TV News LIES

In the southern Lebanese village of Habboush, the sound that cut through the stillness of the night was not an air strike. It was the sound of a child screaming for help.

Hashem, a paramedic in the village, heard the cries coming from an Israeli quadcopter hovering overhead. 

Speaking to Middle East Eye, he said this was not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern that has become increasingly familiar to residents who remain in southern villages.

“This is not the first time these drones have flown over us and broadcast different sounds,” Hashem said.

“Yesterday, it was the sound of children screaming and pleading for help. Before that, they broadcast the sound of an ambulance. Another time it was the Quran. Another time, it was the voice of a woman calling for help. We are living through this almost every day.”

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The U.S. military launched airstrikes Wednesday on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that U.S. President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic.

Tehran vowed to respond, again throwing into question efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire in the Iran war that’s seen the Strait of Hormuz effectively choked off and global energy prices spike. Missile alert sirens sounded in the island kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which Tehran said it targeted for retaliation.

Fighter jets from the U.S. Air Force and Navy conducted the strikes, the U.S. military’s Central Command said, targeting “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites.” Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, but gave no details on the damage.

“The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” Central Command said.

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The Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings for residents of several villages in southern Lebanon, ordering them to move north of the Zahrani River.

Israeli air strikes and shelling were reported across Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil and Marjeyoun districts, including attacks on Mefdoun, Shoukin, Ansar, Haris, Yater, Kfar Tebnit and other towns.

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces also carried out multiple demolitions of homes in Dbayn in the Marjeyoun district.

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A senior Iranian official has explicitly denied that Tehran agreed to hand over or relocate its highly enriched uranium stockpiles as part of the pending diplomatic memorandum of understanding with the US. The revelation directly contradicts earlier assumptions surrounding the breakthrough truce announced by Donald Trump.

The sudden diplomatic breakthrough aimed at ending the military standoff in the Persian Gulf has hit a critical roadblock after a senior Iranian official explicitly rejected claims that Tehran has agreed to surrender its domestic stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

The pushback, according to Reuters, introduces a sharp narrative divide between Washington and Tehran just hours before both administrations are scheduled to formally announce a finalized Memorandum of Understanding to halt the six-week-old war.

According to the high-ranking Iranian government official, the preliminary text hammered out during frantic weekend backchannel negotiations does not encompass any structural restrictions or removal mandates concerning the regime’s nuclear enrichment capabilities. Tehran asserts that the current diplomatic instrument functions strictly as a localized security framework to separate combat forces and restore maritime trade, rather than a comprehensive, permanent non-proliferation treaty.

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U.S. Central Command (Centcom) on Monday said U.S. forces fired “defensive strikes” in southern Iran amid discussions to bring the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran to an end.

These strikes were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces” — specifically boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Centcom spokesperson, told The Hill.

“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Hawkins said.

Earlier Monday, Reuters reported explosions in southern Iran in Bandar Abbas city and around coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. and Iran have held a ceasefire since April 7. The stalemate has seen few small attacks since last month, though none have violated the ceasefire’s terms.

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Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US’s pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.

The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.

The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.

Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.

The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.

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