According to the rights group Israeli aerial vehicles killed 825 civilians in the blockaded coastal enclave including women and children.

Israel deploys drones to initiate attacks or to mark targets for air-strikes to be carried out by Apache helicopters and F16 fighter jets. They were heavily used during the war on Gaza which claimed the lives of nearly 1400 Gazans and the injury of thousands.

Analysts say, the United States and Israel closely collaborate on the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to them, Israel is using the Gaza Strip as testing ground for its weapons.

Israeli drones fly non-stop in the Gaza sky with their buzzing sound which could be heard day and night, a dull distant purr that within moments swells into the rattling sound similar to that of a motorcycle.

With the international apathy towards the plight of Palestinians, experts say Gaza residents will continue to be at the mercy of Israel and its internationally banned weapons.

According to the rights group’s most recent report, Israel deploys drones to initiate attacks or to mark targets for airstrikes to be carried out by its Apache helicopters and F16 fighter jets.

At least 825 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including women and children have been killed in Israeli drone strikes in the coastal area over the past five years, the PCHR said.

“This is one of things that we are mostly concerned about, because we have daily experience with the drones and yes it is true that — as I said — hundreds of Palestinians, of Gazans – mainly civilians, including children and women – were killed by these drones,” Hamdi Shaqqoura of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said.

The drones were heavily used during the 22-day Israeli war on Gaza in 2008 which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the populated coastal strip and left thousands more injured. It also inflicted over USD 1.6 billion in damage on the territory’s economy.

“When we receive the victims here, some of them are already martyrs and some of them are seriously injured and some of them are decapitated. So many children … are decapitated because of the use of these weapons, and in fact the weapons that they use are internationally banned,” said General Director of Shafa Hospital in Gaza Medhat Abbas.

Some analysts believe Washington and Tel Aviv collaborate closely on the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. They say Israel is using the Gaza Strip as testing ground for its weapons.

“I think this is the reflection of the nature of Israel as a settler colonial state that aims at getting rid of as many natives as possible and transforming the Gaza Strip into a testing ground for its scientific and technological experiments,” political analyst Haidar Eid said.

Witnesses said the troops and vehicles started to raze farmland in the area during the early hours of Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Gunfire has also been heard in the area, causing widespread panic among the residents, especially children.

No casualties have been reported.

Israel has escalated such incursions into Gaza over the past few weeks.

Israeli officials claim that the latest incursion was “necessary to comb the area for any Palestinian activities by resistance factions.”

The Thursday attack in Khan Yunis was carried out ahead of the anniversary of the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war against Gaza, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

On Saturday, a Palestinian man was killed in an attack by an Israeli tank in the Bureij town in eastern Gaza.

Residents still live in what is known to be the “world’s largest open-air prison” as Israel remains in full control of the airspace, territorial waters and border crossings of Gaza.

Countering [the threats of] the occupying regime of Israel constitutes the priority in Iran’s foreign policy, IRNA quoted Roknabadi as saying on Thursday.

Iran’s envoy to Lebanon also slammed the dual policies of certain Western countries and their allies in the region, adding that their efforts are mainly aimed at supporting Israel and weakening the resistance of regional countries against Tel Aviv.

The Islamic Republic will support the legitimate demands of people in the region and across the world, he noted.

The Iranian diplomat pointed to the ongoing developments in Syria and stated that the majority of Syrian people have explicitly expressed their support for President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrians have proved that they are fully aware of the enemies’ plots to inflict damage on their resistance and called for the implementation of reforms proposed by the Syrian government, added Roknabadi.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in favor of President Assad.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying it is being orchestrated from abroad.

In interviews with Israeli news outlets over the past few months, the Syrian opposition members have “clearly expressed their vision for the future of Syria and their interest in establishing relations with the Tel Aviv regime,” according to informed sources in Syria.

However, Syrian people have repeatedly expressed solidarity with the government over the past weeks.

On December 9, a roadside bomb attack targeted French troops as they entered the eastern Bourj al-Shamali area of the southern city of Tyre on their vehicle, leaving five soldiers injured.

A number of March 14 members said Hezbollah was completely responsible for the attack, arguing that as Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, it must have been aware of suspicious activities in that area.

“The statements made by some members of the March 14 movement regarding the blast which targeted the UNIFIL forces in south Lebanon are dangerous and unacceptable,” Hezbollah warned in a statement released on Thursday.

“Those figures who made these statements are behaving in a way which shows they are part of a scheme which is taking aim at the resistance fighters. This is what pushes them into leveling these irresponsible allegations,” it added.

Hezbollah blamed those behind the allegations for making baseless accusations with no evidence, and without taking into consideration the consequences.

The resistance movement condemned the “political accusations” and warned against “the danger of such a behavior and the dangerous repercussions it could incur, which will harm the country and its citizens.”

“The intelligence supremacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in controlling and steering the US spy drone and the detention of a CIA agent have seriously damaged US intelligence hegemony,” Kazem Jalali said on Tuesday.

He added that the US can no longer portray its political and intelligence apparatus as being all powerful.

The spokesman for the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee pointed to the attempts made by Western media outlets to downplay Iran’s intelligence achievements as a natural effort to reduce the mounting psychological pressure on the US and its allies.

“We fully understand US frustration and helplessness, and their resorting to media projection in order to cover up their political and intelligence weaknesses,” Jalali stated.

On December 17, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced the capture of a CIA agent of Iranian decent, foiling an intricate US plot to carry out further espionage activities in the Islamic Republic following the capture of a US spy drone in northeastern Iran.

In a televised confession, the US operative, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, said he had joined the US Army in 2001 and underwent decade-long intelligence training, and that he had been sent to the US Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan and given access to classified intelligence before flying to Tehran.

Earlier in December, the Iranian armed forces captured with minimal damage a US spy drone which had taken off from a US military base in Afghanistan and was flying within the Iranian borders.

On November 24, Iran announced the arrest of a dozen other CIA spies found to have been on a mission to sabotage the country’s nuclear facilities and other important compounds.

Another US espionage network with 12 members has been busted in Iran and Lebanon in cooperation with the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah.

In a televised confession, broadcast on the Iranian television on Sunday night, the operative, named Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, said he joined the US Army in 2001 and underwent decade-long intelligence training.

He added that he was sent to the US-run Bagram Air Base in eastern Afghanistan and given access to classified intelligence before flying to Tehran.

Hekmati of Iranian origin, who was born in the southwestern US state of Arizona, said he intended to win the confidence of the Iranian intelligence apparatus with the information he had been given by the agency.

“It was their (the US Central Intelligence Agency’s) plan to first burn some useful information, give it to them (the Iranians) and let Iran’s Intelligence Ministry think that this is good material,” he said.

Iran says its networks, tasked with monitoring the activities in the Bagram base, had learned about Hekmati there and thwarted the operation.

This is not the first time Iran has arrested CIA spies. On May 30, members of a CIA espionage and sabotage network were arrested by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.

On November 24, Iran once again announced the arrest of a dozen CIA spies, who were found to have been on a mission to sabotage the country’s nuclear facilities and other important compounds.

Another CIA espionage network with 12 members was busted in Iran and Lebanon in cooperation with the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah. According to Parviz Sorouri, a member of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, the captured spies were basically on a mission to cripple Iran in nuclear, military, and security areas.

Analysts point to a recent hike in the CIA’s anti-Iran missions, citing the agency’s recent dispatch of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft over Iran.

On December 4, the Iranian military’s electronic warfare unit announced that Iran had downed with minimal damage the reconnaissance aircraft, while it was in violation of the Iranian airspace.

The aircraft, designed and developed by the American company Lockheed Martin, had crossed Iran’s border with Afghanistan and was brought down as it was flying above the northeastern city of Kashmar.

US intelligence officials confirmed two days later that the drone had been part of a CIA reconnaissance mission, which had aimed to gather information about Iran’s sensitive facilities by flying along the common border.

The casualties occurred when the twin blasts struck the security service bases on Friday.

This came as a delegation from the Arab League arrived in the capital to monitor the situation in the country.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying it is being orchestrated from abroad.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Maher Salloum, political analyst, to share his opinion on this issue.

Following is a transcript of the interview:

Press TV: First of all, we are seeing it for the first time now a terrorist attack against security and intelligence buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus. The government and state TV says it is a terrorist attack conducted by terrorist groups. What do you think?

Salloum: Yes I believe it is a terrorist group and it could be as, you know, news analyst in Lebanon and Syria, they are sharing information today that this could be an Islamist Salafist group that is supporting actually the oppositionist against the regime of Dr. Bashar al-Assad.

Now attacking the National Security State Department inside Damascus Syria, this is a highly significant and new measure actually but this is a very risky business here we are talking about, I mean handling between the oppositionist or the Syrian National Council headed by Burhan Ghalioun against Dr. Bashar al-Assad inside Syria.

This is considerably against all odds actually so far since 10 months ago inside Syria.

Press TV: Mr. Salloum, of course the timing of this bombing has been regarded as important as well. Do you think that there is any kind of connection with the fact that the Arab League observers have also entered Syria and we are seeing this latest attack take place?

Salloum: Well it could be perpetrated or well planned or thought for by even the prince of Qatar, let’s say himself and the Turkish Prime Minister and even the Saudi agents inside Syria in coordination with Lebanese 14 March block, all in one plan in order to attack the regime and destroy the regime of Dr. Bashar al-Assad.

This is according to me very risky business. It is highly dangerous and this could lead to another facet of military attacks against those terrorists inside Damascus Syria and Aleppo or even Daraa in the north of Syria.

Condemning the car bomb explosions, which left over 55 people dead, Hezbollah accused Washington of orchestrating the Friday bombings in revenge for the failure of US policies in the Middle East region.

”These bombings which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of people, mainly women and children, are the specialty of the United States, the mother of terrorism,” read a statement released by Hezbollah’s press office.

The resistance group said those affected by the historic US defeat in Iraq are now taking revenge on nations and groups who helped Iraqis to end the occupation of their country.

“This horrific crime committed by enemies of humanity a day after coordinated crimes in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, signifies that powers affected by the US defeat and withdrawal from Iraq have begun a process of bloody and coward revenge, targeting all forces and countries that have had a clear position of the US occupation and helped the heroic Iraqi resistance in its fight to take the American occupier out,” it said.

”US specializes in targeting the innocent, killing and terrorizing them to force them into bowing down to American politics which serve the Zionist interest which Americans put first and foremost,” the statement added.

Lebanese president Michel Sleiman has also condemned the terrorist attacks in Syria, saying that they aimed at hampering the Arab solution agreed-upon by Syria and the Arab League.

At least 55 people, mostly civilians, were killed after two car bombs went off outside Syrian security service facilities in the Kafr Sousa area on Friday.

The explosions targeted the main headquarters of the General Intelligence Agency and a branch of the military intelligence.

Iran is accused by the US, Israel and its western allies of producing nuclear weapons, and threatened with an attack if it doesn’t stop its activities. However Tehran has persistently denied these allegations as a bunch of lies with deceptive motives against the nation.The Iranian nation has been constantly portrayed as a threat to the world and a regime intending to acquire nuclear weapons. Ironically, all the nations that are at the forefront of the movement against Iran are the largest manufacturers and suppliers of such weapons be it the US, Britain, Israel, France or Germany. These super powers have also been the pioneers in flouting international and basic human rights when it comes to wars and the use of lethal weapons. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and the everyday killings in Gaza and West bank are a proof of their atrocities. Against all their claims, Iran has never denied access to the UN nuclear inspectors, In fact it has fully cooperated with them in all their visits to their nuclear sites. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has conducted innumerable inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never pointed to any evidence of a diversion towards nuclear weapons. However, the controversy has erupted yet again against the backdrop of latest International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report. The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s report claimed that Tehran had engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003 and that these activities “may still be ongoing.” Can such a misleading and vague-worded report be considered a proof to accuse a sovereign nation and impose sanctions on it?

What surprises me is the whole world is talking about the report but very few seem to bother about the proofs to substantiate their claims, and based on this report the UN has imposed its fourth round of sanctions on Iran. President Ahmadinejad once remarked: “They (the Western powers) tell us to prove that we have no bomb. How can we prove something which basically does not exist?”

Time and again Iran has declared that as a signatory of the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, despite international objections to the Israeli military nuclear program, the United Nations and its nuclear regulatory agencies have never taken serious steps to censure or impose sanctions on the Israeli regime.

Worse, the Israeli regime has never allowed nuclear inspectors to access its nuclear sites and till date has refused to join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) inspite of being the only country in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons. How come the torch bearers of freedom and human rights don’t have a problem with Israel whose stockpile of weapons are only increasing with each passing day? I wonder how Israel that kills Palestinians on a daily basis is not a threat to world peace and Uncle Sam who bombed Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan is not a violator of freedom and human rights.

Regardless of innumerable sanctions, espionage operations, assassination of scientists, black operations, cyber wars, endless propaganda campaigns, Iran has only emerged stronger against all their odds. Thanks to the United States, its European Allies and the sanctions they imposed on Iran; it has only strengthened the Iranian economy instead of weakening it. As a matter of fact, these sanctions have affected the West more than Iran. According to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associate, “the Western countries’ plans of enforcing sanctions on Iran’s oil sector will drive up oil price and wreak havoc on the world market, Iran’s oil revenues will hit record of more than 100 billion dollars this year, and the result of any possible sanction is a higher profit for Tehran, because it will sell the oil to someone else.”

A wise man once said: “Lying will not hide the truth but only delay it.” Despite their own history marred by the blood of innocent people from all over the world, the US and Britain regard Iran a threat to world peace and call themselves the Messiahs. Each successive government whether British or American has only proved to be worse than the previous one and paradoxically each one has claimed to be the biggest advocate of liberty, peace and equality.

The torch bearers of freedom and peace, France and Britain till a few days ago were happily shaking hands and posing with Gaddafi and supplying his regime with chemical weaponry, latest warfare technologies and other lethal weapons. A few days later their hearts were moved for the people of Libya and they realized that they were suffering under the dictator for the last forty two years, out of ‘compassion’ for the people of Libya they united under the NATO umbrella and attacked Gaddafi, thereby giving relief to those who were suffering under this tyrant. For all their good work The Almighty has rewarded them with the contracts to reconstruct Libya. God bless them for their generosity. Germany on the other hand is doing the good work of selling weapons and tanks to the tyrant regimes in the Middle East who are busy crushing their people’s calls for democracy.

Strangely, amidst all the propaganda, very few people know that Iran is one of the 20 countries to have signed and ratified the first international convention for the annihilation of weapons of mass destruction. The convention effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, retention, stockpiling and use of biological and toxic weapons and is a key element in the international community’s efforts to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Bizarrely, the freedom loving USA has declared in the ‘Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) in Hague, that it won’t be able to destroy its stockpile of Chemical weapons in the near future and requires at least a decade to do so. As against all this, the peace loving Zionist regime of Israel flatly refuses to join any organization that would require of it to destroy the nuclear stockpile that it has stored for spreading peace and happiness in the world.

Tired of working on nukes and weapons of mass destruction I got up to unwind myself and as I put on the television, a Friday sermon was being broadcast, where the Imam said “My dear brothers and sisters, are we making atomic bombs or the ones who killed millions of innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Are we against human rights or the ones who bombed Vietnam, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq? Do we suppress freedom and democracy or the ones who have occupied Palestine and are killing the Palestinians since all these years? It is my humble request to the so called champions of freedom and human rights to first learn to respect the demands of your own people and treat them like human beings, your pepper sprays and your batons against the ‘Occupy’ protesters shows us your love for democracy and human rights”.

I don’t know whom the Imam was referring to, if you, my dear readers know who they are, do let simple people like me and others around you know about them…