US okays $5. 75 billion munitions, engines sale to Saudi Arabia The US State Department said it had approved the potential sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions-Extend Range to Saudi Arabia for an estimated $5 billion. The principal contractor is Boeing, the state department said.
Iran vows ‘pre-emptive operations’ against perceived threats Iran will conduct “pre-emptive operations” wherever it perceives a threat, army spokesman Brigadier-General Mohammad Akrami Nia said in comments carried by Iranian broadcaster IRIB. “Our military doctrine has shifted toward preemptive defence and deterrent operations,” Nia said.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon rises to three We earlier reported that an Israeli drone strike killed two people in the town of Kfar Rumman in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh district. The Lebanese health ministry says that Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon late on Friday killed at least three people and injured 23. The ministry said strikes hit five locations in the southern Tyre and Nabatieh regions and the Beqaa region in the east.
Trump says Iran war is 'small potatoes' for US Donald Trump said on Friday that the Iran war was "small potatoes" for the United States, in his administration's latest bid to play down the war ahead of crucial midterm elections. Trump's comments came a day after Vice President JD Vance said that "I wouldn't call it a war" despite an upsurge in clashes between Iran and the US over the Strait of Hormuz. "A lot of people don't call it a war.
Israel says it strikes southern Lebanon after Hezbollah drone launch The Israeli military said on Friday it struck southern Lebanon after Hezbollah launched a drone attack towards Israeli soldiers. Three people were killed and 23 were injured in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry. The wounded included medics, in addition to women and children, the ministry said.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Ukraine and Russia this weekend to help restart peace negotiations.
Israel attacks Lebanon’s Mifdoun and Beqaa Valley An Israeli air strike has targeted the town of Mifdoun in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported. The network said a separate strike hit the vicinity of Ain al-Tineh in the western Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
US President Donald Trump laments past financial support for Ukraine's war effort and has vowed to claw the money back.
US President Donald Trump called the Iran war small potatoes, saying only 18 Americans had been killed.
Several explosions rocked the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri after Israeli military drones dropped explosives in the
Israeli attacks against villages and towns in southern Lebanon continue despite truce agreements and diplomacy.
Red Cross says transferred four people released by Israel to Lebanon The Red Cross said on Friday it had facilitated the transfer to Lebanon of four more people detained by Israel, a day after one person was freed. Israel is believed to have detained at least dozens of people from Lebanon during its recent war on Lebanon. "The International Committee of the Red Cross, at the request of the relevant parties, facilitated the transfer to Lebanon of five individuals released from Israeli detention," the ICRC said in a statement.
The Strait of Hormuz has become one of the most dangerous points of leverage in the US-Iran war, but it may also offer Tehran and Washington their clearest route back to negotiations.
Trump says US may hit Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain ‘soon’ US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States may strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain “very soon”, speaking to reporters at the White House. Located near the heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility, Pickaxe Mountain is a heavily fortified site that houses two deeply buried tunnel complexes.
Report: Israeli attacks kill eight Palestinians in past 24 hours Eight Palestinians were killed and 31 wounded in the past 24 hours, including one death from previous wounds, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said. Additional victims remain trapped under rubble or lying on roadsides that the medical teams and civil defence crews are unable to reach, the ministry said. At 1,334 killed and 4,429 wounded, with 815 bodies recovered from debris since the ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025, according to ministry figures.
Israeli drone strike kills two in southern Lebanon An Israeli drone strike killed two people in the town of Kfar Rumman in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh district, according to a Al-Mayadeen network report. The report said that Israeli forces carried out explosions in the Lebanese town of Al-Mansouri and on the outskirts of the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiya. Israeli sttikes also hit areas in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
Two days of fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has left dozens dead on both sides, sources say.
A Russian drone has struck Ukraine’s domestic intelligence headquarters in central Kyiv, injuring five people.
As Ukrainian civilians suffer from air attacks, Russian ground forces struggle to advance.
Revealed: Microsoft signed $125m contract with Israel during first year of Gaza war Submitted by Sebastian Shehadi on Fri, 09/04/2026 - 15:07 The tech giant did not confirm what services were provided to the Israeli defence ministry in the contract The logo of Microsoft displayed on the facade of the company's French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, on the outskirts of Paris, on 24 April 2026 (AFP) Off Microsoft signed a contract worth more than $100m with the Israeli government in 2024, according to documents published on the Israeli Ministry of Finance’s Hebrew-language website, Middle East Eye can reveal. The multimillion-dollar deal appears in Israel's annual budget-execution report for 2024 , which was published by the finance ministry's accountant general in March 2025. However, details of the Microsoft agreement were obscured within a lengthy list of procurement commitments and only surfaced following close analysis of the budget report by MEE.
