WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 18:00 GMT, August 14, 2017 to 08:00 GMT, August 15, 2017.

Airstrikes on Yemen

The UN says the number of air strikes on Yemen in the first half of 2017 has already exceeded the total for 12 months last year.

According to a UN report, the monthly average of aerial raids on Yemen this year is nearly three times higher than that of 2016. The impoverished nation has witnessed sustained Saudi bombardments since 2015 that have claimed the lives of more than 12,500 Yemenis. Riyadh has also imposed an all-out siege on Yemen, which has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation there. The country is also regularly targeted by US drones. Washington claims the strikes target Al-Qaeda cells while local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. 

Israeli demolitions

Israel continues to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories. 

Israeli bulldozers have destroyed several EU-funded houses in a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank. Tel Aviv razes to ground Palestinian structures under different excuses. An Israeli NGO says the regime has demolished over 48-thousand Palestinian homes and buildings since 1967. Human rights groups say Israel’s sustained demolition drive is aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their native territories and seizing more land for the expansion of settlements. Tel Aviv has accelerated its land grab and settlement activities since US President Donald Trump took office.

North Korea-US tensions 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered the country’s army to be ready to strike the US pacific territory of Guam if he makes a decision.

North Korea's official news agency said Kim received report from the army on plan to launch missiles toward Guam. The North Korean leader has been quoted as saying that the US should make right choice in order to prevent a dangerous military conflict. Earlier, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that a North Korean attack could quickly escalate into war. He said the US will shoot down any North Korean missile it detects is heading to American soil, including the Pacific island of Guam. Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have, however, moved to dial down tensions, saying America has no interest in regime change in Pyongyang.

Iran's warning to US

The Iranian president has warned the US that Tehran is capable of snapping back to pre-nuclear deal status if Washington sticks to its policy of sanctions and threats. 

Rouhani said US President Donald Trump has shown that Washington is not a reliable negotiating partner by threatening to scrap the nuclear agreement. He noted that the White House has ignored several other global agreements in addition to repetitive breaking of its promises under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The Iranian president said the US knows that if it tears up the accord, it will only lead to its isolation. Rouhani defended the nuclear deal, stressing that Iran has stood up by all of its commitments. The president stressed that previous reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed Iran’s compliance. 

Call for dialogue

The South Korean president says Pyongyang’s nuclear crisis must be resolved peacefully.

Moon Jae-in said there can be no US military moves on the Korean Peninsula without Seoul’s consent. He said South Korea will do whatever it takes to prevent another war in the region. EU Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, also called for a peaceful settlement of the crisis without any military action. She said the EU supports diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would hold off on a planned missile strike near the US pacific territory of Guam. Kim, however, warned he would go ahead with the move in the event of further reckless actions by Washington.

Iraq air offensive

Iraq has started an aerial bombardment campaign on the Daesh-held city of Tal Afar in the northwestern Nineveh province.

The ground attack to retake the city from the Takfiri terrorists starts when the air bombing is over. Authorities had already announced that Tal Afar would be the next target in the war on Daesh. Tal Afar, a city with about 200,000 residents, fell to Daesh terrorists in August 2014. The city is of major importance as it’s a strategic gateway between Iraq’s newly recaptured city of Mosul, and Raqqah, which is Daesh’s de facto capital in Syria. The group’s self-proclaimed caliphate effectively collapsed last month when Iraqi forces completed the recapture of Mosul, after a nine-month campaign.

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