lsraeli air attack targets a house in northern Gaza Strip, killing a number of passers-by. pic.twitter.com/SuIkNWZ3CL

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) August 12, 2024

Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 311th day, has killed at least 39,897 Palestinians — mostly women and children — and wounded over 92,152 others, with 10,000+ estimated to be buried under debris of bombed buildings. | Israeli forces have pressed on with strikes near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis amid an international push for a deal to stop the war in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes on several areas of Khan Younis killed at least 16 people and wounded several others. Meanwhile more families and displaced persons streamed out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders telling people to clear the area.

■ This is how Israel has violated the Geneva Conventions for 75 years (TRT World)

Despite strong international condemnation, including from the EU, of Israel’s brutal attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, which killed at least 100 people, Germany justified it on Monday, saying Tel Aviv has the “right to defend itself”, Anadolu Agency reports. | The reality is that Hamas uses schools, hospitals, kindergartens as command centres and that the people in the Gaza Strip are also abused against their will as protective (human) shields,” government deputy spokesman, Wolfgang Buechner, told the press in Berlin, echoing Israel’s claims after each such attack. Buechner, however, provided no evidence to back up his allegations against Hamas, which are consistent with Israeli propaganda used to justify lethal attacks on civilians in Gaza.

■ China condemns Israeli attack on school sheltering displaced people in Gaza (Anadolu)

Mary Manley | The US is continuing to stock the Middle East with military arsenal including additional US destroyers. Israel, which has waged a war in the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands since October, has provoked Iran with attacks in April as well as recently. Iran has said it plans to retaliate, while the US has failed to put out the flames. | On Monday, James Carey, the host of the Left is Dead podcast joined Sputnik's The Critical Hour to discuss these recent developments in the Middle East.

💬 “Striking the capital of Beirut, which is technically a US ally, and then, just stepping away from it. [As in], 'oh, please don't respond to this'. That's an absurd request, right? And I think the Iranian response earlier this year when the drone strike was launched, basically to mildly penetrate the Iron Dome, to show that they could do it. I think, in my opinion, that Iran could penetrate the Iron Dome, if they chose to,” Carey explained. ● “Israel's getting a free hand to strike, like I said, American allies like Lebanon. These are countries that are allegedly allied with the US, whether Hezbollah operates in them or not, or whether Iran is looking to strike or not. But the obvious aggression has come from Israel. So that's why I think it's very absurd to see it framed this way,” he added.

Calls from France, Germany and Britain that Iran should exercise restraint with regard to Israel “lack political logic and contradict principles of international law,” Iran’s foreign ministry said on Aug 13. | The three European countries issued a statement on Aug 12, calling on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks against Israel following the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, political chief of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tehran in July. Tehran and its allies, Hamas and the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, have accused Israel of carrying out the assassination. The Israeli government has made no claim of responsibility.

■ Middle East war looms as Iran waits, keen to avoid past mistakes (The Straits Times)
■ US to Iran: Only Israel May Escalate (Caitlin Johnstone)
■ Israel Suddenly Has A Problem With Attacks On Population Centers (Caitlin Johnstone)

US ground troops began trickling into Syria in November 2015, two months after Russia kicked off an air campaign targeting foreign-backed terrorists attempting to topple the Syrian government. Washington initially claimed that the deployments were meant to help fight terror. In practice, they have amounted to an illegal occupation. | Syria’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated its call on the US to end its “blatant violation of [Syria’s] sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” end its support for the separatist Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militias, and “immediately withdraw” its troops. ● In a statement provided to local media on Saturday, Damascus slammed Washington for its use of the SDF as a “cheap tool to implement its anti-Syrian schemes,” and accused the predominantly Kurdish militia, which occupies eastern Syria alongside US forces, of carrying out “criminal attacks on local residents in Deir ez-Zor, Hasakah and Qamishli, in addition to other villages in the eastern and northeastern regions,” leading to numerous casualties among civilians, including women and children.

💬 “Syria calls on the United States to stop these practices, withdraw immediately from Syrian territory, and respect the will of the Syrians, who reject the presence and role of such separatist militias. Syria also stresses the will of its people to liberate their land and preserve their sovereignty, which will be achieved no matter how great the sacrifice, and that the terrorism and crimes of these militias will not weaken their resolve.”

■ US Base at CONOCO Oil Field and Mission Support Service (MSS) Euphrates ON FIRE in Syria (07/28/24)
■ Major US Military Bases in Eastern Syria Attacked by Missiles, Drones (04/22/24)
■ US Wants ‘Another Kosovo’ in Syria’s Northwest, Keep Control of Oil, Wheat in Northeast (04/04/24)
■ The US Bombs Syria...Again (03/26/24)
■ Missiles strike US-occupied base in eastern Syria: Report (02/16/24)
■ US base in Syria comes under drone attack from Iranian-backed groups (02/05/24)
■ US hits 85 targets in Syria and Iraq (02/03/24)
■ Explosions rock the US largest base in Syria (02/02/24)
■ Drones destroy illegal US “Kharab al-Jir” base in eastern Syria (01/09/24)
■ China [correctly] accuses US of oil theft (01/19/23)
■ China Criticizes the U.S. Over Syria, Urges Washington to Stop Stealing the Oil (09/23/22)
■ Studying Outcrops and Landforms... (11/17/22)