A French newspaper has found that crippling US sanctions on Iran have choked off Tehran’s financial support to Hezbollah, one of the country’s most important proxies in the Middle East, like reported by aawsat.com.

Le Figaro’s report entitled, “Hezbollah put on diet due to the fall of Iranian aid”, emphasized that Iran has cut its transfers to the Lebanese group by half, reducing the salaries of party members.

The report quoted a Hezbollah media worker as saying that the salaries were cut by two thirds, and that the party had to reduce compensation to the families of “martyrs.”

According to the report, wages paid to Hezbollah fighters returning from Syria (formerly ranging between $600 and $1,200) have fallen by 50 percent, while salaries of soldiers fully dedicated to the fighting will be also reduced.

A well-informed diplomatic source quoted by Le Figaro said that Hezbollah, “which has long benefited from its relations with Iran, has been subjected to austerity measures and no longer enjoys any benefits.”

“Six months ago, cash transfers from Tehran to Beirut airport through Iranian airlines were estimated at $70-80 million per month, according to US and French figures; but these payments have now dropped by around 50 percent,” according to the French source.

The report also pointed to US restrictions on bank transfers. It noted that banking supervision “severely affects Lebanese merchants abroad, as well as fundraising and service stations located in the Hezbollah stronghold, in southern Lebanon.”

The Khmeimim base operated by the Russian Air Force in Syria was attacked by opposition forces opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The Russian State News Agency Novosti reported the shelling of Khmeimim by 17 projectiles from a multiple rocket launcher, referencing a message released by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

According to Russian media, nine shells were destroyed by the air defense at the airbase, another eight did not reach the base. the Russian military does not consider it necessary to shoot down the projectiles.

The day before, 6 rockets were fired at the same base. According to Russia, the attack was perpetrated by Jabhat al-Nusra Islamists. The missiles had also been intercepted.

The Houthi commander leading the Yemeni rebels’ assault in Dhalea was killed as pro-government forces recaptured large areas of the southern province, military officials said according to thenational.ae.

Yehya Al Rezami was among 80 Houthi fighters killed on Wednesday, Col Ahmed Qaid, commander of the Security Belt Forces in the province, told The National. Twelve others surrendered.

Al Rezami was from the Houthi stronghold of Saada province in northern Yemen and was killed in the Abara area on the Hajer front, said Col Qaid, whose troops are part of a pro-government alliance known as the Southern Joint Forces.

“Our forces drove the Houthi rebels from several key sites north of Qatabah and on the Hajer front west of the city,” he said. “We retook Kardah village, Al Wa’el mountain and all the hills around it, the village of Homar Al Sadah and the special forces military base in Qatabah, Al Kawz village and Al Karna’a area north of Qatabah. On the Hajer front our forces along with the other southern divisions liberated 90 per cent of Al Abara area and Bajah village.”

The Southern Joint Forces are now focused on pushing the rebels out of the northern parts of Dhalea such as Damet, Al Hasha and Al Aoud after recapturing Qatabah city last week, said Capt Majed Al Shoaibi, who was recently appointed spokesman for the Southern Joint Forces in the area.

“This was the second push after recapturing Qatabah last Friday. Now a strategic military base is going to be set up in Qatabah to act as a central command for military operations against the Houthis,” Capt Al Shoaibi told The National.

The Houthis retaliated to their losses on Wednesday by firing mortars and Katyusha rockets at populated areas. More than 15 rockets fell in the Khoura area in Hajer, residents told The National, destroying several homes and forcing people to flee. A 10-year-old was reported killed in Shab Al Osood village when a Houthi shell landed near the family’s home.

The Arab military coalition supporting the government promised more support to the forces in Dhalea when Brigadier Omar Al Tunaiji, the coalition’s western commander, met representatives of the Southern Joint Forces earlier this week.

“Brigadier Al Tunaiji heard the details of military developments and assured the forces’ representatives that the coalition stands ready to provide all needed support and had ordered reinforcements from the Amalikah Brigades to boost the fronts in Dhalea,” the spokesman of the Joint Forces on the western coast, Col Wathah Al Dubaish, told The National.

Meanwhile, residents of Hodeidah say the rebels are continuing to reinforce positions in the western port city despite apparently complying with a ceasefire agreement by pulling out of the three main ports last week under UN supervision.

Col Al Dubaish told The National the government was going to stop participating in the committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire unless the UN included its representatives in the monitoring of the rebels’ unilateral withdrawal.

The head of the UN observer mission, Gen Michael Lollesgaard, said the Houthis had withdrawn from Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Al Saleef ports but the government says the pullout was not jointly monitored by its representatives as agreed and accused the rebels of staging a deception.

“The Houthi unilateral withdrawal means nothing for us and we are going to stop dealing with Gen Lollesgaard because he violated all the points agreed with the government team on May 13 in Aden and went to legitimise the Houthi unilateral withdrawal, ignoring us and our requests,” Col Al Dubaish said

Residents of Hodeidah said the Houthis continued entrenching their positions at many places in the city last week.

“Earlier this week seven Ethiopians hired by the Houthis were killed in a landmine explosion in Al Saleh city as they were digging a new tunnel,” a resident told The National.

The long-delayed Hodeidah ceasefire requires both sides to pull their forces out of the city, which is the main entry point for Yemen’s food imports and humanitarian aid.

Who are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the most powerful group in the last province held by rebels in Syria, according to bbc.com?

The ongoing government offensive against the last rebel-held areas in northern Syria has once again put the spotlight on the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant faction in Idlib Province.

Although HTS, formerly known as Nusra Front, continues to pursue a jihadist agenda, it formally split from al-Qaeda in 2016, prompting harsh criticism from al-Qaeda leadership and defections by al-Qaeda loyalists.

Al-Qaeda appears to have given up on HTS returning to the fold. A new group called Hurras al-Din which emerged last year is widely believed to be al-Qaeda’s new branch in Syria.

Despite this, the UN and a number of countries continue to consider HTS as an al-Qaeda affiliate and to frequently use its former name, Nusra Front.

The group itself appears to be trying to strike a balance between maintaining its jihadist credentials and distancing itself from global jihadist groups for the sake of survival.

HTS today is one of the strongest militant factions in northern Syria, having consolidated its power in the region through seizing territory from rival rebel groups in the past two years.

More than cosmetic change
In July 2016, Nusra Front broke ties with al-Qaeda and re-branded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS), introducing the separation as an amicable joint decision.

The rebranding followed pressure from Syrian rebel groups who argued that Nusra Front’s link with al-Qaeda was being used as an excuse by the Syrian government and its allies to label the entire insurgency as terrorist.

In January 2017, HTS was founded as a result of a merger between JFS and other factions. The group stressed it was an independent entity, in a clear effort to indicate its separation from al-Qaeda.

In June 2018 HTS reiterated that it had no links with any group after the US blacklisted it as a terrorist organisation.

In October 2017 the head of the former Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, was named as HTS leader, having earlier served as HTS’s chief military commander – a role critics said was used to mask his actual leading role in the new formation.

By November 2017, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri formally denounced Nusra Front’s breakaway saying it marked a “serious violation of a pledge” of loyalty. His statement confirmed speculations from pro-al-Qaeda opinion formers online that al-Qaeda leadership had never agreed to the split.

HTS’s refusal to roll back its decision led to increased tension between HTS and loyal al-Qaeda figures and supporters, which has played out in a nasty war of words online that flares up every now and then.

Matters came to a head after HTS during the same month detained a number of key al-Qaeda loyalists who had previously served as senior officials within Nusra Front.

Several combat units and figures that remained loyal to al-Qaeda subsequently defected from HTS and later joined Hurras al-Din, which was set up in February 2018.

Although HTS and Hurras al-Din are not enemies, they could be seen as rivals competing for territory, weapons and recruits.

Rift with al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda loyalists accuse HTS of seeking to make gains at the expense of core jihadist principles.

They say the group is secretly working to implement a Turkish agenda in northern Syria that would ultimately rid the region of “true” jihadists and pave the way for a political deal with the Syrian government.

HTS’s suspected links with Turkey has been a key point of contention between it and jihadist hardliners who consider Ankara an enemy that cannot be trusted.

The fact that HTS agreed to Turkey’s set up of observations posts in Idlib and even accompanied Turkish military patrols, as part of a September 2017 political deal, has cemented jihadist hardliners’ suspicion of HTS and their views that it has sold out on jihadist goals.

Another point of contention is the matter of the “disputed weapons”. Al-Qaeda figures argue that HTS owes al-Qaeda – presently represented by Hurras al-Din group – weapons it had when it was under al-Qaeda’s patronage as Nusra Front.

HTS has strongly denied accusations about its “plotting” to undermine the jihadist project in northern Syria, but its religious figures have also argued in favour of a pragmatic approach that would not alienate ordinary Syrians or bring them harm.

But HTS has avoided openly spelling out its position on Turkey, although it has in the past acknowledged the country’s “support” to Syrians, particularly refugees.

Expansionist tactics
HTS has carried out a number of military operations that saw it seize territory from rebel factions, allowing it to consolidate its power in northern Syria.

In July 2017 HTS captured large parts of Idlib Province following battles against rebel groups, including its former ally Ahrar al-Sham.

To address concerns about its growing power, HTS said it would hand over areas under its control to a civilian body. In October, the National Salvation Government (NSG) was born to administer the “liberated areas” in the north.

HTS critics, both mainstream and jihadist, say the NGS is a front for HTS.

In a surprise move in January 2019, HTS seized territory in Aleppo Province, key areas in northern Hama Province and a string of villages in southern Idlib Province following renewed infighting against members of the Turkey-backed alliance, the National Liberation Front (NLF).

Once again, HTS was quick to hand over administrative control to the NSG.

What’s next?
It remains to be seen whether the latest offensive by the Syrian government supported by Russian air force or future ones will bring HTS closer to al-Qaeda fighters, represented by Hurras al-Din.

Similar government offensives in the past year have failed to cause solid collaboration between the two jihadist factions who have preferred to separately fight a common enemy.

The matter also appears to be strongly linked to political agreements, particularly Turkey’s role and whether or not HTS is willing to engage in any deals, secretly or openly.

Following the government advance in Hama countryside in May, al-Qaeda loyalists sought to remind HTS that it could not trust Turkey to safeguard rebel territory against Russian action.

In Yemen, the high-pitched whine of drones has been a part of life for over 15 years, ever since the first U.S. drone strike here targeting al-Qaida in 2002. But now, Iran-backed Houthi rebels increasingly deploy drones in Yemen’s brutal civil war, like reported by defensenews.com.

Neighboring Saudi Arabia, which has been battling the rebels since 2015, said drones attacked an oil pipeline, targeting two pumping stations west of its capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday.

The Houthis claimed a coordinated drone attack, underscoring how the Arab world’s poorest country has become one of the world’s top battlefields for drones. Both the rebels and the Saudi-led coalition fighting them, as well as the U.S., continue to use them for surveillance and attacks.

While the United States uses American-made drones and the coalition has turned to Chinese suppliers, the manufacturer of the Houthis’ drones in both the air and the sea has been a contentious question.

The Iran link

A 2018 report by a United Nations panel of experts on Yemen looked particularly at the Houthis’ Qatef-1 drone.

The report said that although the rebel media announced the Houthis had manufactured the drone, “in reality they are assembled from components supplied by an outside source and shipped into Yemen.”

The Qatef, or “Striker,” it added, “is virtually identical in design, dimensions and capability to that of the Ababil-T, manufactured by the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries.”

The Ababil-T can deliver up to a 45-kilogram (100-pound) warhead up to 150 kilometers (95 miles) away.

A research group called Conflict Armament Research, with the permission of the United Arab Emirates’ elite Presidential Guard, also examined seized drones used by the Houthis and their allies to crash into Patriot missile batteries in Saudi Arabia.

The research group similarly said those drones share “near-identical design and construction characteristics” of Iranian drones.

The drone boat

Saudi-led coalition forces last year also showed journalists a Houthi “drone boat,” filled with explosives that had failed to detonate.

The officials also shared black-and-white images they said came from the “drone boat.” They said the pictures and associated data from the boat’s computer showed Iranians building components for its guidance system in eastern Tehran, with a hat in the background of one picture bearing the symbol of Iran’s hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces.

They said those involved in building the components probably believed it would be destroyed in the blast, so they didn’t wipe the computer’s hard drive.

For its part, Iran repeatedly has denied supplying the Houthis with drone or ballistic missile technology. However, Iran would have an interest in seeing Saudi Arabia, its archrival in the region, tied down in a bloody, protracted conflict with no clear end in sight.

Iranian activists on social media have been sharing a video purporting to show Iranian Revolutionary Guards transporting made S-300 air defense systems to areas along the Gulf, like reported by alarabiya.net.

According to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, an activist group, the vehicles transporting the defense systems and other military equipment in the coastal city of Asaluyeh in the southern province of Bushehr.

According to the activists, the air defense systems are being moved to protect a nuclear reactor and sensitive sites along the Gulf from any possible attack.

The moves come as Iran’s air force chief Aziz Nasirzadeh on Monday threatened to bomb regional capitals and target oil installations in the Arabian Gulf in response to heightened tensions with the United States.

Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has built up the US military presence in the region. It accuses Iran of posing threats to US troops and interests. Tehran has denied this, describing the US moves as “psychological warfare” and a “political game.”

Iraqi security forces conducted a large-scale operation on Monday in Salahaddin province where they killed at least 11 jihadists belonging to the Islamic State (IS), like reported by basnews.com.

Iraqi War Media Cell confirmed in a statement that they operation also destroyed 13 hideouts where the IS militants used.

During the operation, they also discovered and destroyed 16 suicide bomb vests, according to the statement.

Elsewhere in Anbar province, west of Iraq, security forces killed six members of IS who had suicide bomb belts.

The Saudi air force says it has intercepted and destroyed two missiles fired by Houthi rebel militias in Yemen and headed for Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, and Jeddah, like reported by asianews.it.

The attack was launched early yesterday morning but, for many hours, the Saudi official media did not confirm the launch, which only emerged when social networks were already flooded with news and videos.

In just a few hours, over 40 thousand Twitter posts on the topic were counted, while the official Riyadh media remained silent.

According to a spokesman for the Arab Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen, the two rockets were shot down over the skies of Taif, at dawn yesterday. Arab News adds that some fragments of the first missile fell on Wadi Jalil, a valley that extends to Mecca.

Some inhabitants in Jeddah have confirmed a powerful explosion in the early hours of yesterday.

Analysts and experts recall that it is not the first attack by pro-Iranian militias against the holy city of Islam. Already in July 2017 the Houthi had launched a missile against Mecca.

The attack, which coincides with Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and Islamic prayer, is only the latest in a series of episodes that confirm the escalation of tension in the Middle Eastern region. At the center is the clash between Iran and the Arab alliance (Saudis and emirates above all), which is also reflected in the bloody war that has been going on in Yemen for over four years.

The Arab satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya cites eyewitnesses who confirm the shooting down of the two rockets on the skies of Jeddah and Taif. In the hours following the attack and facing the general outrage of the Arab and Muslim world, the leaders of the Houthi movement denied wishing to hit Mecca (70 km away from Jeddah and 50 km from Taif). For the Yemeni rebels the accusation is only a pretext to feed the war launched by Riyadh in the neighboring country.

“The Saudi regime is trying, with these accusations, to fuel support for its brutal aggression against the people of Yemen,” said spokesman Houthi Yahya Sarea.

Many Saudi analysts and scholars are instead calling for all-out war with Tehran. They include Hamdan Al-Shehri, a professor of international relations based in Riyadh, who says “it is not the first time that the Houthis and their masters in Tehran have launched missiles at Mecca”.

“Now it is time – adds the scholar – that all the Muslim nations in the world make a square around sacred places […] condemnation in words is not enough. Iran and the Houthi have crossed the red line, so a deterrent action is needed against Tehran “.

Since 2015, Saudi security forces have intercepted and destroyed 227 ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis in Yemen.

Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government say they have captured a key al-Qaida leader in the southwestern province of Taiz, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

The military said in a statement that special forces had arrested Bilal Muhammed Ali al-Wafi on Saturday in the mountain area of Habashi.

Al-Wafi, in his 30s, is a key member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, and has helped to carry out several deadly attacks including the 2012 bombing of a Yemeni military parade that killed dozens of troops.

The U.S. designated al-Wafi as a terrorist in 2017.

Al-Qaida has maintained a foothold in the country throughout the chaos and violence of Yemen’s four-year civil war, as the internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia, battles Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

The German Defense Ministry says it’s resuming its military training mission in Iraq after a re-evaluation of the security situation determined the threat level had lessened, like reported by fresnobee.com.

The Ministry said Friday the re-assessment was a joint assessment by coalition forces serving in Iraq, which is led by the United States.

Last week, the U.S. said they’d detected signs of Iranian preparations for potential attacks on U.S. forces and interests in the Middle East, and the threat assessment in Iraq was raised to its highest level.

That prompted Germany to suspend its training of Iraqi soldiers in the north, and ordered the 160 German soldiers to stay on base.

The Ministry says the threat level has now been lowered, so its soldiers can again leave their base and would “soon” resume their mission.