drone attack
Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv injures at least 16
At least 16 people were injured in a Russian overnight attack involving missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s capital, local authorities said Thursday.
The Kyiv City Military Administration said the attacks hit more than 10 locations. A 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy were among those injured, it said in a statement on Telegram.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed or disrupted 131 Russian aerial targets during the overnight attack.
The main targets were in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa regions, according to the Air Force. Strikes were reported at 36 locations, while debris from intercepted targets fell at five other sites.
The attack involved ballistic and cruise missiles as well as 157 drones and decoy targets, the Air Force said.
In Kyiv’s Dniprovsky district, a warehouse, an office building, residential buildings and several cars were damaged.
A warehouse was also damaged in the Solomyansky district, while a warehouse and cars were damaged in the Darnitsky district.
Authorities said the roof of a non-residential building was damaged in the Podilsky district.
2 days ago
Saudi oil pipeline to remain largely shut for weeks after drone attack
A key Saudi oil pipeline hit in a drone attack is expected to remain largely out of service for several weeks while repairs are carried out, two regional officials said Monday.
The disruption comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized more islands along major Red Sea shipping routes, putting further pressure on Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil.
Oil prices rose more than 2% amid concerns over global supplies and the impact of the developments on the world’s biggest oil exporter. Saudi Arabia has already shifted much of its oil exports away from the Persian Gulf because Iranian attacks have disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the gulf’s only outlet.
The kingdom has relied heavily on its 1,200-kilometre East-West Pipeline to transport crude from Gulf ports to Yanbu on the Red Sea, where the oil can be loaded onto tankers for export. Saudi authorities shut the pipeline after Thursday’s attack, which Riyadh blamed on drones launched by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
Repair work, including damage at a major pumping facility, could take three to five weeks, the officials told The Associated Press. The pipeline could operate at reduced capacity during the repairs, although it was unclear how much oil would be transported.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The pipeline has transported an average of 2.6 million to 4 million barrels of oil per day since late August, according to an analysis released Monday by Norway-based Rystad Energy. If the pipeline is completely shut, that volume could be removed from the global market.
Brent crude prices reached $109 a barrel, which Rystad said showed that markets were increasingly factoring in a major supply loss.
Saudi oil giant Aramco, which operates the pipeline, did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment. The government-run Center for International Communication said it was looking into AP’s questions about the repair timeline.
Houthi island seizures raise shipping concerns
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels expanded their presence near key Saudi shipping routes by capturing the strategic Greater and Lesser Hanish islands, government and Houthi officials said Monday.
The islands are about 160 kilometres north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the open ocean and routes to Saudi Arabia’s major Asian markets.
The Houthi advance also places the rebels about 32 kilometres from a US military base in Djibouti, on the opposite side of the strait.
For more than a month, the Houthis have attacked Saudi oil facilities and shipping in the Red Sea, increasing pressure on global oil prices and strengthening Iran’s position in its war with the United States.
The rebels appeared to face little resistance from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces. Two government officials and a Houthi official said hundreds of government-allied troops had withdrawn from the Hanish islands before the rebels moved in.
Last week, the Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and Mayun island, which lies inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Yemeni government forces are now trying to regroup. The military said Sunday that it carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and other areas of Taiz province.
A Houthi spokesperson said the rebels fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting hangars, radar facilities and ammunition depots. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not say when the attacks occurred.
Saudi military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the attacks hit civilian areas in Khamis Mushait and nearby cities, injuring 13 civilians and damaging several homes and vehicles. He did not say whether the air base was struck.
Saudi export options narrowing
Saudi oil production has already fallen sharply during the Iran war. The International Energy Agency said output dropped to about 6 million barrels per day in August from nearly 10 million barrels per day in September last year.
Rystad Energy said the East-West Pipeline had carried most of Saudi Arabia’s oil exports since the war began.
When Houthi attacks on ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait began in late July, most tankers leaving Yanbu turned north through the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean. Their cargoes were then transported through the Suez Canal or an Egyptian pipeline.
The longer route has significantly increased the time and cost of delivering Saudi oil to major customers in Asia. The Houthis have also expanded attacks on Saudi-linked shipping in the northern Red Sea.
Rystad said a monthlong pipeline shutdown would cause a major disruption, making crude deliveries slower and more expensive. While the market could initially absorb the disruption, a longer closure would require a major reshuffling of global oil flows.
Thousands flee renewed fighting in Yemen
Fighting in Yemen is pushing the impoverished country toward another full-scale civil war after a truce that had largely kept the conflict quiet since 2022.
As the Houthis advance along the Red Sea coast, they have also launched an offensive inland, particularly in Taiz province, a longtime center of fighting.
The World Health Organization said more than 500 people were killed in Yemen over the past week, compared with nearly 200 the previous week.
The Houthis have made rapid gains, capturing areas previously controlled by forces loyal to the internationally recognized government. The fighting has displaced nearly 94,000 people.
“Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,” said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity operating in the area.
About 200 schools have been turned into shelters in southwestern Yemen to accommodate displaced families, said Basma Alloush, deputy director of communications at the International Rescue Committee.
The renewed fighting threatens to restart a war that has devastated Yemen for more than a decade, killing over 150,000 people and pushing the country close to famine.
The Houthis have controlled northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and much of the country’s densely populated western heartland since 2014. The internationally recognized government, backed by various militias, controls southern and eastern areas, including the key port city of Aden.
4 days ago
Ukrainian drone attack on Russian city of Nizhnekamsk kills 12
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk killed 12 people and injured 39 others on Monday, authorities in Russia’s Tatarstan region said.
Tatarstan’s head Rustam Minnikhanov’s press service said the city was hit by a “massive” drone attack in the morning, targeting both industrial and civilian facilities.
Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian oil facilities with long-range drones in recent months. The strikes have disrupted fuel supplies, reduced Russia’s refining capacity and increased public concern over the impact of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the campaign is aimed at pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin to enter negotiations and end the more than four-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
Nizhnekamsk, located about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, has a population of around 240,000. It is a major oil-refining and petrochemical center, hosting two refineries and a petrochemical plant.
“We do deliver entirely justified responses, and every Russian strike will be met with our response,” Zelenskyy said on social media late Sunday.
“Russia’s war will be felt more and more at their own home – in Russia,” he said, adding that the conflict continues because of “Russia’s unwillingness to end this war.”
1 month ago
Drone attack hits Kuwait airport, flights suspended amid regional escalation
Kuwait suspended commercial flights on Wednesday after a drone attack attributed to Iran struck its international airport, injuring several people and damaging parts of the passenger terminal, officials said.
The incident came hours after renewed missile exchanges between Iran and U.S. forces in the region, further escalating already high tensions in the Gulf.
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said “a number of hostile drones” targeted Kuwait International Airport, causing significant damage to the passenger building and leaving several people injured. The airport had only recently resumed operations on June 1 after an earlier shutdown linked to regional conflict.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. military said it carried out strikes on an Iranian military facility in retaliation for missile fire that it said originated from Iran and targeted Kuwait and Bahrain. According to the U.S., two Iranian missiles aimed at Kuwait disintegrated mid-air, while others targeting Bahrain were intercepted.
U.S. Central Command also said it had shot down multiple drones directed at American forces stationed in Kuwait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, however, said it had launched strikes targeting the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain and another location, though it did not name Kuwait. It said the attacks were in response to earlier U.S. military action against an Iranian oil tanker.
“We had previously warned that any aggression would be met with a stronger response,” the Guard said in a statement.
Central Command said it responded by striking an Iranian ground control facility on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Iranian semi-official news agencies reported that Tehran had paused communication with mediators over a possible ceasefire, as regional tensions also intensified in Lebanon involving Iran-backed Hezbollah.
However, a regional official involved in the talks told The Associated Press that Iran had not responded to mediation efforts on Tuesday, despite earlier discussions on linking negotiations to a ceasefire in Lebanon.
U.S. President Donald Trump rejected claims that talks had stalled, saying discussions were continuing daily.
“The conversations between us have been going on continuously… Where they lead, one never knows, but it’s time for a deal,” Trump said in a social media post.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a congressional hearing, did not confirm any break in communication but expressed cautious optimism about nuclear-related negotiations, while noting that an agreement was not guaranteed.
3 months ago
Russian attack on Ukraine kills at least 18 and traps others in damaged buildings
Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 16 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday.
The damage trapped some people under the rubble of apartment buildings. Emergency crews digging through the wreckage pulled out the body of a 3-year-old child and the bodies of a mother and her 8-year-old son in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said.
The attack stretched from night into day and the boom of explosions reverberated across cities.
Kyiv residents had been on edge for days after Russia warned that a massive aerial attack was coming and warned foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. None appeared to heed the call.
“A large-scale attack and an explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the attack, urging more support from the U.S. and European countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up Moscow’s aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Russian forces recently launching a powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for only the third time in the four-year war.
The Russian strategy seeks to take advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, with international stocks depleted by the Iran war. That has left civilians especially vulnerable to the Russian ballistic missile barrages, even as air defenses stop most of the attack drones.
Kyiv mother and daughter shelter in a bath tub
At least 64 people were wounded in the capital, emergency services said. Kyiv resident Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night lying in a bath tub for protection with her 3-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated across the city.
“Our window was broken, a cobblestone flew into the children’s room,” Salikova said, though they weren't hurt. “Thank God we’re alive. Today we’re alive, today we’re lucky.”
Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Putin seeks to change the narrative of the war
Putin is keen to generate some positive news from the conflict that began with Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor and hasn’t gone according to plan.
Western officials and analysts say Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine and disrupting oil facilities deep inside Russia that provide vital revenue for Moscow. That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Putin.
U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the Gulf and Middle East grabbed Washington’s attention. Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin refused.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the military launched a “massive” strike with long-range precision weapons on military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytsk and Sumy regions.
Putin signaled that Russia won’t let up its attacks. He said Tuesday that Ukraine’s May 22 drone attack on a college dormitory in Starobilsk in the Russia-controlled Luhansk region of Ukraine that killed 21 had given the war “a whole new dimension.”
Ukraine said it hit a Russian drone pilot training center in Starobilsk.
Man thrown out of Kyiv apartment by blast
Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded at at least 38 locations across Ukraine, according to regional authorities. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.
At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine's state emergency service said. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight Kyiv districts.
Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, were wounded in their apartment in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district during the attack.
“I went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” said Dniprovska, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage wrapped around her chin. “I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.”
“Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,” she said.
In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were wounded and residential homes, garages and cars were damaged. People were also trapped beneath the rubble of a four-story apartment block.
3 months ago
Russia launches heavy missile, drone attack on Kyiv, injuring 10
Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight Sunday, damaging buildings across the city and injuring at least 10 people, local authorities said.
The intense assault shook several areas in central Kyiv, including locations near government offices, residential buildings and schools.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout the night as smoke rose over different parts of the city following the strikes. Associated Press journalists in Kyiv reported hearing loud explosions near the city center and government areas.
Officials said the attack was still continuing by sunrise, with more missiles and drones expected to hit the capital.
According to Kyiv military administration chief Tymur Tkachenko, damage was reported in at least nine districts of the city, including residential buildings.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said a school building in the Shevchenko district was damaged while people were taking shelter inside.
Authorities also reported damage to supermarkets and warehouses in different parts of the capital.
In the wider Kyiv region, several communities were affected by the attacks, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia could use its hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, citing intelligence information shared by the United States and Western allies.
Ukraine’s Air Force later also warned about a possible launch of the Oreshnik missile, although officials had not confirmed whether it was used in the overnight strikes.
Russia first used the Oreshnik missile against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 and later used it again in the western Lviv region in January.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the missile travels at 10 times the speed of sound and can destroy underground bunkers several floors deep.
Putin also said the missile is capable of bypassing missile defense systems and, even with conventional warheads, can cause destruction similar to a nuclear strike.
3 months ago
Another Russian oil facility burns as Ukraine expands long-range drone strikes
A Russian oil facility was reported on fire in the Perm region on Wednesday following what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as another long-range drone strike by Kyiv deep inside Russia.
Russian media said the blaze broke out at an industrial site in the Ural Mountains region, more than 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine. Some unconfirmed reports suggested it was a pumping station and storage complex. Perm regional governor Dmitry Makhonin said only that a drone hit an unspecified industrial facility, triggering a fire.
Russian authorities have not provided detailed information about Ukraine’s claims of expanding long-range drone operations or the growing precision of domestically produced drones.
The war has increasingly been shaped by drone warfare as Russia continues its large-scale invasion that has entered its fourth year. Ukraine has been focusing on expanding its drone capabilities for both strikes and defense.
Zelenskyy on Wednesday shared a video on Telegram showing thick black smoke rising near a populated area, though he did not confirm the location or target. He said Ukraine was extending the range of its long-distance strikes, calling it a new phase aimed at weakening Russia’s war capability by targeting its oil revenues.
He said the distance of the reported strike exceeded 1,500 kilometers and added that Ukraine would continue increasing the reach of its attacks. He also thanked Ukraine’s Security Service for what he called the precision of its operations.
The reported strike came a day after Ukraine hit the Tuapse oil refinery and terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast for the third time in under two weeks. The attack prompted evacuations and raised concerns over environmental risks. Russian authorities said the fire there had been contained by Wednesday.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, aiming to disrupt revenue flows that support Moscow’s war effort. A Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Ukraine is taking advantage of Russia’s vast territory and stretched air defenses to intensify such strikes, supported by increased domestic drone production.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defenses intercepted 98 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is now producing a surplus of some weapons and is preparing to expand cooperation with international partners on drone and missile production. He said discussions are underway with countries in the Middle East, Gulf, Europe and the Caucasus, and that Kyiv has also submitted proposals to the United States for joint defence cooperation.
Russia, however, continues its own long-range strikes on Ukraine. Ukrainian officials reported injuries and damage in several regions, including Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa. Eight people were injured in Kharkiv region overnight, while a woman died in Sumy due to carbon monoxide poisoning linked to an attack. In Odesa, infrastructure and a hospital building were damaged.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 154 of 171 drones launched by Russia overnight.
4 months ago
Drone targets Israeli prime minister's house as strikes in Gaza kill 50
The Israeli government said a drone targeted the prime minister’s house Saturday, though there were no casualties, as Iran’s supreme leader vowed Hamas would continue its fight following the killing of the mastermind of last year’s deadly Oct. 7 attack.
Sirens wailed in Israel warning of incoming fire from Lebanon. The military said dozens of projectiles were launched. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the drone targeted his house in the Mediterranean coastal town of Caesarea, though neither he nor his wife were home.
The barrage comes as Israel considers its expected response to an Iranian attack earlier this month and presses its offensives against Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In Gaza, Israeli forces fired at hospitals in the battered northern part of the Palestinian enclave, and strikes in the strip killed more than 50 people, including children, in less than 24 hours, according to hospital officials and an Associated Press reporter there.
In September, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport when Netanyahu’s plane was landing. The missile was intercepted.
Barrages from Lebanon target northern Israel
In addition to the drone launched at Netanyahu’s private residence, Israel’s military said some 180 projectiles were fired throughout the day from Lebanon on Saturday morning. A 50-year-old man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel, and four people were injured, Israel’s medical services said.
In the northern city of Kiryat Ata, sirens blared as people ran for cover and intercepted missiles exploded in the sky. One rocket landed in the area, and Associated Press reporters saw burned cars and a damaged building. Itzik Billet, commander for the Haifa area, said nine people were lightly injured.
The Israeli fire service also said it was battling several blazes resulting from missiles in the Shlomi area, less than a mile (1 kilometer) from the Lebanese border.
Israel's war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah — a Hamas ally backed by Iran — has intensified in recent weeks. Hezbollah said Friday that it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel. The militant group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier in October.
On Saturday, Israel's military issued fresh evacuation warnings for two buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hriek. Israel has issued near-daily warnings for people to leave buildings and villages across parts of Lebanon. The fighting has displaced more than 1 million people, including some 400,000 children.
Israel also said Saturday it killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.
In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli airstrike Saturday hit a vehicle on a main highway north of Beirut, killing two people. It was unclear who was in the car when it was struck.
Israeli strikes pound Gaza as Hamas rejects hostage release
A standoff is also ensuing between Israel and Hamas, which it’s fighting in Gaza, with both signaling resistance to ending the war after the death of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar this week.
On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him.
“Hamas is alive and will stay alive,” Khamenei said in his first comments on the killing.
Since Israel claimed Sinwar’s death Thursday, confirmed by a top Hamas official Friday, Hamas has reiterated its stance that the hostages taken from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops. The staunch position pushed back against a statement by Netanyahu that his country’s military will keep fighting until the hostages are released, and will remain in Gaza to prevent a severely weakened Hamas from rearming.
Sinwar was the chief architect of the 2023 Hamas raid on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped another 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians but say more than half the dead are women and children.
More strikes pounded Gaza on Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli strikes hit the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and that forces opened fire at the hospital’s building and its courtyard, causing panic among patients and medical staff.
At Al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, strikes hit the building’s top floors, injuring several staff members, the hospital said in a statement. Three houses in Jabaliya were struck overnight Friday, killing at least 30 people, more than half of them women and children, said Fares Abu Hamza, head of the health ministry’s ambulance and emergency service. At least 80 people were injured.
In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed, including two children, when a house was hit in the town of Zawayda, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. Another strike killed 11 people, all from the same family, in the Maghazi refugee camp, the same hospital said. Associated Press journalists counted the bodies from both strikes at the hospital.
A United Nations school sheltering displaced people in the west of Gaza City, was also hit, killing several people, according to the Hamas-run civil defense first responders.
The strikes knocked out internet networks in northern Gaza, said Paltel, the Palestinian communications company, on Facebook Saturday.
The war has destroyed vast swaths of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, and left them struggling to find food, water, medicine and fuel.
Opportunity in Sinwar's death
Sinwar’s killing appeared to be a chance front-line encounter with Israeli troops on Wednesday, and it could shift the dynamics of the war in Gaza even as Israel presses its offensive against Hezbollah with ground troops in southern Lebanon and airstrikes in other areas of the country.
Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas politically in Gaza, and killing Sinwar was a top military priority. But Netanyahu said in a speech Thursday announcing the killing that “our war is not yet ended.”
Still, the governments of Israel’s allies and exhausted residents of Gaza expressed hope that Sinwar’s death would pave the way for an end to the fighting.
In Israel, families of hostages still held in Gaza demanded the Israeli government use Sinwar’s killing as a way to restart negotiations to bring home their loved ones. There are about 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom Israel says are dead.
1 year ago
Israel says 4 soldiers killed by Hezbollah drone attack while Israeli strike in Gaza leaves 20 dead
A Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others Sunday, the military said, in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people. It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defense systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones.
Israel’s national rescue service said the attack wounded 61. With Israel’s advanced air-defense systems, it’s rare for so many people to be injured by drones or missiles. Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, and fighting has escalated.
Israel launched its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this month with the goal of weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militant group away from the border to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes.
Inside Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people including children at a school Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The school in Nuseirat was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war.
Meanwhile, explosions hit early Monday outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three people and injuring about 50 others, the hospital said. Tents caught fire, and residents of the Central Gaza community carried the injured into the hospital.
Hezbollah's deadly strike in Israel came the same day that the United States announced it would send a new air-defense system to Israel to help bolster protection against missiles, along with troops needed to operate it. An Israeli army spokesperson declined to provide a timeline.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — both Iran-backed militant groups — and is expected to strike Iran in retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month. Iran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack.
Netanyahu calls UN peacekeepers ‘human shield’ for Hezbollah
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one position early Sunday and destroyed the main gate. They later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers, causing skin irritation. UNIFIL called the incident a “further flagrant violation of international law.”
Read: UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon are in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah
International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions, with most blamed on Israeli forces.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called Sunday's incident “deeply worrying” and said attacks against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.
Israel’s military says Hezbollah operates in the peacekeepers' vicinity, without providing evidence.
Military officials said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a U.N. post Sunday while under fire. A smoke screen was used to provide cover, they said.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani asserted that Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL, and any instance of U.N. forces being harmed will be investigated at “the highest level.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah.
“We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he said in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general, who has been banned from entering Israel.
Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israeli strike in Lebanon destroys Ottoman-era market
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, drawing retaliatory airstrikes. The conflict escalated in September with Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders.
Israel launched a ground operation earlier this month. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since September, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were Hezbollah fighters. At least 58 people have been killed in rocket attacks on Israel, nearly half of them soldiers.
Read more: Israeli strike on Gaza kills a family of 8
Israeli airstrikes overnight destroyed an Ottoman-era market in Lebanon’s southern city of Nabatiyeh, killing at least one person and wounding four.
“Our livelihoods have all been leveled,” said Ahmad Fakih, whose shop was destroyed. Rescuers searched pancaked buildings as Israeli drones buzzed overhead.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets, without elaborating, and said it continued to target the militants on Sunday.
Separately, the Lebanese Red Cross said paramedics were searching for casualties in a house destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon when a second strike left four paramedics with concussions and damaged two ambulances.
The Red Cross said the operation had been coordinated with U.N. peacekeepers, who informed the Israeli side.
Bodies rot in the streets in northern Gaza
Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets in Gaza almost daily. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas and other armed groups because they operate in densely populated areas.
In northern Gaza, Israeli air and ground forces have been attacking Jabaliya, where the military says militants have regrouped. Over the past year, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to the built-up refugee camp, which dates to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, and other areas.
Israel has ordered the full evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City. An estimated 400,000 people remain in the north after a mass evacuation ordered in the war's opening weeks.
Palestinians fear Israel intends to permanently depopulate the north to establish military bases or Jewish settlements there.
The United Nations says no food has entered northern Gaza since Oct. 1.
The military confirmed that hospitals were included in evacuation orders but said it had not set a timetable and was working with local authorities to facilitate patient transfers.
Fares Abu Hamza, an official with the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service, said the bodies of a “large number of martyrs” remain uncollected from the streets and under rubble.
“We are unable to reach them,” he said, asserting that dogs are eating some remains.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked a year ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza, a third believed to be dead.
Israel's bombardment and its ground invasion of Gaza have killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and left much of the territory in ruins. The ministry doesn't distinguish between militants or civilians, but says women and children make up over half the deaths.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
1 year ago
Russia launched 'largest drone attack' on Ukrainian capital before Kyiv Day; 1 killed
Ukraine's capital was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia's war, local officials said, as Kyiv prepared to mark the anniversary of its founding on Sunday (May 28, 2023). At least one person was killed.
Russia launched the "most massive attack" on the city overnight Saturday with Iranian-made Shahed drones, said Serhii Popko, a senior Kyiv military official. The attack lasted more than five hours, with air defense reportedly shooting down more than 40 drones.
A 41-year-old man was killed and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized when debris fell on a seven-story nonresidential building and started a fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Ukraine's air force said that Saturday night was also record-breaking in terms of Shahed drone attacks across the country. Of the 54 drones launched, 52 were shot down by air defense systems.
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In the northeastern Kharkiv province, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said a 61-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were killed in two separate shelling attacks.
Kyiv Day marks the anniversary of Kyiv's official founding. The day is usually celebrated with live concerts, street fairs, exhibitions and fireworks. Scaled-back festivities were planned for this year, the city's 1,541st anniversary.
The timing of the drone attacks was likely not coincidental, Ukrainian officials said.
"The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians," Ukraine's chief presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.
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"Today, the enemy decided to 'congratulate' the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," Popko also wrote on the messaging app.
Local officials in Russia's southern Krasnodar region said that air defense systems destroyed several drones as they approached the Ilsky oil refinery.
Drone attacks against Russian border regions have been a regular occurrence since the start of the invasion in February 2022, with attacks increasing last month. Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two straight days.
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