USUK

US approves plan to bomb Iraq and Syria

Spread the love

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

US troops conduct area reconnaissance in Syria (Photo: Spc. Jensen Guillory)

The country approved plans to widen the scope of the regional war originating in Israel’s genocide in Gaza

Following an attack by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq against US foreign outpost “Tower 22”, which killed three US soldiers stationed near the Syria-Jordan border, the United States has approved plans for a multi-day strike against Iraq and Syria. 

The death of three US troops, the first casualties among US forces in a widening conflict in West Asia, drew attention to the hundreds of US military bases and outposts spread throughout the world. 

In confirming responsibility for the attack, an Islamic Resistance official declared, “If the United States continues to support ‘israel,’ there will be an escalation.” and that “All American interests in the region are legitimate targets.”

The United States is using the strikes as a way to continue to blame Iran for the wider resistance in West Asia. The strikes will purportedly be against “Iranian targets.” Resistance organizations such as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq are frequently accused of being Iranian “proxies” by US officials and in the mainstream press. 

Contrary to seeking peace for the hundreds of thousands being slaughtered in Gaza, the United States and the Western world have continually chased escalation. Earlier in January, the US and the UK began an airstrike campaign against Yemen, in retaliation against the nation’s casualty-free blockade of the Red Sea, which Yemeni forces claim to be carrying out in solidarity in Gaza. The only deaths surrounding the blockade have been suffered by Yemenis, and have been as a result of the US and UK’s bombing campaign. 

The United States and several Western nations have also directly worsened the plight of Gazans by cutting all their funding to the UNRWA, due to dubious accusations made by Israel that some UNRWA were involved in the October 7 operation. 

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingUS approves plan to bomb Iraq and Syria

Norwegian Foreign Minister warns weapons-exporting states of complicity in Israeli genocide

Spread the love

https://skwawkbox.org/2024/01/31/norwegian-foreign-minister-warns-weapons-exporting-states-of-complicity-in-israeli-genocide/

UK, US and other supporters of Israeli apartheid and oppression are enabling slaughter of Palestinians

Eide said:

States exporting weapons to Israel should reassess whether they are effective partners in the genocide in Gaza Strip or not.

…

https://skwawkbox.org/2024/01/31/norwegian-foreign-minister-warns-weapons-exporting-states-of-complicity-in-israeli-genocide/

Continue ReadingNorwegian Foreign Minister warns weapons-exporting states of complicity in Israeli genocide

Morning Star: US troops would not be targets if they left a region where they are not welcome

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-us-troops-would-not-be-targets-if-they-left-region-where-they-are-not-welcome

President Joe Biden speaks at South Carolina’s First in the Nation dinner at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., January 27, 2024

THE killing of three US soldiers along the Jordan-Syria border is inseparable from the war in Gaza.

It risks a spiralling Middle East war, a risk heightened by the reflex blaming of Iran and the clamour for revenge driven by hawkish US politicians in an election year.

Attacks on US forces will always be presented in mass media as unprovoked. British politicians too will depict them as acts of illegal terrorism which need to be punished to shore up the “international rules-based order.”

We should therefore be clear: US troops would not be under attack in the Middle East if they were not stationed in the Middle East, often against the wishes of the host countries.

…

Stationing your troops in a country against its wishes is not upholding an “international rules-based order” — it is an act of contempt for international law.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-us-troops-would-not-be-targets-if-they-left-region-where-they-are-not-welcome

Continue ReadingMorning Star: US troops would not be targets if they left a region where they are not welcome

Human rights organisations demand weapons embargo to stop fuelling Gaza crisis

Spread the love

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/human-rights-organisations-demand-weapons-embargo-to-stop-fuelling-gaza-crisis/

‘All states have an obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians. The international community is long overdue to live up to these commitments.’

Sixteen leading international human rights and humanitarian organisations have made a joint call to all UN Member States to stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza, to avert further loss of civilian life and humanitarian catastrophe.

The aid coalition includes Oxfam, Amnesty International, and Save the Children. It is demanding an immediate halt on the transfer of weapons, parts and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups while there is a risk they are used to ‘commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.’

The United Nations’ Palestinian Refugee Agency has warned that around 1.7 million people have been displaced within Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the conflict is over 25,700, most of which are women and children. Islamic Relief (IR) said the figures show that 4 percent of the population of Gaza was now dead or injured.

Over 95 percent of Israel’s supply of weapons comes from the US. The UK, Italy and Germany also produce parts which are sold to Israel. The UK is home to Israeli weapon manufacturers, including Elbit Systems, which makes surveillance and armed drones. Both the UK and US administrations have been accused of playing a part in facilitating the destruction of Gaza.

…

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/human-rights-organisations-demand-weapons-embargo-to-stop-fuelling-gaza-crisis/

Continue ReadingHuman rights organisations demand weapons embargo to stop fuelling Gaza crisis

Morning Star: Cutting funds for Palestine — the West’s tantrum over the ICJ ruling

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/cutting-funds-palestine-wests-tantrum-over-icj-ruling

Israeli soldiers take up positions near the Gaza Strip border, in southern Israel, December 29, 2023

BRITAIN’S sick decision to suspend funding for Palestinian refugees while they face famine and mass displacement in Gaza shames our country in the eyes of the world.

We will not escape blame simply because, alongside other wealthy countries such as Germany, Italy and Canada, we are falling into line behind the United States, the first to freeze funding for the UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) following allegations that 12 of its 30,000 employees were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

This act of inhuman cruelty further underlines the divide in international politics between the West and the rest. Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza began the gulf between the handful of US allies who facilitate its mass murder of Palestinians and the huge majority of countries which back an immediate ceasefire has yawned ever wider.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini rightly calls this collective punishment. Innocent Palestinians will starve to death because of an unproven Israeli accusation that a tiny number of its staff may have played a role in Hamas’s raid. An accusation UNRWA immediately pledged to investigate, with survivors among the named 12 already sacked.

But the collective punishment of Gaza’s population is nothing new. Over 25,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed as Israel’s merciless bombardment flattens neighbourhoods and its rampaging soldiers shoot their way into hospitals, a collective punishment for Hamas killing over 1,100 Israelis on October 7.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/cutting-funds-palestine-wests-tantrum-over-icj-ruling

Dianne Abbott: Just because the US is on a military rampage does not mean Britain must join in

Continue ReadingMorning Star: Cutting funds for Palestine — the West’s tantrum over the ICJ ruling