In late 2023, Israel was aiming to assassinate Ibrahim Biari, a top Hamas commander in the northern Gaza Strip who had helped plan the Oct. 7 massacres. But Israeli intelligence could not find Mr. Biari, who they believed was hidden in the network of tunnels underneath Gaza. So Israeli officers …
On a Monday morning last fall, Ukrainian drone pilots watched what had become a familiar scene unfold on a drone’s live feed: Russian soldiers pointed their guns at two Ukrainians, who seemingly surrendered. Then, the footage showed, the Russians shot them point blank. The video, provided by a pilot who …
President Trump said this week that Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have been “decimated by the relentless strikes” that he ordered beginning on March 15. But that’s not what Pentagon and military officials are privately telling Congress and allied countries. In closed briefings in recent days, Pentagon officials have acknowledged …
Hunted by drones, stalked by snipers and surrounded by minefields, soldiers fighting in Ukraine can’t risk even a small lapse in concentration. That is why Col. Dmytro Palisa, commander of Ukraine’s 33rd Mechanized Brigade, instructs his soldiers to ignore speculation about a possible cease-fire. “They start relaxing, they start overthinking, …
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Saturday accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of trying to surround Kyiv’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region to improve his position amid cease-fire talks with Washington, but said that Ukraine’s forces had not been trapped. Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces had …
Ukrainian forces have stalled the Russian offensive in the eastern Donetsk region in recent months and have started to win back small patches of land, according to Ukrainian soldiers and military analysts. Russia still holds the initiative, and conducts dozens of assaults across the eastern front every day, the soldiers …
On the battlefields of Ukraine and western Russia, a stalemated war has ground on, with Ukrainian troops defending against Russian progress that can be measured sometimes in mere yards. The cost has been heavy casualties on both sides. President Trump’s decision this week to pause military assistance and intelligence sharing …
Inside the White House, Trump officials are embroiled in a debate over whether to carry out military strikes against Mexican drug cartels or instead to collaborate with Mexican authorities to jointly dismantle criminal organizations. On one side, several people familiar with the matter say, some U.S. officials are advocating for …
As the United States and Russia begin talks to end the war, Moscow is pressing its advantage on the battlefield by closing in on Dnipropetrovsk, one of Ukraine’s largest regions and one with a major industrial base. Russian troops are now less than three miles from the region’s border, and …
The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, part of the Trump administration’s more aggressive campaign against drug cartels, according to U.S. officials. The covert drone program, which has not been previously disclosed, began under the Biden administration, according to U.S. officials …