[FoxNews] DC US Attorney says to 'stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else'
A man is facing federal assault charges after allegedly "forcefully" throwing a Subway sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent during a confrontation Sunday night in Washington, D.C.
Metro Transit Police said they were patrolling the U Street area, seemingly as part of the Trump administration's initiative to crackdown on crime in the nation's capital, when a man later identified as Sean Charles Dunn shouted obscenities at a CBP agent, standing inches from his face and calling him a "fascist."
Sounds like Antifa/Black Bloc…
Moments later, police said Dunn returned, wound up, and "forcefully threw" a sandwich at the agent, hitting him in the chest, according to court documents. He then ran away, with a trail of federal officers chasing him.
Witnesses could be heard giggling as Dunn darted from the cops, according to an Instagram video posted by a bystander.
…or just an idiot…
After being arrested and taken to the police station, Dunn allegedly told another officer, "I did it. I threw a sandwich."
He is charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro reacted to the incident on social media Wednesday, serving up a strong message for anyone else considering assaulting an officer.
"He thought it was funny," Pirro said in the video. "Well, he doesn't think it's funny today, because we charged him with a felony assault on a police officer, and we're going to back the police to the hilt. So there. Stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else."
The incident comes after President Donald Trump on Monday federalized the DC Metropolitan Police Department under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to take emergency control of the police force for 30 days.
#6
How big was the sandwich? Was it stale? Did it contain spoiled tuna? Or was he just offering the hungry officer lunch (from a distance, since they were not wearing Covid masks?)
Pakistani immigrants are demanding that Japan change its culture to fit Islam:
"My children are Muslim. I don't let them celebrate Japanese festivals. Instead, they take the day off from school. There’s no Islam in Japan. Japan needs to become more multicultural."
🇦🇹🤰 Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi refugees living in Austria are having almost three times as many children as Austrian-born women, according to data from the country’s Statistical Yearbook on Migration and Integration. pic.twitter.com/excbpff5Hl
[IsraelTimes] Organizers say filmmakers didn’t legally clear footage, also cite ‘threat of disruption’; Sa’ar: This festival would have asked Hitler for approval to use Auschwitz footage.
Imagine the Nuremberg Trials refusing Nazi footage because they didn’t get Goebbels to sign a waiver.
The festival was set to show “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” which tells the story of Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, who set out to save his son, journalist Amir Tibon, and his son’s family as they were attacked by Hamas-led terrorists at their home on Kibbutz Nahal Oz near the Gaza border. The film was created by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich.
But Deadline reported Tuesday that TIFF pulled the screening due to fear of anti-Israel protesters disrupting the festival. However, sources close to the film’s production told the site that the festival’s claimed reason for the cancellation was that the filmmakers had not received explicit permission to use videos of the Hamas operatives during the attack in the film, with the festival fearing a potential lawsuit.
In a statement, CEO Cameron Bailey apologized for “any pain this situation may have caused,” acknowledging “the concerns it has raised among members of the Jewish community and beyond” and insisting he intends for the movie to be shown.
The movie features footage taken from the cameras of terrorists, who filmed their atrocities as they marauded through Israeli communities. Over a quarter of Nahal Oz’s 400 residents were killed or taken hostage that day.
According to Deadline, the filmmakers were asked by the festival to make several editorial changes, including to the film’s title, and get legal clearance to use footage filmed and livestreamed by Hamas terrorists as they carried out their onslaught.
The artists were also told they had to beef up security for the event and provide a letter of indemnification, legally accepting liability for any copyright violations or other legal issues that could arise from the film’s showing.
#5
I'm sorry, if you're going to show images of human suffering and violent death, you're sick. The old internet site ogrish.com was nothing but this. The video I saw of a Chechen murdering a Russian POW is seared into my brain. It's not just NSFW, it's NSFL. Not safe for life.
It's bad enough when it's internet sickos showing them to each other. But doing it at a legitimate film festival?
They are right to find a legal fig leaf to hide behind to stop it.
After WW2 all the intellectual property of the Nazis was declared public domain. And rightfully so, nobody should be able to profit from that. It's sick.
Avrich is Jewish, he should know better that this kind of thing just plays into the worst kind of stereotypes about Jewish filmmakers. White supremacists use this kind of material for online recruitment and radicalization, leading to real-world harm against Jews.
#6
Showing for amusement is evil indeed, Jairong. But as reportage and witness it is necessary.
The answer to “People say It didn’t happen, and anyway they deserved it” is “Look: this is what they themselves boasted of as they were doing all the things we say they did. We are not inventing fantasies, and this evil must be answered.”
After General Eisenhower, I believe it was, swept over the first of the death camps, he force marched the entire nearby community through at gunpointp, forcing them to see what they had refused to acknowledge even as they profited from the business opportunities engendered.
#8
Ike also made sure that thousands of American soldiers witnessed the aftermath of the Holocaust. I think he intuited that no one who hadn't seen it would believe it.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/14/2025 13:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Eisenhower made sure people knew about the Final Solution.
The film fucks are fully in bed with the modern day Nazis going for Jew death.
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] Melissa Moorman worked at Louisville's Nia Center Licensing Branch through Quantum Solutions, a staffing agency contracted by the state to help staff regional offices for 2 years and 3 months before she was fired. Moorman was fired after interviewing with an investigator following her brave testimony about co-workers allegedly secretly selling licenses to illegal aliens for $200 each. The brave whistleblower said the driver's license scam was taking place between 4-5 times per day for at least two years. According to Moorman, the licenses for illegal aliens scam took place in multiple Kentucky licensing branches.
Moorman stepped forward and blew the whistle on fellow employees after she was approached by two of them who asked her to join their fraudulent scheme, which puts driver's licenses in the hands of ''undocumented workers'' without having to take the required tests to obtain a legal license.
Local Kentucky news station WDRB has done an exceptional job of investigating and covering Moorman's story. ''The employees were being paid under the table,'' Moorman told WDRB News. ''I immediately let my supervisor know.''
“The undocumented workers would come into the office in groups. They were then provided then with either permits or driver's licenses illegally. So, they would bypass without even taking a test,'' the whistleblower claimed, adding that this happened ''up to five times a day.''
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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🚨 BREAKING: Tom Homan just announced that DC’s illegal alien Sanctuary City status has been REVOKED under President Trump’s federalization. pic.twitter.com/jtiCfablbT
Oh, they are going to lose it over this.
“D.C. under federal control is not going to be a 'sanctuary' city. We're…
[ARCHIVE.IS] Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been inundated with applications in the two weeks since it launched a major recruitment campaign.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday morning that ICE has received 100,000 applications in less than 15 days from “patriotic Americans who want to help remove murderers, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists” from the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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[ARCHIVE.IS] The state of Oklahoma is undertaking a first-in-the-nation initiative emptying jails and prisons of criminal illegal immigrants by sending them directly to federal immigration authorities at the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Over the past nine months, the state has developed a plan for turning over more than 500 locked-up criminals to ICE for deportation. It sounds like a simple task, but Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) has said he wants to cut through the red tape — and in some cases, sentences — to save taxpayers money and get what President Donald Trump's administration has referred to as the ''worst of the worst'' out of the state and country.
BREAKING: International Court orders renewal of the Indus Waters Treaty, insisting water must flow freely to Pakistan — India rejects the ruling. 🇵🇰🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/NtstgrjA73
Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif announced the creation of the Army Rocket Force Command, capable of striking “from all directions” with advanced tech. pic.twitter.com/VMCxzGjdPT
[Free Beacon] The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification used a different metric for Gaza than it has used for other conflict zones, changing its rules to make it possible to declare a famine in the Strip
The U.N.-affiliated watchdog group that recently declared a "worst-case scenario of famine" in Gaza quietly changed one of its key reporting metrics while doing so, making it easier to formally declare that there is a famine in the Hamas-controlled territory.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)—a network of Western governments, the United Nations, and nonprofit groups—determined in a July 29 report "the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip," claiming that "mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths." Media outlets like the New York Times, NPR, CNN, and ABC News relied on the IPC report to claim that Israeli policies have led to mass starvation, with the Times stating that "months of severe aid restrictions imposed by Israel on the territory" have caused a famine "across most of Gaza."
[IsraelTimes] An Italian Catholic priest who has been harshly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza has been denied entry to the country and placed on a flight from Tel Aviv to Greece, according to Italian media reports and the priest’s own Facebook page.
Father Nandino Capovilla, 63, a priest in Marghera, near Venice, landed at Ben Gurion Airport yesterday to take part in a “Pilgrimage of Justice” organized by the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi.
According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, at border control, Capovilla was stopped and eventually given a form to sign, which read that he could not enter Israel for reasons related to security or public order.
On his Facebook account, the priest regularly posts materials about the plight of the Palestinian people. In his posts, Capovilla has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide.
“I AM FREE! They let me out now,” Capovilla wrote on Facebook last night. “My cell phone and suitcase have been returned. All good.”
Capovilla encouraged any journalist who would cover his case to “demand sanctions” for a state that “among its ‘mistakes’ bombs mosques and churches.”
“I will not allow any journalist to interview me about my seven hours in detention if they don’t write about a people who has been prisoner in their land for 70 years,” he adds.
The rest of the Pax Christi group has been able to continue with their pilgrimage.
[IsraelTimes] In response to ToI query, army defends strike, says ‘many’ steps taken to mitigate civilian harm; source doesn’t specify which of other 5 fatalities were ‘incriminated terrorists’
The IDF said Wednesday that it had taken "many measures" to mitigate harm to civilians in a strike on Sunday that killed prominent Al Jazeera news hound and Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... operative Anas al-Sharif, and alleged that several of the other journalists killed in the same strike were also members of terror groups.
Al Jazeera said the strike killed its correspondents Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal. Freelancers Moamen Aliwa and Mohammad al-Khaldi were also with the group and were killed in the strike.
Israel has accused Sharif of being an active Hamas terrorist, sharing a number of documents it says show that he was receiving a salary from the terror group and was an active Hamas operative who headed a terrorist cell in charge of rocket-launching.
The strike on the group of journalists led to sharp international anger and condemnation from many Western governments.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel as to why the IDF chose to target Sharif when he was with five other journalists in a tent near Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... City’s Shifa Hospital, the military issued a response on Wednesday defending the strike, while a military source claimed that several of the other journalists were also members of terror groups.
"On Sunday, the IDF struck a terrorist from the Hamas terror organization in the northern Gaza Strip. Prior to the strike, many measures were taken to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information," the IDF said.
"Terror organizations in the Strip systematically violate international law, cruelly exploiting civilian institutions and the population as human shields for terror activities," the army added.
In addition, a military source told The Times of Israel that the strike targeted several other "incriminated terrorists," meaning verified members of terror groups, in addition to Sharif.
The source did not elaborate on how many or which of the five other journalists were also allegedly terror operatives.
On Monday, the IDF asserted that Sharif was "the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops."
The military said that "intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera," sharing a screenshot of the relevant documents.
The documents, published by the IDF in October 2024, showed that Sharif joined Hamas’s military wing on December 3, 2013, where he served as a commander of a rocket-launching squad in northern Gaza. He was certified as the team commander on January 1, 2019, according to the documents.
On April 7, 2017, Sharif was maimed in his eye and suffered hearing loss during Hamas training, though he continued to remain in the organization on a $200 monthly salary, according to a 2023 document published by the military. A separate, undated document showed that Sharif’s name was on the internal phone registry of the elite Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion. A codename for Sharif is also listed in the directory.
IDF international front man Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Monday that the documents the army published in October are "only a small, declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif leading up to the strike."
The strike on the journalists’ tent sparked a wave of criticism and calls for an in-depth investigation, including from the UN, the EU and a number of European nations.
The United States on Tuesday declined to criticize Israel over the strike, with State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce telling news hounds only that she would "refer you to Israel for information regarding al-Sharif."
She voiced respect for journalists who cover war zones but said that Hamas members have been "embedded in society, including posing as journalists."
"It is a horrible thing to do for those of you who are committed to finding information for people to be in that situation," she said.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in early July that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began, including several Al Jazeera journalists.
While Israel has repeatedly chastised international media for relying on information coming out of Hamas-controlled Gaza, it has barred journalists from entering the Strip since the start of the war, except on occasional, tightly controlled trips with the military.
[IsraelTimes] Somaliland, Uganda and South Sudan also reportedly in discussions, with diplomatic source telling Channel 12 Indonesia and Somaliland are particularly interested
Israel is in talks with five countries or territories — Indonesia, Somaliland ...Republic of Somaliland is an unrecognised sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, recognised internationally as a de jure part of Somalia. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden with approximately 5.7 million residents as of 2021. The capital and largest city is Hargeisa. The government regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland, which united from 1960 to 1991 with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic. Under the Siad Barre regime, Somaliadestroyed ninety percent of Hargeisa Per international law, once you're in, you gotta stay in, no matter how bad it smells.... , Uganda, South Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... and Libya — about potentially accepting resettled Paleostinians from the Gazoo Strip, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.
"Some of the countries are showing greater openness than before to accepting voluntary immigration from the Gaza Strip," a diplomatic source told the outlet, naming Indonesia and Somaliland as particularly open to the idea. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... no concrete decisions have reportedly been made.
Somaliland is a breakaway region of Somalia that is reportedly hoping to secure international recognition through the deal.
The report came a day after The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported that Israel had discussed resettling Gazooks in South Sudan — an assertion the African nation’s government rejected Wednesday as "baseless" and not reflective of its official policy.
The AP said such talks were linked to a broader Israeli push to encourage mass emigration from Gaza during the ongoing war with Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel announced on X that she had arrived in South Sudan, "the world’s youngest country," as part of Israel’s first official delegation to the African nation.
In her post, Haskel said she met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba and other officials, signed a diplomatic memorandum of understanding, and visited an Israeli trauma center that she said "saved dozens of children’s lives."
In an interview with the i24News channel on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again voiced support for the mass emigration of Gazooks — a policy endorsed by US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... , who broached the idea of resettling Gaza’s population in February but appears to have backed away from it in recent months — saying Israel is in contact with "several countries" about absorbing displaced civilians from the war-torn territory.
"I think this is the most natural thing," Netanyahu said. "All those who are concerned for the Paleostinians and say they want to help the Paleostinians should open their doors to them. What are you preaching to us for? We’re not pushing them out — we’re enabling them to leave... first of all, [leaving] combat zones, and also the Strip itself, if they want to."
Pressed on why the process has not progressed, Netanyahu replied: "You need receiving countries. We are talking to several countries — I won’t detail them here."
[An Nahar] Israel and the U.S. have agreed to the one-year renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate for one last time, but under "strict conditions, including granting these forces powers similar to those mentioned in Chapter VII (of the U.N. Charter), such as staging raids, arresting individuals and erecting checkpoints," al-Akhbar newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.
The ceasefire monitoring committee meanwhile held an urgent meeting Tuesday in Ras al-Naqoura, the first since June 26. The meeting followed the Lebanese government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah by year end and in the wake of the blast that killed Lebanese troops during the dismantlement of Hezbollah weapons in Zibqin.
Informed sources told the daily that the two-hour meeting was a "waste of time," seeing as "the Lebanese Army delegation did not receive any serious answers regarding its requests related to boosting its deployment in the southern border posts and specifying a date for the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Lebanese territory."
"The enemy’s army delegation spoke in an arrogant manner, refusing to discuss the issues of its withdrawal from the occupied and buffer zones and the army’s deployment on the border, while noting that Tel Aviv is not obliged to hear any Lebanese demands until the Lebanese Army completes the Hezbollah disarmament plan," the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Why the hell does the US have to agree to this?
How is this any of our business? It's the UN and some foreign country. Time to stop crawling and learn to walk.
[GEO.TV] Hamas expressed its keenness on a speedy return to Gaza ceasefire negotiations during a meeting with the Egyptian intelligence chief in Cairo as mediators push for talks, Egypt's state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV said on Wednesday.
They love talks. They won’t ever deliver, however — that would be against their principles.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] The contract includes both tactical long-range artillery-rocket systems and drones, as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance electronic warfare systems.
Elbit Systems has won the bid for a $1.635 billion contract to deliver “a range of defense solutions” to an unnamed European country, the technology military company announced on Wednesday.
The bid that won is a five-year contract pertaining to two categories of technological solutions to be handled by Elbit.
Long-range, precision strike artillery-rocket systems and automated reconnaissance aerial combat systems, both operational and tactical, along with drones, are included in the first category.
The second grouping involves ISTAR (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance), which provides for SIGIN.
Elbit said it would provide the country with military digitalization and a Network Combat Solution, based on advanced hardware and communications equipment.
Bezhalel Machlis, the president and CEO of Elbit Systems, said in a statement, “This contract reflects the strong demand for Elbit Systems’ cutting-edge technologies in Europe and demonstrates our ability to deliver integrated, multi-domain solutions tailored to the needs of modern defense forces.”
“Elbit Systems’ comprehensive portfolio has proven itself operationally on the battlefield and is highly regarded by its users. We are proud to support a European nation in strengthening its national security through this strategic partnership. This contract also includes industrial cooperation aimed at strengthening the buyer’s national industrial capabilities in the aforementioned areas,” Machlis continued.
RECENT ELBIT CONTRACT WITH ISRAEL'S DEFENSE MINISTRY
On Monday, the Defense Ministry signed purchase orders with Elbit Systems for a supply of advanced air-to-ground munitions in a deal worth approximately NIS 900 million.
Air-to-ground munitions are missiles designed to be launched from military aircraft, such as combat helicopters, toward targets on either land or sea.
Though the munitions being purchased are “newly developed,” according to Elbit, their portfolio boasts an extensive range of other air-to-ground systems and tools, including supersonic missiles, rockets, and general-purpose penetration bombs.
These contracts are part of the Defense Ministry’s ongoing efforts to expand the domestic production of military assets to ensure ongoing support of any IDF needs in the current war and in any future campaigns that may occur.
Replacing suppliers from countries in Europe and beyond that have cut off Israel because they’re going after Hamas. And once their supply line is secure and Europe is dependent on them, they can contemplate creating consequences.
Elbit also reported $2.0 billion in revenue for the past quarter, which its CEO said was "driven by sustained demand for its proven technologies."
"Elbit Systems' robust presence in Europe, built through subsidiaries, production infrastructure, and strategic partnerships, has laid the groundwork for securing major contracts that strengthen customer relationships," said Elbit CEO and President Bezhalel Machlis.
[An Nahar] President Joseph Aoun told Iran's visiting security chief on Wednesday that he rejected any interference in the country's internal affairs, branding as "unconstructive" Iran's statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah.
"We reject any interference in our internal affairs," Aoun said, adding that "it is forbidden for anyone... to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage," Aoun told Ali Larijani, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency posted on X.
"Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... wants to cooperate with Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... within the limits of illusory sovereignty and friendship that are based on mutual respect," Aoun added.
"The rhetoric that Lebanon heard over the past period from Iranian officials is unconstructive and the friendship that we want between Lebanon and Iran should not be through a single sect or a single Lebanese component, but rather with all Lebanese," the president went on to say.
"Through its constitutional and security institutions, the Lebanese state is responsible of protecting all Lebanese components," Aoun added.
He also noted that "any challenges coming from the Israeli enemy or other parties are challenges for all Lebanese and not for a specific group of them," adding that "the most important weapon for confronting them is the unity of the Lebanese."
Larijani's visit to Lebanon comes after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans to disarm Tehran-backed Hezbollah.
Following his arrival in Beirut, Larijani vowed that his government would continue to provide support, after it expressed opposition to the disarmament plan.
Iran and its so-called "axis of resistance" have suffered a series of blows in their long-running rivalry with Israel.
Iran and Israel went to war in June, with the United States stepping in briefly to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
Hezbollah suffered devastating losses in a year of hostilities with Israel that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.
A month later, Syria's president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... was ousted, depriving Hezbollah of its main conduit for weapons and supplies from Iran.
Iran has declared its firm opposition to the Lebanese government's bid to disarm Hezbollah, while the movement itself has slammed the decision as a "grave sin".
Before the war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
In Beirut, Larijani vowed continued support.
"If... the Lebanese people are suffering, we in Iran will also feel this pain and we will stand by the dear people of Lebanon in all circumstances," Larijani told news hounds.
Hezbollah's grip on power has slipped since the ceasefire with Israel and the new Lebanese government, backed by the United States, has moved to further restrain it.
[An Nahar] Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal is likely to take part in the cabinet session that will be held in late August to present the details of the arms monopolization plan, which will be based on "positive understanding rather than confrontation, through a gradual course for addressing the file of arms," informed sources said.
The plan "will be based on the formation of a joint liaison committee between the army and Hezbollah to locate the positions of arms depots and document them technically in preparation for handing them over to the military institution, without resorting to force," the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.
The weapons "will be either returned to Iran or disposed of as the party decides," the sources said.
The focus will then move to "the file of Paleostinian arms inside and outside (refugee) camps, a file that has been historically sensitive seeing as it involves security, political and regional aspects," the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] For weeks now, ordinary Iranians have been closely following the trial of 58-year-old "black widow" Kulsoom Akbari. According to investigators, the woman is suspected of at least 11 murders - although the real list of victims is most likely higher.
Akbari told investigators that she purposefully married lonely and old but wealthy men. She entered into marriage on the condition of receiving a dowry, and then dealt with her husbands.
A “group of unidentified persons” helped her to arrange the affairs; moreover, the “black widow” herself hinted during one of the interrogations that her activities were supervised by “influential people.” Implying, apparently, the mafia.
Of course, the Iranian “mafia” is very different from the European one – and is not even a mafia in the strict sense of the word. However, there are several areas where Iranian organized crime is particularly active.
This includes caviar production, drug trafficking and the smuggling of illegal migrants.
BLACK GOLD OF THE CASPIAN
Black caviar is considered a kind of calling card of Iran.
On average, the country produces about 25 tons of black caviar annually, although officially only a little more than two tons are exported. The rest of the catch is either sent to retail chains or used to “meet domestic needs” — from supporting the population to complex trade combinations (including “barter” trade with partners). The technological process is managed by the Shilat company, a de facto monopolist on the caviar market, which is under constant control of the Iranian authorities and security forces.
However, this did not prevent the development of the black market in the coastal regions, where local dealers quickly learned to stamp out products "a la Shilat". The "caviar mafia" felt especially good in the first half of the 2000s - when shadow cargoes reached the USA and European countries (under the guise of official ones).
Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who worked closely with Iranian smugglers in the early 2000s and used them to gather information about the mood in the republic, reported that one of the “underground” shipments even made it to the White House, to the desk of George W. Bush. Although US officials have never commented on the scandal.
The Iranian authorities have declared war on smugglers several times, smashing underground factories and making public arrests of business tycoons and officials who covered for them.
The last major public raid took place in 2019. At that time, the defendants included former high-ranking military official Alireza Akbari, who (in addition to managing the flow of black caviar) supplied confidential information to the Israelis and subsequently received the death penalty “on the whole.”
Today, Tehran is convinced that it has completely destroyed the black caviar market. However, the “caviar mafia” still feels quite comfortable – although it is forced to operate deep underground.
The main market for black caviar, both official and shadow, remains the UAE.
Thus, according to official data provided by the Iranian Customs Administration, about 560 kg of black caviar were sold to the Emirates last year. Smugglers - if we are to believe a number of anonymous interviews in the opposition press - surpassed official channels by about three times, supplying their Arab counterparts with almost one and a half tons of "Caspian gold". True, with the important caveat that the deliveries were made in "super small" batches and "under conditions of intense competition."
This means that the Iranian black caviar market is still in a state of “feudal fragmentation” and has not found a single leader. However, this is more a matter of time: under sanctions, trading “Caspian gold” has proven to be no less profitable than fuel – but much safer.
SHADOW EMPIRE
One of the major problems for modern Iran is drug trafficking.
Despite the fact that the country has severe penalties (including the death penalty) for both trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs, Iran's black market for drugs remains one of the three largest in the Middle East (and one of the top ten worldwide).
And in terms of the scale of battles, Iran is in no way inferior to Colombia.
For example, at the beginning of 2024, Iranian authorities managed to catch one of the largest drug traffickers in the region, Abdol-Hadi Barahway, nicknamed the “Persian El Chapo.”
Barahway was known for not just leading drug caravans to Iran, but for running a vast shadow empire whose tentacles stretched not only across the Middle East but also into Africa. During the raid on the “Persian El Chapo,” fifteen tons of illegal substances, about forty vehicles, and an entire arsenal of small arms—enough to arm the garrison of a medium-sized town—were seized.
A few years earlier, in 2020, another kingpin known as the “Gulf Crocodile” was executed. The 36-year-old drug lord had terrorized Iran since the mid-2000s but was caught trying to smuggle more than 100 tons of drugs into the country.
Moreover, after his capture, law enforcement officers brought down the shadow empire of money laundering: several dozen houses and apartments belonging to the drug mafia were confiscated in favor of the state. And along with the Krokodil gang, several police officials who covered for the mafiosi ended up in the dock.
However, the stories of Barahway and Crocodile are only a small part of a larger campaign to combat drug trafficking.
Not a week goes by without local media reporting on yet another clash with drug dealers or raids on underground labs. But judging by the increase in the volume of confiscated cargo from year to year, the confrontation is only gaining momentum.
COCAINE FOR THE POOR
When talking about drug trafficking, one cannot ignore Captagon, a synthetic drug based on methamphetamine and jokingly referred to in the region as “poor man’s cocaine.”
A popular drug to make and take in throughout the region. The Assad government apparently made about $57billion on the stuff in 2022, ISIS made it for their fighters as well as for sale, random civilians made it as a side hustle…
In less than a decade and a half, this drug, produced in Syria, has literally conquered the Middle East, becoming a threat to the security of regional states.
Tehran's opponents are constantly looking for the roots of the "captagon empire" in Iranian high offices. At various times, Western media have named various high-ranking Iranian politicians and security officials as "curators" of secret routes through which "cocaine for the poor" was transported.
However, over time, the theory of an Iranian drug conspiracy began to fall apart on its own.
With the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime and the flight of his brother Maher, who was accused of jointly producing Captagon with the Iranians, the trade in the substance did not die out. On the contrary, under the transitional Syrian government, the mafiosi began to act more openly (and in some places even brazenly), enjoying the support of temporary local officials.
In Syria's Idlib, a recent "training ground" and stronghold of the armed opposition, several "offices" were even opened, through which "coordinators" for future caravans were recruited. After public exposure, the "offices" quickly went underground, but indirect signs of their activity in Idlib remained.
Considering that Iranian agents of influence (who have traditionally been blamed for the activities of Captagon traders) are not very active in Syria under the new authorities, it was decided not to promote the topic for now. In order not to accidentally tarnish the reputation of the new Syrian regime and its closest partners.
MIGRANT SPIES
Another area in which Iranian shadow bosses are active is the import of migrants.
Illegal workers are used by them in underground production and in organizing courier chains; sometimes, using forged documents, they are hired at “friendly” construction sites.
The demand for people from Afghanistan is particularly high.
The business of bringing migrants from this country to Iran and neighboring Pakistan is well-established and has been functioning for decades. Especially since Afghans fleeing instability are ready to pay any amount of money just to leave their homeland. Many of them are subsequently drawn (on the principle of "service for service") into illegal business and become "ears" of the mafia in border areas.
The authorities are trying to fight illegals, but are not succeeding. Some Afghans have been living in the shadows for generations.
After Israel's Operation Lion Force in June 2025, when the Jewish state's intelligence services actively recruited Afghan illegals to hunt Iranian air defense crews, Tehran tightened the screws even more. Almost 800,000 Afghan migrants were deported from the country in a month and a half. Another 200,000 were put on notice.
Ah. I wondered what caused the sudden urgency to get rid of them.
In order not to lose valuable labor, the criminal kingpins even had to redirect some of the illegals to Pakistan, where the security forces are currently more loyal. However, they are unlikely to be overly keen on this route - there is a high risk of conflict of interest with the D-Company cartel
Wht is a D-Company cartel?
operating in these areas.
The Iranian bosses do not want to quarrel with Davud Ibrahim's people, and therefore they are looking for ways to soften the anger of Iranian law enforcement officers on the ground and "turn a blind eye" to individual violations of the migration regime.
[ZeroHedge] Syria’s caretaker government is moving to restore the Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline with Iraq, a strategic corridor that had the capacity to move up to 300,000 barrels per day to Syria’s Mediterranean coast before war and sanctions shut it down in the early 2000s.
Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir will travel to Baghdad in the coming days to discuss rehabilitation plans, according to Iraqinews.com.
For Damascus, reconnecting to Iraq’s oil network could provide critical transit revenues, reduce reliance on costly maritime imports, and restore its position as a regional energy hub. For Baghdad, reopening the route would offer an alternative export outlet to Europe, bypassing chokepoints in the Strait of Hormuz and diversifying away from Turkey-dependent pipelines, as highlighted by Shafaq News.
The proposal comes as post-Assad Syria navigates a shifting geopolitical landscape. Regional powers, including Turkey, Iran, and Gulf states, are recalibrating their strategies, while Western capitals weigh how to engage without ceding influence to rivals. Analysts told the Yetkin Report that the Kirkuk-Baniyas revival could weaken Ankara’s leverage over Iraqi exports and reshape Mediterranean energy flows.
The revival of the Kirkuk-Baniyas could also have far-reaching consequences for Baghdad’s relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
For over two years, northern exports have been hampered by the shutdown of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan, a route that runs through territory controlled by the KRG.
A functioning Baniyas route would give Baghdad a northern export corridor that bypasses both KRG-controlled infrastructure and Turkish territory. Analysts note that this could diminish Erbil’s bargaining power in budget talks and shift Iraq’s export calculus toward Syrian cooperation.
The change could also heighten tensions if Baghdad attempts to channel crude from disputed fields in Kirkuk and Nineveh through Syria without KRG consent.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
08/14/2025 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[THEGATEWAYPUNDIT] 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
