Attack on Tel Aviv exposes security laps

The armed forces of the Ansarullah government in Yemen's capital Sana'a have claimed responsibility for a drone attack that struck a sensitive area in central Tel Aviv close to the US embassy. No air raid sirens sounded and the drone flew undetected. 

According to Israeli officials, an explosion at Ben Yehuda Street left one person dead and at least ten others injured. 

Israeli military officials have said the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flew at a low altitude, from Yemen, bypassing air defense systems. 

According to Israeli media, the US military intercepted four unmanned aircraft that were "on their way to Israel". 

An Israeli military spokesman said, "We're talking about a large UAV that can fly large distances."  

Reports say the blast rumbled through the streets causing shards of shrapnel to rain down and scattering broken glass across a large area. 

Footage captured on a phone camera clearly shows the Yemeni drone flying low over Tel Aviv and the moment it strikes its target. The magnitude of the blast indicates the drone was carrying a high level of explosives. 

A spokesman for the regime's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said the explosion reverberated to nearby cities. 

Ansarullah has announced that it used the newly developed Yafa drone to strike Tel Aviv in support of Gaza and has marked the city as a primary target for future operations. 

The Yemeni armed forces also declared Tel Aviv an "unsafe zone". 

The operation has raised serious questions among settlers and Israeli media about the effectiveness of the Israeli anti-air systems. 

An Israeli commentator said, "Good morning to the 100% right-wing government. It is a shame the drone did not hit one of your homes, maybe then you would be concerned about the citizens instead of yourselves!" 

In a statement, the Yemeni forces said the operation was waged "in support of the Palestinian people and their fighters, and in response to the Israeli aggression against our brothers in Gaza." 

Meanwhile, the Hebrew language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth cited an eyewitness as saying, "You are in Tel Aviv and think everything is fine, then you see something coming towards you quickly and exploding. It's frightening, unnatural, and you have to deal with the situation somehow. We don’t understand why no sirens were activated." 

Later on Friday, Israeli media reported about a second explosion in Tel Aviv's Yosef Ziman Street. The blast is said to have left casualties.

The military correspondent for the Walla Hebrew website highlighted that the "Israeli Air Force was surprised on October 07. After more than nine months of intense conflict. Were they surprised again? This issue needs a thorough investigation. How long have we been sleeping on our toes and for what scenarios have we prepared?" 

Knesset member Gideon Sa'ar said, "What happened early this morning in Tel Aviv is a serious malfunction, came at a painful cost". 

Amid the trickle of information released by the regime's military, Israeli media said, "The most alarming aspect of the Tel Aviv drone explosion is that the army does not know what happened after seven hours, or it does not want to disclose it." 

Other reports pointed out that the blast at a high-security area has left people in Tel Aviv worried and anxious about the possibility of future operations and where those drones can potentially land. 

Experts believe it is a major blow for the Israeli government and military, with much wider implications than the damage or loss of life. 

Serving as the Israeli economic hub, Tel Aviv has been subject to an attack that will alarm investors but more importantly demonstrates, once again, how vulnerable the Israelis are to a long-range drone offensive. 

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement has praised Ansarullah for "a new heroic operation", saying the Palestinians appreciated the "steadfast" support of Gaza. 

“We affirm that what Yemen and the rest of the parties to the axis of resistance are doing is the most honorable military intervention to support the oppressed and stop the Zionist injustice."

The group added that the international community "conspires with the criminal Zionist entity against our people, justifying its crimes and providing it with international cover to continue the genocide in the Gaza Strip". 

"We call on all resistance forces in our nation to escalate all kinds of pressure, especially military pressure, against the Zionist enemy, and also to put pressure on their American supporters until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped," the group added. 

Hamas lauds attack on Israel’s “symbol of pride”

Hamas said in a statement that its members “highly appreciate and commend” the drone attack on Tel Aviv by Yemen’s Ansarullah, targeting the depths of the “symbol of pride” of Israel.

The resistance group said such attacks are “a legitimate right of our nation’s resistance and its people” to confront Israel’s expanding occupation in the region.

 

Bangladesh state TV set ablaze

Protesters have set fire to the headquarters of the state broadcaster in Bangladesh as violent clashes between students and police continue, the authorities say.

A post on BTV's official Facebook page warned "many" were trapped inside the building in Dhaka, as it appealed for help from the fire service to put the blaze out.

Bangladesh's information minister told the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had appeared on the network the night before, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 17 people dead, possibly many more, and hundreds injured.

Students have been holding rallies demanding change to a system that reserves a third of public sector jobs for the relatives of veterans of the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The students are arguing that the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based on merit.

The government has been trying to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the country's mobile internet in an attempt to slow the students.

Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. According to its count citing hospitals, a total of 32 people have died during the protests - most of them on Thursday.

The BBC's Bengali service has confirmed 17 deaths so far - among them, a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.

Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters' deaths as "murder" in her Wednesday television appearance, but her words were largely dismissed by protest organizers.

Thursday saw tear gas and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as students created human blockades in the streets.

The students who stormed BTV had earlier "torched" a police station, according to an official at BTV.

"They chased the police officers when they took refuge at the BTV office," the official told AFP. "Angry protesters then caused mayhem here."

The Bangladeshi information minister Mohammad Ali Arafat told the BBC that the employees still inside the building were "feeling very unsafe".

"They [protesters] went in and vandalized," he said.

"Security forces are there fully but... they were present physically, they were not trying to put any counter-attack.

"But they'll be doing it now, they will warn everyone and then they will go full on to clear it up."

OPEC Plus unlikely to change oil output policy

According to Reuters, a mini OPEC Plus ministerial meeting scheduled next month is unlikely to recommend changing the group's output policy, including a plan to start unwinding one layer of oil output cuts from October.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, commonly known as OPEC Plus, will hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting (JMMC) on August o1, 2024 to review the market.

Reuters says the meeting would serve as a "pulse check" for the health of the market.

Oil has risen in 2024 and was trading around US$85 a barrel on Thursday, finding support from Middle East conflict and falling inventories. Concern about higher for longer interest rates and demand has limited gains this year.

Reuters says, neither the Saudi government communications office returned a request for comment nor OPEC's headquarters in Vienna responded to a request for comment.

OPEC Plus has cut output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5.7% of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since late 2022.

At its last meeting in June, OPEC Plus agreed to extend cuts of 3.66 million bpd by a year until the end of 2025 and to prolong the most recent layer of cuts, a 2.2 million bpd cut by eight members for three months until the end of September 2024.

OPEC Plus is anticipated to gradually phase out the cuts of 2.2 million bpd over the course of a year from October 2024 to September 2025.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, asked this week if the market was strong enough to take the extra volume from October, did not rule out tweaks to the agreement if needed.

"Now we have such an option (of output increase), as we said earlier, we will always evaluate the current situation," Novak said.

In June, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had said OPEC Plus could pause or reverse the production hikes if it decided the market is not strong enough.

The JMMC usually meets every two months and can make recommendations to change policy which could then be discussed and ratified in a full OPEC Plus ministerial meeting of all members.

 

Pezeshkian from a little known moderate to president

According to Reuters, when intelligence officials briefed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in May ahead of a snap presidential election, their report was grim, angered by economic hardship and crackdowns on social freedoms, most Iranians planned to boycott the vote and turnout would only be about 13%.

It was the time Rahbar decided to plan a carefully orchestrated election, setting the stage for a little-known but trusted moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, to rise to the presidency in a race that would initially be dominated by hardliners.

Khamenei gathered a handful of his most trusted advisers to discuss his plan in at least three meetings in late May at his residence in a fortified compound in Tehram.

The supreme leader was concerned low turnout would damage the clerical establishment's credibility and he ordered those present to find a way to steer the election.

The election was called after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May. His death upset the plans of many fellow hardliners who wanted him to succeed the 85-year-old Khamenei and triggered a race among hardliners to influence the selection of the next supreme leader.

The meetings at Khamenei's residence included a small group of senior officials and security aides, his close ally and adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, as well as two senior commanders of the powerful elite Revolutionary Guards

Khamenei's aim was to preserve the Islamic Republic amid domestic dissent and heightened tensions with the West and Israel over Gaza, exacerbated by the involvement of Tehran's allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

Khamenei believed Iran needed a president who could appeal to different layers of society, but would not challenge the ruling Shi'ite theocracy.

Several names were floated at the second meeting. Khamenei suggested Pezeshkian as a person who could foster unity among those in power, bridge the gap between the clerical establishment and the people, and ensure a smooth selection process for the next supreme leader.

"It was a flawless plan by the supreme leader ... which guaranteed the survival of the Islamic Republic," said Tehran-based pro-reform analyst Saeed Laylaz.

"Pezeshkian will avoid any crisis at home, whether with the nation or the establishment," Laylaz said. "That will allow top leaders to decide about the succession and plan it in a calm atmosphere."

The new president is not expected to usher in any major shift on Iran's nuclear or foreign policy, or its support for militias in the region, but he will be closely involved in selecting the successor to Khamenei, who calls the shots on top state matters.

Pezeshkian's mild profile would appease disgruntled Iranians, ensure domestic stability amid mounting foreign pressure, as well as providing Khamenei with a trusted ally in the eventual succession process.

It is believed that Pezeshkian's election had been engineered to defuse tensions after a wave of popular protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman in 2022 and stricter curbs on social freedoms imposed by Raisi.

The initial phase of Khamenei's plan was set in motion when then-lawmaker Pezeshkian - encouraged by pragmatic former officials with links to the supreme leader's office - registered to stand in the June 28 election.

It is believed Pezeshkian was unaware of the behind the scene decisions. He didn't even expect to be approved by the Guardian Council, an unelected vetting body of six clerics and six jurists aligned to Khamenei which has banned many moderate and prominent conservative candidates in the past.

Khamenei's plan was designed to appear fair and democratic, two prominent hardline candidates, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, were approved by the vetting council. That meant hardliner votes would likely be split between them, making it harder for both to make it to a run-off.

Jalili belongs to the ultra-hardline camp of Paydari, which advocates tougher social restrictions, self-reliance, a hawkish foreign policy - and is believed to have already chosen its candidate to succeed Khamenei, said former Iranian lawmaker Noureddin Pirmoazen, a reformer now based in the United States.

A win for Jalili, who opposed the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, would have sent a negative signal to the West as it piles pressure on Tehran over its fast-advancing uranium enrichment programme.

"With the increased likelihood of Donald Trump's return to the White House ... the Islamic Republic needed a moderate figure to keep dialogue with the West open and reduce tensions," said one Western diplomat in the region.

A Guardian Council spokesman said, "It was a transparent and impartial election."

A US State Department spokesperson said, "We can't speculate on specific theories of what may have transpired behind the scenes of Iran's recent presidential election. What we can say with certainty is that elections in Iran are neither free nor fair."

A White House National Security Council spokesperson said Washington had no expectation the elections would lead to fundamental change in Iran's direction or more respect for the human rights of its citizens.

Pezeshkian, who is an Azeri ethnic minority, won the first round with a core of voters that analysts said was mostly urban middle class or young - groups widely disillusioned by years of security crackdowns.

But voter turnout was just 40%, the lowest for any election in the Islamic Republic, and the election went to a run-off between Pezeshkian and the fervently anti-Western Jalili.

Qalibaf, a security hawk, who has echoed the views of Khamenei on every major issue, such as backing the power of Islamic clerics, finished third.

Fearing Jalili's antagonistic domestic and foreign policy, many Iranians who voted for Qalibaf, or abstained, went for Pezeshkian in the second round on July 05, bumping up the turnover to almost 50% of Iran's 61 million voters.

Ultimately, Khamenei's plan achieved the desired outcome.

Pezeshkian, a 69-year-old heart surgeon, backed by reformists, moderate conservatives and ethnic minorities, won with 54% of the votes.

"I thank the supreme leader. If it weren't for him, I don't think my name would have easily come out of ballot boxes," Pezeshkian said on state TV.

Two sources close to Khamenei said Pezeshkian was referring to an order from the supreme leader to electoral officials to ensure votes were counted properly. The electoral authorities said there were no complaints about vote rigging.

Pezeshkian, loyal to Iran's theocratic rule, has pledged to pursue a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over now-stalled talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, and improve prospects for social liberalisation.

He has spoken up for the rights of women and ethnic minorities and criticized the establishment's handling of the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who died in 2022 while in custody for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.

"They arrest a girl because a few strands of her hair are showing ... and return her dead body to her family," Pezeshkian said in 2022. "This behaviour is unacceptable."

However, many analysts are skeptical about whether Pezeshkian can fulfil all his campaign promises as he has publicly stated that he has no intention of confronting Iran's powerful clerics and security hawks.

 

 

 

US military ends Gaza floating pier mission

According to Reuters, the US military announced on Wednesday that its mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza was complete, formally ending an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The pier, announced by President Joe Biden during a televised address to Congress in March, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 US forces to execute. Aid began flowing via the pier to Gaza in May, an operation aimed at helping avert famine after months of war between Israel and Hamas.

But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the US military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days.

"The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete. So there's no more need to use the pier," Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of US Central Command, told a news briefing.

Cooper said efforts to distribute aid to Gaza arriving by sea would now shift to the established port of Ashdod in Israel. At least 5 million pounds of aid, which are either in Cyprus or on ships, will be going to Ashdod in the coming days, he said.

"Our assessment is that the temporary pier has achieved its intended effect to surge a very high volume of aid into Gaza and ensure that aid reaches the civilians in Gaza in a quick manner," Cooper said, adding that nearly 20 million pounds of aid was delivered to Gaza.

The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel's punishing war on Hamas.

"This chapter might be over in President Biden’s mind, but the national embarrassment that this project has caused is not. The only miracle is that this doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives," Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Cooper said he expected the pier, which was authorized to be used until the end of July, to cost less than the US$230 million the Pentagon had expected it to cost.

Cooper said the United States had so far delivered more than one million pounds of aid through Ashdod and he was confident more could be delivered through that port.

"We look forward to millions more pounds of aid going through that pathway," he said.

While the pier brought in sorely needed aid to a marshalling area on Gaza's shore, the 1,200-foot-long (370-metre-long) floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.

The pier has not been used since June, when it was moved to Ashdod port because of rough seas. It was unclear if the US military had started dismantling the pier at Ashdod before its expected return to United States.

The UN World Food Program paused operations at the pier in June because of security concerns, causing aid to pile up on the Gaza shore.

The United Nations has long said maritime deliveries were no substitute for land access. It said land routes needed to remain the focus of aid operations in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor last month said there is a high risk of famine.

Aid officials say about 600 trucks of humanitarian and commercial supplies are needed in Gaza daily to meet the needs of the population.

 

 

 

 

 

Indians freed from slave like working conditions in Italy

Dozens of Indian nationals held in “slave-like” working conditions near Verona in northern Italy have been freed, a spokesperson for Italy’s financial police told CNN.

Thirty-three Indian farm workers were allegedly forced to work more than 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of around US$4 an hour that were sometimes withheld, a statement from the police said.

The police spokesperson said they also confiscated more than US$500,000 in cash and other assets from two Indian nationals suspected of being gang-masters. The money is believed to be tied to the alleged sale of the workers as low-cost labor, they said.

This comes as Italian authorities were investigating the death of a 31-year-old Indian national who died after his arm was severed in an accident at a fruit farm in June.

The 33 freed workers were lured to Italy by Indian brokers who worked with traffickers in promising people legitimate jobs, the spokesperson said.

The workers had each paid more than 17,000 euros (around US$18,500) for travel and for what turned out to be fake seasonal work permits to enter the country, according to the spokesperson.

Many of the workers were charged an additional 13,000 euros (around US$14,100) in a promise of permanent work permits, according to the police statement.

“To guarantee their total silence and submission, the two Indian subjects took away the passports of the laborers as soon as they arrived in Italy and imposed on them an absolute ban on leaving the dilapidated houses in which they were forced to live under threat, several times implemented, of physical retaliation in case of refusal,” the police statement said.

The identities and genders of the freed workers have not been made public.

The financial police said they are now investigating the business relationships the suspected gang-masters had with other entities, including many companies who used the low-cost labor.

On Saturday, the Indian embassy in Rome said on X that it was aware of media reports about Indian nationals working in agricultural farms in Italy.

“We are in contact with Italian authorities and the Indian community to ensure safety and well-being of Indian nationals,” it added.

Italy has a complicated history with labor trafficking. In 2018, the financial police said that at least a quarter of all agriculture-related labor was tied to a gang-master system whereby farm and other labor workers are contracted out by individuals who “own” them. The practice has been illegal since 2016 after a female laborer working under slave-like conditions for little money died.

More than 11 percent of all workers in Italy work in the black market, meaning they are not documented even if they are Italian nationals, and neither they nor their employees pay taxes on their salaries, which serves to enable labor trafficking, according to the police spokesperson.

Oil tanker capsizes off Oman coast

According to Saudi Gazette, the search operation is under way to locate 16 missing crew members, 13 of whom are Indian, after an oil tanker capsized off the coast of Oman. Three of the missing crew members are Sri Lankan.

An Indian official told the BBC that the foreign ministry was coordinating the operation with Oman's maritime authorities.

Oman officials said late on Monday that the oil tanker ‑ Prestige Falcon ‑ had capsized 25 nautical miles southeast of its Ras Madrakah peninsula.

The Comoros-flagged vessel was on its way to the port of Aden in Yemen when it capsized.

Officials from Oman's Maritime Security Centre told Reuters news agency on Tuesday that the vessel remained "submerged, inverted" but didn't confirm if it had stabilized.

Oman's defense ministry, which runs the center, did not respond to the BBC's questions about whether the contents of the tanker had spilled into the sea.

The 117.4 meter long tanker was built in 2007, according to marinetraffic.com. The area the ship capsized in falls in the province of Duqm in Oman, where the country has a massive industrial port.

Indians form a majority of the global maritime workforce and they are often the victims of accidents or piracy.

Seventeen Indian crew members of the MSC Aries, a commercial ship with links to Israel, were stuck when Iranian troops seized the vessel in April. They were released after negotiations between India and Iran.

In 2022, 16 Indian crew members of a ship were held in the custody of Equatorial Guinea's navy for nine months.