Netanyahu Says Attack on Iran ‘Achieved All Its Goals’

 26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
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Netanyahu Says Attack on Iran ‘Achieved All Its Goals’

 26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)

Israel hit hard Iran's ability to defend itself and to produce missiles when its air force struck two nights ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

"The air force attacked throughout Iran. We hit hard Iran's defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us," Netanyahu said in a speech.

"The attack in Iran was precise and powerful, and it achieved all its objectives," he said.

He spoke a day after Israeli warplanes hit several military targets in Iran in retaliation for an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month.  

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Tehran’s power to Israel after the attack, Iran's official IRNA news agency cited him as saying.  

"The evil committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) two nights ago should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated," he added.  

Iran on Saturday played down Israel's overnight air attack, saying it caused only limited damage, as US President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.    

Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.   

Khamenei said Iran's power should be demonstrated to Israel, adding that the way to do so should be "determined by the officials and that which is in the best interest of the people and the country should take place".

Iran reserves the right to respond to Israel's "criminal aggression", Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the United Nations Secretary-General in a letter calling for an urgent Security Council meeting, Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday.



Seoul: 'At Least 100 North Koreans Killed' Fighting for Russia

South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
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Seoul: 'At Least 100 North Koreans Killed' Fighting for Russia

South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP

At least 100 North Koreans deployed to support Russia's war effort in Ukraine have been killed since entering combat in December, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters Thursday.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
"In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred," Lee said, speaking after a briefing by South Korea's spy agency.
"The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000."
Despite those losses, the agency also said it had detected signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward, AFP reported.
Lee noted that the North's elite Storm Corps -- from which the initial deployment was drawn -- had "the capacity to send reinforcements".
The NIS also predicted "that Russia might offer reciprocal benefits" for a new deployment, Lee said, including "modernizing North Korea's conventional weaponry".
The lawmaker added that "several North Korean casualties" had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks and training accidents, with the highest ranking "at least at the level of a general".
The NIS said the high number of casualties could be attributed to the "unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilized as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks," said Lee.
Burden or asset?
"Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops, due to their lack of knowledge about drones, are more of a burden than an asset," Lee said.
His comments follow a senior US military official on Tuesday saying North Korean forces had suffered "several hundred" casualties fighting Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky previously said North Korean troops had been at the heart of an "intensive offensive" in Kursk.
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force earlier this month.
Experts say North Korea's Kim is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and battle experience for his troops.
Pyongyang on Thursday lashed out at what it called "reckless provocation" by the United States and its allies for a joint statement criticizing North Korea's support for Russia's war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the 10 nations and the European Union (EU) were "distorting and slandering" Pyongyang's "normal cooperative" ties with Moscow, according to state media.