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Israel’s Kohavi: Preparations to Carry Out Operations Against Iran Moving at Rapid Pace

A photo published by the Israeli army on Twitter from the ceremony to introduce the new Air Force chief on Monday, April 4, 2022.
A photo published by the Israeli army on Twitter from the ceremony to introduce the new Air Force chief on Monday, April 4, 2022.
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Israel’s Kohavi: Preparations to Carry Out Operations Against Iran Moving at Rapid Pace

A photo published by the Israeli army on Twitter from the ceremony to introduce the new Air Force chief on Monday, April 4, 2022.
A photo published by the Israeli army on Twitter from the ceremony to introduce the new Air Force chief on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Chief of Staff of the Israeli army Aviv Kohavi and the newly-appointed Air Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, addressed Iran on Tuesday and cited operations carried out by their forces in the past and their readiness for the future.

At a ceremony Monday, Bar took over his new post, replacing Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, who has served in the position for five years.

During the event, Kohavi said the process of preparing for operations against Iran is currently moving at a rapid pace.

The Israeli Air Force has improved in recent years, but we still have to adapt to the future, Kohavi added.

He referred to the strikes targeting Iranian positions, arms and militias in Syria and other places in the Middle East region.

“We have enhanced our capabilities to launch airstrikes on our enemy,” he stressed, saying the army will continue to do so, while the air force will continue to play a key role in these wars.

He pointed out that the series of attacks have played an important role in preventing Iranian military deployment in Syria to threaten Israel and its citizens.

Kohavi and Bar affirmed that their forces are conducting an average of one military drill per week to ensure preparedness.

On Tuesday, the army conducted a new military exercise in the Red Sea city of Eilat, during which its forces used military vehicles and warplanes.

The military said this drill was planned as part of the 2022 exercises to determine the army’s readiness.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office announced that he discussed on Tuesday with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi various issues, mainly the Iranian nuclear deal.

It revealed that the coalition deal stipulates that the nuclear file remain within his authority even after handing over his post next year.

In mid-June 2021, Israel’s parliament approved a new coalition government, ending the historic 12-year rule of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sending the polarizing leader into the opposition.

Under the coalition deal, centrist Yair Lapid will replace Bennett as prime minister in August 2023.

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Pregnant Syrian Mum, 5 Kids Die in Container Fire in Türkiye

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
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Pregnant Syrian Mum, 5 Kids Die in Container Fire in Türkiye

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)

A pregnant Syrian woman and her five young children died when a fire ripped through containers housing agricultural workers near the southwestern Antalya resort, the governor and media reports said Friday.

DHA news agency said the 27-year-old mother was seven months pregnant, with her husband fighting for his life after the blaze.

The tragedy occurred as Türkiye began celebrating the three-day Bayram holiday to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Antalya Governor Hulusi Sahin said the fire ripped through several containers where greenhouse workers were living in Kepez district, just north of Antalya.

"Three containers caught fire, and we lost a mother and five children aged between four and nine," he told reporters standing in front of the charred remains of a container and a burned-out car.

Five others were injured in the blaze, one of whom had sustained "life-threatening injuries", he said.

DHA said the fire broke out in the northern Gaziler neighborhood at around 1:30 am (2230 GMT on Thursday), with local leader Suleyman Kaplan saying the victims were from a family of Syrian agricultural workers.

"A fire broke out in the middle of the night in a container where Syrians were staying. Unfortunately, five children and their pregnant mother died. The children's father was also injured and is in intensive care," he told DHA.

Anadolu said four of the injured -- one of whom was a two-year-old -- had the same family names as the victims, while the fifth was the business owner.

Although the cause was not immediately clear, Sahin said it appeared someone had been having a barbecue on a burner outside the containers.

"It seems they went to bed without extinguishing it. But for now, we cannot definitively say that's why it happened," he added.

Investigators were looking into the cause of the blaze and had arrested three people, he said.

Kaplan said he and other neighborhood leaders had repeatedly asked the authorities to set up a fire station in the area.

"As a community, we've asked for a fire engine because the fire station is so far away and it takes the fire brigade too long to arrive," he said.

"We urgently need a fire station."

World

UK FM Warns Iran against 'Directly' Targeting British Bases

UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
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UK FM Warns Iran against 'Directly' Targeting British Bases

UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado
UK and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado

Britain's Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call "against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly", a foreign office statement said Friday, AFP reported.

The statement was response to one issued by Iran's foreign ministry in which it said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Cooper in the call on Thursday that any US use of British bases would be seen as "participation in aggression" against the Islamic republic.

Cooper told Araghchi "the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners", the UK foreign office said, adding: "She made clear that the UK wants to see a swift resolution to this conflict."

World

Trump Calls NATO Allies 'Cowards' over Iran

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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Trump Calls NATO Allies 'Cowards' over Iran

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

US President Donald Trump on Friday branded NATO allies "cowards" for not heeding his demand for military assistance against Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

Trump has recently veered between saying that Washington needs no help to secure the vital waterway for oil tankers, and then lashing out at other countries for failing to help.

"Without the USA, NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!" Trump posted on his Truth Social network, AFP reported.

"They didn't want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices.

"So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!"

The 79-year-old Republican, a long-term skeptic of the Western military alliance, has launched a series of diatribes against NATO in recent days.

On Thursday, six major international powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan said they were ready to "contribute to appropriate efforts" to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

But they have not formally committed to any mission to work in the crucial waterway -- while other allies such as Germany and Italy have ruled out doing anything before a truce in the Middle East war.

None of the countries Trump has called on to help was consulted before the US-Israeli mission started.

An effective Iranian blockade has paralyzed commercial shipping through the crucial maritime chokepoint, which in peacetime sees a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through it.

Global oil prices have spiked as a result of the war, which erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, leading Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the Gulf region.