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Israeli airstrikes/commando operations in Syria are continuing, with Israel reportedly having targeted the military and production facilities at Al-Safira, southeast of Aleppo. This a large facility, with a factory complex, missile production facilities, Scud missile launch sites, a biological laboratory, and multiple ammunition depots. Large explosions were reported and initially confused for an earthquake. Secondary explosions could still be ongoing if one of the ammunition depots took a direct hit. It was protected by an S-75 (NATO name: SA-2) Surface to Air Missile (SAM) battery, with a maximum range of 48km, which was either destroyed by Israeli strikes or inoperable. This system is best known for shooting down Gary Power's U2 reconnaissance/spy aircraft, as well as many US aircraft over Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

Video source on Twitter showing the explosions

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Satellite imagery of the base itself, sourced from Google Maps

I suspect Israeli strikes have restarted, with a strike on Damascus reported earlier today, because there has been an increase in reports of people looting ex Syrian Arab Army facilities over the past few days. It seems that the looters are looking for scrap metal from abandoned and destroyed army equipment, and not to capture and use/sell the weapons, at least for now. Israel clearly does not trust HTS to have any control over the situation, and now has decided to continue their de-militirisation campaign in Syria. And HTS as usual will not comment on it.

Copium manufacturing sounds too low to be honest. There is no way we only bested 26 instances. The only people on the English internet who have us beat on copium are the USA democrats who think the election was stolen and want to do a blue January 6th. Also the rest of hexbear has us beat in pointless infighting by a mile lol. Putin based numbers seem about right, only the Moon of Alabama comments section has more Putin fans.

what a fucking year, hope ilm strikes on 12th or whatever the fuck including weapons

(well i hope comrade e.coli poisons some weapons conference as well, but that depends on feeding the doodoo to the ghouls)

Israeli soldier leaves Brazil after Justice orders investigation by the Federal Police (Brazilian FBI).

A 21-year-old Israeli reservist has left Brazil, after the Federal Court ordered an investigation against him for alleged war crimes. The soldier was on vacation in Bahia, but had fought in Gaza. The case led the Israeli authorities to issue a warning to all soldiers that they could be prosecuted abroad for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry explained that it had in fact “accompanied” the soldier's removal from Brazil and had been in contact with him and his family throughout the process. The Palestinian Arab Federation in Brazil explained that soldier Yuval Vagdani “was on tourism in Bahia and his last known location is Morro de São Paulo, in that state.” According to the organization, the soldier is suspected of taking part in the demolition of a residential block in Gaza at the end of 2024, using explosives outside of combat situations. The homes served as shelters for internally displaced Palestinians after the start of the “genocidal” aggression on October 7, 2023.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro criticized the actions of the Brazilian justice system. He republished a post from another account on X (formerly Twitter) that reads: “In 2019, Israel was one of the only countries to send a team to help with the search in Brumadinho. Today, the Brazilian State is deploying the Federal Police to investigate members of the Israeli Armed Forces on vacation in Brazil.”

A column published on Sunday in Haaretz, one of Israel's leading newspapers, says that the case in Brazil has thrown Israel into “panic mode”. “We think Brazil should also investigate the escape route, because it may have been through Paraguay and Argentina, two countries that are once again harbors for war criminals. And we think that Brazil should take into account the list published by the HRF, so that it has the names and identities of these criminals in its archives. When they happen to set foot on Brazilian soil, they should be captured immediately,” said the president of Fepal.

The federation also considers the Federal Court's decision to investigate the Israeli soldier to be the right one, but has also suggested that an internal investigation should be carried out to find out if there was any action or omission by Brazilian public agents in the soldier's departure from the country.

Pridnestrovie has been paralyzed by Ukraine.

The cut-off of Russian gas supplies to Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers.

The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday's cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine.

Transnistria has for several years paid nothing for supplies from Russian gas giant Gazprom under a tacit understanding with Moscow. Russia however counts the cost of the supplies as foreign debt for Moldova.

"All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production - that is, directly ensuring food security for Transnistria," Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel.

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Ukraine had allowed Russia to keep pumping gas across its territory despite nearly three years of war, and was earning up to $1 billion a year in transit fees. But Kyiv refused to renew a five-year deal that expired on 1 January.

currency markets are so silly, markets in general but forex markets are supposed to be most markety market with highest liquidity, yet central bank interventions are needed to prevent it from going too wild. trump says he will implement broad tariffs and that is enough for Dollar to rise against everything else, nothing has happened yet!

really shows the world needs more controls on capital flows.

Today’s Syria news.

Washington is preparing to construct an illegal occupation base in the center of “Kobani” (Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria to protect its Kurdish “SDF” proxies from Turkish-backed “SNA” forces: https://thecradle.co/articles/us-lays-groundwork-for-new-military-base-in-northern-syria-report

Sporadic clashes in the area continue between the “SDF” and “SNA”: https://southfront.press/syria-remains-unstable/

The Zionist invaders seized the Al-Mantara Dam in the Quneitra countryside (the largest in southern Syria) and had earlier in December seized the Al-Wahda Dam (along southern Syria’s Jordanian border, which provides 30% of Syria’s and 40% of Jordan’s fresh water supply): https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-army-bombs-damascus-outskirts-seizes-control-of-syrian-water-sources

Why Antisemites Love Israel, a Brief History

The embrace is ideological, strategic and religious. It’s ideological because Zionism signals support for ethnic purity and hostility towards Muslims. It’s strategic because Zionism offers a (false) veneer of distance from Nazism, broadening the appeal of far-right parties. And it’s religious because Zionism taps into the Biblical zeal and eschatological fantasies of so many Christians. This is a brief history of Jew hate among Israel lovers.

New AES logo just dropped
https://xcancel.com/AESinfos/status/1873823154386145682

#AESinfo | 🇧🇫🇲🇱🇳🇪 🔴 Découvrez en exclusivité le nouveau logo de la Confédération des États du Sahel (AES) : Un symbole d'unité et d'avenir partagé

La Confédération des États du Sahel (AES), regroupant le Mali, le Niger et le Burkina Faso, dévoile aujourd'hui son nouveau logo, un emblème fort qui incarne les valeurs et les aspirations de cette alliance régionale. Ce visuel inédit, que nous vous présentons en exclusivité, témoigne de la volonté commune des trois nations de bâtir un avenir prospère et stable pour la région.

Happy new years y’all, the future is for those who understand the past and present

SDF Leader Seeks Russian Mediation in Talks with Turkey

The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, has called on the Kremlin to mediate reconciliation talks with Turkey. “We ask Russia to play the role of a mediator and help establish peaceful relations. If this demand is not met, we will be forced to defend ourselves. We have been preparing for this for four years,” Abdi stated.

Relations between Russia and the Syrian Kurds are rooted in mutual respect, making Moscow a logical choice as a mediator and guarantor of stability in the region.

However, the threat of a Turkish military operation in northern Syria looms large, with Ankara signaling increasing resolve to act against the SDF

https://xcancel.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1873248969071251802

How long until the Chuds and reactionaries start defending Jeffrey Epstein because he was a friend of Donald Trump and supposedly the Clinton family "killed him"?

Ukrainian FPV drone gets downed by a cat

Putin has deployed the Tactical Feline Brigade

According to air raid monitoring channels, Russian 5th generation Su-57 stealth aircraft are carrying out missions again, for now suspected to be simulations of cruise missile launches. The Su-57 can carry the Kh-59 cruise missile on external pylons, or the Kh-69 cruise missile in it's internal weapons bays. The Kh-69 is a stealthier more advanced version of the Kh-59. Both are low observable, terrain following subsonic cruise missiles that fly at low altitude, with a range of around 300km/190mi. The most infamous Kh-69 attack of the war so far was the attack on Trypilska thermal power plant near Kyiv, completely disabling it. Kh-69s launched from Su-57s are reserved for high value targets, Ukrainian air defence operators say that they are even worse to deal with for them than the Kinzhal air launched ballistic missiles.

Justin Trudeau expected to resign before Weds (globe and mail)

Justin Trudeau is expected to announce as early as Monday that he will resign as Liberal Party Leader, three sources said Sunday, as the Prime Minister faces a caucus revolt and dismal public opinion polls that show his party will likely be swept out of power by Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

a bunch of parliamentarian mumbo jumbo about need for an interim leader while the party does a leadership contest or not

Liberal candidates who are possible leadership contenders: Ms. Freeland, Mr. LeBlanc, former housing minister Sean Fraser, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Transport Minister Anita Anand, former central banker Mark Carney and former B.C. premier Christy Clark.

If Ms. Freeland were to take over, 21 per cent of voters would cast a ballot for the Liberals, the highest number among the leadership candidates tested.

this isn't him officially handing over the liberal party torch to a new PM just yet, but this reads like a real story and not the G&M just publishing rumours.

Andrey Grigoriev talks about his hand-to-hand fight with a Ukrainian (CW: Retelling details of the gruesome knife fight)

Some news and combat footage for today from the Donbass and Kursk oblast.

A report revealed that Russian forces have eliminated around 6,500 Western mercenaries during the special military operation. The five countries with the most losses are Poland (2,960), the United States (1,113), Georgia (1,042), Canada (1,005) and the United Kingdom (822): https://southfront.press/foreign-mercenaries-continue-to-die-in-ukraine-6-5-thousand-dead/

Russian forces liberated the small DPR settlement of Novoolenovka, south of Kiev-occupied Krasnoarmeysk: https://www.rt.com/russia/610206-two-donbass-villages-liberated-russia/

A collection of recent Russian combat footage from Kursk oblast: https://southfront.press/chronicle-of-the-fighting-in-the-russian-kursk-region-in-videos-december-29-30-2024/

Another combat footage collection from the Donetsk People’s Republic: https://southfront.press/imminent-threat-for-kiev-russian-troops-advance-in-the-toretsk-and-pokrovsk-directions/

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has resigned after successively failing to build a coalition government without the far right. For four months Nehammer had been trying to stitch together a government between the Conservatives (his party) and the Social Democrats.

No party wanted to form a government with the extremists of the “Freedom Party”, trying to form a government of the center. But it didn't work. The liberals left the negotiations and the Chancellor announced the official end of negotiations with the Social Democrats, his resignation from office and the leadership of his party.

The Austrian President has two options: Either he will ask the far-right leader Herbert Kickl (who once called himself the “people's chancellor”, just like Hitler did); Or he will dissolve parliament and call new elections in the country.

Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria's right-wing extremists, and his party with Nazi roots. About the FPÖ, Austria's far-right party with the most seats:

Founded in 1944 by Nazi leaders linked to the Hitler government, such as the former Austrian-Nazi Minister of Agriculture, Anton Reinthaller, the first leader of the FPÖ party. The current party leader, Herbert Kickl, has been calling himself “The People's Chancellor”, Volkskanzler, throughout his campaign and has now stepped up the propaganda even further;.

Some news and combat footage for today from Russia’s special military operation.

Anti-fascist partisans continue burning Kiev regime buildings (both government and corporate) and infrastructure: https://odysee.com/@Support4Z:b/%F0%9F%93%BD%EF%B8%8F-A-%F0%9F%87%AC%F0%9F%87%A7-%F0%9F%87%AB%F0%9F%87%B7,--Partisans-in-Ukraine-continue-to-do-sabotage-work:1

The Kiev regime counts large numbers of its deceased troops as “missing in action” in order to not pay compensation to their surviving family members (18+ video evidence of a recently uncovered basement full of abandoned troop corpses in the DPR): https://southfront.press/missing-afu-soldiers-found-in-kurakhove-video-18/

A Russian Iskander-M missile strike destroyed a large Kiev regime troop concentration in Sumy oblast near the border: https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/01/03/953983.html

CGTN has a live view on youtube of the teslsa that blew up outside the Trump building https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4dEXa9SKMM

The oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor dies at 105. Warren “Red” Upton, a 105-year-old World War II US veteran who was the oldest living survivor of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, died on Christmas Day, according to his family and the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, a veteran’s organization.

Upton was a “very humble, gentle, soft-spoken man,” who was “well-read and well-informed with current affairs,” Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, told CNN. “Warren never considered himself a hero,” Farley said. Upton passed away at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, early Wednesday morning, after suffering a bout of pneumonia for several days, said Farley, who said she’s been in constant contact with the veteran’s family.

Me when I wake up in 2025 and immediately break my resolutions to limit consumption of the GODDAMN NEWS this year:

In all seriousness - the image is from Mercouris' 31st december video (Invidious link in "listen only" mode so you can close your smartphone while listening).

It's a very good review of 2024 with a heavy focus on the Ukraine war. Nothing in itwill be news to News mega maxxers, but Mercouris uses all of his talent and slow-ass reading voice to summarize the countless insanities and failures dreamt up and executed by Western and Ukrainian leaders over the past year. It's pretty brutal and I would encourage you to give it maybe a 5 -minute listen and see if you like it; I thought it was one of Mercouris' best video I've seen over the past months.

I really dread what will happen to Europe after they slowly start to realize they've lost yet another war to Russia in the coming months, it will affect everyone I know.

Also includes some anti-dooming on the Middle East situation where he elaborates why Israel's position might not be so good after all; this is after the 1-hour mark I think.

US considers rule that could restrict or ban drones with Chinese tech

US President Joe Biden’s administration is considering proposing a rule to cut China out of the drone supply chain, the latest move in the escalating trade and tech decoupling between the world’s two largest economies.

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The move came hours after Beijing announced export bans on 28 American companies, including leading manufacturers of defence systems like Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to an export control list to “safeguard national security and interests”.

“Acute threats” from China and Russia may “offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive US data”, the Commerce Department said in a statement.