Project Sword
After the Russian army captured the important town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, it launched several attacks in the area around it in an attempt to expand the results of the war.
The Russian army has so far launched 14 offensives against a village about 2 kilometers west of Avdiivka, and two villages in southern Zaporizhzhia have also been attacked, but these attacks have ended in failure.
Ukraine was eventually forced to withdraw its troops from Avdiivka due to a lack of troops and ammunition, giving the Russian army its first major victory in months. Ukraine** Zelensky said that the decision to withdraw troops was to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers as much as possible. However, the fall of Avdiivka into the hands of the Russian army raises fears that Russia will expand its occupation in the Donetsk region.
Israel has warned that it will launch a planned ground offensive against the southern Gaza city of Rafah unless Hamas releases its hostages before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan on March 10.
Rafah, located in the southernmost part of Gaza, borders Egypt, is currently home to nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, more than 1 million of whom have fled Israeli artillery fire, and a ground war is likely to be devastating.
As the prospects for Israeli-Kazakh cease-fire negotiations are getting bleaker, Israel's allies, the United States, the United Nations, and many other parties have strongly called on Israel to cancel its plan to invade Rafah. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that asking Israel to abandon its attack on Rafah would be tantamount to asking it to lose the war.
Israel will continue to fight until all objectives are achieved, including removing the threat posed by Hamas and Allah Lebanon, rescuing some 130 hostages still held in Gaza and freeing Gaza from its control.
Only if Hamas makes concessions and releases the hostages will it be possible for Israel to change its mind. Even then, the offensive against Rafah can only be postponed, unless the demilitarization of Rafah is added, and the surrender of the local Hamas combat battalion.
The Council of the European Union announced the launch of escort operations in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf regions to safeguard its commercial and security interests. The operation, called "Shield", "will ensure the presence of the EU Navy in the region" and is committed to maintaining maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation for merchant ships in particular.
Operation Shield will be conducted on the main sea lines of communication in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as in international waters of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. The operational command will be based in the Greek city of Larissa.
Since the outbreak of a new conflict between Israel and Hamas last October, Yemen's Houthi rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. European Commissioner Gentiloni, who is in charge of economic affairs, recently said that due to the rerouting of shipping through the Red Sea, the shipping time between Asia and the EU has increased by 10 to 15 days, and the transportation cost has increased by about 400%.