What was described by the Pentagon as a "logistics support base" turns out to be a secret drone base for long-range surveillance of fighters in neighboring Syria and Iraq and for conducting airstrikes. | The Pentagon calls the US base in Jordan, Tower 22, a “logistics support base” - however, in reality, the area in which three US troops were killed last month is more than what it seems. ● The Intercept reported that Tower 22 is secretly a drone base for long-range surveillance of whom the US perceives as "insurgents" in neighboring Syria and Iraq and to conduct airstrikes, according to two US military sources, while it also represents a staging facility for special operations forces and is a medevac helicopter home base. ● Talking to The Intercept, an Air Force airman, whose unit was recently stationed at the base, said,
💬 “To call Tower 22 a logistics support base is complete bullshit,” as logistics was only a minor part - or a disguise - to merely deliver food and fuel to the nearby al-Tanf base. “The main purpose of Tower 22 is to operate drones to spy on insurgents in Iraq and Syria, for targeting purposes,” the airman added, noting, “The main objective I witnessed was taking out targets.”

■ US approves plan for strike on Iranian targets (02/02/24)

The story of Israel’s ambitious plan to grab the Sinai Peninsula, or at least part of it, from Egypt, goes back to around 57 years ago. It involved pro-Israel lobbyists in the West, and started to raise questions about the legitimacy of Egypt’s sovereignty over the strategic territory after the June 1967 Six Day War, British documents unearthed at the National Archives in Kew reveal. | During the war, Israel occupied Sinai, along with the West Bank and Gaza in Palestine, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights. The Sinai Peninsula covers an area of about 61,000 square km, approximately six per cent of Egypt’s total area, and is equivalent to nearly a quarter of the area of Israel. ● The documents show that although Britain’s position was that Egyptian sovereignty over Sinai was evident, it considered the judicial status of this sovereignty a “card” to use when it served British interests. Ever since the 1967 war, they reveal, the Israelis “have from time to time flown a number of exploratory kites on the future of Sinai.”

Groups attack Al-Omar oilfield in Deir ez-Zor province, where US forces are stationed | A US military base in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province came under drone attack from Iranian-backed groups, local sources said Monday. Iranian-backed groups stationed on the western bank of the Euphrates River attacked the Al-Omar oilfield, where US forces are stationed, with multiple kamikaze drones. No casualties have been reported. The US has not released a statement so far on the attacks.

■ Retaliation: America's largest base attacked - there are dead (b92)

Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned the latest wave of US and British airstrikes against the country, stressing that such attacks will not ever make the Yemeni nation and government backtrack on their pro-Palestinian stances. | The ministry in the Sana'a-based National Salvation Government deplored the most recent assaults on multiple targets in the strategic western province of Hudaydah as well as Sa’ada in the country’s northwest, stating that continuing US-British aggression clearly points to the UN Security Council’s failure to take on its responsibilities.

■ Turkish foreign minister warns of potential escalation in region (Anadolu)
■ US-UK aggression against Yemen ‘alarming threat’ to international peace, security: Tehran (PressTV)
■ US-British aggression targets Hodeidah, Saada governorates in Yemen (Al Mayadeen)
■ US, UK Conduct New Strikes on Yemen's Al Hudaydah, Saada Governorates - Local Officials (Sputnik News)
■ US plans additional strikes on Iranian-linked targets: White House (TRT World)
■ US Refuses to Rule Out Strikes Inside Iran (antiwar.com)

This comes after the US initiated a series of strikes overnight, targeting positions in Iraq and Syria. | Russian Deputy Envoy to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy on Saturday announced that Russia has sought an immediate session of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on February 5 in response to the US' aggression on Iraq and Syria. ● "Russia has just called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss threats to international peace and security from the US strikes against Iraq and Syria. The meeting is expected to be held at 4 pm EST [21:00 GMT] on February 5," Polyanskiy said on X. ● This comes after the US initiated a series of strikes overnight, targeting entities that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) alleges to be affiliated with the IRGC and its allies. According to CENTCOM, US forces struck more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria with numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers that were said to have taken off from the US.

■ Warnings of "exploding the situation" in the region after the US strikes in Syria and Iraq (Al Jazeera)
■ US strikes in Middle East a ‘strategic mistake’ – Iran (RT.com)
■ US hits 85 targets in Syria and Iraq (02/03/24)

The United States and Britain launched strikes against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, in the second day of major U.S. operations against Iran-linked groups following a deadly attack on American troops last weekend. | The strikes hit buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities the Houthis have used to attack Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said, adding it targeted 13 locations across the country. It was the latest sign of spreading conflict in the Middle East since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant Palestinian group's deadly assault on Israel on Oct.7.

■ US Strikes in Iraq and Syria Kill About 40, Including Civilians (February 3, 2024)(antiwar.com)
■ US-UK aggression on Yemen will not go unanswered: Saree (Al Mayadeen)
■ US and UK bomb 36 targets in Yemen (RT.com)

The Islamic Resistance, an umbrella group of Iraqi anti-terror groups, announces carrying out a raft of strikes against American targets in the Arab country and neighboring Syria in response to a flurry of US aerial assaults. | In a statement released in early Saturday, the resistance said it had conducted missile strikes against the Ain al-Assad Airbase housing US occupation forces in the western Iraqi al-Anbar Province. ● The group also said it had staged missile and drone strikes against the strategic al-Tanf military base in southeastern Syria near the border with Jordan and Iraq as well as the al-Khadra Village in Syria's northeastern province of al-Hasakah. ● Earlier, Reuters news agency cited three American officials as saying that the United States had carried out aerial attacks against 85 targets inside the Arab countries. ● The US staged the so-called "retaliatory" assaults against those whom it alleged were responsible for a deadly attack against American forces in Jordan on Sunday.

■ 8 rockets reportedly hit US base in eastern Syria (Mehr News)
■ Explosions rock US base in Syria's Koniko Gas Field (Shafaq News)
■ Iraqi parliament calling to ditch US dollar for oil trade (The Cradle)(FEB 1, 2024)

US Central Command announced on Friday that that it had hit 85 Kata'ib Hezbollah targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for a recent drone attack on a U.S. military headquarters in Jordan near the border with Syria that killed three US service members. | The attacks were conducted last night. Officials in Iraq have condemned the attacks. Reportedly, the overnight air strikes on Syria killed at least 18 fighters. ● Kataib Hezbollah had said the attacks on the American headquarters in the region, including the recent one in Jordan, were in response to Washington’s full support for Israel’s massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza, which started in October 2023. Kataib Hezbollah, also called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have so far fired missiles at Israel's for its genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip. US military officials have not provided an estimated death toll but have said the strikes resulted in causalities.

■ Lloyd Austin: ‘We Don’t Know’ If Iran Was Involved in Jordan Drone Attack (antiwar.com)
■ Damascus says US occupation of Syrian territory ‘cannot continue’ (Malay Mail)
■ Military statement: A number of civilian and military martyrs in U.S. new aggression near borders with Iraq (SANA)
■ Iraq condemns US airstrikes as ‘breach of sovereignty', warns of 'disasterous consequences' (PressTV)
■ Most targeted sites completely evacuated before aggression (Al Mayadeen)
■ Yemen's Ansarullah vows to stand by Iraqi, Syrian resistance groups 'in battlefield' after US strikes (PressTV)
■ Iraq’s Nujaba: We’ll Keep up Ops against US until Occupation Ends, Gaza Genocide Stops (Alahed News)

SOHR activists have reported hearing loud explosions in the US base in Al-Omar oil field in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, the US largest base in Syria. However, it is not known if the explosions were caused by an attack on the base. The explosions coincided with flights by drones over the region.

■ US base in eastern Syria attacked by drones (TASS)
■ US military base in eastern Syria targeted with drones (Mehr News)

The Yemeni army has carried out yet another attack in the Red Sea, this time targeting a British vessel amid tensions over the UK-US joint aggression against the Arab country to protect Israeli maritime interests in the region. | A Yemeni military source has been quoted by Al Jazeera that the British vessel was en route to an Israeli port in the occupied Palestinian territories when it was hit by Yemeni missiles on Thursday night. ● The spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree has confirmed the attack, noting that the strike on the vessel was part of the country’s support for the Palestinian people in Gaza who have been under unprecedented bloody aggression by the Zionist regime nearly the four months. ● Yemen says it will keep targeting any Zionist or Zionist-linked vessels in the Red Sea as long as the war in Gaza continues and the besieged territory remains under the blockade. ● The Yemeni army has conducted over two dozen attacks on Israeli-linked commercial vessels in the Ted and Arab Seas since mid-November.

■ Yemen strikes British merchant ship in solidarity with Gazans (Tehran Times)

The United States and Britain have conducted new strikes on Yemen as the Arab country continues its maritime campaign in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid an Israeli genocide. | Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported that the air raids targeted Yemen’s western provinces of Sa’ada and Hudaydah on Wednesday evening and Thursday at dawn, respectively. Meanwhile, local sources said the American warplanes that bombed Yemen had flown from a US military base in Bahrain. In a statement, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed that its aerial assaults had hit an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ground control station and 10 one-way drones in Yemen. It also alleged that the targets “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region.”

■ New US, British Aggression on Yemen (Alahed News)
■ Yemeni forces target US Navy destroyer in Red Sea with missiles: Army spokesman (PressTV)
■ Red Sea crisis exposing EU energy weakness – FT (RT.com)

Israeli troops will “very soon go into action” near the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday, as tensions surge amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. | Gallant told troops near the border with the besieged Gaza Strip that others were being deployed to Israel’s north. 💬 “They will very soon go into action… so the forces in the north are reinforced,” Gallant said. “The forces close to you… are leaving the field and moving towards the north, and preparing for what comes next,” he said. He added that reservists would be gradually released “to prepare and come ready” for future operations.

■ They are sending armed forces to the border: The war is about to break out? (b92.net)

The Sabreen News Telegram channel affiliated with the resistance forces reported that American warplanes targeted areas in the northern Yemeni province of Sa’ada. | America’s CBS news network quoted US officials saying that the new round of attacks on Yemen included sites that were prepared to attack the United States forces. ● A UN Security Council Resolution allowed for maintaining the security of the Red Sea after the Yemeni army launched its operations against Israeli or Israeli-bound ships in the strategic waterway. ● Yemenis have targeted over two dozen Israel-bound ships and vowed to keep their operations unless the regime stops its bloodshed in Gaza and ends its blockade on the Palestinian territory.

■ 100 vessels take longer route around Africa to avoid Red Sea tensions (Al Mayadeen)
■ Yemeni Navy Strikes US Ship Lewis B Puller in Gulf of Aden (Al ManarTV)

Three US army soldiers were killed and at least two dozen service personnel injured after an overnight drone attack, which struck the living quarters of a small US outpost in Northeast Jordan, say officials | Three US army soldiers were killed and at least two dozen service personnel injured after an overnight drone attack, which struck the living quarters of a small US outpost in Northeast Jordan, say officials. They were the first troops to be killed amid months-long airstrikes against US soldiers across the Middle East by Iranian-backed groups during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. ● "US President Biden" condemned the killings in a statement, saying the attack "was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq." The deaths were confirmed by the US Central Command this weekend, mourning 25 service members who were injured during the "one way" drone attack that was dealt to the base, which is located near the border with Syria. [...] The attack took place in the northeast of Jordan near the Syrian border, US Central Command said. American troops have long used the country as a basing point - with some 3,000 soldiers typically stationed there.

■ Iran reacts to attack on US troops on Jordan border (Mehr News)
■ Senators Call for US to Bomb Iran in Response to Drone Attack in Jordan (antiwar.com)
■ Biden May Order Direct Strike on Iranian Officials After Drone Attack Against US’ Jordan Base (Sputnik News)
■ Biden given chilling nuclear warning over attacking Iran after kamikaze drone kills troops (The Mirror)
■ U.S. Sorties Six (6) KC-135 Strato-tankers to UK; for Middle East. BIG Operation coming (Hal Turner)
■ The Tower-22 Strike in Jordan Triggers US, Israel Into All-Front War – The Arabs and Iran Are Ready, the Russians Too (John Helmer)
■ World War 3 Has Already Started; USA Moving Nuclear Weapons to UK; The Real Satanic Power is Zionism; Top Russian Leaders Say They’re Fighting the Antichrist (BattleForWorld)

After using ATGMs as sniper weapons, the Resistance today employs the 500kg Burkan rockets as the to-go-to artillery shells. | Starting today's operations 20 minutes after midnight, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah announced targeting a number of Israeli military sites using the Resistance's trademark Burkan rockets. The Military Media released statements, detailing the operations. After using ATGMs as sniper weapons, the Resistance today employed a number of the 500kg Burkan rockets as the to-go-to artillery shells. Following the operations, the IOF announced that two Israeli soldiers were injured and transferred to the hospital for treatment.

Naval forces of the Houthi movement in Yemen attacked a British oil ship in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, and the vessel caught fire after it was hit by a missile, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said. 💬 "Yemeni naval forces carried out a targeting operation on the British oil ship (MARLIN LUANDA) In the Gulf of Aden, using a number of appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct, and resulted the burning of the vessel," the spokesman wrote on his Telegram channel. The tanker Marlin Luanda operated by the freight company Trafigura from Denmark has deployed firefighting equipment to suppress a fire reportedly caused by a Houthi missile when the ship was crossing the Gulf of Aden, the company said in a statement to Sputnik.

■ CREW ABANDONS SHIP -- SINKING . . .REPORTS: British Oil Tanker Hit By Yemen; "Massive Fire, Sinking" (Hal Turner)
■ Houthis attack U.S. warship, strike British tanker (Long War Journal)

[■ Houthis attack tanker carrying Russian oil product – reports (RT.com)]

US and allied naval forces have been involved in near daily clashes with the Iran-backed militia | Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have fought off two US warships, reporting a “direct hit” on one of them while the vessels were “protecting two American commercial ships” in the Red Sea on Thursday, the group’s spokesman said. The US said it intercepted missiles fired at two ships operated by Maersk, the shipping company that handles about 15 per cent of container shipping globally.

■ Sayyed al-Houthi: US starving Gaza, turned Red Sea into battlefield (Al Mayadeen)
■ Ansarullah orders US, British UN staff to leave Yemen (PressTV)
■ How is Yemen protecting international law as US, 'Israel' violate it?

The United States and Britain launched a new aggression on Yemen, aerially raiding targets in Sanaa and other provinces. | Four raids targeted Duleimi military base; four sorties struck Al-Hafa area in Sanaa; meanwhile, 2 others hit Al-Sarf area. The aerial aggression also targeted several areas in Taiz, while the US-UK war jets flew over Hijja. The Yemeni command has confirmed that blocking the passage of the Israeli-affiliated vessels are aimed at supporting Gaza against the Zionist war, not disrupting the Red Sea navigation as the aggression forces claim. The Yemeni navy missiles struck a US cargo ship (OCEAN JAZZ) in the Gulf of Aden, according to a statement released Monday by the Armed Forces.

■ New US-UK aggression targets Yemen (Al Mayadeen)

It’s unclear when Houthi military capabilities will be sufficiently damaged, officials have told the paper | The US is preparing for a “sustained” bombing campaign in Yemen after ten days of airstrikes failed to undermine the ability of Houthi fighters to target ships in the Red Sea, the Washington Post has reported, citing unnamed officials. ● The administration of President Joe Biden does not expect a protracted operation such as the US campaigns in Iraq or Afghanistan, but at the same time it cannot provide a timeframe for when Houthi military capabilities will be adequately diminished, the newspaper reported on Saturday. ● Washington’s strategy is to curb the ability of the Shiite militant group to target ships off the coast of Yemen, or at least create safe conditions for shipping companies to resume sending vessels through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sources added. ● The Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the area in recent months, declaring support for Gaza amid Israel’s military operation in the Palestinian enclave.

■ “Mysterious” incidents in the southern Red Sea.. Who is behind them? (Al Jazeera)

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement has promised a safe passage for international ships sailing in the Red Sea as the country’s armed forces ramp up their retaliatory operations on “Israeli”-owned and -bound vessels in support of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. | Mohammad al-Bakhiti, a member of Ansarullah’s politburo, made the statement in an interview published by the Russian daily Izvestia on Friday and said the Red Sea was safe so long as ships transiting the strategic waterway were not linked to “Israel”. 💬 “As far as ships from all other countries, including Russia and China, are concerned, their navigation in the region is not under any threat whatsoever,” al-Bakhiti said, noting that “Moreover, we are ready to ensure the safe passage of their ships in the Red Sea, because free navigation plays a significant role for our country.” ● Stressing those operations on vessels “in any way connected with ‘Israel’” will continue, he added, “Ansarullah does not pursue the goal of capturing or sinking this or that sea vessel. Our goal is to raise the economic costs" for the “Israeli” entity "in order to stop the carnage in Gaza.”

■ The Houthis announce the targeting of an American ship in the Gulf of Aden (Teller Report/Al Jazeera)
■ Armed Forces announce targeting American ship "Kim Ranger" (Yemen News Agency)
■ Yemeni Army Targets Another US Ship in Fresh Pro-Palestinian Strike (Alahed News)

The Yemeni Armed Forces announced on Wednesday that it had targeted an American ship in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have come under a genocidal “Israeli” aggression that enjoys full-on support on the part of the United States. | The forces’ spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree identified the target as “American Genco Picardy ship” and the whereabouts of the operation as the Gulf of Aden. Saree [...] confirmed that “We continue to prevent ‘Israeli’ ships or those heading to the occupied ports of Palestine until aggression ceases, and blockade on Gaza is lifted.”

■ Worst yet to come for Red Sea crisis says Freightos (Ship Technology)
■ Houthi Rebels Strike Israeli City of Eilat (novinite.com)
■ US launches new strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen (Al Jazeera)
■ Exclusive: IRGC behind attack on Israeli ships in Indian Ocean (Al Mayadeen)
■ US 'unreliable' to protect international maritime trade, FT says (Al Mayadeen)
■ The US, Israel Have Lost Battlefield Control – Houthis Have Attacked US Destroyer, Hit Greek-US Owned Bulker; Iran Has Hit US Base in Kurdish Capital, Erbil (Yves Smith)

The casualties over the course of 100 days of non-stop “Israeli” aggression on the Gaza Strip. Infographics by Abir Qanso
■ APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)(84 pages) Press Release (.pdf)

In a response to the Zionist aggression on Iranian figures and interests, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards [IRG] announced that first missile strikes targeted gathering places of commanders and main elements of recent terrorist attacks in the Iranian cities of Kerman and Rask. | It added that the strike came after gathering points of the Daesh [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist ISIS/ISIS] terrorist group were identified in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed with a number of ballistic missiles. ● The Takfiri group claimed responsibility for two explosions that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores of others at a memorial for Iran's top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on January 3. ● Later the same month, another terrorist attack hit a police station in the southeastern Iranian city of Rask, killing 11 police officers and injuring at least six others. ● The IRG said in a later statement that another missile strike had been launched at a main espionage center of the “Israeli” entity’s Mossad spy agency in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

■ Iraq Recalls Ambassador to Tehran After Strikes on Kurdistan Region (Sputnik News)
■ Israeli media: Iranian ballistic missile crosses 1,200 km in first (Al Mayadeen)
■ IRGC Strikes at Militants in Syria in Response to Recent Terrorist Attacks (Sputnik News)
■ Overnight blasts in Erbil, businessman’s death: What we know about Iranian missile strikes (TASS)

The Houthis in Yemen on Monday confirmed that its missile hit a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden, the movement’s military spokesman Yahya Saria said. | Earlier in the day, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the US-owned and operated container ship has been hit by a missile fired from the Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. 💬 "The Yemeni navy conducted an operation against a US ship in the Gulf of Aden. During the operation, several anti-ship missiles were used, which directly hit the target," the spokesman said on air of the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah broadcaster.

■ US, UK forces can no longer pass through Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Yemeni official (PressTV)
■ Yemen Announces Targeting A US Ship with Ballistic Missiles (Alahed News)

The aggressions carried out by the United States and Britain since Friday have resulted in the martyred of 7 servicemembers of the Yemeni Armed Forces. | An American-British aggression targeted Jabal Jida in al-Luhayyah District in the coastal province of Hodeidah, western Yemen, the Yemeni news agency SABA, based in Sanaa, reported. Meanwhile, Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Sanaa reported that intensive flights of US spy drones were recorded over Hodeidah. ● This aggression marks the third consecutive attack carried out by the United States and the United Kingdom since Friday dawn, with strikes targeting the capital Sanaa, Taiz, al-Hajja, and Hodeidah. Commenting on the earlier aggressions, the Yemeni Supreme Political Council of the Sanaa government declared that now "all American and British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni Armed Forces." The Yemeni Armed Forces announced the martyrdom of 7 servicemembers in the strikes.

■ In stern warning to US and UK, Iran says war against Yemen must end (PressTV)