The United States has approved the proposed sale of military helicopters and related equipment to Iraq worth $800 million, the US State Department said in a statement on Monday. Bell Textron, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company, will be the principal contractor for the proposed transaction.

The State Department said the sale would support US foreign policy and national security interests by helping strengthen the security of Iraq, described as a strategic partner. The department presented the proposed transfer as part of support for Iraq’s security capabilities.

According to the statement, the equipment would improve Iraq’s ability to address current and future threats. It would enhance helicopter-based transportation and surveillance capabilities, while also improving Iraq’s capacity to conduct air-to-ground strikes against targets.

Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed five Palestinians and wounded several others on Monday, according to medical and local sources cited by Anadolu. Three people were killed when an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa area, while two others died in a drone strike near the entrance of a residential building close to Gaza Municipality Park. The bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said five fishermen were injured by fire from Israeli warships off Gaza City’s coast and were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Saraya Field Hospital. A 16-year-old was injured after an Israeli drone dropped a bomb in Beit Lahia, while three Palestinians were reported injured in drone fire and bombing in Khan Younis’s Hamad and western Satar areas.

Local and medical sources also reported injuries, shelling and destruction in eastern Deir al-Balah. Palestinian Civil Defense said it extinguished fires in two tents for displaced people in Hamad after Israeli fire. The source said 1,318 Palestinians have been killed and 4,375 injured in alleged ceasefire violations since the agreement took effect on October 10, 2025.

The article examines why the United States struggled to end its nearly two-decade war in Afghanistan and argues that similar pressures may shape its newer conflict with Iran. Five years after the chaotic conclusion of the Afghan war, the source says fears that withdrawal would turn Afghanistan into a terrorist haven or launchpad for attacks on the United States have not materialized. It describes President Donald Trump as giving mixed signals on whether to leave the Iran conflict or continue it.

After Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011 and al-Qaeda had been weakened, withdrawal was seen as a major opportunity. Yet US leaders and the Pentagon cited concerns about American credibility, obligations to Afghan partners and the meaning of sacrifices by dead and wounded troops. Analyst Andrew R. Hoehn described many recent US wars as policing an empire rather than existential struggles.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to US attacks, and General Dan Caine said bombs and missiles alone might not defeat Iran or fully reopen the waterway. The administration is pursuing a naval blockade of Iranian exports and sanctions, while officials now discuss pressure lasting months or longer. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the blockade could continue indefinitely.

An Israeli airstrike on Abu al-Duhur airbase in rural Idlib, Syria, on August 18 has heightened tensions involving Turkey, the United States and Israel. Israeli warplanes targeted the runways of the largely inactive airbase near the Turkish border. The strike was widely viewed as a message to Turkey rather than an operation against a militarily significant target.

Israel said Syria was preparing to deploy Turkish forces at the base, a claim denied by both Syria and Turkey. US Ambassador to Turkey and Syria special envoy Tom Barrack said Israel had informed Washington about possible Turkish activity about six days before the strike. After checking its own intelligence, the United States told Israel that no Turkish military activity was present, but Israel carried out the attack anyway.

Barrack said Israel withheld operational details, fearing Washington might warn Turkey. Israeli aircraft came within about 80 kilometres of the Turkish border, creating a risk of an unintended encounter with Turkish jets. Analysts said Syria has the sovereign right to renovate airbases and pursue defence cooperation with Turkey. The report also cited previous US-Israeli differences over a proposed Israeli ground operation in Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “serpent,” accusing him of drawing the United States into a war against Iran for Israel’s interests. In a social media post cited by Al Jazeera, Araghchi said Netanyahu had openly described influencing the US administration in a Hebrew-language address to Israelis.

Araghchi said Netanyahu boasted of having “suckered” the US administration into war with Iran and of influencing America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks. He contrasted that claim with Netanyahu’s English-language remarks praising US President Donald Trump’s leadership.

The accusation has emerged in international reporting on the ongoing Iran war. The source says reports have previously examined Netanyahu’s role in bringing Washington into conflict with Iran following joint US-Israeli military operations.

Senior US military commanders have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against prolonging a large-scale operation against Iran, according to US media reports cited by Al Jazeera. The warning was reported by The Washington Post and involved the heads of the US Army, Navy and Air Force, along with commanders responsible for US forces in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The concerns appeared in a regularly issued confidential report outlining the United States' global military deployments. Senior officers submitted a formal notice saying they disagreed with the deployment order but would carry it out. They said ships, military aircraft and equipment had been moved from different regions for the war against Iran.

Commanders said those transfers had reduced the capacity to conduct other military operations and train troops in affected regions. More than 50,000 US personnel have reportedly been kept on alert for months amid concerns that new attacks on Iran could be ordered. President Donald Trump has continued pressuring Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept US conditions to end the war.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks has risen to 73,449 since October 2023, while 174,472 people have been wounded. In the past 48 hours, nine Palestinians were reported killed and 18 injured, with several bodies also recovered from rubble. The source says deaths and casualties have continued despite a ceasefire being in effect.

According to the ministry’s figures, Israeli attacks and other alleged violations since the ceasefire began have killed 1,313 Palestinians and injured 4,361. A study by the Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared estimated that roughly 2,500 to 3,000 people may have been forcibly disappeared during the war, based on an analysis of 317 cases.

Many people are still believed to be trapped beneath debris from destroyed buildings, raising concerns that the actual death toll could exceed official figures. The war, which began in October 2023, has extensively damaged residential areas, hospitals, infrastructure and other civilian facilities in Gaza, while fatalities have continued in recent days.

Israel is holding nearly 1,700 Palestinian bodies, most of them from Gaza, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis linked to the Gaza war. The bodies are reportedly being retained for possible use in future prisoner or hostage exchange negotiations. The Palestinian group National Campaign for the Retrieval of Martyrs Bodies and Disclosure of the Fate of the Missing says it has documented the names of 799 Palestinians whose bodies are held by Israel, including 81 children and 10 women.

The group says 256 of the documented bodies were buried in military cemeteries known to Palestinians as “numbered graves.” In these sites, graves are marked with numbers rather than names, while identifying records are kept separately. Because the cemeteries are generally in military-controlled areas, relatives cannot visit them and many families remain unaware of burial locations or the circumstances of death.

The policy expanded after 2015, with Israel’s security cabinet approving retention of some bodies in 2017 and its Supreme Court allowing it in specified circumstances in 2019. The group says Israel had returned 930 bodies and 66 boxes of human remains to Gaza by February 4, 2026, but identification is difficult because of limited DNA-testing equipment. Gaza’s Health Ministry says about 7,400 bodies remain beneath rubble.

Pakistan’s recent military activity has raised questions in India over whether Islamabad could be preparing for renewed action before the festival season, though no reliable evidence confirms an imminent attack on India. On August 29, Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir visited the Pakistan Ordnance Factories complex at Wah Cantonment near Islamabad, described as the country’s largest arms factory.

Pakistan’s military media wing, ISPR, said Munir reviewed plans to strengthen domestic defence industry capacity and increase weapons production. He was briefed on weapons designs, production capacity and ammunition testing, while factory officials outlined expansion plans. Two additional weapons-production centres are expected to begin production later this year. Pakistan has also expanded defence cooperation with China and Turkey and signed a joint defence and military cooperation agreement with Kuwait on August 27.

Reports of heavy artillery deployment near the border, including Chinese-made SH-15 155mm self-propelled howitzers, have added to scrutiny. However, Pakistan also faces security pressures along the Afghan border and insurgency-related concerns in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The source says Islamabad’s preparations cannot conclusively be interpreted as preparations for an attack on India.

The United Arab Emirates has rejected reports that Iran launched a missile attack on the Al Minhad Air Base, described in the source as a US military base in the country. The UAE Defence Ministry issued the denial in a statement posted on X, calling media reports about a missile strike on the base unfounded.

Earlier, Iran said on Monday that it had carried out an attack using several dozen drones against US military bases in the UAE. Tehran described the reported action as a response to a US attack, according to the source.

The UAE had previously said that an Iranian drone was shot down in its waters. The source does not provide further details on the reported drone incident, the alleged Iranian operation, or any damage or casualties.

Hundreds of people protested outside Madison Square Garden in New York over an event involving Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. Demonstrators called for Bhagwat’s visa to be cancelled and for the RSS to face a ban. The protest was organized by the Indian American Muslim Council and other religious and civil rights groups.

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council member Julie Won joined the demonstration. They criticized the staging of the event, citing the RSS’s Hindutva ideology and allegations of violence against religious minorities. The organizers said 65 US civic and interfaith organizations opposed the event.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom had earlier recommended cancelling Bhagwat’s visa and imposing targeted sanctions on the RSS. It cited allegations of violence against Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Sikhs. More than 1,000 people also urged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio not to permit Bhagwat to enter the United States, according to the IAMC. Founded in 1925, the RSS is described as a Hindu nationalist organization and an ideological foundation of India’s Hindutva movement.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck several air bases in Jordan used by US forces after the United States attacked Iranian launchers and related facilities on Larak Island. The US military said its operation targeted equipment allegedly being prepared to lay sea mines, amid heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. Immediate casualty details were not available.

Washington said it acted over concerns that Iranian forces were preparing underwater mine deployments that could further endanger commercial shipping in the strait. Larak Island is located near a significant section of the Strait of Hormuz and close to strategically important Iranian naval bases and military facilities.

Analysts said the exchange could broaden the ongoing US-Iran confrontation in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz is a major route for oil and gas shipments from the Persian Gulf, and military disruption to commercial vessel traffic could affect international energy supplies and global markets. Iran has cited control and security interests in the strait, while the United States has said it seeks to protect safe international navigation.

Indonesia, the United States and allied countries began their annual joint military exercise on Monday, aimed at strengthening defence capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region and deterring aggression. The exercise, known as Super Garuda Shield, will run until September 11 at various locations across Indonesia, including Sumatra and Borneo islands.

Indonesia follows a neutral foreign policy, which it describes as “free and active,” while seeking to maintain diplomatic balance and good relations with both the United States and China. Earlier this month, the Southeast Asian country joined a naval exercise with China that Taiwan criticised as a provocative activity.

Indonesia, the United States and several allied nations have participated in the annual Super Garuda Shield exercise for nearly two decades. About 4,700 military personnel from several countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Japan, are taking part this year. East Timor, Italy and Thailand are among countries that have sent observers to the exercise.

Western countries need long-term action to secure rare-earth minerals essential to modern technology and military equipment, according to a Guardian editorial. Heavy dependence on China for mining and processing has created a strategic risk, making alternative supply systems increasingly urgent. China currently controls about 70 percent of global rare-earth mining and roughly 90 percent of separation and processing.

China halted exports of certain rare-earth minerals during tensions with Japan over disputed islands in 2010, triggering global concern, yet the supply structure changed little afterward. These materials are used in advanced weapons, smartphones, electric-vehicle batteries and wind turbines. Their low concentration in soil makes extraction and processing costly, complex and environmentally harmful, contributing to earlier reductions in Western production.

The United States announced a $12 billion plan in February to build critical-mineral stockpiles and formed an alliance with 54 partners including Australia, the European Commission and the United Kingdom. Europe aims to reduce import dependence by 2030 under its 2025 Critical Raw Materials Act. Recycling, recovering minerals from mine waste, investment and stronger partnerships are presented as parts of a long-term response.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is also due to participate. A bilateral meeting between Pezeshkian and Putin may take place on the sidelines of the gathering.

The two-day summit is set to begin on Monday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to join the event, bringing together leaders connected to the regional organisation in the Kyrgyz capital.

Iran joined the SCO in 2023. The country has maintained close military relations with Russia and an energy partnership with China. Iranian and Russian foreign ministers previously met during an SCO foreign ministers' meeting in July.