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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in two cities in southern Russia yesterday, killing at least 15 police officers and four civilians, including an Orthodox priest. The attacks took place in the republic of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in the North Caucasus that has a history of separatist and militant violence. The motives and identities of the gunmen were unclear, and there was no claim of responsibility. Russian law enforcement agencies told state media the gunmen were “adherents of an international terrorist organization.” CNN reports; Anton Troianovski and Ivan Nechepurenko report for the New York Times.
A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea today for a show of force as Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo released a joint statement condemning the deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia. Brad Lendon reports for CNN.
Violent protests returned to the French overseas territory of New Caledonia today, with pro-independence protesters burning police vehicles and blocking roads, authorities said. Anger has erupted over the extradition to France of jailed protest leader Christian Tein following his arrest last week. Reuters reports.
U.K. government officials reportedly attempted to suppress criticism of the United Arab Emirates’ alleged role in arming Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, sources say. The paramilitary group has been accused of carrying out crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing by rights groups. A U.K. government spokesperson strongly denied the claims, saying, “These accusations are categorically untrue.” Mark Townsend reports for The Guardian.
Iran and Bahrain have agreed to talk about how they might resume bilateral relations after nearly eight years, Iranian media reported today. The report said both sides agreed on creating a framework to restart dialogue on resuming diplomatic ties. AP News reports.
A senior U.S. diplomat held talks in Vietnam on Saturday and said that bilateral trust was at an “all-time high,” days after Russian president Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi. Aniruddha Ghosal reports for AP News.
North Macedonia’s center-right leader secured parliamentary approval to lead a new coalition government in yesterday’s vote. Konstantin Testorides reports for AP News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that the “intense phase of the war with Hamas is about to end,” and that the military’s focus could then shift to the Israel-Lebanon border. He added, “It doesn’t mean that the war is going to end, but the war in its current stage is going to end in Rafah.” Netanyahu also said he is ready to make “a partial deal” with Hamas to release some hostages, but repeated his stance that the war will continue after a ceasefire “to achieve the goal of eliminating” Hamas. Hamas replied to Netanyahu’s remarks, saying his bid for a partial deal was a “clear rejection” of the proposal advanced by President Biden. Lauren Izso and Mohammed Tawfeeq report for CNN; Chantal Da Silva reports for NBC News.
A far-right Israeli official described a secret government bid to cement control of the occupied West Bank. At a private event earlier this month, Bezalel Smotrich told settlers about a covert effort to irreversibly change the way the territory is governed to secure Israel’s control over it, without being accused of formally annexing it. In a taped recording, Smotrich can be heard suggesting the goal was to prevent the West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state. Natan Odenheimer, Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley report for the New York Times.
Israeli airstrikes on four neighborhoods in Gaza City killed at least 38 people on Saturday, the Gaza civil defense force said. The bombardment hit residential buildings, with significant damage and a massive crater reported in the Shati refugee camp. In a statement, the IDF said it “struck two Hamas military infrastructure sites in the area of Gaza City,” without elaborating. Victoria Bisset, Mohamad El Chamaa and Lior Soroka report for the Washington Post.
Eight Palestinians were killed yesterday in an Israeli airstrike on a training college near Gaza City being used to distribute aid by the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. The Israeli military said the site, a former UNRWA headquarters, had been used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, adding that precautionary measures were taken to reduce the risk of harming civilians. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters.
Israel said it was investigating an airstrike that killed at least 22 people near a Red Cross office in Gaza. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that “heavy-caliber” projectiles fell meters away from an office and residences for the aid group. Adam Rasgon and Anjana Sankar report for the New York Times; Robert Plummer reports for BBC News.
The IDF said it is investigating an incident in which soldiers strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military vehicle during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday. The U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories condemned the incident and accused the IDF of using the wounded man as a “human shield.” Peter Beaumont reports for The Guardian.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS
The Israeli military said it killed a militant deep inside Lebanese territory in an airstrike on Saturday. In a post on X, the IDF said the “central terrorist operative” was “responsible for weapons supplies for the Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya terrorist organizations in Lebanon, as well as the development of terrorist infrastructure in the area.” The New York Times reports.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant arrived in Washington yesterday for meetings with U.S. officials amid increasing concern that border clashes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah could escalate into all-out war. Hezbollah released a video on Saturday threatening to attack key Israeli buildings if a full-scale conflict were to break out in Lebanon. Sarah Dadouch, Kyle Melnick and Niha Masih report for the Washington Post.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
Russia blamed Washington and Kyiv equally for a missile attack on Crimea in which U.S.-supplied missiles killed four people and injured 151. The defense ministry also said that U.S. specialists set the missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of U.S. intelligence, meaning the United States was directly responsible. Russia has summoned the U.S. ambassador and today vowed retaliation for the strike. Yohannes Lowe reports for The Guardian; Yuliya Talmazan reports for NBC News.
Ukrainian energy facilities came under a “massive” overnight attack from Russia, Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Saturday, describing it as the eighth time Russia has launched an attack on energy infrastructure facilities in the past three months. Later on Saturday, officials in Kharkiv said Russian strikes killed three people and injured at least 18. Jacqueline Howard reports for BBC News; Leonie Cater reports for POLITICO.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A Nevada judge dismissed an indictment on Friday against six Republicans accused of submitting certificates to Congress falsely declaring former President Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election. The Nevada Attorney General said he will launch an appeal against the ruling and take the issue to the state Supreme Court. Ken Ritter reports for AP News.
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH THE HOUTHIS
A claim by Yemen’s Houthi group on Saturday that its forces had attacked a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Red Sea is false, two U.S. officials told Reuters. Separately, U.S. forces destroyed three Houthi vessels over the weekend, U.S. Central Command said.