BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) US President Donald Trump has said his administration’s war against Iran “successfully knocked out” the country’s air force and navy. “We’re doing very well,” Trump said on Tuesday, during a news conference at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before their meeting. “They have no navy; it’s been knocked out. They have no air force; it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection – that’s been knocked out,” Trump said. Trump’s comments...

(CNN) Israeli troops are intensifying their push in southern Lebanon, the military announced Tuesday, seizing more positions on the ground as Israel escalates its offensive against the militant group Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has held five positions in southern Lebanon for months now, using them as a means of observing the border area between the two countries. Now, as Israel intsensifies its strikes against what it sees as Hezbollah targets in Beirut and...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan has called in the military and imposed a three-day curfew in some areas following deadly protests over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint United States-Israeli attack on Saturday. At least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesters and security forces across the country on Sunday, prompting authorities to tighten security around the US embassy and consulates. The curfew was imposed before dawn Monday...

(CNN)   • Trump administration on Iran: President Donald Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper the “big wave” is yet to come in the war with Iran. Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called on Iranians to “take advantage” of the opportunity for regime change, even as he said the war was not about ousting the government in Tehran. Expanding war with Iran: A top Iranian official said Tehran “will not negotiate”with the US. Israel and Hezbollah are trading blowsas the conflict widens,...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Israeli jets have bombed Lebanon’s Beirut after Hezbollah launched what it said was a rocket and drone attack against a military base near Haifa in northern Israel. The Lebanese group said early on Monday that its attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “in defence of Lebanon and its people” and “in response to the repeated Israeli aggressions”. “The resistance leadership has always affirmed that the continuation...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has pledged to continue the “righteous mission” against Iran, until “all objectives are achieved”, adding there will likely be more US troop deaths in the process. Speaking in a video posted to his Truth Social account on Sunday, Trump again framed the war against Iran as a response to an existential threat to the US, saying that “an Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States and Israel on Saturday launched an attack on Iran, with explosions seen across Tehran and in multiple cities across the country. Tehran has responded by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israel and towards several military bases in the Middle East where US forces operate. Iran had previously warned that if it were attacked, it would respond by targeting US military facilities across the region. “This operation will continue relentlessly until...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan has launched air strikes on Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and other cities, as clashes escalate along the two countries’ shared border. On Friday, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad’s patience had run out with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, declaring that the two countries are now at “open war”. The declaration came hours after Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah ⁠Mujahid said Afghanistan was carrying out “large-scale offensive operations” against the Pakistani military along the Durand Line, which separates the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Japan’s plans to deploy missiles on its westernmost island, close to Taiwan, within five years will add to the growing tensions with China, analysts say. Japanese defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the surface-to-air systems – designed to intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles – will be deployed to Yonaguni island, located about 110 km east of Taiwan, which is claimed by China as its sovereign territory, by March 2031. “It depends on the progress of...

(New York Times) The Cuban government said it exchanged gunfire with a Florida-based speedboat that had entered its territorial waters Wednesday, killing at least four people and wounding six others. The vessel approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel north of Corralillo, a town in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, according to a statement on the Facebook page of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. Cuban border-guard troops on a government...