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This picture taken from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke plumes billowing during ongoing battles in the Sultan neighbourhood in the northwest of Rafah on June 18, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP) (AFP)
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At least nine people were killed and 30 injured when Israeli attacks targeted a group of people awaiting aid trucks near the Karem Abu Salem aid crossing in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah warns that “no place” in Israel would be spared from attacks in a full-scale war with Israel, after Israel said operational plans for a Lebanon offensive had been approved.
Israeli military attacks in Gaza have killed 24 people and injured 71 in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
A United Nations commission reports that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
At least 37,396 people have been killed and 85,523 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that since the signing of the JCPOA in 2015, Tehran’s nuclear program has significantly developed. According to Rafael Grossi, the Iranian regime is capable of producing the latest generation of centrifuges, building new facilities, and taking actions far beyond these.
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestiapublished on Monday, June 17, Grossi emphasized that the Iranian regime is not considered a completely reliable actor on the international stage and the world is suspicious of Tehran’s nuclear activities.
His remarks come a few days after the Board of Governors approved a resolution proposed by Britain, France, and Germany, known as the Troika, regarding Tehran’s nuclear program with 20 votes in favor, 12 abstentions, and 2 votes against.
The resolution calls on the Iranian regime to improve its cooperation with the IAEA and lift the ban on the entry of “experienced inspectors” from the Agency.
On September 17, 2023, the Iranian regime revoked the permits of a group of IAEA inspectors operating in Iran.
In continuation of his interview with Izvestia, Grossi, while acknowledging the statements of Iranian officials regarding the high number of IAEA inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities, said there are convincing reasons for this.
He added that the IAEA does not follow an anti-Iran policy. “We are not saying that Iran should not use its technological skills and capabilities. Not at all. We are simply saying that the necessary access [for IAEA inspectors] to [Iranian nuclear facilities] will benefit both parties,” he said.
Earlier, Reuters, citing a confidential IAEA report, wrote that on June 9 and 10, the Iranian regime informed the Agency that it would install eight cascades, each containing 174 IR-6 centrifuges, within three to four weeks at the Fordow facility.
This action by Tehran was taken in response to the recent resolution by the Board of Governors.
Grossi: The JCPOA has lost its meaning
In his interview with Izvestia, Grossi emphasized the necessity of returning to diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue and simultaneously warned that the JCPOA now exists only on paper and has no meaning. “Nobody applies it, nobody follows it.
According to the IAEA Director General, efforts were made to revive the JCPOA in Vienna, but unfortunately, despite being relatively close to success, they failed for reasons unknown to him.
The European Union wrote in a statement on June 4 that ensuring the Iranian regime does not acquire nuclear weapons is one of the Union’s main security priorities.
The statement expressed regret that Iran has not taken the necessary decisions to return to its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.
Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Iranian regime, emphasized the continuation of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program on April 24 and considered the sanctions as a means for “flourishing talents” and the emergence of “domestic capacities.”
A report released by a Swedish think tank revealed India possesses more nuclear weapons than Pakistan, while China’s nuclear arsenal increased from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024.
According to the report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India stored 172 deployed warheads in January this year in comparison to Pakistan’s 170 during the same period.
The nine nuclear-armed states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel—continued to modernise their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023, the report said.
Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,121 warheads in January 2024, about 9,585 were in military stockpiles for potential use.
An estimated 3,904 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft—60 more than in January 2023—and the rest were in central storage.
Nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the USA, but for the first time China is believed to have some warheads on high operational alert, the report said.
Russia and the USA together possess almost 90 percent of all nuclear weapons.
The sizes of their respective military stockpiles seem to have remained relatively stable in 2023, although Russia is estimated to have deployed around 36 more warheads with operational forces than in January 2023.
“Transparency regarding nuclear forces has declined in both countries in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and debates around nuclear-sharing arrangements have increased in saliency,” the report said.
“China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” said Hans M. Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
“But in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces,” Kristensen said.
JERUSALEM — Six weeks after it defied its allies and attacked Rafah, Israel is close to achieving its goals in the southern Gaza city it says was Hamas’s final stronghold, according to Israeli officials and analysts, raising the possibility that months of major military operations might soongive way to a new, less-intense phase of the conflict.
A shift from the widespread ground and air attacks that have leveled much of the enclave and killed tens of thousands of people, according to Palestinian health officials, would represent a significant milestone in the war. It would offer a possible respite to civilians who have spent months in the line of fire, allow for more humanitarian aid and possibly jolt stalemated diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire deal and free Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
A complete end to the war is not in sight. The Israel Defense Forces said it has destroyed most of Hamas’s 24 battalions and has severely degraded three of the four remaining battalions in Rafah. But lone fighters and small groups are still launching rockets into Israel and targeting troops, even in areas of the Gaza Strip already largely under Israel’s control.
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On Saturday, eight Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah when an explosion hit the armored personnel carrier they were traveling in, the IDF said. Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said the attack was carried out with an antitank missile, calling it a “painful blow” to the Israeli military.
“And we have more,” Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida said in a statement.
Israel has made clear it intends to keep some troops inside Gaza — or within rapid striking distance just outside the enclave in Israel — indefinitely to keep Hamas in check.
“The guerrilla fighting never ends,” said a senior Israeli military official familiar with ground operations who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss security matters. “Our aim now is to defeat the Rafah brigade, and we are doing that.”
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A potential end to the Rafah offensive would cap nearly eight months of large-scale ground operations in Gaza, which followed the weeks of aerial bombardment that opened Israel’s war on Hamas after the group killed about 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostages on Oct. 7.
In Gaza, which is home to 2.2 million people, at least 37,372 Palestinians have been killed and 85,452 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the casualties are women and children.
What comes next is expected to be a slower-tempo, targeted campaign of raids to keep Hamas from regrouping. Those pop-up, mop-up operations will be carried out by a smaller number of Israeli troops, according to Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired brigadier general and former director general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry.
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“They are getting closer and closer to finishing major operations, and then we move to Phase 3,” Kuperwasser said. “Rafah was critical. Things are going to change. But it’s not the end of the war.”
The IDF stormed Rafah on May 6, brushing aside warnings from Washington and other allies that an incursion would have devastating consequences for more than a million people who fled to the area after being displaced by earlier fighting. The war has created a humanitarian crisis that Israel is under international pressure to alleviate.
Israel dropped leaflets and warned civilians to leave the Rafah area in the days before launching the attack, leading about 1 million people to flee once again, according to the United Nations. Many went to tent camps north and west of the city; others found space on sidewalks and fields already jammed with displaced people.
For many, the past six weeks in Rafah have brought home the full horrors of the war. An Israeli strike that tore through a makeshift encampment on May 26 killed at least 45, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Witnesses described to The Washington Post scenes of families burning inside tents.
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The IDF said the incident, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as “a tragic accident,” was under investigation. Weapons experts said the Israeli military used a U.S.-made precision bomb in the strike, after the fragments of an SDB GBU-39, a 250-pound small-diameter munition, were found near the site.
How we report on what’s happening in Gaza
Adli Abu Taha, 33, said artillery shells struck near his house in the first hours of Israel’s attack on May 6. He and his family fled with what they could carry, he said, along roads suddenly packed with displaced people wandering with heavy loads.
Abu Taha’s family eventually found space in a tent camp in nearby Khan Younis, where they learned their home had been destroyed.
“My mother does not stop crying,” he said in a phone interview. “This house represented our life. It was the only thing we had left of the smell of my father.”
Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss thinking within the administration, said they have been monitoring the situation in Rafah closely and hope the operation’s approaching conclusion will open new opportunities for diplomacy.
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The officials believe Israel’s confidence in Rafah is what made senior Israelis, including Netanyahu, willing in late May to sign off on proposals for a six-week cease-fire and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, followed by additional negotiations on a permanent cease-fire. That deal stalled after Hamas insisted that Israel provide explicit assurances about ending the war.
Israel unexpectedly announced Sunday that it would begin daily pauses in the Gaza fighting to allow for more humanitarian aid to enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, about five miles east of central Rafah. Military officials told Israeli media they were within two weeks of wrapping up.
“The IDF is very close to dismantling Hamas’s Rafah battalions,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday.
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“It’s finished in Rafah now for all practical purposes and they can start discussing what it means for a hostage deal,” Kuperwasser said.
The senior Israeli military official familiar with Rafah operations said the 162nd Division carrying out the assault has made substantial progress on Israel’s three main goals in the area: attacking Hamas’s last battalions; destroying its military infrastructure; and cutting its supply of weapons coming through tunnels from Egypt.
Troops immediately seized the crossing between Rafah and Egypt when the assault began in early May, and soon took control of the entire eight-mile length of the frontier.
Quakeland: On the Road to America’s Next Devastating Earthquake
Roger BilhamQuakeland: New York and the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)
Given recent seismic activity — political as well as geological — it’s perhaps unsurprising that two books on earthquakes have arrived this season. One is as elegant as the score of a Beethoven symphony; the other resembles a diary of conversations overheard during a rock concert. Both are interesting, and both relate recent history to a shaky future.
Journalist Kathryn Miles’s Quakeland is a litany of bad things that happen when you provoke Earth to release its invisible but ubiquitous store of seismic-strain energy, either by removing fluids (oil, water, gas) or by adding them in copious quantities (when extracting shale gas in hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, or when injecting contaminated water or building reservoirs). To complete the picture, she describes at length the bad things that happen during unprovoked natural earthquakes. As its subtitle hints, the book takes the form of a road trip to visit seismic disasters both past and potential, and seismologists and earthquake engineers who have first-hand knowledge of them. Their colourful personalities, opinions and prejudices tell a story of scientific discovery and engineering remedy.
Miles poses some important societal questions. Aside from human intervention potentially triggering a really damaging earthquake, what is it actually like to live in neighbourhoods jolted daily by magnitude 1–3 earthquakes, or the occasional magnitude 5? Are these bumps in the night acceptable? And how can industries that perturb the highly stressed rocks beneath our feet deny obvious cause and effect? In 2015, the Oklahoma Geological Survey conceded that a quadrupling of the rate of magnitude-3 or more earthquakes in recent years, coinciding with a rise in fracking, was unlikely to represent a natural process. Miles does not take sides, but it’s difficult for the reader not to.
She visits New York City, marvelling at subway tunnels and unreinforced masonry almost certainly scheduled for destruction by the next moderate earthquake in the vicinity. She considers the perils of nuclear-waste storage in Nevada and Texas, and ponders the risks to Idaho miners of rock bursts — spontaneous fracture of the working face when the restraints of many million years of confinement are mined away. She contemplates the ups and downs of the Yellowstone Caldera — North America’s very own mid-continent supervolcano — and its magnificently uncertain future. Miles also touches on geothermal power plants in southern California’s Salton Sea and elsewhere; the vast US network of crumbling bridges, dams and oil-storage farms; and the magnitude 7–9 earthquakes that could hit California and the Cascadia coastline of Oregon and Washington state this century. Amid all this doom, a new elementary school on the coast near Westport, Washington, vulnerable to inbound tsunamis, is offered as a note of optimism. With foresight and much persuasion from its head teacher, it was engineered to become an elevated safe haven.
Miles briefly discusses earthquake prediction and the perils of getting it wrong (embarrassment in New Madrid, Missouri, where a quake was predicted but never materialized; prison in L’Aquila, Italy, where scientists failed to foresee a devastating seismic event) and the successes of early-warning systems, with which electronic alerts can be issued ahead of damaging seismic waves. Yes, it’s a lot to digest, but most of the book obeys the laws of physics, and it is a engaging read. One just can’t help wishing that Miles’s road trips had taken her somewhere that wasn’t a disaster waiting to happen.
Catastrophic damage in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1964, caused by the second-largest earthquake in the global instrumental record.
In The Great Quake, journalist Henry Fountain provides us with a forthright and timely reminder of the startling historical consequences of North America’s largest known earthquake, which more than half a century ago devastated southern Alaska. With its epicentre in Prince William Sound, the 1964 quake reached magnitude 9.2, the second largest in the global instrumental record. It released more energy than either the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake or the 2011 Tohoku earthquake off Japan; and it generated almost as many pages of scientific commentary and description as aftershocks. Yet it has been forgotten by many.
The quake was scientifically important because it occurred at a time when plate tectonics was in transition from hypothesis to theory. Fountain expertly traces the theory’s historical development, and how the Alaska earthquake was pivotal in nailing down one of the most important predictions. The earthquake caused a fjordland region larger than England to subside, and a similarly huge region of islands offshore to rise by many metres; but its scientific implications were not obvious at the time. Eminent seismologists thought that a vertical fault had slipped, drowning forests and coastlines to its north and raising beaches and islands to its south. But this kind of fault should have reached the surface, and extended deep into Earth’s mantle. There was no geological evidence of a monster surface fault separating these two regions, nor any evidence for excessively deep aftershocks. The landslides and liquefied soils that collapsed houses, and the tsunami that severely damaged ports and infrastructure, offered no clues to the cause.
“Previous earthquakes provide clear guidance about present-day vulnerability.” The hero of The Great Quake is the geologist George Plafker, who painstakingly mapped the height reached by barnacles lifted out of the intertidal zone along shorelines raised by the earthquake, and documented the depths of drowned forests. He deduced that the region of subsidence was the surface manifestation of previously compressed rocks springing apart, driving parts of Alaska up and southwards over the Pacific Plate. His finding confirmed a prediction of plate tectonics, that the leading edge of the Pacific Plate plunged beneath the southern edge of Alaska along a gently dipping thrust fault. That observation, once fully appreciated, was applauded by the geophysics community.
Fountain tells this story through the testimony of survivors, engineers and scientists, interweaving it with the fascinating history of Alaska, from early discovery by Europeans to purchase from Russia by the United States in 1867, and its recent development. Were the quake to occur now, it is not difficult to envisage that with increased infrastructure and larger populations, the death toll and price tag would be two orders of magnitude larger than the 139 fatalities and US$300-million economic cost recorded in 1964.
What is clear from these two books is that seismicity on the North American continent is guaranteed to deliver surprises, along with unprecedented economic and human losses. Previous earthquakes provide clear guidance about the present-day vulnerability of US infrastructure and populations. Engineers and seismologists know how to mitigate the effects of future earthquakes (and, in mid-continent, would advise against the reckless injection of waste fluids known to trigger earthquakes). It is merely a matter of persuading city planners and politicians that if they are tempted to ignore the certainty of the continent’s seismic past, they should err on the side of caution when considering its seismic future.
Nuclear-armed countries are strengthening their arsenals and several have made ready new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapons systems amid rising geopolitical tensions, a new report has found.
The nine nuclear states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – have continued to modernize their weapons stockpiles, with China, for the first time, possibly deploying “a small number of warheads on missiles during peacetime,” the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a new report published Monday.
“While the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” the institute’s director Dan Smith said. “This trend seems likely to continue and probably accelerate in the coming years and is extremely concerning.”
In January 2024, the total global stockpile of warheads was estimated at 12,121, of which about 9,585 were in military stockpiles for potential use, according to SIPRI. The think tank estimates that 3,904 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, or 60 more warheads than in January 2023.
The majority of the deployed warheads, about 2,100, were kept “in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles,” SIPRI said. While nearly all of those warheads belonged to the US and Russia, for the first time China is also believed to have some warheads on high operational alert.
Russia and the US together own nearly 90 percent of all nuclear weapons and the number of useable warheads they possessed in 2023 remained stable for the most part, according to the Swedish think tank. However, Russia is estimated to have deployed about 36 more warheads with operational forces than in January 2023.
“Transparency regarding nuclear forces has declined in both countries in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and debates around nuclear-sharing arrangements have increased in saliency,” the Swedish think tank said.
Russia and the US also possess more than 1,200 warheads each that have been previously retired from military service, and are gradually being dismantled, it said.
The institute said despite “public claims made in 2023” that Russia had deployed nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, “there is no conclusive visual evidence that the actual deployment of warheads has taken place.”
The size of China’s nuclear arsenal is estimated to have increased from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024, “and it is expected to keep growing,” according to SIPRI.
“China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” said Hans M. Kristensen, associate senior fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “But in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces.”
China could potentially have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as Russia or the US by the end of the decade, but Beijing’s stockpile of nuclear warheads is expected to remain much smaller compared to their stockpiles.
North Korea’s military nuclear program continues to be “a central element of its national security strategy,” and SIPRI estimates the hermit kingdom possesses about 50 warheads and enough fissile material to reach up to 90 warheads, numbers that represent “significant increases over the estimates for January 2023.”
In 2023, North Korea appeared to have carried out its first test of a short-range ballistic missile from a rudimentary silo and completed the development of at least two types of land-attack cruise missile (LACM) designed to deliver nuclear weapons, according to SIPRI.
“Like several other nuclear-armed states, North Korea is putting new emphasis on developing its arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons,” said Matt Korda, Associate Researcher with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “Accordingly, there is a growing concern that North Korea might intend to use these weapons very early in a conflict.”
Wars weaken diplomacy
The Swedish think tank said the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have further weakened nuclear diplomacy on the global stage.
In 2023 Russia suspended participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty limiting Russian and US strategic nuclear forces, while in response the US also stopped sharing data.
Moscow has continued to make threats involving the use of nuclear weapons in light of Western aid for Ukraine, and in May 2024 carried out tactical nuclear weapons drills close to the Ukrainian border, SIPRI said.
“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” said Wilfred Wan, the director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “It is hard to believe that barely two years have passed since the leaders of the five largest nuclear-armed states jointly reaffirmed that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’,” he said.
Furthermore, an agreement between Iran and the US in June 2023 “seemed to temporarily de-escalate tensions between the two countries,” but the start of the Israel–Hamas war in October “upended the agreement, with proxy attacks by Iran-backed groups on US forces in Iraq and Syria apparently ending Iranian–US diplomatic efforts,” SIPRI said.
The Israel–Hamas war also “undermined efforts” to engage Israel in the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction, the think tank said.
An Israeli intelligence brief prepared weeks before Hamas‘s Oct. 7 attack had warned military officials of the Palestinian group’s preparations for an assault, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.Play Video
Haberin Devamı
The Israeli military’s signals intelligence unit drafted the brief in September, less than a month before the Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Kan reported on Monday.
It said the Unit 8200 intelligence document included details of elite Hamas fighters training for hostage-taking and plans for raids on military positions and Israeli communities in southern Israel.
The brief said the Palestinian militants were aiming to take hundreds of hostages, Kan reported.
“The expected number of hostages: 200-250 people”, the brief said according to Kan.
Israel launched its war on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
Hamas seized 251 hostages. Of these 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 of them are dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
According to Kan, citing unnamed security officials, the brief was known to intelligence officials in the military’s Gaza Division and Southern Command.
Israeli politicians have rebuffed calls for a thorough investigation into intelligence failures surrounding the Hamas attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted any official probe should wait until after the war, now in its ninth month.
Alicia Sanders-Zakre, ICAN’s Policy and Research coordinator called on all sides to stop ratcheting up tensions: “A day after joining in criticism of Russia for its inadmissible nuclear threats, the NATO Secretary General is flaunting a nuclear response. This is the kind of dangerous escalation, inherent to the doctrine of deterrence, that ICAN has been warning about for some time, both sides need to step back and reduce tensions.”
Ms Sanders-Zakre continued: “The NATO countries hosting US nuclear weapons should admit to their citizens that they have these inhumane weapons on their soil without their say. That’s the kind of transparency NATO should be practising. Neither these NATO members – Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Türkiye – or Belarus, which has been carrying out nuclear exercises with Russia, should be demonstrating their willingness to join in the killing of millions of people.”
The advocates of deterrence doctrine claim it ensures stability and keeps the peace, but it does the exact opposite. It encourages proliferation where more countries possess nuclear weapons, as the most recent case of North Korea clearly shows, as well as reckless armed engagements. History also demonstrates that it encourages the kind of brinkmanship we saw in the Cuban Missile Crisis that took us to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe that was only averted by luck.
Nuclear experts have criticised Mr Stoltenberg’s poorly thought through escalatory rhetoric. In the current Ukraine crisis it increases dangers, especially to the European populations officials like the NATO Secretary-General are committed to protect.
As the states parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons have said, deterrence doctrine is a threat to all countries’ security and is an obstacle to disarmament. The use of nuclear weapons, and even the threat of use, is not something to be done or considered lightly as it threatens civilian populations across the globe. Mr Stoltenberg’s latest comments about NATO being a nuclear alliance clearly reveal that he, and others who support outdated deterrence doctrine, need to remember that behind these words are weapons designed to cause massive civilian harm.
Pakistan maintained its nuclear arsenal in 2023 while India surpassed Islamabad, focusing on China.
India set to acquire nuclear-capable BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. PHOTO: ANADOLU AGENCY
India now possesses more nuclear weapons than Pakistan, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) annual review for 2024.
SIPRI’s analysis indicated that India had increased its nuclear arsenal, surpassing Pakistan in the number of warheads. Both countries are involved in ongoing efforts to modernise their nuclear forces.
While India traditionally aimed its nuclear strategy at Pakistan, there’s a noticeable shift towards bolstering longer-range capabilities, potentially extending to targets within China.
India is actively working on developing new systems, including ballistic and cruise missiles, to enhance its nuclear capabilities. Pakistan, while slightly behind India in terms of sheer numbers, is also focused on modernising its arsenal with new delivery systems.
Dan Smith, SIPRI Director, stated, “While the global number of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads.”
In January 2024, there were approximately 9,585 nuclear warheads in military stockpiles, with 3,904 deployed and around 2,100 on high operational alert. Nearly all these warheads belonged to Russia or the USA, but for the first time, China is believed to have some on high operational alert.
While Israel maintained its arsenal of 90 warheads, North Korea expanded its arsenal by 20 warheads reaching a total of 50 warheads in military stockpile.
Smith further noted, “We are now in one of the most dangerous periods in human history, with numerous sources of instability.”
Lack of aid, including food, nutritional supplements and vaccines, has put 3,500 children at risk of dying from malnourishment, Gaza’s Government Media Office warns.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has released drone footage showing surveillance of the Israeli port city of Haifa, as US envoy Amos Hochstein wraps up a visit to Beirut aimed at easing tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.
9m ago (18:50 GMT)Prominent Gaza doctor dies in Israeli custody: ReportA prominent Palestinian doctor died while in Israeli police custody just six days after he was detained, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported.Dr. Iyad Rantisi, 53, the head of a women’s hospital part of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s city of Beit Lahia, was detained by the Israeli army last November, according to the outlet. He died at the Shikma prison, a Shin Bet interrogation facility in southern Israel’s Ashkelon, Haaretz said.Shin Bet said they arrested the doctor because he was suspected of being involved in hiding Israeli captives, according to the paper.According to Dr. Husam Abu Safia, the manager of the Kamal Adwan hospital, Rantisi was detained at an army checkpoint while attempting to make the journey from north to south Gaza, following the Israeli military’s orders for evacuation purposes at the start of the war, Safia told Haaretz.The Israeli Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into Rantisi’s
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