Moscow’s tactics, on the battlefield and domestically, are incentivising men to join and stick to the army.
When President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ivan Chenin left his comfortable life as a student in Moscow to deliver aid as a volunteer to the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics of eastern Ukraine, which Russia now claims as its “new territories”.
On the streets of Tehran, the oppressive heat continues, with a drought and water crisis putting the city of 10 million under pressure. The 12-day war between Israel and Iran may have ended in June, but nerves are frayed.
Some Iranians have fled abroad, while others have returned from their Caspian Sea hideaways or rural relatives to a capital that doesn’t quite feel like itself, despite numerous official attempts to portray the country as being back to normal.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) was conspicuously absent during the unprecedented 12-day June war with Israel.
Its fighter jets are so antiquated that, with a few exceptions, the Israeli Air Force largely left them alone.
With another round of hostilities seemingly inevitable, and having waited in vain for Su-35 Flanker fighters it ordered from Russia years ago, the question of whether Iran will turn to China to modernise its air force is arguably more relevant than ever.
Israel’s assault on Gaza City intensifies: tanks and airstrikes demolish entire blocks in a bid to seize control.
Israel is levelling entire neighbourhoods in its push to occupy Gaza City on Wednesday, using tanks and airstrikes to flatten residential blocks.
Campaigners in Belfast have criticised police for not releasing a file from the Troubles after similar documents were discovered in Foreign Office archives.
Police in Northern Ireland continue to withhold a Troubles-era report by an MI5 veteran despite his dispatches from other countries being made public.
Declassified files show Britain has long known of Israel’s criminality against Palestinians, as Whitehall has deepened its military, trade and diplomatic support.
The parallels are remarkable.
Initié en avril dernier, le rapprochement entre Ankara et l’homme fort de l’est libyen s’est poursuivi lundi 25 août avec la visite à Benghazi du chef des renseignements turcs, Ibrahim Kalin. Une première pour un responsable turc de ce niveau depuis 2020.
Le maréchal Khalifa Haftar, qui contrôle les parties est et sud de la Libye, a reçu ce lundi 25 août dans son quartier général de Benghazi le chef des renseignements turcs, Ibrahim Kalin, arrivé à la tête d’une haute délégation militaire. Pour l’occasion, son hôte était lui entouré de ses deux fils, Saddam et Khaled Haftar, récemment promus à la tête de l’Armée nationale libyenne (ANL) : alors que le premier en a été nommé vice-commandant général, le second en est devenu le chef d’état major.
The world is celebrating the anticipated signing of a security agreement between Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Israel, hailed as evidence of Sharaa’s moderation and a departure from his radical Islamist past. However, this narrative is misleading. Islamist doctrine permits, and even encourages, temporary truces—up to 10 years—with adversaries until conditions favor a stronger position. This strategy is modeled on the Prophet Muhammad’s Treaty of Hudaybiyyah with the Quraysh of Mecca in 628 CE. Hamas has repeatedly proposed 10-year truces with Israel as an alternative to peace or a two-state solution.
Working as the medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Somalia, I see every day how conflict and poverty damage people’s lives. One of our biggest challenges is tuberculosis (TB), which affects many children. TB is not just an illness—it takes away energy, health, and sometimes lives. I see its impact on children like Ahmed*, a 5-year-old I met recently at Mudug Regional Hospital in Somalia.