Middle East on boil: 5 reasons why Trump may attack Iran anytime now

The United States and Iran are nearing a potential military confrontation as diplomacy falters and military preparations intensify. A significant US military buildup in the Middle East, coupled with Iran's fortification of nuclear sites, raises fears of a major escalation. Despite ongoing talks, key gaps remain, and Washington is weighing military options.

By TOI World Desk

Amid tensions, Ukraine’s Chernobyl site remains part of a war zone

Al Jazeera's Nils Adler has seen how the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster is affected by the war on Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers armed with scissors say they cut any fiber-optic drone cable they see — even if it might be their own

Fiber-optic drones can't be jammed, but can be stopped by destroying the cables that control them. Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images Ukrainian soldiers are cutting the wires of any and all fiber-optic drones they find. Some carry scissors so they can be ready when they find one. They also use knives and their bare hands. The threat these drones pose means that they don't even stop to consider who they belong to. Ukrainian soldiers are out cutting and snapping any fiber-optic drone cables they come across, regardless of which side they belong to. They use scissors, knives, even their bare hands. Troops say it doesn't matter if a drone is Ukrainian or Russian. If they're not sure, they just assume it's hostile. These unjammable drones controlled by long, thin cables have flooded the battlefield as a countermeasure to the electronic warfare that often renders radio-frequency drones inoperable. As these drones have become increasingly prolific, the result has been forests and trenches snarled with discarded and active cables. Fiber optic drones can leave webs of cables across Ukraine. Francisco Richart/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Dimko Zhluktenko, an analyst with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said that he always carries scissors so that he can "cut each and every optic fiber that we see." He said that his unit "actually stopped considering them friendly or foe. We think that all of them are kind of the enemy drones." In a YouTube video about the gear he carries, Zhluktenko said scissors became so essential that when his unit started operating in areas littered with fiber-optic cables, every team member was required to carry a pair. He said that he bought retractors for his team so no one would lose them. An analyst with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said he carries scissors to cut the cables of fiber optic drones he comes across. Dimko Zhluktenko A Ukrainian soldier who spoke with Business Insider on the condition of anonymity said troops can often break the thin strands with their hands; that isn't often necessary, though. Soldiers in his unit already carry scissors for medical purposes. Many also have knives. He said that there can be so many cables about on the battlefield that "you don't know if it's a new thread or if it's an old one that's been lying around for a long time." So his unit severs any they find as often as possible. Not just fiber-optic cables Other similar behaviors have been observed on the battlefield. There are sometimes so many drones in the sky that soldiers looking up from the ground can't even begin to tell which is friendly and which is hostile. In such cases, soldiers can be ordered to shoot down any drone they see. Soldiers in charge of electronic warfare systems sometimes panic and jam everything in the air when they can't tell drones apart, Zhluktenko previously told Business Insider. Drones controlled by fiber optic cables are popular as they can't be jammed. Viktor Fridshon/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Zhluktenko told Business Insider that cutting the fiber-optic cables is not something that he had to do often, as his unit was typically working in areas further from the front-line fighting that had fewer of the fiber-optic drones. He described it as something that they "sometimes" encountered. Soldiers in Ukraine's 15th Mobile Border Detachment "Steel Border" previously said in a video for Ukraine's state border service that using scissors is a reliable way to disable the Russian drones. Russian soldiers have reportedly done the same. If the cable is intact on an active and operational drone, the only other way to stop it is to physically shoot it (troops say a shotgun works best); that requires a mix of skill and luck, though. Fiber-optic drones are a relatively new feature in this war that have not previously been fielded at this scale. That these drones can be disabled with simple tools — scissors, knives, bare hands — underscores a broader pattern in Ukraine: sophisticated systems are often countered with low-tech fixes. In many cases, some of the most effective counters to advanced technology have been older or improvised combat tools — from shotguns used against small drones to nets draped over vehicles and positions to blunt aerial attacks. Even the drones themselves are cheap innovations designed to overcome more expensive equipment and wartime demands. Read the original article on Business Insider

The Three Conflicts Witkoff and Kushner Are Trying to Solve This Week

Iran, Ukraine and Gaza are in play as the Trump envoys conduct talks on all of them. But progress in each conflict is scant.

By Steven Erlanger

U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion - The Wall Street Journal

U.S. Gathers the Most Air Power in the Mideast Since the 2003 Iraq Invasion  The Wall Street Journal