News

The Pentagon chief was caught off guard by last week’s decision by prosecutors to offer deals to the men.

As the war enters its 894th day, these are the main developments.

Democratic candidates for November election took the chance to go on the attack against Republican rival Donald Trump.

US missile strikes continue to pound Yemen as the Middle East is on edge awaiting Iran’s response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas’s political chief in Tehran.

The Yemeni news agency Saba reported two U-British strikes in the Taiz province, which is on the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the body of water that connected the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

So far, the US military hasn’t taken credit for airstrikes in Yemen on Tuesday, but US Central Command claimed that it downed one Houthi drone and two ballistic missiles over the Red Sea.

On Monday, CENTCOM said that it destroyed one “unmanned aerial system” in a strike on Houthi-controlled Yemen, which is where most Yemenis live, and claimed that it destroyed several Houthi drones and one ballistic missile over the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. CENTCOM also said that it conducted strikes in Yemen on August 3

The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have not backed down in the face of hundreds of US and British missile strikes, a bombing campaign that started in January. Instead, the Houthis have only escalated attacks on Israel-linked and other shipping in protest of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

The Houthis recently launched a drone that hit Tel Aviv, killing one Israeli, which Israel responded to with major strikes on the port of Hodeidah. It’s possible that the Houthis could take part in Iran’s reprisal attack on Israel, along with Hezbollah and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria. Houthi involvement in the reprisal attack could involve attacking US warships in the region since they are standing by to defend Israel.

The US has acknowledged that the Houthis would likely stop their attacks if there were a ceasefire in Gaza. But the Biden administration has refused to put real pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire and continues to provide military aid and political support, emboldening Israeli escalations in the region.

The US-backed Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the Houthis only became a more capable fighting force during that time.

The war killed at least 377,000 people, with more than half dying of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are now blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court is deciding whether to dissolve the party over its call for lese-majeste reform.

Sergey Shoigu, the head of Russia’s Security Council, warned Tuesday that the longer the war in Ukraine goes on, the higher the cost will be for Ukraine to achieve peace.

“Each day it waits to make this decision [to settle the conflict] results in the loss of control over another part of the territories that Ukrainians claim to be theirs and, most importantly, the loss of thousands of lives,” Shoigu said, according to Tass.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a public peace offer for a deal that would require Ukraine to be neutral, the lifting of Western sanctions, and Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the four regions annexed by Moscow: Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

At the time, Putin warned if Ukraine rejected the proposal, the terms would change. Kyiv quickly rejected the offer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stuck to the demands of his “peace formula,” which requires Russia to withdraw from all the territory it has captured.

Zelensky previously ruled out peace talks with Moscow but appears to have softened his stance, as he has said Russia should attend the next international summit on the war that he’s planning to organize. The Kremlin has said it’s open to talks, but no concrete plans have been set.

Shoigu said Ukrainian leadership’s illusions “that the Europeans will hold another grand peace summit for Ukraine, where all its domestic problems will be miraculously resolved, are costing the Ukrainian people dearly.”

Shoigu added, “Ukraine’s window of opportunity is closing. The choice is up to the Ukrainian people.”

Throughout the war, the only time a real peace deal was on the table was back in March and April of 2022. But the US and NATO discouraged Ukraine from signing an agreement and promised to support its fight against Russia.

CAIRO: Egypt’s state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, announced on Tuesday a massive tender for 3.8 million metric tons of wheat to cover imports between October 2024 and April 2025, its largest ever according to traders.
Egypt has been one of the world’s largest wheat importers, mainly to provide subsidised bread for tens of millions of its people. GASC alone imports some 5.5 million metric tons of wheat annually for bread subsidies.

On Tuesday, Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, the group’s leader in Gaza, to head the political bureau after the Israeli killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Before he was killed last week, Haniyeh served as the highest-level Hamas official outside of Gaza and was the public face of the group as it was engaged in hostage deal negotiations with Israel, although Hamas officials said Sinwar was ultimately in charge of the talks.

Sinwar has been Hamas’s leader in Gaza since 2017, and Israel attempted to assassinate him when he was re-elected in 2021. Sinwar is believed to be hiding deep inside the expansive tunnel system under the Gaza Strip since he is the top target for the Israeli military.

Sinwar and the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, are said to be the masterminds behind the October 7 attack on southern Israel. Israel claims it killed Deif in a recent airstrike on a tent camp in Gaza, which killed at least 90 Palestinians, but his death hasn’t been confirmed by Hamas.

Hamas officials said the decision to appoint Sinwar as the head of the political bureau was made unanimously. “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announces the selection of Commander Yahya Sinwar as the head of the political bureau of the movement, succeeding the martyr Commander Ismail Haniyeh, may Allah have mercy on him,” Hamas said in a statement.

The Israeli killing of Haniyeh suspended the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas. In the weeks leading up to the assassination, it was widely acknowledged by Israeli officials that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing everything he could to sabotage the chances of a hostage and ceasefire deal.

Boeing is working on design changes ‘that will allow the door plug to not be closed’ until it’s firmly secured, it said.