The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, says Iran has concluded its retaliatory strikes on the occupied territories, warning of a “stronger” reaction if the Israeli regime responds. | "The operation is over from our point of view, but the armed forces are ready and we will act if necessary,” Baqeri said Sunday morning. ● His remarks came hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched extensive missile and drone strikes against the occupied territories in response to Israel’s deadly attack on the Iranian diplomatic premises in Syria early this month. ● Baqeri downplayed the extent of the operation compared to what Iran is capable of, saying that it was merely a punishment and the country’s response to any further military action by the Israeli regime “will be much greater.”

■ Iran Forcefully Retaliates, Subjects Entire Zionist Entity to Attack (Al Manar TV)
■ Russia Expresses 'Utmost Concern' About Potential Escalation in Wake of Iran's Self-Defense Strikes (Sputnik News)
■ Iranian response to be tougher if 'Israel' makes any move: Ghalibaf (Al Mayadeen)
■ IRGC chief: Much harsher response awaits Israel should it attack Iran (PressTV)
■ US worried about 'Israel's' response to Iran's attack: NBC News (Al Mayadeen)
■ Biden tells Netanyahu US will not take part in Israel's counterattack on Iran (PressTV)
■ Tel Aviv confirms key airbase damaged by Iranian strikes (The Cradle)
■ Confirmed Hit: Footage captures moment Iranian missiles strike Ben Gurion airport (albawaba.com)
■ Iran's Retaliatory Attack 'Reestablished Deterrence' to Hold Israel, US in Check (Scott Ritter)
■ Ex-Shin Bet Chief: Bibi Unfit for Office, Leading ‘Israel’ to its Doom (Alahed News)(Nadav Argaman)
■ Iran starts offensive against Israel, dozens of missiles launched (04/13/24)

British Defense Minister Grant Shapps has revealed plans to accelerate the development of The DragonFire, a laser weapon expected to be completed by 2027. To strengthen the defenses of Ukraine against possible Russian assault. | Speaking from Salisbury [Porton Down: chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defense and warfare], Shapps emphasized how military production strategies have changed in response to new threats. Promised to be able to take out drones, the DragonFire is set to revolutionize combat. ● The system's flexibility—it can be implemented on land, sea, or in the air—highlights its strategic importance. Shapps underlined how it would affect Ukraine, especially in fending off drone threats. ● Shapps stated that although The DragonFire is not yet completely operational, talks are underway to facilitate its transfer to Ukraine before 2027. It is anticipated that even once it is deployed [to Ukraine], the system will continue to be improved.

Berlin has deployed the first soldiers from a promised 4,800-strong force to Lithuania | Germany has sent an advance military team to Lithuania as part of plans for a full-strength armor brigade permanently stationed in the Baltic state, which borders Russia. Moscow has described the mission as a threat that requires “special measures” in response. ● German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was among those to see off 21 military service members and civilian employees who departed on Monday from Berlin to Vilnius. The minister praised the Bundeswehr deployment as “a clear signal of solidarity” with Germany’s fellow NATO member.

■ Poland will defend Lithuania even if NATO’s Article 5 not triggered, president says (Anadolu)

American ships and troops in the Middle East prepared for a likely Iranian attack on Israel on Friday, as US President Joe Biden urged Tehran to think twice. | Iranian leaders have vowed to “punish” Israel for the April 1 airstrike on the consulate in Damascus, Syria that killed seven officers of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two of its generals. [...] The Pentagon is moving additional troops and equipment to sites in the Middle East, to “bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection,” an anonymous official said in a background briefing.

■ Russia trolls U.S and Israel with new Ballistic Missile test (The Times of India)
■ Turkey DENIES U.S. Permission To Use Airspace to Attack Iran (Hal Turner)
■ Qatar and Kuwait Forbid US From Using their Bases to Attack Iran (Hal Turner) (12 April 2024)
■ Iran readies '100+ cruise missiles' for possible retaliation against Israel (TRT World)
■ Iran Warns It Will Attack US Forces in Mideast If It Helps Defend Israel (Sputnik News)
■ US Moving More Assets to Mideast to Bolster Deterrence Ahead of Iran Retaliation (Sputnik News)
■ Iran: UN condemnation of Israeli airstrike could have 'obviated' retaliation (04/12/24)

Аs follows from testimonies by a laboratory technician, the German Army’s Senior Ensign Ludwig Schneider, contained in the declassified FSB archive materials | The Katyn case owes its name to the Katyn forest near Smolensk, where mass graves of executed Polish prisoners of war were found in 1943 in German-occupied territory. The discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest in 1943 was first reported by Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, an Army Group Center intelligence staff officer. [...] Officers of the Nazi Germany's state secret police (Gestapo) accompanied the members of an international commission to investigate the mass killing of Polish soldiers and officers in the Katyn forest, as follows from testimonies by a laboratory technician, the German Army’s Senior Ensign Ludwig Schneider, contained in the declassified FSB archive materials, seen by TASS. [...] [In] the Katyn forest a large number of bodies had been found. Allegedly, the Bolsheviks had shot Polish officers there, and "the upcoming investigation is very important for Germany, and for that reason, as Hilbers said, the laboratory staff must be very attentive, instantly and clearly follow all orders without asking questions and do not make any experiments on their own, as the slightest inaccuracy or error can cause irreparable harm."

Various resistance groups erupt in a chorus of condemnation and condolence after an “Israeli” airstrike claimed the lives of Hamas’ leader, Ismail Hanieyh’s sons and his grandchildren. | On Wednesday, three sons and three grandchildren of Haniyeh, Hamas’ Political Bureau chief, were martyred in the strike that targeted a vehicle at the al-Shati refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which is enduring a genocidal “Israeli” war. The Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ fellow Gaza-based resistance movement, condemned the atrocity “in the strongest terms,” calling it...

💬 "...a “war crime” and a “barbaric massacre committed by the criminal Nazi entity.” “This cowardly operation confirms that the enemy is in a state of confusion as a result of the failure to achieve its goals on the ground, and seeks to compensate for it by directing the arrows of its blind hatred in revenge against the sons of the fighters and their families,” it added.

The group vowed that such acts of barbarity would only increase the resistance’s determination and steadfastness in committing to the rights of the Palestinian people. Such resistance, the Islamic Jihad asserted, would continue “until the occupation is defeated and the enemy is forced to stop the genocidal war.” The “Israeli” entity launched the war on Gaza on October 7 following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by the territory’s resistance groups against the occupied territories. Nearly 33,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been martyred in the brutal military onslaught so far.

■ Hamas’ Haniyeh: Interests of Palestinians Our Only Priority (Alahed News)
■ Haniyeh says Hamas won’t back down on its goals after Israeli murder of his sons (04/11/24)

Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham, has written a detailed, multiple-sourced detailing how the Israeli forces have marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination using an AI targeting system.

💬 “Formally, the Lavender system is designed to mark all suspected operatives in the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), including low-ranking ones, as potential bombing targets. The sources told +972 and Local Call that during the first weeks of the war, the army almost completely relied on Lavender, which clocked as many as 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants — and their homes — for possible air strikes”.

💬 “During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about “20 seconds” to each target before authorizing a bombing”.

■ ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza (04/04/24)

Nafeez Ahmed | US State Department documents show just how involved America is – and how they coached Israeli officials on how to undermine findings and defend themselves | Secret US State Department documents reveal how senior Israeli figures involved in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) campaign in Gaza, Operation Swords of Iron, played key roles in IDF military doctrines justifying the use of “disproportionate force” against civilians, with the knowledge and support of senior US Government officials. ■ The documents show that US officials have known for over a decade that a deliberate IDF policy of using disproportionate violence against civilians could result in targeting of civilian aid convoys, but worked to conceal this, creating a climate of impunity that has led to what many UN experts consider genocide in Gaza. ■ As early as 2010, in the wake of Operation Cast Lead’s destruction of significant swathes of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, US officials were privately told by independent Israeli legal and human rights experts that the IDF was incapable of conducting meaningful reforms to avoid breaches of international humanitarian law and that only “international pressure” on the Israeli Government could hold the IDF’s “senior leadership accountable”.

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) (Дмитрий Медведев) |"The conflict in Ukraine will end after the U.S. Congress votes to provide new support for Kyiv," Biden said. One could recall for the hundredth time about the old man's dementia and the son's corruption. About the interests of the American military-industrial complex and the influence of the deep state. The war between Democrats and conservatives and the wedge between the states and the U.S. federal government. But I will say something else.

Biden's statement is downright evil. For, he said: Keep killing each other. The more people who die, the better. I want as many deaths as possible... Indeed, "And I looked, and behold, there was a pale horse, and upon it a rider whose name was death; and hell followed him." (Revelation of the apostle John the Evangelist, Apocalypse 6:8).

Therefore, the sooner the rider on the pale horse takes Joseph Robinette Biden with him, the better it will be for our suffering world...(Translation: DeepL + Grammarly)

■ Biden’s remark on Ukraine apocalyptic – Medvedev (RT.com)
■ Ukraine tightens mobilization in Verkhovna Rada vote (RT Telegram)
■ Ukrainian women should prepare for conscription – top Kiev official (RT.com)
■ Verkhovna Rada passes scandalous law on mobilization in Ukraine (TASS)
■ We really want to destroy Europe’s longest bridge – Zelensky (RT.com)

💬 "...this war has destroyed Ukraine. And the longer it continues, the less there will be of Ukraine. It is very simple, if this goes on longer, Russia will capture more territory. If it goes on long enough, Russia will capture Odessa. Kiev, if we continue the way we're doing. This is a Biden project that goes back 10 years now, we'll completely destroy Ukraine. The idea that this is "siding with" Ukraine is absurd. Anyone who really follows events knows that we're not siding with Ukraine, we have paid for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to go to the front lines and die, for more and more territory to be lost. — Jeffrey Sachs

The day starts with a massive Russian missile strike that has wiped out another chunk of the remaining Ukrainian energy capacity. It’s now confirmed that Russia is hitting precisely the turbine rooms causing long-lasting, if not permanent, damage. [...] During all these urgent calls for new Patriots to be sent has anyone bothered to ask where the previously delivered Patriots have gone, by any chance? We were told they were totally unscratched after stopping all those Kinzhals. It seems perhaps that wasn’t entirely accurate.

Swiss Policy Research | A brief overview of the situation in Ukraine and its geopolitical background | As predicted by SPR more than a year ago, the current US Administration and its foreign policy strategists are now continuing their geopolitical campaign in Ukraine where they left off in 2016. Russia, in turn, appears to be determined to defend ‘annexed’ Crimea (base of the Russian Black Sea fleet) as well as Russian-speaking parts of the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine (see map above). ■ To gain a deeper understanding of the current situation in Ukraine, the following resources may be of interest to some of our readers. ■ To learn more about the general geopolitical background and importance of Ukraine, read “The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives” (PDF), the classic 1997 book by former US National Security Advisor and CFR director Zbigniew Brzezinski (excerpts in the annex below). Brzezinski predicted that between 2005 and 2010, Ukraine “should become ready for serious negotiations with both the EU and NATO”. In 2004/2005, the US helped organize the successful “Orange Revolution” in Kyiv; when its results were reversed in 2010, the US helped organize the more forceful “EuroMaidan” in 2013/2014. In response, Russia took control over Crimea and supported the de facto secession of Russian-speaking parts of Eastern Ukraine. ■ To explore the many “NGOs” that helped prepare the Ukrainian revolutions or regime changes, see our extensive list of 1600 organizations (including British “Bellingcat”) funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), essentially a civil society front of the CIA.

The Israeli air force is reportedly training to strike “sensitive sites” | Israel will launch strikes against Iran’s nuclear program in the event that Tehran retaliates for the recent attack on its embassy in Damascus, a London-based Arabic outlet has reported, citing an anonymous Western security official. ● Two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and several other officers were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed that Israel will “receive a slap in the face” in return.

■ Israel Threatens To Strike Iran Directly If Iran Launches an Attack From Its Territory (HuffPo)

Unveiling Yemeni Naval Operations in Support of Gaza since Oct.7 | In a series of decisive actions, the Yemeni Armed Forces have undertaken 19 naval operations, targeting 22 commercial vessels, along with US and British military ships, en route to the Zionist entity in the occupied Palestinian territories. These operations were specifically aimed at intercepting vessels heading towards the ports in the occupied Palestinian territories. ● Earlier in November 2023, responding to severe attacks initiated by the Zionist entity on the Gaza Strip, the Yemeni Armed Forces made a resolute announcement, declaring their intent to target any vessel en route to the Zionist entity. This proclamation underscores the Yemeni Armed Forces’ unwavering readiness to counter the aggression, emphasizing both their capability and determination to retaliate against Israeli brutality against civilians in the Strip. The video [...] documents Yemeni naval operations since the onset of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood until the present day.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives evaluated a series of notifications during the month of February proposing the transfer of 65 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon MLU fighter jets from Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands to Ukraine. | Despite the mentioned countries expressing their intention to donate the aircraft, the estimated cost of the initiatives amounts to $.683.5 billion, including spare engines, simulators, manuals, tools, and various materials for operating and sustaining the F-16s. ● From the summary of the Foreign Affairs Committee, it is revealed that Denmark will make available six F-16 Block 10, thirteen F-16 Block 15 aircraft, additional engines, and support equipment. The transfer is valued at USD 87.5 million. ● It is worth noting that the Danish government has not only been one of the promoters of the initiative to provide F-16s to Ukraine but is also one of the few countries training pilots and technical personnel.

Dmitry Medvedev (Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council) (Дмитрий Медведев) |On accomplices in the terrorist act committed on March 22 in Crocus City Hall | As it is known, in criminal law it is customary to distinguish complicity in the commission of a crime, when several persons intentionally participate in it. Let's analyze who became accomplices of this gravest criminal act.

1. The executors. Everything is clear with them: these underdeveloped bastards are caught, and investigative actions are carried out with them. And it is obvious that despite multiple references to their belonging to ISIS/Wilayat Khorasan* (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), these scum are not religious fanatics ready to die for their faith. Neither external nor internal paraphernalia have they demonstrated. They are primitive hired killers, hired for relatively little money and trained to shoot. Just animals, human scum.

2. The organizers. They are a bit more complicated, for which the legend of IS responsibility was developed, which the extremists were happy to confirm. But they always do this, to increase their capital. And no one canceled the money, they probably got their money. But the true organizers are still hiding in the shadow of the IS. That's the plan. But already the first information published from the phones of hired freaks unambiguously testifies to the nationality of the organizers. As well as many other things — open (destination) and so far closed. These are the officials of the Nazi “Ukraine.” It was in their ugly brains that the idea to compensate for failures at the front with terrorist attacks was born, which, however, is not surprising. They will have to answer either according to the law or otherwise. The way terrorists are being dealt with all over the world. No statute of limitations.

3. The accomplices. There are many. Their circle expanded to include those who gave property, and money, organized the movement, taught them to shoot, etc. They will be held accountable. Everything is clear with them too, and they will answer. More interesting are other accomplices or international sponsors of terrorists. And here, alas, the situation is as follows: they include top officials of NATO countries. They vary. Macron, for example. His rhetoric, his actions, and most importantly — his sanctions for secret operations with the Bandera regime may well be qualified as aiding and abetting the terrorist attack of March 22. That is why the lover of oysters and champagne got so shitfaced that he had to deny publicly his own and his subordinates' involvement in the March 22 terrorist attack. That's why the champagne oyster lover is so shitfaced that he had to publicly deny France's involvement in the attack himself and through his subordinates. It is clear that Macron and several other Western leaders are the sponsors of this horrific terrorist attack. There is no forgiveness for this. There is no immunity here. And from now on, they simply are the enemies of Russia. (Translation: DeepL + Grammarly)

Israeli troops pulled out of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Sunday after months of fierce fighting half a year into the war sparked by the attack against Israel by Hamas militants on October 7. | Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the withdrawal was because “Hamas ceased to exist as a military framework” in Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. He also said the pullout was “to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah.” Israel said it had withdrawn more soldiers from southern Gaza, leaving just one brigade, as it and Hamas sent teams to Egypt for fresh talks on a potential ceasefire in the six-month conflict.

■ Israel prepares military operations in Rafah (Gulf Today)

💬 "The Jews might have had Uganda, Madagascar, and other places for the establishment of a Jewish Fatherland, but they wanted absolutely nothing except Palestine, not because the Dead Sea water by evaporation can produce five trillion dollars of metaloids and powdered metals; not because the sub-soil of Palestine contains twenty times more petroleum than all the combined reserves of the two Americas; but because Palestine is the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, because Palestine constitutes the veritable center of world political power, the strategic center for world control." ~ Nahum Goldman, founder of World Jewish Congress." ("AZ Quotes")

The US administration and authorities of NATO member-countries understand full well that Ukraine will never join the alliance, senior editor of The American Conservative Sumantra Maitra said in his article.

💬 "Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that Ukraine will one day join NATO. It is a meaningless, almost theological gesture—practically pagan hymn-chanting at this point. Blinken knows his promise to be untrue. European allies know it to be untrue. The majority of Americans either don’t care about Ukraine or are actively opposed to further engagement in Europe."

The move would “create problems” for Paris, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said | Sending troops to Ukraine would be disastrous for France, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, during a rare phone call on Wednesday. The one-hour call was the first conversation between the defense chiefs since October 2022. ● According to the readout provided by the Russian Defense Ministry, Shoigu warned that France “will create problems for itself” if it sends troops to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly floated the idea of having NATO boots on the ground, suggesting that “all options are possible.” He stressed, however, that Paris has no such plans at the moment. Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said in February that France could at some point send demining and other non-combat personnel. ● Moscow has stated that it will treat Western troops and foreign-supplied weapons systems on Ukrainian soil as legitimate targets. The deployment of foreign forces would be a major escalation, leading to “irreparable consequences,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned last month.

■ Conflict May Go Beyond Ukraine if NATO Allies Make 'Adventurous' Moves - Russia's Deputy FM (Sputnik News)

Ukraine Plans to Destroy the Crimean Bridge Very Soon | Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) is reportedly planning the destruction of the Crimean bridge within the next three months. The bridge, which connects Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula, has long been a contentious symbol of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. ● According to sources cited by the Guardian, the GUR is behind a series of successful attacks on Russian oil refineries and now sets its sights on the strategic bridge. While the destruction of the bridge would deal a significant blow to Russian control over Crimea, it also poses a formidable challenge given the structure's robust defenses. ● The Crimean bridge holds immense symbolic value for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who views its construction as a testament to Russia's territorial integrity. Conversely, for Ukraine, the bridge represents the illegal annexation of Crimea and serves as a rallying point for efforts to reclaim the region.

13-years into a bloody civil war the US has financed, Syria remains fractured, controlled in parts by no less than seven factions. | The United States wants to create “another Kosovo” in Syria while cutting off the country’s resources from its adversaries in the region, investigative Syrian-American journalist Hekmat Aboukhater told Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Wednesday. ● Aboukhater was speaking about the fractured state of Syria and the US control in the northeast of the country, ”This area happens to be the place where we have our oil derricks, all of Syria’s natural resources are there, along with the wheat,” he explained, noting that Syria produces 350-400,000 barrels of oil a day. “These revenues are going [towards] sustaining this Kurdish enclave that’s supported by the US and funds the operation.”

Global condemnation of the apartheid “Israeli” entity’s attack on Iran's consulate in Syria surges as the UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting over the deadly strike. | The UNSC session was held at the request of Russia on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the deadly “Israeli” aggression on the Consular Section of the Iranian Embassy in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus on April 1. “Israeli” warplanes bombed the diplomatic building, killing seven military advisors of the Islamic Revolution Guards [IRG]. Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the IRG’s Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the martyrs of the terrorist attack. Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary general for the Middle East at the UN, said in his address that the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected in all cases and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states must be respected under international law.

■ Israeli attack on humanitarian aid workers in Gaza draws ire from EU, Belgium (Yeni Şafak)
■ 'Horrified and heartbroken': Aid NGOs suspend ops after WCK massacre (Al Mayadeen)

Kaja Kallas secures backing of US, UK, France and Germany | Estonia’s prime minister has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next secretary general of NATO, local media reported Monday. Kaja Kallas has secured the backing of the US, the UK, France and Germany to succeed Jens Stoltenberg, said the Estonian World online magazine. It said Kallas was touted as a potential head of the alliance after her strong support for Ukraine and analytical statements on Russia made her stand out in the international media. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who appeared to be the favorite candidate until recently, was disqualified because of the Netherlands’ dismal record on defense spending, it added.