Middle East Watch

How Water Is Weaponized in India-Pakistan Conflict– time.com

pgnewser May 7, 2025 0

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As Pakistan reels from the most extensive airstrikes on its territory from India during official peacetime between the two countries, and amid ongoing gunfire exchanges across the Kashmir border, observers worry about further escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

But beyond bullets and missiles, there’s another weapon that India has threatened to use in the conflict that Pakistan has said would surely constitute an “Act of War”: water.

Among the targets of India’s early Wednesday strikes was Pakistan’s Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, according to Pakistan’s armed forces. The strikes came just hours after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would stop water from flowing out across its borders.

“Now, India’s water will flow for India’s benefit, it will be conserved for India’s benefit, and it will be used for India’s progress,” Modi said Tuesday.

Iran Distances Itself from Embarrassing Houthis as Trump Nuclear Talks Stall– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025 0

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The government of Iran adamantly insisted on Sunday that it had no involvement in an escalated terrorism campaign against Israel by the Yemeni Houthi jihadist movement, which announced this weekend it would attempt to blockade Israeli skies entirely.

The post Iran Distances Itself from Embarrassing Houthis as Trump Nuclear Talks Stall appeared first on Breitbart.

‘Capitulated’: Trump Says US Will Cease Bombing Operations Against Houthis– dailycaller.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025 0

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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will end bombing campaigns against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Trump said the Houthi terrorists had “capitulated,” and that bombing operations would cease immediately after the group said they’d stop bombing ships in the Gulf of Aden and other locations, Trump said in a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The Houthi rebels have targeted commercial ships and U.S. Naval vessels since 2023, causing billions of dollars in economic damage as global shipping was cut off from the Suez Canal in the Red Sea.

“This was always a freedom of navigation issue,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during the conference. “The job was to get that to stop, and if it’s going to stop, then we can stop.”

Pakistani Cleric Slams Own Government As ‘Tyrannical’, Denounces War With India– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser May 6, 2025 0

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A Pakistani cleric has launched a scathing attack on his own government and has delcared that any war with India will be unislamic, in a video that has been widely circulated. In the video, Abdul Aziz Ghazi, a controversial cleric of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, criticises the Pakistani government, calling it a  “cruel, useless system”.

In a video going viral on social media, Abdul Aziz Ghazi can be heard asking his audience whether they would stand with Pakistan in the event of a war with India. He question is met with an unexpected silence. Noting the lack of response from the crowd, the cleric commented, “There are very few [hands]. This means many are enlightened now. The matter is, war between Pakistan and India is not an Islamic war.”

Abdul Aziz Ghazi goes on to denounce the Pakistan military, accusing it of widespread repression, claiming authorities in Pakistan have grown more oppressive- a bold and controversial take for someone associated with Lal Masjid, a place once synonymous with radical calls.

VIDEO: ‘A battle between right and wrong’: Houthi spokesman on confronting the US and Israel– thegrayzone.com

pgnewser April 22, 2025 0

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The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal interviews Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, senior political officer and spokesman for Ansar Allah (the Houthi movement), on Yemen’s direct confrontation with a US military machine which is hellbent on destroying its ability to resist Israel.

In this third conversation between The Grayzone and Bukhaiti, the Ansar Allah spokesman explains why he believes his movement’s war with the US-Israeli axis is unlike any conflict that preceded it, and why he believes Yemen is engaged in a righteous battle despite the terrible toll its civilians have faced.

This interview was translated by Hekmat Aboukhater.

 

Suspected US airstrikes kill at least 6 people in Yemen, Houthi rebels say– abcnews.go.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Suspected U.S. airstrikes around Yemen’s rebel-held capital killed at least six people and wounded 26 overnight, the Houthis said Monday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Since its start nearly a month ago, the intense campaign of U.S. airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 120 people, according to casualty figures released Monday by the Houthis’ Health Ministry.

Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed firefighters spraying water on a raging fire they described as being sparked by the airstrikes. Rubble littered a street as rescuers carried one person away from the site, which the rebels claimed was a ceramics factory in the Bani Matar neighborhood of Sanaa, the capital.

House Intelligence Committee Democrats Demand Independent Review of Signal Chat Leak– slaynews.com

pgnewser April 3, 2025 0

House Intelligence Committee Democrats Demand Independent Review of Signal Chat Leak– slaynews.com
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Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are demanding that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard conduct an independent review of the recent Signal chat leak.

It comes after an anti-Trump journalist was inadvertently added to a Signal chat about a military attack, WPRI-TV reported.

Ranking member Jim Himes (D-CT) sent a letter to Gabbard Monday demanding a written response.

The issue occurred because National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added an Atlantic journalist to the Signal chat with officials.

The left-wing “news” outlet subsequently published the messages.

They were discussing a strike on Houthi terrorists.

White House desperately wants you to forget national security fail– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 3, 2025 0

White House desperately wants you to forget national security fail– www.dailykos.com
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The Trump administration is attempting to shut down growing concerns over the war plans leak, even as congressional requests for independent investigations have begun to surface.

Senior members of the Trump administration—including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz—discussed confidential war plans in a Signal group chat, in which journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally included.

“As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team, and this case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

Leavitt, who has a history of lying, said that “steps have been made” to ensure that another leak doesn’t happen in the future but gave no details on what those purported steps were.

Fresh US strikes extend air campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthis | News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser April 1, 2025 0

Fresh US strikes extend air campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthis | News– www.aljazeera.com
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Houthis claim to down US drone. President Donald Trump declares Yemeni rebel group ‘decimated’ by air strike campaign.

The United States military launched a series of air attacks on Yemen overnight, targeting Houthi rebels.

Strikes hit an area near the capital, Sanaa, as well as the northern province of Saada early on Tuesday as the US extended a bombing campaign against targets in Yemen that began in mid-March and has killed dozens of people.

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported that US forces launched 15 raids on the northern province of Saada, including the city of Saada and the districts of Majz and Sahar. Mount Nabi Shuaib, in the Bani Matar district of Sanaa province, was also reported to have been targeted.

Syria Interim President Names New Government Dominated By Allies– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser March 31, 2025 0

Syria Interim President Names New Government Dominated By Allies– www.ndtv.com
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Damascus, Syria: Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday announced a new transitional government dominated by close allies and including one woman, replacing caretaker authorities in place since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The announcement, initially scheduled for earlier this month, comes amid international calls for an inclusive Syrian transition following recent sectarian bloodshed, as the country’s new leaders seek to reunite and rebuild Syria and its institutions after Assad’s December 8 overthrow brought an end to 14 years of civil war.

Close associates of Sharaa held on to key positions, with Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shaibani and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra retaining their cabinet posts, while Anas Khattab, the head of general intelligence, was appointed interior minister.

Veteran opposition figure Hind Kabawat, a member of Syria’s Christian minority and longtime Assad opponent, was named social affairs and labour minister, the first woman to be appointed by Sharaa.

The leader of the White Helmets, the Syrian rescuers who worked in rebel-held areas, Raed al-Saleh, was appointed minister of emergency situations and disasters.

Crowd At Anti-Hegseth Town Hall In Deep Red District Reeks Of Astroturf– www.newsbusters.org

pgnewser March 31, 2025 0

Crowd At Anti-Hegseth Town Hall In Deep Red District Reeks Of Astroturf– www.newsbusters.org
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Sunday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Weekend featured a clip from a town hall in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. In November, Trump and Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz carried the district handily: by 16 and 18 points, respectively.

Yet the crowd overwhelmingly and raucously cheered the suggestion that the congresswoman should demand Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation, given the Signal chat that mistakenly included a journalist.

Co-host Symone Sanders claimed the cheering people were district “constituents,” and co-host Michael Steele took it a step further, saying they were Republicans. The show provided no evidence to support either statement. Did MSNBC make any effort to confirm the residence or registration of the crowd members?

Hypocrisy-proof Steele concluded the segment by saying:

“This sets up additional narratives, I think, for voters as well as journalists to dig a little bit deeper and find out a little bit more.”

Amen, Michael!

Stephen A. Smith goes scorched Earth on media’s SignalGate obsession: “Were y’all talking about 13 lives lost in Afghanistan?”– www.louderwithcrowder.com

pgnewser March 31, 2025 0

Stephen A. Smith goes scorched Earth on media’s SignalGate obsession: “Were y’all talking about 13 lives lost in Afghanistan?”– www.louderwithcrowder.com
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Stephen A. Smith won’t change the way he votes any more than Bill Maher or Jon Stewart will. It’s still entertaining and valuable when he calls out the left and the media (but I repeat myself) to a mainstream audience that wouldn’t typically hear such things. Like with SignalGate. And how the people calling for Pete Hegseth to be fired weren’t this outraged when the People Who Controlled Joe Biden Adminstration’s incompetence led to thirteen service members being killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal.

To recap SignalGate, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, or someone working for him, “accidentally” invited anti-Trump jorunalismer Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat about the Houthis being taken out. And because of Waltz’s f*ck up… the media and the left (but I repeat myself) still butthurt they couldn’t collect Hegseth’s scalp are demanding HE resign.

To be clear: Waltz SHOULD resign. This was a colossal f*ck up.

Stephen A., who is no fan of the Defense Secretary, thinks Afghanistan was worse.

We operate in a biased and partisan industry. Sometimes we can be unfair to the left, the media, and the People Who Controlled Joe Biden administration. I get that. It’s one thing for us to blame the previous team for Afghanistan. So here are the families of the servicemembers who lost their lives during the incompetent withdrawal blaming them.

The left and the media (but I repeat myself) weren’t upset about this. They didn’t call for anyone to be held accountable. Yet because a reporter was added to a group chat by the National Security Advisor, the Defense Secretary needs to either resign or be fired.

Republicans can’t stop making pathetic excuses for war chat fiasco– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser March 31, 2025 0

Republicans can’t stop making pathetic excuses for war chat fiasco– www.dailykos.com
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As fury mounts over the Trump administration’s leaking of classified military operations in an unsecure Signal group chat that included a reporter who did not have a security clearance, GOP lawmakers have continued to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

The ridiculous defenses—ranging from lies about the contents of the messages to conspiracy theories about how the reporter got added to the conversation in the first place—are even rankling some Trump administration allies, who told Politico that President Donald Trump and his team need to own up to the error, fire those involved, and end the controversy.

But that message has clearly not been heard by congressional Republicans, who are still defending the monumental fuck-up that risked U.S. troops who were carrying out an attack on a rebel group in Yemen—even as more details emerge confirming that classified information was shared on an insecure platform.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said that he stands by the Trump administration officials who were involved—including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared in the chat the exact timing of the forthcoming attack and the weapons systems that would be used.

“President Trump and his team have admitted that having a journalist in the group text was wrong, will be reviewed and falls in the category of ‘lessons learned’ so that it doesn’t happen again. I think President Trump has handled this matter well. Further, I believe that all the participants in the chat were under the impression they were using an appropriate and secure form of communication. This will also fall into the category of ‘lessons learned,’” Graham said in a statement.

 

Iran Has Rejected Direct Negotiations With the U.S., Trump– time.com

pgnewser March 31, 2025 0

Iran Has Rejected Direct Negotiations With the U.S., Trump– time.com
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s president said Sunday that the Islamic Republic rejected direct negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program, offering Tehran’s first response to a letter that U.S. President Donald Trump sent to the country’s supreme leader.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran’s response, delivered via the sultanate of Oman, left open the possibility of indirect negotiations with Washington. However, such talks have made no progress since Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

In the years since, regional tensions have boiled over into attacks at sea and on land. Then came the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which saw Israel target militant group leaders across Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.” Now, as the U.S. conducts intense airstrikes targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen, the risk of military action targeting Iran’s nuclear program remains on the table.

US strikes Houthi strongholds in Yemen where leaders are hiding, Yemeni sources say– www.investing.com

pgnewser March 19, 2025 0

US strikes Houthi strongholds in Yemen where leaders are hiding, Yemeni sources say– www.investing.com
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The U.S. hit targets across Yemen in airstrikes overnight, including Saada province, which Yemeni sources say is a long-time hideout for Iran-aligned Houthi leaders, and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported more than 10 strikes on various locations, including the Al-Safra district of Saada. The area houses weapons storage and training sites, and is considered one of the group’s most important and heavily fortified military strongholds, according to Yemeni sources.

The strikes, launched on Saturday over the Houthis’ attacks against Red Sea shipping, are the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have carried out over 100 attacks on shipping after Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians. The attacks have disrupted global commerce and set the U.S. military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles.

Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli airstrikes in Syria, urges UN to take action – Al Arabiya English

pgnewser March 19, 2025 0

Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli airstrikes in Syria, urges UN to take action – Al Arabiya English
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Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned an Israeli airstrike on Syrian territory, calling it a “flagrant violation of international law” and urging the United Nations Security Council to take action, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kingdom denounced the attacks, saying they were part of repeated Israeli violations that threaten regional security and stability.

According to SPA, Riyadh called for an international response to prevent further escalation and ensure accountability.

Entire Families Wiped Out as Israel Resumes Genocidal Assault on Gaza – Common Dreams

pgnewser March 19, 2025 0

Entire Families Wiped Out as Israel Resumes Genocidal Assault on Gaza – Common Dreams
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Once again, entire families are being wiped out by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip after U.S. President Donald Trumpreportedly gave the green light for the key American ally to resume its assault on the Palestinian enclave.

Israel unilaterally abrogated the crumbling eight-week cease-fire early Tuesday, unleashing a wave of ferocious strikes on the already flattened Gaza Strip, killing at least 404 people—including 174 children, 89 women, and 32 elders—and wounding at least 562 others, with the death toll expected to rise, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Syria’s new government vows to investigate mass killings | World News– news.sky.com

pgnewser March 11, 2025 0

Syria’s new government vows to investigate mass killings | World News– news.sky.com
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Syria’s new government has formed a committee to investigate reported mass revenge killings of a minority group – after the United Nations human rights chief called for “swift actions”.

Violent clashes, which a war monitoring group said had already killed 1,311 people, have continued for a fourth day in deposed president Bashar al Assad‘s coastal heartland.

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement: “The caretaker authorities’ announcements of their intention to respect the law must be followed by swift actions to protect Syrians, including by taking all necessary measures to prevent any violations and abuses and achieve accountability when these occur.”