China Sends Another Warning: 'Drastic Measures' If Taiwan Continues On Path To Independence

China warns of ‘drastic measures’ if Taiwan continues on path toward independence

Worthy News

A Beijing official warns that China will take “drastic measures” if Taiwan moves toward independence.

The statement Wednesday was the latest development in recent months in which China continues to assert its ownership and control of the democratically governed Taiwan, increasing military and diplomatic pressure that has drawn concern among world leaders including those in Washington.

“If separatist forces in Taiwan seeking independence provoke, exert force or even break through any red line, we will have to take drastic measures,” said China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang, according to Reuters. [ Source: Just the News (Read More…) ]

Syria: Israel's Plans To Expand Golan 'Dangerous And Unprecedented Escalation'

Syria condemns Israel's plans to double number of Golan residents

Neta Bar  and News Agencies

Syria on Monday condemned Israeli plans to double within five years the number of Jewish residents living in the Golan Heights, saying the move constituted a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation," between the neighboring countries.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday a 1 billion shekels (over $300 million) plan to boost civilian Israeli presence in the country's north. The announcement was followed by a cabinet vote approving the construction of some 7,300 additional homes units on the strategic plateau.

"Syria strongly condemns the dangerous and unprecedented escalation by the Israeli occupation authorities" in the Golan, the state-run SANA news agency said, adding Damascus would seek to use all legally available means to retake the territory.

Speaking to Syrian TV station Al-Ekhbariya, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called Israel's actions against Syria "criminal" and said they violated the 1981 UN Resolution 497 declaring Israel's annexation of the Golan as "null and void."

The statement said the Syrian government remains committed to the Syrians living in the Golan "who are steadfast in their resistance to the Israeli occupation and their rejection of the decision to annex the Golan."

Some 50,000 people live in the Golan Heights — roughly half of them Jewish Israelis and half in Druze Arab villages that formerly were part of Syria.

Israel seized the 1,200-square-kilometre (460-square-mile) Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. The US recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan in 2019, but the action remains unrecognized by the rest of the international community.

Syria demands the return of the Golan, which also overlooks Lebanon and borders Jordan.

Israel and Syria have technically been in a state of war since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. Jerusalem and Damascus have fought each other in three major wars: the 1948 War of Independence, the 1967 Six-Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Since 1974, the two have maintained an armistice agreement along the so-called Purple Line, which has largely been adhered to by both countries, though not by Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group based in Lebanon, which also maintains interests in Syria, where Iran is trying to establish a growing foothold.

Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons in Syria, which is reeling from a lengthy civil war.

Russia's New Missile Designed To Shoot Down Satellites Enters Service

Russian 'star wars' missile designed to shoot down satellites, nukes and orbital hypersonic weapons enters service amid tensions with the West

WILL STEWART

Russia has deployed into service a new top-secret 'star wars' missile that is designed to shoot down nukes and satellites.

The S-550 missile defence system 'has entered combat duty', according to defence sources who spoke to state news agency TASS on Wednesday. 

While little is known about the missile, it is thought to be Russia's latest foray into the space arms race - designed to take out targets hundreds of miles above earth such as low-orbit satellites, nuclear warheads, and orbital hypersonic weapons. 

Moscow is thought to have carried out a test of this weapon system last month when it blew up one of its own defunct spy satellites in a move that enraged Washington and ramped up tensions with NATO.

Vladimir Putin has been rapidly bulking up his armed forces as he takes a more aggressive stance in eastern Europe, pressures NATO to sign off on new security guarantees for Moscow, and forges alliances with China.  

Russian currently has up to 100,000 troops stationed along the Ukrainian border amid warnings from the Pentagon that an invasion could take place within weeks.

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Abbas Said To Warn Gantz That Changes On Temple Mount Will Lead To 'Unstoppable' Violence

Abbas said to warn Gantz changes on Temple Mount will lead to ‘unstoppable’ violence

By TOI STAFF

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly warned Defense Minister Benny Gantz that while he is committed to stopping violence in the West Bank, he was concerned that changes to the religious status quo on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem could lead to an “unstoppable” escalation, Hebrew media reported Wednesday.

Abbas was hosted by Gantz on Tuesday at his home, the first time the Palestinian leader has held talks with a senior Israeli official in Israel since 2010. The meeting was Gantz and Abbas’s second since the new Israeli government was formed in June, with the first taking place in the PA. According to the Defense Ministry, it lasted two and a half hours; part of it was between Abbas and Gantz alone.

Reporting details from the conversation on Wednesday, both Channel 12 and 13 quoted Abbas as telling Gantz that he would not support a return to violence in the West Bank “even if a gun was held to my head.”

However, Abbas told Gantz he was concerned about violence erupting in Jerusalem, particularly surrounding the Temple Mount. Abbas told Gantz that if there was a change to religious elements on the holy site it would lead to an “unstoppable” escalation, Channel 13 reported.

The report gave no details on what changes Abbas was concerned about. However, in recent months there have been reports that Israel was quietly allowing Jewish prayer at the site, in what would appear to be a major change to the status quo that has existed at the holy site since the Jewish state captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan during 1967’s Six Day War.

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Hezbollah Deploys Air Defense Systems In Syria

Hezbollah deploys air defense systems in Syria’s Qalamoun mountains

ANNA AHRONHEIM

Hezbollah is reportedly deploying air defense systems in Syria, where it would be able to defend against Israeli airstrikes there as well as in Lebanon.

According to the Alma Research Center, the group is deploying the systems to the Qalmoun Mountains region northwest of Damascus, which borders Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, home to Hezbollah’s logistical and operational rear base.

The group is believed to have the SA8 low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system, SA17, and SA22 man-portable air defense missile systems in its arsenal in order to defend against Israeli airstrikes.

Hezbollah has fired on Israeli platforms using its air defenses, most recently in February of last year, when an Israeli drone was fired on by antiaircraft fire during routine operations over Lebanese territory. It was not hit and continued on its mission. In October 2019 an SA8 surface-to-air missile was fired at an Israeli drone but also missed its mark.

The report comes as military officials warned that the Israel Air Force’s freedom of operation in Lebanese skies has been compromised over the past year after air defense systems were deployed in the area.

In addition to deploying the batteries to Syria, Maj. (ret.) Tal Beeri, head of the research department at the Alma Center, told The Jerusalem Post that Hezbollah has also deployed SA8 batteries in south Lebanon.

According to Beeri, these systems can “theoretically” pose a threat to Israeli jets operating over Lebanon.

In addition to its independent air-defense system, Beeri said, it is possible that Hezbollah operatives have trained on Iran’s Bavar-373. The Iranian system is based on Russia’s SA-300 air-defense system that can supposedly simultaneously engage up to six targets up to 250 km. away with 12 missiles.

Iran says the system can target jet bombers and fighters, stealth aircraft and drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.

“It is possible that Hezbollah has trained on it, and, in all probability, we estimate that there have been attempts to transfer it to the group,” Beeri said.

In October, Israel’s defense establishment said that it had identified growing Iranian efforts to improve its air defenses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other locations, in an attempt to disrupt Israel’s “war between the wars” campaign and bring down an Israeli aircraft.