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Iran, Israel Each Present Own 'Narratives' about Impact of Strikes

This handout picture released by the Israeli army on October 26, 2024, shows an Israeli fighter jet departing a hangar at an undisclosed location in Israel. (Photo by AFP)
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on October 26, 2024, shows an Israeli fighter jet departing a hangar at an undisclosed location in Israel. (Photo by AFP)
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Iran, Israel Each Present Own 'Narratives' about Impact of Strikes

This handout picture released by the Israeli army on October 26, 2024, shows an Israeli fighter jet departing a hangar at an undisclosed location in Israel. (Photo by AFP)
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on October 26, 2024, shows an Israeli fighter jet departing a hangar at an undisclosed location in Israel. (Photo by AFP)

Iran and Israel are both vying to assert or deny the success of the recent attack launched by Tel Aviv on Iran in achieving its objectives, amidst sharp discrepancies in information regarding the strikes and the targeted locations.
In its latest attack on Iran, Israel said it took out most of its missile defense systems and obliterated multiple radar systems that are needed to guide the same ballistic missiles that were fired at Israel in April and on Oct. 1 when Iran fired 181 ballistic missiles at Israel.
“Removing the radar systems prevents Iran from firing those missiles in the future”, the US Fox News quoted senior Israeli and American officials as saying.
On October 26, 2024, the Israeli military launched "precise and targeted" strikes on missile manufacturing sites and other aerial capabilities in Iran in response to the attack launched by Tehran on Israel earlier this month, threatening Tehran with making it "pay a heavy price" if it decided to retaliate.
S-300 Missile Defense Systems Destroyed
Fox News also reported that “Israel took out three of Iran's Russian-made S-300 missile defense systems during last week's retaliatory strike”.
Many believe the Israeli strike targeted critical military infrastructure, delivering both a “symbolic and tactical” blow to Iran’s strategic capabilities. However, Iranian leader Ali Khamenei commented, saying, "One should not underestimate the significance of the attack."
Fox News quoted President Biden's advisor for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, as saying that "Iran is essentially naked" with no more missile defense.
A senior Israeli official said that removing the radar systems prevents Iran from firing those missiles in the future.
At the start of the year, Iran only had four S300 surface-to-air missile systems. In April, Israel took out one of the missile systems in response to Iran's first ballistic missile attack. A senior US official confirmed the airstrikes took out the three S-300 missile systems, reported Fox News.
"Our message is very, very clear... ‘Any threat, anywhere, at any time, we will know how to reach it, we will know how to strike,’" said Chief of the Israeli army General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi.
Halevi emphasized that Israel had only deployed a portion of its capabilities, suggesting that further actions could be taken should Iran escalate.
Production of Missiles “Unaffected”
For its part, Iran’s Defense Minister Nasir Zadeh confirmed that missile production in Iran has not faced any disruptions.
“The production of our defense systems, including missiles, has not encountered any problems or disruptions” he said on the sidelines of a government meeting on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
He added that firing at Iranian territory is considered an aggression which will not be tolerated and will be met with a firm response.

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Harris Promises to 'Represent all Americans' after Biden's 'Inappropriate' Remark on Trump Supporters

Former US President and Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, October 29, 2024. EPA/DAVID MUSE
Former US President and Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, October 29, 2024. EPA/DAVID MUSE
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Harris Promises to 'Represent all Americans' after Biden's 'Inappropriate' Remark on Trump Supporters

Former US President and Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, October 29, 2024. EPA/DAVID MUSE
Former US President and Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, October 29, 2024. EPA/DAVID MUSE

Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump's supporters and “garbage " and keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
“We know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other," the Democratic nominee said.
Harris held rallies in a trio of battleground states as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin, The Associated Press said.
She stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech Tuesday in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.
“I am not looking to score political points,” the vice president said. “I am looking to make progress.”
As she waited for Harris to take the stage in Raleigh, 35-year-old Liz Kazal said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the election. She’s tried to volunteer for the campaign every week, including making phone calls, knocking on doors with her toddler daughter and raising money for Harris’ candidacy.
“You hope for the best and plan for the worst,” Kazal said.
Meanwhile, the White House rushed to explain that the president's comment about “garbage” was a reference to rhetoric from Trump allies, not Trump’s supporters themselves. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden “does not view Trump supporters or anybody who supports Trump as garbage.”
The controversy began Tuesday — at the same time Harris was speaking near the White House — when Biden participated in a campaign call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden used the opportunity to criticize Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally, where a comedian described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said. “It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”
Harris told reporters before boarding Air Force Two for her flight to Raleigh that she disagrees "with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me,” she said.
Her words were an attempt to blunt the controversy over Biden's comments and put some distance between herself and the president, something she has struggled with in the past.
Republicans seized on Biden’s comments, claiming they were an echo of the time when Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic nominee in 2016, said half of Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.”
“We know what they believe. Because look how they’ve treated you,” Trump said at his rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Wednesday. “They’ve treated you like garbage. The truth is, they’ve treated our whole country like garbage.”
He also said, “Without question, my supporters are far higher-quality than Crooked Joe’s," using his nickname for the president.
After landing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for another rally later in the day, Trump posed for photos while wearing a neon orange and yellow vest and sitting in the passenger seat of a garbage truck festooned with American flags and campaign signs.
“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said as he took questions from reporters.
"Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he’s even doing," Trump said.
Travis Waters, 54, who attended Harris' second rally of the day in Harrisburg, shrugged off the commotion over Biden's comments.
“Donald Trump has said so much about so many other groups and I don’t hear the media having the same outrage,” Waters said.
In attacking Biden — and by extension, Harris — Republicans have glossed over Trump’s own history of insulting and demonizing rhetoric, such as calling the United States a “garbage can for the world” or describing political opponents as “the enemy within.” Trump has also described Harris as a “stupid person” and “lazy as hell,” and he’s questioned whether she was on drugs.
Trump has also refused demands to apologize for the comment about Puerto Rico at his rally, acknowledging that “somebody said some bad things” but adding that he “can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”
Political attack lines have a history of occasionally boomeranging back on people who use them. For example, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now Trump's running mate, once described Democrats as beholden to “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
Vance's 3-year-old comments resurfaced once he became the vice presidential nominee, energizing Harris supporters who repurposed the label as a point of pride on shirts and bumper stickers — much like Trump’s supporters once cheerfully branded themselves as “deplorables.”
At each of Harris' rallies, she was confronted by pro-Palestinian protestors objecting to her support for Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
“We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out," Harris said during one interruption in Madison.
Then she added, “Everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I’m speaking.”
The crowd roared in approval, drowning out another group of protestors who unfurled a banner saying “No Funding for War Crimes."
With just days to go before the end of the campaign, many of Harris' supporters were on edge. Holly Meyer, 65, said she was nervous as she attended the Madison rally.
“But I’m also optimistic,” she said. “People just seem to be energized by Vice President Harris.”