US-made weapon used by Israel in airstrikes

An investigation by Amnesty International alleges that the US made weapons guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in October that killed 43 civilians, reports CNN.

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II, according to the Congressional Research Service. The US on average gives Israel US$3 billion in military aid per year, and the Biden administration sought an additional US$10.6 billion in military aid in the wake of Hamas’ October 07 attack in Israel.

Fragments of the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions guidance system were found in the rubble of destroyed homes in the neighborhood of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Israel uses a wide variety of US weapons and munitions, but Amnesty International’s report is one of the first attempts to tie an US-made weapon to a specific attack that left a significant number of civilians dead.

The JDAM is a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, adverse weather smart munitions, according to the US Air Force.

Amnesty International said its weapons experts and a remote sensing analyst examined satellite imagery and photos of the homes that show the fragments of ordnance recovered from the rubble and the destruction, the report explains. Amnesty’s fieldworkers took the photos.

As a result of these two attacks, 19 children, 14 women, and 10 men were killed.

The human rights organization said it did not find any indication that there were any military objectives at the sites of the airstrikes or that the individuals living in the homes were legitimate military targets.

“The organization found that these air strikes were either direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks,” the report says, calling for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes.

In a statement to CNN, the Israel Defense Forces called the report flawed, biased and premature, based on baseless assumptions regarding the IDF’s operations.

“The assumption that intelligence regarding the military use of a particular structure does not exist unless revealed is contradictory to any understanding of military activity, and the report uses this flawed assumption to imply equally flawed and biased conclusions regarding the IDF, in line with existing biases and prior problematic work by this organization,” the IDF said.

The statement said that the military regrets any harm caused to civilians or civilian property as a result of its operations, and examines all its operations in order to learn and improve.

Amnesty International, in its report, said that the use of American weapons for such strikes should be an urgent wake-up call to the Biden administration.

“The US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, according to the report.

The US State Department is reviewing Amnesty International’s report, spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday.

“We have made clear in our discussions with Israeli leaders that we are deeply concerned about the protection of civilians in this conflict,” Miller said. “We expect Israel to only target legitimate targets and to adhere to the laws of armed conflict.”

The Pentagon on Tuesday said it too was reviewing the report.

“We are going to continue to consult closely with our Israeli partners on the importance of taking civilian safety into account in conducting their operations,” spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told journalists.

“The US may share responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel with US-supplied weapons, as all states have a duty not to knowingly contribute to internationally wrongful acts by other states,” Amnesty warned.

The human rights organization is urging the US government and other governments to stop transferring arms to Israel that more likely than not will be used to commit or heighten risks of violations of international law.

“A state that continues to supply arms being used to commit violations may share responsibility for these violations,” Amnesty said.

 

Russia and Saudi Arabia urge all to join oil cuts

Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two biggest oil exporters, on Thursday called for all OPEC+ members to join an agreement on output cuts for the good of the global economy only days after a fractious meeting of the producers' club.

Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin went to Riyadh in a hastily arranged visit to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kremlin released a joint Russian-Saudi statement about the conclusion of their discussions.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other allies agreed last week to new voluntary cuts of about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), led by Saudi Arabia and Russia rolling over their voluntary cuts of 1.3 million bpd.

"In the field of energy, the two sides commended the close cooperation between them and the successful efforts of the OPEC+ countries in enhancing the stability of global oil markets," said the statement released by the Kremlin.

"They stressed the importance of continuing this cooperation, and the need for all participating countries to join to the OPEC+ agreement, in a way that serves the interests of producers and consumers and supports the growth of the global economy," the statement, which was in Russian, added.

The Russian version used the word join while an English translation of the statement, also released by the Kremlin, used the word adhere to the OPEC+ agreement.

Saudi state news agency SPA said that the crown prince, known as MbS, and Putin had emphasized in their meeting the need for OPEC+ members to commit to the group's agreement.

Oil market sources said that such an explicit public remark from the Kremlin and the kingdom about "joining" cuts appeared to be an attempt to send a message to members of the OPEC+ club who had not cut or not cut enough.

The biggest member of OPEC excluded from the cuts is Iran, the economy of which has been under various US sanctions since 1979 after the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.

Iran is boosting production and hopes to reach output of 3.6 million bpd by March 20 next year.

After his return to Moscow from Saudi Arabia, Putin on Thursday held talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the Kremlin, along with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Mystery still surrounds Putin's trip to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, on which he was escorted by four Russian fighter jets, and it was not immediately clear what particular issue was so important for Putin to make a rare overseas trip.

The Kremlin said Putin and MbS also discussed the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Yemen, the Iranian nuclear program and deepening defence cooperation.

MbS has sought to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power with less deference to the United States. Saudi Arabia is the biggest purchaser of US arms.

Putin, who sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, says Russia is engaged in an existential battle with the West and has courted allies across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia amid Western attempts to isolate Moscow.

"With regard to the crisis in Ukraine, the Russian side expressed appreciation for the humanitarian and political efforts undertaken by His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman," the joint statement said.

Putin and MbS, who together control a fifth of the oil pumped each day, were shown smiling and engaging in an effusive handshake as Putin emerged from his car in the Saudi capital.

Both MbS and Putin want and need high prices for oil, the lifeblood of their economies. The question for both is how much of the burden each should take on to keep prices aloft, and how to verify the burden.

At the talks with MbS, Putin said that a planned visit by the prince to Russia had been changed at the last minute, prompting him to visit Riyadh.

"We awaited you in Moscow," Putin told MbS with a smile.

"I know that events forced a correction to those plans, but as I have already said, nothing can prevent the development of our friendly relations."

Putin then said: "But the next meeting should be in Moscow."

The crown prince said through a Russian translator that he was ready to do that.

"Then we are agreed," Putin said.

 

 

Iran warns of terrible days ahead

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned of terrible days to come for Israel in a call with his Qatar counterpart.

The two men discussed the war in Gaza. Tehran and Doha have excellent ties; Iran’s foreign minister has traveled to Qatar to meet Hamas leaders over the last two months in the wake of the Hamas attack and massacre of more than 1,200 people in Israel on October 07.

According to Iranian media, Iran's foreign minister discussed the West Bank and Gaza with the Qataris. He also discussed the Zionist aggression that Tehran has slammed numerous times. Iran backs proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen and has sought to inflame the West Bank.

“Condemning the Israeli regime's crimes against women and children in Gaza and the West Bank, the foreign ministers called for an immediate stop to war crimes, genocide, and clear violations of international laws by the Israeli regime through the international community's immediate action,” the Iranian media reports said.

They also repeated calls for humanitarian aid. The foreign ministers also backed the UN secretary-general’s calls for increased action regarding Gaza. “In this telephone conversation, Amir Abdollahian said that the Islamic resistance has so far responded with strength to the aggression of the Israeli regime, and said that with this trend, the coming days will be very terrible for the Israeli regime,” Fars News said.

Iran continued to warn that the region could become more tense and there will be reactions if the war continues. The Islamic Republic has used this threat continually, and has also been responsible for the current tensions and has backed Hamas in its war against Israel.

Iran also helped release Thai hostages from Gaza through talks with Thailand and Hamas, illustrating Tehran’s influence over the Gaza-based terrorist group controlling the coastal enclave. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders and also mediated the hostage deal that led to a pause in fighting on November 24, which ended on December 01.

It is not clear if the Iranian threats regarding “terrible” things are an escalation. The Iran-backed Houthis escalated attacks this week as well as having been additional threats from Syria.

Iranian pro-regime media has highlighted threats to Israel from Syria’s Dara’a province and has also discussed new Iranian-backed attacks on US forces in Syria.

Iran’s Tasnim News also covered the recent Houthi threats against Israel and the missile attack on Wednesday in which Israel shot down a Houthi missile using the Arrow air defense system.

 

IRGC seizes two vessels carrying smuggled fuel

Two vessels carrying more than 4.5 million liters of smuggled fuel were seized on Wednesday by the IRGC Navy in the Persian Gulf.

After three days of monitoring, the IRGC Navy carried out an operation and seized the two vessels in the south of Bomusi Island, it said in a press release. 

The IRGC Navy also said that the vessels have been handed over to the judicial authorities for legal procedures.

Brigadier General Ali Ozmaei, commander of the Imam Muhammad Baqir operational base of the IRGC Navy, said the first vessel was carrying 2,280,000 liters of smuggled fuel and had 13 crew members, while the second one was carrying 2,300,000 liters and had 21 crew members.

 

Horrors of Kissinger legacy in Southeast Asia

Half a century after Henry Kissinger drove the US foreign policy in Southeast Asia, the region continues to live with the fallout from the bombing and military campaigns backed by the former secretary of state, who died recently.

In Cambodia, unexploded ordnance left over from Vietnam War-era carpet bombings, orchestrated by Kissinger and President Richard Nixon, are among the remnants of war that continue to kill and maim adults and children, year after year.

The country of roughly 17 million is also still recovering from the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, the brutal, ousted government that experts say gained recruits buoyed by desperation in the country after the relentless American assaults.

“(Before the Americans) the countryside of Cambodia had never been bombed out ... but (then) something would drop from the sky without warning and suddenly ... explode the entire village,” said Youk Chhang, executive director of the Phnom Penh-based Documentation Center of Cambodia.

“When your village is bombed and you were told that it’s some Americans that dropped the bomb and when you lost your sister, your brothers, your parents ... what is your choice? Be a victim and die by the bomb or fight back,” said Chhang, himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious killing fields, whose organization now documents the legacy of the genocidal regime.

Even today, the generation born after the Khmer Rouge may largely not be aware of the names or legacy or Kissinger and Nixon, Chhang added, “but (they know) the history of the B52 (bombers) and the American involvement in Cambodia.”

Kissinger’s death at the age of 100 last week has placed back into the spotlight the actions of the controversial titan of American diplomacy, with some of the starkest critiques coming from Southeast Asia, where the US was already at war when Nixon took office in 1969.

Kissinger, who served as his national security advisor and later secretary of state, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role brokering a ceasefire that ended US involvement in the war in Vietnam – and came on the heels of heavy US bombing across northern Vietnam.

But documents declassified in recent decades have shown an unvarnished picture of the closed-door calculations that saw Kissinger and Nixon ramping up covert bombings across Cambodia and extending a secret war in Laos as they sought to choke off North Vietnamese supply lines and quashes Communist movements in the countries.

It’s not known how many people died during this time in Cambodia and Laos, which were officially neutral in the war, but historians say the number could be well over 150,000 in Cambodia alone.

Documents have also revealed what analysts say was the role of Nixon’s successor Gerald Ford and Kissinger in signaling America’s approval of Indonesian President Suharto’s bloody 1975 invasion of East Timor, estimated to have left at least 100,000 dead.

“Kissinger and Nixon saw the world in terms of getting the kinds of outcomes that they wanted – people who were in weaker or marginalized positions, they didn’t really matter that much. So the fact that they were made unwilling pawns, the fact that they became literally cannon fodder, was of no consequence,” said political scientist Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

“This sort of action does have a cost on the US more broadly – a lot of the continuing skepticism and suspicion about the US and US intentions was born out of actions such as what Kissinger and Nixon had engaged in.”

From October 1965 to August 1973, the United States dropped at least 2,756,941 tons of ordnance over Cambodia, a country roughly the size of the US state of Missouri. That’s more than the Allies dropped during World War II, according to an account by Yale University historian Ben Kiernan.

Such ordnance in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as landmines and other explosives from the decades of conflict that followed in the destabilized region, continue to pose a grave risk to people living there.

Nearly 20,000 people have been killed by mines and unexploded ordnance between 1979 and this past August in Cambodia, with more than 65,000 injured or killed since 1979, according to government data. Most of those casualties are from landmines, but more than a fifth are victims of other kinds of leftover explosives, which include those from American campaigns, experts say.

During the first eight months of this year, four people were killed, 14 injured, and 8 needed amputations due to explosives, according to government data. Experts say the devastation – which is especially acute for people in rural areas – will go on for years to come.

“Twenty, thirty percent of everything shot fired and dropped from an airplane doesn’t work ... we’re going to be dealing with that stuff over here for probably 100 years. That’s Kissinger’s legacy,” said Bill Morse, president of the nonprofit Landmine Relief Fund, which supports organizations including Cambodia Self-Help Demining.

That group works not just to diffuse explosives, but also train people to recognize them. Morse says children across the country are often familiar with how to identify landmines largely planted from years of regional fighting, but may be less aware of the range of unexploded ordnance, often from American operations, which continue to drive injuries and deaths.

Kissinger is widely seen as shrugging off responsibility for wartime decisions and the toll of the campaign in Cambodia, which government documents indicate he helped devise. One journal entry from Nixon’s chief of staff describes Kissinger as really excited as the bombing campaign got underway in 1969.

In a 2014 interview with American radio broadcaster NPR, the diplomat deflected criticism when asked about the bombings in Cambodia and Laos, instead arguing that the B-52 campaigns were less deadly for civilians than the drone attacks in the Middle East ordered by US President Barack Obama.

“The decisions that were taken would almost certainly have been taken by those of you who are listening, faced with the same set of problems. And you would have done them with anguish, as we did them with anguish,” he said at the time.

Today, in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia government-run agencies and other groups continue to work to remove explosive remnants of war, with experts saying the US government has become the world’s biggest funder of unexploded ordinance and landmine clearance in the world.

But aid groups who are also working on the issue say that the US and other countries shouldn’t lose sight of the on-going consequences of conflict in the region.

“There is particular concern that funding for dealing with the aftermath of historic conflicts in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the world might be jeopardized if funds are diverted to address new conflict-related crises,” a spokesperson from the United Kingdom-based Mines Advisory Group, which clears explosives in countries including Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, told CNN.

“The global community has a moral responsibility to all those in the world whose lives continue to be blighted by the impact of wars that ended before many of them were even born.”

 

Israel underestimating Hezbollah threat

Eleven IDF combat soldiers were wounded recently by an anti-tank missile in Beit Hillel, highlighting the growing threat of Hezbollah just kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border.

Col. Kobi Marom, an expert on national security, expressed his concerns on Anat Davidov and Udi Segal's program on 103FM. He also discussed the ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza in the South.

Marom criticized Israel's strategic approach, stating, "We are acting as if the October 07 massacre never happened. 

There is a terrorist organization waging war against us on the northern front, yet we have been reactive and cautious in our response. This is an impossible situation."

Marom emphasized the need for a stronger stance against Hezbollah, urging the IDF to make them pay a price for their aggression.

He suggested increasing attacks along the border and preparing for a limited offensive after the main effort in Gaza.

He believes that a more determined approach will create real security and deter further Hezbollah aggression.

Regarding the South, Marom highlighted the critical stage of the ground campaign. He criticized Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for underestimating Israeli society's resilience and determination for security.

While he does not believe Hamas will be destroyed in the three-week effort, he predicts a serious blow to the group. He also emphasized the importance of creating conditions for a large hostage release deal, which may come with heavy prices but is necessary for those affected by the conflict.

Marom also criticized the disorganized leadership, pointing out the strained relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

He stated, "A government that fails to prioritize national resilience and public trust damages our ability to win this war. We must prioritize the well-being of our citizens and help them rebuild their lives."

 

Putin arrives Saudi Arabia to meet Mohammad

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a rare trip abroad to discuss oil production, OPEC Plus and the wars in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine.

Putin's meeting with the prince, known as MbS, comes after oil prices fell despite a pledge by OPEC Plus, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, to further cut output.

Putin arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for talks President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. He is due to then travel to Saudi Arabia for his first face-to-face meeting with MbS since October 2019.

The Kremlin said they would discuss energy cooperation, including as part of OPEC Plus, whose members pump more than 40% of the world's oil.

"Close Russian-Saudi coordination in this format is a reliable guarantee of maintaining a stable and predictable situation in the global oil market," the Kremlin said.

The Kremlin's chief's last visit to the region was in July 2022, when he met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.

It was not immediately clear what Putin, who has rarely left Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, intends to discuss with the crown prince of the world's largest oil exporter, just days after disagreements delayed a key OPEC Plus meeting.

They will also discuss the war between Israel and Hamas militants, the situation in Syria and Yemen, and broader issues like ensuring stability in the Gulf, the Kremlin said. A Kremlin aide said Ukraine would also be discussed.

Putin will host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin and MbS, who together control one-fifth of the oil pumped each day, have long enjoyed close relations, though both have at times been ostracised by the West.

At a G20 summit in 2018, just two month after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate, Putin and MbS high-fived and shook hands with smiles.

MbS, 38, has sought to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power with less deference to the United States, which supplies Riyadh most of its weapons and which is the world's top producer of oil.

Putin, who sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, says Russia is engaged in an existential battle with the West - and has courted allies across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia amid Western attempts to isolate Moscow.

Both MbS and Putin, 71, want and need high prices for oil - the lifeblood of their economies. The question for both, is how much of the burden each should take on to keep prices aloft - and how to verify the burden.

OPEC Plus last month delayed its meeting by several days due to disagreements over production levels by some members. Saudi's energy minister said OPEC Plus also wanted more assurances from Moscow it would do good on its pledge to reduce fuel exports.

Relations between Saudi and Russia in OPEC Plus have at times been uneasy and a deal on cuts almost broke down in March 2020, when the markets were already shaken by the onset of the COVID pandemic.

But the two nations managed to patch up their relations within weeks and OPEC Plus agreed to record cuts of almost 10% of global oil demand, to prop up the oil markets.

Since war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 07, Putin has cast the conflict as a failure of US policy in the Middle East and has fostered ties with Arab allies and Iran, as well as with Hamas.

When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's favour, ensuring the Syrian leader's survival despite Western demands that he be toppled.

"The Kremlin seeks to build its line of behaviour taking into account the opinions of the main regional players - Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, who are not just observers, but also, in a sense, participants in the situation," Andrey Kortunov of the Russian International Affairs Council think tank told the Vedomosti newspaper.