Al Mayadeen – November 5, 2024
Iran’s private space sector in new milestone with satellite launches
Iran's private space sector achieved a breakthrough with the successful launch of its first domestically produced satellites, Kowsar and Hodhod, expanding its capabilities in Earth observation and satellite-based communication
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In a major development for Iranﾒs private space sector, satellites Kowsar and Hodhod were successfully launched into orbit on a Russian Soyuz rocket, marking Iran’s first private venture in satellite production and space deployment. The mission, which deployed a total of 53 satellites, highlights Iranﾒs growing capacity in space technology.
The Kowsar satellite, weighing 30 kg, is a high-resolution Earth observation satellite designed for agricultural monitoring, natural resource management, environmental oversight, and disaster response. With a resolution of 3.45 meters, Kowsar exceeds Iran’s 2025 goal of achieving 10-meter resolution in satellite imagery. Positioned 500 kilometers above Earth, it operates with a 3.5-year lifespan, capturing six frames per second over a 15-kilometer range. It uses both RGB and NIR cameras and maintains power with a 44-watt-hour system, consuming 29 watt-hours for payload operation.
Meanwhile, the Hodhod satellite is a small communications CubeSat aimed at enhancing connectivity, especially in remote areas. Designed to support satellite-based communication networks and Internet of Things (IoT), Hodhod targets applications in precision agriculture, logistics, and environmental monitoring, providing communication in regions lacking terrestrial infrastructure. Positioned in a 500-kilometer orbit, its mission centers on advancing IoT capabilities.
Russia, Iran to sign strategic partnership agreement on defense
An updated partnership agreement between Russia and Iran, emphasizing defense cooperation, is expected to be signed soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced last week.
Speaking at the second Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, Lavrov highlighted the significance of this treaty in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations.
"A major factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations will be the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared for signing soon," Lavrov said.
Lavrov underlined that the agreement "will confirm the parties' desire for closer cooperation in the field of defense and interaction in the interests of peace and security at the regional and global level."
The announcement follows an earlier statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, where he revealed plans for the imminent signing of the treaty with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Kazem Jalali, Iran's ambassador to Russia, also confirmed that the document would be finalized during an upcoming visit by the Iranian president to Moscow.
Al Mayadeen – November 5, 2024
Hezbollah hammers 810 Hermon Brig. HQs, arms factory in Haifa
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon continues escalating operations against the Israeli occupation forces, targeting critical sites, factories, and soldiers, across the border.
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah - carried out Tuesday several military operations across the Palestinian-Lebanese border, bombarding groupings of Israeli soldiers, settlements, and military bases in support of Gaza and in defense of Lebanon.
Hezbollah's first operation was launched five minutes past midnight, and targeted a grouping of Israeli forces in the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras, using a rocket salvo.
The Lebanese group also targeted a grouping of Israeli soldiers in the Dovev barracks with a barrage of rockets, while it bombed another grouping in al-Ramtha site in the occupied Kfar Chouba Hills with a barrage of high-end rockets, earlier during the day.
Deploying a barrage of its high-end rockets, Hezbollah precisely struck the 810th Hermon Brigade headquarters in the Ma'ale Golani barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan at 8:00 am this morning.
Remarkably, the Islamic Resistance bombarded the explosive materials factory in Hadera, south of Haifa at 7:00 am, as part of its ongoing "Khaybar" operations, under the call of "Labbayka ya Nasrallah" [Here we respond to your call, O' Nasrallah], also using a barrage of high-end rockets.
Malaysia is working on resolution to expel Israel from United Nations
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says his country is part of a core group drafting a resolution, which, among others, proposes that Israel be expelled from the UN General Assembly following its human rights violations and genocidal crimes.
Anwar told the Malaysian parliament on Monday that the draft resolution is in the negotiation process and is expected to be presented at the UNGA for approval “soon."
“Strong measures, including Israel's removal from the United Nations following Israel's human rights violations and genocidal crimes, must be enforced as soon as possible,” he noted.
“Malaysia will ensure that the agenda is heard and given attention so that the atrocities of the Israeli regime can be stopped, besides allowing critical aid to reach the Palestinian people at a time when the massacre continues to worsen,” Anwar said.
Once approved, Anwar said, the resolution is expected to be a legal basis for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to continue providing basic services, including education, health treatment and humanitarian aid.
Last week, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed a bill banning UNRWA from operating, which would eventually affect its work in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds. The legislation will take effect in 90 days.
Israel alleges fighters of Palestinian resistance group Hamas have infiltrated UNRWA.
The UN agency denies the allegations and says it takes measures to ensure its neutrality.
UNRWA on Monday said Israel’s ban on its operations would lead to the “collapse” of humanitarian work in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“If this law is implemented, it would be likely to cause the collapse of the international humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip – an operation of which UNRWA is the backbone,” Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA spokesman, told the AFP news agency.
The UN agency has been providing education, healthcare and other basic services to Palestinian refugees following the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and creation of the Israeli regime.
Palestinian refugees now number nearly six million. Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has already urged the suspension of Israel’s UN membership, citing repeated violations of international law and the occupation of Palestinian territories.
Over 1,800 Palestinians killed in Israel’s month-long attacks in northern Gaza
Over 1,800 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its specific genocidal campaign in northern Gaza in October.
Local authorities say hundreds have also gone missing.
In a statement released on Monday, Gaza’s media office said the number of the injured stands at around 4,000.
Since October 6, Israel has been engaged in a ground operation in northern Gaza.
The regime has imposed a tightened siege there, particularly around the area of Jabalia.
Israel prevents ambulances and humanitarian aid convoys from entering northern Gaza.
The regime is using starvation as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, the media office stated. Israel has prevented “3,800 aid trucks from going into northern Gaza.”
The regime has “deliberately starved nearly 400,000 people there, including more than 100,000 children,” the statement said.
“It also destroyed dozens of displacement and shelter centers that house tens of thousands of displaced people who fled their homes in search of safety and security."
'All hospitals out of service'
Elsewhere in the statement, the media office also said the hospitals were now out of service after coming under intense Israeli fire.
“All hospitals in northern Gaza were destroyed and put out of service, and civil defense crews targeted, with some of them arrested,” it added.
It added that civil defense teams have been hit while on service and some of them have been arrested or prevented from working.
The media office appealed to the international community and UN agencies to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to allow the safe passage of aid and “to stop the brutal crimes being committed against civilians in Gaza.”
The Israeli regime's genocidal war on Gaza continues to claim more civilian lives across the besieged Strip, especially in the northern areas.
At least 33 people have been killed and nearly 160 injured in the Israeli deadly strikes in the past day. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Palestinian death toll since October 7, 2023, has topped 43,370.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/11/04/736621/Palestine--Israel--Gaza-Jabalia-Media-office
Israel airstrikes target Syrian town near Lebanon border
Israeli military aircraft have carried out another act of aggression against Syria, targeting an industrial area and several residential buildings in the country’s central province of Homs.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that Israeli warplanes struck the industrial zone of al-Qusayr city, located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Homs, near the Lebanese border, on Tuesday.
The news agency, citing the Homs province’s health director, also noted that there were no injuries as a result of the attack.
The latest attack came after at least five people lost their lives when Israeli aircraft launched multiple strikes against a number of installations and buildings in Jisr al-Daf area south of al-Qusayr on Thursday.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that three airstrikes struck several facilities in the city's industrial area, stressing that Syrian air defense systems attempted to intercept and shoot down the incoming Israeli missiles.
The Israeli regime continues its bloody onslaughts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.
The Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its attacks on Syrian territories, which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s phenomenal success in confronting and decimating terrorism.
Damascus has time and again called on the UN Security Council to put an end to the regime’s attacks that violate Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Israel destroys 37 towns, over 40,000 houses in deadly onslaught on Lebanon
More than 3,000 people killed, 13,500 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Lebanese authoritie
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The Israeli army has erased 37 towns and destroyed more than 40,000 housing units since the start of its deadly offensive on Lebanon last year, local media said on Tuesday.
The state news agency NNA said the destruction is concentrated in an area extending three kilometers deep from Naqoura to the outskirts of Khiam in southern Lebanon.
Anadolu reporters documented massive destruction caused by Israeli attacks in towns across southern Lebanon, causing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
Israel has escalated its air campaign in Lebanon since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation from year-long cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of Israel's brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip.
More than 3,000 people have been killed and nearly 13,500 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Israel expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 this year.
Trump claims building record 'Arab, Muslim voters' with promise of 'peace'
Donald Trump has said his promise to end endless wars has brought record-breaking voter support to his campaign in Michigan, a battleground state with a large Arab and Muslim community.
Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump has claimed his campaign is building a "record-breaking" coalition of Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan, saying they are drawn by his promise of peace.
"We are building the biggest and broadest coalition in American Political History. This includes record-breaking numbers of Arab and Muslim Voters in Michigan who want PEACE," said Trump on X on Monday, a day before the presidential election.
"They know Kamala and her warmonger Cabinet will invade the Middle East, get millions of Muslims killed, and start World War III. VOTE TRUMP, AND BRING BACK PEACE!" he said.
In the run-up to the election, the Trump and Harris campaigns have each ramped up outreach to Arab and Muslim Americans, especially in the battleground state of Michigan, where the community’s votes could prove decisive.
Trump on Friday visited a halal cafe in Dearborn, home to many Arab and Muslim Americans and known as the "Arab capital of America.”
'Stop the endless war'
The visit came after a group of Muslim leaders weeks ago joined Trump on stage at a rally in Michigan to announce their support for the Republican candidate in the November 5 presidential election.
The leaders cited his commitment to ending wars.
Trump, in turn, emphasised that Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan and across the country want a "stop to the endless wars and a return to peace in the Middle East."
On Tuesday, Americans will also elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 34 Senate seats and 11 state governors.
More than 82 million people have voted early in the elections so far.
Russia warns NATO against crossing Moscow’s red line on missiles
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned NATO countries not to cross Moscow's red line on missiles.
Allowing the Ukrainian military to use Western-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia is Moscow's red line, Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Lavrov pointed out that the Kiev forces lacked the necessary know-how to operate such missiles independently and would need the assistance of NATO specialists as well as intelligence data obtained through the West’s satellite systems.
“If such weapons are used, that would mean that not just Ukraine but the NATO nations are openly at war with Russia,” he said.
“The nature of this conflict, which the Western leaders sought to conceal… would literally come out.”
The top Russian diplomat also raised concern about the pace "Europe is being militarized."
Moscow would use “any means to ensure its security,” Lavrov said.
“Our opponents should not be mistaken. In case of any aggressive actions by NATO or its member states against our nation, adequate retaliatory measures will be taken in full compliance with Russia’s right for self-defense embodied in the UN Charter.”
“No one will be able to sit it out either beyond the Atlantic or the English Channel,” Russia's Foreign Minister warned, indirectly threatening the US and Britain with direct engagement and possible strikes against them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists on using Western-supplied long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia.
Russia has repeatedly warned against this, saying Ukrainian strikes on targets deep inside its territory using Western-supplied long-range missiles would be treated by Moscow as a direct assault by the US-led Western countries that supplied Kiev with those weapons and ammunition.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October that he hopes US-led NATO countries have “heard” Moscow’s warnings in this regard.
