International Glance
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Wednesday that Ukrainian anti-drone experts have begun work on defending Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates from Iranian attacks.
The US and Israel launched a massive air bombardment campaign on Iran on Feb. 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and plunging the region into turmoil.
Ukraine – which has now been under attack from Iranian-made Shahed drones and the Russian-made drones modeled on them for over four years – has responded by offering material assistance to the countries bearing the brunt of Iran’s response.
“Three of our teams have gone – strong teams of experts, military personnel, engineers, different people. Today the military are already communicating and already working,” Zelensky told reporters, with his spokesperson later confirming that he was referring to the three Gulf states, according to AFP.
Ukrainian Anti-Drone Specialists Already Working in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE
Sanctions on Israeli settlements are working – even without the US
Amid an unforgiving global news cycle – and as nations weigh their options in responding to the yet unbuilt West Bank settlement project that would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” – a telling sanctions-related development in Israel passed largely unnoticed outside Israeli media. In Tel Aviv, the new year began with a protest by a violent extremist settler group that has faced UK sanctions since October 2024.
The trigger was a new Israeli banking directive, rushed out to placate Israel’s hardliners, that they said did too little to shield Israelis from international sanctions.
The protest – and the response from the pro-settlement extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who himself faces sanctions from Australia, Canada and the UK – makes one thing clear: sanctions on extremist Israelis are working, and this remains true even after the Trump administration rolled back all Biden-era sanctions on Israeli settlers last year.
That lesson carries immediate relevance as governments now have an opportunity to give teeth to their long-standing opposition to the E1 settlement plan – a move that would fracture the territorial contiguity of the West Bank and the viability of a Palestinian state. The tenders, which seek bids from developers, call for proposals to develop 3,401 housing units in E1 – a stretch of land east of Jerusalem – and are expected to be awarded on 16 March.
Smotrich, who oversees the West Bank settlement planning body that approved the E1 settlement plan, has simultaneously waged war on the settler sanctions movement since its inception two years ago. In February 2024, Smotrich publicly browbeat Israeli banks and regulators for complying with sanctions on Israeli settlers, vowing to use “all available tools” to prevent banks from enforcing the sanctions
Commander of Ukraine’s 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade Killed in Combat Mission
Colonel Oleksandr Dovgach, commander of the 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade and a Hero of Ukraine, was killed during a combat mission on the eastern front on March 9, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.
According to the Air Force, Dovgach died while carrying out a mission in conditions of significant Russian air superiority and intense activity from Russian air defense systems.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the Air Force described the loss as a painful blow for Ukrainian aviation and the country.
“Unfortunately, we have another painful loss for our aviation family and the entire country. We express our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones… Honor to the Hero!”
The Air Force said Dovgach died in the afternoon while completing a combat task.
Lebanon: Israeli strike kills Maronite priest
A Maronite parish priest, Father Pierre Al-Rai, was killed and at least five people were injured this afternoon by an Israeli strike on the Christian-majority village of Qlayaa in southern Lebanon. Fr Pierre al-Rahi, had stayed in the village, defying an Israeli order to leave, in order to protect his parishioners.
Three days ago, Father Pierre welcomed the Lebanese government's declaration that any military or security activity outside the authority of the state was illegal - referring to the government's move to ban Hezbollah's armed activity.
In a speech delivered on Friday in front of a church, Fr Pierre said the people of his community defend their land peacefully by remaining on their land. "None of us carries weapons," he said. "The only weapons we carry are peace, love, and prayer."
Today a house in the village was hit by Israeli tank, injuring the husband and wife who lived there. When several neighbours, the Red Cross and Fr Pierre rushed to help them, the house was hit a second time, injuring Fr Pierre and four others. AFP report that the priest died soon afterwards.
Israeli settlers kill three Palestinians as attacks surge amid Iran war
Israeli settlers shot and killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over the weekend, amid a surge in attacks since the start of the war on Iran.
A fourth Palestinian died after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces during one of the settler assaults.
The first incident took place on Saturday in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, when settlers opened fire at two brothers from close range.
Amir Mohammad Shanaran was killed in the attack, while his brother was critically wounded, according to Palestinian media.
The two men were reportedly shot near their home by settlers from the nearby settlement of Susiya, which is built on Palestinian land.
On Sunday morning, settlers attacked Palestinians in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, assaulting residents and opening fire.
Two men identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Thaer Farouq Hmayel, 24, and Farea Jawdat Hamayel, 57, were killed by gunfire.
Ukrainians Are Desperate For Food And Water In Besieged Mariupol
Corpses lie in the streets of Mariupol. Hungry people break into stores in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, trembling at the sound of Russian shells pounding this strategic port city.
“Why shouldn’t I cry?” Goma Janna demanded as she wept by the light of an oil lamp below ground, surrounded by women and children. “I want my home, I want my job. I’m so sad about people and about the city, the children.”
A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city.fired on the convoy before it reached the city.
Nearly two weeks into the invasion, the Russians have advanced deep along Ukraine’s coastline in what could establish a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. Mariupol, which sits on the Azov Sea, has been surrounded by Russian soldiers for days.
Iran names Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader; US deaths climb to 7
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will replace his father as Iran's next supreme leader, members of the country's clerical body said in a statement published in state media.
A member of the council, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said in a video on Sunday that a candidate had been selected based on Khamenei's guidance that Iran's top leader should be "hated by the enemy."
"Even the Great Satan (U.S.) has mentioned his name," Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after President Donald Trump said Mojtaba was an "unacceptable" choice for him.
The decision, also reported by Reuters and the New York Times on Sunday, comes as the U.S. military announced that another American service member died, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed in action so far in the war with Iran to seven.
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