Israel prepares to for all-out war with Lebanese Hezbollah — report

The IDF plans a ground offensive that would include the capture of a buffer zone comprising a few miles of territory north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, the Economist reports, citing military sources.

Israeli forces have already deployed a second division, that was in Gaza, to the north to get ready for the operation. 

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said it had carried out mass strikes on Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon. Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem announced the group has entered a new phase of confrontation with Israel.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷Iran's IRGC orders ban on 'any type of communication devices' — report 

After the organized pager and walkie-talkies blasts in Lebanon, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has called on its members to stop using any type of communication devices, Reuters reports, citing Iranian security officials.

The media outlet also adds that the IRGC has been conducting an inspection of all devices, not only communication ones. 

Earlier, a wave of pager explosions took place in Lebanon last week, claiming the lives of 20 and wounding more than 4,500 people.

Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah have accused Israeli intelligence services of carrying out the series of coordinated explosions of electronic devices. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, although Tel Aviv has denied accusations about the deadly blasts in Lebanon so far.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Israeli warnings have been sent to Lebanese citizens, including the Information Minister, urging them to evacuate certain locations, according to local media.

Israel has carried out massive attacks on alleged Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 The footage shows an army regiment from the Chinese army's Xinjiang Military Region conducting a large-scale refuelling of military equipment in the field.

The refuelling was carried out in a single line, in two parallel lines and in a circle.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Shielding the future: Turkiye’s Akkuyu equipped with monumental protective dome

💬 "Russian and Turkish specialists have installed in working position the outer containment dome at the first power unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant under Rosatom construction in Turkey. This is the last element of the containment shell. The dome's weight is 147.6 tonnes with a diameter of 34.7 meters [113.8 feet]," the company said.

The dome will enhance the reliability and safety of the reactor building. Constructed from reinforced concrete, the outer protective shell is designed to withstand earthquakes measuring up to nine on the Richter scale. Once completed, the walls of the dome will have a thickness of 1.5 meters.

"The next construction stage will be covering the metal structure of the outer containment shell with high-strength concrete. It will allow us to commence the installation of heat removal system equipment," the design company said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukrainian forces lost up to 600 militants in the area of responsibility of the Russian Yug battlegroup.

🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

🔸The Russian Sever combat group hit the formations of two Ukrainian brigades in the Kharkov region. Ukrainian losses amounted to 105 soldiers;

🔸The Russian Tsentr battlegroup repelled nine Ukrainian counterattacks; the enemy lost up to 440 militants;

🔸Ukrainian forces lost up to 140 militants in the area of responsibility of the Russian Vostok combat group;

🔸The Russian Zapad group repelled four counterattacks of Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian losses amounted to 450 militants;

🔸Russian air defense systems shot down an ATACMS missile, a HIMARS projectile, two Hammer bombs, three Neptune missiles, and 35 drones of the Ukrainian armed forces.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

SCO matters in Asia, makes US-run QUAD look like anemic midget - analyst

“The SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] is what really matters in Asia these days, including Russia, Iran, India, most of the “Stans”, with Belarus, Afghanistan and Mongolia in the breech, while 14 other Asian and African nations are participating as observers. It makes America’s QUAD look like an anemic midget,” Jeff J. Brown, author of The China Trilogy, told Sputnik.

His comment comes on the heels of the recent QUAD summit in Delaware, which consists of Australia, India, Japan, and the US, who agreed to expand military logistics cooperation.

Japan and Australia are “loyal Yankee vassals, thus they are fully onboard” when Washington “makes demands”, Brown, who is also editor at China Rising Radio Sinoland and co-founder and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission, pointed out.

During the summit, the four also discussed the Open Radio Access Networks, which Brown said “integrate mobile and radio networks, making them compatible across platforms.”

“The real winner will be Washington, as it will be able to access undiscovered signal, communication and intelligence information from Japan, Australia and India, more than these latter may get in return. That’s how American ‘cooperation’ works,” he noted.

On China castigating the Quad for undermining regional security, Brown said that Beijing “has to protest for international and national respect, because that is a part of geopolitical sparring.”

The expert described the QUAD as something that “has always been an awkward and unnatural Cold-War-esque alignment that the US wants to use to keep Beijing on its toes.” “The QUAD is all about finding avenues to challenge China, but after this summit, I don’t think Beijing is going to lose any sleep,” Brown concluded.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

American-style freedom of speech: Europe edition

After the EU deputy asked in the chamber whether EU is "at war with Russia", and said that prolonging the war will "not help Ukrainians", his microphone was "suddenly" cut off. 

The Leader of the French Patriots Party Florian Philippot points out that the EU Parliament answered the deputy's question, saying that the EU prolongs the conflict in the name of Ukraine, which wants to join "free Europe", not Russia "where there is no freedom of speech!"

Quite ridiculous, huh?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

An Irish mercenary, Robert Deegan, who fought on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, was eliminated in Ukraine, the Irish Times reported.

Robert Deegan, 29, was born in Newbridge, Ireland, and previously served in the Defense Forces’ elite Army; his father also served in the Army Ranger Wing, the Irish Times reports.

In Ukraine, Deegan became a member of Stugna Special Unit. According to the newspaper, in October 2022, while on active duty, he was caught up in an improvised explosive attack and, as a result, lost an eye. He was evacuated and sent back to Ireland. After medical treatment, he returned to the Ukrainian frontline.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

A wave of desertion is growing in the special forces of Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk direction, Russian law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

TSMC and Samsung mull building $100 billion chip plants in UAE – report

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics are discussing the construction of huge production complexes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Wall Street Journal has quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Top executives from TSMC, one of the world’s largest chipmaker, and Samsung, a maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips, recently visited the UAE to discuss the construction of megafactories there, projects that could cost more than $100 billion to complete, according to the sources.

They added that the discussions are still in the early phases amid concerns that existing major technical and political hurdles could prod the two companies to scrap their plans.

The developments come amid growing competition between the US and China to prevail in the global chip industry, which may grow to $1.4 trillion in revenue by 2030.

According to the White House, the US currently produces roughly 10% of semiconductor-related global goods, while China accounts for at least 15%.

The Biden administration earlier required licenses for those companies that export chips to China using US tools or software, no matter where they're made in the world. China retaliated by restricting exports to the US of rare metals, such as gallium and germanium, which are used to manufacture semiconductors.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️50 people were killed and more than 300 injured as a result of today's Israeli Air Force strikes in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Emergency Center said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📄 Ukraine’s military now admits alarming surge in frontline losses, the Financial Times reports

The commander of Ukraine's 68th Brigade expressed frustration over the recent battles, describing them as "very intense" and conveying a stark image of the extensive devastation encountered by his unit.

"You can see how they are overwhelming us," he remarked while displaying footage from the front lines.

He candidly admitted that the Kursk operation has proven to be a flop and a failing ‘trade-off’.

Ukrainian forces are finding themselves seriously vulnerable to Russian attack helicopters and jets armed with glide bombs, as highlighted by a deputy commander of Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade:

▪️ “We have no air defenses here.”

▪️ “Where are our fortifications?”

▪️ “We can’t get infantry to trenches without any cover.”

Ukrainian soldiers report that many units are becoming encircled and cut off, forcing them to retreat.

"We have suffered major losses. There are more losses than before," they lament.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russia's position on the issue of conducting nuclear tests has not changed: Moscow can conduct them, but it will not if the United States abstains from them, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

He also added that Moscow recalls that the infrastructure of the nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya is in a state of full readiness as a reaction to US steps in this area.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Kalashnikov Concern presented the Alfa-E unmanned helicopter with a cargo case, which is capable of being in the air for up to an hour and 45 minutes and carrying loads weighing up to 7 kg

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israeli religious Zionists already eyeing up Gaza's land

Religious zealots of the Israeli settlement movement are contemplating land grabs in the Gaza Strip and waiting for the moment when they can "go there on the first boat with their families," Turkish broadcaster TRT has shown in its latest documentary.

"The purpose of the settlement movement is to get as close as possible to Gaza to fully observe Gaza, and to understand that from now in, Gaza will be completely Jewish!" said Daniella Weiss, a settler movement leader.

TRT's documentary states that some settlers take a boat to see the Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip from the sea, but they currently cannot reach Palestinian shore.

The Israeli settler movement is a right-wing organization whose members believe that the West Bank and Gaza Strip should belong to Israel, with ultra-religious Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich some of its most notable members.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russia’s cutting-edge ‘driverless’ truck hits the road

Today, fully autonomous trucks have officially hit the M-11 highway connecting the Russian capital of Moscow and the northern city of St. Petersburg. The launch of this milestone in traffic innovation has been put on display at the Digital Transportation forum in Moscow.

🔸 An initial version of the truck required an operator behind the wheel, however, now a person can sit in the passenger seat.

🔸 An advanced digital model of the roadway has been created for real-time monitoring.

🔸 For the first time globally, digital "driverless car" technologies and digital smart road services are being tested in conjunction, allowing for interactive assessment.

🔸 Autonomous trucks offer improved logistical efficiency by operating for longer hours and making fewer stops compared to human-driven models.

🔸 Four fully autonomous trucks, developed by Kamaz and Sberavtotech, are currently navigating the highway. By the end of this year, the fleet is projected to grow to 43.

🔸 Deputy PM for Transport Vitaly Savelyev has ambitious plans for the future, predicting that the number of unmanned trucks on the highway will soar to 93 by next year.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

What are the latest developments in Israel-Lebanon tensions?

Israel and Hezbollah have both vowed to increase their cross-border attacks against each other, with the Lebanese militant group's deputy leader Naim Qassem saying that they “have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning" with the Jewish state.

🔶 In the latest developments, the Lebanese Health Ministry said that at least 100 people were killed and more than 400 injured, including "children, women and paramedics," in what has likely been Israel’s most intensive air strikes on Lebanon since the Gaza conflict began in October 2023.

🔶 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to have targeted more than 300 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, destroying “thousands” of the group’s rocket launchers and damaging scores of villages and towns in the area.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attacks will continue "until we achieve our goals", including returning thousands of Israelis to the north, while IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari pledged more "extensive and precise" airstrikes on Lebanon.

🔹 Hezbollah, in turn, fired rockets towards northern Israel, where IDF bases and logistics warehouses were hit with "dozens" of missiles, in a tit-for-tat move.

🔹 This came after Israel conducted an airstrike on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh in which the IDF killed Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Abdul Khader, the commander of Hezbollah's special operations unit. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 51 people were killed in the strike and more than 60 were wounded.

Last week, at least 37 people were killed and thousands more wounded after pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon, attacks the group blamed on Israel, who denies the accusations.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt