In Iraq, German FM Condemns Iran's Cross-Border Attacks

Students Trade Unions Council said the attack forced the students to come out of the dormitory around 11pm following a bad smell which gave students symptoms typical of dozens of attacks which have been witnessed across schools and dormitories since November, namely nausea, vomiting and dizziness. The council said "there is still no accurate information on the number of those poisoned”.
The United Students Telegram channel published some photos of girls gathered in the open area around the dormitories with images shared on social media showing several ambulances and police cars surrounding the buildings, suggesting large numbers needed medical support.
The poison attack on female student dormitories began on Thursday, exactly three months after the attacks on schoolgirls began. The first poisonings at dorms were reported at Karaj Technical and Vocational University.
After that, a dormitory for girls at Urmia Technical and Vocational University was attacked in the early hours of Sunday. At least 29 students were hospitalized after being transferred to Urmia clinics.

Serial chemical attacks on girls’ schools and dormitories that first were reported in the religious city of Qom have since spread to at least 21 of Iran’s 30 provinces.

On Monday, Iran's ruler Ali Khameini finally spoke out, saying: "The country’s officials must earnestly investigate the matter of the poisoning of students. This is a huge crime which is unforgivable. If the poisoning of students is proven, the perpetrators of this crime must be given the maximum punishment without pardon."

However, the government has made no arrests so far and Khamenei's hardliner supporters have tried to explain away or minimize the attacks.

Assistant to US President for National Security Jake Sullivan met with Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, and a senior Israeli interagency delegation at the White House.

In a joint statement, the group said it had "reviewed with significant concern advances in Iran’s nuclear program and affirmed their mutual objective of further enhancing the longstanding security partnership between Israel and the United States".

They also reviewed recent joint military exercises between the US military and the Israel Defense Forces during the meeting. The United States conducted large-scale military drills with Israel in January, with some saying that the exercise was meant to be a message of deterrence to the Islamic Republic.

Negotiations to re-establish limitations on Iran’s nuclear program are in limbo and Tehran has gone beyond the previous limit on enrichment that existed under the 2015 nuclear deal known as the JCPOA.

Israeli leaders have been warning that they will resort to a military attack to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, although experts believe that would be a difficult task if Israel tries to do it alone, also risking full scale flare-up across the region.

It also complicates relationships with countries involved in the recent Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel, such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which are trying not to inflame relations with Iran.

The editors of centrist daily Ham-Mihan centrist daily, Shargh newspaper, and moderate news website Rouydad 24 have all been indicted for reporting on the attacks.
Iranian academic and reformist political activist Sadegh Zibakalam, Secretary General of Unity of the Nation Party Azar Mansouri, and cinema star Reza Kianian have also had charges filed against them.

The harsh legal action comes amidst growing censorship from the regime and continued internet shutdowns as it battles the wave of revolutionary fervor. It also follows remarks made by Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei who called for "severe punishment" of those discussing the gas attacks which have seen hundreds of school girls across the country fall in and need hospital treatment, since November.
Ejei on Monday described the attacks as a “clear example of corruption on Earth,” a Sharia term that can lead to the death penalty, but he also threatened those who would comment on the incidents.
Almost four months after the attacks which have taken place in scores of schools, the Islamic Republic has failed to issue a clear report on those responsible, the kind of chemicals used, or make any arrests.

It continues to silence critics who fear this large-scale action has been initiated from the government's brutal security forces as they crack down on revolutionary dissent, which women and girls have played a vocal role in since the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

Interior minister Ahmad Vahidi, wanted by Interpol for his role in the bombing of a Jewish community center in 1994, has been tasked with leading the investigation. The ex IRGC commander has as yet announced no new leads.

Israel had reportedly warned Iran in February against sending arms to Syria under the guise of humanitarian aid for the earthquake hit people of the country.

Israel has for years been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.

In the second attack on Aleppo airport in six months, Syria claimed its air defenses intercepted missiles launched from the Mediterranean, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 2:07 a.m. (2307 GMT).

The attack caused "material damage" to the airport, SANA cited the source as saying, without mentioning any casualties.

In a statement reported by state media, the transport ministry said humanitarian aid flights would be rerouted to Damascus and Latakia after the "Israeli aggression".

More than 4,500 were reported killed by the earthquake in parts of Syria under rebel control in the northwest, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said.

The attack overnight was Israel's third air strike in Syria this year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Last year, Israel carried out more than 30 air strikes in Syria, the Observatory said.

In January, the Syrian army said an Israeli missile attack briefly put Damascus airport out of service.

Sources told Reuters a rocket attack in Damascus in February, also blamed by Syria on Israel, hit an installation where Iranian officials were meeting to advance programs to develop drone or missile capabilities of Tehran's allies in Syria.

With reporting by Reuters

Citing the officials, the Washington Post added that Yektaparast, the founder of the Hell’s Angels group in the German city of Monchengladbach, is suspected of directing attacks from Tehran, through his criminal networks in Germany, allegedly at the behest of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“Those attacks are part of what Germany’s security services see as an uptick in Iranian regime activity aimed at Jewish targets as well as the Iranian diaspora in Germany.”

That would be in line with a reported increase in Iranian assassination and kidnapping threats in Europe and the United States, underlined the report.

“Analysts say that while facing protests at home, Iran is increasingly going after what it sees as foreign threats to the regime and is using criminal gangs to add a cloak of deniability.”

However, Germany and some other European countries are reluctant to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization because, in their opinion, the window of diplomacy with Iran may be closed amid concerns about the country's nuclear program.

In November, an unknown person fired several times at the door of a synagogue in downtown Essen in western Germany.

Nobody got hurt, but the investigators assumed the act was part of a series of anti-Semitic attacks probably launched by a cell of terrorists managed by the IRGC.