For today, links to eight reports: from Axios, Reuters, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, CNN, and Middle East Monitor, and to commentary from Substack and Middle East Eye; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) – MCM
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FROM AUG. 5 Biden briefed that Iran attack timing and details still unclear, U.S. officials say, by Barak Ravid | Axios President Biden and Vice President Harris were told by their national security team on Monday that it is still unclear when Iran and Hezbollah are likely to launch an attack against Israel and what specifically the attack might entail, according to three U.S. officials. READ MORE . . .
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Israel says dozens of Palestinian fighters killed in Gaza over past 24 hours, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie | Reuters CAIRO / JERUSALEM — Israeli forces killed 45 Palestinian fighters in Gaza over the past day, the military said today, after heavy fighting in which militant group Hamas said it destroyed two armoured personnel carriers during an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said . . .READ MORE . . .
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Palestinians killed in West Bank as world leaders try to avoid regional war. From AP. Israeli fire during military raids in the occupied West Bank killed eight Palestinians, including four teenagers, and wounded another seven, Palestinian officials said today, as world leaders try to stop tensions in the Middle East from boiling over into a regional war. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Reuters.
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U.S. officials are increasingly worried about a wider war in the Middle East.Reported by Michel Martin of NPR talks with a former head of Israel’s Defense Intelligence Amos Yadlin about, among other things, whether Israel is prepared for a possible war with Hezbollah and Iran while fighting in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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FROM AUG. 3 U.S. sending aircraft carrier, warships and fighter squadron to Middle East as region braces for Iranian retaliation, by Oren Liebermann | CNN The United States is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian retaliation to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. READ MORE . . .
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FROM AUG. 4 Blinken told G7 Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel in next 24 hours, by Barak Ravid | Axios Secretary of State Tony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 countries on Sunday that an attack by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel could start as early as Monday, according to three sources briefed on the call. READ MORE . . .
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Gaza detainee tortured to death at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility. From Middle East Monitor. A Palestinian detainee from Gaza died of torture at the notorious Sde Teiman detention centre in southern Israel, according to prisoners’ affairs groups. “Omar Junaid was . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM AUG. 5 Netanyahu’s assassination spree, by Seymour M. Hersh | Substack The United States and the Middle East are now enduring a crisis that can in part be traced to the failed foreign policies of President Joe Biden, who will be in office, barring unforeseen events, for six more months. The core issue has been . . . READ MORE . . .
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Netanyahu wants a war without end. This could give it to him, by Richard Silverstein | Middle East Eye Last week’s assassinations by Israel of Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh have brought the region to the precipice of all-out war. Actually, the region is already at war. But . . . READ MORE . . .