Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander said Hezbollah was nearing a major victory over Israel.
"The people of the world recognize Lebanon's independence through the greatness of Hezbollah's sacrifices, not through the dependence of some rulers," Esmail Qaani said in a message published by Iranian media.
"Let the whole world look with more open eyes. The victory of the great resistance of the heroic Hezbollah over the vile Zionists is near, God willing," he added.
The Israel Defense Forces said Daqduq had held five senior positions in Hezbollah.
The military said Daqduq orchestrated the kidnapping and killing of five American soldiers in 2007.
Salman Eshaghi said any possible agreement must be submitted in accordance with the constitution.
by Eric Utter via American Thinker,
So what's the priority of New York City's Mamdani administration these days?
FrontPage Magazine reported:
Gonorrhea rates in New York City have more than doubled in a decade and syphilis is ‘surging’ statewide. Mamdani’s Department of Health has responded to this crisis by rushing a free supply of lubricant and chocolate flavored condoms.
Beam me up, Scotty.
FPM quoted NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Helen Arteaga as stating,
“Providing high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare services is a priority for the Mamdani Administration. Making safer sex products more accessible to the most affected and vulnerable communities is a critical public health need.”
Well, it’s good to have priorities. But are chocolate-flavored condoms safer than regular old garden-variety ones? I’m guessing not, but I couldn’t tell you from experience.
FPM again:
Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, a Mamdani ally, explained that the free chocolate flavored condoms were necessary because "inequities persist among women, low-income households, and Black and Latino New Yorkers.
Women, low-income households, and black and Latino New Yorkers are adversely and disproportionately affected by a relative dearth of chocolate-flavored condoms? Is New York a den of iniquity inequity?
Unfortunately for virtue-signaling do-gooders, the free chocolaty condoms are coming from Karex, a Malaysian company that is apparently the largest manufacturer of condoms on Earth.
Why is this unfortunate?
According to The Telegraph, some Karex workers said they are put up in cramped and undignified conditions, with as many as a dozen housed in damp and unhygienic dormitories.
Workers at one site are allegedly granted just half of a steel bunkbed, with no mattress — and only have access to a filthy, broken toilet. And for these “amenities,” about 12 dollars a month is deducted from their wages. The Telegraph reported that one Karex employee said “sometimes poisonous snakes come in” to the dorms.
Not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse.
“Forget the crime! Forget the fact that the city is broke! Chocolate condoms for everybody!” does not seem like a winning slogan for Mamdani … but what do I know?
Ask not what you can do for the city, ask what Mayor Mamdani can do to — I mean for -- you!”
I’m sure someone in the Mamdani administration will tout the mayor’s actions thusly: “These delectable prophylactics will be generously distributed, free of cost, to all genders with a penis … and to all those that love them! Mayor Mamdani is hard at work to make your lives better!”
Considering the shape the city is in, this may be the biggest cover up in the history of the Big Apple.
British Royal Marine Commandos conducted a high-stakes midnight raid in the English Channel on Sunday, boarding and seizing a sanctioned Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker.
The elite UK forces conducted a fast-roping raid onto the massive crude carrier in the dead of night and into the morning daylight hours. While there's nothing new in terms of an 'illicit' Russian tanker seizure in European waters, it is rare or even unprecedented that such an action occurred in the English Channel, so close to Britain's shores.
According to the UK Ministry of Defense, it was a six-hour operation and a massive display of force involving a flotilla of navy vessels - including the frigate HMS Sutherland - and a fleet of aircraft, most notably heavy-lift Chinook helicopters.
The target has since been identified as the Smyros - a vessel allegedly flying under the radar in an effort to bypass Western embargoes.
According to the MoD statement, it was indeed a significant first:
"In the first U.K.-led operation of its kind, the vessel SMYRTOS was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency, despite Russia's best efforts to evade sanctions and continue fueling its barbaric war with Ukraine."
France has been involved in several of these interdictions and boardings, but not yet the UK, until now. The captured vessel now being escorted to an anchorage off the south coast of England, where it will remain under heavy guard and surveillance.
The UK defense ministry in follow-up sated that "Russia relies on its shadow fleet to fund their conflict in Ukraine and our interdiction delivers a blow to Putin's illegal war." The statement added that this was done in "close coordination" with French authorities.
Russian "shadow fleet" methods have relied on constantly switching registries and disabling AIS transponders to avoid tracking.
The last several seized tankers - done by France which is up to four captures at this point - were flying flags of African nations, and these interdictions have stretched back through last year.
Watch: Royal Marine Commandos board the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker SMYRTOS in the Channel, in the first UK-led operation of its kind, backed by HMS Sutherland, HMS Ledbury and an RAF P-8. The vessel is now held off the south coast as investigations continue. pic.twitter.com/omTnGlh3gk
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) June 14, 2026
In some instances, Russia has been sending military escorts - which of course has seen French and European militaries hold off executing any action. But unprotected ones are clearly exposed, and European militaries can taken action on these at will.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani scored exclusive high-priced tickets to multiple World Cup matches for free, his reps confirmed Saturday, while insisting he’s not snubbing city ethics rules.
“Given the unique nature of the World Cup and the once-in-a-generation opportunity for New York City to serve as a host city, the mayor will attend select matches at [MetLife Stadium] in his official capacity to perform official functions as the chief executive of the host city,” said Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec, without being specific.
The soccer-loving, silver-spoon socialist has a “contractual obligation with the New York/New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee” to attend the matches, including Saturday’s pitting Brazil versus Morocco, where he was accompanied by his wife, Rama Duwaji, claimed Pekec
The First Lady paid for her own ticket to the contest — where the cheapest tickets on secondary market sites were running more than $1,600 as of game day, said Pekec, insisting “there is no gift here.”
Pekec failed to elaborate on how many matches Mamdani plans to attend. There are eight FIFA World Cup 2026 games scheduled for MetLife Stadium.
Gov. Kathy Hochul was spotted sitting next to the mayor during Saturday’s match.
“It would be unprecedented for host city leadership, particularly a mayor with such international recognition, to not participate in World Cup matches,” Pekec crowed about her boss.
Mamdani also flexed his political muscle earlier this week to nab exclusive seats to Game 3 of NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden — potentially running afoul of city ethics rules, The Post reported.
He downplayed how much he paid for the hot ticket, claiming “roughly $1,000” despite sources telling The Post is was actually $750.
An influx of out-of-state agitators — some hailing from elite backgrounds — were arrested in Newark during the chaotic standoff with law enforcement outside the Delaney Hall migrant detention center, The Post has learned.
Out of the at least 12 anti-ICE rioters arrested last weekend for assaulting federal agents or smashing cars, four came from as far as Washington State, Colorado, Arizona and Illinois to wreak havoc on the Garden State, according to information from the Newark Police Department and arrest sheets reviewed by The Post.
Another was from Connecticut and five from New York — most of them recent transplants to the city.
Only three were from New Jersey, where the violent clashes have raged for three weeks since 300 detainees went on a hunger strike over what they claimed were inhumane conditions inside.
At least two have ties to one of the dark money groups clamoring to “shut down Delaney Hall” and “abolish ICE” since the unrest began, according to information from social media.
“There’s an organized effort to create anarchy. It is insane to me,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) told The Post. “This is America. We have the rule of law and that has to be stopped.”
Some of the arrested include:
Far-left organizations have supplied protestors with military goggles, helmets, knee and shin pads to face off with federal officials — as they broadcast the chaos to millions of followers on social media.
At least two have connections to the radical nonprofit Sunrise Movement, among the organizers of the Delaney Hall mayhem.
Drew Larsen, 29, lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, but hails from the small historic town of Frederick, Maryland, an hour outside DC, where he was a photographer for the local branch of the Sunrise Movement, according to an Instagram post from 2020.
Solomon Dunston, 28, who was arrested for rioting and failure to disperse and is one of the few who actually grew up in New Jersey, touted the Sunrise Movement on his Facebook page, urging others to join the group.
The nonprofit is funded by megadonors that include far-left billionaire George Soros and boasts $2.6 million in revenue and $4.9 million in assets, according to its 2024 tax filings.
“For 19 days…Sunrise organizers have been on the ground at Delaney Hall in New Jersey” it bragged on its Instagram, along with daily pictures and videos of the standoff.
The organization, founded in 2017 as a climate activist group, has since pivoted to anti-ICE mayhem, including chaotic protests in Minnesota.
Critics said the Delaney protests are far from grassroots.
“They come in with overwhelming resources, any objective person who just looks at it from a 30,000 feet point of view would say that’s not organic,” said former prosecutor Chuck Flint.
“It’s a web of organizations, transactions and then you’ve got these people who recruit these individuals that I would call mules — and they throw them out in front and use them like a mule, the way that a cartel would.”
None of the other arrested protestors answered calls or returned The Post’s messages. The Sunrise Movement also didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
