The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has condemned any action that would strengthen and help expand the Zionist regime’s occupation, describing implementation of the “evil plan” to normalize relations with the Tel Aviv regime by some Arab countries as a “failed step”.

On the eve of the anniversary of the 2006 July War between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel, an exchange of fire took place between the two sides. On the surface, it seemed a minor incident in the perennially unstable West Asia region. But in reality, it was strategically important in terms of reiterating the longstanding red lines along the Lebanon-Israel border. 

One of the messages of Hajj is to fight racism. Everyone who performs Hajj must perform tawaf and sa'i. During tawaf, a pilgrim must also circle the tomb of Sayidah Hajar, which is attached to one part of the Kaaba. Then, he or she must perform sa'i, to run back and forth, from Safa to Marwah. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has reacted to an Israeli attack on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, condemning the attack in the strongest terms. 

Israel’s government has changed, but Israeli oppressive and discriminatory policies against the Palestinians remained in place. This was on full display on Sunday morning when Israeli security forces attacked worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque with rubber bullets and tear gas.

In a diplomatic turnabout that shocked, and in some cases disappointed, many in the region including Turkey’s allies, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog after over a decade of Israel-bashing rhetoric from Ankara. 

Israeli settlers backed by the regime’s forces have attacked Palestinian residents protesting in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds Neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in the occupied West Bank.

Yemen has strongly denounced the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, for removing Saudi Arabia for the second year in a row from a blacklist of countries and groups responsible for harming children during conflicts.

Israeli warplanes have pounded the besieged Gaza Strip, the first such attacks since an 11-day war on the enclave ended last month with a fragile ceasefire. The Israeli regime says it targeted sites in Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military claims the airstrikes were in response to incendiary balloons that had been launched from the territory and landed on Israeli settlements south of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli security forces set up several checkpoints in the occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds) to prevent Palestinians from heading toward the Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heightened tensions over the new Israeli government’s decision to approve a provocative Israeli far-right march in Jerusalem.