Tag: War and Armed Conflicts

Moldova Is a Cautionary Tale for Ukraine

More and more people, including Pope Francis, are asking Ukraine to drop its defense and sit at the negotiation table with Russia. Citing the stalemate on the battlefield and Russia’s superior resources, they urge Ukraine’s leadership to consider a deal. What exactly that would involve is largely left unsaid. But it would clearly involve freezing […]

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Myanmar’s Rebels See Possibility of Victory

The night Ma Suu Kyi thought she would die of her wounds on the front lines of a forgotten war, a crescent moon hung overhead. A pendant of the Virgin Mary dangled around her neck. Maybe those augurs saved her. Or maybe, she said, it was not yet time for her to die. “When I […]

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Israel’s Strike Was Smaller Than Expected, and So Was Iran’s Reaction

The relatively limited scope of Israel’s overnight strikes on Iran, and a subdued response from Iranian officials, may have lowered the chances of an immediate escalation in fighting between the two countries, analysts said Friday. For days, there have been fears that a forceful Israeli response to Iran’s attack on southern Israel last weekend could […]

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Israel’s Offensive in Gaza: An Update on Where the Conflict Stands

Iran’s attack on Israel has shifted focus from the war in Gaza, but Israeli military operations press on there with the aim of eliminating Hamas, the armed group that controlled the territory before the fighting began. Israel’s military launched its assault in Gaza after Oct. 7, when Hamas led an attack that Israeli authorities say […]

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Parents Can Counter the World’s Cruelty With Joy

My father was a long-haul truck driver. He piloted one of those eighteen-wheelers that had a horn that could raise the dead. As a kid I longed to join him on his journeys and discover something of the world beyond Huntsville, Ala., where we lived. Despite his numerous promises, he never took me along. That […]

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Johnson Says House Will Vote on Stalled Aid to Israel and Ukraine

Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday said he planned this week to advance a long-stalled national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies, along with a separate bill aimed at mollifying conservatives who have been vehemently opposed to backing Kyiv. Mr. Johnson’s announcement, coming after he has agonized for weeks over whether […]

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A Show of Might in the Skies Over Israel

Iran’s much-anticipated retaliation for Israel’s killing of senior military leaders produced a fiery aerial display in the skies over Israel and the West Bank. But in important ways, military analysts say, it was just that: a highly choreographed spectacle. The more than 300 drones and missiles that hurtled through Iraqi and Jordanian airspace Saturday night […]

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Strikes Upend Israel’s Belief About Iran’s Willingness to Fight It Directly

Iran’s unprecedented strikes on Israel this weekend have shaken Israel’s assumptions about its foe, undermining its long-held calculation that Iran would be best deterred by greater Israeli aggression. For years, Israeli officials have argued, both in public and in private, that the harder Iran is hit, the warier it will be about fighting back. Iran’s […]

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Iran’s Strikes on Israel Open a Dangerous New Chapter for Old Rivals

Iran has retaliated directly against Israel for the killings of its senior generals in Damascus, Syria, with an onslaught of more than 300 drones and missiles aimed at restoring its credibility and deterrence, officials and analysts say. That represents a moment of great risk, with key questions still to answer, they say. Has Iran’s attack […]

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Israel Faced a Sophisticated Attack From Iran

Late Saturday, Iran began firing hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, including weapons that experts say are more sophisticated than anything Israel had encountered until now in six months of fighting with Hamas and its allies in the region. Previously, Israel had faced aerial attacks from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose rocket arsenal includes […]

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Israel bombed an Iranian Embassy complex. Is that allowed?

On Monday, Israel bombed a building that was part of the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus, killing seven people, including Gen. Mohamad Reza Zahedi, who oversaw Iran’s covert military operations in Syria and Lebanon, and two other senior generals. For centuries, diplomatic premises have been afforded special protections. Diplomats get immunity from prosecution in their […]

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A Timeline of Iran and Israel’s Shadow War Across the Middle East

For decades, Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war across the Middle East, trading attacks by land, sea, air and in cyberspace. Iran has largely used foreign proxies to strike Israeli interests, while targeted assassinations of Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists have been a key part of Israel’s strategy. Israel’s strike in the […]

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Strike in Damascus Escalates Israel’s Undeclared War With Iran

Israel’s bombing of an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, which killed senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, is a major escalation of what has long been a simmering undeclared war between Israel and Iran. But while the strike is a vivid demonstration of the regional nature of the war, Iran has been careful since Hamas […]

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In Yemen, Conflict and Hunger Stalk a Lean Ramadan

In the years before war and hunger upended daily life in Yemen, Mohammed Abdullah Yousef used to sit down after a long day of fasting during Ramadan to a rich spread of food. His family would dine on meat, falafel, beans, savory fried pastries and occasionally store-bought crème caramel. This year, the Islamic holy month […]

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A Secret War, Strange New Wounds and Silence From the Pentagon

When Javier Ortiz came home from a secret mission in Syria, the ghost of a dead girl appeared to him in his kitchen. She was pale and covered in chalky dust, as if hit by an explosion, and her eyes stared at him with a glare as dark and heavy as oil. The 21-year-old Marine […]

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