Israel keeps pounding Gaza, Houthis vow more Red Sea attacks Israeli forces pounded the shattered Gaza Strip on Tuesday while Yemen's Houthis vowed to defy a U.S.-led naval mission and keep targeting Red Sea shipping in support of the Palestinian enclave's ruling Hamas movement. Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas militants behind an Oct. 7 massacre has left the coastal enclave in ruins, brought widespread hunger and homelessness, and killed nearly 20,000 Gazans, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry. Under foreign pressure to avoid killing innocents, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will not stop until a remaining…

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine conflict exposed truth about Western military equipment – Putin Ukraine is facing significant battlefield losses, and its counteroffensive has failed to impress the country's foreign backers, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking during a Defense Ministry Board meeting on Tuesday in Moscow, he pointed out that Kiev’s forces are having these problems despite receiving high-grade Western military equipment. Kiev has lost over 14,000 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles since the start of Russia’s military operation in the country, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said during the meeting. “The myth of the invulnerability of Western military equipment has…

US envoys work for new hostage release deal, scale-down of Israel-Hamas war but say no timetable The head of the CIA jetted to Europe for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials Monday, sounding out the potential for a deal on a new cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza, as the U.S. defense secretary spoke to Israeli military leaders about scaling back major combat operations against Hamas. Still, there was no sign that a shift in the war was imminent after more than two months of devastating bombardment and fighting. Fierce battles raged in northern Gaza, where residents said…

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine's top general criticizes president's firing of recruitment chiefs- media Ukraine's top general on Monday issued his strongest criticism to date of a previous presidential decision to fire regional military draft office chiefs, Interfax Ukraine reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fired all of Ukraine's regional military recruitment heads in August in a corruption crackdown. He said at the time a state investigation into centres across Ukraine had exposed abuses by officials ranging from illegal enrichment to transporting draft-eligible men across the border despite a wartime ban on them leaving the country. Asked by reporters on the sidelines of…