📹The Houthis showcased the Yafa barrage munition, which was launched in the direction of Israel's Tel Aviv last week.

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❗️Joe Biden reportedly required emergency medical care during a trip to Las Vegas last week, Dossier reported.

After receiving a signal about Biden’s condition, intelligence services surrounded the local medical center to prepare for the president’s arrival, but Biden’s team decided to refuse hospitalization.

The publication writes that a simple positive test for Covid would not be the basis for such a reaction.

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Сyprus as a hub for military bases

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled his country’s readiness to build a naval base in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), accusing rival Greece of seeking to create a similar base of its own on the island.

🔸Erdogan told reporters that “if necessary,” Ankara “can construct a naval base and naval structures in the north” of Cyprus, in a nod to the territory of the TRNC, a breakaway state proclaimed by Turkish Cypriots in 1983 and only recognized by Turkiye.

🔸Ankara currently maintains its Gecitkale Air Base (Lefkoniko Airport) in northern Cyprus, amid reports about Turkiye’s new strategy, which “involves transforming the Lefkoniko into a significant military base, alongside planned bases in Bogazi and Karpasia, all falling under the Turkish Naval Forces.”

🔸The Greek Cypriot administration earlier announced plans to build a naval base near the southern Cyprus village of Mari with Greece's support, which Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas called a long-term project aimed at "offering services to friendly countries."

🔸Сyprus is also home to the UK’s Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory, which includes two large military bases and installations, created under the London and Zurich Agreements in 1960, when Cyprus achieved independence from the British Empire. The deals stipulated that the UK, along with Greece and Turkiye, was a guarantor of independence, territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Cyprus.

🔸Cyprus has been de facto partitioned into Greek and Turkish portions since Ankara’s military operation in the island in 1974, which was triggered by a coup staged by those calling for the island to become part of Greece. The UN-mediated negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus, which have been underway since the island's partition, finally came to a standstill in 2017.

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🇬🇪 Georgia's State Security Service has arrested suspects it accuses of plotting a terrorist attack against the founder and honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party Bidzina Ivanishvili and other senior officials of the party, according to the Georgian TV channel Imedi.

The suspects have been questioned in court for several days, and it turns out most of them were mercenaries who fought in Ukraine. “Yes, Bidzina Ivanishvili,” answered Gela Kakhabrishvili, who fought in Ukraine, when asked who the target was, according to the TV channel,

Kakhabrishvili also reportedly confessed that a terrorist attack was being prepared against other high-ranking officials during questioning in the Tbilisi City Court. At the same time, his lawyer told reporters that the preparation of a terrorist attack with the aim of overthrowing the government was being investigated.

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Not only Fatah and Hamas: A guide to Palestinian political parties

Representatives of 14 Palestinian political groups and factions signed an agreement in Beijing to create an interim reconciliation government. Usually only Fatah and Hamas appear in media outlets as the main Palestinian parties, but in fact, there are many more. Here is a brief guide on Palestine's parties and movements:

🔸Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is a coalition, which in fact rules the Palestinian administration on the West Bank. It consists of 10 groups:

◾️Fatah: social-democratic party established by Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s. Now it is led by Mahmoud Abbas and remains the largest and most dominant party in both the PLO and Palestinian administration;

◾️The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): the second largest faction and the main opposition force to Fatah in the PLO. The party poses itself as revolutionary socialist group;

◾️Fatah – Democratic Reform Bloc: a democratic wing that split from Fatah in 2016;

◾️National Democratic Assembly: a democratic party established in 2021 by Yasser Arafat’s nephew, Nasser Kidwa. He wanted to take part in Palestinian legislative elections in 2020, which were later canceled;

◾️ Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP): Marxist-Leninist party formed as an offshoot of the PFLP. The DFLP has been responsible for attacks against Israeli targets (including civilians) in Israel and the occupied territories of West Bank;

◾️ Palestine Democratic Union (FIDA): was founded in 1990 as an offshoot of the DFLP, but with social democratic reformist ideology;

◾️ Palestinian People’s Party (PPP): a Palestinian communist movement. Members of the party have repeatedly served in Palestinian Authority governments. In 2021, it announced its withdrawal from the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, where it held the labor ministry portfolio. But the threat was not implemented.

◾️The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF): the movement is close to the pan-Arab Baath socialist party, which, for example, is still the key political power in Syria but traditionally aligned itself closely with Fatah in Palestinian administration.

◾️The Palestine Popular Struggle Front (PPSF): a leftist party led by Ahmad Majdalani, ex-minister of social affairs, who is seen as a close ally of Abbas.

◾️The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC): left-wing national movement, whose leadership are mostly based in Lebanon and Syria, being supported among Palestinian refugees there.

Even though, the majority of these parties have lost their popular support base and contribute very little to politics, they are still part of the PLO and Palestinian political system in general.

🔸 The Committee of Popular Resistance group, also known as The Resistance or Islamic Resistance, is active in the Gaza Strip and includes Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Inspired by political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood* movement, these groups have controlled Gaza since 2007, isolating it from Palestinian Authority politics. In 2017, Hamas revised its political platform to distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood*. Both Hamas and PIJ have their own military wings and jointly combat the Israeli army.

🔸Others. the Fatah-Hamas struggle in 2007 led not only to political distancing between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but also to formation of several new secular parties. One of them is a liberal-democratic Third Way, which poses itself as an alternative to the two-party Hamas-Fatah leadership system. The second one is The Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), which presents itself as a democratic movement of non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation.

*Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.

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❗️The head of the US Secret Service has resigned after admitting the intelligence services' failure in preventing the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

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Hamas and Fatah's reconciliation: China solidifies its role as Mideast peace broker

"The last round of a negotiation between Fatah and Hamas to reconcile their differences and to go for a full internal reconciliation in Beijing is important," Ayman Yousef, a professor in political sciences and international relations at the Arab-American University in Palestine, tells Sputnik.

Officials from Fatah, Hamas and 12 other Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government in the Gaza Strip and West Bank during the China-brokered talks on July 23. The participants signed the Beijing Declaration on "ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity" and hold a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Hamas and Fatah, the two major Palestinian political parties, have been at odds since Hamas’ legislative victory in the Gaza Strip in 2006 which led to internal skirmishes and the subsequent expulsion of Fatah from the region in 2007.

According to Yousef, Palestinians' push to activate their political system "from inside" amid Israel's Gaza war and ethnic cleansing is a step in the right direction. He added that the development is taking place, "with the permission and approval of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas."

"Why is China active this time? Because I think it has good relations with both Fatah and Hamas. It has influence over both of them," the pundit continues. "China is trying to play a crucial role, not only in putting the Palestinians face to face around one table, but also to be more active in the whole of the Middle East and in the theater of Palestine-Israel conflict."

It's not the first time that Beijing has played a role of the regional peace broker: in March 2023, top Iranian and Saudi security officials met in Beijing to restore diplomatic ties after years of tensions.

Israel subjected the Palestinian agreement to criticism, vowing to eliminate Hamas. The US press rushed to downplay the China-brokered deal between Hamas and Fatah.

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❗️US President Joe Biden says he will address the nation at 8 PM ET tomorrow on what lies ahead and how he will finish the job for the American people.

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Top Senate and House Democratic leaders throw support behind Kamala Harris, according to majority leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

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❗️Joe Biden appeared in public for the first time since announcing his withdrawal from the election race.

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How Pentagon's 2024 Arctic Strategy invites confrontation in High North

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has released its new Arctic Strategy, claiming that the situation in the region is rapidly changing, while calling China a "pacing challenge" and Russia "an acute threat."

"The Pentagon will expand intelligence and information-sharing capabilities, work with allies and partners to contain Russia in the Arctic, and regularly conduct exercises and planned operations that have implications for defense and deterrence," Alexander Vorotnikov, a coordinator of the Expert Council of the Expert Center PORA (Arctic Development Project Office), tells Sputnik, stressing that the doctrine's approach is fraught with the risk of confrontation with Russia and China.

Although China is not an Arctic country, it plays a huge role in Arctic policy, according to the pundit.

The Pentagon's strategy also refers to the fact that Russia continues to invest in a new military infrastructure and modernize Soviet-era facilities in the region amid the special military operation in Ukraine. Meanwhile, NATO's expansion in the Arctic due to the accession of two Nordic nations – Finland and Sweden – provides new incentives for Russia's defense of its Arctic territories.

The expert continues that on July 11, the leaders of the US, Canada, and Finland announced their intent to create the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, to enhance their presence in the High North.

"This will seriously affect Russia's actions in its Arctic zone," Vorotnikov says.

In addition, the doctrine also refers to global warming as a crucial regional factor in terms of economy, security and geopolitics.

"As the ice melts, the overall strategic importance of the region changes," the expert stresses, warning about increasing regional tensions between the great powers.

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