No-fly zone over Ukraine means starting World War 3: US senators

News Network
March 7, 2022

US Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Joni Ernst say that implementing a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine would result in World War III, as US officials and lawmakers debate imposing it over the country.

Rubio told ABC "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that he is "not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means."

"A no-fly zone has become a catchphrase. I'm not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means," he said.

"That means flying AWACS 24 hours a day, that means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless they're willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed in, and not just in Ukraine, but Russia and also in Belarus," Rubio said.

"So basically a no-fly zone, if people understand what it means, it means World War II. It means starting World War III," Rubio said. "It's not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by. It's the willingness to shoot down the aircraft of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III."

A no-fly zone is established to stop countries from carrying out attacks over groups of people or flying in certain areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the US to establish "no-fly zones" to protect Ukraine from Russian airstrikes and stop buying Russian oil and gas. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that it would lead to catastrophic consequences.

US President Joe Biden has dismissed the notion of no-fly zones because of the risk of “a potential direct war with Russia.”

Republican Senator Ernst from Iowa also said on Sunday imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would put the United States at risk of entering a direct conflict with Russia.

Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, said Russia will have the “opportunity” to attack the US and other European allies if Washington establishes a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

She said imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would lay the foundation for World War III.

However, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said imposing a no-fly zone should remain on the table.

“To take anything off the table thinking we might not be able to use things because we've already taken it off the table is wrong,” Manchin said. “I will take nothing off the table.”

Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday suggested that instead of imposing a no-fly zone the US should impose sanctions on all energy companies in Russia and remove Moscow from the international banking system.

“We know that the one thing that punches Putin in the gut is to hit his energy sector. There is no reason we should be taking money from an enemy. We should go ahead and sanction all of those energy companies right now. We should remove him from the international banking system,” she said.

The Biden administration has imposed harsh economic and banking sanctions on Russia in response to Russia's military actions in Ukraine. 

US President Joe Biden said the sanctions would limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen.

Biden claimed that the only other alternative to the sanctions would be to start a “Third World War.”

Putin on Saturday warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.

He also said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.

Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

"These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that," Putin said.

He warned that any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict.

Putin announced last week a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region to “defend people” subjected to "genocide" there against government forces, stressing that Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”

Biden called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two assault by Russia.

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News Network
September 19,2024

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At least 20 people have been killed as more communication devices detonated in Lebanon a day after simultaneous explosions of pagers across the country left at least a dozen dead and thousands injured.

Explosions were reported in multiple locations in Lebanon, including at the site of a funeral for a child killed in a pager explosion the previous day.

Media reports said that several blasts occurred simultaneously in Beirut similar to what happened on Tuesday. Several explosions were also reported in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured in the new wave of explosions. 

An informed source said that the detonated devices came from the same batch of cargo as the detonated pagers, all imported from the same company.

The Lebanese Army Command called on the people not to gather in the scenes of security incidents to allow the arrival of medical teams.

Civil defense teams are extinguishing the fires that broke out as a result of the explosions, while ambulance teams continue to transport the injured.

The new act of aggression came as top Hezbollah official Sayyed Hashem Saffieddine was delivering a speech affirming that the Israeli acts of terrorism will have their own punishment, stating that the resistance is steadfast and capable of inflicting more defeats on the enemy.

The Hezbollah official said a speech by the movement’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, planned for Thursday, will clarify matters and that the movement will face a new pattern and a new confrontation with the enemy.

Thousands of pagers widely used by resistance factions and also public service workers exploded on Tuesday, leaving at least a dozen dead and around 3,000 people injured.

The Lebanese government has blamed Israel. Hezbollah has promised the Israeli regime will receive ‘just punishment’ for the attacks.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said the pagers used in the Israeli deadly terrorist attack on Tuesday had been made by a Hungarian firm, to which the company had authorized its brand on the devices.

The company made the remarks in a statement on Wednesday, identifying the firm as BAC Consulting KFT based in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

The UN Security Council is due to meet on Friday to discuss the latest blasts that hit Lebanon, council president Slovenia said on Wednesday after Lebanon requested an emergency meeting.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that civilian objects should not be weaponized.

"I think it's very important that there is an effective control of civilian objects, not to weaponize civilian objects -- that should be a rule that... governments should, be able to implement," Guterres said at a briefing at UN headquarters.

"As important as the event in itself, is the indication that this event confirms that there is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon -- and everything must be done to avoid the escalation," he said.

"What has happened is particularly serious, not only because of the number of victims that it caused, but because of the indications that exist that this was triggered, I would say, in advance of a normal way to trigger these things, because there was a risk of this being discovered."

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor described the detonation of pagers and wireless devices in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday as a blatant violation of international law.

The organization said the attack did not only target Hezbollah members but also indiscriminately exploded devices used by civilians.

The timing of the attack indicates that Israel did not take necessary precautions, as it occurred when device users were at home with their families, leading to numerous severe civilian injuries, including children, it said.

Israel's actions constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits indiscriminate attacks and the targeting of civilians and their property, and mandates that warring parties distinguish between civilians and combatants at all times, the rights monitor said.

The organization called for an urgent and independent international investigation into these attacks and pressure on Israel to immediately stop its crimes and prevent further escalation in the region.

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News Network
September 20,2024

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The Israeli military has carried out airstrikes against the Lebanese capital Beirut. On Friday, the military said it had staged a “targeted strike” against the city.

At least five children are among those killed in the attack.

Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network said a drone had fired several missiles against Beirut’s heavily-populated Dahiyeh suburb.

According to Lebanon’s official National News (NNA), “five children were martyred in the hostile airstrike.”

The agency added that an F35 jet targeted residential areas with two strikes.

Media outlets cited sources as saying that the attack targeted Ibrahim Aqil, a senior commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

Aqil is a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, which is responsible for directing the group’s military and security activities.

He has replaced Fuad Shukr, who was assassinated in an Israeli targeted killing attack against Beirut on July 30. 

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News Network
September 10,2024

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The Israeli regime has attacked displaced Palestinians in the southern part of the Gaza Strip with US-provided 2,000-pound bombs, killing at least 40 civilians, mostly women and children.

As many as 60 others were injured in the attack that targeted an area previously declared by the Israeli military as a “humanitarian zone” at the al-Mawasi refugee camp in the city of Khan Younis on Tuesday.

The military alleged that it had struck members of the Hamas resistance movement, who were “operating a command and control center” inside the targeted area, a claim that was rejected by the group as a “blatant lie.”

“The resistance has repeatedly confirmed the absence of any of its members among civilian gatherings or the use of such areas for military purposes,” Hamas said.

The bloodletting took place as part of the regime’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, which began on October 7 in response to a retaliatory operation staged by the territory’s resistance groups.

So far, close to 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,800 others wounded in the brutal military onslaught.

The Tuesday massacre came after the refugee camp witnessed an influx of homeless Palestinians, who had fled there from the death and destruction spree caused by the war elsewhere across the coastal sliver. Between 30,000 and 34,000 people were living upon each square kilometer of the camp at the time of the attack, the United Nations estimates show.

The weapons deployed during the massacre have been identified as American-made MK-84 bombs, which carry 900 pounds of explosives. 

The payload can create a crater about 15 meters wide and over 10 meters deep, besides being capable of causing deadly damage around it within a radius of approximately 73 meters. 

This is not the first time when the regime deploys the ammunition against civilian targets during the war. 

More than 70 Palestinians were killed after it struck the refugee camp with the same bombs in July.

As part of its unbridled military support for the regime, the United States has armed it with as many as 14,000 of the bombs since the onset of the war.

Hamas also called the US “complicit” in such massacres that “are being deliberately carried out without regard for international law, humanitarian law, or resolutions calling for an end to the aggression.”

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