📹 China unveils 'amphibious' underwater drone

Social media users have shared footage of a hybrid Chinese drone that can be launched underwater, has fixed wings for vertical takeoff and landing, and can land on its tail.

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Who is who in Hamas' political and military structure?

In the wake of the assassination of Hamas Politburo head Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian movement signaled it won't water down its negotiation demands. According to the Western press, Hamas has a history of replacing fallen leaders smoothly through the group’s Shura council, its main consultative body.

Who are the major leaders of Hamas?

▪️Khaled Mashal is the head of Hamas' Political Bureau abroad. He was the head of Hamas' Politburo between 1996 and 2017.

▪️Khalil al-Hayya is deputy head of Hamas’s regional Politburo in Gaza since 2017. Prior to that, he served as head of Hamas's parliamentary bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006.

▪️Nizar Awadallah is a senior member of Hamas’s Politburo since 2009.

▪️Yahya Sinwar is a member of the Politburo since 2017. He is the leader of Hamas in the Gaza strip and the founder of the Hamas security service known as Majd.

▪️Zaher Jabareen is Hamas‘ deputy leader in the West Bank, who was elected to the group’s Politburo in 2021. He is also a member of Hamas’ military branch, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB).

▪️Husam Badran is a Qatar-based senior member of Hamas’s Politburo and head of Hamas' national relations.

▪️Mohammed Deif is the leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades since 2002.

▪️Mohammed Sinwar is the commander of Hamas’ Southern Brigade and a younger brother of Yahya Sinwar.

▪️Khaled Mashal, Khalil al-Hayya and Nizar Awadallah are named by some Western and Arabic media pundits as possible replacements of Haniyeh.

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🇮🇹🌋 Etna volcano eruption from space

One of the latest eruptions of Mount Etna in Sicily was captured by satellite on August 4. The video was released by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Satellites.

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❗️Niger is immediately severing diplomatic relations with Ukraine due to its alleged aggression against Mali, a representative of the military transitional government said.

He also noted that Niamey would appeal to the UN Security Council about the aggression against Mali by Ukraine and its sponsors.

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❗️Russian air defense forces destroyed and intercepted 11 Ukrainian drones over the Russian Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh and Rostov regions overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Key statements by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an interview with Sputnik:

▪️Negotiations on the creation of a government of national unity in Palestine will begin after the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, and if the Hamas movement accepts the terms of reconciliation, the president said.

▪️General elections in the Palestinian territories will not take place until Israel ensures the participation of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, Abbas explained. "Israel is preventing this, so we decided to postpone the presidential and parliamentary elections," he added.

▪️The Palestinian authorities will appeal to international courts if Israel does not return the tax charges withheld for several months, the president warned. "In accordance with the Paris Agreements of 1994, Israel collects taxes and customs duties, and transfers them to the accounts of the Palestinian Authority," the official recalled.

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💬The attack by Ukrainian forces on Russia's Kursk region is another terrorist attack directed against the civilian population, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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❗️Russia has been waiting for the prisoners exchange between Russia and NATO countries for a year and seven months, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin told Sputnik, adding that the exchange was a landmark event for the SVR.

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Not by drones alone: Check out Russian combat robot Kuryer 

Apart from unmanned aerial vehicles, Russian troops are successfully using advanced land-based combat robotic platforms against Ukrainian forces in the special military operation zone. 

Let’s take a look at one of them, the Kuryer (Courier) modular ground-based robotic system.  

🔺The 1.4-meter-long tracked vehicle, which weighs 250 kilograms, can move at a maximum speed of 35 km/h.

🔺Control range is up to 10 km and operating time runs from 12 to 72 hours, depending on combat missions.

🔺Armament includes the 30-mm automatic grenade launchers AGS-17 with 150 rounds of ammunition, or the 12.7-mm heavy machine gun “Utyos” (Cliff) with 250 rounds of ammunition. 

🔺The platform can also be armed with disposable grenade launchers and flamethrowers. 

🔺The robot can be equipped with various electronic warfare systems.  

🔺The Kuryer, being a modular robotic system, means that it can be used as a vehicle to transport mines or cargos.

🔺Operating as combat robots, the Kuryers helped Russian forces liberate the strategic city of Avdeyevka, and the village of Berdychy, in February and May, respectively.

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❗️Russian forces struck in the Kiev region in the area of the Ukrainian arsenal and military base, where more than a thousand Ukrainian soldiers could be trained, the resistance told Sputnik.

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🇷🇺🇮🇩Russian and Indonesian sailors will hold their first ever bilateral exercises in Java on November 4-8, the commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces said.

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❗️Israel immediately informed US officials that it was behind the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, The Washington Post reported, citing sources.

White House officials reacted to the death of Haniyeh with surprise and outrage, seeing it as a serious setback in their attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the report said on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, Hamas confirmed the death of Haniyeh in an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had arrived after attending the inauguration of Iran's new president. The movement blamed Israel and the US for Haniyeh's death and said the attack would not go unanswered.

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US companies dread joint production with Ukraine

American military companies have no desire to establish joint production in Ukraine, the Defense One portal writes. 

The point is that they are concerned about corruption in Ukraine’s defense industrial base. Another stumbling block for American companies is whether they are insured against political risks — financial protection for their investments in Ukraine. 

Despite pressure from the Pentagon, American firms are more reluctant to sign contracts when compared with European ones.

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Russia understands why Mali severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine — Russian Foreign Ministry 

"Zelensky's regime condones terrorist groups breeding in Russia-friendly African states," said Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zakharova, stressing Kiev's cooperation with terrorists is not at all surprising.

"Moscow will continue to draw the attention of the international community to Ukraine's openly barbaric behavior," she added.

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Why Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield may fail to cope with looming Iran attack 

With Israel bracing for a potential coordinated attack from Iran and its allies after the assassination of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, the Jewish state’s “vaunted” Iron Dome anti-missile system may fail to provide a relevant level of protection, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported. 

Israel currently has 10 Iron Dome batteries, each containing up to 80 interceptor missiles.

▪️Although the Iron Dome successfully shot down short-range rockets launched by the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, earlier, “Iran’s and Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s capabilities are another matter,” according to the WSJ. 

▪️The Iranian military has scores of unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles that the Iron Dome “isn’t designed to stop”, the newspaper pointed out. 

▪️As for Hezbollah, the group “has an arsenal with tens of thousands of mortars, rockets and precision-guided missiles that could threaten to overwhelm” the Iron Dome, per the WSJ. 

▪️In the same vein, CNN earlier quoted an unnamed senior Biden administration official as saying that they “assess that at least some” Iron Dome batteries “will be overwhelmed” in case of Israel’s full-scale war with Hezbollah militants, who are reportedly able to fire 3,000 missiles a day. 

▪️А single Iron Dome battery is capable of protecting a relatively small area (about 150 square kilometers). Israel currently has 10 such batteries, each containing up to 80 interceptor missiles.

▪️The Iron Dome is extremely effective only when dealing with a few targets coming from the same direction, Russian military historian, Yuri Knutov, told Sputnik earlier.

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🤡Ukraine tried its best, you know the rest...

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba went to Africa to rally against Russia. However, things took a different turn and resulted in the severance of ties instead.

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Zelensky signed laws on the extension of martial law and mobilization in Ukraine till November 9.

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❗️The Russian troops, together with border guards, continued to destroy the Ukrainian formations in the border areas of the Russian Kursk region at night, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The enemy's deep advance into the territory of Russia was thwarted; its reserves in the Sumy region were defeated," the ministry noted.

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⚡️Ukrainian losses during the day of hostilities in the border areas of the Kursk region amounted to 260 militants and 50 armored vehicles, including seven tanks, the Russian MoD said.

The operation to destroy Ukrainian formations continues, the ministry stressed.

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Key statements by Russian Defense Ministry on Ukrainian attempt to break through the Russian Kursk region:

▪️Ukrainian troops' deep advance into the territory of the Russian Kursk region was prevented by air strikes, missile forces, artillery fire, and active actions of units covering the state border in the area.

▪️Ukrainian reserves were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Basovka, Zhuravka, Yunakovka, Belovody, Kiyanitsa, Korchakovka, Novaya Sich, Pavlovka, and Gorodishche of the Sumy region.

▪️Ukrainian losses during the day of hostilities amounted to 260 militants and 50 armored vehicles, including seven tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, three infantry fighting vehicles, 31 armored combat vehicles, including 12 Kozak, two Strikers, an engineering barrier vehicle, and six vehicles.

▪️Two Buk M1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile launchers, an UR-77 mine clearance unit, and an electronic warfare station were also destroyed.

▪️The operation to destroy Ukrainian formations continues.

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❗️Support for the Kursk region will be provided by every means — Vladimir Putin

The acting head of the Kursk region said that he had reported the operational situation to the Russian President at night.

The situation, according to the governor, is under control, and the removal of residents from the shelled border areas has been organized.

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