Global Pulse

分类： world

  • US rescues downed fighter pilot from Iran in ‘daring’ operation

    US rescues downed fighter pilot from Iran in ‘daring’ operation

    A high-stakes, multi-day diplomatic and military drama has unfolded across the Middle East this week, after a US F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan Province, triggering a daring US rescue operation and deepening the standoff between Washington and Tehran amid stalled ceasefire negotiations.

    The crash of the F-15E left two crew members stranded in Iranian territory, prompting the Pentagon to launch a large-scale recovery mission involving dozens of US aircraft fitted with the most advanced weaponry in the US arsenal, former President Donald Trump confirmed. In a public statement, Trump announced the successful extraction of both airmen, writing, “WE GOT HIM! … SAFE and SOUND!” He added that the second crew member, a serving colonel, had sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was expected to make a full recovery. Trump emphasized that no US personnel were killed or wounded in the operation, crediting what he called “overwhelming Air Dominance” for the mission’s success.

    However, Iranian state media has offered a conflicting account of the operation. Iranian outlets report that five civilians and military personnel were killed in air strikes carried out by US forces during the rescue. The IRGC, Iran’s elite military force, also claimed it destroyed a US surveillance aircraft that was tracking the downed crew near the southern city of Isfahan, though no additional details about the incident have been released to the public. The New York Times also confirmed that two US transport planes suffered mechanical failures mid-mission and were deliberately destroyed by US forces to prevent sensitive military technology from falling into Iranian hands.

    Khuzestan Province, the site of the jet crash, is a critical economic backbone for Iran, housing the country’s largest oil, gas and steel production facilities. The region has faced intense bombardment over the past week, forcing production shutdowns at key industrial sites and stoking growing fears of long-term economic damage across Iran’s already strained economy.

    Beyond the immediate military operation, the standoff between the US and Iran has deadlocked efforts to broker a ceasefire after more than a month of joint US-Israeli military operations on Iranian territory. On Friday, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that Iranian officials had rejected a US proposal for a 48-hour bilateral ceasefire, which was submitted via an unnamed third country on Wednesday. It remains unclear whether Israel would have been party to the proposed truce.

    This rejection aligns with earlier reports of stalled mediation efforts. The Wall Street Journal confirmed Friday that Pakistani-mediated ceasefire talks have collapsed after Tehran refused to hold direct talks with US officials in Islamabad, citing what Iranian leaders call unacceptable American demands. Iran’s core conditions for any ceasefire agreement include a full US military withdrawal from all bases across the Middle East, and substantial compensation for the destruction of civilian infrastructure including schools and hospitals across the country, which have been damaged in weeks of bombardment.

    Multiple regional powers have stepped forward to explore mediation opportunities, leveraging their established diplomatic ties with the Trump administration. Turkey, Egypt and Qatar have all been approached to facilitate talks, but Qatar has so far resisted international pressure to take on the mediator role, according to WSJ sources. This deadlock comes after an earlier public dispute between Tehran and Washington, when Trump claimed Iran had requested a ceasefire, a claim Iranian officials immediately denied.

    A new US intelligence assessment, first reported by CNN Thursday, suggests Iran has prepared for a prolonged conflict. The report found that after more than a month of joint US-Israeli military strikes, Iran still retains roughly half of its pre-war missile launchers and half of its stockpile of kamikaze drones. This assessment contradicts repeated public claims from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister that Iran’s military capabilities have been nearly completely obliterated, a narrative both leaders have repeated since the opening days of the conflict and as recently as this week.

  • How downed F-15 US airman was rescued inside Iran

    How downed F-15 US airman was rescued inside Iran

    In a high-stakes operation that U.S. officials are calling one of the most audacious combat search and rescue missions in modern American military history, U.S. forces have successfully recovered the second missing crew member from a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle shot down by Iranian air defenses over southern Iran late last week.

    Former President Donald Trump confirmed the successful extraction in a series of social media posts Sunday morning, announcing the downed air officer was “now SAFE and SOUND!” before later clarifying the service member had sustained serious injuries during the incident. The two-person F-15 crew both ejected after the jet was downed, and the first crew member was recovered by U.S. forces in an earlier, separate extraction attempt.

    Details of the cross-border operation remain tightly held, but emerging accounts from U.S. officials and major media partners paint a picture of a frantic race against time between U.S. and Iranian forces to locate the missing airman after the crash. A source familiar with the mission described it as a massive, high-risk combat search and rescue (CSAR) operation launched deep into Iranian sovereign territory.

    According to CBS News, the U.S. media partner of the BBC, Trump halted multiple pre-planned U.S. operations across Iran to reallocate resources to the rescue, deploying dozens of elite special operations personnel to execute the mission. The president emphasized the extraordinary danger of the operation in his social media remarks, noting that such high-risk raids inside enemy territory are almost never attempted, calling the successful outcome a remarkable achievement.

    CSAR missions for downed aircrew are among the most complex and time-sensitive operations special operations forces prepare for, typically requiring low-flying helicopters to penetrate hostile airspace, supported by strike aircraft and combat patrols to secure the extraction zone. In this case, the downed airman, a colonel, evaded Iranian capture for more than 24 hours while hiding in rugged, treacherous southern Iranian mountain terrain. He survived alone with only a handgun, taking shelter in a rocky mountain crevice after hiking 7,000 feet up a remote ridge to avoid detection. U.S. intelligence and military teams maintained 24-hour surveillance of the colonel’s position throughout the evasion period to plan the optimal extraction window. Following the successful recovery, he was airlifted to a U.S. medical facility in Kuwait to receive treatment for his injuries.

    U.S. media reports highlight the Central Intelligence Agency playing a critical role in the mission: agency assets tracked the colonel’s exact position in the mountain crevice and relayed the coordinates directly to Pentagon planners. The CIA also ran an elaborate deception campaign inside Iran during the operation, spreading false information that the airman had already been captured and extracted to divert Iranian search teams away from the actual extraction zone. Trump confirmed that dozens of U.S. aircraft were deployed to support the mission, and emphasized that no U.S. personnel were killed or wounded during the operation itself.

    Iranian state media has pushed back on the U.S. account, claiming that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defense units shot down a U.S. drone that was participating in the search for the downed airman. Prior to the successful U.S. extraction, Iranian officials had announced they were searching for the missing American with the goal of taking him alive, and even offered a public reward to Iranian citizens for any information that would lead to his capture.

    Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at the Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities, explained that downed U.S. aircrew undergo rigorous training for exactly these types of survival scenarios. “Their number-one priority is to stay alive and to avoid capture,” Kavanagh told the BBC. “They’re trained to move away from the ejection site as quickly as possible, conceal their position, and rely on specialized survival training to forage for resources and go extended periods without food or water if needed.”

    Iranian state media first broke news of the downing on Friday, confirming that IRGC air defenses had shot down the U.S. jet over southern Iran. While the exact crash site has not been officially confirmed, Iranian state media has named two possible provinces: Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, and Khuzestan.

    Beyond the recovery of the second F-15 crew member, details have also emerged about the earlier extraction of the jet’s pilot. That operation included support from an A-10 Warthog strike aircraft, which was itself hit over the Persian Gulf, forcing its pilot to eject before he was also successfully rescued. One extraction helicopter carrying the recovered F-15E pilot sustained damage from small arms fire, leaving several crew members wounded, but the aircraft was able to land safely with no fatalities. Iran’s top joint military command has claimed that new domestically produced Iranian air defense systems were responsible for downing both U.S. aircraft, according to the country’s state-run IRNA news agency.

    The F-15E Strike Eagle is a dual-role combat aircraft designed for both air-to-air combat and deep air-to-ground strike missions. U.S. military analysts note that in the context of recent tensions with Iran, F-15s operating in the region are most commonly used for defensive counter-air missions, intercepting Iranian drones and cruise missiles targeted at U.S. regional assets. When configured for strike operations, the jet can deploy a full range of precision-guided munitions, including laser and GPS-guided bombs. The jet’s standard two-person crew consists of a front-seat pilot and a back-seat weapons systems officer, nicknamed a “Wizzo,” who is responsible for target selection and weapons programming. While no official confirmation has been released on what weapon systems downed the F-15, military analysts note that if the jet was indeed shot down by Iranian forces, a surface-to-air missile (SAM) is the most likely cause.

  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    The fragile stability of the Middle East has crumbled further in the past 48 hours, with a cascade of military strikes, conflicting claims over a high-stakes rescue mission, and shifting energy policy roiling the already volatile region. What began as long-simmering cross-border clashes has erupted into broader confrontations that threaten to draw global powers into open conflict, with multiple interconnected developments unfolding across Iran, Israel, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf.

    One of the most high-profile rifts opened between the United States and Iran, centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments. Former President Donald Trump, in a profanity-laced social media post, issued an extreme threat to Tehran, promising “hell” and pledging targeted strikes on Iranian bridges and power plants if Iran did not reopen the strategic waterway by his self-imposed Monday deadline. Speaking to Fox News shortly after the post, Trump softened his tone slightly, saying he believed a negotiated deal with Iran remained achievable, but added that he was prepared to “blow everything up and take over the oil” if no agreement was reached.

    Parallel to the Hormuz standoff, a contentious cross-border rescue operation deep inside Iranian territory has deepened mistrust between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. says a rescue mission conducted by American commandos recovered a missing airman whose F-15 fighter jet had crashed in Iranian territory, with Trump hailing the operation as “daring” and “miraculous”. Trump added that dozens of U.S. aircraft participated in the mission, and that the recovered airman had been seriously wounded. Iranian military officials have issued a starkly contradictory account, claiming the entire U.S. operation was “completely foiled”. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed two U.S. C-130 transport planes and two helicopters were destroyed during the incursion. U.S. mainstream outlets including The New York Times and CBS later corroborated parts of the Iranian account, reporting that two U.S. aircraft that became stranded at an abandoned airport in Iran’s southern Isfahan province were destroyed by American forces to prevent them from falling into Iranian custody.

    Military strikes have targeted key infrastructure across multiple countries in the region. A joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike hit the Qasem Soleimani International Airport in southwestern Iran, according to Iranian state media. Across the border in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces launched a new wave of strikes on the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, targeting what it described as key infrastructure sites belonging to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Lebanese official data confirms the strikes killed at least four people and wounded 39 more. Further south in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on the town of Kfar Hatta — which Israeli officials previously ordered residents to evacuate — killed seven people, including an entire family of six who were waiting on the street for a relative to pick them up, Lebanese civil defense sources told Agence France-Presse. Following an Iranian attack on energy and civilian infrastructure across the Gulf, damage has been reported in three Gulf states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. Kuwait’s state petroleum company reported “severe” damage to the country’s oil and petrochemical facilities caused by Iranian drones, while Abu Dhabi officials confirmed they were working to extinguish fires at a petrochemical plant sparked by falling drone debris.

    On the energy front, the OPEC+ alliance of major oil-producing nations announced a policy shift, agreeing to raise collective production quotas by 206,000 barrels per day starting in May. The cartel issued a stark warning alongside the quota hike, noting that repairing energy infrastructure damaged by recent regional attacks is both extremely costly and time-consuming, meaning disruptions to global oil supplies could persist for months or even years. OPEC+ also emphasized the “critical importance” of keeping global maritime trade routes open to ensure the uninterrupted flow of global energy supplies. Even as military tensions climb, limited diplomatic outreach continues: Oman’s state news agency confirmed that Omani and Iranian officials held talks focused on easing shipping restrictions through the Strait of Hormuz, with technical experts from both sides putting forward a range of proposals to de-escalate the standoff over the waterway.

    International voices have begun calling for de-escalation, with Pope Leo XIV issuing a urgent plea for peace in his first Easter blessing as pontiff, addressing thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The pope condemned growing global indifference to the violence, saying “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people.” He called directly on leaders with the power to authorize military action to “choose peace” over conflict. The shadow of war has even fallen over one of Christianity’s holiest sites: Israeli security forces imposed new access restrictions on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in annexed East Jerusalem, the site where Christian tradition holds Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. On what is normally one of the busiest days of the year for the Old City, the usually crowded alleyways were silent on Easter Sunday, the holiday overshadowed by ongoing regional conflict.

  • Iran says 2 US C-130 Hercules planes, 2 Black Hawk helicopters destroyed in central airspace

    Iran says 2 US C-130 Hercules planes, 2 Black Hawk helicopters destroyed in central airspace

    TEHRAN – Amid rapidly escalating military tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel, Iran’s top unified military command Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters announced Sunday that it has destroyed four U.S. military aircraft in the country’s central airspace during a purported American rescue mission.

    According to Iranian state news agency IRNA, spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari confirmed that the destroyed assets include two U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules transport planes and two Black Hawk utility helicopters. The aircraft were intercepted and taken out during a coordinated joint operation conducted by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), regular army, voluntary Basij militia, and national law enforcement forces operating south of Isfahan province in central Iran, Zolfaghari added.

    The Iranian military spokesperson framed the U.S. incursion as a covert deceptive operation disguised as a pilot rescue mission. Zolfaghari explained that the U.S. action was launched under the false pretense of retrieving a pilot from a previously downed American aircraft at an abandoned airfield south of Isfahan, and that the operation ended in total defeat thanks to the rapid, coordinated response of Iranian armed forces.

    He further accused sitting U.S. President Donald Trump of deliberately spreading misinformation to confuse global public opinion in an attempt to downplay and justify what he called the U.S. military’s “bitter defeat.”

    The latest exchange of claims comes two days after the IRGC announced it had shot down an American F-35 stealth fighter jet in central Iranian airspace, adding at the time that the fate of the jet’s crew remained unconfirmed. Shortly after that announcement, U.S. officials stated that one pilot from the downed aircraft had already been recovered, with search operations ongoing for the second.

    On Sunday morning, President Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to issue a counterclaim, hailing what he called “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.” He added that the second downed pilot had been successfully rescued and was unharmed.

    This new escalation comes just over a month after a major regional attack that upended Middle East security. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint airstrike campaign targeting Tehran and multiple other Iranian urban centers, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei alongside multiple senior military commanders and civilian bystanders. In response, Iran launched a massive retaliatory campaign of missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli territory as well as U.S. military bases and assets positioned across the Middle East, pushing the region to the brink of full-scale open war.

  • ‘Choose peace’: Pope marks first Easter under cloud of Mideast war

    ‘Choose peace’: Pope marks first Easter under cloud of Mideast war

    In his inaugural Easter Sunday address as the supreme leader of the global Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV delivered a urgent, impassioned call for global actors to prioritize peace amid the raging, region-spanning war that has reshaped life across the Middle East just months after his election to the papacy. Speaking to thousands of worshippers and pilgrims gathered in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff, who was chosen to succeed the late Pope Francis in May 2025, called out the growing global complacency toward violence that has settled over communities worldwide.

    “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people,” Pope Leo told the assembled crowd. The conflict, which erupted on February 28 following joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran, has since escalated to draw in actors across the entire Middle East, sending shockwaves through global energy and commodity markets and severely disrupting economic activity worldwide. This year’s Easter celebrations, one of the holiest observances on the Christian calendar for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, have been overshadowed by the conflict from the Vatican to the Holy Land.

    Pope Leo, who has already established himself as one of the most prominent global voices calling for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict, revealed plans Sunday for a special prayer vigil to be held at the Vatican on April 11 focused on peace in the region. He also used the holiday address to pay tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who made his final public appearance exactly one year prior on Easter Sunday, passing away just hours later. In a move that amplified his diplomatic pressure, the pontiff confirmed this week he had personally reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump to urge the administration to seek a diplomatic off-ramp to end the hostilities. Reflecting on the moral weight of the ongoing conflict, he added, “We live in a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil.”

    Thousands of kilometers away in Jerusalem, the heart of Christian worship, the holiday unfolded against a backdrop of eerie emptiness. The narrow, usually bustling alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City stood silent, the area all but abandoned amid the expanding regional conflict that follows months of fighting in Gaza. Israeli security authorities have implemented harsh new restrictions on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where Christian tradition holds Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected, citing ongoing security concerns. Only a small fraction of the usual number of worshippers were permitted to approach the sacred site, with police checkpoints deployed along all access routes to screen visitors. Every shop and business in the surrounding area shuttered for the holiday, deepening the pervasive sense of loss and disruption.

    For pilgrims who traveled thousands of miles to mark the holiday at the holy site, the restrictions have been devastating. “It’s very hard for all of us because it’s our holiday… It’s really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed,” 44-year-old Romanian pilgrim Christina Toderas told reporters. Otmar Wassermann, a 65-year-old visitor who was turned away from the church, shared that he left the site feeling deeply frustrated by the disruption to the centuries-old tradition of open Easter worship.

    Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, addressed the grim reality in his Easter Vigil homily delivered at the restricted site. “The doors are still closed,” he stated, referencing an incident just one week prior when Israeli police blocked him from holding a scheduled mass at the church, a move that sparked widespread international condemnation. In published excerpts of his sermon released by his office, he added, “The silence is almost absolute, broken perhaps by the distant sound of what war continues to sow in this holy and torn land.”

    The conflict has upended Easter celebrations across every corner of the Middle East, home to some of the world’s oldest and most vulnerable Christian communities. In southern Lebanon, majority-Christian towns along the border with Israel are trapped between ongoing crossfire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. In the small border village of Debel, residents marked the holiday to the constant roar of artillery bombardment surrounding their community. The village is now almost completely cut off from basic services, with residents relying entirely on humanitarian aid deliveries to survive. “The situation is tragic,” local community leader Joseph Attieh told AFP via phone. “People are terrified, and the sound of shelling and gunfire has not stopped for a moment since last night. We haven’t been able to sleep. We are putting our trust in God, because this is the only glimmer of hope we will not give up on.”

    Further afield, the security risks of the conflict have forced Christian leaders to cancel or scale back traditional Easter observances. In Dubai, all public Easter masses have been suspended indefinitely as a security precaution. In Damascus, the capital of Syria, Catholic officials confirmed Easter celebrations would be limited to small, private masses following a recent deadly attack on a majority-Christian town in central Syria, leaving communities reeling.

  • Sweden releases sanctioned tanker due to lack of evidence it caused oil spill

    Sweden releases sanctioned tanker due to lack of evidence it caused oil spill

    In a recent development out of the Baltic Sea region, Swedish law enforcement authorities have released an EU-sanctioned oil tanker that was held last week over suspicions it was responsible for a major offshore oil leak. The vessel, identified as the *Flora 1*, was boarded and detained after a 12-kilometer (8-mile) long oil slick was spotted in the Baltic Sea on Thursday.

    Sweden’s Coast Guard announced Tuesday that after a full evidentiary review, investigators did not uncover enough concrete proof to tie the tanker to the spill, clearing the way for its release. The agency also noted that investigators have now confirmed the *Flora 1* is legally registered under the flag of Cameroon — a detail that remained unconfirmed at the time the vessel and its 24-person crew were taken into custody on Friday.

    The *Flora 1* was added to the European Union’s sanctions list of vessels linked to Russian oil trade over what officials describe as consistent “irregular and high-risk shipping practices.” These unsafe operational habits frequently include disabling the automatic identification systems (AIS) that broadcast a vessel’s real-time location to other maritime traffic, a common tactic to obscure a ship’s movements and cargo origin.

    This round of EU sanctions targets what has become known as the “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, a network that emerged following the Group of Seven democracies’ implementation of a price cap on Russian crude. The cap was designed to cut into the revenue Russia uses to fund its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it operates by banning Western-linked insurance and shipping providers from handling Russian cargo sold above the set price threshold.

    Shadow fleet vessels are typically aging ships with opaque ownership and insurance registered in nations that do not abide by the G7 price cap. Maritime safety experts have long warned that the advanced age of these vessels, combined with their lack of Western-backed insurance coverage, creates major environmental risks — including higher likelihood of accidental oil spills, and widespread uncertainty over who would be held financially responsible for cleanup costs if a major incident occurs.

    According to data from the Ukrainian government, the *Flora 1* was most recently owned by a Hong Kong-based company as of late 2025, and has been sanctioned not only by the EU but also by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and New Zealand. Open-source maritime tracking records show the tanker has changed its name six times and re-flagged in nine different countries over its operational history. It has also previously been documented disabling its AIS tracking system and conducting unscheduled ship-to-ship oil transfers — a common tactic to hide the true origin of crude cargoes. Under current international sanctions, all economic and operational transactions involving the listed vessel are strictly prohibited.

  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    The ongoing conflict across the Middle East has entered a new phase of widespread escalation, with fresh violence, diplomatic overtures, and global calls for peace unfolding across multiple nations over the past 24 hours.

    In his inaugural Easter address to thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis delivered a stark rebuke of rising global violence, urging leaders holding the power to initiate conflict to prioritize peaceful resolution. “We have slowly grown numb to bloodshed, accepting violence as an unchangeable reality and becoming desensitized to the deaths of thousands of innocent people,” the Pope stated, a message that comes as regional casualty counts continue to climb.

    One of the deadliest recent incidents occurred in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Hatta, where an Israeli airstrike took the lives of seven people, including an entire family of six. Lebanese civil defense sources confirm the family had gathered in the town, located 45 miles from the Israeli-Lebanese border, to await evacuation after Israeli orders to clear the area. This strike comes amid a broadening Israeli offensive against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut. The Israeli military confirmed it launched a new wave of strikes on Beirut targeting what it calls Hezbollah infrastructure sites, with eyewitnesses on the ground reporting low-flying Israeli warplanes and missile impacts on residential buildings in the city’s southern districts.

    Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have also spiked following a high-stakes rescue mission for a downed U.S. fighter jet crew. U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the recovery of the missing airman in what he called a “daring” special operations mission, noting the service member was injured but expected to make a full recovery. A second crew member was rescued a day earlier. However, Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari rejected Trump’s account, claiming the operation was “completely foiled” by Iranian forces, who he says destroyed two U.S. C-130 transport planes and two helicopters during the confrontation.

    Iran has also launched a widespread aerial campaign against Gulf nations aligned with Israel and the U.S., causing widespread disruption to critical energy and infrastructure facilities. In Bahrain, an Iranian drone strike ignited a large blaze at a storage tank operated by state energy giant Bapco Energies. While the fire has been fully contained and no injuries have been reported, the company confirmed assessments of structural damage are still ongoing. Across the border in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi emergency crews battled fires at a major petrochemical plant caused by falling debris from Iranian attacks. The facility has suspended all operations pending damage assessments, with no casualties reported to date. Iranian forces specifically targeted UAE aluminum production facilities, according to statements from the UAE’s defense ministry, which confirmed its air defense systems are actively intercepting incoming missile and drone threats. Further north, two of Kuwait’s power and water desalination plants were damaged in an Iranian drone strike, forcing the shutdown of two major electricity generating units. No casualties have been reported in the Kuwaiti attack.

    Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, announced it had conducted its first cruise missile strike on an Israeli warship off the Lebanese coast, a significant escalation of cross-border hostilities. The Israeli military however said it had no confirmation of the attack taking place.

    On the Iranian domestic front, a record-breaking national internet shutdown has entered its 37th day, making it the longest sustained nationwide internet blackout ever recorded globally, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. In a separate development, U.S.-Israeli joint strikes killed five members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the country’s northwestern Ardabil province, Iranian state news agency IRNA confirmed.

    Amid the escalating violence, diplomatic efforts are still underway to de-escalate key flashpoints. Oman and Iran held bilateral talks focused on securing safer freedom of navigation through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies, Omani state media reported Sunday. Both sides’ technical experts put forward a series of proposals to ease tensions around the strait, according to the agency. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has also reiterated his call for urgent negotiations with Israel, saying he seeks to prevent southern Lebanon from suffering the same level of widespread destruction that Gaza has endured. “It is an open secret that Israel intends to replicate the Gaza campaign in southern Lebanon,” Aoun said in a national televised address following the launch of expanded Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon.

  • Pope Leo urges peace in first Easter Mass as Christians celebrate in Jerusalem, Gaza and Tehran

    Pope Leo urges peace in first Easter Mass as Christians celebrate in Jerusalem, Gaza and Tehran

    VATICAN CITY – In his inaugural Easter Mass as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV delivered a impassioned plea for global disarmament and peacebuilding through dialogue on Sunday, marking a notable departure from longstanding papal tradition during his iconic Urbi et Orbi blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica’s central loggia. The first American-born pontiff centered his celebration on Easter’s core message of hope tied to the Christian belief in Jesus Christ’s resurrection following crucifixion.

    “Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” Leo urged the crowd of roughly 50,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The open-air altar where he spoke was flanked by white roses, with spring perennials lining the steps leading to the piazza, a visual echo of the renewal at the heart of his message.

    Against the backdrop of two active major global conflicts – the second month of U.S.-Israeli military operations in Iran and Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine – Leo called out widespread global indifference to human suffering caused by war. “We have grown indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people … to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow … to the economic and social consequences they produce,” he said. He drew on the words of his late predecessor, Pope Francis, who from the same loggia a year prior warned of a “great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day.” Francis, who had been weakened by prolonged illness, died just one day after that 2024 Easter appearance, on Easter Monday.

    Unlike traditional Urbi et Orbi blessings – which have long included a named list of global conflicts and crises – Leo did not explicitly name the wars at the center of global attention. He had followed the traditional naming practice during his Christmas blessing just months earlier, and no official explanation for the shift was offered immediately after the address. From the loggia, the pope announced a special prayer vigil for peace will be held in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 11.

    Alongside the break from naming conflicts, Leo has already signaled small but noticeable shifts in papal tradition early in his tenure. He revived the practice of greeting the global faithful in 10 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, and Latin – a custom Francis had allowed to lapse. After his blessing, he stepped out of the loggia’s shadow to wave directly to the cheering crowd before departing via popemobile, traveling all the way down Via della Conciliazione to the Tiber River and back to greet attendees in the piazza. On Holy Thursday, he reclaimed the tradition of washing only priests’ feet, a gesture of encouragement for clergy, after Francis expanded the practice to include women, non-Christians, and prisoners during visits to prisons and care facilities for disabled people. The 70-year-old pontiff also became the first pope in decades to carry a light wooden cross for the entire 14-station Good Friday Way of the Cross procession.

    Beyond the Vatican, Easter celebrations across conflict zones were shaped by ongoing violence and uncertainty this year. In the Holy Land, traditional ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection – were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police, who imposed crowd size limits due to ongoing missile attacks. The restrictions have also disrupted the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, as well as the ongoing Jewish Passover festival: the annual priestly blessing at the Western Wall, which usually draws tens of thousands, was capped at just 50 attendees on Sunday. Tensions between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders have escalated in recent days, after police blocked two senior church leaders, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Palm Sunday celebrations last week.

    In Gaza, the tiny Palestinian Christian community held its first Easter celebrations following a recent ceasefire, bringing a long-awaited sense of relief after years of conflict. At Gaza City’s Holy Family Church, Catholics of all ages gathered for traditional Mass, forming a line to kiss a sketch of Jesus held by clergy, with the glass frame cleaned between each visitor. “There is great joy, especially after the ceasefire and after nearly three years of suffering and being unable to celebrate all the holy holidays,” said George Anton of Gaza City. “People are somewhat relieved and more stable.”

    In Iran, five weeks into the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, Armenian Christians gathered in the capital Tehran to celebrate Easter, working to maintain a sense of normalcy for their community amid daily airstrikes. At St. Sarkis Cathedral in central Tehran, families hugged and children exchanged hand-painted Easter eggs. “Whether we like it or not, we have young children who do not understand what’s going on,” said 40-year-old English teacher Juanita Arakel. “They just need to feel normal.” Iran is home to roughly 300,000 Christians, most of whom are Armenian, and three seats in the country’s parliament are reserved for Christian representatives. “Our calls and prayers are that we will be able to end this war,” said Sepuh Sargsyan, archbishop of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran, repeating the plea to emphasize the community’s longing for peace.

    This report was contributed by Barry reporting from Milan, with additional reporting from Associated Press journalists Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Bassem Mroue in Tehran, Iran.

  • UAE arrests flight attendant over war image in ongoing Dubai crackdown

    UAE arrests flight attendant over war image in ongoing Dubai crackdown

    A 25-year-old British cabin crew member has been taken into custody in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after sharing an image of drone strike damage in a private WhatsApp conversation with colleagues, in a case that has thrown a spotlight on widening restrictions on documentation of regional conflict and sparked fresh debate over Dubai’s reputation as an open, globally connected hub.

    The young worker posted a photograph of destruction close to Dubai International Airport to the group chat, where he simply asked his coworkers whether it remained safe to pass through the airport grounds, according to initial reporting from the Daily Mail. After he was detained, law enforcement officials searched his personal mobile device and filed charges against him under the country’s strict cybercrime legislation. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of two years in prison and financial penalties exceeding $50,000.

    This arrest is not an isolated incident: it forms part of a sweeping surge in detentions that began when the Israel-U.S. conflict against Iran launched on February 28, rights campaigners and media investigations confirm. To date, dozens of British citizens — including leisure travelers, long-term expatriate residents, and aviation workers just like the detained flight attendant — have been taken into custody for filming or circulating imagery connected to recent missile and drone attacks across the UAE.

    Detained in Dubai, an advocacy organization that supports foreign nationals held in the emirates, reports that most detainees are charged under laws that criminalize any content ruled to “disturb public security.” The group estimates the total number of affected British nationals could climb as high as 70. In one high-profile example already documented, a 60-year-old British tourist was detained after capturing footage of a strike, even though witnesses confirm he deleted the clip immediately when approached by police officers.

    The ongoing crackdown comes at a time when the UAE has invested heavily in marketing Dubai as a welcoming global crossroads for international tourism, cross-border business, and digital content creators. Expatriate communities make up the overwhelming majority of Dubai’s total population, and critics warn the wave of arrests risks alienating the very groups that form the foundation of the emirate’s economic strength and global soft power.

    The UAE’s attorney general has publicly reaffirmed that anyone sharing conflict-related content during periods of crisis will face “immediate criminal accountability.” But human rights advocates argue the strict new measures threaten to erode the carefully crafted image of openness Dubai has built over decades, as state officials move to tightly control how the ongoing regional conflict is reported and discussed within the country’s borders.

    Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai, noted in a public statement that countless pieces of imagery, video, and reporting on the conflict circulate freely online across global platforms. “People understandably assume that if something is already widely shared or published by media outlets, it must be acceptable to comment on or repost it. In the UAE, that assumption can be extremely dangerous,” Stirling said.

  • Pro-Palestine rallies sweep Syria amid Gaza genocide and Israeli occupation

    Pro-Palestine rallies sweep Syria amid Gaza genocide and Israeli occupation

    Thousands of Syrian citizens have mobilized across nearly every major region of the country to join mass pro-Palestine demonstrations, condemning two key Israeli actions: a newly enacted discriminatory execution law targeting Palestinian prisoners and the ongoing illegal occupation of Syrian sovereign territory.

    The wave of protests ignited on Friday afternoon in the capital Damascus, before rapidly spreading to cities and provinces including Daraa, Quneitra, Aleppo, Latakia, Homs and Idlib, as well as long-standing Palestinian refugee camps such as Yarmouk and Khan al-Sheikh. Demonstrators assembled in large crowds to organize peaceful marches, solemn vigils and student-led rallies, uniting in shared opposition to Israeli policy.

    The mass mobilization was directly triggered by the passage of Israel’s controversial new prisoner law, which codifies the execution of Palestinian detainees within a racially segregated legal framework that explicitly excludes Jewish citizens from the policy. This discriminatory legislation has already drawn widespread international condemnation for its violation of basic human rights norms.

    At Aleppo University, thousands of student demonstrators packed the campus grounds, waving both Syrian and Palestinian flags and holding hand-painted banners carrying messages including “Palestinian prisoners are not numbers” and “Executing prisoners is a crime against humanity.” Crowds repeatedly chanted iconic solidarity slogans, including “With our souls, with our blood, we will redeem you, Palestine” and “Freedom for the prisoners of Palestine.”

    Beyond solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, the demonstrations also channeled deep, long-simmering anger over Israel’s ongoing occupation of southern Syrian territory, most notably the disputed Golan Heights region. In the frontier province of Quneitra, where local residents face repeated Israeli military incursions into their communities, a group of protesters advanced toward front-line confrontation zones, prompting Israeli forces to respond by firing illumination flares into the area.

    Hours earlier on the same Friday, Israeli military forces shelled a civilian vehicle traveling through the Quneitra countryside, killing all occupants inside the car. Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly issued a formal condemnation of the strike, labeling it a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” and accusing Israel of systematically endangering innocent civilian lives. The ministry issued an urgent call for the international community to intervene to stop what it described as Israel’s “repeated violations” of Syrian sovereignty and global legal norms.

    In the southern city of Daraa, additional demonstrations drew crowds of angry protesters who waved national and solidarity flags and pledged unwavering support for the people of Gaza. Many speakers at the Daraa protests explicitly linked the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation to Syria’s own decades-long experience of fighting foreign territorial encroachment, framing both conflicts as part of a shared fight for self-determination.