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An extra 45 million people could face acute hunger if the Middle East war rages on beyond June, swelling the number worldwide to a "terrible" high, the United Nations warned Tuesday. The war, now in its third week, and its shockwaves on food and fuel costs could price families out of staple foods far beyond the region, the UN's World Food Programme said. "The escalating humanitarian fallout from the conflict in the Middle East is growing more concerning by the day," warned WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau.

Israeli press review: Confusion over army's plan in Lebanon Nadav Rapaport on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 15:45 Meanwhile, Israel's closed gas rigs are proving costly, while interceptor production capacity is limited Smoke rises from an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, 17 March 2026 (AFP) Off Confusion over Israeli army plan in Lebanon On Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the army had launched “a ground manoeuvre in Lebanon to remove threats and protect” the residents of northern Israel. Katz said that “hundreds of thousands of Shiite residents of southern Lebanon who have fled or are fleeing their homes will not be allowed to return south of the Litani area until the security of the northern residents is ensured.” But the Israeli media is reporting what appears to be a conflict between public statements regarding the nature of the operation and the operation’s actual intentions. On Monday, Haaretz cited military sources who said that Israeli ground operations are directed at removing Hezbollah operatives from the border area, not stripping the missile threat from Lebanon. The Israeli army sources told Haaretz that the new operation aimed to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Litani River. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); According to Israel's Channel 13, the Israeli army has erected 20 outposts in Lebanon, in what the channel said resembled the “Security Zone” policy that guided Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.  Amos Harel, a military commentator for Haaretz, noted that “Hezbollah’s presence south of the Litani is limited in scope”, and that the group’s remaining operatives there can quickly move north before the Israeli army gets to them. Harel questioned the effectiveness of the new military operation, noting that most of the missiles and drones directed at Israel from Lebanon are fired from north of the Litani. Closed gas rigs proving costly With the war on Iran leading to what some describe as the worst energy crisis in modern history, Israel’s gas rigs in the Mediterranean have remained shut since it began, economic daily Calcalist reported on Monday.  “Mediterranean gas rigs have been shut down for the third time since the outbreak of the October 7 war, forcing the energy sector to once again rely on more expensive and polluting fuels such as coal and diesel,” the report said. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen extended the gas rigs shutdown until 26 March over fears they could be attacked. But the cost of the shutdown is raising questions over government policy, with Israel’s energy sector relying heavily on gas, from which about 70 percent of the country’s energy production comes. An Israeli financial expert told Calcalist that shutting down Israel's two gas rigs had cost the Israeli economy 600m shekels ($193m) already. “The overall economic damage is even higher, driven by the increased cost of electricity production due to greater reliance on coal and diesel,” the expert said. The report added that the private companies that operate the rigs are suffering losses of millions of US dollars every day. “Revenues have effectively vanished, and the Israeli government is entirely absent from the situation,” an energy company official said. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Interceptor production capacity limited Recently, Israel denied reports that it was running low on missile interceptors, after Israeli news site Ynet said that more than 1,300 missiles had been fired from Iran and Lebanon since the latest war on Iran began. On Monday, The Marker, Haaretz’s economics daily, reported that despite Israeli denials, the production of interceptors has a limited capacity.  The report said that Israel also has an obligation to sell interceptors to Germany, as the two countries recently signed a contract guaranteeing Israel's supply of interceptors to Germany.   Israel’s arms industry is “producing interceptors around the clock, but both the number of interceptors and the rate of production are limited”, the report said, as the actual rate of production remains under a gag order. Even if the line of production is extremely fast and effective, it will take Israel “time to make up for the shortages”, the report noted, as the Israeli army has intercepted over a thousand missiles since October 2023.  “Over the weekend, there were already reports in Israel of missiles that were launched and fell in open areas after a decision was made not to intercept them,” the report said, possibly indicating shortages. In addition, Israel's Home Front Command changed its alert system this week, stating that it would be aiming to activate sirens and alerts more precisely. Media Tel Aviv, Israel News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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Iran live updates: U.S. counterterrorism official resigns in protest of war, Israel says it killed Iranian security chief  MS NOW

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US pushes for Syria to send troops into Lebanon, Damascus hesitant: Report The US has pushed for Syria to consider sending forces into eastern Lebanon, but Damasus is reluctant to be drawn into the conflict, Reuters is reporting, citing five sources briefed on the matter. According to the sources - two of whom are Syrian officials - the idea was first discussed by US and Syrian officials last year. They said the proposal was raised again by US officials around the time of the launch of US-Israeli attacks on Iran. The two Syrian officials said the request arrived shortly before the attacks began, while a western intelligence source said it came shortly after the strikes started. According to the report, which cites 10 sources including six Syrian officials and government advisers, Syria's government had been cautiously considering a cross-border operation but remained hesitant. Reporting by Reuters

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The United Nations is warning that escalating drone warfare in Sudan has killed more than 200 people in over a week.

Iran Israel War Map Explained: Iran-Israel Strikes, Gulf Attacks & Rising Death Toll  NDTV

By Dan Peleschuk March 17 (Reuters) - Streaking across the sky with a terrifying wail, a Ukrainian-made quadrocopter swerves with unlikely agility for a device resembling a winged lava lamp. Once a long-shot concept, the interceptor drone developed by private firm Wild Hornets is now key to Ukraine's defence against Russian drones - and soon, possibly, to combatting Iranian ones in the Gulf.

March 17 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. had been informed by most of its NATO allies that they did not want to get involved with the country's military operation in Iran. "Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer 'need,' or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, also singling out Japan, Australia and South Korea. (Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto;Editing by David Ljunggren)

The UN investigates strike on Iranian girls' school MEE staff on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 13:39 Initial investigations by US and independent groups point to US responsibility Coffins on the day of the funeral of victims of a reported strike on a school in Minab, Iran, 3 March 2026 (Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/WANA/Reuters) Off A UN fact-finding group has begun investigating an air strike that hit Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The attack, which killed at least 175 people, most of them children, is also being probed by US military investigators, with preliminary findings saying the US military was responsible for the attack, Reuters reported. The New York Times reported that officers at US Central Command had created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, citing people briefed on the investigation. The attack on the school occurred simultaneously with missiles striking nearby Iranian naval targets. Iran has also blamed the US for the strike, describing it an "unforgivable" war crime. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); "We're at an early stage of that investigation," Max du Plessis, a member of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday. "It's clear to us that whatever happens in respect of such an event, given the innocent lives that have been lost, there is a critical need for such an investigation to be done and for an independent outcome to follow." It was first reported by Middle East Eye that the schoolgirls were killed by "double tap" strikes, with the second missile killing sheltering survivors, according to witnesses interviewed at the scene. Exclusive: Iranian girls killed by ‘double-tap’ strikes on Minab school Read More » “When the first bomb hit the school, one of the teachers and the principal moved a group of students to the prayer hall to protect them,” one of the Red Crescent medics said, citing conversations he had at the time with survivors. “The principal called the parents and told them to come and pick up their children. But the second bomb hit that area as well. Only a small number of those who had taken shelter survived.” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said there had been a “double-tap American Tomahawk missile” on 28 February that “slaughtered 168 Iranian little angels”. Hassan Fartousi, secretary general of Iran’s National Commission for Unesco, also told Al Jazeera he believed the school had been struck by two separate missiles. The attack ranks among the worst incidents of civilian deaths in decades of US military strikes in the Middle East. Some human rights groups like Amnesty International have already claimed the US was responsible. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied targeting civilians. In another investigation, the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran on Monday found an Israeli strike on Tehran’s Evin prison during last June’s war, which killed more than 80 people, amounted to a war crime. War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Asked which of the four living ex-presidents had supposedly praised his chaotic war effort, Trump said: ‘I can’t tell you that’

AMSTERDAM, March 17 (Reuters) - The Netherlands is investigating whether Iran was involved in the attack on a Rotterdam synagogue on Friday, Justice Minister David van Weel has said, adding that the suspects apprehended for the attack had most likely been recruited. "The possibility that Iran is involved in this attack is... being explicitly investigated", Van Weel told parliament on Tuesday, though he did not cite a conclusive link between Iran and the attack ahead of the investigation's conclusions.

MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her country would have no problem hosting Iran's matches in the 2026 World Cup, if soccer governing body FIFA agrees. Iran's football federation has asked FIFA to move their World Cup matches to Mexico from the United States due to concerns about the safety of their players after the U.S. launched joint air strikes at the country. (Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Raul Cortes; Editing by Kylie Madry)

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Afghan official condemns Pakistan air strike, calling it a crime against humanity targeting civilians and addicts.

Canada says it was not consulted over the U

Israeli air strike kills two Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon Two Lebanese soldiers have been killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon, the country's military is reporting. In a post on X, the Lebanese army reported that the soldiers were targeted when they were travelling on motorcycles between Zebdin and Nabatieh.