— 🇺🇸 NEW: The U.S. Navy plans to temporarily sideline 17 ships due to a manpower shortage, particularly a lack of experienced merchant mariners to crew support vessels.

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— 🇮🇷/🇮🇶 NEW: Iranian Shia pilgrims during the eve of Arbaeen gathered at banners and at the office of the extremist Shia scholar Ayatollah Sadiq Shirazi in Iraq, disavowing him and his supporters, chanting: 'We are at your service, 'O Khamenei!'

Ayatollah Sadiq Shirazi is an extremely controversial and sectarian cleric, whose followers and disciples routinely insult or mock Sunni Muslims and their revered figures, like Aisha, the wife of the Prophet, and some of his early companions.

Most Iranians follow Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as their religious leader, who is pro 'Islamic Unity' between Sunni and Shia Muslims. He has condemned the Shirazis and their affiliates for being Western-backed agents who incite disunity between the Muslims.

@Middle_East_Spectator

After today's Hezbollah strikes:

— 🇮🇱 WATCH: In a bizarre video, during an ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jewish protest against conscription, a Haredi youth was filmed yelling: “Ismael Haniyeh was murdered in cold blood! We prefer Hamas' rule here!” — Credit to 'ireallyhateyou' on Twitter.

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— 🇷🇺/🇫🇷 NEW: The Russian Embassy in France said French authorities refused to engage on their requests for access to Telegram founder Pavel Durov after his reported detention.

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— 🇮🇶 NEW: The official tally of Arbaeen pilgrims entering Karbala in Iraq this year has been recorded as 21,480,525

The Arbaeen pilgrimage, where millions of Shia Muslims visit the grave of the Prophet Muhammad's ‎ﷺ grandson in Karbala, remains the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, more than 10x larger than the Hajj.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇱🇧/🇮🇱 NEW: Reports out of Lebanon say that Israeli planes broke the sound barrier while flying in the skies in the south of the country and in the skies of Beirut

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— 🇷🇺/🇺🇦 NEW: Zelensky: Russia used more than 100 missiles and about 100 drones in today's strike on Ukraine

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— 🇩🇪 NEW: Olaf Scholz vowed to step up deportations and bring down irregular migration on Monday during a visit to the city of Solingen, where three people were killed in a mass stabbing over the weekend

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— 🇱🇧/🇮🇱 NEW: Hezbollah: We targeted espionage equipment at the 'Ramia' site with a suicide drone and achieved a direct hit

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🇮🇶🇷🇺🖇️ Yesterday, we participated in a meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, in Baghdad. The format of the meeting did not allow for a wide range of issues to be discussed, but for our team, this was the first such event with the participation of a sitting foreign leader.

Among other things, one point stood out strongly: al-Sudani particularly emphasized the importance of the media and creating conditions to invite foreign journalists instead of obstructing them. According to him, this is the way to break the prevailing stereotypes in the press about the state of affairs in Iraq and create a positive image of the country in the world.

At the same time, the very fact that the head of state is inviting representatives of the Russian information and analytical media network to a meeting speaks to a certain understanding by the Iraqi authorities of the role of Telegram in the modern information war. The importance of which, in al-Sudani's administration, is apparently generally recognized.

And if that's the case, then specific points of contact in this area can quite possibly be found.
#Iraq #media_technologies #Russia
@rybar

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— 🇮🇷/🇮🇱 NEW: Chief General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Maj. Gen. Muhammad Bagheri spoke at the inauguration ceremony of the new Defense Minister, Brig Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, and said that "revenge against Israel is inevitable."

According to him, 'Iran will decide how and when to take revenge. The Axis of Resistance will avenge the blood of Ismail Haniyeh, each according to his plan and capacity. What we saw yesterday is part of the revenge,' he said, referring to the Hezbollah attack.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇮🇱 Head Professor of Iran Studies at Tel Aviv University: 'Israel cannot enter into a war against Iran without the United States, we have no chance in an isolated military confrontation. Either the U.S. joins in, or Israel does not go to war.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇶🇦 NEW: The Qatari Prime Minister visited Tehran and met with the Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi

The two discussed important regional developments, including the ongoing Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations in Doha and Cairo.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇷🇺 NEW: Iran's Ambassador to Moscow says that Russia had the right to respond to the 'continued oppression of the people of Donbass by the Ukrainian state'

He also stressed that he hopes Russia and Ukraine will reach a diplomatic solution in the future, but that he rejects the Western label of 'Russian aggression'.

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— 🇫🇷 NEW: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been charged on 12 criminal counts.

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