THROWBACK: Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh told CNN on August 13, 2006 that the war in Lebanon was planned by then-president George W. Bush and the Israeli government months in advance. The neocon plan envisaged destroying Hezbollah as pre-cursor to an attack on Iran.

"Israel's attack on Hezbollah was going to be sort of a model, prototype, that is, a lot of air against a dug-in underground facility. Everything in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah had was underground," Hersh said. "For them it was going to be a test run for the bombing and the attack they really want to do, probably next year if they can. I'm not saying they've decided, but they want to go after Iran, and Iran, of course, the Persians have been dug in since, what, the 11th century so we know it's a tough call."

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NATO states' new Arctic group is no match for Russo-Chinese cooperation – Swedish former military officer

"There are no neutral countries in the North any more," Mikael Valtersson, former Swedish Air Defense officer told Sputnik, commenting on Canada's push to form a security group to counter Russia and China in the Arctic.

The Western Nordic countries are planning to coordinate on defense, intelligence and cyber activities, as they are all are NATO allies now after Finland and Sweden's admission to the military bloc. Earlier this week, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told Bloomberg News that Canada and its allies need an "Arctic security dialogue" to discuss defense matters in light of Russia and China's growing activities in the region.

Russia, an Arctic state, maintains security cooperation with China in its territorial waters. It was reported on October 2 that patrol ships of the China Coast Guard entered the waters of the Arctic Ocean for joint patrols with coast guard vessels of the Russian FSB Border Service.

Valtersson expects the new "security dialogue" to work closely with NATO. "It might develop into an evolved Arctic military command within NATO and also a political body where politicians co-ordinate their actions before meetings in the Arctic Council," Valtersson said.

The pundit warned that NATO's potential build-up in the region could "increase the risk for both an arms race in the Arctic and incidents in the region."

But Valtersson believes that the creation of the new Arctic body would neither upset the established balance of power in the Arctic nor endanger Russia's positions in the region.

"The Nordic countries and Canada are too small to challenge Russia, and even more a Russian-Chinese cooperation,” he said. “The US has a lot of other interests in the world and will not focus on the Arctic in the way Russia already does, and should increase doing."

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IDF says eliminated one of leaders of Hezbollah’s precision missile manufacturing project

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that it has eliminated Mahmoud Yusef Anisi, one of the leaders of Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah’s precision missile manufacturing project.

"Earlier this week, the IAF conducted a precise, intelligence-based strike in the area of Beirut, eliminating the terrorist Mahmoud Yusef Anisi, a senior terrorist involved in the Hezbollah terrorist organization's weapons manufacturing chain," the IDF said in a statement, adding that Anisi was one of the leaders of a project to develop precision missiles in Lebanon.

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😂 What? How do they do that?

Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus are already infamous for a long list of pranks on western high-ranking politicians and public figures.

Their victims included such famous personalities as Boris Johnson, Hillary Clinton and even former US President George Bush – and that is just the start of the list...

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📹 Hezbollah published footage allegedly showing the targeting of Israel's Glilot military base and the Mossad headquarters north of Tel Aviv as part of its “Operation Khaybar” against the Israeli army

Previously, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that Hezbollah fired approximately 230 projectiles into Israeli territory over the past 24 hours as of Thursday.

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Gulf states reassure Iran of neutrality amid fears of regional escalation – report

Gulf Arab states reassured Iran of their neutrality in its conflict with Israel during meetings in Doha this week, aiming to prevent the escalation from threatening their oil facilities.

Quoting unnamed sources, Reuters reported that ministers from the five Gulf Cooperation Council states and Iran focused on de-escalation following Tehran’s massive attack on Israel in retaliation for the assassination of its allies.

There was no official confirmation from states' foreign ministries, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, Tehran has warned Washington via Qatar that “the phase of unilateral self-restraint has ended.” Any Israeli attack against Iran would meet an “unconventional response”, Al Jazeera reported an Iranian source as saying. The source also stressed that Iran does not want a regional war.

Several news sites reported that Israel has threatened to attack Iran's nuclear and oil infrastructure retaliation to Tuesday’s attack.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it had killed a commander of the Palestinian movement Hamas in the West Bank city of Tulkarm

"Earlier today [Thursday], in a joint IDF and ISA [Israel Security Agency] counterterrorism operation, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] conducted an ISA intelligence-based strike in the Tulkarm area and eliminated the terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, the head of the Hamas terrorist network in Tulkarm," the IDF said on Telegram.

Footage from social media

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The target of Israel's attack on Beirut overnight through Friday allegedly was the likely successor of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain head of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, the website Axios reported citing unnamed Israeli officials.

"Israel conducted a targeted strike in Beirut... against the head of Hezbollah's executive committee Hashim Safi al-Din, three Israeli officials said," according to the site.

It remains unclear whether Safi al-Din was killed in the attack, the report added.

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❗️ The Israeli air force launched highly damaging strikes on Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiya, a Sputnik correspondent reported, sharing video of the attack.

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