Eurasia

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday, after air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv for the first time since summer of 2014, that it had registered launches of two rockets from the Gaza Strip.

The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) a $713 million contract for the production of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) for the first phase of Poland’s WISŁA air and missile defense program.

Israel’s army said Wednesday it has uncovered a unit created by Hezbollah across the ceasefire line in the Syrian Golan Heights and led by a commander previously jailed over an attack on US forces.

China on Wednesday blocked a United Nations Security Council measure that would have blacklisted the Pakistani founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the militant group that nearly brought South Asia to the brink of war last month after one of its suicide bombers attacked Indian forces.

The United States is not discussing a Turkish offensive in northeast Syria with Turkey and believes no such operation is needed to address Ankara’s security concerns, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday, dismissing media reports to the contrary.

The Syrian army, aided by Russian warplanes, attacked rebel-held towns in northwestern Syria on Wednesday in the most extensive bombardment in months against the last remaining rebel bastion in the country, rebels, rescuers and residents said.

Iraq has agreed to take back up to 20,000 of its nationals who were captured leaving Isil areas in Syria, as local authorities warn they are struggling with the burden of foreign jihadists.

Syrian Kurdish authorities that led the fight against Islamic State are prepping for their next battle: a political struggle to win international recognition for their autonomous region and aid to help it recover from the war.

U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, blasted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Iraq and accused his government of trying to control Iraq by fueling sectarian conflict in the country.

Bosnia is preparing to take back two of its nationals who are suspected of fighting for Islamic State in Syria and are now in detention in a Kurdish-run camp in the north of that country, its security minister said on Monday.