Iran President Pezeshkian was reportedly injured in Israeli strikes
Videos posted on social media during the 12-day war showed repeated strikes against a mountain side in north-west Tehran. Now it has emerged that the strikes on the fourth day of war targeted a secret underground facility in western Tehran where Iran's top leaders were at the time. The Fars news agency report says the Israeli strikes blocked all the six entry and exit points, and also the ventilation system.The electricity to the facility was also cut off - but Pezeshkian managed to reach safety. The Supreme National Security Council is Iran's top decision-making body after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Last week, Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to kill him - a claim denied by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who said "regime change" had not been not a goal of the war.Israel wiped out many of top IRGC and army commanders at the very start of the war. Iranian leaders admit they were taken completely by surprise, and there was a decision-making paralysis for at least the first 24 hours after the attack. Israel officials admitted that Ayatollah Khamenei was also the target - but that they had lost track of him when he was moved to a secure secret location, cut off to a great extent from the outside world. There are still many questions about how Israel had gathered critical intelligence about the whereabouts of Iran's top officials and commanders - not to mention the locations of sensitive secret facilities.On 13 June, Israel launched a surprise attack on nuclear and military sites in Iran, saying it acted to prevent Tehran from making nuclear weapons. Iran - who retaliated with aerial attacks on Israel - denies seeking to develop nuclear weapons and says its enrichment of uranium is for peaceful purposes.On 22 June, the US's Air Force and Navy carried out air and missile strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities. US President Donald Trump later said the attack "obliterated" the facilities, even as some US intelligence agencies have taken a more cautious view.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel attacks Syrian military amid deadly clashes between Druze and Bedouin clans
Israel's army has said it struck military tanks in southern Syria, where government forces and Bedouin tribes have clashed with Druze militias in the latest escalation in the Middle East country's struggle for stability after a 13-year civil war. Dozens of people have been killed in the fighting between local militias and clans in Syria's Sweida province. Government security forces that were sent to restore order on Monday also clashed with local armed groups. Syria's interior ministry has said more than 30 people have died and nearly 100 others have been injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported at least 99 dead, including two children, two women and 14 members of the security forces. As the violence escalated, Israel – which has previously attacked Syria in purported defence of the Druze – said it had struck 'several tanks' in the area as a 'warning' to Damascus. The clashes in Syria initially broke out between armed groups from the Druze and Sunni Bedouin clans, the observatory said, with some members of the government security forces 'actively participating' in support of the Bedouins. Syrian interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said government forces entered Sweida early on Monday to restore order. 'Some clashes occurred with outlawed armed groups, but our forces are doing their best to prevent any civilian casualties,' he told the state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV. Al-Baba told the Associated Press that the 'clashes are fundamentally not sectarian in nature.' 'The real conflict is between the state and bandits and criminals, not between the state and any Syrian community,' he said. 'On the contrary, the state views the Druze community in Sweida as a partner in advancing the national unity project.' Bassem Fakhr, spokesperson for the Men of Dignity movement, one of the largest Druze factions in Sweida, told AFP talks were 'under way between the notables of the city of Sweida and representatives of the general security [forces] and the defence ministry to reach a solution'. Druze religious authorities had called on Monday evening for a ceasefire in the area, saying they were not opposed to the Syrian central government. But Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, one of the three Druze spiritual leaders in Sweida, expressed his 'rejection of the entry' of general security forces into the province, demanding 'international protection'. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the observatory, said the conflict started with the kidnapping and robbery of a Druze vegetable seller by members of a Bedouin tribe who set up a checkpoint, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings. Syria's interior ministry described the situation as a dangerous escalation that 'comes in the absence of the relevant official institutions, which has led to an exacerbation of the state of chaos, the deterioration of the security situation, and the inability of the local community to contain the situation.' UN deputy special envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi expressed 'deep concern' over the violence and urged the government and local groups to 'take immediate steps to protect civilians, restore calm, and prevent incitement.' She said in a statement the clashes underscored the 'urgent need for genuine inclusion, trust-building, and meaningful dialogue to advance a credible and inclusive political transition in Syria.' Israel – which also has a Druze population – reported hitting several tanks heading towards Sweida on Monday. The strikes were 'a clear warning to the Syrian regime – we will not allow harm to be done to the Druze in Syria', defence minister Israel Katz posted on X. Israeli forces in December seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and have launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria. While many Druze in Syria have said they do not want Israel to intervene on their behalf, factions from the Druze minority have also been suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus after former president Bashar Assad fled the country in December during a rebel offensive led by Sunni Islamist insurgent groups. On several occasions, Druze groups have clashed with security forces from the new government or allied factions. In May, Israeli forces struck a site near the presidential palace in Damascus, in what was seen as a warning to Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The strike came after dozens were killed in fighting between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters in the town of Sahnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana. Syria's foreign ministry called for 'all countries and organizations to respect the authority of the Syrian Arab Republic and refrain from supporting any separatist rebel movements.' In a statement, it called for Syrians to 'cease acts of violence, surrender illegal weapons and thwart those seeking to dismantle the Syrian social fabric and sow discord and division.' With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Sudan paramilitary forces kill almost 300 in village raids, say lawyers
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed nearly 300 people in attacks in North Kordofan state that began on Saturday, according to Sudanese activists. The RSF has been fighting the Sudanese army in that area, one of the key frontlines of a civil war in Sudan that has raged since April 2023. The Emergency Lawyers human rights group said on Monday that the RSF had attacked several villages on Saturday around the city of Bara, which the paramilitary controls. In one village, Shag Alnom, more than 200 people were killed via arson or gunshot. Looting raids of the other villages killed 38 civilians, it said, while dozens of others had gone missing. The next day, the group said in its statement, the RSF attacked the village of Hilat Hamid, killing 46 people, including pregnant women and children. More than 3,400 people were forced to flee, according to the UN. 'It has been proven that these targeted villages were completely empty of any military objectives, which makes clear the criminal nature of these crimes carried out in complete disregard of international humanitarian law,' Emergency Lawyers said, placing the responsibility with RSF leadership. The army has taken firm control of the centre and east of Sudan while the RSF is working to consolidate its control of western regions, including North Kordofan. The US and human rights groups have accused the RSF of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Its soldiers have carried out a series of violent looting raids in territory it has taken control of across the country. The RSF leadership says it will bring those found responsible for such acts to justice. Sudan's civil war has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, driving more than half the population into hunger and spreading diseases including cholera across the country. A global reduction in aid spending has stretched the humanitarian response.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Israeli ultra-Orthodox party leaves government over conscription bill
JERUSALEM, July 15 (Reuters) - One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service. Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago. That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament. It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit. Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government." Ultra-Orthodox parties have argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022. A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government. Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill. Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defence ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students. Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis. The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.
