No place in Israel will be safe from Hezbollah’s attacks in case of a large scale war - Hassan Nasrallah

Here are the statements of the Hezbollah leader's televised address:

🔸 If war is "imposed" on Lebanon, Hezbollah will fight with "no rules, no ceilings," Hassan Nasrallah said.

🔸 Cyprus will become part of the war if it keeps allowing Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises and Hezbollah will "deal with it", Nasrallah threatened Cyprus for the first time.

🔸 Israel must stop military action in Gaza if it wants to reach a ceasefire with Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, the chief added.

🔸 Israel evacuated many of its military sites on the border with southern Lebanon.

🔸 Nasrallah didn't rule out storming the Galilee.

🔸 Israeli forces are afraid of escalation that strongly affects the Gaza front and forces them to save ammunition.

🔸 Hezbollah followed a strategy of blinding the IDF by targeting Israeli technical equipment, radars, and balloons.

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The Gaza Pier: Biden’s humanitarian show-off that failed

Touted as a symbol of American generosity in President Biden’s State of the Union address, the American floating pier off the Gaza shore is out of service most of the time and fails to replace land routes as a way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza’s starving population, the WSJ has written. It was badly prepared, even though problems were easy to foresee, the outlet continues.

The giant pier, brought off the coast of Virginia to Gaza by the efforts of more than 1,000 US troops and several US Navy vessels, started operating on May 17 and has been a source of bad news ever since.

🔹 During the month that passed since the pier was attached it was in service for no more than 10 days for various reasons.

🔹 It was damaged several times by rough seas and three US soldiers were injured working on it. There were periods when parts of the pier were “towed to Israel” for long repairs. The Pentagon later promised that aid operations would resume after the pier was “reattached.”

🔹 There were reports that the platform was used in a recent Israeli raid during which several Israeli hostages were freed, but scores of Palestinians killed. The NYT quotes the US military as confirming there was “helicopter activity” near the pier. However, it denied the military use of the pier.

🔹 The pier only serves the purpose of “making it look like the US is doing something for the civilian population,” Responsible Statecraft wrote, pointing to the fact that US aid to Gaza seems badly organized and inefficient.

🔹 The pier operation was initially conceived, according to the NYT, as just a “stopgap measure” before Israel opens land routes for aid, and sought to appear as “humanitarian cover” for Biden’s support of Israel.

🔹 US humanitarian efforts in Gaza became notorious when aid boxes killed five people in the Shati refugee camp in March.

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Canada has designated the elite units of the Iranian Armed Forces, the IRGC, a terrorist organization

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How innovative are ‘new’ Western weapons that may soon be tested in Ukraine?

Rheinmetall’s grand idea to produce a new type of air defense system by mounting a Skyranger 35 turret on a Leopard 1 tank chassis can hardly be called an innovation, says Alexei Leonkov, Russian military analyst and editor of Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Fatherland) magazine.

Mounting an anti-air weapon system on a tracked chassis helps improve the mobility of said weapon, he explains, noting that, for example, Russian Tor short-range air defense systems can be mounted on both tracked and wheeled chassis.

Regarding Rheinmetall’s decision to produce this type of hardware in Ukraine, Leonkov says it is directly related to the fact that Ukrainian forces are the only ones who currently need such weapon systems.

At the same time, he argues that such measures are unlikely to help the Kiev regime challenge Russia’s air superiority in the conflict zone, simply because Kiev’s Western backers cannot supply the required amount of air defense systems.

“Maybe they will learn to shoot down drones, Geraniums or something,” Leonkov remarks. “But as soon as they get something that proves to be effective, we will switch tactics and tools. We will not lose the initiative, that is.” The new brainchild of Rheinmetall and Lockheed Martin, a wheeled rocket artillery system called GMARS, is no innovation either, Leonkov says.

Essentially, the two defense contractors took an M270 MLRS – a weapon system introduced in the 1980s that features two rocket pods mounted on tracked chassis – and swapped tracked chassis for wheels.

While a “four-axle German truck” does cost less than MLRS tracked chassis, that is no innovation, just a way to make this weapon cheaper, he notes.

“Ukraine has long become a testing range where the enemy tests various weapons and military hardware that either end up in US and NATO countries’ rearmament programs or disappear forever,” he adds.

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BRICS Games' tennis competition a success— president of the Russian Tennis Federation

"It is nice to realize that there is development in the form of increasing the number of countries. I think this endeavor will expand and will have a favorable effect on our sport," the President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev stated.

The BRICS Games are held from June 12 to 23 in Kazan at 16 sports venues, with around 5,000 athletes from more than 90 countries competing in 387 medal events.

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Jeff Monson converted to Islam on Eid al-Adha during a solemn reception in Moscow

In 2013, the famous mixed martial arts fighter moved to Russia, received Russian citizenship five years later, and 5 years after that ceased to be a US citizen. He now lives in Russia's city of Ufa.

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⚡️Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam on a two-day state visit.

The plane with the Russian leader aboard landed in the Hanoi International Airport, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

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🎥🎥 Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in Vietnam

Join the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website

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📹 Putin arrives in Vietnam on official visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Hanoi, the capital Vietnam, on June 19.

During his official visit, Putin is expected to hold meetings with top Vietnamese government officials, including the country’s Prime Minister Pham Mihn Chinh and President To Lam, to discuss various important political and economic issues.

The Russian president’s trip, which takes place right after his visit to North Korea, is scheduled to conclude on June 20.

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◻️ Putin and Kim hold ‘impressive' and 'healthy' meeting amid Western 'propaganda mill'

◻️ Military-political alliance between Russia and N Korea challenges US hegemony in Northeast Asia

◻️ What should you know about the North Korean-Russian border?

◻️ Putin pays visit to Vietnam. Here's what we know

◻️ Releasing drone footage of Haifa shows Hezbollah knows where to strike Israel if war breaks out

◻️ The Gaza Pier: Biden’s humanitarian show-off that failed

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Finland to extract ‘leftovers’ in attempt to replace Russian uranium

“If you ask me whether Finland can replace the export of uranium from Russia, becoming an exporter to the European market itself, I will say no, it won’t succeed... The mine, where uranium plans to be extracted, is actually a mine of nickel. Uranium was seen there as a byproduct,” Alexey Anpilogov, a political scientist and expert in the field of nuclear energy, tells Sputnik.

In recent efforts to cut energy ties with Russia, Finnish mining company Terrafame announced that it has started to extract natural uranium at the Sotkamo mine. The company says it makes Finland the only EU member producing uranium.

Terrafame decided to use uranium “leftovers” they gathered after processing nickel deposits, Anpilogov explains. This business plan, that will require hundreds millions of dollars to modernize the mining site, could give the country around 200 tons of uranium per year for about 30 years. This amount of uranium won't even be enough for Finland's own needs, the expert says, letting alone uranium export to the European market.

Likewise, Russia possesses technology to extract useful components and dispose of dangerous ones. “Neither Finland nor other EU countries, with the exception of France, currently possess such technology,” Anpilogov points out.

Over the past five years, the cost of uranium has increased by 233%, Bloomberg reports. The growth shows the turn to nuclear energy. Anpilogov attributes it to the fact that nuclear energy is one of the cheapest types of electricity production. The example of Germany that abandoned nuclear energy for green initiatives was “sobering,” as the country witnessed huge electricity bills have to be paid by ordinary people.

“Now we see a renaissance of the nuclear power industry, which began in the third world countries, where there were no such political illusions at all, [that are] now in the countries of the European Union and the United States,” Anpilogov concludes.

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Why Hezbollah would be a much harder nut to crack for Israel than Hamas

While Israel already finds itself in a serious predicament trying to battle Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it may find itself facing a much more serious adversary if Tel Aviv does decide to wage war against Lebanese movement Hezbollah.

🔶 Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah commands a sizeable arsenal that includes rocket artillery, mortars, anti-tank and anti-ship missiles and even air defense systems.

🔶 The military wing of the Hezbollah numbers in the thousands, with the exact figure being hard to estimate based on open sources alone.

🔶 That said, Hezbollah is not a strictly military entity but rather a political movement that holds considerable sway over Lebanon and has been described on more than a single occasion as a “state within a state.”

🔶 Foreign Policy also warns that Hezbollah may have developed its own tunnel network, akin to the one Hamas has in Gaza, which could be much more extensive than the Palestinian group’s network.

🔶 Also, while the Gaza Strip is a relatively small enclave, Hezbollah has a lot more room in Lebanon to construct multi-layered defenses that may take a serious toll on the attacking Israeli forces.

While the Gaza Strip is effectively cut off from the rest of the world by Israeli blockade, experts claim Israel would likely be unable to completely isolate Lebanon and Hezbollah would be able to receive support from abroad if Tel Aviv invades.

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Erdogan is reportedly expected to discuss Ukraine with Putin on sidelines of Astana SCO summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Kazakhstan's Astana from July 3-4 and discuss the Ukraine conflict, bilateral agenda and the construction of a gas hub in Turkiye, Turkish broadcaster Habeturk has reported, citing sources.

The broadcaster reported that Erdogan will continue state visit after Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, and the first stop will be Kazakhstan. Erdogan was invited to the SCO summit in Astana as Turkiye is a "dialogue partner" of the international organization. The Turkish president is expected to discuss Turkiye's relations with the organization's member states and hold consultations on bilateral relations, especially in energy and trade, the report cited sources as saying.

Erdogan will meet with the Russian president on the sidelines of the summit as well, the broadcaster reported. The Turkish and Russian leaders are expected to discuss the Ukraine conflict, the expansion of the Black Sea grain initiative, the latest situation in the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the gas hub and the election initiative of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, banned in Turkiye as a terrorist organization) and the People's Defense Units (YPG) in northern Syria, sources told the broadcaster.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that Putin and Erdogan may meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit if the Turkish president travels to Astana. He added that the meeting "is really overdue, and this is understood both in Moscow and Ankara."

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Ukrainian drone crashed on private house in Russia's Kuban, killed one person

A drone has crashed on a private house in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia's Krasnodar Territory, destroying the house and killing one person as a result, the region's operational headquarters said.

"On the night of June 20, Slavyansk-on-Kuban was attacked by the Kiev regime. According to the information from the PSAP [Public Safety Answering Point] in the Slavyansk district, a drone crashed on a private house, and it was completely destroyed. All operational and emergency services are working on the site, removing the rubble. According to preliminary information, there is a fatal casualty," the HQ said on Telegram.

Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed on Telegram that a female resident of Slavyansk-on-Kuban was killed in the incident. He instructed local authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the family of the deceased person.

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