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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇲🇱🇷🇺 Mali appreciates Russian support in the fight against terrorists – Foreign Minister

Mali appreciates the prompt deliveries of military equipment purchased from Russia as they help to protect the country, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdoulaye Diop told Sputnik.

"We do appreciate the swiftness of the provision of all the military equipment that Mali is purchasing and all the support that we are receiving from Russia to be able to capacitate [our armed forces] because our main objective is to make sure that Malians have the capacity to protect and defend their country," Diop said in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Mali is "very much interested" in defense industry cooperation with Russia, the minister emphasized.

The Malian government also appreciates the importance the Russian government is attaching to the country’s requests for prompt arms deliveries to enable its ongoing fight against terrorist groups, Diop added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

US continues to hand-hold Israel despite its wrongdoings

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday as the region has entered a growing escalation that is threatening to push the Middle East into a wider war. According to reports, Israelis “scrambled for bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounded and the orange glow of missiles streaked across the sky," following Iran's retaliatory missile launch.

💬 “I think that the strategy on the part of the Israelis for the past many months has been to try to draw the US more directly into the conflict on Israel's side. [President Masoud] Pezeshkian and the Iranian government have shown great restraint. Great restraint in the face of direct attacks from the Israelis,” John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer and co-host of Sputnik’s Political Misfits, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines.

The former CIA officer added that the Iranian government is under “great pressure” from its public to act in the face of Israel's violence, where one has to start thinking about whether or not it’s “safe for the Iranian government" not to respond.

💬 “Let's be clear, [the US] speak out of both ends of their mouth. The US says it wants a ceasefire, but, on the other hand, it continues providing the assistance and backing, and with other claims made by US officials that they will back Israel should it go into Lebanon,” added Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, who also spoke to Fault Lines.

💬 “The Israelis are ignoring all cautionaries from the US, and they know that the United States will do nothing,” Maloof added.

👉 Follow the link for more details

🇹🇷 Erdogan to attend BRICS summit as Turkiye continues steady march away from West

Turkiye’s future lies with the group of nations seeking to create an alternative to Western hegemony via the BRICS economic bloc, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan knows it, according to filmmaker and analyst Regis Tremblay.

💬 “Erdogan is doing what Erdogan has always done: he's straddling both sides of the proverbial picket fence,” said Tremblay on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program, responding to the announcement that Erdogan would attend the outreach/BRICS+ session during the upcoming annual BRICS summit in Russia. “Erdogan has been trying to be a peacemaker between Russia and Ukraine… I'm really glad that Erdogan is going to attend this meeting. I'm not sure that he's going to be invited to be a member right yet, but I think it'll be a feeling out session.”

Turkiye has often maintained a fraught relationship with its Western allies, Tremblay noted. The United States could opt to eventually punish Turkiye’s independence with sanctions, claimed host Garland Nixon, providing Ankara with even more incentive to build links beyond the US and its European allies.

💬 “I'm sure that Turkiye has upset Washington and those people who are controlling what's happening in Washington because Erdogan really has broken from NATO,” said Tremblay, pointing out the country’s independent position on the Ukraine proxy war. “If Erdogan is concerned that he's going to be sanctioned, it would make sense for him to cozy up to the BRICS countries and to try to get himself involved in that international monetary system that they're creating.”

👉 Follow the link for more details

Dozens killed in fresh IDF strikes on Lebanon: check out latest on conflict

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have pledged to continue striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley and Beirut after launching fresh airstrikes on the Lebanese capital.

In other latest developments:

▪️The Israeli military reportedly conducted a targeted strike in Beirut against the head of Hezbollah's executive committee Hashim Safi al-Din, a possible successor to late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. It remains unclear if Safi al-Din was killed in the attack.

▪️The IDF claimed they had killed Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, a commander of the Palestinian movement Hamas in the West Bank city of Tulkarm.

▪️At least 18 people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Tulkarm Camp, the Palestinian health ministry said.

▪️According to the IDF, they also have eliminated Mahmoud Yusef Anisi, one of the leaders of Hezbollah’s precision missile manufacturing project.

▪️The Israeli air force carried out about 20 strikes on the Laylaki neighborhood adjacent to Beirut International Airport, eyewitnesses told Sputnik.

▪️Across Lebanon, at least 37 people were killed and 151 more wounded by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, per the Lebanese health ministry.

▪️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.

▪️The IDF earlier reported that Hezbollah had fired approximately 230 projectiles into Israeli territory over the past 24 hours, targeting infrastructure sites, weapons storage facilities and observation posts.

▪️Israeli airstrikes at checkpoints near the Syria-Lebanon border stopped traffic on the Damascus-Beirut international highway, a source in the Lebanese security forces told Sputnik.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt