Israel’s Netanyahu has little choice but to launch Gaza ground operation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that a ground operation is highly risky and complicated, but might have no other options.

Israel will never be the same after Oct. 7, 2023. The invasion of its territory and slaughter and abduction of its civilians has awakened Israel’s deepest existential fears. Scenes of armed men leading away women, children and the elderly have invariably evoked memories of the Holocaust even among third-generation Israelis who never experienced those horrors.

Iranian Website Asr-e Iran Calls On Iranians Not To Speak Out On Iranian Involvement In ‘The Hamas-Israel Conflict’ – For Fear Of Harming Iranian Interests And International Status

An October 11, 2023 op-ed in the Iranian website Asr-e Iran called on regime officials, hinting at the ideological extremists among them, to rein in their feelings and not to speak out regarding Iran’s connection to the “Hamas-Israel conflict” for fear of harming Iranian national interests. The article recommended that they not deviate from the official line set out by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei the previous day, on October 10, according to which Iran is proud of the Palestinian resistance that carried out the attack on Israel and encourages it to continue, but that Iran was not involved in it.

How Nagorno-Karabakh’s fall shifted the balance of power in the Caucasus

By the time the last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh arrived in Goris, an Armenian city on the border with Azerbaijan, the scale of the tragedy had become clear.

The 19 September lightning offensive by Azerbaijan ended thirty years of self-rule in the breakaway region, located within its borders but – historically and as a result of the long-running conflict – inhabited almost exclusively by ethnic Armenians.

How Nagorno-Karabakh’s fall shifted the balance of power in the Caucasus

By the time the last bus carrying ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh arrived in Goris, an Armenian city on the border with Azerbaijan, the scale of the tragedy had become clear.

The 19 September lightning offensive by Azerbaijan ended thirty years of self-rule in the breakaway region, located within its borders but – historically and as a result of the long-running conflict – inhabited almost exclusively by ethnic Armenians.

How the Israel-Hamas war will test Egypt’s balancing act

Since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, neighbouring Egypt has been fast to assert its position as a non-violent peacemaker.

Cairo has urged both sides to de-escalate, with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi voicing the need for a fair two-state solution and prioritising domestic security by keeping the Sinai-Gaza border closed.

Au Mali, l’armée se rapproche de Kidal

La colonne de l’armée malienne partie le 2 octobre de Gao, composée de dizaines de véhicules et de blindés, se trouve désormais à 110 kilomètres au sud du fief rebelle.

L’armée malienne a indiqué le 5 octobre au soir qu’un important convoi de ses forces avait progressé jusqu’aux environs d’Anéfis, à environ 110 kilomètres au sud de la ville stratégique de Kidal, fief de la rébellion séparatiste qui a repris les armes contre l’État central. La colonne a brisé un rideau défensif constitué de tranchées à 10 kilomètres au sud d’Anéfis, a dit l’armée sur les réseaux sociaux. Elle a assuré avoir détruit plusieurs pickups et avoir infligé des pertes « très importantes » à ses adversaires.

Israel orders the evacuation of 1.1 million people from northern part of Gaza, the UN says

Israel’s military on Friday directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people — about half of the territory’s population — within 24 hours, a U.N. spokesman said.

This could signal an impending ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, a decision has not yet been made.