The War Zone
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HMS Dragon: Royal Navy Destroyer Heads to Cyprus Amid Rising Tensions
In the early hours of a warm Mediterranean morning, the familiar calm of the Akrotiri peninsula was punctured by the buzz of an approaching drone. Within moments, it exploded on the perimeter of RAF Akrotiri, sending a plume of smoke…
Israel’s coherence, Washington’s ambiguity: the missing political strategy in Iran
As Israeli operations follow a clear military logic, questions grow over whether Washington has any coherent political plan for what comes next in Iran. Events in the Middle East have been moving at speed since the latest phase of the…
Shielding the Spear Tip: How Britain Could Defend Its Forward Bases from the Drone Age
The drone that struck RAF Akrotiri was small, comparatively cheap and — in the grim arithmetic of modern warfare — expendable. Yet it exposed something far more valuable: the vulnerability of Britain’s forward operating model in an era when unmanned…
Akrotiri: Drone Explosion on British Sovereign Territory Raises Stakes in Eastern Mediterranean
The stillness of the Mediterranean night was broken shortly before midnight when a drone exploded on the Akrotiri Peninsula — a stretch of land that is not merely adjacent to Britain’s military footprint on the island but forms part of…
Afghanistan-Pakistan Hostilities Mount: Inside the Growing Crisis
Blasts and gunfire rattled through parts of Kabul on Sunday, marking a dramatic escalation in hostilities between Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan that has now stretched into its fourth day. Residents across the Afghan capital awoke to the sounds of explosions…
Israel’s ‘Pre-Emptive’ Strike on Iran Raises Fears of Wider Regional War
Israel has launched what it has described as a “pre-emptive attack” against Iran, a dramatic escalation that has heightened fears of a wider conflagration in the already volatile Middle East. Early this morning, explosions were reported in Tehran, and air…
Pakistan Escalates Conflict with Strikes on Taliban Strongholds
Pakistan has confirmed that it carried out air strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar in the early hours of Friday, in what officials described as retaliation for attacks by Taliban forces along the disputed frontier between the…
Mass Russian attack damages Ukraine energy grid, leaving six regions without power
Large-scale overnight missile and drone attack damages power infrastructure, forcing blackouts and supply restrictions across much of the country. Parts of six Ukrainian regions were left without electricity on Thursday, 26 February, after what Kyiv described as a combined large-scale…
Four Years Since the Invasion: The War’s Strategic Lessons for Ukraine, Russia and Europe
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the central expectation that shaped much of the early commentary has not materialised: Moscow has not achieved its declared war aims. On the fourth anniversary, the…
Zelenskyy’s warning to Trump: peace without guarantees will fail Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea to Donald Trump — “stay on our side” — should be read as more than an appeal for sympathy. It is a warning about strategy. At the centre of the current diplomacy is a question that sounds…