While Israel’s “apologies” to Hezbollah are pathetic and can prevent in no way the inevitable retaliation, it must be emphasized that Israel certainly does everything it can to avoid hitting Hezbollah operatives when it strikes Syria —and therefore tries hard not to kill anyone at all—going so far as warning them before hitting one of their vehicles, as we can see in this video from last April.
Claiming that the Zionists have used the media in psychological warfare to present themselves under an apperance of strength in Syria, he warned them not to continue their lies about targeting Iranian sites in Syria and said: “If the Zionists continue their criminal behavior, we will make it clear that Iran has the upper hand.”
Today a fire broke out on a shipyard in Bushehr. Some Twitterati immediately speculated that it was part of the incident chain and related it to Iran’s nuclear reactor near that city.
Such speculation is nonsense. Fires on shipyards break out all the time. Just ask the U.S. Navy who’s USS Bonhomme Richard has now been burning for three days after a fire broke out during yard maintenance. That fire turned a one billion dollar ship into 40,000 tons of feedstock for a blast furnace. Today’s yard fire in Iran slightly damaged seven laid up dhows (vid), small civilian freight ships build from wood and used for coastal traffic in the Persian Gulf.
According to information revealed by the New York Times this week, the deal involves Chinese investments of about US$400 billion over the next 25 years. “Both sides have clear incentives here. China secures a cheap supply of oil and deepens its strategic ties in the Middle East, while Iran… gains economic benefits and a large signal showing it is not as isolated as the U.S. claims,” outlet El Economista commented.
PPE ESCOBAR—It was the Iranian military that established production lines for producing face masks and other equipment. According to Hashemi, “some NGOs partnered with Tehran’s chamber of commerce to create a campaign called Nafas (“breath”) to supply medical goods and provide clinical services. Iran’s Farabourse, an over-the-counter stock market in Tehran, established a crowd funding campaign to purchase medical devices and products to help health workers. Hundreds of volunteer groups – called “jihadi” – started producing personal protective equipment that had been in short supply in seminaries, mosques and hussainiyas and even natural fruit juices for health workers.” This sense of social solidarity is extremely powerful in Shi’ite culture.