Sana'a raises pictures of the martyred leaders

TEL AVIV, June 13. Iran fired fewer than 100 rockets toward Israel, most of which were shot down or missed their targets, but there were also a few hits, Israeli Army spokesman Efi Defrin said.

"In the last hour, Iran launched two waves of surface-to-surface missiles toward the State of Israel. In both waves, fewer than 100 rockets were fired. Most of them were intercepted or missed their targets. There were a few hits on buildings, some of which were from falling debris [of rockets] after the interceptions," he said.

Israel will get an "appropriate response" for its strikes against the Iranian territory, President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian said in his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The appropriate response will definitely follow the aggression of the Zionist regime [Israel is meant - TASS]," Pezeshkian said on his Telegram channel.

In its turn, the Kremlin’s press service informed that the Russian leader expressed his condolences to the authorities and citizens of Iran over the heavy death toll resulting from Israeli strikes.

Russian air defense forces shot down a Neptune missile, 18 JDAM bombs, nine HIMARS rockets and 1,582 Ukrainian UAVs over the week, the Defense Ministry said.

"In the past week, air defense forces shot down a Neptune long-range guided missile, 18 JDAM guided aerial bombs and nine US-made HIMARS rockets, as well as 1,582 fixed-wing drones," the ministry said.

Russian troops also liberated five settlements in the Donetsk People's Republic and one in the Sumy Region over the past seven days, the Defense Ministry added.

Here are the details of the combat actions that happened over the week, according to the bulletin.
Liberating settlements

"Over the past week, units of the Battlegroup North liberated the settlement of Yablonovka in the Sumy Region. <...> Units of the Battlegroup South continued to advance deeper into enemy defenses and liberated the settlement of Zarya in the Donetsk People's Republic. <...> Units of the Battlegroup Center reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and continue their offensive into the Dnepropetrovsk Region. As a result of decisive actions, the settlements of Petrovskoye, Alekseyevka, and Koptevo in the Donetsk People's Republic were liberated. Units of the Battlegroup East also liberated the settlement of Komar in the Donetsk People's Republic," the statement said.
Battlegroup North

Ukraine lost over 1,135 troops and 10 ammunition depots in the Battlegroup North's responsibility zone.

"The enemy's losses amounted to over 1,135 servicemen, two tanks, 14 armored combat vehicles, 29 automobiles and 39 field artillery guns. Five electronic warfare stations and 10 ammunition depots were also destroyed," the ministry said.

It reported that during the week the group's units liberated the village of Yablonovka in the Sumy Region. Air strikes, unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery fire hit manpower and equipment of four mechanized, jaeger, two airborne assault brigades, two assault regiments and four territorial defense brigades.
Battlegroup West

Kiev lost more than 1,555 troops in the battlegroup's responsibility zone.

"The units of the Battleroup West took more favorable lines. They defeated the formations of three mechanized, one motorized infantry and one aeromobile brigades, as well as two territorial defense brigades and a National Guard brigade. The enemy lost over 1,555 soldiers, three tanks, 13 armored combat vehicles, including two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, and 87 automobiles," the report said.

It added that the group's forces also destroyed 19 field artillery guns, including five of NATO manufacture, 17 electronic warfare stations and 30 ammunition depots.
Battlegroup South

Ukraine lost more than 1,175 servicemen in the responsibility zone of the Battlegroup South.

"The group defeated manpower and equipment of four mechanized, one motorized infantry, two assault, an aeromobile, and a territorial defense brigade. Ukraine's weekly losses in this direction amounted to more than 1,175 servicemen, a tank, three armored combat vehicles, 21 automobiles and 15 field artillery guns. Six radio-electronic warfare stations, 11 ammunition and materiel depots were destroyed," the ministry said.
Battlegroup Center

Ukraine lost over 3,660 military personnel in the responsibility zone of the Battlegroup Center over the week.

"The battegroup defeated the formations of five mechanized, two airborne assault, one assault, one marine infantry, and two territorial defense brigades, as well as the Azov special forces brigade (recognized as terrorist, banned in Russia - TASS)." The enemy lost over 3,660 servicemen, 38 armored combat vehicles, 41 automobiles and 40 field artillery guns," the ministry said.
Battlegroup East

Ukrainian units lost more than 1,435 servicemen in the Battlegroup East's responsibility zone.

"The group defeated manpower and equipment of three mechanized, one airborne assault, one aeromobile, one marine and two territorial defense brigades. The enemy losst more than 1,435 servicemen, two tanks, 17 armored combat vehicles, 39 vehicles, 28 field artillery guns and five radio-electronic warfare stations," it said.
Battlegroup Dnepr

Ukraine lost over 610 military personnel and nine ammunition depots in the area of the group's operation.

"The units of the group defeated the formations of two mechanized, one mountain assault , two coastal defense, and two territorial defense brigades. Ukraine lost over 610 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, 47 automobiles and 15 field artillery pieces. The group destroyed 26 radio-electronic and counter-battery warfare stations, as well as nine ammunition depots," the ministry said.
Tally of destroyed equipment

According to the report, a total of 663 jets, 283 helicopters, 63,395 unmanned aerial vehicles, 611 anti-aircraft missile systems, 23,884 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 1,572 multiple rocket launchers, 26,142 field artillery and mortar guns, and 36,804 special military vehicles have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation.

Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN has requested an emergency Security Council meeting in response to Israel’s overnight attack, according to a letter sent by Iran’s permanent representative, Amir-Saeid Iravan, to the Council’s chair.

"Committing a reckless, illegal and deliberate act of aggression, the Zionist regime has carried out a series of coordinated military attacks on the nuclear facilities and civilian infrastructure of Iran," the document, quoted by Tasnim, states.

"These actions constitute a clear violation of the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law. Their dangerous consequences greatly threaten regional and international peace and security," the letter notes.

On Friday night, Israel launched strikes on Iran’s critical nuclear sites. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the operation will continue.

TEL AVIV, June 13. Iran has launched more than 100 drones towards Israel in recent hours, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Effie Defrin said at a briefing.

"In recent hours, Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israel," he stated.

"All systems are engaged to thwart the threats," Defrin added.

The army spokesman urged Israelis to "exercise resilience and patience" as "hard times lie ahead.".

Iranian authorities have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the Bushehr nuclear power plant has not been attacked and no increase in radiation has been observed at the Natanz site, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated.

"Iranian authorities have informed the IAEA that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has not been targeted and that no increase in radiation levels has been observed at the Natanz site," the IAEA quoted him as saying on X.

United Arab Emirates — Israel attacked multiple Iranian nuclear and military sites on Friday as tensions reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they claimed was an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs. Iran long has insisted its program is peaceful and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran was not actively pursuing the bomb.

The attack came one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors censured Iran for the first time in 20 years for not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.

The U.S. and Iran had been in talks that could have resulted in the U.S. lifting some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium.

Here’s a look at some major Iranian sites and their importance in Tehran’s program.
Natanz enrichment facility

Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz, located some 220 kilometres (135 miles) southeast of Tehran, is the country’s main enrichment site.

Part of the facility on Iran’s Central Plateau is underground to defend against potential airstrikes. It operates multiple cascades, or groups of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium.

Iran also is burrowing into the Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā, or Pickax Mountain, which is just beyond Natanz’s southern fencing. Natanz has been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges. Two separate sabotage attacks, attributed to Israel, also have struck the facility.
Fordo enrichment facility

Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo is located some 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. It also hosts centrifuge cascades, but isn’t as big a facility as Natanz.

Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordo appears designed to withstand airstrikes.

Its construction began at least in 2007, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, although Iran only informed the UN nuclear watchdog about the facility in 2009 after the U.S. and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence.
Bushehr nuclear power plant

Iran’s only commercial nuclear power plant is in Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, some 750 kilometres (465 miles) south of Tehran. Construction on the plant began under Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the mid-1970s. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the plant was repeatedly targeted in the Iran-Iraq war. Russia later completed construction of the facility.

Iran is building two other reactors like it at the site. Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency.
Arak heavy water reactor

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.
Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center

The facility in Isfahan, some 350 kilometres (215 miles) southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists. It also is home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country’s atomic program.
Tehran Research Reactor

The Tehran Research Reactor is at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian body overseeing the country’s atomic program. The U.S. actually provided Iran the reactor in 1967 as part of America’s “Atoms for Peace” program during the Cold War. It initially required highly enriched uranium but was later retrofitted to use low-enriched uranium over proliferation concerns.

#Israel delivers strike on at least six military bases near Tehran — NYT
According to the report, the strikes also targeted buildings in two heavily guarded residential neighborhoods for the Islamic Republic’s top brass.

The Israeli air force attacked at least six military bases on the outskirts of Tehran, including the military complex in Parchin, The New York Times wrote citing Iranian officials.

According to the report, the strikes also targeted buildings in two heavily guarded residential neighborhoods for the Islamic Republic’s top brass.

#Trump administration’s use of troops to help with immigration raids faces test in court.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised Thursday to move forward with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles despite the waves of unrest that have followed, saying agents have thousands of targets.

“This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles,” she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event.

Noem spoke hours before U.S. President Donald Trump’s use of troops to help carry out immigration raids faced its biggest challenge yet when a federal judge began weighing a request from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to put an emergency stop to the practice.

Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy. He also said that sending National Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in Los Angeles, where large and sometimes volatile protests have broken out since the crackdown began nearly a week ago.

So far, the protests have been centrfed mostly in downtown L.A. near City Hall and a federal detention centre where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests.

The Trump administration on Wednesday called Newsom’s lawsuit a “crass political stunt endangering American lives.”

The hearing Thursday in San Francisco opened with Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer asking attorneys whether Trump followed the law when he called in the National Guard.

“We’re talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is, of course, limited in that authority,” Breyer said. “That’s the difference between a constitutional government and King George.”

The judge added: “This country was founded in response to a monarch, and the constitution is a document of limitations. I’m trying to figure out where the lines are drawn.”

Demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., with protests emerging in more than a dozen major cities. On Wednesday, police in Seattle used pepper spray to clear out protesters, and officers in Denver used smoke and pepper balls to control a crowd.

Police in riot gear — many on horseback — charged at a group of protesters Wednesday night in L.A. just before the start of the second night of the city’s downtown curfew. The officers struck some demonstrators with wooden rods and later fired crowd-control projectiles. After the curfew went into effect, a handful of arrests were made before the area cleared out.
Noem calls action in L.A. a blueprint

The immigration agents conducting the raids in L.A. are “putting together a model and a blueprint” for other communities, Noem said.

She pledged that federal authorities “are not going away,” even though, she said, officers have been hit with rocks and bricks and assaulted. She said people with criminal records who are in the country illegally and violent protesters will “face consequences.”

“Just because you think you’re here as a citizen, or because you’re a member of a certain group or you’re not a citizen, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be protected and not face consequences from the laws that this country stands for,” she said.

Noem criticized the California senator’s interruption, calling it “inappropriate.” A statement from her agency said Noem and Padilla met after the news conference for about 15 minutes, but it also chided him for “disrespectful political theater.”

Padilla said later that he was demanding answers about the “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” and only wanted to ask Noem a question. He said he was handcuffed but not arrested.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they are doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community,” he said.
Military involvement escalates in L.A.

The Trump administration has rapidly expanded military deployments to Los Angeles over the past week and has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances — in line with what Trump promised during last year’s campaign.

Some 2,000 Guard soldiers are in the nation’s second-largest city and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more, along with about 700 Marines, said Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who’s in charge of the operation.

About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, the commander said Wednesday. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.

While some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it’s too early to say if that will continue even after the protests die down.

“We are expecting a ramp-up,” Sherman said, noting that protests across the nation were being discussed. “I’m focused right here in LA, what’s going on right here. But you know, I think we’re, we’re very concerned.”
States face questions on deploying troops

With more demonstrations expected over the weekend, and the possibility that Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement, governors are weighing what to do.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they’re planning to deploy troops for protests.

A group of Democratic governors earlier this week signed a statement calling Trump’s deployments “an alarming abuse of power.”

“Illinois follows the law. But let me be clear: We expect the federal government to follow the law too,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday during a Capitol Hill hearing on state immigration policies. “We will not participate in abuses of power.”
Hundreds have been arrested in L.A. protests

Los Angeles police have made about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.

There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released.

Rodriguez reported from San Francisco and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego, Jesse Bedayn in Denver, and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report