In a major setback to a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect passage of Israeli-owned and Israel-bound merchant vessels, France, Spain, and Italy have officially withdrawn their participation from the alliance. | The three nations have explicitly stated their commitment to operating exclusively under the command of international bodies such as the United Nations, NATO, or the European Union, choosing not to align with the United States. The French Defense Ministry announced in a statement that it supported efforts to secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and surrounding area and said it already operated in the region. ● However, it said its ships would stay under French command and did not say if it would deploy more naval forces. Italy’s Defense Ministry also said it would send naval frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea to protect its national interests in response to specific requests made by Italian ship owners. It said this was part of its existing operations, and was not part of the US-led naval coalition in the waterway.

■ Yemen: Anti- ‘Israel’ Ops to Intensify if ‘Israel’ Doesn’t End Aggression on Gaza (Alahed News)
■ The US and Israel face a powerful new enemy in the Middle East (Robert Inlakesh) (RT.com)
■ Russian Identification of Houthi Tanker Target in Indian Ocean (John Helmer)

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has called for an international investigation into summary executions carried out by Israeli forces during the regime's ongoing genocidal war against the besieged Gaza Strip. | In a statement on Saturday, the movement said it has gathered testimonies proving that "the Israeli army [has] carried out the summary execution of 137 Palestinian civilians" in the northern Gaza Strip, including in Gaza City, since October 7, when the regime began its brutal attacks on the territory.

■ “Israel” Martyrs Hundreds in Gaza (Alahed News)
■ Over 20,400 martyrs in Gaza; IOF commit 5 massacres in Deir al-Balah (Al Mayadeen)
■ IRAN: US, Israel must stand trial for crimes against humanity in Gaza
■ UN Report Says Over 570,000 People Are Starving in Gaza (12/22/23)
■ Washington Post Maps Israel's Destruction of Gaza (Information Liberation)

Children of Gaza are dying
■ The Little Drummer Boy (Wikipedia)

“We will annihilate everyone” in Gaza
■ The Expression of Hatred for Gentiles (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)
■ APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)(84 pages) Press Release (.pdf)

Dmitry Polyansky added that "existing difficulties persist and are worsening" in Syria, including terrorist activity, clashes between Kurds and pro-Turkish militias, and instability in the south of the country | Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s first deputy envoy to the UN, cautioned against allowing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spill over to Syria. 💬 "The escalation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is unprecedented by the number of casualties, is provoking additional tension in our friendly nation of Syria. Against the background of Israel's bloody operation in the Gaza Strip and incessant raids in the West Bank, there has been a noticeable surge in activity of various forces and formations across the region," the diplomat said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. "The ever more frequent Israeli air raids on Syrian sites <...> as well as the intensifying exchanges of strikes across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel risk dragging Syria into a full-scale regional confrontation. There can’t be allowed to happen by any means."

Spain has blocked the European Union's participation in the US-led operation in the Red Sea aimed at protecting commercial vessels from Yemeni Houthis, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported. | Spain vetoed the EU's participation in the Operation Prosperity Guardian despite the government's advocating for whole Europe to join the mission several hours before, the newspaper reported. Spain has not explained the u-turn on the policy to the partners, the newspaper reported on Thursday. ● On Monday, the US launched an international operation aimed at protecting commercial ships in the Red Sea from the attacks of Yemen's Ansar Allah rebel movement, also known as the Houthis. On Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that more than 20 countries had so far signed on to participate in the coalition.

■ Spain blocks EU participation in US operation in Red Sea (TASS)

Yemen’s defense minister has denounced the formation of a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of merchant vessels bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, cautioning the Western alliance that any assault on Yemeni soil will have dire consequences. | The Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7. The relentless Israeli strikes against Gaza have killed at least 19,453 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza. Another 52,286 individuals have been wounded as well. ● Reports revealed that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

■ If US attacks Yemen, its battleships will be struck: Sayyed al-Houthi (Al Mayadeen) | The leader of Ansar Allah movement slams the US action in the Red Sea as "illegal" and describes it as "a reckless and foolish aggression that only serves Israel." Ansar Allah leader, Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, reassured European companies, saying, “European vessels that do not have Israeli ports as their final destination are not at risk.”

■ U.S. defence secretary makes unannounced visit to USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier defending Israel (CTV News)
■ Netanyahu tells Biden Israel will act militarily against Yemen's Houthis if US won't: report (Fox News)
■ Malaysia Blocks Israeli Shipping Firm over Gaza Atrocities (Tasnim News Agency)
■ Who Are Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Attacking Israeli Ships? (Declassified)
■ Red Sea’s Gateway of Tears… As Usual, Uncle Sam’s Euro Vassals Pay the Price (Finian Cunningham)

A US-led coalition has come together to respond to Houthi rebel attacks that have disrupted Red Sea shipping | The Pentagon has turned to the UK, France and other allies to help secure shipping traffic through the Red Sea after a series of missile and drone attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels scared away major transport operators and oil major BP from the key maritime route. ● US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the coalition’s initiative on Monday, saying Operation Prosperity Guardian would work to ensure freedom of navigation through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. “This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” he said in a statement, adding that the group would bolster “regional security and prosperity.”

■ Operation Prosperity Guardian: US scrambles to secure Red Sea route (Al Mayadeen)
■ Austin Reveals Multinational Operation to Secure Red Sea Amid Houthi Attacks (Sputnik News)

A U.S. Navy warship shot down more than a dozen "terrorist" drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthi "terrorists" forces based in Yemen that were operating over the Red Sea on Saturday as attacks against U.S. forces and large commercial shipping vessels continues to escalate. 💬 “In the early morning hours of December 16 (Sanna time) the US Arliegh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS CARNEY (DDG 64), operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “The UAS were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries. Regional Red Sea partners were alerted to the threat.”

■ World's Largest Container Shipping Company - Halts all Red Sea transit (Harold Turner)

The Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson highlights that the "Israel"-bound Norwegian-flagged oil tanker was only targeted after its crew had rejected all warning calls. | In a televised statement, Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree confirmed that the naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted an oil tanker with a missile strike. [...] The Norwegian-flagged ship was loaded with oil and headed to the ports of the Israeli occupation, General Saree announced in the statement. The Yemeni Armed Forces succeeded in the past two days in enforcing the ban they had declared earlier this week without the need for military action.

■ Yemen's Houthis strike Norwegian-flagged oil tanker heading to Israel (aNews)
■ Missile Hit Causes Fire on Chemical Tanker in Red Sea - Reports (Sputnik News)
■ Palestine - Occupation Forces Have Serious Losses (Moon of Alabama)

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia on December 6, having wrapped up his trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What signal does Putin's Mideast tour send to the world? | President Putin embarked on a Middle Eastern tour on Wednesday to meet with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE and ruler of Abu-Dhabi, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud. ● The Western press were quick to point out that the trips to Abu-Dhabi and Riyadh were Putin's first visits to the Mideast since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. The tour has clearly demonstrated that the West's efforts to smear and isolate Russia failed miserably, international observers say. ● Why Mideast Players Didn't Buy Into West's Ukraine Narrative: According to Carnelos, the "Global Rest" did not buy into the West's oversimplified narrative of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict — which was presented as a clash between 'an aggressor and a victim', ignoring the broader historical context of NATO's eastward expansion and Kiev's sabotage of Minsk Agreements. But at last the truth has come out.

■ Putin arrives in Saudi Arabia (RT.com)
■ Diplomacy in desert: Putin recognizes UAE's environmental stewardship (TASS)
■ The resurrection of Russia and the multipolar world prevented the New World Order (Cesare Sacchetti)

The Spanish prime minister has questioned the legality of the war on Gaza | The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that it was recalling its ambassador in Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, for consultations after comments made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez about the ongoing war. Madrid's ambassador in Tel Aviv was also summoned for a protest. ● Speaking with the Spanish broadcaster TVE, Sanchez said he had “serious doubt” that Israel was in compliance with international humanitarian law while waging war on the Palestinian group, given the imagery coming from the enclave and the “growing numbers of children dying.”

Tamara Ryzhenkova | Despite Cairo’s resistance, the old plan to relocate Palestinian people to Egypt has prompted new discussions | Egypt’s reaction to the events in the Gaza Strip has drawn renewed attention to the US-Israeli plan of relocating the Palestinian population living in Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula, which is now a part of Egypt. In former times, this question was repeatedly raised during negotiations with Cairo. Now, it looks like Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will have to deal with the issue once again and find an optimal solution.

The Israeli occupation targets photojournalist Mohammad Ayyash in his home, killing him and his family in the overnight aggression that resulted in the death of hundreds of Palestinians. | Palestinian Wafa News Agency reported that photojournalist Mohammad Ayyash was martyred, along with a number of his family members, as a result of a raid carried out by the Israeli occupation that targeted his house in the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip. ● In Gaza, martyr Ayyash is the latest of 63 other journalists that have also been martyred as a result of direct and deliberate Israeli raids in a clear genocidal policy aimed at assassinating the Palestinian narrative.

■ Remembering martyr Farah Omar in her hometown of Mashghara, West Bekaa (Al Mayadeen)

Qatar on early Wednesday said that the start of a "humanitarian pause" between Israel and Hamas will be announced within 24 hours. | Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, has successfully mediated a four-day humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas. The announcement, expected in the next 24 hours, involves the exchange of 50 civilian women and children hostages in Gaza for Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons. Humanitarian aid, including fuel, will be permitted into the Gaza Strip.

■ LIVE: 50 captives and 150 Palestinian prisoners to be released (MEE)
■ Hamas announces 4-day truce agreement, prisoners exchange deal (Al Mayadeen)
■ The Palestinian Children Detained by ‘Israel’ (Alahed News)
■ Hamas Says Agreed to Mediated Four-day Truce (Alahed News)
■ Israel's Cabinet Approves Ceasefire, Hostage Deal With Hamas (Sputnik News)
■ Putin expresses concern over 'thousands of deaths' in Gaza Strip (aNews)

■ Gaza Ceasefire? (Kurt Nimmo) | Yes, calling for a ceasefire is helpful, but it will not accomplish much. Israel will not stop killing Palestinians and Washington will continue to support the ethno-religious settler fanatics in Palestine in response to the outsized influence of the Israeli lobby. Israel will continue stampeding two million Palestinians into South Gaza and eventually through the Rafah Crossing into the empty desert of the Egyptian Sinai. This has been the plan for decades. It’s not a secret. Israel is a terrorist state. It was founded and governed by terrorists. David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak, Yitzhak Rabin, and yes, Golda Meir, were all terrorists. Together these terrorists—who are rarely called terrorists in the West—ethnically cleansed nearly a million Palestinians. Some of them were members of terrorist groups before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The ethnic cleansing plan for Gaza and the West Bank has remained consistent.

France's decision to issue an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar Assad is a manifestation of judicial bias. | On Wednesday, media reported, citing a judicial source, that France had issued arrest warrants for Assad, his brother Maher Assad, and two other senior officials in connection with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria. A decade ago, a grave false flag operation by anti-government forces in Syria nearly precipitated a US military intervention. On August 21, 2013, militants opposed to Bashar Assad's government launched an assault on Eastern Ghouta, a heavily populated region on the eastern fringes of Damascus, the Syrian capital. This assault involved the use of sarin-filled shells.

The Israeli regime’s war on the Gaza Strip has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon and may even widen in scope, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force said. | Addressing a commemorative ceremony on Monday morning, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the Zionist regime’s brutal onslaught against Gaza proved the rightful stances of Iran and made the world realize that Israel is a child-killing criminal regime. The Israeli regime is not going to last so long, he added. Asked about Iran’s reaction to the possibility of spread of the Gaza war and the Lebanese Hezbollah’s involvement in the conflict, the general said the war has already extended and Lebanon has become entangled. “It is probable that the extent of clashes will grow even bigger. The future is vague, though Iran is prepared for all conditions,” General Hajizadeh noted.

■ Israeli jets strike south Lebanon after Hezbollah attack wounds 10 'civilians' (Naharnet/AFP)
■ Israeli drone bombs vehicle 45 kms deep inside Lebanon (11/12/23)

An Israeli drone struck Saturday a pickup truck deep in Lebanese territory, official media in Lebanon said, after weeks of skirmishes mainly limited to border areas since the Israel-Hamas war began. | Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said "an enemy drone targeted a pickup truck" on a farmland in the Zahrani area on Lebanon's coast, some 45 kilometers from the Israeli border, without reporting any casualties. Media reports said the pickup was targeted in a banana grove and that the driver escaped unharmed. ● Israel's army meanwhile said that a drone had bombed a "launchpad" from which missiles were fired at an Israeli drone overnight, in possible reference to the Zahrani truck incident.

■ Lebanese Resistance Fighters Fully Prepared For ‘Israeli’ Aggression - Hezbollah Officer (AlahedNews)
■ Sayyed Nasrallah: Field Will Talk, Victory is Inevitably Coming (AlahedNews)
■ ‘What we are doing in Gaza we can also do in Beirut’ – Israel (RT.com)
■ Israel's Gallant warns Hezbollah that Beirut could face similar fate to Gaza (Naharnet/AFP)

Numerous and very large explosions are taking place in the city of Dier Ezor, Syria as you read this at 7:26 PM eastern US Time, Wednesday, 08 November. Reports say the United States is attacking Syria. [...] Air Sirens are sounding in Deir Ez Zor City. The airstrikes in Deir Ezor city have targeted the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Headquarters! Violent explosions rock the city of Deir Ezor in the east of the country, which is under Assad’s control. The city of Deir ez-Zor is located opposite US bases on the opposite bank of the Euphrates River, which has been subjected to successive attacks in recent days.
■ Hal Turner Remarks: Iran previously warned all Parties in the Middle East that if their nation, their citizens, or their Interests were attacked, they would unleash all-out war. Right now, it appears the US is directly attacking Iran troops in Syria, knowing Iran will unleash all-out war.

■ US launches new "self-defense" strike in Syria – Pentagon (RT.com) | US troops have illegally occupied the oil-rich region of northeastern Syria since 2014, ostensibly to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS) terrorists. The occupation has continued despite the defeat of the terrorist group by Russian, US, Syrian and Iranian forces in the territories under Damascus’ control.

■ Israel, the US Army, ISIS, and Al Qaeda Bomb Syria in 24 Hours (Syria News)
■ NATO ISIS Cells Ambush SAA: 21 Martyrs, Several Casualties (Syria News)
■ Tim Scott Calls For U.S. Strikes On Iran During NBC’s GOP Presidential Debate (Trending Politics)

The Lebanese and Palestinian Resistance, as well as the Yemeni Armed Forces, attack the Israeli occupation forces as part of their effort to support the people and Resistance in Gaza. | The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah announced Tuesday that they targeted Israeli artillery positions in northern occupied Palestine. The Lebanese resistance fighters targeted Israeli occupation artillery positions in occupied Palestine in response to the targeting of one of the resistance points in Iqlim Al-Tuffah. Simultaneously, intense artillery shelling by the occupation reached the outskirts of the towns of Al-Labouneh, Al-Naqoura, and Alma al-Shaab, as reported by an Al Mayadeen correspondent in southern Lebanon.

■ 347 Israeli Soldiers Killed Since Start of Hostilities With Hamas, Says IDF (Sputnik News)
■ sraeli Soldier Killed, 3 Seriously Injured in Gaza Clashes (Al Manar TV)

The Nasser Medical Complex has come under the direct fire of Israeli warplanes, killing at least eight Palestinians so far. | An Israeli airstrike on the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern governate of Khan Yunis killed at least eight people and injured dozens, on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. ● This comes after Israeli authorities forcibly displaced Gazans to southern areas in the Strip, claiming they would be safe there. However, a substantial number of bombs and shells have targeted residential blocks and civilian infrastructure, such as the Nasser Medical Complex, confirming the occupation's sheer brutality.

■ After Nasrallah's speech, US and Israel escalate Gaza war (The Cradle)
■ Unprecedented Israeli Massacres in Gaza on Day 30: Beast Unleashed (Al Manar TV)
■ Gaza Death Toll Surpasses 10,000 (Al Jazeera/Gaza’s Ministry of Health)
■ Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza surpasses 10,000 (The Cradle)
■ Israeli doctors urge the bombing of Gaza hospitals (Mondoweiss)

A statement by Israeli Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Amihai Eliyahu about the possibility of using a nuclear bomb in the Gaza Strip has raised many questions, including about the nuclear arsenal of the Jewish state, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. | "This raised a huge number of questions. Question number one — it turns out that we are hearing official statements about the presence of nuclear weapons? The following questions that everyone has — where are the international organizations, where is the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency], where are the inspectors?” Zakharova told the Solovyov Live media outlet. ● On November 5, Eliyahu said in an interview with Radio Kol BaRama that "one of the possible options" for Israel was dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip. The minister also opposed allowing any humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, saying that Israel "would not hand the Nazis humanitarian aid," and that "there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza." ● Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended Eliyahu from participating in government meetings until further notice.

■ Israeli minister’s suggestion of nuclear strike on Gaza raises questions — Russian MFA (TASS)

An Ohio-class guided missile submarine arrived in the Middle East on Sunday, as per a social media post by the US Central Command. | According to the US press, the heavily armed submarine sends "a message of deterrence" to Israel's "regional adversaries, as the Biden administration "tries to avoid a broader conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war."
The deployment of the submarine is triggering concerns, as per the DC-based think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The crux of the matter is that the US has already amassed a huge military force in the Middle East over the unfolding Gaza war.

■ US nuclear submarine sent to confront Iran – Bloomberg (RT.com)
■ After Nasrallah's speech, US and Israel escalate Gaza war (The Cradle)

A heart-wrenching incident unfolded in southern Lebanon, where a Zionist military aggression took the lives of three Lebanese children, alongside their grandmother on Sunday evening. | The victims of this tragic incident include Samira Abdel Hassan Ayoub, along with her granddaughters Remas, Talin, and Enas. Their mother, Hoda Abdel Nabi Hijazi, sustained injuries when a civilian car (CRV), situated between the towns of Blida and Ainata along the southern border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine, was targeted by Israeli enemy aircraft, directly striking it and igniting a fire. In response to this heinous crime, Hezbollah released a statement announcing that Islamic resistance fighters targeted Kiryat Shmona settlement with a series of Grad missiles. [...] The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, has made a statement, asserting that the Israeli crime will not go unpunished. He has declared that the incident will be pursued through international diplomatic channels, with a formal complaint to be lodged with the United Nations Security Council. Mikati pointed out that this crime stands as a stark contrast to the calls for calm and the acquiescence to the occupation’s actions against Lebanon. He viewed this act as yet another blemish on the global conscience that has, regrettably, overlooked the Israeli occupation’s actions in southern Lebanon and Gaza.

Israel has targeted a children’s hospital in Gaza as the regime’s brutal aggression on the besieged strip has entered its 31st day. | Palestinian sources said the Israeli army hit Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital in the early hours of Monday, leaving an unspecified number of people killed and injured. ● Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have repeatedly targeted hospitals, residential buildings, mosques, and churches. Under the Geneva Convention, attacks on hospitals are strictly prohibited. On October 17, hundreds of civilians were killed and injured by Israeli airstrikes on al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The attack has been condemned as an act of genocide by many governments around the world. Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for Palestinians hoping to be spared Israeli bombardments, which began early in October.

■ Netanyahu Bragged About Zionist Support for Hamas (Kurt Nimmo)(10/18/23 ) | The Israel state has manufactured terror as a pretext for ethnic cleansing and mass murder: “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas.” (B. Netanyahu)