Iran Brags About Hamas Tunnels As Weapons Of War

The information was confirmed by an Iraqi border official on Monday. The convoy had crossed into Syria from Iraq using the Qaim border crossing the day before. The air strikes resulted in the destruction of part of the convoy.

The Qaim border crossing is located near the Syrian town of Abu Kamal, also known as Al Bukamal. It is in close proximity to where the US military had carried out air strikes on the previous Friday. The US strikes targeted two facilities that were being used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups. The Pentagon stated that the strikes were a response to recent attacks against US forces in both Iraq and Syria.

On Monday, two sources from Iraqi militia groups reported that on Sunday, unidentified aircraft carried out air strikes on a facility utilized by the militia near Abu Kamal.

According to the sources, the building targeted in the attack had been vacated by militia fighters a day before with no casualties recorded.

Last week, the Pentagon disclosed that American troops in Syria and Iraq had faced multiple attacks from Iranian proxies between October 17 and October 24. Senator Cotton, speaking on Fox News, suggested that the Biden administration should consider the approach taken by the Trump administration when it targeted and killed Qassem Soleimani the IRGC’s Quds Force commander in January 2020.

Chief Justice Gholahossein Mohseni Ejei called on the police and the ministry of interior to take immediate measures amid yet more crackdowns while the law is awaiting final approvals from authorities who have cited "ambiguities" in the proposal.

Initially presented by the Judiciary, the Chastity and Hijab bill was later modified by a commission consisting of select members of the parliamentary judiciary and cultural committees, without being debated in the parliament's open session. The modified bill was eventually approved with the addition of more articles.

On September 20, parliament members endorsed the bill with a three-year experimental period and forwarded it for approval to the Guardian Council.

However, last week, the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council criticized the bill, which had been approved by a special parliamentary commission, citing “ambiguities,” and subsequently sent it back to the parliament for clarification.

Anti-hijab sentiment is still high, however. Shargh daily recently conducted a poll, revealing that a significant 84% of respondents expressed their opposition to compelling women to observe the hijab. Of the 12,334 participants in the poll, 84.21% believed that the implementation of the Chastity and Hijab law would not result in an increased hijab compliance among women.t

In September, the United Nations branded the law "gender apartheid".

In an emotional farewell, Shirel Haeimpour’s grandfather sang a traditional Jewish love song and a wedding song with his Esfahani Persian accent for the young woman who will never get to stand under the traditional canopy, or ‘chuppah’.

From the town of Rishon Lezion, Shirel’s loved ones gave moving speeches about her as Israel mourns the more than 1,400, mostly civilians, murdered on the day now considered the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Another more than 230 have been taken hostage to Gaza, including babies and children.

It was her last weekend as a soldier in the mostly female base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, one of the many villages where civilians were slaughtered and homes destroyed by the thousands of Hamas militants who invaded Israel by air, land and sea.

The girls’ duty was to watch the country’s most active border. The base had a policy of 'you see, you shoot’, the Gaza border a constant threat since Hamas took over control of the strip.

In a chilling recollection, her boyfriend Ariel Ben Uri, spoke of her constant fears that one day, Hamas would break through and invade, feeling that both the soldiers and the civilians around them were not safe from terrorist infiltration. “You were right,” he said, fighting back tears.

The youngest daughter of four, her brother Barak spoke of her bravery as she leapt out of bed as the tragedy unfolded to go straight to the emergency room. Hamas drones had blacked out the cameras meaning there were just minutes for the girls to alert others of an imminent attack.

“You saved lives and chose to help,” he said, speaking through his tears at the ceremony in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv.

News of her death was felt by the Iranian diaspora. Karmel Melamed wrote on X: “As an Iranian American I weep for Shirel Haeimpour, an innocent Iranian-Israeli young woman slaughtered by Hamas barbarians.

“She came from Isfahani (Esfahani) Jewish roots which are ancient. Just as we mourn the loss of Armita in Iran, we also mourn the loss of Shirel in Israel,” referring to a 16-year-old schoolgirl, who was pronounced dead after spending four weeks in coma in Tehran, following a scuffle with hijab police.

Among the murdered were hundreds of dual citizens from countries including France, the UK, and the US. Dozens of local Arabs and Bedouins were also murdered.

The hostages now include around 30 nationalities, Israelis, dual-nationals, foreign workers and tourists.

Hamas has demanded the release of 6,000 prisoners in return for the hostages, though it claimed recently 50 have died in Israeli airstrikes on the strip.

In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinians from its jails in return for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. In a bitter twist, many of them, including Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, ended up being among those who masterminded and executed the surprise attack on October 7.

Experts warn that the latest situation would set a dangerous precedent not only to Hamas but to Israel’s archenemy Iran. In August, the Biden administration agreed to unblock $6b of frozen Iranian funds in south Korea in exchange for five dual-national US-Iranians held hostage in Iran. Many warned at the time that the “largest ransom in history” would embolden the Iranian regime and other would-be hostage takers.

In the meantime, Israel has vowed to continue its ground invasion of Gaza until both Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are brought home, as the war enters its fourth week.

In his statement on X, Sullivan said, "I am deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Armita Geravand, who was brutally beaten by Iran's morality police for not conforming to public hijab mandates. The state-sponsored violence against its own citizens in Iran is abhorrent and underscores the vulnerability of the regime."

The incident occurred on October 1 when Armita fell into a coma after an altercation with hijab enforcers in the Tehran subway. Despite the Iranian government's efforts to obscure the details of the confrontation, it appears that she was forcibly pushed by a female agent, resulting in a severe head injury. Her death was subsequently confirmed by Iranian state media on Saturday.

There has been a national outpouring of grief for her death which echoed the death of Mahsa Amini last year in morality police custody. Videos received by Iran International showed protesters in Ekbatan, located in the west of Tehran, chanting slogans like "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei the murderer" on Sunday night. Similar protest slogans were reported in other parts of Iran on the same night, including Mashhad, Shiraz, Karaj, and Sari.

Additionally, Iranians living abroad have shown their solidarity by participating in gatherings in Toronto and London, where they voiced their opposition to the continued repressive policies of the Islamic Republic.

The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, stationed on the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, has been operating in Middle Eastern waters in recent weeks but has shifted its course toward the Suez Canal, officials said.

The USS Bataan is currently positioned in the Red Sea and is expected to enter the eastern Mediterranean in the near future, bringing the Marine unit closer to Lebanon and Israel. Iran's proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, continue to fire rockets into Israel and other regional proxies threaten to escalate activity following Hamas' declaration of war against Israel on October 7. 

The strategic move holds significant implications as the US government has issued advisories for its citizens to leave Lebanon. A primary role of a Marine Expeditionary Unit is to assist in the evacuation of civilians.

Earlier this week, the White House emphasized the need for contingency planning for the potential evacuation of American citizens from the Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon. While planning is underway, the execution phase has not yet been reached. However, with Israel expanding its ground campaign in Gaza, the US embassy in Beirut has once again urged American citizens to leave promptly, highlighting the importance of departing a country before a crisis escalates.

Recently, the US State Department raised its travel advisory for Lebanon to Level 4: Do Not Travel, citing an elevated risk. Concerns have mounted over the potential for the conflict in Gaza to evolve into a broader regional crisis, with particular attention to Israel's northern border with Lebanon, where ongoing but low-level hostilities persist with Hezbollah, a potent Iranian proxy.