Month: August 2024

As thw war enters its 892nd day, these are the main developments.

On Sunday, Ukrainian officials ordered evacuations from some areas of the eastern Donetsk Oblast as Russian forces are making gains.

Vadym Filashkin, the Ukrainian governor of Donetsk, said he ordered the mandatory of children and their parents from several villages. “The enemy is bombing the towns and villages of these communities every day, so it was decided to evacuate children with their parents or other legal representatives,” he said, according to AFP.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the capture of the Donetsk village of Novoselovka Pervaya as part of a push toward the city of Pokrovsk, which is used as a major supply hub for Ukrainian forces in the region.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday that Ukraine lost 365 soldiers in fighting around Novoselovka Pervaya in the previous 24-hour period.

As the fighting rages in Donetsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine had received its first shipment of US-made F-16 fighter jets. But the planes and other military aid from NATO are not expected to turn the tide on the battlefield.

Zelensky recently began floating the idea of holding peace talks with Russia, marking a shift in his position as he previously ruled out the idea altogether. But there’s been no sign that the US would support negotiations as any deal that cedes territory to Russia would hurt the election chances of Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s expected to be the Democratic nominee after President Biden dropped out of the race.

CAIRO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Sunday that preventing regional escalation is tied to stopping Israeli “aggression” in the Gaza Strip, Iraqi state media said.

The US is sending more warships and additional fighter jets to the Middle East as part of a deployment that’s “entirely focused on defending Israel,” a White House official said Sunday.

The Pentagon announced Friday that it’s sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which has been operating in the Middle East. The US is also sending additional US Navy cruisers and destroyers and bolstering its land-based missile defense systems in the region.

A Pentagon official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that a US Air Force squadron of F-22 Raptor fighters jets is also headed to the region.

The US and Israel are expecting a major attack from Iran and its allies in response to the Israeli killing of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer claimed the purpose of the new military deployments was to reduce tensions in the region even though US military support has only emboldened Israel to escalate.

“The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks and avoid regional conflict, which has been our goal really since October 7,” Finer told CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

While the Biden administration has claimed its goal has been to avoid a regional war, reports as far back as November 2023 said that the US believed Israel was trying to provoke a major conflict, and the US continued supplying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with weapons and political support.

The US pledge to defend Israel also makes it more likely that US assets in the region could be targeted in any reprisal attacks. Iran’s allies in Iraq and Syria could target US bases as a way to distract the US from any Iranian missiles fired toward Israel, or the Houthis in Yemen could ramp up attacks on US warships.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a new spokesman who is a proponent of establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza and expelling Palestinians from the territory, Haaretz has reported.

Omer Dostri, who is a regular guest on Israel’s Channel 14, was appointed to the new role on Sunday. He is aligned with the Israeli right and has a history of calling for policies that would result in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

“There is no victory over Hamas without three basic conditions: military occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, military and civilian control of the area, and encouragement of voluntary migration of Gazans out of the strip,” Dostri said in January.

While framing the idea of expelling Palestinians as “voluntary migration,” the Israeli military campaign is making Gaza uninhabitable and could give Palestinians no choice but to leave if they have the option. Dostri has suggested Egypt should be offered economic or military aid to agree to the transfer of “Gaza refugees to Sinai, even if only temporarily.”

Dostri has also called for Israel to establish settlements in the areas of Gaza that it currently occupies. “Israel must order the rapid establishment of Israeli settlements in many of the areas it occupies, especially those close to the current border,” Dostri wrote in Makor Rishon.

The Israeli military controls about 26% of Gaza’s territory, including a “buffer zone” that was established along the entire Israel-Gaza border. In these areas, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has demolished most structures and has established some military bases.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed he does not plan on establishing settlements in Gaza, but members of his coalition government and Likud party openly support the idea. Appointing a spokesman who favors settlements in Gaza also signals that the prime minister is aligned with that viewpoint.

An Israeli drone strike took place near Bazourieh in southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, killing a man described by Israeli officials as a “senior” member of Hezbollah identified as Ali Nazih Abed Ali.

The Israeli military claimed that Ali had been involved in planning and carrying out various terrorist attacks out of southern Lebanon. They claimed his death as a serious blow to Hezbollah operations on the southern Lebanese border with Israel.

On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike was also reported against Beit Lif, also in southern Lebanon. At least three Lebanese civilians were reported wounded. Israel also attacked what they described as terrorist infrastructure in Marjayoun.

Hezbollah responded to the Saturday killing by firing an estimated 30 rockets against the Galilee panhandle in northern Israel. Israel reported that most of the rockets had been intercepted, though some landed in open areas.

Tensions have been soaring between Hezbollah and Israel, with tit-for-tat strikes by both sides on almost a daily basis. There is growing concern that the two sides are on the brink of war, with Israel planning an invasion.

Officials in countries around the world have been warning citizens in Lebanon to leave as soon as possible, with the US Embassy saying travelers should use any ticket available to them to get out of the country.

Israel is preparing for the possibility of Iran and Hezbollah launching a multi-day attack on Israeli territory in response to the assassinations of Hamas’s political chief in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut,” NBC News reported on Sunday.

Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel in April in response to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, but US and Israeli officials expect this attack to be bigger. “They’ll just try to wear us out,” one Israeli official told NBC.

Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese news outlet, reported that the Israeli assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian territory crossed a “red line” and that Iran would reciprocate. “Iran will respond in a way that crosses the red lines set by the Israeli occupation,” an Iranian source told Al Mayadeen.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran told Arab diplomats it didn’t care if its response to Israel triggered a war.

Gen. Michael Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, is in the Middle East helping Israel prepare for the Iranian attack, which US and Israeli officials believe could happen as soon as Monday. President Biden has pledged the US will help defend Israel, and the Pentagon announced it was deploying more military capabilities to the region for that purpose.

Since the US is pledging direct military intervention to protect Israel, it’s possible US bases in Iraq and Syria could also come under attack by Iraqi Shia militias that are allied with Iran. Yemen’s Houthis could also get in on the attack on Israel, as they recently hit Tel Aviv with a drone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel will hit back against any reprisal attack by Iran and its allies. “Israel is now in a multifront war against the Iranian axis of evil,” he said on Sunday. “We are ready for any scenario—either defensive or offensive. I repeat to our enemies: We will respond and exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us, from any arena.”

Team USA’s Bobby Finke breaks 12-year-old record to win second straight Olympic gold medal in men’s 1,500m freestyle.

Days of unrest continue in UK as prime minister warns rioters will be ‘brought to justice’.

Houthis say ship in Gulf of Aden struck by ballistic missiles in first attack since Israeli strike on Hodeidah port.