Bulgaria and Lebanon to Launch Regular Sofia-Beirut Flights
Bulgaria and Lebanon have agreed to establish a regular air route connecting Sofia and Beirut
Air raid sirens were activated across central Israel, prompting millions of residents to take shelter as shells were fired from Lebanon, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), reported by Reuters. The IDF noted efforts to intercept some of the incoming shells. In Tel Aviv, the country's economic center, authorities confirmed that sirens were sounded and searches were underway to locate areas affected by rocket debris.
Earlier reports indicated that a Hezbollah drone strike killed at least four Israeli soldiers south of Haifa. Meanwhile, in northern Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike targeted an area predominantly inhabited by Christians, resulting in 21 fatalities, as reported by the Lebanese Red Cross and cited by the Associated Press.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes hit various locations. An attack in Deir al-Balah killed three people and wounded 40 others, with the Israeli military stating that the strike targeted a Hamas command center. Another strike on a food distribution center in the Jabalia refugee camp led to the deaths of 10 individuals and injured 30 more.
Simultaneously, Israel is demanding the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces from their base along the Lebanese-Israeli border. France and Spain, the nations with the largest contingents in the UNIFIL mission, have refused to withdraw their troops, maintaining their commitment to the peacekeeping efforts.
The Pentagon announced that it would deploy an additional THAAD anti-missile system to Israel for the interception of medium-range ballistic missiles. This system, operated by the U.S. military, will join an existing battery deployed after the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, and another that was positioned in 2019.
Amid these developments, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged nations to remove restrictive measures that prevent refugees and migrants from crossing borders, calling such measures ineffective and sometimes unlawful. At the annual meeting of the High Commission, Grandi highlighted that 123 million people are currently displaced worldwide, an unprecedented number. He called for a focus on addressing the root causes of displacement and encouraged the creation of legal pathways for asylum instead of closing borders.
Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from positions near five settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces
A Turkish military cargo plane crashed in Georgia on Tuesday, killing all 20 service members on board
The European Commission, under President Ursula von der Leyen, has initiated the creation of a new intelligence body aimed at enhancing the EU’s ability to use information
Bulgaria has received a new tranche of 438.6 million euros in grants from the European Union under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) held a historic meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the White House, marking the first-ever visit by a Syrian head of state to the US capital
President Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced strong support for the large-scale anti-corruption operation currently being carried out by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU)
Bulgaria's Strategic Role in the EU's Drone Wall Defense Initiative
When Politics Means Violence