WARS
Thursday, 12 October 2023 04:44
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 6
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a wartime Cabinet to oversee the fight to avenge the gruesome weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel. Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” he said in a televised address. The new Cabinet establishes a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics and at a time when the Israeli military appears increasingly likely to launch a…
Thursday, 12 October 2023 04:43
What to know after Day 595 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russian forces launch big push on key eastern Ukraine city Russian forces were pressing on with a major push on the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Wednesday after many months of besieging it, Ukrainian military officials said. The Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had redirected large numbers of troops and equipment to Avdiivka in their largest attack on the town since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Major assaults have been under way since Tuesday. Russian accounts also indicated the fighting had intensified, saying Moscow's forces had "improved their position in the immediate outskirts…
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 04:50
Israel-Gaza war: Which international actors can play peacemaker?
With the outbreak of an intensified war between Israel and Palestine, can mediation efforts help? The United Nations secretary-general says he is “deeply distressed” by Israel’s complete siege of the Gaza Strip on day four of the deadly assault. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said bombardment has “just started” after at least 900 Israelis were killed in the unprecedented Hamas attack on Saturday. Most Western nations have shied away from calling on Israel to slow its brutal military response. More than 700 Palestinians have been killed in three days of intense bombing, with 2.4 million Palestinians living there…
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 04:49
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 5
Israeli warplanes hammered the Gaza Strip neighborhood by neighborhood Tuesday, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety in the tiny, sealed-off territory now suffering severe retaliation for the deadly weekend attack by Hamas militants. Humanitarian groups pleaded for the creation of corridors to get aid into Gaza and warned that hospitals overwhelmed with wounded people were running out of supplies. Israel has stopped entry of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza, and the sole remaining access from Egypt shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing. The war, which has claimed at least 1,900…
Wednesday, 11 October 2023 04:48
What to know after Day 594 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Will US military aid to Israel jeopardize Biden's help to Ukraine? U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to bolster military support for Israel following an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants that has killed more than 1,000 Israelis and prompted an intense retaliation against the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip. His promise raised questions about whether Washington can ramp up defense aid to Israel without jeopardizing aid for Ukraine, especially given Republican lawmakers' ouster of House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy and failure so far to name a replacement. Biden administration officials insist Washington can absolutely do both, but acknowledge there will…
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 04:41
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 4
Gazans say nowhere to go as they prepare for Israeli assault after Hamas raid Palestinians in Gaza are preparing for an Israeli offensive of unprecedented scale after Saturday's deadly Hamas raid, with more than 130,000 fleeing their homes and stockpiling supplies as air strikes pound the crowded enclave with 560 already dead. Amid an intensified Israeli siege cutting off water, food and power, and a sudden new assault, conditions look worse than at any point since Palestinian refugees flocked there during the 1948 fighting when Israel was founded. Israeli military phone messages have warned people to leave some areas, indicating…
Tuesday, 10 October 2023 04:36
What to know after Day 593 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukrainian forces make headway in east, south -officials Ukrainian forces are making some headway in both the eastern and southern theatres of their four-month-old counteroffensive, military officials said on Monday. Russian accounts of the fighting said Moscow's forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut and inflicted heavy casualties in strikes on Ukrainian positions outside the city. Ukraine's counteroffensive aims to secure control of areas around Bakhmut in order to recapture the town, which was seized by Russian forces in May after months of heavy battles. In the south, Kyiv wants to advance to…
Monday, 09 October 2023 05:15
1,100 dead on both sides as Israel-Palestine war enters Day 3
The combined death toll from the Hamas attack on southern Israel has climbed to more than 1,100 as fighting entered a third day. Oil surged as the conflict threatened to inflame tensions in the Middle East, home to almost a third of global supply. More than 700 Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed in the attacks which erupted outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. Some 260 bodies were recovered at the site of a music festival that was taking place not far from Gaza’s northern border. About 400 Palestinians have died in fighting and retaliatory attacks, as the…
Monday, 09 October 2023 05:14
What to know after Day 592 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine expects 'record' number of drone attacks this winter, air force says Ukraine's air force expects a record number of Russian drone attacks on its soil this winter, its spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday, as Kyiv girds for a second winter of mass bombardment of its energy facilities. Ihnat said that data for September showed the use by Russia of Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones would smash last year's figure. "This autumn and winter ... is already a record in terms of the number of Shahed drones. Over 500 (were used) in September," Ihnat said in an interview…
Sunday, 08 October 2023 05:17
Hamas fighters storm Israeli towns in surprise attack; Israel responds with deadly strikes on Gaza
Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and rampaged through nearby Israeli communities, killing at least 250 people and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. Israel responded with strikes in Gaza that killed 232 and signaled more as its prime minister said the country is at war and vowed to inflict an “unprecedented price.” In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some…
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Sunday, 08 October 2023 05:16
What to know after Day 591 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Biden mulls asking $100 billion check for Ukraine – Telegraph US President Joe Biden is reportedly plotting a potential “one-and-done”Ukraine aid request that would be so big that he wouldn’t need to seek any more funding approvals from Congress until after the 2024 election, The Telegraph has reported on Saturday. The new Ukraine aid request could be as large as $100 billion, enough to avoid continued legislative controversies that could hinder Biden’s re-election bid next year, the British newspaper said, citing people familiar with the White House discussions. Such a proposal would dwarf the $24 billion funding request…
Saturday, 07 October 2023 04:45
What to know after Day 590 of Russia-Ukraine war
'Half the village is gone': Ukraine hamlet reels after missile strike In a burial plot next to a field outside the remote Ukrainian hamlet of Hroza, residents removed undergrowth and cleared away litter to make space for more graves. Working quietly, it was something to distract them from the horror of what happened the day before. As dozens of people gathered in the local cafe for a meal to honour a soldier who died in the war against Russia, a missile struck, killing at least 52 people. It was one of the most deadly attacks during 20 months of fighting,…
Friday, 06 October 2023 04:25
What to know after Day 589 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine has lost 90,000 men since June – Putin The Ukrainian military has lost more than 90,000 troops since its counteroffensive against Russian forces began in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday. “Since June 4 alone, Ukrainian units have already lost over 90,000 people,” Putin told a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, noting that this number includes both deaths and incapacitations. Ukraine has also lost 557 tanks and almost 1,900 armored vehicles in the same timeframe, Putin added. The counteroffensive began on June 4 with a series of Ukrainian advances along the…
Thursday, 05 October 2023 04:45
What to know after Day 588 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE US sends seized Iranian ammunition to Ukraine The U.S. has sent Ukraine more than 1 million rounds of Iranian ammunition that had been seized last year, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. U.S. naval forces for years have been seizing weapons believed to be from Iran bound for Iran-backed fighters in Yemen, usually transported by fishing vessels. U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, said about 1.1 million 7.62 mm rounds were sent to Ukraine. They were originally seized by U.S. naval forces in December 2022 and being transferred from Iran's Revolutionary…