🇮🇱🇺🇸 Israel has asked the US to replenish their arsenal of missile interceptors for the Iron Dome air defense system, an American newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his part, informed reporters that Israel had presented a number of specific requests, without providing further details on the nature of these requests.

Tal Naim, a spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, concurred with him, stating that they “do not comment on the [Jewish state’s] army needs that are discussed with the US.''

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🗣 American weapons transferred to Ukraine are probably now in the Middle East and are being used in horrific massacres, according to Florian Philippot, the leader of France's Euroskeptic party The Patriots.

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US presidential candidate Nikki Haley appears to call for a genocide against Palestinians on live television

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The Russian Defense Ministry's latest briefing on US military biology:

▪️ Priority areas for program implementation are the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Ukraine, and Africa.

▪️ Third-party contractors, intermediaries and NGOs are used to cover clients (State Department, Pentagon, FBI, CIA) and research purposes (military biological work).

▪️ Illegal experiments were also carried out in the United States itself, in particular in California - information on this from the Russian Ministry of Defense became the reason for proceedings at the level of the US Congress.

▪️ Against the background of leaks and fear of publicity, the Pentagon proposed the creation of a closed library of scientific publications on the subject, in particular on increasing the lethality of smallpox.

▪️ "Unconditional deterrence of adversaries" from using weapons of mass destruction against the United States and its allies has become one of the points of the new U.S. national strategy.

▪️ To strengthen the biological weapons non-proliferation regime, Russia proposes supplementing the international Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) with legally binding norms - the US opposes this.

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❗️ LIVE NOW: Russian FM Lavrov and Arab League chief Aboul Gheit hold protocol meeting in Moscow

Join the live stream here or follow this link to Sputnik's website

Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ The Kremlin is following with concern the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; this situation is potentially dangerous in its expansion.

▪️ The situation must be brought back to a peaceful direction as soon as possible, a continuation of the spiral of violence is fraught with danger for the region.

▪️ Russian diplomats in Israel are making very energetic efforts, working around the clock, while there is no information about the injured Russians.

▪️ Russia is in contact with the Palestinian authorities, many Russians live there.

▪️ On the impact of events in Israel on the special military operation: it is an independent process, everything is going according to plan.

▪️ The trend towards a decrease in the supply of Western weapons to Kiev is inevitable, money tends to run out, new needs arise.

▪️ At the moment Putin does not have contacts with the leaders of Israel and Palestine on his schedule, but if necessary they can be quickly organized.

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⚡️ The escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine confirms that the current status quo in the region is ineffective, Russian FM Lavrov says

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🤔 Donald Trump Jr. drew attention to American-made M4 assault rifles in the hands of Palestinians on X (formerly Twitter)

Trump Jr. wondered if these machine guns could be among the 70,000 automatic machine guns that Washington left behind for the Taliban* when it abandoned its positions in Afghanistan.

*Taliban is under UN sanctions over terrorism

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❗️ The Israeli Defense Minister ordered a complete blockade of Gaza: there will be no supplies of food and energy

Weekly Ukraine conflict SITREP by Sputnik Donbass correspondent Russell Bentley (@TXDPR):

▪ Fewer Artillery Strikes Against Donetsk: The shelling has not stopped, including against civilians, but it is noticeably less than in previous weeks. The uncertainty about future arms shipments from US/NATO sources appears to have led to a more economical use of artillery and rockets, now seemingly aimed primarily at military and political targets, and reduced the usual terrorist attacks against civilians.

▪ Israel-Palestine: Ukraine is already a zombie on life support. If financial and military support diminish or stop, Russia will soon be able to walk into Kiev like a Sunday picnic, and hopefully, NATO will learn the lesson that Israel seems to be learning today. It is well worth noting that Hamas has taken more territory in Israel in 3 days than Ukraine/NATO was able to take in more than 4 months in the Donbass.

▪ Weather Changes: Last few days have been quite chilly with a fair amount of wind and rain. This will have a strong effect on the front. High winds reduce or preclude the effective use of drones, snipers and rocket artillery, rain creates mud, which inhibits the mobility of everything from armor and artillery to cars and trucks to boots in the trenches and on the ground.

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📹 The aftermath of a missile strike on the Al-Susi mosque in Al-Shati camp in northern Gaza

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📹 Aftermath of a missile attack on the Israeli city of Ashdod by Al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Hamas, which has left at least three people injured, according to a video from social media

Al-Qassam Brigades say they have also fired rockets towards Ashkelon, Tel Aviv and Sderot.

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🤔 Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. That said, it apparently failed to completely negate the Palestinian rocket barrage on Saturday

📌 Commenting on this failure, Russian military historian Yuri Knutov pointed out that while Iron Dome is a very advanced and sophisticated air defense system, it has drawbacks that can be exploited by any enemy.

▪️ А single Iron Dome battery can protect a relatively small area (about 150 square kilometers).

▪️ Iron Dome is extremely effective only when dealing with a small number of incoming targets all of which approach from the same direction.

▪️ А single Iron Dome interceptor missile costs at least $20,000 while Palestinian jury-rigged rockets – the threat Iron Dome systems usually have to deal with – cost only about $2,000-$3,000 apiece.

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IDF conducting wide-scale strikes on Hamas strategic centers in Gaza Strip

The Israeli military is conducing wide-scale strikes on strategic centers of the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the IDF said.

Meanwhile, Hamas claimed that IDF strikes killed four Israeli captives.

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❗️ LIVE NOW: Russian FM Lavrov and Arab League chief Aboul Gheit hold press conference in Moscow

Join the live stream here or follow this link to Sputnik's website

🗣️ On the US policy of waging wars all over the world in order to maintain hegemony:

“This premise that the US is working from is one of global hegemony. After the end of World War II, the US wanted to assert itself as the sole superpower on Earth, and that meant they needed to eliminate peer and near-peer competitors and they also needed to subordinate or re-subordinate a lot of these nations that had been former European or American colonies… And that is what the United States has been doing around the globe, from the Vietnam War, to Afghanistan, to Iraq, Libya, Syria, and now this conflict in Ukraine, this proxy war the US is waging against Russia in Ukraine,” Brian Berletic, ex-US Marine, independent geopolitical researcher, and writer based in Bangkok, told Sputnik.

🎧 Listen to more of Berletic’s analysis in our podcast The Critical Hour

📻 Catch us at 105.5FM, 1390AM (Washington DC) and 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1140АМ (Kansas City)

⚡️ US trying to monopolize mediation efforts in Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, Russian FM Lavrov says

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☣️ Illegal US bioresearch investigated by 🇺🇸 Congress after Russian MoD report

Nevada company Prestige Biotech's activities are being examined, Igor Kirillov, the head of radiation, chemical, and biological defense of the Russian Armed Forces, says.

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