poster of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada along a road in Kabul (Wakil KOHSAR / AFP/File) 

Afghanistan's supreme leader affirmed on Tuesday that the Taliban will not be intimidated by “threats” in a speech given days after the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested a warrant for his arrest and another Taliban leader over gender-based persecution.

“Whether Westerners or Easterners, how could we believe them and not almighty God's promises! How can we allow ourselves to be affected by their threats!” Hibatullah Akhundzada said in a recording of a speech shared with journalists on Tuesday.

The address was given at a graduation ceremony for religious scholars in southern Kandahar province on Monday, the governor's spokesman, Mahmood Azzam, told AFP.

Last Thursday, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced he had requested arrest warrants for two top Afghan Taliban officials for the repression of women.

Karim Khan said in a statement he asked judges to approve warrants for the group’s supreme leader, and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing the men of crimes against humanity for gender-based persecution.

Taliban members are “Muslims who stand for what is right and cannot be harmed by anybody. If anyone stands against them, from the West or East, nobody can harm them,” Akhundzada said.

Since sweeping back to power in 2021 -- ousting the Western-backed government and ending a 20-year insurgency -- the Taliban authorities have implemented their own strict interpretation of Islamic law.

They have imposed restrictions on women and girls the United Nations has characterized as “gender apartheid.”

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from education.

Women have been ordered to cover their hair and faces and have been barred from parks and stopped from working in government offices.

ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application before deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant - a process that could take weeks or even months.

The court, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world’s worst crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It has no police force of its own and relies on its 125 member states to carry out its arrest warrants - with mixed results.