All events

military · geopolitical

They are used by Ukrainian troops

military · geopolitical

Local residents heard gunfire and explosions overnight in Niger’s capital, Niamey, near a military base at an international airport which was attacked twice this year by jihadists.

military · geopolitical

Israeli forces carry out two explosions in southern Lebanon, set fire to homes Israeli military carried out two explosions Saturday morning on the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Jabal in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's National News Agency reported. NNA said Israeli forces set fire to several homes in the town of Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon, while a drone strike targeted the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon.

military · geopolitical

Western officials say Russia is losing around 6,000 more troops in Ukraine each month than it can recruit, as Moscow escalates strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure.

military · geopolitical

US judge rules alleged 9/11 mastermind's confessions inadmissible A US military judge ruled Friday that confessions made by alleged 9/11 attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to FBI agents are inadmissible and cannot be used against him at trial, The New York Times reported. The ruling comes just before the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Prosecutors have already excluded statements that Mohammed made after his capture when he was held by the CIA in overseas prisons and subjected to brutal treatment including waterboarding before his transfer in 2006 to Guantanamo, the Times reported. But the trial judge Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama has concluded that Mohammed's subsequent interrogations in 2007 at Guantanamo were also inadmissible. Schrama cited an "unbroken continuation of the CIA’s psychological conditioning and severe coercion," and also found that FBI agents intentionally failed to tell Mohammed that he had a right to be silent and to consult a lawyer. (Reporting by AFP)

military · geopolitical

Morning recap Good morning Middle East Eye readers, If you're just joining us, here are key developments from across the region: • Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has rejected the US’s repeated claims that the Strait of Hormuz is open, saying US officials are continuing to “lie” to “cover up their failures”. • The United States issued more Iran-related sanctions targeting one entity and one individual on Friday. • Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was ready for cooperation and understanding with regional countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. • Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains about 90 percent below pre-conflict levels, with operators increasingly favouring a northern route, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said. • US military redirected has 82 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two others to "ensure compliance" with its naval blockade of Iran, US Central Command (Centcom) said. • Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has said the Israeli military evacuated the residents and occupied the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank. • US Democrats on Friday slammed the Trump administration for dragging out the war on Iran to its six month anniversary, warning Republicans would pay the price in the upcoming midterm elections. • Three Palestinians were injured on Friday night when Israeli settlers attacked the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.

military · geopolitical

Ghalibaf says 'no one will be able to sell oil in region where Iran can't' Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has warned that “no one will be able to sell oil in a region where Tehran cannot”, according to Mehr News Agency. On Friday, Ghalibaf republished on X a message originally dated 22 July, responding to earlier claims by US Central Command (Centcom) commander Admiral Brad Cooper that American forces had achieved full control of the Strait of Hormuz and halted Iran's oil exports. “The equation of this war is clear: either all or none!” he said. “In a region where we don’t sell oil, no one else will sell oil either.” He also said that the security of the Strait of Hormuz, lies in “the absence” of US troops. “If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe,” he said, according to Mehr.

military · geopolitical

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Yassamin Ansari denounce 'immoral' Iran war Two US Congresswomen have criticised Trump administration’s “immoral” war on Iran, which completed six months on Sunday. In a post on X, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib wrote: “Today marks 6 months since the Trump administration launched its illegal and immoral war on the people of Iran. This act of imperial aggression has claimed thousands of innocent lives, put the US and global economies on the brink, and caused suffering for millions,” she wrote on X. “No more war,” she added. The American people do not want a war with Iran. Trump is acting on the violent fantasies of the American political elite and the Israeli apartheid government, ignoring the vast majority of Americans who say loud and clear: No More Wars. pic.twitter.com/z8ap5Qsrfw — Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) February 28, 2026 Another Congresswoman, Yassamin Ansari, demanded the impeachment of US defence secretary Pete Hegseth. In a post on X, Ansari said: “In the past six months since Donald Trump started his illegal war in Iran, 120 children died after a US military strike hit their school, 18 American servicemembers have been killed, Americans have endured record high gas costs, and Donald Trump and his sons have profited endlessly from investing in defense tech companies that received government contracts.” “Neither Trump nor Pete Hegseth have achieved an objective in this war,” she added. In the past six months since Donald Trump started his illegal war in Iran, 120 children died after a U.S military strike hit their school, 18 American servicemembers have been killed, Americans have endured record high gas costs, and Donald Trump and his sons have profited… — Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari) August 28, 2026

military · geopolitical

Iranian leaders are acknowledging the economic toll of war with the United States, with the supreme leader calling on the government to address the hardship while the president reported foreign trade has shrunk 35 per cent due to the American sanctions and blockade. The warnings came even as other leaders threaten the US with military retaliation and declarations that the Iranian navy maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway giving Iran ‌leverage through its ability to...

military · geopolitical

Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon injures one person, state media says Israeli drone strike injured one person in the Doha area of Kfar Remman, in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Israeli military operations across Lebanon since 2 March have killed 4,352 people and injured 12,318, the Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement earlier.

military · geopolitical

Israel violated ICJ provisional measures, South Africa says in new dossier South Africa has submitted a dossier to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of failing to comply with the court’s legally binding provisional measures concerning the Gaza genocide. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement the dossier, submitted on 25 August, contains information intended to assist an ICJ committee monitoring Israel’s implementation of the orders and considering possible options for the court. Palestinians continued to face deprivation of water, healthcare, medicine and other essential resources, the department said, adding South Africa would continue pursuing “all avenues available” to seek Israel’s full and immediate compliance with the court’s orders. The department also accused Israel of killing local journalists and blocking foreign journalists and UN-mandated investigative bodies from entering Gaza. Since the announcement of the so-called ‘ceasefire’, on average, one Palestinian child has been killed every day by the Israeli military, the statement read. “Palestinian miscarriage rates in Gaza have increased more than three-fold in 2026. Surviving Palestinians in Gaza are further traumatised, herded into an ever-shrinking sliver of territory and subjected to unbearable conditions of life. They are deprived of water, adequate healthcare and medicine, and other essential resources for survival,” it added. The provisional measures, issued in 2024, call Israel to “take all possible measures to prevent genocidal acts as outlined in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention”.

military · geopolitical

'Iran has many surprises in store for enemies', defence minister says Iran’s acting defence minister Majid Ebn al-Reza has said that Tehran has many “surprises” in store for its enemies, Iranian media reported. “We should not talk about the surprises now, but Iranian knowledge, the Iranian youth, and the things being carried out in the defence industries will, God willing, bring good surprises,” Majid Ebn al-Reza said on Friday, as reported by Tasnim News Agency. “Everyone, and especially the enemies, should know that they will become aware of Iran’s surprises in due time.” A day before, Tasnim News Agency reported, General Ebn al-Reza had said that Iran has "changed" the regional balance of power through its actions on the battlefield and demonstrated that the era of “hit-and-run, military deployments from across the oceans and threats is over". “The ridiculous media show does not change the reality on the battlefield or the victorious side,” he said, urging the adversaries to “read Iran’s history spanning thousands of years” to understand that "they must speak to the Iranian nation with the language of respect.”

military · geopolitical

Centcom says US forces redirect 82 vessels to enforce naval blockade US military redirected has 82 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two others to "ensure compliance" with its naval blockade of Iran, US Central Command (Centcom) said. Centcom's claim comes as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rejected the US’s repeated claims that the Strait of Hormuz is open, saying US officials are continuing to “lie” to “cover up their failures”. A U.S. Sailor stands lookout watch aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) as the ship sails in regional waters enforcing the U.S. blockade against Iran. As of Aug. 28, CENTCOM forces have redirected 82 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure compliance. pic.twitter.com/998Y78RSpV — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) August 28, 2026

military · geopolitical

Israeli military attacks have killed 4,352 in Lebanon since 2 March Israeli military operations across Lebanon since 2 March have killed 4,352 people and injured 12,318, the Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has warned that “despite lower levels of violence than earlier this year, the situation in south Lebanon remains fragile". The peacekeeping force said that between 21-27 August, it recorded 1,030 projectile trajectories in the area, an average of 147 per day.

military · geopolitical

Iraqi Kurdistan fears the Trump administration's plan will make the region more vulnerable to further attacks from Iran.

military · geopolitical

'No end in sight': Democrats slam Trump after six months of Iran war US Democrats on Friday slammed the Trump administration for dragging out the war on Iran to its six month anniversary, warning Republicans would pay the price in the upcoming midterm elections. The joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, beginning on 28 February, was initially meant to last a few weeks, by President Donald Trump's own estimates. Half a year later, the war has seen the US lose at least 18 of its troops and cost $100bn in military spending, most of which was approved by the Republican-controlled Congress late last month after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth requested additional funds north of $60bn. Read more: 'No end in sight': Democrats slam Trump after six months of Iran war US President Donald Trump raises his fists to supporters after disembarking Air Force One at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas, on 27 August 2026 (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)

military · geopolitical

But they say Moscow will likely continue its "hybrid activity" against Nato members, short of direct military action.

military · geopolitical

'No end in sight': Democrats slam Trump after six months of Iran war Submitted by Yasmine El-Sabawi on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 17:06 Polling continues to show very little American support for the US-Israeli war on Iran US President Donald Trump raises his fists to supporters after disembarking Air Force One at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas, on 27 August 2026 (Kylie Cooper/Reuters) Off US Democrats on Friday slammed the Trump administration for dragging out the war on Iran to its six month anniversary, warning Republicans would pay the price in the upcoming midterm elections. The joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, beginning on 28 February, was initially meant to last a few weeks, by President Donald Trump's own estimates. Half a year later, the war has seen the US lose at least 18 of its troops and cost $100bn in military spending, most of which was approved by the Republican-controlled Congress late last month after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth requested additional funds north of $60bn. The war has cost each American taxpayer around $600 to $1,000 in extra energy costs because of Iran's response in blocking the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Brown University study and estimates from Moody's Analytics. Estimates for the number of Iranian dead vary between 3,400, according to the UN’s OCHA agency, and 6,000, according to the Israeli military. "Trump and his chief dealmaker [Vice President JD] Vance have failed to reach an agreement to end their war. Back in March, Trump and Vance said the war would be over 'soon' - but just this week, Trump said he is 'not in a hurry' to end the war," Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin said in a statement on Friday. The DNC oversees all party activities and vets candidates for elections. "[They] dragged the US into a deadly and costly war they clearly cannot find a way out of - at the expense of the American people who are struggling to make ends meet. Trump and Vance explicitly promised no new foreign wars, yet six months in, there is no end in sight to the conflict that has driven up prices on everything from gas to groceries," Martin said. "While Republicans claim they cannot bring down costs or fund affordable healthcare for everyday Americans, they continue to spend billions of dollars on a war no one wanted or asked for - and voters will remember this betrayal when they head to the polls in November.” The Silver Bulletin, which tracks and analyses public sentiment, noted on Friday that repeat polling has shown around 37 percent of Americans support the US-Israeli war on Iran, while 55 percent oppose it. Half hearted opposition? While Democrats in the House of Representatives latched onto an effort by the progressive wing of the party in late February to force a War Powers vote - which would insist on Congress having the power to declare war and not the president - it was not clear they would have actually opposed any attacks in their capacity as lawmakers. Earlier this year, before the 28 February US-Israeli onslaught began, reports emerged that Democratic Party leadership was trying to curb more grassroots efforts to restrain Trump's war-making authority. US missile interceptor shortfall 'beyond critical' due to war on Iran: Report Read More » Establishment Democrats, many of whom failed to condemn Israel for what the United Nations and Holocaust scholars have called a genocide in Gaza, have not shied away from consistent condemnation of Iran, believing that, if not now, then at some point Tehran would have to be militarily confronted . Iran itself had said that, while it must be ready for a war with the US - largely egged on by Israel - it would rather cut a deal that allows it the weapons it says it needs to defend itself as a sovereign state. A week before the US and Israel began joint air strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed House and Senate leadership on the latest Iran developments behind closed doors. The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, emerged only to say to reporters : "This is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people." Four days earlier, Schumer said in a statement that "confronting Iran’s ruthless campaign of terror, nuclear ambitions, regional aggression, and horrific oppression of the Iranian people demands strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity". Where things stand If there is a diplomatic track that Trump is still pursuing, there are no signs that it's yet at a senior enough level to bear fruit. Two attempted ceasefires have quickly collapsed. Qatar's prime minister arrived in Iran on Thursday in a bid to seek a joint Iran-Oman solution to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The talks have slightly lowered the price of oil this week, but Trump's new deployment of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for a seven-month stint in the region suggests tensions are not winding down any time soon. 'Suez moment': US missteps in Iran echo across East Asia to the Gulf and Europe Read More » US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a new wave of sanctions against Iran and its "enablers", towards what he described as an "asphyxiation of this regime". He called it "Operation Economic Outcast". Using a "zero leakage approach", Bessent said the Treasury had "mapped every node, every facilitator, and every network that Iran has used to smuggle oil and evade sanctions", and that Trump had already made phone calls to counterparts around the world "with specific requests to cease their interactions with the regime". He did not specify which leaders, nor on what timeline they may act. Then there's the critical shortfall in US munitions, given the Pentagon has moved many to the Gulf, as it strikes back at Iranian retaliation against US military bases and energy facilities in the region. A Reuters report this month said the US had exhausted its stockpile of sophisticated long-range missiles during the war on Iran, including surface-to-surface ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The Associated Press also reported a "beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors, especially Patriots, which have been used to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles in the war with US-backed Ukraine. War on Iran Washington News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

military · geopolitical

It is because of the dramatic developments taking place in Russia amid the military conflict, the Russian security council deputy chairman said

military · geopolitical

Israel’s defence minister says forces occupy Jenin camp in West Bank Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has said the Israeli military evacuated the residents and occupied the Jenin camp in the occupied West Bank. Katz's statement follows Israeli strikes that killed three people in Jenin earlier today. "The [Israeli military] is permanently stationed there," the minister said in a social media post.

military · geopolitical

Transgender former Israeli spy detained by ICE in US A transgender Israeli woman who served in Israel’s military intelligence directorate is facing deportation from the US after being convicted of imprisonment. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Thursday that it had detained Alon, "a criminal illegal alien from Israel, during targeted operations in Concord, New Hampshire”. ICE used Alon’s former first name, Avishay. “Alon’s criminal history includes conviction for criminal threat against person with deadly weapon, kidnapping, and drug possession,” ICE said on social media. Alon previously served in the Israeli military’s Unit 81, considered one of the military’s most highly classified divisions, specialising in technology for the Intelligence Directorate's special operations. Read more: Transgender former Israeli spy detained by ICE in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on 27 July 2026 (Blake Fagan / AFP)

military · geopolitical

President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the US-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a “little excursion” lasting a matter of weeks. The war is not over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran’s leadership, military and economy. And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to...

military · geopolitical

Israel's military said it carried out an air strike in the Jenin area in the West Bank on Friday that killed a ​Palestinian it described as a Hamas militant operative as well as two of his accomplices, in a rare use of deadly Israeli air power in the occupied territory.

military · geopolitical

Transgender former Israeli spy detained by ICE in US Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 17:36 Allison Alon worked for US tech companies before kidnapping acquaintance mmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. The Ventura County Government Center has been the site of tense standoffs and confrontations in recent weeks between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, local community observers, and protesters. Blake Fagan / AFP Off A transgender Israeli woman who served in Israel’s military intelligence directorate is facing deportation from the US after being convicted of imprisonment. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Thursday that it had detained Alon, "a criminal illegal alien from Israel, during targeted operations in Concord, New Hampshire”. ICE used Alon’s former first name, Avishay. “Alon’s criminal history includes conviction for criminal threat against person with deadly weapon, kidnapping, and drug possession,” ICE said on social media. Alon previously served in the Israeli military’s Unit 81, considered one of the military’s most highly classified divisions, specializing in technology for the Intelligence Directorate's special operations. The Jerusalem Post cited Alon’s lawyers saying that, after serving in Unit 81, Alon transitioned gender, and held senior engineering roles in Amazon and Microsoft. Alon was arrested in September 2024 over the kidnapping of a male acquaintance who she suspected had put GHB, a date rape drug, into her water bottle. The Jerusalem Post reported the kidnapping idea was sparked by another friend, Brian Levy, who reportedly suggested interrogating the victim. According to the indictment, Alon had two loaded handguns in the house, including one with a silencer, which she pointed at the victim. The kidnapping was foiled when police arrived at Alon’s home in Dover, New Hampshire, to investigate a suspicious car outside. Officers heard the victim’s cries for help. Alon was tried as a male suspect, despite identifying as a woman, and on 7 July sentenced to between two and six years in a state prison. Alon launched legal proceedings over being made to serve her jail time in a male prison. She reportedly sought transgender medical care and a transfer to a female prison. On 20 August, Alon was instead transferred to immigration authorities. US Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

military · geopolitical

The military authorities retook control of the city 18 months ago, but the conflict continues elsewhere.

military · geopolitical

Hamas must not concede in talks what Israel failed to win on the battlefield Submitted by Sami Al-Arian on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 14:36 As pressure mounts to disarm and incorporate it into a reconstructed Palestinian order, the movement needs strategic patience to preserve its independence and resistance identity Hamas fighters secure the area as Egyptian workers and Red Cross officials search for the remains of the last Israeli captive, in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, on 8 December 2025 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP) Off Some moments in the history of liberation movements require courage to act; others require equal courage to wait. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, on 7 October 2023, was a daring decision that shattered assumptions that had governed the Palestinian question for years. It brought Palestine back to the centre of world politics, exposed the illusion that it could be managed or bypassed, and confronted Israel and its western supporters with a conflict they had convinced themselves could be contained indefinitely. Nothing that followed can justify transferring responsibility for Gaza's destruction from those who destroyed it to those who resisted them. Responsibility for the devastation of Gaza, the killing of its civilians and the ruin of its homes, hospitals, universities and schools belongs to those who carried it out. Criticism of Palestinian strategy must never become a mechanism for absolving the perpetrators and their supporters. The scale of that sacrifice demands a harder look at how it is being managed politically. Hamas today faces perhaps the most difficult transition in its history. The movement that entered Al-Aqsa Flood as an armed resistance organisation now confronts enormous pressure to emerge from the war disarmed, removed from governing Gaza, integrated into a reconstructed Palestinian political system and dependent upon arrangements designed principally by the US and Israel with the tacit support of regional mediators. Tactical flexibility is indispensable to any resistance movement, but it must serve a coherent strategy rather than gradually displace it. Four developments should concern anyone who believes the resistance must preserve its independence: the political trajectory signalled by Hamas's 2017 document, the handling of postwar negotiations, the mounting pressure for disarmament and the movement's re-engagement with its old Fatah-aligned rivals. A political wager Hamas's 2017 Document of General Principles and Policies, issued well before Al-Aqsa Flood, was widely understood as an effort to present a more pragmatic face to the world. It accepted a sovereign Palestinian state along the 4 June 1967 lines as a formula of national consensus, while refusing to recognise the legitimacy of the Zionist state and maintaining the right of resistance. The position had a long pedigree. As early as 2009, Khaled Meshaal, then the head of Hamas's political bureau, told the New York Times that his group "had accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem, the dismantling of settlements and the right of return [of Palestinian refugees] based on a long-term truce". The document represented a political wager : that moderation would break the movement's isolation and open doors in Europe and beyond. Hamas should study Fatah's experience and refuse ever to surrender a strategic position in exchange for a promise of future reciprocity European figures discussed whether it justified engagement. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after leaving his post as the envoy for the Middle East Quartet - which includes the US, EU, UN and Russia - courted Hamas's leadership, and later acknowledged that the boycott imposed after the movement won the 2006 elections had been a mistake. Yet the broader political opening never came. Therein lies the lesson: a liberation movement should distinguish between flexibility exchanged for concrete political gains and concessions offered in anticipation of western acceptance. The real danger is a process in which each concession becomes the starting point for the next. Fatah travelled down that road decades earlier, with each concession presented as the gateway to the next diplomatic breakthrough: recognition was to produce reciprocity, negotiation to deliver statehood and security cooperation to build confidence, while Oslo itself was supposed to be transitional. Instead, the transitional became permanent as settlements expanded, the occupation deepened and sovereignty receded, leaving Fatah today a shadow of its past. Hamas should study that experience and refuse ever to surrender a strategic position in exchange for a promise of future reciprocity. Western approval is not a Palestinian national objective. Squandered leverage The second concern is more immediate. Negotiations are a contest over interests conducted through bargaining power, yet since the war entered its diplomatic phase, Hamas has repeatedly appeared willing to relinquish leverage before securing reciprocal, enforceable gains. The release of the Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander in May 2025 was presented as a goodwill gesture intended to reopen diplomatic space, but goodwill has value in negotiation only when the other side treats it as something to reciprocate. The larger test came with US President Donald Trump 's Gaza initiative in September 2025. In its initial response , Hamas agreed to release the Israeli captives, living and dead, under the exchange formula, and accepted the transfer of Gaza's administration to an independent Palestinian technocratic body. As the world fixates on Hamas, who will disarm the Israeli settlers storming West Bank villages? Read More » On the broader future of Gaza and fundamental Palestinian rights, however, it insisted that such questions belonged within a comprehensive national framework. I had argued for precisely this approach days before the movement issued its response on 3 October 2025. Once the captives were exchanged and that undertaking fulfilled, Hamas should have considered stepping back from direct negotiation over the larger questions, since a resistance leadership does not have to conduct every negotiation itself. It could have entrusted the bargaining to experienced independent Palestinian negotiators versed in international law, diplomacy, American politics, Israeli negotiating practice, maps and security arrangements, while itself defining the objectives and the red lines. One of the tragedies of the Palestinian negotiating experience since the 1980s has been the repeated confusion of revolutionary legitimacy with negotiating competence, which was among Fatah's costliest mistakes under Yasser Arafat. The record of Oslo makes the asymmetry plain. Israel fielded specialised teams, serving generals and the seasoned foreign ministry lawyer Joel Singer; as Mahmoud Abbas himself later acknowledged , the Palestinians were negotiating against "an experienced, capable delegation" without comparable expertise of their own. Negotiation is a profession, and recognising that a movement lacks it costs far less than pretending otherwise. Follow Middle East Eye's coverage of Israel's genocide in Gaza The Vietnamese understood this well. Throughout the long Paris talks, Hanoi treated diplomacy as one instrument within a larger political and military strategy: the Politburo set the objectives and the permissible concessions, while veteran negotiators such as Le Duc Tho conducted the bargaining. When the talks moved beyond positions the leadership was prepared to accept, the negotiators were instructed to return to the earlier agreement as the basis for settlement. The art lay in knowing what could be traded, what had to be preserved and when compromise served the wider goal. More than weapons These questions have become urgent because Hamas has moved from discussing governance to entertaining formulas concerning its weapons. Recent proposals would see them stored or transferred as part of a demilitarisation arrangement tied to Israeli withdrawal, an approach Israel has rejected while insisting on complete disarmament first. Are Palestinians really expected to hand over their weapons while the tanks are still at the border? The pattern is familiar from the Oslo years: a Palestinian concession enters the diplomatic record, Israel rejects the arrangement as insufficient, and the next negotiation begins from the concession rather than from the position that preceded it. The reward for an unreciprocated concession is usually another demand. Disarmament therefore goes to the identity and strategic purpose of the movement itself. Restraint can itself be a form of resistance, and Hamas need not return to governing Gaza: relinquishing direct administration might even free the movement from the contradiction between governing a besieged population and functioning as a resistance organisation. Leaving government and abandoning resistance are entirely different propositions. The greater danger is that a movement exhausted by war and subjected to extraordinary pressure from mediators and international powers could be transformed, incrementally, into merely another Palestinian faction seeking a place in an electoral order whose parameters others have designed. Fatah's transformation came about exactly that way. A concession was justified as tactical, another was required to preserve the political process, and another was demanded to demonstrate seriousness, until an organisation established to liberate Palestine became the governing component of an authority operating under occupation. The movement's re-engagement with its old rivals in Fatah's orbit belongs to the same set of concerns. In August, Hamas met officials from the Democratic Reform bloc of the former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, in contacts a Hamas official confirmed to Al Jazeera, ahead of Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for November. Weeks earlier, a senior aide had said that Dahlan intervened in the disarmament negotiations through direct contacts with the US president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Political circumstances change, and old adversaries meet. Yet Hamas should ask what purpose these returns are designed to serve, and why the very powers now pressing for its disarmament appear so comfortable with them. Strategic patience Defenders of the present course will ask what the alternative is, and the answer is strategic patience: a movement under immense pressure does not have to resolve every question immediately. Hamas can fulfil the limited agreements it has made while declining to negotiate away questions that belong to the Palestinian people as a whole, using the intervening period to reorganise while the environment becomes clearer. The region has changed since 2023 in ways in which the consequences are still unfolding. A growing number of analysts argue that the confrontation involving Iran , Israel and the US may leave Tehran strategically stronger than many anticipated . Washington and Tel Aviv, meanwhile, have expended enormous military, political and diplomatic capital. Gaza itself remains under a fragile ceasefire, with the sequencing of Israeli withdrawal and disarmament unresolved. Why should Hamas negotiate as though today's balance of power were permanent? There is a time to fight, a time to negotiate and a time simply to hold one's position Elections are a legitimate instrument of popular representation, and Palestinian institutions desperately need renewal after years of stagnation and eroded democratic legitimacy. Taking part in them is one thing; allowing them to redefine the movement's relationship to resistance is another. Hamas needs to state clearly what it now considers its strategic constants, and how armed, popular, political, legal and diplomatic forms of resistance fit within them. Such questions cannot be answered through piecemeal agreements negotiated under pressure. There is a time to fight, a time to negotiate and a time simply to hold one's position, which is sometimes nothing more than the refusal to make irreversible concessions under temporary pressure. Al-Aqsa Flood came at an almost unimaginable human cost to Gaza, and that cost must never be used to delegitimise Palestinian resistance or shift responsibility from those who devastated the Strip. Neither does the magnitude of Palestinian sacrifice exempt Palestinian leaders from strategic accountability: a resistance movement has to protect the political value of the sacrifices made in the name of its cause. Hamas can leave the government of Gaza, contest elections under the right conditions and negotiate when circumstances require, without allowing tactical concessions made under extraordinary pressure to redefine its principles. Where its own negotiating capacity is inadequate, it should have the confidence to entrust the bargaining to professionals while retaining the authority to set the red lines. The gravest danger facing Hamas now lies beyond the battlefield. Having survived one of the most destructive wars in modern history, it could gradually concede at the negotiating table what its adversaries failed to attain by force. What Israel could not extinguish through military might and genocide should not be surrendered through the fine print of an agreement concocted in Washington. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. Israel's genocide in Gaza Opinion The Palestinian people have paid an almost unimaginable cost since 7 October 2023. The task now is to protect the political value of those sacrifices and to distinguish what can be negotiated from what belongs to the nation as a whole Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0

military · geopolitical

According to the newaspaper, America has notably reduced its military presence in the Pacific Ocean and in Europe

military · geopolitical

Towards the end of World War II, as US troops advanced across the Pacific, Japan resorted to a desperate strategy: kamikaze attacks. Thousands of Japanese pilots, with an average age of just 21, were ordered to crash their explosive-laden planes into enemy ships. More than 3,800 pilots gave up their lives, killing over 7,000 allied naval personnel. Our reporter Mélodie Sforza met one of the last surviving former kamikaze pilots.

military · geopolitical

Israel to expel Palestinians in Gaza over kites flown by children Submitted by Nadav Rapaport on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 12:59 Defence minister Israel Katz vows ‘severe response’ to balloons and kites that drift into Israel A displaced Palestinian man helps a child to fly a kite near the border with Egypt in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 28 March 2024 (Said Khatib/AFP) Off The Israeli government has instructed its military to expel Palestinians from areas of the Gaza Strip where children are flying kites and releasing balloons, Israel’s Channel 13 reported on Thursday. According to the report, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz told army chief Eyal Zamir and other senior military officials that “the ultimatum we issued following the launching of balloons and kites from the Gaza Strip towards Negev communities [in southern Israel] has expired”. “Every launching of balloons and kites from Gaza towards southern communities will be met with a severe response,” Katz said during a meeting with the military’s top command. From Israel’s perspective, Katz reportedly said, “every launch is an act of terrorism”, referring to kites and balloons that the Israeli army itself deemed a week ago to pose no danger to Israeli civilians. “From now on, every launch will be met with a forceful response against those responsible, the organisers and the perpetrators,” Katz said, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the new measure. The Israeli military, Katz said, “will act with all necessary means, including evacuating the population from an area or neighbourhood from which launches are carried out, in order to deal with the centres of terrorism”. Katz added that Israel would not allow Hamas or any other group to threaten Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip. “Whoever does so will pay a heavy price,” he said. Public demand for assassinations In recent months, Israeli media have reported on kites being flown from the Gaza Strip, including an increase in the number of Palestinian kites crossing into Israel. The newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Thursday that Israel’s security establishment sees Hamas as responsible for the increase, claiming the group is acting out of frustration over Israel’s deadly attacks on the besieged enclave. Last week, Haaretz reported that four kites had been found in communities along the Gaza-Israel boundary, prompting residents to demand a military response. “This is how it started before 7 October,” one Israeli local community said last week, adding that it “will not accept a policy of containment when it comes to our security”. Ori Epstein, head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, said on Sunday that “a kite that crosses into Israeli territory is an incident that requires a response”. For Gaza's orphans, the safety of childhood vanished with their parents Read More » “When there’s no response,” the Israeli local politician added, “the message that gets conveyed to the other side is that it’s allowed to continue.” According to Channel 13 , the Israeli military has responded to the public demands, with Zamir ordering an increase in targeted assassinations across the Gaza Strip earlier this week. “Israel will not allow Hamas or any other party in the Gaza Strip to return to threatening our communities and undermining our citizens’ sense of security,” Netanyahu said on Monday after meeting Zamir. The Israeli prime minister warned Hamas that if the kite launches did not stop, the military would strike “those responsible for the launches and will evacuate the population from areas from which kites, drones and balloons are launched”. As Israeli threats over kites crossing into Israel increased, local non-governmental organisations in Gaza, in coordination with Hamas, urged parents to stop their children from flying kites. “We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice,” the organisations said in a public statement, adding that they wanted to protect the lives of innocent children. While Israel carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip this week, killing Palestinian civilians, senior Hamas official Basem Naim commented on the Israeli threats over what Israel has described as “kite terrorism”. “In a surreal paradox, a nuclear state that practises terrorism daily, charged with committing genocide in Gaza, mobilises and issues orders to deal forcefully with paper kites coming out of Gaza,” Naim said, stressing that children were flying the kites. Israel's genocide in Gaza Tel Aviv, Israel News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

military · geopolitical

Facing a population decline, fewer potential servicemembers and calls for social equality to be extended to national military service, Koreans inch closer to breaking the taboo on women on the front line.