What is known about Russian TOS-2 thermobaric launcher and what makes it so fearsome

This week, the world got acquainted with a new addition to Russia’s already formidable military arsenal, which strikes fear into the hearts of enemy combatants unfortunate enough to find themselves in its crosshairs.

A new video recently released by the Ministry of Defense shows the deployment of Russia's TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system in the Ukraine conflict zone, where this weapon has already wiped out an entrenched Ukrainian troop formation.

So what exactly is the TOS-2, and what makes it so dangerous to enemy infantry and lightly armored vehicles?

Check out here

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🇺🇸🇻🇪 The US Department of Treasury announced in a press release it issued a six month waiver easing US sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas industry.

"Treasury today: issued a six month general license temporarily authorizing transactions involving the oil and gas sector in Venezuela," the release said on Wednesday. "The license will be renewed only if Venezuela meets its commitments under the electoral roadmap as well as other commitments with respect to those who are wrongfully detained."

Moreover, the US Treasury issued a license authorizing dealings with Venezuelan state-owned gold mining company Minerven and removed secondary trading ban on certain Venezuelan sovereign bonds, PDVSA debt and equity, the release added.

The United States is providing partial sanctions relief in response to the agreement reached between the Venezuelan government and opposition on the holding of the presidential election in 2024.

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Promoting Unity & Inclusion: BRICS Games 2023 Kick Off in Durban, South Africa

The 2023 BRICS Games kicked off on Wednesday in the picturesque coastal city of Durban in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.

Sputnik Africa has asked Sumayya Khan, the chairperson of the 2023 BRICS Games' management board and deputy director-general of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture of South Africa, to provide an insight into the momentous multi-sport event.

👉 Read the full story!

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Jordan will not allow mass displacement of the Palestinian population to the country and will not let Israel expand the crisis into Jordan, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Wednesday.

"We will never allow population transfer from Palestine into Jordan," Safadi told US media. "And that will just take the conflict into a whole new dimension that will be dangerous and disastrous for the whole area ... We will not allow Israel to transfer the crisis to Jordan."

Any attempt to move the Palestinian population to Jordan while neither Palestinians nor Jordanians want that could only expand the area of the conflict or even cause another one, the Jordanian foreign minister added.

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❗️ Russia-DPRK relations have reached a qualitatively new, strategic level after the summit between Putin and Kim Jong-un - Sergey Lavrov

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Thanks to the efforts of Russia and China, energy cooperation between the countries has acquired a comprehensive and large-scale character, Xi Jinping said.

The Chinese leader added that energy cooperation between Russia and China has played an active role in ensuring the energy security of the two countries and the whole world.

China is ready to cooperate with the Russian Federation to improve the sustainability of supply chains in the energy sector, he concluded.

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While Biden was away in Washington on a short visit to Israel, US Vice President Kamala Harris, on behalf of the administration, promised to protect fellow citizens of all kinds: "men, women and people."

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The questions posed by Russia to the United States and Ukraine about their military biological program remain unanswered and need to be addressed, Russian Foreign Ministry Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Deputy Director Kosntantin Vorontsov stated.

Vorontsov pointed out that Russia has provided a "mass of evidence" regarding the US military biological program and emphasized that the facts regarding its implementation in Ukraine with the support of the Defense Department and affiliated entities requires close attention.

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EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Joseph Borrell voiced hope on Wednesday that an EU military capacity planning and control body will start operating in 2024-2025.

"I like to talk about more concrete things and I hope that in 2024-25 we will be able to launch the work of a military capacity planning and control body. We are not talking about the creation of a general staff [in Europe], it is not that ambitious, but in general, it is in reference to this," Borrell said at the European Parliament Plenary.

He added that the body is aimed at controlling independent operations conducted, in particular, in inhospitable circumstances for protecting European interests.

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🇺🇸 US Army is weaker than at any time in the last 50 years and will lose in the war in the Middle East if Russia, China and Turkey are involved in it. Such an opinion was expressed by Tucker Carlson in his program.

"The stakes are much higher than many Americans think. It's easy to imagine that some other countries will be drawn into the conflict between Israel and Hamas. These countries include Russia, Iran, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf countries and possibly many others."

According to him, some countries may support Israel and US, but the majority of the sides involved in the conflict will have a stance hostile to Washington.

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🇷🇺Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov commented on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

◾️"As for the Gaza Strip, the risk of this crisis escalating into a region-wide conflict is quite serious"

◾️"We are observing attempts to blame everything on Iran and we consider them quite provocative. The Iranian leadership, I believe, takes a fairly responsible, balanced position and is calling for preventing this conflict from spreading to the entire region and neighboring countries"

◾️"We are in contact with Turkish colleagues on the initiative for Middle East settlement. Russia is in commitment to any approach based on a balance of interests"

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Caracas is ready for a new stage of relations with Washington, Venezuelan President Maduro said following the US Treasury Department's announcement of a partial easing of US sanctions on the country's oil and gas industry.

"Let's restore a relationship of respect, cooperation for the sake of peace, coexistence of the entire Western Hemisphere, the entire American and Caribbean continent. This is my message to the decision-makers, those in power and the US government. We are ready, as he always wanted, for a new stage of relations with US - respect, equality and progress," Maduro stated.

Earlier, the US Department of Treasury issued a six-month waiver easing US sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas industry, which will be renewed only if Venezuela meets its commitments under the electoral roadmap.

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Deadly Assault on Gaza Hospital Raises Grave Humanitarian Concerns

🇵🇸 Over 500 killed in attack on Al-Ahli hospital in southern Gaza. Residential buildings targeted in Rafah and Khan Yunis, resulting in 80 Palestinian deaths. Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis overwhelmed with victims, mostly children.

💬 Director General for Administrative Affairs of the Ministry of Health of Gaza Mahmoud Hammad told Sputnik: "We are facing significant challenges in supplying medicines and diesel fuel to al Shifaa Hospital and other healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip. The situation is rapidly approaching a humanitarian catastrophe, posing a mortal danger to patients in intensive care units, including young children."

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🇮🇱🇵🇸 The latest news on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

◾️ Palestinian Health Ministry claimed over 800 people were killed in a powerful explosion near the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza;

◾️The head of the European Hospital of Gaza, Dr. Yusuf El-Akkad, told Sputnik that Gaza hospitals are not able to provide adequate treatment to the injured and are waiting for the humanitarian corridor opening to evacuate the victims outside the enclave;

◾️IDF continue to launch massive air and sea strikes on the Gaza Strip;

◾️One of the strikes killed Iman Nofal, commander of the central division of Hamas;

◾️Israeli army fighter jets struck the head of the military branch of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees;

◾️Hamas shelled Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rishon LeZion and Holon, most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defenses;

◾️There were several clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Israeli border;

◾️There were several clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah on the Lebanese-Israeli border;

◾️The situation remains difficult in the southern Gaza Strip, where the Rafah border crossing remains closed;

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🤔 ChatGPT, when asked whether Israelis deserve justice, responds that it is a fundamental right of all individuals. But when asked whether Palestinians deserve justice, it offers a long text which says that it is a "controversial" issue.

Actually, ChatGPT generates answers based on Internet public data. That is, in general, a brief summary of Western outfit articles on the current conflict escalation.

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Biden on missile strike at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza:

"I’m not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it… They gotta learn how to shoot straight."

Oh, well...

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