Category: 2. World

The 12-day war of aggression waged principally by Israel against Iran has been fascinating for its starkness on multiple fronts. Much like Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians, on open display yet unstoppable, the falsehood and illegality of both Israeli and American words and actions continued unabated throughout the war.

It was, in every way, a no-holds-barred affair: the facts, the rhetoric, the deceit. And this wasn’t about domestic politics or some marginal policy issue. This was about taking nations to war. It was about planning to tear down a country, deploying weapons and unloading tonnes upon tonnes of missiles. 

It was about flaunting cutting-edge technology, including 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker buster bombs, to be dropped by the B-2 bombers – the most expensive planes ever built, worth $2.2 billion each. 

The logistics story was made captivating, numbing the mind to more critical questions – such as what these 30,000-pounders could achieve when targeting material located more than a kilometre beneath the earth. 

Reports were sent out dutifully about the unprecedented ‘heroic’ 37-hour-long missions of the B-2 bomber pilots, who would drop fourteen of these bombs, guaranteeing annihilation and destruction at three sites.

The power-wielding architects of this dramatically worded bombing mission spread their ‘faith’ with conviction. The shrill messaging around this unprecedented, colossal task was delivered in fascistic simplicity: that the ‘noble’ objective was to rid the world of the ‘most dangerous threat’ to global security. 

The mission, they claimed, would demolish Iran’s nuclear programme once and for all. Israel had been making the claim for over two decades – and was now seconded by US President Donald Trump – that Iran was just months away from producing nuclear weapons for what they called the world’s most dangerous and dreaded regime.

Thus, the shrill rhetoric proliferated globally. Digital and legacy media buzzed with talk of the mission, of bombers and bombs, of Top Gun-style pilots in Tom Cruise mode who had rehearsed every step of ‘Mission Annihilate’. 

All the rest was drowned out. Questions about the impact on areas and people surrounding the nuclear sites of Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz – and above all, concerns about possible radiation from these bombed sites, where the world had been told Iran held several hundred kilograms of enriched uranium – surfaced only as outlier opinions. 

The dominant mood in the power corridors of the US, most Western nations and India was one of rah-rah, let’s gun for Iran. Questions did emerge regularly, but they evaporated just as quickly. Often, this was because the lead decision-maker, President Donald Trump, would simply brush off all concerns, almost mocking any journalist who dared to raise them.

This was a fantasy being spread, much like the ugly truth that was systematically concealed about a hundred years ago. It was the truth of how today’s aggressor, Israel, was born – and who actively midwifed its then-illegitimate birth. 

That concealed truth was about how Palestinians were robbed of two-thirds of their land, and how Irgun and Haganah, the two terrorist Zionist organisations, killed, maimed and pushed out from Palestine its rightful owners, who were actively resisting the occupation of their land.

Significantly, in the 12-day war of aggression, Israel and the US alone cannot be given credit for the major political, military and psychological setback it represented. Much of the West had politically and diplomatically partnered with the aggressors.

The Israel–US duo’s determination to deny Iran nuclear weapons was shared by most European governments, as well as the EU.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz unabashedly stated that he was happy that “Israel is doing [this] for all of us. We’re also affected by this regime. This Mullah regime has brought death and destruction over the world. The dirty work that Israel did here – I can only say that I have the highest respect that the Israeli army was courageous enough, that the Israeli government was courageous enough to do this. Otherwise, we possibly would have seen this terror made by this regime for months and years, and possibly with a nuclear weapon in their hand”. 

These deeply partisan, hate-ridden words in praise of the aggressor were, of course, spoken somewhat prematurely.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte also sent a profusely congratulatory WhatsApp message to Trump, which Trump then posted on social media: “Thank you for your decisive action in Iran. That was truly extraordinary and something no one else dared to do. It makes us safer…” Rutte wrote. Again, prematurely.

Only on Switzerland’s foreign ministry website did a post appear that cautioned against the aggressors’ complete disregard for legality. It read: “Switzerland emphasizes the importance of full respect for international law, including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law.”

However, beyond all the bravado and chest-thumping by the self-declared winners of the 12-day war lay the uncomfortable reality: Not even one of the three objectives that Netanyahu and his team had bragged they were determined to achieve was fulfilled – no regime change, no destruction of Iran’s nuclear capability and no major disabling of Iran’s missile infrastructure. 

Satellite imagery shows only limited irreversible damage to Iran’s storage and launch sites. Iran’s stockpiles of its most advanced ballistic missiles were largely left intact.

The dramatic B-2 bombers and 30,000-pound bombs weren’t able to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. The core components of Iran’s nuclear facilities were not destroyed – at best, their progress was delayed by only a few months.

The first to report this was the US’s own Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). CNN quoted their report, noting that no irreversible damage had been done and that more information was required from the actual nuclear sites to confirm the extent of the damage. Both the IAEA and DIA conceded that, without access to the sites, all estimates were merely “guesstimates”. Claims of “obliteration” or “significant damage” were baseless.

Trump’s assertions that the 30,000-pound bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s programme at depths of over 800 meters beneath a mountain at the Fordow facility clashed with the IAEA’s conclusion that the programme had only been delayed by a few months, with all of Iran’s enriched uranium safely stashed away – unreachable to everyone but the Iranians. And the majority of the centrifuges had not been damaged.

The IAEA’s own duplicity was unmistakable. Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, said on June 23 that the airstrikes had probably caused “very significant” damage to Fordow, a major uranium enrichment facility. Yet the IAEA subsequently veered toward the DIA’s more cautious assessment.

As for what has long been deployed by Washington as a ‘legitimate’ policy tool – the removal of governments in foreign lands through force, sabotage and other means – that too failed. After all, Iran is neither Syria, Iraq, nor Libya, nor even the Iran of 1953. 

This was not a regime that could be brushed aside easily. Iran’s revolution-hardened, four-decade-old government stood its ground. Paradoxically, for a regime already facing multiple domestic challenges, Israeli aggression somewhat boosted its political fortunes. Nationalist sentiment rose.

After the war, despite mounting economic and security problems, Iran’s regime emerged more confident and self-assured, having successfully fought back and survived the much-hyped Israeli-US war machine.

Amid the widespread chatter about what comes next, only two facts appear reliable. First, and fortunately, beyond all the litter of whimsical, flashy and fictional verbosity, there are signs of re-engagement between the two principal players: Iran and the US. 

Trump has publicly criticised some of Israel’s recent actions, while in important circles in Tehran, there is recognition that indirect communication between Iranian and American officials continues. Some Iranians even see in Trump a potential president willing to pursue an ‘America First’, not ‘Israel First’, policy.

The second important development appears to be a ceasefire in Gaza. But does this mean progress toward a definitive two-state solution or merely a deceptive lull, under the cover of which the ‘Greater Israel’ agenda advances? At present, with a disengaged Arab and Muslim world, Donald Trump remains – somewhat paradoxically – central to advancing a lasting and viable solution for Palestine. And that solution, clearly, is a two-state one.

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The writer is a senior journalist. She tweets at @nasimzehra and can be reached at: [email protected]

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Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect Geo.tv’s editorial policy.

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Originally published in The News

At least 34 people have been killed in a massive fire at a pharmaceuticals factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana, according to news agencies.

The blast took place during work hours on Monday at a unit of Sigachi Industries, leaving several injured and in critical condition.

“As many as 31 bodies have been extricated from the debris while three died in hospital while undergoing treatment,” senior district police official Paritosh Pankaj told the Press Trust of India.

Police have registered a case against the management of Sigachi Industries, based on a complaint by the son of a victim.

The company has said it is halting operations at the facility for 90 days, because of damage to equipment and structures within the plant.

“The incident has unfortunately resulted in loss of human life, and there may have been individuals who sustained injuries,” Sigachi Industries said in a statement, adding that it was ascertaining the number who are injured.

Authorities say approximately 60 people were in the building when the blast took place, leading to a complete collapse of the building.

Many of the workers were migrants from states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in the north and east of the country.

The unit manufactured microcrystalline cellulose, a binding agent often used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food industries.

“Pressure seems to have built up when the workers were operating the spray dryer,” a senior rescue official told the Indian Express newspaper. “Fine dust chemical particles too accelerated the blast and the subsequent fire.”

At least 25 victims were rushed to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of burns and injuries, rescue officials told the newspaper. Many had reportedly inhaled poisonous fumes.

Rescue workers are still clearing the debris at the blast site and have told ANI news agency that they are unsure how many people were still trapped.

“Once we are all done with the clearing, only then we will be able to assess if any other body is still remaining under the debris or if it is all clear,” GV Narayana Rao, director of Telangana fire disaster response emergency, told Reuters.

Officials say DNA testing is being used to identify bodies that were charred beyond recognition.

The ruling Congress government in the state expressed “deep shock over the massive fire accident” and said compensation will be given to the families of the deceased and injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed condolences and announced compensation of 200,000 rupees ($2,336; £1,699) for each for the families of the deceased and 50,000 rupees for the injured.

HYDERABAD, India — The death toll from Monday’s massive explosion and fire at a pharmaceutical factory in India’s southern state of Telangana has risen to at least 36 while about three dozen were left injured, authorities said Tuesday.

The fire department recovered the charred bodies of 34 workers from the accident site in an industrial area about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the state capital Hyderabad, the state’s fire services director G.V. Narayana Rao told The Associated Press.

Two other workers succumbed to burns and were pronounced dead in hospital, Rao said, adding that debris of the gutted pharmaceutical unit of Sigachi Industries was still being removed to find out if any more workers were trapped.

Nearly three dozen injured workers were admitted to hospitals, he said.

“The whole structure of the factory has collapsed. Fire has been doused, and we hope to finish removing the debris in the next few hours,” Rao said.

The explosion and subsequent fire was reported on Monday in the factory’s spray dryer unit, which is used to process raw material into fine powder for making drugs, Rao said.

The state’s Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha said there were 108 workers inside the factory at the time of the explosion.

“As bodies were badly burnt and mutilated, a special medical team has been deployed to conduct DNA tests”, said Narasimha, adding the state government has set up a panel to investigate the cause of the incident.

Witnesses said they heard the explosion from a couple of kilometers away from the site.

India is home to some of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies, playing a pivotal role in the global supply of generic medicines and vaccines. The country’s robust manufacturing and cost-effective production have made it a hub for pharma giants.

Industrial accidents, particularly involving chemical reactors, aren’t uncommon in such factories, underlining the need for authorities to implement stringent safety protocols and regulatory oversight in a sector critical to public health.

Sigachi Industries Limited is an Indian company dealing with active pharmaceutical ingredients, intermediates and vitamin-mineral blends, according to the company’s website. It has five manufacturing facilities across India and subsidiaries in the U.S and the United Arab Emirates.

President Donald Trump signed on Monday an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, allowing an end to the country’s isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington’s pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.

The move will allow the US to maintain sanctions on Syria’s ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, people linked to chemical weapons activities, the Islamic State and ISIS affiliates and proxies for Iran, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing.

Assad was toppled in December in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish international ties.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Trump’s termination of the Syria sanctions programme would “open door of long-awaited reconstruction and development,” according to a post by the foreign minister on social media platform X.

He said the move would “lift the obstacle” against economic recovery and open the country to the international community.

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May where, in a major policy shift, Trump unexpectedly announced he would lift US sanctions on Syria, prompting Washington to significantly ease its measures.

Some in Congress are pushing for the measures to be totally repealed, while Europe has announced the end of its economic sanctions regime.

“Syria needs to be given a chance, and that’s what’s happened,” U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack told reporters in a briefing call. He described Monday’s move as “the culmination of a very tedious, detailed, excruciating process of, how do you unwrap these sanctions.”

The White House in a fact sheet said the order directs the Secretary of State to review the terrorism designations of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel group that Sharaa led that has roots in al Qaeda, as well as Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The White House said the administration would continue to monitor Syria’s progress on key priorities including “taking concrete steps toward normalising ties with Israel, addressing foreign terrorists, deporting Palestinian terrorists and banning Palestinian terrorist groups”.

Layers of US sanctions

A Reuters investigation published on Monday revealed the role of Syrian government forces in the killing of more than 1,500 Syrian Alawites over three days of massacres along the country’s Mediterranean coast in March. The Trump administration had no comment on the Reuters report.

It was not immediately clear if Washington was lifting the sanctions on any of the factions that Reuters found were involved.

Syrians hope the easing of sanctions will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations working in the country, encouraging foreign investment and trade as it rebuilds.

In the aftermath of Trump’s announcement in May, the US Treasury Department issued a general license that authorised transactions involving the interim Syrian government as well as the central bank and state-owned enterprises.

However, the US has imposed layers of sanctions against Syria, some of which are authorised by legislation, including the Caesar Act. Repealing the measures is necessary for Syria to attract long-term investment without parties fearing the risk of violating U.S. sanctions.

“We are now, pursuant to the executive order, going to look at suspension criteria for the Caesar Act,” a senior administration official said.

Most of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed on Assad’s government and key individuals in 2011 after civil war erupted in the country.

The dismantling of the US sanctions programme on Syria includes terminating from Tuesday a national emergency declared in 2004 and revoking linked executive orders, according to the order signed on Monday.

The executive order also directs additional actions, including some with respect to waivers of export controls and other restrictions, the order read.

More than 130 charities and other NGOs are calling for the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down.

Over 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF started operating in late May, following Israel’s three-month blockade of Gaza, the organisations said. Almost 4,000 have been injured.

The organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, say Israeli forces and armed groups “routinely” open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shoot at aid recipients, and has defended the GHF system, saying it provides direct assistance to people who need it, bypassing Hamas interference.

Tuesday’s joint statement from some of the world’s biggest charities says the foundation is violating all norms of humanitarian work, including by forcing two million people into overcrowded and militarized zones where they face daily gunfire.

Since the GHF started operating in Gaza, there have been almost daily reports of Israeli forces killing people seeking aid at these sites, from medics, eyewitnesses and the Hamas-run health ministry.

The GHF aid distribution system replaced 400 aid distribution points that were operating during the temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire with just four military-controlled distribution sites, three in the far south-west of Gaza and one in central Gaza.

“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the statement says.

“Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites.”

The GHF aid system has been condemned by UN agencies. On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “inherently unsafe”.

From the start the UN condemned the plan, saying it would “militarise” aid, bypass the existing distribution network and force Gazans to make long journeys through dangerous territory to get food.

The Israeli military has said it is examining reports of civilians being “harmed” while approaching GHF aid distribution centres.

According to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday, unnamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites to drive them away or disperse them.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious falsehoods”.

The Israeli military also denied allegations of deliberately firing at Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid.

In a statement on Monday, the IDF said it was reorganising access to the sites and this would include new “fencing” and signposting, including directional and warning signs in order to improve the operational response.

But the 130-plus aid organisations said GHF “is not a humanitarian response” for the Gazans.

“Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations,” the groups said.

Israeli forces have bombed a cafe, a school and food distribution sites in Gaza, killing at least 95 Palestinians, and attacked a hospital, wounding several more people.

At least 62 of the victims of Monday’s attacks were in Gaza City and the north of the territory.

The figure includes 39 people who were killed in an Israeli strike on a seaside cafe, Al-Baqa cafeteria, in northern Gaza City. Dozens more were wounded.

Among the dead was journalist Ismail Abu Hatab, as well as women and children who had gathered at the cafe.

One witness said that Israeli fighter jets carried out the strike.

“We found people torn apart,” said Yahya Sharif. “This place wasn’t affiliated with anyone – no politics and no military association whatsoever. It was packed with people including children for a birthday party.”

The bombing flattened the cafe and left a huge crater in the ground.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the attack on the cafe occurred “without any warning”.

“This area serves as a refuge for many traumatised and displaced people, offering some relief from the oppressive heat of the tents. The bloodstains are still everywhere given the intensity of the explosion. Some of the bodies and pieces of flesh were collected from the flood of this place,” he added.

Also on Monday, Israeli forces carried out an air strike on a food distribution warehouse in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing at least 13 people who were trying to get rations.

The Israeli military also bombed the Yafa school in Gaza City, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians.

Hamada Abu Jaradeh, who fled before the attack, said that displaced Palestinians received a five-minute threat to evacuate. “We don’t know what to do and where to go. We have been let down by the entire world for more than 630 days. Death is with us and around us every day,” Abu Jaradeh said.

In central Gaza, Israeli forces attacked the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, where thousands of families had sought shelter.

Videos circulating online and verified by Al Jazeera showed chaos at the hospital, with people fleeing for safety as tents sheltering displaced families appeared damaged by the attack.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from the scene of the hospital attack, said the army did not issue “any warnings” before the “huge explosion”.

“The site of the attack is about 10 metres [33 ft] from our broadcast point. This is not the first time the hospital’s courtyard has been attacked. At least 10 times, this facility has been squarely targeted by Israeli forces,” Abu Azzoum said. “It’s a staggering concentration of attacks on medical facilities, adding further burden on barely functioning hospitals.”

In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office decried the attack by Israel, calling it a “systematic crime” against the Palestinian enclave’s health system.

“Its warplanes bombed a tent for the displaced inside the walls of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, resulting in injuries at the site of the bombing, material damage and directly threatening the lives of dozens of patients,” it said.

Israel has repeatedly targeted dozens of hospitals during its 22-month war on Gaza. Human rights groups and United Nations-backed experts have accused Israel of systematically destroying the enclave’s healthcare system.

‘It felt like earthquakes’

In southern Gaza, an Israel air attack killed at least 15 Palestinians waiting for food at aid distribution hubs run by the controversial United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Khan Younis, according to sources at Nasser Medical Complex.

Fifty people were also wounded in the attack.

They are the latest victims in a wave of daily carnage at these sites, which have killed nearly 600 Palestinians since GHF took over limited aid deliveries in Gaza in late May amid a crippling Israeli blockade.

The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at the aid distribution centres, saying that instructions had been issued to forces following “lessons learned”, and that firing incidents were under review.

This follows the Israeli news outlet Haaretz report that soldiers operating near the aid sites in Gaza have been deliberately firing on Palestinians. According to the Haaretz report, which quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers, troops were told to fire at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat.

Israeli forces are also carrying out home demolitions in Khan Younis, raising fears of a new ground invasion.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, has issued more forced evacuation threats to Palestinians in large districts in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction, forcing a new wave of displacement.

“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news, we hear a ceasefire is near. On the ground, we see death and we hear explosions.”

Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of the Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.

Gaza’s health authorities said that at least 10 people were killed in attacks on Zeitoun and at least 13 were killed southwest of Gaza City.

More than 80 percent of Gaza is now an Israeli-militarised zone or under forced displacement threats, according to the United Nations.

The attacks come as Israeli officials, including Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, were due in Washington, DC for a new ceasefire push by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Key mediator Qatar has confirmed that there are serious US intentions to push for a return to negotiations, but there are complications, according to a Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

“The main obstacle over here is that both parties aren’t coming back to the table. But as I have said, there’s a momentum that’s been created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel,” Majed Al Ansari told reporters in the Qatari capital Doha.

“We won’t hold out breath for this to happen today or tomorrow. But we believe that the elements are in place to push forward towards restarting the talks,” he added.

The talks in the White House are also expected to cover Iran and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.

On Friday, Israel’s military chief said that the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu claimed new opportunities had opened up for recovering the captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups from Israel, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts also said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a statement on Monday that there has been no news from Israel regarding a ceasefire for four weeks.

“We are determined to seek a ceasefire that will save our people, and we are working with mediators to open the crossings,” Hamdan said.

U.S. President Donald Trump.
| Photo Credit: Reuters