News & Analysis covering the Middle East Independent, but not unbiased, striving for a multipolar world. Mainly focused on Iran, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Introduction: https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/4
— 🇮🇷/🇮🇱 NEW: Iranian surveillance drones patrolling and monitoring North-Western airspace
@Middle_East_Spectator
Syrian Foreign Ministry seems to have already virtually normalized.
Calling Israel a 'state' now.
Implicit recognition.
— 🇸🇾 NEW: Bedouin fighters attempt to bypass the Syrian government's security checkpoint and reach the village of Ariqah in As-Suweyda, where Druze separatists have reportedly besieged and imprisoned a number of Bedouin forces
Security has been preventing the entrance of Bedouin tribes for the past few hours.
@Middle_East_Spectator
🇸🇾 Extremely intense anger among the tribal forces:
"If the ceasefire is violated again, we will burn Sweida to the ground."
⚜️@TheSimurgh313
Negotiations with America, a slippery slope — Ayatollah Khamenei explains:
First, they'll demand the dismantlement of Iran's nuclear technology. Then, they'll want us to limit our ballistic missile program.
Once that is done, they will make the demand to stop funding resistance movements like Hamas and Hezbollah. But, as expected, they still won't be satisfied.
They'll somehow bring up the issue of 'human rights', freedom, and democracy. Eventually, they will finally demand that religion and state become seperate.
Their demands will never end.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇺🇸/🇮🇱 WATCH: American politician Matt Gaetz, who was nominated by President Trump to serve as Attorney General but was forced to withdraw the nomination after the ADL criticized his 'extensive history of antisemitism,' laments Israel for not allowing visits of Christians and murdering American citizens while receiving funding and weapons
Last month, during the 12-day war with Iran, Matt Gaetz talked about Israel's nuclear program, their refusal to allow IAEA inspectors, and their history of regime change operations in other countries.
@Middle_East_Spectator
—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 BREAKING: A new U.S. intelligence assessment finds that only one of three targeted nuclear sites in Iran were destroyed by the American strikes in June – NBC
The site that was destroyed was not specified, but NBC quotes five current and former U.S. officials as stating that the two others sites were not badly damaged and may have been degraded only to a point where enrichment could resume in the next several months if Iran wishes.
@Middle_East_Spectator
🇮🇱👮🇮🇱📞🇮🇷 Israeli intelligence and police have arrested an IDF soldier accused of contacting Iran and providing sensitive information in exchange for payment, according to Israeli Channel 12.
➡️ He reportedly transmitted interception footage and photos of missile impacts within Israel.
@TabZLIVE
— 🇮🇱/🇵🇸 NEW: The IDF has announced that two Israeli soldiers in the 202nd Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade sustained 'severe injuries' in northern Gaza yesterday
Two other soldiers were 'moderately injured' in the same incident.
All four were injured by a lone Palestinian fighter firing an RPG and machine gun rounds towards them in Shuja'iyya.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇮🇱/🇸🇾 NEW: The IDF has announced that Israeli jets struck the entrance of the Syrian government's military headquarters in Damascus.
@Middle_East_Spectator
—❗️🇺🇸/🇷🇺/🇺🇦 BREAKING: President Trump is reportedly considering approving the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, with a range of up to 1,600 kilometers
The report comes after the President implicitly gave Ukraine permission to start striking targets deeper inside Russia, including Moscoe and Saint Petersburg.
@Middle_East_Spectator
—❗️🇸🇾 NEW: Druze clans are still present in As-Suwayda, fighting against incoming government forces
@Middle_East_Spectator
— ❗️🇸🇾/🇮🇱/🇦🇿 NEW: A Syrian source has reported to Israeli media outlet i24 that meetings between Ahmad Al-Sharaa (Al-Jolani) and Israeli officials in Azerbaijan aimed to discuss the 'Iranian threat' in Syria, Hezbollah, Palestinian armed factions in Lebanon, 'refugees from Gaza,' and establishing an Israeli liaison in Damascus.
@Middle_East_Spectator
#OnThisDay US soldiers aboard an apache helicopter murdered a group of Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists, Namir and Saeed.
Читать полностью…— 🇵🇸/🇮🇱 WATCH: Al-Qassam Brigades have released footage of a raid on Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, targeting two bulldozers and attempting to capture IDF soldier Abraham Azulay, but ultimately killing him and seizing his weapons.
@Middle_East_Spectator
🇵🇰🇮🇷 Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson: Iranian President will visit Pakistan next week
⚜️@TheSimurgh313
— 🇸🇾 NEW: Clashes continue in the outskirts of As-Suweyda
@Middle_East_Spectator
🇸🇾 Looting, arson, and destruction have been reported in most of the areas entered by the tribal forces in Sweida province.
⚜️@TheSimurgh313
Jolani will probably apologize and let him go.
Читать полностью…So, listen, the way I understand it, and very simplified:
– They believe that Al-Hakim Bi Amr-Allah, the 16th Ismaili Shia Imam & 6th Fatimid Caliph, is actually the final reincarnation / manifestation of Allah (???) and that he did not actually die, but went into occultation.
– This belief was first expressed by a guy called Hamza ibn Ali, a Persian who lived in the 11th century in Cairo, and even Al-Hakim himself made fun of this belief.
– This guy, Hamza, wrote some letters, stating that Al-Hakim will eventually come back and spread 'Druze wisdom' throughout the world. These letters are called the 'Epistles of Wisdom'.
– Some additional letters were written by another guy called Baha Al-Din Al-Muqtana, nobody knows anything about him except that he was born in Syria and was likely a Christian. He announced his retirement and disappeared to a random unknown place.
– The Druze believe that Plato, Socrates and other Greek philosophers were actually Prophets, and they generally believe in astrology and other stuff.
– They believe it's forbidden to share their beliefs with 'ignorants' (those who are non-religious Druze)
And many more things.
— 🇺🇸 WATCH: CNN aired a clip of American political commentator Nick Fuentes attacking President Trump for turning his back on his supporters, saying: 'F*ck you, you suck, you are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are.'
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇸🇮/🇮🇱 BREAKING: Slovenia declares Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich persona non grata and imposes sanctions on them
Slovenia is the first European Union country to ban the entry of Israeli officials.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇵🇸/🇮🇱 NEW: The IDF announces that it 'regrets any damage caused' after shelling the 'Holy Family' Catholic church in Gaza, killing at least two civilians and injuring several, including a priest
The Vatican condemned the attack, and Pope Leo XIV said that he was 'deeply saddened.'
This is not the first time the church or its affiliated school has been targeted by Israel. The Holy Family School was bombed in 2024, and IDF soldiers intentionally shot and killed a mother and daughter sheltering in the church in 2023.
Similarly, the Holy Family compound was subjected to Israeli strikes in 2021 and 2014.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇮🇱 NEW: The Israeli soldier who committed suicide yesterday, the fourth in 10 days, has been confirmed dead.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇮🇱/🇸🇾 NEW: The IDF has released footage of continued strikes against Syrian Army targets led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in southern Syria, supporting Druze separatists today
They claimed to have targeted several armored vehicles moving toward As-Suwayda.
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 📱 NEW: Earlier today, the Twitter account of Elmo, a character from the iconic children's show 'Sesame Street,' was compromised and posted antisemitic messages
It also called on Donald Trump to release the Epstein Files.
The posts have since been deleted, and a spokesperson for the show said that they are 'working to restore full control of the account.'
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇸🇾 NEW: The HTS-led government has sent its internal security forces to the countryside of Al-Suwayda to protect Druze property and lives, after the expulsion of what the Syrian government calls 'outlaw groups'
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇺🇸 President Trump: 'Let’s not waste time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.'
@Middle_East_Spectator
— 🇮🇱/🇵🇸 NEW: Israel has announced the death of Captain Rei Biran, 21, from the city of Roshish, a team commander in the Golani Brigade, in an IED explosion in a building in Khan Younis yesterday
@Middle_East_Spectator
The radar underneath the dome, before it was destroyed.
Читать полностью…