Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge blaze and prompting the evacuation of some local residents, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday. The strike came after a senior U.S. diplomat said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recently announced but still confidential plan to win the war “can work” and help end the conflict that’s now in its third year.

Ukraine claimed the strike destroyed military warehouses in Toropets, a town in Russia’s Tver region about 240 miles northwest of Moscow and 300 miles from the border with Ukraine.

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An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut apartment block killed a senior Hezbollah leader and about a dozen other members of the militant group, Israel’s military said Saturday as Lebanon raised the attack’s death toll to 37, including women and children.

The airstrike during the Friday afternoon rush leveled the eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in southern Beirut as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel.

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Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, government and Hezbollah officials said. The explosions, which appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack, were attributed to Israel by Lebanese officials. The Israeli military has declined to comment on the incident.

Hezbollah has been involved in daily exchanges of fire with Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have been forced to evacuate their homes due to the conflict, reports the Associated Press.

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Early Sunday morning, the militant group Al-Shabaab launched an assault on a military base in Jana Abdalle, a village approximately 60 kilometers north of Kismayo, the capital of Somalia’s Lower Juba region. The attack was met with fierce resistance from Jubaland regional forces, resulting in a significant engagement that saw casualties on both sides.

According to reports from the scene, the clash began when Al-Shabaab militants attempted to overrun the base, a strategic location that serves as a crucial link between several cities in the region. The Jubaland state security forces, however, were quick to respond, engaging the attackers in what local sources described as heavy fighting.

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Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) have reportedly taken over airports in western parts of Somalia, a move that could trigger diplomatic fallout and possible war within the Horn of Africa region.

For eight months, Somalia and Ethiopia have been at loggerheads after the latter signed an agreement with Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, which gives it access to 20 kilometers of the Red Sea in exchange for recognition as a sovereign state.

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