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PremiumIran-Israel war Highlights: The US House passed $61 billion in fresh aid for Ukraine on Saturday, ending a six-month political impasse during which Kyiv’s stockpiles dwindled in its war against Russia. The Ukraine aid will be combined with funding for Israel and Taiwan, for a foreign assistance package totaling $95 billion. Iran and Israel appeared to step back from the brink of broader conflict as lawmakers in the United States approved new Israeli military aid on Saturday despite growing criticism of its ally's war in Gaza. Iran downplayed Israel's reported retaliation for its unprecedented drone and missile attack, tamping down fears that escalating attacks between the arch enemies could tip over into a broader war in the Middle East.
On April 20, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 20 April has requested Palestinians to unite in Gaza, following hours-long talks with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul, AFP reported his office as saying. Reports arrived that a person was killed and eight wounded in an overnight explosion at an Iraqi military base on Friday night, AFP reported officials as saying.
According to report, the blast hit the Kalsu military base in Babylon province south of Baghdad. This is a base where regular army, police and members of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, or Hashed al-Shaabi, are stationed.
With United States vetoed a Palestinian request for full United Nations membership, President Mahmoud Abbas in a recent interview with the official WAFA news agency said that that the Palestinian Authority will reconsider bilateral relations with the U.S.
Israel carried out airstrikes against Iran, ABC News reported, citing a US official. The "sounds were heard over the city" in Isfahan, adding that "several miniature UAVs were shot down," Al Jazeera cited Mehr news agency. However, the official could not confirm whether Syria and Iraq sites were hit as well. The attack was said to be a “retaliatory strike" on Iran less than a week after Tehran's drones and missiles attack. Following this, Iran fired air defense batteries and shut down flight operations in several cities, including Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan, which were later lifted.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, however, said that Tehran was investigating an overnight attack on Iran, adding that so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the strike. Amirabdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed. However, he compared that reported Israeli retaliation with 'child's play'.
Israel had said it would retaliate after a strike on April 13, the first ever direct attack on Israel by Iran, which caused no deaths after Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of missiles and drones. Tehran had launched those attacks in response to a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1 that destroyed a building in Iran's embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.
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