Middle East crisis: Iran holds funeral for Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria

The United States announced sanctions Monday on Iraqi low-cost airline Fly Baghdad, saying it provided assistance to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and proxies, while also targeting leaders of a pro-Iranian Iraq militia for sanctions.

The moves come as Iraq's powerful pro-Iranian armed group Kataeb Hezbollah has "carried out a series of sharply escalating drone and missile attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria," said the US Treasury Department in a statement.

Permanent representatives at the Arab League attend an extraordinary meeting in Cairo to discuss the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. "South Africa gave another chance for justice, law, and humanity," says the Palestinian representative Mohannad al-Aklouk, praising Pretoria's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of breaching the UN Genocide Convention.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu meets with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, during his second visit to Israel since the start of its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, following the October 7 attacks.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz joined his EU counterparts for a meeting in Brussels on Monday (January 22) to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Arriving at the meeting, Katz said he was in Brussels to discuss the issue of hostages held by Hamas and to reaffirm that Israel would dismantle Hamas and restore its national security.

A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem on Monday (January 22), demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones.

One woman held up pictures of three family members who were among the 253 people seized in the cross-border Hamas rampage of Oct. 7 that triggered the worst fighting in decades. Some 130 remain held in Gaza after others were brought home in a November truce.

"Just one I'd like to get back alive, one out of three!" the protester cried after pushing into the Knesset Finance Committee discussion. Other protesters, clad in black T-shirts, held up signs reading: "You will not sit here while they die there." 

Dozens of family members of the hostages held in Gaza stormed into a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on Monday, yelling and demanding the release of their relatives.

“I want my son alive. Not in a coffin or a black bag,” one mother shouted.

On Sunday night, family members set up a protest tent in Jerusalem and vowed to stay there until the government reaches a deal to free some hostages.

Israel's plan to destroy Islamist Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza is not working and the European Union must pursue efforts to create a "two-state solution" despite Israeli opposition, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister had on Sunday reaffirmed a hard line against any Palestinian state as it would pose "an existential danger" to Israel. He said Israel would keep insisting on full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River, which would include Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Alluding to Israel's stated objective of annihilating Hamas in its devastating three-month-old war in the Gaza Strip, Borrell told reporters: "What are the other solutions they have in mind. Make all the Palestinians leave? Kill all of them?...The way they are destroying Hamas is not the way to do it. They are sealing the hate for generations."

Thousands of mourners gathered on Monday in Iran's Tehran  for the funerals of Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria, in what the government called an Israeli strike. 

The strike in Damascus killed five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian media reported the victims included the group's intelligence chief for Syria, and his deputy.

"PRCS ambulances unable to reach the wounded in Khan Yunis. Israeli occupation forces are besieging the PRCS ambulance center, and targeting anyone attempting to move in the area," the Palestinian Red Cross said in a post on X. 

Families of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure their release. The families rallied outside Netanyahu's home in  Jerusalem, pitching tents and demanding the government urgently strike a deal to secure the hostages' release. 

Two U.S. Navy SEALs who went missing in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month during a raid on a boat carrying Iranian weapons have not been located following an exhaustive search and their status has been changed to deceased, military officials said on Sunday.

The SEALs were reported missing after boarding the vessel in a Jan. 11 operation near the coast of Somali, the U.S. Central Command said on X.

“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.

A joint operation carried out by the United States, Spain and Japan searched more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the missing SEALs, CENTCOM said in the statement.

That mission had now become a recovery operation, CENTCOM said.

The U.S. has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.

U.S. Central Command forces on Saturday struck a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and prepared to launch, the U.S. military said.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have claimed their attacks on commercial ships are aimed at supporting the Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza.

The Houthi movement has vowed to keep up attacks despite the strikes last week against radar and missile capabilities.

Source: Reuters

The United Nation's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, claimed that Israel has killed greater share of the population in Gaza than those killed during the Ukraine and Iraq wars. 

Israel's military has killed 1.1 per cent of Gaza since the beginning of the war in retaliation of Hamas' October 7 attacks, compared with 0.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent of the population killed in the Ukraine and Iraq wars, respectively. 

"In much shorter time. No war in this century comes even closer to ISR’s extermination campaign in Gaza," said Albanese, in a post on X. 

European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will present a ten-point plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

This comes as the 27-nation bloc has struggled for a united stance on the war, with staunch backers of Israel like Germany on one side and countries like Spain and Ireland calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

Additionally, EU foreign ministers will hold separate talks later on Monday with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts on the prospects for lasting peace  in the region. 

According to Times of Israel, 27 EU ministers will first meet with Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz, before sitting down separately with the Palestinian Authority's top diplomat Riyad al-Maliki.

However, Katz and Maliki are not expected to meet each other.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions put forth by the Palestinian militant group Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the Israeli leader's refusal to end the military offensive in Gaza "means there is no chance for the return of the (Israeli) captives."

"In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists," Netanyahu said in a statement. 

It added, "I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas." The Israeli PM continues to face mounting pressure to secure the release the 136 hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.

A report by Times of Israel citing US officials said The White House’s Middle East czar Brett McGurk will be traveling to Egypt and Qatar this week for talks with his counterparts regarding the war in Gaza and efforts to secure the release of the remaining 136 hostages. 

This comes after the Wall Street Journal had reported that the United States Egypt, and Qatar are pushing Israel and Hamas to accept a comprehensive plan that would end the war, see the release of hostages held in Gaza, and ultimately lead to full normalisation for Israel with its neighbours. 

The deal will reportedly also lead to talks for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

At least 178 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days of the war so far, said the Hamas-run health ministry on Sunday (Jan 21). 

The total death toll rose to 25,105 Palestinians, mostly women and children, had been killed and 62,681 have been wounded in Israeli strikes since October 7, said the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.