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Israeli Army on High Alert in Anticipation of Iranian Drone Attack

IRGC drones in an underground base (Tasnim)
IRGC drones in an underground base (Tasnim)
    Tel Aviv - Nazir Magali
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Israeli Army on High Alert in Anticipation of Iranian Drone Attack

IRGC drones in an underground base (Tasnim)
IRGC drones in an underground base (Tasnim)

The Israeli army increased its alert level on the Syrian and Lebanese borders in anticipation of Iranian attacks, according to security sources in Tel Aviv.

The sources said that Tehran took a clear escalatory step when it announced its responsibility for the bombing of an "Israeli" site in Erbil with 12 ballistic missiles.

The sources stressed that the recent Israeli strikes were very harsh on Iran, especially the recent attack when Israel destroyed about 600 drones on Iranian territory and the attack on Syrian territory earlier this week, which killed two senior fighters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria.

Israel announced its alert status in the Israeli diplomatic headquarters in Azerbaijan, Iran's northern neighbor.

US sources revealed that the Israeli airstrike on an Iranian drone factory last month took off from an Israeli site in Azerbaijan.

Israeli sources condemned the United States' disclosure that the Iranian bombing in April targeted Israeli training sites, warning that it only brings harm.

The drone war between Israel and Iran escalated in recent years.

In February 2018, the first significant event occurred when Iran launched a drone into the occupied territories in response to the airstrikes in Syria.

The drone was shot down, and the Israeli army responded by attacking targets in Syria, including the car that launched the drone.

The Iranian drone was carrying many explosives and was on a mission above military sites in the Syrian Golan Heights.

In August 2019, Israel thwarted two explosive drones sent to Israeli positions on Jabal al-Sheikh in the northern Golan. The army killed the cell members who launched the drone, who were Lebanese of the IRGC's Special Task Force.

It led to security tension and the exchange of strikes on the border with Lebanon that lasted for several months.

In recent years, Israel has been accused of launching various explosive drone operations against nuclear facilities in Iran.

During the last war on the Gaza Strip, in May 2021, Iran launched a drone that penetrated the Jordan Valley and was shot down.

Last week, the Israeli army revealed that two drones sent from Iran had been intercepted and shot down over the skies of other countries in the Middle East using F-35 stealth aircraft.

Israel is running an international campaign against Iranian activity, stressing that Tehran's stockpile of lethal drones and ballistic missiles threatens all regional and Western countries, not only Israel.

The commander of the US Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, said before the Senate Armed Forces Services Committee that Iran has over 3000 ballistic missiles of various types, some of which can reach Tel Aviv.

"None of them can reach Europe yet, but over the last five to seven years … they have invested heavily in their ballistic missile program," McKenzie said.

"Their missiles have significantly greater range and significantly enhanced accuracy," he added, saying it is a "remarkable" advancement.

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World

Iran Says to Announce New Restricted Zone in the Gulf in the Coming Days

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
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Iran Says to Announce New Restricted Zone in the Gulf in the Coming Days

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Iran said it will announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as a weekend exchange of strikes on shipping sent oil prices higher on Monday.

The new restricted zone will begin from where the US blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday in an interview with state TV.

Few details were provided on the plan, but Rezaei said any ship entering the new zone would be added to a sanctions list, reported Reuters.

In addition, maps detailing passage routes for the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit largely closed to tanker traffic, would also be approved soon, Rezaei said.

"The maps of a new international corridor which lies in Iranian and Omani waters and in which Iran will have management have been agreed and should be signed in the coming days," he said.

"We will only commit to the Strait of Hormuz being ‌open when they (the Americans) ‌stop the sabotage, threats and attacks on Iran," Rezaei added.

Six months after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked ‌the war, the ⁠conflict appears to ⁠be at a stalemate. A preliminary ceasefire accord reached in June has unraveled, and little progress has been made in diplomatic efforts to get the peace process back on track.

After a pause in military action for much of August, tit-for-tat strikes have resumed. US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command said, including one off Kharg Island, Iran's key oil export hub, following attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps on US warships in the region.

Tehran has shown it retains the capability to attack US interests in neighboring countries and to shut down oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supplies flowed prior to the conflict.

An average of 10 commodity ships transited the Strait per day in the past 10 days, the lowest since May, according to shipping ⁠data on Monday. That helped oil prices extend last week's big gains, with Brent crude up 0.8% ‌above $97 a barrel.

SANCTIONS, OIL BLOCKADE SQUEEZE ECONOMY 

Iran has said it will step up efforts to ‌tackle problems created by US sanctions that are crippling its economy. 

However, the US campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing ‌increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources have said. 

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that the US should understand that the ‌rules of the game have changed "before it is too late". 

"From now on, any attack against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, heavier and more painful response,” he said in a speech published on his Telegram channel. 

Qalibaf said that alongside the military front, Iran’s main battle was now over production and people’s livelihoods. 

He cited sharp currency fluctuations, inflation, unemployment and market management as major challenges, adding Iranians could tolerate hardship but not mismanagement or inaction and expected the government to act quickly. 

Iran's Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said ‌Tehran planned to respond to US economic pressure with reforms and rejected the notion that sanctions would cause it to change course, according to state media on Sunday. 

“They speak of economic pressure and isolation, of ⁠breaking off financial ties and they think ⁠that by pressuring the economy of a country they can change the decisions of its people,” Madanizadeh said. 

“I have to clarify one point: The responsibility of reforming Iran’s economy is with its government and people, not with the US Treasury." 

KHARG ISLAND HIT 550 TIMES IN PRIOR MONTHS, IRAN SAYS 

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude via its Kharg Island export hub before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April. 

US Central Command said on X that as of Sunday it had redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two to ensure strict compliance with its blockade. 

On August 31, US President Donald Trump issued a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being "blown to smithereens." Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked. 

In an interview aired on state TV on Sunday, Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said the island had been hit around 550 times in previous months but continued to operate. 

Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel prices, weighing on Trump's popularity as his Republican Party heads into elections in November when control of Congress is at stake. 

However, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said oil was getting through the waterway. 

"Our transits through the Strait are averaging over 9 million barrels a day now, and with the access pipelines that go around the strait, we're probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows. So Iranians are still causing trouble, but the United States Navy is winning that battle," he told CNN. 

World

Belgium Arrests Suspected Spy Who Sold Chip Secrets to China

The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Belgium Arrests Suspected Spy Who Sold Chip Secrets to China

The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)
The flags of Germany and China are seen in Berlin, Germany, June 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Authorities in Belgium said on Monday they had arrested a suspected spy who allegedly sold a local chip-maker's trade secrets to a Chinese rival.

Prosecutors said the Chinese-Belgian national, who worked at Belgan, a now bankrupt Belgian producer of gallium nitride semiconductors, was arrested at Brussels airport in May as he was about to board a flight to Beijing.

"There are indications that the person concerned, who held a senior research position within the Belgian company, was simultaneously acting as a director of a Chinese company engaged in a similar manufacturing activity," the federal prosecutor's office said.

The Chinese firm was set up just a few months after the 52-year-old suspect had joined Belgan and was financed by a Chinese investment fund.

"The investigation may point to the unlawful transfer abroad of specialized intellectual property and trade secrets relating to the production of gallium nitride chips -- technology which has applications in sectors including electric vehicles, aerospace and the military," the prosecutor's office said.

This is the second espionage case related to China to emerge in Belgium in the space of a few months.

In July, authorities said they had arrested a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin suspected of carrying out "espionage on behalf of a third country" while on an internship at NATO.

The Belgan case stems from the company's bankruptcy in 2024, which affected more than 400 workers.

The suspect is being held in pre-trial detention on accusations of espionage, participation in a criminal organization, misuse of company assets and the unlawful disclosure of company secrets.

Prosecutors said they were still looking for a second suspect, also a Chinese national, who local media reported to be the firm's last CEO.

In its latest annual report, Belgium's state security agency highlighted several methods allegedly employed by China to acquire strategic Western know-how, including creating so-called "copy-to-China" companies.

It described how "Chinese firms invest in Belgian companies, research centers or spin-offs -- preferably small entities developing promising technologies but facing funding challenges -- to gain access to specific technologies".

They then established a firm in China to produce the same technology on a larger scale, before the original parent company is sold off, the report said.

World

Avalanche Kills 11 Climbers in Southern Russia

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
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Avalanche Kills 11 Climbers in Southern Russia

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)
Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters tall, at around on Sunday. (Getty Images)

An avalanche on one of Russia's highest mountains has killed 11 climbers and left six others missing, rescue services said Monday.

Rescuers received reports of the avalanche on Mount Mizhirgi, around 5,000 meters (16,400 ft) tall, at around 5 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday.

Unverified video on social media showed what appeared to be a mound of snow and ice crashing down a mountainside in the area, as people in the background could be heard swearing.

"Tragically, 11 people were killed. The fate of six climbers remains unknown," the local branch of Russia's emergency ministry said in a statement.

"Search and rescue operations are being complicated by difficult terrain and the risk of avalanches," it added.

A group of 33 climbers were in the area at the time.

Ten managed to evacuate on their own, while six had to be transported out by rescue services, according to the local branch of Russia's emergency ministry.

Prosecutors have opened a case into criminal negligence.

Mount Mizhirgi, near the Georgian border, is Russia's eighth-tallest mountain.

Surrounded by pristine forest and glaciers, the area is popular with hikers.