Israel Simulates Long-Range Air Strikes over Mediterranean

An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. (Jack Guez/AFP)
An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. (Jack Guez/AFP)
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Israel Simulates Long-Range Air Strikes over Mediterranean

An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. (Jack Guez/AFP)
An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The Israeli military said Wednesday that dozens of its aircraft conducted a drill simulating airstrikes on long-range targets, a thinly veiled reference to a possible attack on regional rival Iran.

The army said the exercise took place a day earlier over the Mediterranean and “involved long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets.” It provided no additional information.

The announcement came as negotiators representing world powers and Iran have held months of talks in a bid to hash out a new agreement to rein in Tehran's nuclear program, four years after a deal struck in 2015 collapsed after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew, The Associated Press said.

Israel considers Iran its greatest threat and was staunchly opposed to the 2015 JCPOA accords signed by Iran and world powers, saying it didn't have enough safeguards to keep Iran from developing a weapons capability or address other Iranian military threats in the region. It has said it opposes a return to a new nuclear agreement.

Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, but has never publicly acknowledged having such weapons.

Tuesday's air force drill took place as part of a larger, month-long military exercise, which included combat simulations in Cyprus earlier this week.



Russia Launches Drone Attack on Kyiv

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
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Russia Launches Drone Attack on Kyiv

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 21, 2024 shows Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an air-attack, in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)

Ukraine's air defense units destroyed more than 10 Russia drones that were targeting Kyiv in an overnight drone attack, Ukraine's military said on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries as result of the attack, Kyiv's military administration posted on the Telegram messaging app. It said that the information on the full scale of the attack will be released later on Sunday.
"The UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were flying in different directions towards Kyiv," said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration. "The air raid alert in the city lasted for more than three hours."
Reuters witnesses heard explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense units in operation.
There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attack.