The Air Force remains Israel's spear, but the country's lifelines – trade, energy, communications – run through a Mediterranean that Ankara is working to close.

A year after Operation Rising Lion and the subsequent Operation Roaring Lion, it is becoming clear that the impressive operational achievements in Iran created a strategic situation more challenging and complex than ever.

Jordan said it intercepted five missiles launched from Iran toward the Azraq area. Reports also emerged of sirens in Bahrain and US interceptions at bases in the Middle East, alongside diplomatic talks among Arab states on the crisis with Iran. 

Pictures from the meeting showed Braslavski speaking with the president and posing for photos with him in the Oval Office. It was the former hostage’s first visit to the White House, after he did not join the delegation of released hostages who visited in November 2025 because of his mental state following his release.

Hundreds of anti-immigration protesters took to the streets of Belfast and other cities in Northern Ireland, a day after a Sudanese migrant stabbed a local man in what appeared in footage to be an attempt to behead him. Masked rioters set fire to homes, cars and a bus, smashed house windows and a family was rescued from its burning home. First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemned “disgusting cowardice,” while ministers called for an end to “uncontrolled immigration.” The suspect in the attack, a 30-year-old Sudanese refugee who reached the UK via Paris and Dublin, is to appear in court today on a charge of attempted murder