Astonishingly scything through arch-foe Hezbollah’s upper echelons, remorselessly picking off leaders and military commanders one after another, Israel’s becoming increasingly bullish, convinced the disaster of Oct. 7 is being paid back. Israel is being made safer, victory snatched from the jaws of defeat — or so its leaders argue. And soon, they believe, it will … Read more
Israel has also vowed to strike Iran itself after it launched a ballistic missile attack on the country last week. The conflict threatens to widen into a regional war, and also risks drawing in the U.S., which has provided military and diplomatic support to Israel, as well as U.S.-allied Arab countries that host American forces. … Read more
TEL AVIV — Israel’s leaders believe they now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East, one that goes well beyond pulverizing Hamas and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear on Monday that his ultimate target in the regional power shift is to undermine the authority of Tehran’s clerical leadership, defanging the … Read more
The plan was drawn up this week by the U.S. and France during the United Nations General Assembly in New York and gained backing from allies and others in the region, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Netanyahu added that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would “continue the fighting with full force” in … Read more
The tit-for-tat followed the Serbian leader’s calls this week for new municipal elections in northern Kosovo to ease tensions that flared in 2023 when the Serbian community largely boycotted the ballot. The local Serbs wanted to express dissatisfaction with Pristina, but the move backfired when ethnic Albanian candidates, representing just over 3 percent of the … Read more
Hungary will join the Netherlands in asking for an opt-out from the European Union’s migration policies, a government minister said Wednesday, in another sign of fracturing EU consensus around immigration. The new Dutch government last week announced it was aiming to implement the “strictest asylum policy ever,” and submitted a request for an opt-out on … Read more
This week, pagers and walkie-talkies, some of them belonging to Hezbollah members, exploded in a sophisticated, remotely coordinated attack, killing over a dozen people including children and injuring thousands. The Lebanese Red Cross said it was responding to “multiple explosions in different areas” and remained on high alert. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the bloodshed, … Read more
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Relations between Armenia and its historical ally, Russia, have soured since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with the South Caucasus country freezing its membership of the Moscow-led CSTO military alliance, dispatching humanitarian aid to Kyiv and staging joint drills with … Read more
Starmer is in Rome trying to boost joint-working with Britain’s European allies on border security — a key part of his election promise to Brits to “smash the gangs” he argues are driving irregular migration to the U.K. Starmer, who is under some pressure from Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK, expressly hopes to learn from … Read more
Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. KYIV — As the U.S. ponders loosening some of the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range missiles to allow for the targeting of airfields and missile launch sites deeper inside Russia, Ukraine remains on tenterhooks. As it stands, Washington doesn’t appear ready to take the gloves … Read more
