As Israel intensifies its raids on Lebanon, British family members of hostages that are still held in Gaza have warned that it could distract from what should be Israel’s primary focus, which is to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages.  They met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London this week.  Steve Brisley, whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi remains imprisoned, said he feels that the hostages have been forgotten. There had been an “abject failure of international diplomacy” in securing a hostage return deal according to Brisley.  He called on the UK government, which supports a…

Calls for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict are toothless, according to Col. Philip Ingram, a former British Army Intelligence Officer and NATO planner. Ingram added that it will also be very difficult to halt a military operation of the scale that Israel has initiated in southern Lebanon. “It’s like a super tanker, but it’s one that’s larger than any you’ve encountered before. If you bring it to a stop and then try to restart it, the cost in lives—both for your own people and those affected—can be significantly great,” according to Ingram.   In an interview with National Security…

Ten years ago, Pavel Durov had already made a name for himself in tech as the founder of VKontakte (VK). To those who knew him, he was always ambitious, gifted, and academically brilliant, having graduated from St. Petersburg State University with a degree in philology. His first venture with VK, which he co-founded in 2006, grew to be Russia’s largest social media platform and earned him the nickname “Russian Zuckerberg”. By the age of 28, he had developed the idea for a new messaging app, and in 2013, Telegram was born. In just ten years, Telegram had amassed a user…

Senior Russian military commanders fear their war plans could be exposed following the arrest of the founder messaging platform Telegram. Russian-born tech billionaire and Telegram CEO was detained by French authorities on August 24 on charges related to criminal allegations involving his app, which allegedly facilitated illicit activities ranging from drug trafficking to child pornography. Durov has since been released from custody after four days of questioning and transferred to a Paris court to face a decision on whether he will be formally charged. His messaging app is known to be widely used by the Russian military and senior members…

The United States has deployed a nuclear-powered guided missile submarine and a carrier strike group to the Middle East in anticipation of an imminent attack on Israel by Iran. The deployment of USS Georgia follows new intelligence from Israel indicating that Tehran is planning a large-scale strike within days. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said: “We’re following Hezbollah and Iran and ready.  “We’re at highest alert. We have increased the air force’s patrols, we are attacking every threat we identify and are prepared to intercept threats in real time.” Despite previous warnings of an impending Iranian assault,…

Iran has threatened that it will deliver a “harsh punishment” against Israel following theassassination of Hamas’s leader in an explosion. Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed instantly inside his home in Tehran with some reports suggesting that a bomb had been placed inside the apartment months earlier and detonated by remote control.The threat of retaliation by Tehran raises the stakes in the Middle East with the two most powerful countries in the region moving ever closer to all out war.The Israeli government has not commented directly on the missile strike which killed Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early…

Hamas terrorists are renting complex computer viruses from organised crime gangs to attack the Israeli armed forces, government departments and the country’s critical national infrastructure, National Security News can reveal. The computer viruses can be purchased for as little as $200 USD a month with the more sophisticated versions being rented to terrorist groups for up to $1million USD a year. The viruses are a form of malware known as info-stealers, which once downloaded can allow terrorists and individuals known as threat actors, to seize confidential information on a target’s computer. The viruses can be unknowingly uploaded via emails, computer…

Israel is creating a new defence system called Cyber Dome to protect the country from online attacks being launched by Iran and its proxies in the wake of the Hamas October attack. Inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, the Cyber Dome is like a digital shield which aims to counter cyber attacks through a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), real-time threat detection, and international cooperation. While specific details of the Cyber Dome system remain secret, expert analysts describe how the system is expected to work: Real-time threat detection: AI analyses complex data sets to identify potential cyberattacks in…

South Africa’s foreign policy is expected to be less aggressive against Israel and more pragmatic and balanced under the new Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, according to Prof. Gilbert Khadiagala, professor emeritus at Wits University. He expects there to be a change in tone and style, quite different from Lamola’s predecessor, Minister Pandor. A pullback from South Africa’s close alliances with China and Russia military is anticipated, with an alignment closer to the United States.  “I think there is a perception that there is really no point in escalating the conflict between South Africa and Israel over the…

Europe’s new heavy-lift Ariane 6 rocket is set to make its long-delayed debut today (July 9). Providing all goes to plan, the Ariane 6 will launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Tuesday during a four-hour window that opens at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). The Ariane 6, which is operated by the French company Arianespace on behalf of ESA, will replace the venerable Ariane 5, which retired last year after 117 flights over nearly three decades. Developed at a cost of €4bn (£3.4bn), Ariane-6 is intended to be a workhorse rocket that gives European governments and companies…

Israel must win the battle of ideas if it is to defeat Hamas and bring an end to the fighting in Gaza, a former head of the Israeli Intelligence Service has said. Ami Ayalon, who led the Israeli security agency Shin Bet in 1996 said that it was not enough for Israel to destroy Hamas in battle, it must give the Palestinians the opportunity to embrace a two-state solution. The former intelligence chief dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy of completely destroying Hamas.  Instead, Ayalon argued: “We must win the battle of ideas if we are to defeat Hamas. “We…

Israel is on the brink of an all-out war with the terrorist group Hezbollah, a former Israeli Intelligence officer has warned. Avi Melamed, a former member of the Israeli Defence Forces, said that any conflict with the Lebanese-based groups would have geo-political consequences.Mr Melamed, who is now a Fellow of Intelligence and Middle East Affairs for the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, said he believed Hezbollah is running out of Israeli targets to strike without triggering a significant counterattack from Jerusalem.In an interview with National Security News, the former officer said: “The ramifications would be huge, it will inevitably result in the…