Murder of Politician Baba Siddique: Unravelling the Chilling Details

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the dire consequences of the Israeli regime’s ongoing deadly aggression against the regional countries.

“The Israeli regime is dragging the entire region into a catastrophe,” the top diplomat told the Saudi royal in the Arab country’s capital Riyadh on Wednesday.

Araghchi was referring to the regime’s October 7, 2023-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, as well as its escalated attacks on Lebanon, which have claimed thousands of other lives.

“Insight, wisdom, courage, and cooperation are what the region needs to overcome this challenging time,” he added.

Araghchi said he had held “very important” discussions with bin Salman concerning “vital issues of common concern.”

He also commented on an earlier meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, noting that the countries would always be bonded as a result of geographical contiguity and stay each other’s brothers through faith.

“Together, the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia can award the region with security and stability,” he said, adding, “This requires a higher level of political will.”

“I am glad to have taken the first steps down a long path alongside my Saudi counterpart today.”

Araghchi left Tehran for the kingdom on Wednesday on a regional tour that took him to the Qatari capital of Doha next.

He had visited Lebanon’s capital Beirut on October 4 as part of a two-day tour, holding talks with Lebanese officials before visiting the Syrian capital of Damascus the following day to meet with Syrian leaders.

The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip says at least 30 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip city of Jabalia and its refugee camp Friday.

The agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the Israeli regime targeted Jabalia before 9:40 p.m. local time (1840 GMT) and left “12 dead, including women and children” in the city.

Bassal added that 14 people were still missing and likely trapped under the rubble.

Before that incident, Ahmad al-Kahlut, the director of the agency in northern Gaza, said 18 people had been killed by several Israeli strikes, including hits on “eight schools” in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced Palestinian people.

The day’s aggression left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Bassal and Kahlut.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned against Israel’s fresh round of aggression on the Gaza Strip’s northern areas, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians having sought refuge from the regime’s year-long genocide in the south.

The Israeli regime announced earlier in the week that one of its largest forced displacement orders since October last year, calling for the expulsion of 37 neighborhoods across northern Gaza, which targets over 400,000 Palestinians in the entirety of the blockaded area.

In a statement, the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the Israeli regime’s forced expulsion orders in the northern Gaza Strip were turning the war-ravaged besieged area into a “lifeless desert.”

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor also warned earlier that the Israeli regime was subjecting the northern part of the Gaza Strip to “one of the most violent campaigns of genocide.”

The aggression comes as part of the regime’s October 7, 2023-present war on the coastal sliver, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 42,000 people and wounded over 97,500 others, most of them women and children.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have since been displaced and humanitarian conditions have deteriorated sharply.

Israel’s expulsion plan ‘could last several months’

An Israeli report based on conversations with military officials said the regime is enacting a plan that will effectively ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population in northern Gaza after a siege that could last months.

Conceived by retired Major-General Giora Eiland, the plan aims to empty northern Gaza of its 400,000 residents to make way for a “closed military zone.”

“The general’s plan,” which was launched in an Israeli TV campaign in September, called for the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, warning that those that remain will face starvation.

“The right thing to do is to inform the approximately 300,000 residents who remained in the northern Gaza Strip… we are ordering you to leave,” Eiland said last month.

“In a week, the entire territory of the northern Gaza Strip will become military territory.”

According to a report published on Friday in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the occupation is now implementing a “scaled-down” version of the plan in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Even though the “general’s plan” aims to create conditions to force the population in Jabalia and nearby Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia to flee south, most people have refused to leave their homes so far, the report added.

Hamas ‘remains steadfast’ in face of Jabalia aggression

Hamas political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said on Friday that the Gaza-based resistance movement “remains steadfast” in the face of the Israeli aggression on the Jabalia refugee camp, which has continued for the past six days.

“Our people’s choice will always remain … steadfastness on the ground, resilience, and resistance against the occupation’s aggression,” Rishq said in a statement.

He characterized the Israeli actions as akin to “Nazi terrorism,” highlighting that “since Oct. 7 of last year, the Israeli army has engaged in various forms of aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and [al-Quds] without achieving any of its violent objectives.”

“Those who hold firmly to their land and defend their rights will have the final word, while this fascist enemy will only reap further disappointment, failure, and defeat, despite international silence and complicity,” he added.

In her debut electoral contest, Vinesh Phogat, a celebrated wrestler-turned-politician, has secured a decisive victory for the Indian National Congress in the Julana assembly constituency of Haryana. Phogat garnered approximately 65,080 votes, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Captain Yogesh Kumar by a margin of over 6,000 votes. This win marks a significant turnaround for Congress, which had faced defeat in Julana for the last three assembly elections and had only won the seat four times since 1967.

Phogat's victory also saw her outpace the incumbent MLA, Amarjeet Dhanda, a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader. The results of the Haryana Assembly elections were officially announced on Tuesday, October 8.

Phogat, who transitioned into politics after her wrestling career, had been disqualified from competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal match due to weight category issues. Many speculated that she had been “deliberately defeated” in the competition, while Phogat herself alleged that the Union government had failed to provide her with adequate support.

In the aftermath of her disqualification, Phogat filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), seeking to share the silver medal with Cuban wrestler Yusneylys Guzmán Lopez, whom she had defeated in the semi-finals. Four pro bono lawyers in Paris submitted the protest appeal on her behalf. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also sought more time to appoint legal representation. However, despite days of deliberation, the CAS ultimately dismissed the appeal.

On September 6, shortly after her sporting career came to an end, Phogat, along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, formally joined the Congress party. Reflecting on her decision, she remarked that she had not retired from wrestling during the Jantar Mantar protests in order to inspire young girls and women. “The whole country thought I would retire during the protests because the BJP IT cell tried to paint us as troublemakers, as though we were finished and only playing politics,” Phogat stated.

Vinesh and Punia were at the forefront of protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP, who faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment. The protests, which took place at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi last year, were met with significant police aggression.

During the protests, Phogat had publicly accused Singh of subjecting her to severe mental harassment, to the point where she struggled with suicidal thoughts. Despite these personal battles, she persisted, even as the Indian Olympic Association president and former athlete PT Usha accused the wrestlers of “tarnishing India’s image” during the protests.

In a candid reflection on her retirement, Phogat shared, “Many urged me not to retire, but I had to ask myself – for what purpose should I continue wrestling? There is politics everywhere. Now, I want to do politics that can bring real change, to fight for the future of our children and stand by them when it matters.”