Indonesia Signs Deal with France to Buy 6 Rafale Warplanes

A Rafale jet. AFP file photo
A Rafale jet. AFP file photo
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Indonesia Signs Deal with France to Buy 6 Rafale Warplanes

A Rafale jet. AFP file photo
A Rafale jet. AFP file photo

Indonesia signed a deal with France Thursday to buy six Rafale warplanes as part of an anticipated total order of 42, Jakarta's defense minister said, as Paris bolsters military ties in the Asia-Pacific.

"We agreed on the purchase of 42 Rafale. The contract signed today is for the first six, which will be followed by 36 others," said Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.

It was the latest sign of warming ties between Jakarta and Paris, as France rethinks its alliances in the region following the collapse in September of a multibillion-dollar Australian submarine deal.

Paris was left furious by the debacle, saying it had been given no warning that Canberra was negotiating a new defense pact with the US and Britain, named AUKUS.

Indonesia's first order for French warplanes comes as Jakarta replaces an ageing fleet -- consisting mainly of American F-16s and Russian Sukhois -- amid growing concerns about rising US-China tensions in Asia.



Russia Hits Petrol Station, Warehouse Facilities in Kyiv, Mayor Says

 Firefighters work at the site of a non-residential building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a non-residential building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russia Hits Petrol Station, Warehouse Facilities in Kyiv, Mayor Says

 Firefighters work at the site of a non-residential building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a non-residential building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)

A drone hit a petrol station in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv early on Tuesday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, just a day after US President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy assets.

The attack injured one person, and there was also a strike on warehouse facilities in ‌another part ‌of the city, Klitschko added on the Telegram ‌messaging ⁠app. A Reuters ⁠witness heard an explosion in Kyiv.

Russia has recently started hitting petrol stations in Kyiv, expanding the range of target facilities. In recent months, Russia hit some 300 petrol stations, mainly in or near Ukraine's frontline regions, according to Ukrainian authorities.

As Moscow was striking Ukraine, neighboring Poland briefly began military aviation operations as a preventive step, Poland's ⁠Armed Forces said in a statement on social ‌media website X, adding later there ‌was no violation of its airspace.

Military drones straying into the airspace ‌of Ukraine and Russia's neighbors have stoked concerns that Russia's ‌war in Ukraine is spilling over NATO's borders.

In Lithuania, a NATO fighter jet shot down a drone early on Tuesday, the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre said, after a drone alert was issued earlier in the ‌capital Vilnius and the surrounding region.

In Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, a Ukrainian missile attack damaged ⁠a warehouse ⁠of the e-commerce company Ozon in the southern port city of Taganrog, among other facilities, the regional governor said on Telegram.

Separately, a drone attack hit an industrial facility in Samara region on the Volga River, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Telegram, without naming the facility. The region is home to a number of large oil refineries.

Reuters could not immediately independently verify the reports.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Kyiv was ready to support a US proposal for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire on energy sites only if Washington could ensure Moscow was genuinely ready to end its war on Ukraine.


US Military Says Iran War Has Led to Munitions Shortfall

An Iranian woman stands next graffiti reading in Persian, “We have a blood feud with the US,” in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman stands next graffiti reading in Persian, “We have a blood feud with the US,” in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
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US Military Says Iran War Has Led to Munitions Shortfall

An Iranian woman stands next graffiti reading in Persian, “We have a blood feud with the US,” in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman stands next graffiti reading in Persian, “We have a blood feud with the US,” in a street in central Tehran, Iran, 13 September 2026. (EPA)

The US Defense Department's inspector general revealed Monday that the United States is facing a shortfall in ammunition as a result of its costly war in Iran.

In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector said that between February 28 and June 30, Operation Epic Fury (OEF) had an estimated cost of $33.4 billion, with $22.3 billion of that spent on expended munitions alone.

The report noted "the munitions expenditure on OEF has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply."

It also lists losses to the American fleet, including four F-15s destroyed, one F-35 damaged, seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly brushed off concerns of depleted weapons stores during the six months of war in the Middle East, saying the US has "virtually unlimited" ammo just a couple weeks ago.

On Monday Trump posted to his Truth Social platform saying again the US is producing "more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History."

CNN has previously reported shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors had affected Trump's strategy in the conflict with Iran, with the US military having "nearly exhausted 80%" of its stock of THAAD interceptors.

During the first 24 hours of war against Iran, the United States struck more than 1,000 targets, US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said, and has not returned to such large-scale attacks in recent months.


Netanyahu Threatens Retaliation if Israel’s Enemies Attack

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Threatens Retaliation if Israel’s Enemies Attack

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday of heavy reprisals on Israel's enemies if they attacked, as he lauded the recent demolition of a Hezbollah tunnel network in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu said Israel's destruction of Hezbollah positions at the Beaufort castle and Ali al-Taher ridge was a "massive victory" and vowed to "continue to destroy terrorist infrastructure".

"I say to our enemies: If you haven't learned the lesson by now, and you choose to attack us again, you will suffer even heavier blows. There is still work to complete," Netanyahu added, according to a video published by his office.

On Thursday, Israel blew up what it described as a vast network of tunnels under the Ali al-Taher ridge where Hezbollah kept a command center, living quarters and stocks of weapons with which to strike northern Israel and invading Israeli troops.

A huge fireball was seen in the area, with the US Geological Survey recording a tremor equivalent to a 4.1 magnitude earthquake.

The blast came a week after Israeli troops said they had seized the strategic highlands as they solidified control of an occupied "security zone" in southern Lebanon.

Israel said the tunnel network was built over two decades with the help of Hezbollah's patron Iran, whose clerical government has also backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February, sparking the Middle East war.

Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the wider conflict when it fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran.

Israel has struck south Lebanon during the war and its forces continue to occupy what it calls a "security zone" there.

The Ali al-Taher ridge lies on the edge of Israel's security zone just a few kilometers from the UNESCO-listed Beaufort castle, another strategic site that Israel captured in recent months.

Lebanon and Israel signed a US-sponsored framework agreement in late June that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones".