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Condemning Israel aggression

Iran's foreign minister has strongly condemned Israel’s attacks on Syria following the devastating earthquake that hit the northwestern parts of the country. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Iran's top diplomat said such acts of aggression reveal the savage and inhuman nature of the usurping Zionist regime, which is concerned about rapidly changing international equations. He added that the attacks are also aimed at deflecting attention from the regime’s internal problems. The Syrian president, for his part, called for further expansion of the two countries' ties. He added that relations between Tehran and Syria are strategic and help promote stability and security in the region.

Tel Aviv shooting

A shooting attack in central Tel Aviv has left three Israeli settlers injured, some in critical condition. Israeli authorities say the shooter has been killed. Some Israeli media reported that five settlers were injured in the attack, two of them in critical condition. They added that the regime’s forces rushed to the location of the attack, fatally shooting the armed assailant. The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, hailed the Tel Aviv operation, describing it as a response to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, including the killing of three Palestinian youths earlier Thursday. The Islamic Jihad movement also said it was the right of Palestinians to resist the occupation. It said the operation discredited the Israeli security system and proved the ability of resistance fighters to reach the enemy deep inside the occupied territories. The shooting came following massive demonstrations in Tel Aviv in protest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s so-called judicial reforms plan.

Korean Peninsula tensions

North Korea’s leader has ordered the military to intensify drills for a real war, amid simmering tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The official KCNA news agency said Kim Jong Un issued the order after he oversaw a fire assault drill. The exercise was meant to prove the country’s capability to counter an actual war. Earlier on Thursday, South Korea said the North had fired a short-range ballistic missile off its west coast. KCNA, however, said a unit trained for strike missions had fired a powerful volley of missiles at the targeted waters. North Korea’s latest missile launch came ahead of planned large-scale military exercises by the US and South Korea next week. Washington and Seoul claim the drills are purely defensive in nature. North Korea, however, sees them as rehearsals for the invasion of its territory.

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