"General Soleimani assassination a war crime"
China slams the 2020 assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani as another war crime committed by the US with excessive use of force. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says the assassination is also an example of Washington's wanton violation of international laws and norms. Wang Wenbin calls the US targeted killings in sovereign countries acts of terrorism. He says the US kills innocent people across the world and then seeks to whitewash this atrocious and illegal behavior. The Chinese official noted that the US is after consolidating its hegemony and remaining above the international community. However Wang stressed that people in West Asia and the rest of the world will not accept such behavior which is in violation of international law.
Lauding General Soleimani
The Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement says the US assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani because he was a barrier to American-Israeli plots in the region. Ziyad al-Nakhalah said General Soleimani was always at the forefront of the fight against occupying forces in Palestine. He hailed the general’s role in providing military aid to Palestinian resistance fighters. Nakhalah noted that the rockets, which resistance forces used to hit Tel Aviv for the first time, were transported to Palestine under the Iranian commander’s supervision. He also emphasized that the Palestinians will continue their resistance until the Israeli occupiers leave Palestine and the region.
US gun violence
There’s no end in sight to gun violence in the United States. Nearly 400 people are killed in shooting incidents across the country in the just first four days of 2022. The figure has been provided by the Gun Violence Archive, an online site tracking shooting incidents. It says the country has seen nine mass shootings since the beginning of the year. Mass shootings have seen an alarming surge in the US in recent years, reigniting the debate over gun control laws and the misuse of lethal weapons. Last year, the United States saw a record high of 691 mass shootings. During the same year, gun violence resulted in nearly 45,000 deaths. Among them over 1,500 were children and teens under 17.