CrossFireArabia
The Public Relations Department of The Iranian Revolutionary Guard stated that its armed forces have targeted the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a press statement it stated its: “armed forces targeted the office of the Prime Minister of the criminal entity and the site of the Israeli Air Force Commander with surprise and precise attacks using “Khaibar” missiles.
CrossFireArabia
By Ismail Al Sharif
The weak one is the fool who doesn’t know the secret of his strength – Naguib Mahfouz
During the Al-Aqsa War, while Iran was launching its missiles toward Israel, some were preoccupied with mocking them, describing them as nothing more than “fireworks.” However, the unfolding events and the passage of time proved those missiles were not a fleeting display or a celebratory scene in the sky. The proof is that US President Donald Trump demanded the end of the Iranian missile program, just as he demanded the end of its nuclear program, and even declared that destroying this missile program was among the reasons for the war.
Western and Zionist media, along with the so-called “armchair critics,” have always downplayed the Iranian missile program, claiming that these projectiles caused negligible damage to Israel in the 12-day war, most were intercepted, and those that penetrated air defenses left no significant mark. However, the truth contradicts these claims, as shown by the Israeli press and other independent sources, which explains the insistence on eliminating this program by Trump and Israeli Prime Mine Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the 12-day war, Iranian missiles reached the heart of Tel Aviv, striking hundreds of buildings, while air defenses failed to intercept dozens of these missiles. The Times of Israel reported at least 61 buildings were damaged, and six were later demolished. Haaretz reported an entire Tel Aviv neighborhood was completely destroyed. In Bat Yam, about 30 kilometers from Tel Aviv, at least 200 buildings were severely damaged by a single missile strike.
The attacks were not limited to civilian targets but extended to highly sensitive strategic sites. According to GlobalSecurity.org, citing The Telegraph and satellite radar data, the missiles directly hit several sensitive Israeli facilities, including the Tel Nof Air Base, a logistics base, and an intelligence-gathering center. According to a report published by the Israeli Ynet News, all operations at the Haifa Bay refinery were halted following a direct hit by an Iranian missile. A power station at the same site was also damaged, and three people were killed. The Military Intelligence School at the Moshe Dayan military base was also targeted. In Rehovot, about 20 kilometers from Tel Aviv, the Weizmann Institute of Science was hit, with approximately 90% of its buildings damaged. The institute’s director explained that 22 laboratories were completely destroyed and 25% of the institute’s activities were suspended. Reports indicate that the attack was deliberate due to its connection to military research.
The reality is that Israel possesses vital strategic sites within a small geographical area, an advantage that has become a fundamental vulnerability. It is certain that Iran’s missile arsenal is capable of reaching these sites, to the point where Iran might not even need a nuclear weapon to inflict widespread destruction on the entity.
What if it were able to target more sensitive facilities, such as desalination plants that provide more than 65% of the entity’s water, or oil refineries that supply industry with energy, or power plants? Then the war could be decided in a single strike. While such an escalation could expose Iran to an existential response that might even lead to its annihilation, the strategic loss it would inflict on the entity could be so immense that recovery would take years.
Therefore, analysts generally agree that Iran would be the losing party in this confrontation. However, Tehran’s missiles may hold surprises capable of turning the tables and changing the course of the war. Despite the series of assassinations targeting senior Iranian military leaders, including the Supreme Leader and Chief of Staff, and despite American and Israeli claims of having destroyed a large number of ballistic missile launch sites, Tehran appears confident, as if it is concealing cards yet to be played. If this is true, the confrontation could spiral out of control and defy all calculations.
This piece first appeared in the Arabic Addustour daily.
CrossFireArabia
American TV host Tucker Carlsom has written on X: “I wish I lived among people who pray to God five times a day…”
In his post on the social media website it was written he recently defended Muslims on his programs. He hosted Christian who affirmed that Muslims love and believe in Jesus Christ (peace be upon him as well as his mother Mary (peace be upon her.
On facebook he pointed out that the Quran contains an entire chapter named after Mary (peace be upon her), demonstrating her exalted status in Islam. Carlson also refuted the false narratives circulating in the West that Muslims are enemies of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him).
CrossFireArabia
The whole Muslim world— 2 billion people—start fasting just before the sun raises to sun-down as commitment to God and his commands. The Sohour of eating before the sun raise is a religious ritual, designed to give us the strength to carry on the day till sundown when we break the fast.
Ramadan is a commitment to God, one of whose characteristics is to feel with the poor and hungry and realize the Almighty has bestowed upon you greater material things you should appreciate and not over-indulge in or use in excess.
We try to apply the teachings of the Quran and Islam during the holy month, and not indulge in over-eating after the breaking of the fast, but I suppose like anybody else we are guilty of not sufficiently feeling with the poor, despite the fact it is rife, and you see them everywhere men, women and children holding their hand out to you in the street and coming to your shop and asking for money.
But, this is human nature, the way we have been molded, from the day we were first conceived in the womb, that’s why Islam came to us as a source of spiritual salvation, as enlightenment, a methodology, a way of thinking, and a way of life to be connected to God.
I like Ramadan, because for one whole month our lives appear to be turned upside down. Our eating habits change, our sleeping habits change, we start praying on a regular basis, and maybe hear the word of God more often on our lips than we usually do in any other part of the year. Many start praying, the regular five times a day routine.
We are supposed to stop indulging in idle talk and stop talking about other people behind their backs and just keep to one self in spiritual solitude, praying to and thinking about the connection that binds us to God. In Islam, we are constantly told through the Koran to think how we are made, think of the universe, the earth and the skies, and ponder on the vastness and the extraordinary ability of that omnipotent being and examine that eclectic relations where we are supposed to obey commands, and are intrinsically related to the wishes of God, but at the same time have the freewill to make our decisions, and reach conclusions of our own.
I like Ramadan because we don’t spend much, we cut down on our spending habits, we eat what’s in the fridge, and that includes the leftovers, we eat lots of salad, or fatoush (bread and salad) and Qatayeef (small velvety bread with almonds or cheese and sugar) for sweetners, but try not to indulge, buy lots of Qamar Din (apricot drink ) for instance to prevent thirst.
My wife keeps telling me we are not representative of other people, who engage in a spending spree of over-buying food that necessarily goes to waste. We try to stick to basics, although consumption booms during the holy month.
We do however continue to drink Pepsi or Coke with guilt complexes about not boycotting the soft drinks because of being sold freely in Israel that is still widely regarded as an occupation state.
But we try console ourselves by saying the game of boycott is bigger than us, the fizzy soft drink maybe unbearable to resist despite the fact that more and more people maybe shying away. We say it’s a great game of power politics and economics and that the road to non-violent action is long and dreary, and needs commitment. Though many people are tutning to boycott these days because of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Instead we limit our devotion to the cultural, religious and spiritual aspects of life, ideas and feelings which we feel we have control over. We like to think of Ramadan as “civilizational”, enriching our soul, with good things in life ones that would please God. In themselves these are deep fulfilling issues but are they enough when so many things are wrong in this world!
Good for the tummy!
Ramadan has practical aspects as well. It is actually good for the stomach, it’s healthy, by a process of denial we are actually enriching our body. By ceasing to eat for one month, you are giving your stomach a rest, from the constant chewing and churning of food, from the everyday wants of avarice, indulging in unnecessary needs and unwanted desires.
As human beings, we constantly drive our selves beyond bodily needs, we eat, drink and copulate in excess, without realizing the damage we are doing to ourselves, our liver, intestines, heart and blood circulation.
In Ramadan our body clock sort of eases down, developing a slower pace to relax and push its muscles in the way it wants, by fasting we are in fact protecting our circulation system, stopping our hands from reaching for the cup of coffee all the time or the pack of cigarettes, from munching from the fridge at all hours of the day. Ramadan is about developing will-power and instituting a method to our life.
In Ramadan the focus shifts from superfluous wants to spiritual needs, with the net result of rejuvenating our bodies both physically and spiritually. Of course as Muslims, we need to increase that spirituality through constant prayers and the utterance of God on our lips which demands a certain amount of will-power to forego immediate pleasures like watching the television and Arabic soap operas which tend to be plenty of in Ramadan. We unfortunately fall guilty to these whims!
If we are fasting for strictly religious reasons, rather than those who just abstain for customary and social reasons—which is the case for quite a lot people—we don’t feel as hungry as the others because there is a purpose, objective and a goal in our fast.
Hunger and thirst is deflected through religious reverence, prayer and ablution that refreshes our very being and increases our will power to help our fellow-beings while devoting our mind, body and soul to a higher being, God.
Ramadan increases our spiritual perception, makes us more pious and in some cases humble. Ramadan lowers our threshold of selfishness, greed, individualism, immediate family interests. It makes the need for togetherness, collectiveness, know the needs of thy neighbor and extend a helping hand that much more greater.
Ramadan is about helping to build the nation and make it strong by making its communities wield together, it’s about kin and folk rather than parochialism and isolationism.
This article was piblished was published on the hackwriters website in 2007.
CrossFireArabia
Conservative US podcaster Tucker Carlson and his staff were briefly detained by Israeli security officials Wednesday shortly after he conducted an interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the Daily Mail reported.
Carlson had traveled to Tel Aviv for a sit-down with Huckabee, who had challenged him to an in-person conversation following an online dispute over Israel’s treatment of Christians.
Shortly after the interview, Israeli airport security confiscated the group’s passports and took Carlson’s executive producer into a separate room for questioning, the Daily Mail reported.
“Men who identified themselves as airport security…demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson told the outlet. “It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”
A US Embassy spokesperson in Israel pushed back on the account, saying Carlson had not been detained and had instead gone through routine passport control, the same process applied to “countless visitors to Israel, including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats.”
The Daily Mail said it reached out to both the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office for comment but received no immediate response.
