Israeli PM responds to Hassan Nasrallah’s vow to bring the Jewish State to the “verge of vanishing.”

By: WIN Staff 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday that the Jewish State “will hit him and Lebanon with a crushing military blow… if Hezbollah dares to do some nonsense and attacks Israel.”

The prime minister spoke at the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting. He was responding to “Nasrallah’s remarks on his attack plans” which he made in an interview with Al-Manar, a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah.

In addition to Hezbollah, Al-Manar itself has also been designated by the United States as a global terrorist entity.

In the interview, Nasrallah said that “Hezbollah at minimum is capable of inflicting huge destruction upon the Zionist entity,” the term he uses to refer to Israel.

Al-Manar reported that the Hezbollah leader was speaking on the 13th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, which took place between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror organization. The war broke out on July 12, 2006 and lasted until August 14, 2006, following the approval of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for a full cessation of hostilities.

“Nasrallah stressed that the resistance today is more powerful than before, presenting its developed capabilities which he said will bring the Zionist entity to the ‘verge of vanishing,’” the Hezbollah station reported, adding that the terror chief voiced a “big hope that he will be among those who will pray in Al-Quds,” the Muslim term for Jerusalem.

“Nasrallah presented a map of occupied Palestine. The map showed dozens of Israeli targets to be hit by Hezbollah in any future war,” Al Manar reported.

The leader said his fighters are “well-prepared for the invasion of Galilee,” it added.

“In contrast to Nasrallah, I do not intend to detail our plans,” Netanyahu countered on Sunday.

“It is enough to recall that Nasrallah had – for years – dug terrorist tunnels, which we destroyed within days,” the prime minister told his cabinet.

Nasrallah “ruled out confrontation between Iran and the U.S., noting that Washington knows very well that the war with the Islamic Republic will bear a high cost,” said Al-Manar. (World Israel News)

Read more at: www.worldisraelnews.com

Russia is continuing to deliver its S-400 missile system to Turkey for a second straight day, a move that could hurt Turkish-U.S. relations and puts advanced Russian military technology in possession of a key NATO alliance member, according to a VOA report.

By: Dorian Jones & Carla Babb

Turkey’s defense ministry said a fourth Russian cargo plane delivered more S-400 components to Murted Air Base near the capital of Ankara Saturday, ignoring threats of U.S. sanctions against Middle Eastern country.
 
VOA reported that a Russian transport jet Friday delivered the first parts of the $2.2 billion missile system, causing concern from Brussels to Washington.
 
Washington says the S-400, with its advanced radar that could potentially be used to target NATO jets, threatens to compromise NATO military systems in Turkey. The U.S. has stopped delivery of its latest F-35 jet if the Russia missiles are deployed, and Turkish firms may lose contracts to build significant parts of the expensive and complex F-35.
 
“We are aware of Turkey taking delivery of the S-400. Our position regarding the F-35 has not changed,” Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters Friday. He held a 30-minute phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, but the Pentagon did not provide any details from the call, according to the VOA report.

Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense, however, did release details in a statement Friday. It said Akar told Esper that Turkey’s purchase of S-400 defense systems was “not an option but rather a necessity,” and a proposal for a joint working group to assess possible interactions between the F-35 and the S-400 was “still on the table.”

Akar added that Turkey was still assessing the bid to acquire U.S. Patriot air defense systems, and that Turkey’s partnership within the F-35 fighter aircraft program should continue “uninterrupted,” according to the statement.
 
State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus warned earlier this week of “real and negative consequences” if the Russian missiles are procured.
 
Potentially more damaging for Turkey are U.S. sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which could hit Turkey’s already weakened economy.
 
VOA reported that the top Republican and Democratic senators of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), issued a joint statement Friday condemning the delivery and urging President Trump to fully implement the sanctions.

“By accepting delivery of the S-400 from Russia, President Erdogan has chosen a perilous partnership with Putin at the expense of Turkey’s security, economic prosperity and the integrity of the NATO alliance,” the senators said.
 
“It did not have to come to this,” they added, stating that Turkey had “rejected multiple attempts” by the United States to preserve the relationship while protecting Turkish airspace with F-35 fighter jets and the U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air defense system.
 
Ankara is relying on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s relationship with President Trump. Last month, the two presidents met in Japan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit of the world’s largest economies. At the time, Trump acknowledged the U.S. had a “complicated” situation when it came to responding to Turkey and noted that possible sanctions were being discussed, as was reported by VOA. 

International relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University said Ankara is miscalculating.
 
“If Congress says CAATSA takes effect, can Trump really say ‘I will not be implementing it?’ He can, but can he get away with it? I don’t think so. But that is what Ankara believes and is the thread they are hanging onto. I don’t know where analysis ends and wishful thinking begins with this administration,” said Ozel.

Even though delivery of the S-400 has begun, there could be potential wiggle room to avert a full-blown crisis. Earlier this month, Senator Lindsey Graham appeared to raise the bar for sanctions, saying they may be triggered only when the missile system is activated.
 
Ankara has given mixed messages over the timing of the activation of the missile system. Ambiguously, Erdogan said this past week the system would only be used in the event of a threat.
 
The mounting diplomatic pressure is seeing Ankara push back, saying it will not bow to international pressure and as a sovereign nation, it has the right to buy whatever it wants from any country.
 
Turkish officials argue Turkey is in a tough neighborhood, with it bordering Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Three years ago, the Turkish presidential palace was bombed by rogue elements of its military in an attempted coup, and some analysts suggest the missiles could be used to protect Erdogan.
 
While the S-400 is widely recognized as one of the most advanced missile systems in the world, its practical use is in question, given its incompatible with the rest of Turkey’s NATO military systems. (VOA)

Authorities in Somalia say the death toll from Friday’s attack on a hotel in the southern Somali port city of Kismayo has climbed to 33.

By: Mohamed Olad Hassan

Ahmed Mohamed Islan, also known as Madobe, the president of the Jubbaland regional administration, said another 56 people were wounded.

“Our valiant security forces have ended the hotel attack after long hours of battle with the evils, and eventually protected many innocent people who were holed up in their hotel rooms,” Madobe said in a statement.”

Madobe said “those killed in the attack included two journalists, a presidential candidate for upcoming regional elections, and a U.N. agency staff member.  He said “Kenyans, Americans, a Briton, Tanzanians and a Canadian were among the dead”.

VOA News reported that security officials in Kismayo said that at least four terrorists who carried out the attack were also killed by security forces.

Hospital sources contacted by the VOA Somali Service reported the death of three more civilians caught in the cross fire.

Mohamed Ibrahim Mo’alimuu, general secretary of the Federation of Somali Journalists, said among the two journalists killed in the attack was, Hodan Naleyeh, a 43-year-old Somali-Canadian who is the founder of online service Integration TV. Her husband, politician Jama Farid, was also killed in the attack.

The other journalist, Mohamed Sahal Omar, was a reporter for a local SBC TV in the city.

“Naleyeh was a role model for Somali female journalists. In her recent TV episodes, she focused on the positive stories of the life in Somalia, female entrepreneurship, the country’s reconstruction process and the beauty of the motherland that is often ignored by the international media. Her death has saddened us,” said Mo’alimuu.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack, his spokesman said Friday.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has described the attack as “one of the wicked and the cowardly attacks by terrorists against Somali people.”

“We express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack and wish a swift recovery to the injured,” Farmajo said in a statement.

“The attack shows how the enemy of the Somali people are willing to target innocent civilians regardless of where they are,” the president said.

The attack on Friday evening began when an explosives-laden car detonated at the front entrance of the Asasey Hotel, a popular meeting spot for regional officials and visitors from the diaspora. Militants then stormed inside and opened fire.

At the time the hotel was busy with meetings and a gathering by regional politicians and clan elders who were discussing a forthcoming regional election.

It took more than seven hours for security forces to end the hotel siege by cornering the militants before they were eventually killed.

The Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility. Al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of Somalia against government, military and civilian targets.

The attack in Kismayo, about 485 kilometers south of Mogadishu, came amid preparations for regional elections. The port town once served as a major stronghold for al-Shabab militants. (VOA)

Report: ‘Everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted’

By: Adam Kredo

Iran never ended critical nuclear weapons work at a controversial underground military bunker that remains operational to this day and able to “enrich uranium to weapons grade” levels. That is according to a new watchdog report that has reignited calls for the Trump administration to close loopholes that have permitted the Islamic Republic to continue its most contested nuclear research.

The new report, issued by the Institute for Science and International Security, confirms suspicions long held by the international community that Iran never dismantled its Fordow research site, as it was required to do under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The findings have further fueled concerns about Iran’s march towards nuclear weapons, particularly in light of the country’s recent threats to enrich uranium, the key component in a bomb, to levels approaching 20 percent purity.

The latest evidence of Iran’s continued weapons research has reignited a battle between congressional Iran hawks and the Trump administration, which continues to provide Tehran with a series of sanctions waivers permitting it to continue work at Fordow. Hardliners in Congress have called for an immediate end to these waivers in light of Iran’s efforts to blow past restrictions on the amount of highly enriched uranium it stockpiles inside the country.

“The Fordow uranium enrichment facility has never been repurposed, as promised in the JCPOA,” the acronym used to refer to the nuclear deal, according to the latest watchdog report. “Everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted in the underground portion of the facility.”

“Fordow is potentially part of Iran’s current threats to progressively go to higher enrichment levels and increase its stocks of enriched uranium, and if conducted there, Fordow’s underground tunnel complex is fortified to withstand aerial bombardment,” the report states. “Fordow now includes semi-indigenous nuclear equipment production and potentially illicit procurement at the newly expanded support area, the former which was not likely intended by the JCPOA, and the latter which is prohibited.”

Secret documents seized from Iran by Israel corroborate evidence that Tehran sought, from at least 2002, to produce weapon-grade uranium to create one to two nuclear weapons per year.

“There is no doubt it could be reconstituted to fulfill that purpose,” the report concluded.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said the latest report on Iran’s work at Fordow should compel the Trump administration to stop issuing waivers, which have permitted continued nuclear work at the site.

“Today’s report once again demonstrates that the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal created enormous danger for Americans and our allies,” Cruz said in a statement. “Fordow is a military bunker the Ayatollahs dug out of the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear bombs.”

“Under the nuclear deal, it was supposed to be converted but it never was. Instead, Iran used the time and the billions they received from the deal to expand the facility, possibly in violation of restrictions in the deal itself,” Cruz said. “The Trump administration should immediately cancel the civil-nuclear waivers it has been issuing, which allow Iran to continue building up Fordow and other nuclear sites.”

A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon the administration will not stand by as Iran marches closer to the nuclear redline.

“The Iranian regime uses its nuclear program to extort the international community and threaten regional security,” the official said, speaking only on background. “Nuclear brinksmanship will not strengthen Iran’s position, but instead lead to further isolation and pressure.”

U.S. officials do not recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium “at any level,” the official said, hinting at possible revocation of the sanctions waivers that have allowed work to continue at Fordow.

“The world’s top sponsor of terrorism can never be allowed to enrich uranium at any level,” the official said. “We will continue to impose maximum pressure on the regime until it abandons its destabilizing behavior, including proliferation-sensitive work.”

“Iran should realize that negotiating leverage will no longer be measured in kilograms of uranium or dollars per barrel, but rather in its willingness to end its destabilizing activities, including by abandoning a path to nuclear weapons,” the official said.

One veteran Republican congressional official who works on Iran issues told the Free Beacon that GOP hawks on Capitol Hill are starting to openly question the Trump administration’s commitment to upholding tough sanctions on Tehran.

“This is becoming clownish. The President already said that new sanctions are coming. Every day there’s a new story about how Iran is violating the deal,” the source said, speaking only on background. “People up here are starting to ask who inside the administration is holding up the response.”

Meanwhile, international nuclear inspectors on Thursday confirmed that Iran has been illicitly housing radioactive materials. This is the same facility that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed last year as a key source for Iran’s nuclear buildup.

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated since the downing of an American drone, Iranian leaders have vowed to continue openly breaching nuclear enrichment restrictions.

“Enhancing nuclear enrichment levels to 20 percent could well be the next move by Iran in case Europe failed to provide Tehran with the promised merits under the nuclear deal,” a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirmed to the country’s state-controlled media.

“The level of Iran’s [uranium] enrichment has exceeded 3.67 percent and at present the purity level of the produced materials is nearly 4.5 percent,” the official was quoted as saying.

Iran is pressuring European nations to create backdoor financial vehicles meant to skirt the toughest U.S. sanctions, a demand U.S. officials have described as nuclear extortion. (Washington Free Beacon)

“My strong advice to the Iranians would be not to take any further steps that would break the terms of the agreement, not to acquire a nuclear weapon,” said Johnson.

By: WIN Staff

British MP Boris Johnson, considered a frontrunner to replace resigning Prime Minister Theresa May at the helm of the Conservative Party, says that he is a “passionate Zionist” and that “wild horses wouldn’t keep me away” from visiting the Jewish State as British premier.

Johnson was quoted in “the only Jewish media interview of his campaign to become prime minister,” which appeared in the British Jewish News.

On Iran, Johnson said he is “prepared” to consider sanctions against the Islamic Republic on the heels of its announcement that it has begun enriching more uranium than permitted under the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement reached with world powers, including Britain.

“My strong, strong advice to the Iranians would be to cease this madness, not to take any further steps that would break the terms of the agreement, and not to acquire a nuclear weapon,” stated Johnson.

“I think that there are enough tensions in that region without triggering a nuclear arms race, whose consequences would be very hard to foresee, and which would certainly pose very difficult choices for any Israeli government,” he told the Jewish News, adding that “as Prime Minister, I’d make sure we continue to do everything we can to constrain Iran’s disruptive behavior in the region.”

In the interview, Johnson was asked about having characterized the 2014 Israeli military campaign in Gaza against the Hamas terror organization as “disproportionate.” At the time, he served as mayor of London.

In response, he said that he understood “why Israel reacted in the way that it did, and I understand the provocation and the outrageous behavior that occasioned that response…Israel has a right to respond, Israel has a right to defend itself…I just joined with those who say ‘I want the Israeli response to be proportionate.’”

Johnson maintained that he “could see the logic” in moving the British Embassy to Jerusalem but believed that “the moment for us to play that card is when we make further progress,” the Jewish News reported.

He said that he agreed that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is part of an anti-Semitic “syndrome,”  adding that “anybody who knows anything about it knows that actually, the boycott and disinvestment movement will probably hit hardest Palestinian community people who are in jobs, are benefitting from Israeli investment, Israeli farming, whatever.”

Johnson condemned the Palestinian policy of paying salaries to terrorists. “I think it’s ludicrous that there should be any kind of financial incentive or compensation for terrorist activities,” he said. (World Israel News)

Read more at: worldisraelnews.com