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Satellite Image Analyzed by AP Shows Damage after Iranian Attack on Israeli Desert Air Base

This satellite photo taken by Planet Labs PBC shows Israel's Nevatim air base on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo taken by Planet Labs PBC shows Israel's Nevatim air base on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Satellite Image Analyzed by AP Shows Damage after Iranian Attack on Israeli Desert Air Base

This satellite photo taken by Planet Labs PBC shows Israel's Nevatim air base on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo taken by Planet Labs PBC shows Israel's Nevatim air base on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

An Iranian attack on an Israeli desert air base last week as part of Tehran's unprecedented assault on the country damaged a taxiway, a satellite image analyzed by The Associated Press on Saturday shows.

The overall damage done to Nevatim air base in southern Israel was minor despite Iran launching hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Israeli air defenses and fighter jets, backed by the US, the United Kingdom and neighboring Jordan, shot down the vast majority of the incoming fire.

But the Iranian attack last weekend showed Tehran's willingness to use its vast arsenal of ballistic missiles directly against Israel as tensions remain high across the wider Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. An apparent Israeli retaliatory attack Friday on Isfahan, Iran, and Tehran's low-key response to it suggest both countries want to dial back their long-running shadow war for now — though risks of a wider conflagration in the region remain.

The Planet Labs PBC image, taken Friday for the AP, shows fresh blacktop across a taxiway near hangars at the southern part of Nevatim air base, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Jerusalem. The daily newspaper Haaretz, which published lower-resolution images of the site Thursday, identified the hangars nearby as housing C-130 cargo aircraft flown by transport squadrons.

The satellite image corresponds to footage earlier released by the Israeli military, which showed construction equipment working on the damaged taxiway. A hangar in the background of the video mirrors those seen nearby.

Other images released by the Israeli military showed a crater in the sand and damage under what appeared to be a wall that it said came from the Iranian attack. The little visible damage seen at the air base in the satellite image directly contradicts Iran's efforts to portray the attack as a great victory to a public alienated by Tehran’s cratering economy and its heavy-handed crackdowns on dissent in recent years.

“This operation became a sign of the power of the Islamic Republic and its armed forces," Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Friday. “It also showed the steely determination of our nation and our wise leader, the commander of all forces.”

However, it does show Iran's arsenal has the ability to reach Israel, as the April 13 attack marked the first direct military assault on the country by a foreign nation since Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.

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World

Rival Sahel Extremists Clash in Intensifying Turf war

A recent report revealed a surge in violent attacks linked to extremist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region. (AFP)
A recent report revealed a surge in violent attacks linked to extremist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region. (AFP)
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Rival Sahel Extremists Clash in Intensifying Turf war

A recent report revealed a surge in violent attacks linked to extremist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region. (AFP)
A recent report revealed a surge in violent attacks linked to extremist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region. (AFP)

Extremists from rival Al-Qaeda and ISIS factions in the Sahel have clashed recently on an unprecedented scale in the borderlands spanning Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with claims of hundreds of fighters killed.

The two extremist coalitions, which covet influence over the same areas and control of the same routes and local populations, have repeatedly clashed since 2019.

The rivalry also drives their constant expansion in the Sahel, which the ruling juntas in Ouagadougou, Bamako and Niamey have found difficult to contain, said AFP.

The clashes are "the most intense direct confrontation globally" between an Al-Qaeda branch and an ISIS-linked group, a report by UN experts submitted to the Security Council in early August said.

A semi-arid belt of land that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean along the southern rim of the Sahara desert to the Red Sea, Africa's Sahel has become the ground zero of global extremism.

Extremists have steadily expanded beyond the rural areas where they first took root, killing thousands, roiling governments and sowing terror.

Since September, fighting between ISIS - Sahel Province (ISSP) and the Al-Qaeda-linked group (JNIM) has escalated to unprecedented levels.

On Monday, the ISSP said it had killed more than 400 al-Qaeda fighters, including "several leaders", in clashes four days earlier in the Burkinabe province of Oudalan on the Mali and Niger borders.

"If the claimed death toll is confirmed, then it will be the deadliest single battle recorded between the two groups," Heni Nsaibia, an analyst at conflict monitor ACLED, said.

The toll has yet to be independently confirmed.

But if so, it would surpass the more than 200 deaths claimed by the ISSP in the same area in early September.

- 2,200 deaths since 2019 -

Between 2019 and last month, the two extremist groups fought more than 320 battles, resulting in about 2,200 deaths, Nsaibia said.

The latest clashes between fighters from JNIM and ISIS erupted on October 9 in the tri-border area, according to Wamaps, a collective of west African journalists.

The rivals are fighting over "the same potential living space and the same recruitment pools" in a "race for control of the borders between the three countries", Wassim Nasr, an expert on extremist groups and an associate researcher at The Soufan Center, said in a recent study.

Long confined to Mali and Burkina Faso, the fighting has in recent months spread to western Niger and even northwestern Nigeria, Nsaibia said.

From its Malian stronghold in Menaka, the ISSP has extended its influence into the Nigerien regions of Tahoua, Dosso and Maradi, up to the Nigerian border, Nasr said in the study.

This facilitates the transfer of fighters, equipment and expertise with ISWAP, the ISIS branch active in the Lake Chad basin, he added.

- Competing visions -

Behind the violence lies competing visions of extremism.

While JNIM carries out abuses against civilians, it focuses on developing local roots, building alliances with communities and concentrating attacks on state forces and foreign troops.

The ISIS group adopts a more hardline, transnational approach and does not shy away from targeting civilians who refuse to kowtow to its authority, Sahel specialist Hasret Kargin said.

Such "enduring ideological and strategic tensions" between the two groups are seen in reported defections -- albeit limited in number -- from JNIM to ISSP, the UN experts said in their report.

In July, JNIM claimed it had killed one of its commanders, who had defected to join ISIS.

However, despite the heavy losses the ISIS claims to have inflicted, JNIM remains the leading terror threat in the Sahel, the UN expert report said.

It estimated that its forces number between 7,000 and 8,000 fighters, compared with 2,000 members of ISIS.

"There is significant information indicating that JNIM has shifted substantial reinforcements to the area from other regions," Kargin said.

Given its numbers across the Sahel and its strength compared to the ISIS's Sahel branch, Kargin said he predicted that JNIM would launch "fierce counterattacks in the coming days".

World

Order to Limit Starshield for Ukraine Came from Inside White House, Sources Say

FILE PHOTO: Servicemen of the 68th Oleksa Dovbush Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up Starlink satellite internet system, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Servicemen of the 68th Oleksa Dovbush Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up Starlink satellite internet system, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia/File Photo
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Order to Limit Starshield for Ukraine Came from Inside White House, Sources Say

FILE PHOTO: Servicemen of the 68th Oleksa Dovbush Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up Starlink satellite internet system, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Servicemen of the 68th Oleksa Dovbush Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up Starlink satellite internet system, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia/File Photo

The order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.

The officials said leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed, reported Reuters.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order. The Pentagon is the biggest customer of Starshield, which is the military-grade version of the Starlink service.

Ukrainian officials said this week that military-grade Starlink receptors stopped working in Ukraine when mounted on fast-moving objects, interfering with the performance of Ukrainian drones that rely on them for onboard guidance systems over Ukrainian territory.

A person in Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the receptors were now working when ‌in motion, but ‌only at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph).

US PRESSURES UKRAINE OVER REFINERY ‌ATTACKS

The move ⁠to temporarily restrict ⁠the vital communications system came as President Donald Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, which he has blamed for the soaring energy prices that are denting his Republican Party's prospects in the November midterm elections.

But experts say that surge in energy costs is mainly the result of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which brought Iranian attacks on energy facilities and has largely shut the vital Strait of Hormuz.

In response to a request for comment about the order to limit Starshield, a senior US official said: "No such request was ever made by the president."

The White House did not respond to questions about whether other administration officials might have made the request.

Starshield was developed by SpaceX specifically for government ⁠and national-security customers, particularly the US Department of Defense. Starshield uses the Starlink constellation as its backbone.

Ukrainian ‌officials said the restrictions complicated strike missions against Russian forces and logistics in occupied territory ‌and slowed interceptor drones used to shoot down incoming Russian Shahed drones.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, said on X on Wednesday that because Starshield ‌systems are owned and controlled by the US government, any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military or ‌the president.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

The Department of Defense and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington also did not respond to requests for comment.

DECLINE IN RELATIONS

Relations between Kyiv and Washington have deteriorated in recent days following a meeting in Miami on October 9 that convened representatives from both countries as well as Europe and the World Bank.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, struck a tough ‌tone with Ukraine in the meeting, according to a separate person familiar with the matter. They told Ukrainian officials that the US was frustrated with Kyiv's continued strikes on Russian refineries despite repeated ⁠requests from Washington to stop.

The US ⁠delegation also explained Washington's decision to strike a diesel deal with Russia, saying the White House hoped it would soften Moscow's stance on peace talks.

That deal, under which Russia will supply more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel to US and global markets, has triggered a backlash from some US lawmakers, who say it will give Moscow cash to pursue its war without forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to make concessions to end the conflict.

In the days that followed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Trump criticized each other, with Zelenskiy calling the US decision on the Russian diesel deal "weak." Trump called for elections in Ukraine and Zelenskiy's ouster.

Behind the scenes, American officials threatened to stop providing intelligence to Kyiv about Russian missile launches that Ukraine uses to thwart attacks, as Reuters previously reported. Trump said on Tuesday Washington was still sharing intelligence with Ukraine.

Following the move to restrict Ukraine's access to Starshield, the Ukrainians made calls on Tuesday and Wednesday to find answers from senior officials at the White House, State Department and Pentagon, a senior Ukrainian official said, adding that Kyiv was told it was a White House decision.

The Pentagon has spent billions of dollars on the Starlink and Starshield services. It has also bought dedicated Starshield satellites, including communications spacecraft for missile-warning missions and a spy constellation for the National Reconnaissance Office, Reuters reported in 2024.

World

Trump: Ukraine's Resumption of Strikes on Russian Refineries is 'Disgrace'

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 15, 2026, shows destroyed supermarket following a Russian drone in Odesa region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 15, 2026, shows destroyed supermarket following a Russian drone in Odesa region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
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Trump: Ukraine's Resumption of Strikes on Russian Refineries is 'Disgrace'

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 15, 2026, shows destroyed supermarket following a Russian drone in Odesa region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 15, 2026, shows destroyed supermarket following a Russian drone in Odesa region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Ukraine's resumption of ‌strikes on Russian refineries is a 'disgrace' that keeps global energy prices elevated, US President Donald Trump told the Newsmax news outlet in an interview aired on Thursday.

Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared that Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire covering energy sites that Trump had announced, and criticized his willingness to strike deals with Moscow.

"All he's doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that's a disgrace," Trump said ‌in the ‌interview, after Ukraine hit a Rosneft refinery ‌southeast ⁠of Moscow which helps ⁠to supply the Russian capital, said Reuters.

"There are a lot of targets you can hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he's not doing a good service for the world."

Russia rained ⁠down missile and drone strikes, targeting energy ‌facilities such as power stations, ‌knocking out supply to hundreds of thousands, and Zelenskiy told ‌the Financial Times that Ukraine's patience had run out.

Trump's administration ‌has been trying to mediate a ceasefire deal to end the war that started with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He repeated to Newsmax his belief that Zelenskiy and ‌Russian President Vladimir Putin hate each other, which makes it hard to end the conflict.

"I'm not ⁠a ⁠big fan of Zelenskiy," Trump said. "I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I think I find Zelenskiy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin."

As Trump pressured Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, Ukraine faced reduced usage of a satellite system on which it relies for battlefield communications and drone operations.

The order came from inside the White House, said two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter, without specifying who there made the decision or was responsible for implementing the order.