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Sunday, March 08, 2026

03/08 Links: International Law Is Becoming a Suicide Pact for Western Democracies; 7th US service member dies in Operation Epic Fury; Israel's Secret Weapon

From Ian:

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg International Law Is Becoming a Suicide Pact for Western Democracies
Former head of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth argued in the Guardian on March 1 that joint American-Israeli strikes against the Tehran regime constitute an illegal "act of aggression." He claims that, according to the law of armed conflict, the use of force is illegitimate unless it responds to an attack that has already occurred and is acknowledged by the UN Security Council.

His simple theory is dangerously removed from the real world. Roth condemns the U.S.-Israeli decision as though it was taken totally out of the blue, and not a necessary response to aggression. He conveniently omits the central fact that, for decades, the Islamic Republic has been waging a violent war against the U.S. (the Big Satan), Israel (the Little Satan), and many of its Arab neighbors. The regime's fingerprints are on the missile arsenals targeting Israeli cities, on proxy terror militias embedded across Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, and on terror plots around the world. When an adversary arms, funds, and directs forces committed to the destruction of a neighboring state - and increasingly to the intimidation of the West - this is not peace. It is war.

The moral and legal question is whether, in the real world, states have the right - indeed the obligation - to defend their citizens against a fanatical regime that clearly proclaims its intentions to wipe out its opponents and builds rockets and centrifuges for making nuclear weapons for doing this.

Iran's own forces and proxies have launched or facilitated hundreds of lethal strikes against Israeli civilians in recent years. No international law or principle of justice requires a nation to absorb such heinous attacks while waiting for some UN body to authorize defensive action. Article 51 of the UN Charter affirms the inherent right of self-defense.

A regime that calls for the elimination of another UN member state cannot reasonably expect that state (i.e., Israel) to treat its march toward nuclear capability as a routine matter of sovereign discretion. In a world of precision missiles and nuclear breakout timelines measured in weeks, not years, waiting for the mass slaughter of a mushroom cloud is not prudence; it is abdication. The war against Iranian tyranny is not the result of lust for conflict in Washington or Jerusalem. It comes because Tehran has made the status quo untenable.
Faced with Diplomatic Impotence, War Against Iran Is Legitimate
When rogue states like Iran or terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah or Hamas sow terror, blatantly disregard signed agreements, and pursue their nuclear program, international law is rendered irrelevant and sidelined by force of arms, the only means to impose the diplomatic agenda.

How can we admit and tolerate that for more than five decades the Islamic revolution has been responsible for the majority of acts of terror and terrorist attacks around the world and that its spiritual leader has the blood of many innocent people, women, children and old people on his hands?

Western powers have tried several approaches to negotiate with the Iranian regime, including appeasement, negotiations, and sanctions. Yet the Iranian government has not been deterred or convinced to end its nuclear program, whose primary objective is the destruction of the Jewish state.

French President Macron rushed to convene the Security Council, citing the risks of renewed conflict, instead of showing solidarity with the American fight against the Axis of Evil. Macron remained completely silent on the victims of Iranian ballistic missiles targeting the Israeli civilian population, some of whom are French citizens.

During this war, we observe that the residents of Tehran can move about freely on foot and by car, aware that Israeli strikes are precise and surgical, unlike their missiles launched indiscriminately against innocent people, that only target the civilian population.
7th US service member dies in Operation Epic Fury
A US service member wounded in an Iranian attack against US troops in Saudi Arabia has succumbed to their injuries — the seventh American soldier to have died during Operation Epic Fury.

The unidentified soldier was “seriously wounded” in the March 1 attack as Iran launched missiles and drones at US installations across the Middle East at the start of the conflict, according to CENTCOM.

“Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East,” CENTCOM wrote on X on Sunday afternoon.

“The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1.”

CENTCOM said it is withholding releasing the identity of the slain servicemember for 24 hours pending next-of-kin notification.

The news comes a day after NYPD Officer and decorated Army veteran Sorffly Davius died during a health crisis while deployed in Kuwait with the National Guard.

On Saturday, President Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies of six Army Reserve members were flown to after they died when an Iranian drone struck a US facility in Kuwait.
Israel's Secret Weapon
The human element of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is our true secret weapon. Technology is only a force multiplier; it is the spirit behind it that gives it power.

Both men and women, in regular service and the reserves, are determined, committed, and deeply patriotic. Nowhere else do 18-year-olds routinely take on life-risking missions as a national duty.

In moments of crisis, volunteers emerge everywhere, caring for displaced families and assisting soldiers at the front and on the home front. An entire nation mobilizes.

Israel's air defense units operate around the clock, with nearly half of the soldiers being women.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has been living through two years of continuous war, painful losses, thousands of wounded, families shattered, and entire communities displaced. Yet Israeli society's resilience has become even more visible.

Citizens follow life-saving instructions, adapt to emergency conditions, support the war effort, and continue to function as a society, even under constant threat.

The Israeli public understands that defending the country is not only the army's responsibility; it is a collective national effort.
Operation Against Iran Is Pinnacle of U.S.-Israel Cooperation
There are those in America and elsewhere who have tried to tar the U.S. military operations in Iran in 2025 and 2026 as instigated on behalf of Israel. But, in fact, the challenge posed by Iran's nuclear proliferation efforts is as much a threat to America's interests and to global stability as it is to Israel's survival.

The American military has learned to appreciate what Israel has to offer. In ground combat, Israeli battle-tested solutions to mines and IEDs have saved many lives and limbs. Israel has also shared the technology and battle experience of its state-of-the-art missile defense systems. Above all, in the age of the global war against Islamist totalitarianism, intelligence-sharing with Israel became almost indispensable.

Another important element was the Abraham Accords, which enabled the U.S. to shed its concerns about bringing its key Arab clients under the same strategic roof with Israel. In operational terms, this led to the creation of a CENTCOM-coordinated capacity to detect and intercept drone and cruise missiles and ballistic missile attacks from Iran or from the Houthis in Yemen.


Dismantling the Iranian Tiger with Remarkable Ease
The phrase "historic days" feels too small for the moment Israel is experiencing. Veterans of the Iranian threat are struggling to believe what is unfolding.

After three decades of worst-case scenarios, of fear over Iranian power, the many-armed octopus of proxies, thousands of ballistic missiles, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force, and underground nuclear facilities, Israel and the U.S. now appear to be dismantling that Iranian tiger with remarkable ease.

What once seemed a regional superpower now appears hollow and decaying.

There is reason to hope that U.S. President Donald Trump will not waver, and that the extraordinary resolve now coming out of Washington will hold in the face of rising oil prices, domestic criticism, pressure from Gulf states, or some unforeseen military setback.
Russia Is Providing Iran Intelligence to Target U.S. Forces
Since the war began, Russia has passed to Iran the locations of U.S. military assets, including ships and aircraft, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.

Iran has fired thousands of attack drones and hundreds of missiles at U.S. military positions, embassies, and civilians.

The CIA's station at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was struck and destroyed in recent days. Parts of the embassy building have been left "unrecoverable" and must be sealed off, according to an internal State Department assessment.

Iran is "making very precise hits on early-warning radars or over-the-horizon radars," said Dara Massicot, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "They're doing this in a very targeted way."
How China's Enormous Bet on Iran Failed
For more than a decade, Beijing has worked quietly and methodically to turn Iran into the keystone of its Middle East strategy. That strategy has now collapsed. Iran stood out as the most aggressive and strategically valuable pillar of a China-centered alignment of anti-U.S. states. The Chinese Communist Party's investment in Iran has been monumental.

In March 2021, China and Iran signed a comprehensive strategic partnership, which included Beijing pledging $400 billion in long-term infrastructure and energy investments under its Belt and Road Initiative. In 2023, Iran was welcomed into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China became the dominant buyer of Iranian oil, purchasing 90% of Iran's oil exports - only 12% of China's total oil imports, but crucial to Iran's economic survival.

In political terms, Iran provided a forward base for China inside a region historically shaped by American power. By backing militant proxies, Tehran has kept the Middle East in constant crisis. A U.S. absorbed in managing Iran would have fewer resources and less strategic focus to devote to countering China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.

The current war has not only devastated Iran's nuclear infrastructure and its conventional long-range missile and drone capabilities, it has changed the strategic equation overnight. The coordinated U.S. and Israeli military campaigns have decimated Iran's military-industrial backbone and weapons stockpile. Iran's ability to wield nuclear brinkmanship as a shield for regional aggression was dramatically reduced.

China had bet on a confident, defiant and nuclear-ambitious Iran. Instead, it is left with a battered partner whose utility has sharply diminished. The lesson is unmistakable. Grand strategy built on vulnerable and tyrannical proxies carries inherent risk.

The writer is a senior fellow and director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute.
Isabel Oakeshott: What Life Is Like Under Fire in Dubai
It is now almost a week since Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began hurling drones and missiles at its Gulf neighbors, targeting the United Arab Emirates.

On the beach, I see swimmers and sunbathers. People are out jogging and walking the dog.

But the flotilla of pleasure boats looping around Dubai's dazzling stretch of coastline has stopped. Dubai is still moving, but it is quiet.

Early Sunday morning my two daughters and I were startled from sleep by a piercing emergency alert, warning on our phones to "seek immediate shelter" from incoming missiles.

Three floors underground, in the residents' car park, there was no sense of panic: just bewilderment at the sudden turn of events.

On Sunday, we woke to distant booms: the sound of a barrage of drones and missiles being intercepted by the UAE's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. It is a sound that has continued off and on all week.

Unnerving as it is, we now know that the explosions are the sound of the population being protected.

To date, the UAE Ministry of Defense has neutralized 92-95% of everything headed our way, including over 1,000 drones and 190 ballistic missiles. Property damage is minimal. Almost nobody has been hurt.

Downstairs in the car park, there are now rows of comfy chairs, bottled water, cartons of orange juice and boxes of dates. As we wait for the all-clear, fast-food delivery drivers on mopeds buzz in and out.
Israel Emerges as the Surprising Protector of the Sunni World Against the Axis of Evil
One of the most sensational consequences of the current war is the Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and other Sunni targets, shattering the cooperation Iran built with the Sunni world. This pushes Sunni nations against the wall, forcing them to take a clear and overt stand against the regime in Tehran.

From the perspective of Sunni Islam, the Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia is a sacrilege. Saudi Arabia is the beating heart of Sunni Islam, and an attack on its soil is perceived as an assault on the entire "Ummah."

For years, Iran marketed to the Sunni world the "Unity of Muslims" centered around Jerusalem and the war for its liberation, despite the Shiites having no religious connection to Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque were built towards the end of the seventh century CE by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan - the sworn enemy of the Shia.

The bombardment of Muslim countries by Iran showed that Iran never really intended to liberate Al-Aqsa, but rather sought to rule the Sunni world. Thus, in a historical irony, Israel is seen as the defender of Sunni Islam against Shiite extremism.
Hizbullah's Escalation Puts Jerusalem and Beirut on the Same Side
Hizbullah's decision to "join the fray" has reopened the Lebanese front with full force. Once again, tens of thousands of residents of south Lebanon have been forced to evacuate their homes and move north of the Litani River.

On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that Hizbullah's military activity is illegal and forbidden. He ordered the Lebanese army to prevent any fire from Lebanese territory toward Israel and to arrest anyone attempting to initiate such an attack.

Public criticism of Hizbullah's actions is emerging among its Shi'ite support base, and Shi'ite political frameworks opposing it have begun to appear. Now, with the continued stability of the Iranian regime itself under threat, Hizbullah must reassess. Will it continue serving as the spearhead of Iran's "ring of fire" strategy to ease pressure on Tehran, or shift course and seek a political path that could at least ensure its survival?

Hizbullah's attacks inside Israel do not reduce the scale of the IDF's and the U.S. military's operations against Iran, and its Iranian funding sources have dwindled. Even now, Hizbullah is far from meeting the compensation expectations of Shi'ite residents of south Lebanon whose homes were damaged, further eroding its public support. Inside Lebanon, Hizbullah now faces a determined government backed by a parliamentary majority and growing public support, one that denies it any military legitimacy.
The System Khamenei Built Ended Up Killing Him
Since 1989, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei constructed a governing architecture with one purpose: no one could replace him, and no one could make a consequential decision without him. The Revolutionary Guards became an economic and military empire with its own institutional interest. Any meaningful nuclear concession required consent from bodies he had deliberately designed to be incapable of conceding.

You build institutions that cannot capitulate because you trust no one. Then, when capitulation is the only path to survival, those institutions cannot act. There is a difference between being unwilling to concede and being structurally incapable of it.

In February 2026, U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff met through an Omani intermediary with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. According to Israel's Channel 12, Witkoff reported that Iran's proposal was "bullshit designed to buy time." He was not describing a bridgeable gap.

Trump set a deadline of 10-15 days. It passed Feb. 26 without a strike. Khamenei thought Trump wanted a deal more than a confrontation. He had watched every American president since Carter arrive loud and leave with a compromise. Trump himself pulled back from a strike in 2019 with planes already airborne. The expired deadline and continued talks told him there was still time.

Surrender on American terms would have destroyed everything Khamenei had built. Death in an American-Israeli airstrike is exactly the story he spent his life constructing.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late Iran regime leader, is head of Islamic Republic
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was named the new “supreme leader” of the Islamic Republic, replacing his father Ali Khamenei, whom the U.S. and Israeli militaries killed, Iranian state television reported on Sunday.

The speaker of the Iranian Parliament stated that the selection of the new leader was “definitive and precise” and that the new leader was a “soothing balm,” according to state media.

The speaker added that the new leader was “faithful, revolutionary, courageous and prudent.”

The U.S. government sanctioned Mojtaba Khamenei in 2019. The U.S. Treasury Department said that the time that “the second son of the supreme leader is designated today for representing the supreme leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father.”

“The supreme leader has delegated a part of his leadership responsibilities to Mojtaba Khamenei, who worked closely with the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and also the Basij Resistance Force to advance his father’s destabilizing regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives,” the federal government said.

Trump told Axios last week that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” he told the publication. “I have to be involved in the appointment.”


Ayatollah Khamenei's son owns £50million luxury apartments overlooking Israeli embassy in London - as experts warn of 'serious security breach'
The son of Iran's recently killed dictator owns two luxury apartments overlooking the Israeli embassy in London, with experts warning of a 'serious security breach', it emerged on Saturday night.

Mojtaba Khamenei – tipped to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as Iran's new Ayatollah – owns the properties in Kensington, west London, with an estimated value of more than £50million.

The sixth and seventh floor apartments, which come with servants' quarters on the ground floor, are a stone's throw from Kensington Palace, the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Khamenei, 56, is understood to have owned the two apartments since 2014, but his ownership only emerged after a year-long investigation by the news channel Bloomberg.

It has revealed Khamenei also owns 11 mansions in Hampstead, North London, through a front man and a shell company registered in the Isle of Man.

The Bloomberg investigation also revealed Khamenei has amassed a portfolio of properties around the world worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

The funds for the purchases came from Iran's sanction-busting oil programme. according to the probe.

The revelations that Khamenei – a leader within the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – owns two flats that look down on the Israeli embassy building raises fears the apartments may have been used to spy on the diplomatic mission.


Iran's Revolutionary Guards Are Hiding in Hospitals, as Hamas Did
After a week of American and Israeli strikes, Emily Blout, an Iran specialist at the Pentagon, told Media Line:
"Dispersal of the IRGC into these unusual locations, including hospitals and schools, is a core part of their strategy for survival."

"And the strategy actually makes sense. By decentralizing command into local autonomous units and by dispersing munitions across the country, the IRGC aims to maintain control even though its central leadership is eliminated."

"But hiding in places, especially in hospitals, is a page out of the Hamas playbook."

Many IRGC forces are now exhausted and left without secure bases or headquarters. Even their makeshift cover locations, such as sports stadiums, have come under attack.

An Iranian military officer told the Media Line that the tactic of wearing down and rendering the Islamic Republic's military and security apparatus effectively homeless has begun to work and it is unlikely they will be able to sustain this condition for the coming weeks.

He said the repeated bombardment of the leader's residence and the cover sites used for the deployment of IRGC forces indicates an effort to crush the organizational structure of these forces.

That would facilitate defections from the ranks of the IRGC, the Basij, and other repressive bodies.

One week after the outbreak of war, the IRGC has lost its commander and nearly all of its field commanders. It is said that at least 800 of its members have been killed.
Iran’s last line of resistance holds back — but Houthi terror group warns it’s ready to act
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran's side but in recent days has been ratcheting up its rhetoric in support of Tehran, with its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declaring that it was prepared to enter the war against the U.S. and Israel if necessary.

"Regarding military escalation and action, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment should developments warrant it," al-Houthi said on Thursday.

"The reason why the Houthis have not intervened is they are last line of resistance for the axis. Especially after other axis members were degraded," Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital.

The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) reads, "Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam."

Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: "I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war continues, the more likely the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do — and they have been itching for a while to do — is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis."

The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an "Axis of Resistance" prior to Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies, includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria.


Blast reported at US embassy in Oslo
The U.S. Embassy in Norway was hit by an explosion in the early hours of Sunday, according to Oslo police. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The blast, which was reported around 1:00 a.m. local time, caused “minor material damage” to the entrance of one of the embassy’s buildings, according to a police statement cited by AFP.

“Police view such incidents in public spaces as very serious, and are investigating the case with substantial resources and high priority,” police added.

Investigators were said to have arrived at the scene, while police dogs, drones and helicopters were deployed to search for “one or more potential perpetrators,” according to the statement.

Oslo police commander Michael Dellemyr told the local TV2 outlet that authorities “have an idea of the cause,” adding that “it appears to us that this is an act carried out by someone.” A bomb squad was dispatched to the scene, according to the TV2 report.

U.S. embassies across the Middle East have increased security measures amid “Operation Epic Fury” against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which Washington launched in conjunction with Jerusalem on Feb. 28.

However, Dellemyr told TV2 that it was “too early” to connect the incident to the conflict.

Anti-American protests in Pakistan on March 2 ended with the deaths of at least 22 people at U.S. consulates in Karachi and Lahore as thousands protested the fighting between the U.S.-Israel alliance and Tehran.
4 killed in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait as Iran says it’s attacking Gulf because it can’t reach US
Two people were killed on Sunday and 12 were injured after a projectile fell in a residential location in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kharj governorate, marking the first reported casualties in the oil-rich nation as Iran kept up its relentless assault on the Gulf states.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi defended the strikes, saying that Tehran was targeting the Gulf as its missiles cannot reach the United States.

The deaths, the first reported by Saudi Arabia since fighting began a week ago, occurred as Iran struck targets across the region, including fuel tanks in Kuwait and a desalination plant in Bahrain.

The Saudi civil defense said an Indian and a Bangladeshi were killed by an unspecified “military projectile” that hit a residential area in Al-Kharj, south of Riyadh, according to the statement, which did not mention Iran by name.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier on Sunday that they targeted radar systems in locations including Al-Kharj.

Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran’s response after the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on February 28. Since then, 18 people, 10 of them civilians, have been killed in the Gulf states, according to an AFP tally, in addition to 10 people in Israel.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned Sunday that the Islamic Republic “will be forced to respond” against its neighbors if their territory was used to attack it, despite having apologized a day prior to those hosting US military bases for attacks on their land.


IDF strikes Gaza gunmen planning imminent attack on troops
Israel Defense Forces troops struck two Hamas terrorists who were planning to carry out a sniper attack imminently against IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip, the army said on Sunday.

Terrorists in Gaza have prepared and carried out several attacks on Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip and civilians in nearby Israeli locales since a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect in October.

Hamas’s leadership in recent days called on “the Arab and Islamic nation to unite to thwart [the] aggression,” referencing the joint Israeli-American operation in Iran, which began on Feb. 28.

Hamas, which has also received Iranian support and funding, claimed the military operation “aims to reshape the region according to the occupation’s [Israel’s] aspirations to establish ‘Greater Israel’ at the expense of Arab and Islamic lands.”

The IDF Spokesperson did not say whether the two terrorists were hit.

Israel has struck about 60,000 targets in Gaza and destroyed roughly 25 percent of Hamas’s tunnel network, while maintaining control of about 53 percent of the territory under the October 2025 ceasefire arrangements, according to Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
Two IDF soldiers KIA fighting Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon
Two lsrael Defense Forces troops have been killed battling Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Sunday afternoon.

One of the fallen soldiers was named as Sgt. 1st Class Maher Khatar, from the Golan Heights Druze village of Majdal Shams. He served as a combat engineering heavy equipment operator, the military stated.

According to Israel’s Ynet outlet, the two soldiers were killed by mortar fire or an anti-tank missile during defensive operations at a military position in Southern Lebanon, when a combat engineering force that included two D9 bulldozers went to extract a Puma armored personnel carrier that had become stuck.

During the rescue operation, one of the D9 bulldozers was reportedly hit, possibly by a mortar that struck a fuel tank or by a missile, resulting in the deaths of the two soldiers.

“In the incident in which Sgt. 1st Class Maher Khatar, of blessed memory, fell, another soldier also fell,” the army said. “His name has not yet been cleared for publication and will be published at a later time.”

In addition, a combat officer who sustained light wounds was evacuated for medical treatment in Israel. His family was informed, the IDF added.

The death toll among Israeli troops since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border terrorist massacre now stands at 926, according to IDF figures.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Beirut on Saturday to act swiftly against Hezbollah or else “Lebanon as a whole will pay the full price.”


Six wounded in Iranian missile assault on central Israel
Six people were injured, one seriously, in an Iranian ballistic missile attack targeting Israel’s densely-populated central region on Sunday afternoon, according to medical officials.

A second missile barrage launched about 30 minutes later triggered air-raid sirens in central Israel, including Tel Aviv, but caused no casualties.

Israel’s Magen David Adom medical emergency response group said it treated six casualties, including a man his 40s in serious condition, a 25-year-old man in moderate condition and others with minor wounds.

Search and rescue forces of the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command, working together with emergency organizations, were dispatched to “impact sites in central Israel,” the military stated.

“The circumstances of the impact are under investigation,” it added.

The Israel Police announced that officers and bomb disposal units had been dispatched to “several impact sites involving projectile fragments within the central and Tel Aviv district.”

Police called on all Israelis “to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command, remain in protected spaces as required, avoid approaching the scenes, and not to touch or handle any debris that may contain explosive material.”

In a separate incident, two people were injured, including one seriously, when a truck driver collided with a private car on Route 5, the Trans-Samaria Highway, during a missile attack, per Magen David Adom.


A WEEK OF WAR AGAINST IRAN’S REGIME with Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus
A WEEK OF WAR AGAINST IRAN’S REGIME: After a week of conflict between the US, Israel, and the Iranian regime, join us for an urgent update on the latest Special Briefing, broadcast from Israel. Our resident security expert, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus will explain how this unprecedented campaign is unfolding, the situation on Israel’s home front, and the wider implications for the region and the world, in conversation with StandWithUs Israel Executive Director, Michael Dickson.


Iran, October 7, and the Global Antisemitism Network | Briefing with Hussein Aboubakr Mansour
What is the connection between Iran, October 7, and the surge of global antisemitism?

In this urgent briefing hosted by the Z3 Institute, Director David Hazony is joined by Egyptian-American scholar Hussein Aboubakr Mansour to examine the ideological and financial networks shaping today’s conflicts. Their conversation explores how Iran’s regional ambitions intersect with broader movements influencing antisemitism worldwide — from revolutionary radicalism in the Middle East to the rise of the so-called “red-green alliance” in Western political spaces and universities.

Together they discuss:
• The role of Iran in shaping post-October 7 geopolitics
• How antisemitic ideology travels across political movements
• The influence of networks connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar
• Why universities have become key battlegrounds in global narrative warfare
• What a weakening of Iran could mean for the Middle East and beyond

This discussion offers historical context, intellectual analysis, and a deeper look at the forces shaping antisemitism and political radicalism today.

About Hussein Aboubakr Mansour:
Z3 Institute Adjunct Fellow Hussein Aboubakr Mansour is an Egyptian-American writer specializing in modern intellectual history. His work focuses on Arab political thought, Arab intellectual history, and the globalization of antisemitism and revolutionary radicalism. He previously served as an assistant professor of Hebrew language and culture at the Defense Language Institute and is a senior research fellow at ISGAP.




Iranian soccer team exits Women’s Asian Cup and faces tricky prospect of return home
Iran’s soccer team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war.

The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the American and Israeli February 28 strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually leave within days but organizers have not announced details for the departure of the Iran delegation.

Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea on Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. But the players sang the anthem and saluted during the national anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia on Thursday and a 2-0 loss to Philippines on Sunday.

Amid concerns for player welfare following reported criticism in the Iranian media, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in Australia.

It launched an online petition, which had more than 50,000 electronic signatures before kickoff Sunday, urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain” and also to provide independent legal advice, support and interpreters.

Iran team management and players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home during more than a week preparing for and playing games on Australia’s Gold Coast, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference last Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the conflict.

The Australian Associated Press reported late Sunday that protesters chanting “let them go” slightly delayed the departure of the Iran squad from the stadium.


Two UK crypto exchanges moved $1 b. for IRGC using fake front woman
The Iranian regime has been funneling billions of dollars’ worth of digital assets through a fictional woman in the UK, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed on Friday, following an extensive investigation.

OCCRP began investigating a woman named Elizabeth Newman (a Dominican national) who supposedly runs two UK-registered crypto exchanges, and discovered that she is a corporate fiction used as a front for a convicted embezzler whom the United States has accused of moving billions of dollars’ worth of digital assets on behalf of Iran.

Newman has UK corporate records, a promotional video, and a global footprint. However, despite a months-long search, OCCRP was unable to find any real-life individual matching the “Elizabeth Newman” persona.

An official Zedxion and Zedcex marketing video from March 2022 featured an image of a woman called “Elizabeth,” identified as the “executive director.”

However, that woman, in fact, was a stock-footage model from a video titled “Pretty Black woman talking to camera” available on Shutterstock.

Newman’s companies were listed as “dormant” in official corporate filings, but US authorities allege they were active engines for Babak Zanjani, an Iranian financier sanctioned last month for providing financial backing for major projects that support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

While Zanjani had been sentenced to death in Iran for embezzlement of state oil funds in 2016, his sentence was commuted in 2024, and in 2025, he was released.


How Hezbollah Terrorists Became “Local Residents” in the Media
However, soon after the IDF’s arrival, a firefight broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah operatives. This is precisely where international media coverage begins – and where the crucial context disappears. Hezbollah operatives are suddenly grouped in with the “civilians” or “local residents” who supposedly rushed out to defend their homes against an Israeli invasion, leaving their houses with guns to engage in battle with the IDF.

But the IDF had entered the village on a limited mission: to retrieve the remains of a fallen soldier. There was no broader offensive and no threat to civilian homes. That raises a fundamental question: why did so many outlets lead with descriptions of “residents” or “local fighters” joining Hezbollah in “defending their homes,” when their homes were clearly not under threat?

Following the ensuing battle between the IDF commandos and Hezbollah, the Israeli Air Force provided air cover through targeted strikes to ensure the safe extraction of all troops. Sadly, they were unsuccessful in locating the body of Arad.

By the time the operation ended, the Lebanese health ministry reported that 41 people had been killed and 40 wounded. Yet, when reporting these casualties, the media failed to acknowledge the obvious likelihood that many of those casualties were Hezbollah operatives – or what Sky News and AP described as “local fighters.”

The narrative that Israel intentionally killed innocent civilians was not limited to the international media but quickly spread across social media. Posts circulating online framed the operation as a reckless mission designed to target civilians with no clearly defined operational purpose. This is despite the IDF’s clear intention to limit civilian harm while preserving the dignity of all soldiers, no matter how long ago they fell in battle.

A complete understanding of events on Friday night reveals a limited Israeli operation aimed at recovering the remains of a missing soldier, and the IDF taking every measure to avoid clashes. The battle that followed was a result of Hezbollah fighters and supporters remaining in the village and engaging in battle with Israeli troops.

Hezbollah’s strategy of embedding its infrastructure and operatives within civilian areas has long blurred the line between civilians and combatants, resulting in armed terrorists who attack Israeli forces being framed in media coverage as innocent “local residents.” The IDF’s operation in Nabi Chit and the ensuing battle illustrate this strategy in full, exposing just how effectively Hezbollah has manipulated the media.


NYPD confirms explosive thrown against anti-Muslim protest near Mamdani residence
The New York Police Department confirmed on Sunday that a suspect deployed an improvised explosive device against an anti-Muslim protest the previous day.

The device failed to detonate and there were no injuries.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement that the NYPD bomb squad determined that an incendiary device deployed at the protest was “not a hoax device or a smoke bomb,” but “an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.”

A second incendiary device deployed at the protest is being investigated, Tisch said.

She named the two suspects arrested at the scene as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi.

The NYPD is investigating alongside the federal US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI, Tisch said.

The NYPD also said on Sunday that officers had evacuated some buildings in the area of the protest due to a “suspicious device in a vehicle.”

On Saturday afternoon, a group of around 20 anti-Muslim protesters gathered near Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is Muslim.


Toronto’s synagogue attacks show how anti-Israel campaigning can quickly become violent
Two Toronto synagogues, Beth Avraham Yoseph in Thornhill and Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in North York, were both damaged by gunfire on Friday night, fewer than five days after Temple Emanu-El in Toronto was targeted in a shooting.

“These cowardly assaults on houses of worship are abhorrent acts of violence that strike at the heart of our shared values,” the Israeli embassy said, adding that the attacks were part of a “troubling global pattern of antisemitic violence and intimidation.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was “disgusted” by the targeted shootings, calling them “cowardly acts of hate meant to intimidate and instill fear.”

“Antisemitism has no place in Ontario. We will never waver in our support for Canada’s Jewish community,” he said.

Chief of Police Myron Demkiw called firearm discharges at synagogues “appalling,” saying that the Toronto Police Service handles such incidents with the “utmost seriousness.”

Police are increasing their presence in the area, and the Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force and Hate Crime Unit were brought in to support 33 Division in the investigation.

Both the synagogues targeted on Friday had been singled out by anti-Israel campaigns and campaigners for their pro-Israel stances. They were also featured on a list of “Zionist institutions” curated by Davide Mastracci of The Maple.


Israeli defense tech company SmartShooter begins trading on TASE
Israeli defense-tech company SmartShooter launched trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) on Thursday at a valuation of NIS 900 million, marking one of the year's most notable defense-sector initial public offerings. The listing comes a week into Operation Roaring Lion (aka Epic Fury), launched by Israel and the US against Iran.

SmartShooter, best known for its AI-powered SMASH fire-control systems, raised NIS 200m. in new capital as part of the offering, following demand totaling NIS 472.5m. Existing shareholders sold an additional NIS 60m. in a secondary offering. The IPO was underwritten by Rosario Underwriting and Phoenix Underwriting.

The company’s shares began trading under the ticker SMSH.

Michal Mor, SmartShooter’s co-founder and CEO, described the IPO as a pivotal moment for the company, saying that the company’s listing on TASE was “a significant milestone in our journey to bring proven precision-hit capabilities to the battlefield. We are grateful to our investors for their trust in our vision and business strategy. We intend to use the proceeds from this IPO to accelerate our global expansion, establish local assembly lines in the US and Europe, and maintain our technological edge through increased R&D [research and development].”

Mor also addressed the national mood amid the ongoing war with Iran, adding that the company aims “to strengthen the hands of IDF soldiers and security forces, wishing for their safe return home.”


Herzog honors women on International Women’s Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid tribute on Sunday to women in Israel’s security, emergency response and public services, posting a video message on X in honor of International Women’s Day.

“Brave and impressive women lead the way in every field,” Herzog wrote, highlighting female firefighters and others who “dedicate their lives to saving lives and protecting public safety.”

Herzog called for greater female representation in both frontline roles and leadership positions, saying it would benefit “society and the country as a whole.”




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