Hamas Leader To Meet Iranian Officials Amid UN Ceasefire Resolution

Sabereen News and Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the IRGC and Hezbollah respectively, say 20 have been injured in airstrikes targeting both “security and residential” buildings.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says “nine pro-Iranian fighters, including a leader and a Syrian” have been killed in a villa that served as a “communication center.”

Some sources reported that the commander of IRGC-affiliated forces in eastern Syria, an individual named Haj Askar, a clear nom de guerre, was killed in the strikes. The sources say that he had left Syria in in recent weeks, when the US had threatened retaliatory attacks, but that he had recently returned and was meeting with affiliated militia groups.

The airstrikes seem to have been more powerful than many similar strikes in Syria in recent weeks. Shortly after the explosions, multiple Syrian outlets attributed it to ‘Americans.’ But Al-Jazeera quoted an unnamed US official who denied the country’s involvement in the attacks.

Recent history would suggest that the operation has been carried out either by Israel or the United States, but the reason, the timing, and the actual targets are all unclear at the time of writing.

Unconfirmed reports from Syrian sources claim that “a meeting” was being held at one of the targeted sites, involving IRGC personnel and members of IRGC-affiliated armed groups in Syria and Iraq. This is yet to be confirmed by any official or affiliated outlet.

The airstrikes seem to have hit a-Bukamal and al-Mayadin in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. The IRGC and its allied forces in the region are known to have a strong presence in these areas.

Israel has repeatedly –almost regularly– struck these areas, often claiming to be destroying weapons storages or shipments. Last month, the US also launched several airstrikes in this region, killing several high-ranking members of the IRGC and its allied groups in retaliation for an attack on a remote US base in Jordan that had killed three American soldiers.

Those US operations reportedly forced Iran to recall its commanders. Regular attacks on American bases and troops –that had started after October 7th and the ensuing Israeli onslaught against Gaza– all but stopped following the US retaliatory strikes. Some reports suggest, however, that after a few weeks of relative calm, IRGC commanders have reappeared.

And on Sunday, reports emerged of a drone and rocket attack on the Kharab al-Jir base used by the US-led coalition in northeast Syria. It’s unclear if the airstrikes Tuesday morning have had anything to do with those reports.

Notably, the airstrikes came only hours after the UN Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, finally passing a resolution with 14 members of the Council voting in favor and the US abstaining.

The US government’s decision to withhold its veto led to a bitter clash between President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu –whose office called off a visit to Washington by two members of the Israeli cabinet.

It is still too early to say if the airstrikes Tuesday was an isolated incident or would mark a new phase of escalation –where IRGC and its allies in Iraq and Syria resume their attacks against American interests in the region.

Warning of a worsening economy in the coming months, Tehran economist Morteza Afghah told local media that the roots of the problem lie in the regime’s non-developmental strategy that prioritizes ideological and political agendas over economic progress.

“The reality is that over the past three decades since the end of the [Iran-Iraq] war, the country's economy has been mismanaged. Economic problems have multiplied, and economic and social indicators have deteriorated,” he said. “The reason for this is deeper than even economic policies,” Afghah stressed.

He noted that the problems facing the country are primarily manifested through economic challenges, but their roots are non-economic, criticizing the government for wasting resources of the country with inefficient decision-making.

Despite having a large number of qualified, young, patriotic, educated, and skilled human resources, as well as valuable natural resources, Iran is suffering from poverty, unemployment, and inequality, leading to various social challenges such as addiction, child labor, unsupported women, and theft, he said.

“The main root of the current situation is philosophical and influenced by the non-developmental value system of the decision-makers,” Afghah noted, explaining that such an approach “prioritizes ideological, jurisprudential, and political issues, and does not give due importance to economic well-being and people's livelihood.”

He decried the current practices and government's attempts to address the symptoms rather than the root cause of multiple crisis.

"The Iranian government has used a variety of measures to cover its budget deficit, including selling bonds, state assets, and state-owned companies; eliminating subsidized dollars; spending the National Development Fund; raising taxes; increasing the prices of goods and services," and printing money.

Describing the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal as a heavy blow that exacerbated Iran’s economic problems, Afghah said that former US president Donald Trump’s decision was the result of Iran’s wrong policies. He also rebuked Iran’s hardliners for welcoming US and international sanctions and disregarding their impacts on the country. He quoted former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who famously called UN resolutions “useless pieces of paper” and dared the Security Council to keep issuing them over Iran over its nuclear program.

The economist argued that the government has no choice but to negotiate with the US in order to lift the sanctions. Additionally, Tehran has to resolve its issues with the International Financial Task Force (FATF), which has kept Iran on its financial ‘blacklist’ in recent years for not adhering to transparency and international conventions against money laundering and financing of terrorism.

If the Iranian government is unable to reach an agreement to lift the sanctions and resolve the FATF issue, and regional tensions continue, the economic and social conditions in Iran will deteriorate significantly, he said.

“The hardline Principlists, who dominate the new parliament and the government, prioritize ideological and political issues over solving the economic and social problems of the country. The possibility of Donald Trump's re-election further increases the uncertainty and the economic risk. As a result, we can expect the Iranian currency to lose more value, rising prices and worse economic indicators, more emigration and brain drain, and the flight of capital,” the economist said.

However, he argued that even if the sanctions are lifted, the Iranian economy will not improve significantly. “In the best-case scenario, the situation will not get worse, but it will not get much better either."

Iranian lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian echoed similar concerns on Monday, highlighting that the main reason for the government’s failure in fulfilling its economic promises is not employing experts for the jobs. “The administration had promised to reduce inflation to less than 10 percent, now it is hovering around 50 percent. It had promised to build one million housing units, but they cannot do it even if eight years at office."

Pezeshkian went on to say, “We always try to say everything is fine and not address the issues we have. As a result, when people protest about the problems, we claim that they are wrong, and we have achieved success."

After years of debate, the new study said the human species, who emerged in Africa more than 300,000 years ago and migrated out of the continent 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, have lingered for thousands of years in a geographic hub that spanned Iran, southeast Iraq and northeast Saudi Arabia. These bands of hunter-gatherers then went on to settle all of Asia and Europe starting roughly 45,000 years ago.

Their findings were based on genomic datasets drawn from ancient DNA and modern gene pools, combined with palaeoecological evidence that showed that this region would have represented an ideal habitat, because of its capacity to support a larger population compared to surrounding areas in West Asia.

"Our results provide the first full picture of the whereabouts of the ancestors of all present-day non-Africans in the early phases on the colonization of Eurasia," said molecular anthropologist Luca Pagani of the University of Padova in Italy, senior author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications, opens new tab.

Anthropologist and study co-author Michael Petraglia, director of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, said the study "is a story about us and our history - our goal was to unravel some of the mystery about our evolution and our worldwide dispersal." "The combination of genetic and paleoecological models allowed us to predict the location where early human populations first resided as soon as they exited Africa," Petraglia added.

This after Iran International’s investigative report revealed Tehran concealed an Israeli sabotage operation that targeted a covert nuclear facility owned by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

Iran International's in-depth investigative report relied on authenticated documents obtained from both the judiciary and the Ministry of Intelligence. These resources were made available through Ali’s Justice – a network of hacktivists known for their ongoing disclosure of Iranian government documents.

In late July 2020, the destruction of the nuclear site swiftly escalated into a critical national security concern for Iran, prompting reports to reach Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

Of particular note, mere weeks after the incident, the IAEA’s Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, made a visit to Iran – seemingly oblivious to the events.

Following months of tension between Iran and the agency, Grossi had arrived in Tehran to negotiate access for inspectors to two suspected former atomic sites.

Though the IAEA did not identify the sites, Israeli intelligence officials pinpointed one as the Abadeh Nuclear Weapons Development Site.

Iran’s then-nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, lauded the talks with Grossi as "constructive," heralding a supposed "new chapter of cooperation" between Iran and the agency.

Fast forward about four years: This month, Grossi informed the IAEA Board that his agency has lost crucial "continuity of knowledge" regarding Tehran’s activities.

The IAEA concluded a meeting earlier this month without passing a resolution against the Islamic Republic for advanced work on its atomic program and its refusal to cooperate with the IAEA.

While the US called on the IAEA Board to be ready for further action if Iran's cooperation does not significantly improve, it remains to be seen whether this latest report could lead to Iran’s censure over its non-compliance.

The facility, undisclosed to the IAEA, raises serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program and its compliance with safeguards obligations – and it prompts concerns about the existence of other undisclosed facilities and the extent to which Iran may be concealing other nuclear activities.

Israel And Iran’s Nuclear Program

According to judicial documents, the Islamic Republic considers the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, as the main perpetrator of this sabotage operation.

Despite its belief that Israel was responsible, Tehran tried to conceal the sabotage.

Following Iran International’s reporting, a spokesman from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office simply stated, "No comment: "We have no comment."

Sabotage operations targeting Iranian nuclear facilities are not unprecedented.

From 2009 to 2011, five individuals associated with Iran's nuclear industry, whom the Islamic Republic regarded as scientists, were assassinated.

Tehran has consistently accused Israel of these assassinations.

Arguably the most prominent instance of sabotage within Iran’s nuclear program was the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the former head of the Ministry of Defense's Research and Innovation Organization, which occurred on November 27, 2020.

Israel had labeled Fakhrizadeh as a key figure within Iran's "nuclear weapons program" two years prior to his assassination.

The 2020 sabotage at the nuclear warehouse in Shadabad in Tehran occurred approximately five months before Fakhrizadeh's assassination.

In contrast, Israel did officially claim responsibility for the theft of Iran's nuclear documents from a warehouse in Tehran's Shourabad area in 2018 – with Benjamin Netanyahu revealing that Israel had obtained 55,000 pages and 55,000 digital files through an intelligence operation.

The Shin Bet and Israel Defence Forces managed to intercept a “significant” cache of arms smuggled by Iran into the West Bank including fragmentation bombs, anti-tank mines, grenade launchers, explosives, shoulder-launched missiles, assault rifles, and handguns.

According to Shin Bet, the operation was orchestrated by Iran's Special Operations Division, Unit 4000, led by Jawad Ghafari, in collaboration with Unit 18840 of the IRGC's Quds Force, under the command of Asghar Bakri.

The plot came to light during interrogations of detained Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities. Shin Bet revealed the involvement of Munir Makdah, a senior Fatah official based in Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, describing him as a long-standing collaborator with Hezbollah and the IRGC.

During investigations, it emerged that Makdah had been recruiting Palestinians in the West Bank for terror operations, including smuggling Iranian weapons and providing financial support.

Iran has long backed militant groups in Palestine amid its shadow war against its arch-enemy, Israel. Hamas has a significant presence in the West Bank in addition to groups such as Lion’s Den.