Russia’s Top General Visits Troops in Ukraine to Discuss Next Steps https://english.aawsat.com/world/4868076-russia%E2%80%99s-top-general-visits-troops-ukraine-discuss-next-steps%C2%A0
Russia’s Top General Visits Troops in Ukraine to Discuss Next Steps
Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia’s Top General Visits Troops in Ukraine to Discuss Next Steps
Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov meets with service members who, according to the Defense Ministry, participated in taking Avdiivka, at a Russian military command center in a location given as Russian-controlled Ukraine, in this still image taken from video released February 21, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Russia's top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, visited troops fighting in the war in Ukraine to discuss the next steps after the taking the town of Avdiivka, state media reported on Wednesday.
President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russian troops would push further into Ukraine to build on their success on the battlefield after the fall of the town of Avdiivka where he said Ukrainian troops had been forced to flee in chaos.
Gerasimov was shown awarding medals to Russian troops involved in taking Avdiivka and he was given a report by the commander in charge of the Russian assault on Avdiivka, Colonel-General Andrei Mordvichev, state media said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Avdiivka would not have fallen had Kyiv received weapons held up by the US Congress' failure to approve a large aid package.
After the failure of Ukraine to pierce Russian front lines in the east and south last year, Moscow has been trying to grind down Ukrainian forces just as Kyiv ponders a major new mobilization.
Israel Says it Will Pursue Every Successor of Iran's Khameneihttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248765-israel-says-it-will-pursue-every-successor-irans-khamenei
FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)
Israel Says it Will Pursue Every Successor of Iran's Khamenei
FILE - Smoke rises behind the Azadi (Freedom) monument in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026, following the US-Israeli military attack. (Davoud Ghahrdar/ISNA via AP, File)
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran's next supreme leader.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Ali Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the country’s supreme leader.
The clerical body that will choose Iran's next supreme leader has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said on Sunday.
The Mehr news agency quoted him as saying "some obstacles" still needed to be resolved regarding the process.
On Saturday, a senior cleric in the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet "within one day" to choose the leader.
Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision must follow an in-person meeting or instead be issued without adhering to this formality.
Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member of the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was not possible under current conditions.
He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader's advice that Iran's top leader should "be hated by the enemy" instead of praised by it.
"Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name," Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, was an "unacceptable" choice for him.
Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Monthshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248742-netanyahu-trump-strike-defiant-tone-iran-says-can-fight-months
Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Months
Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the country's forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel, which said it struck Tehran's commanders at a seaside hotel in the heart of Beirut.
Tehran accused the US and Israel of striking an oil depot in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the first reported assault on the country's oil infrastructure as stock markets have slumped and crude prices surged.
The Israeli military said it struck "a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran" that were used "to operate military infrastructure".
Israel's military also launched a new wave of strikes "across Tehran" on Sunday, after carrying out a precision strike targeting "key commanders" in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, at a hotel in an area of central Beirut popular with tourists.
Lebanon's health ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel, where an AFP photographer saw shattered windows and charred walls.
First aid responders inspect a Ramada hotel room targeted by an Israeli strike, in Beirut's seaside Rawche area, on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran "with all our force", with a plan to eradicate the country's leadership after joint US-Israeli raids killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei last week, sparking the regional conflict.
Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that Iranian forces could wage an "intense war" for six months at the current speed of fighting.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used "first and second generation" missiles, but will use "advanced and less-used long-range missiles" in the coming days.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
"Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela -- they would strike, take control and it would be over -- but now they are trapped," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.
Netanyahu said Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
US President Donald Trump Trump struck a similarly defiant tone, repeating the claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon.
He also suggested US troops could eventually be needed to secure Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
Separately, he blamed Iran for what the country's authorities said was a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that killed at least 150 people. Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central UShttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248631-eight-dead-tornadoes-surge-across-central-us
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central US
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tornadoes tore through the central United States in a series of storms that continued into Saturday, leaving eight people dead and at least a dozen others injured, authorities said.
Four people were reported killed in Oklahoma, where the twisters gained strength, and four others died further north in the Midwestern state of Michigan.
The Branch County Sheriff's Office said a tornado touched down near Union City in southern Michigan on Friday, killing three people and injuring 12.
About 50 miles (80 kilometers) west, officials in Cass County said one person was killed and "several injuries" were reported after a tornado hit the area.
"Our thoughts are with those who have lost family, friends, and property during this incident," the Branch County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Authorities in Cass County said a number of trees had fallen onto roads and buildings, and more than 500 people were reported to be without power.
"Emergency Management personnel will be conducting damage assessments in the affected area as required by the State of Michigan," the local sheriff's office said.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Friday evening she was activating a state emergency operations center "to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather in southwestern Michigan."
In Oklahoma, the extreme weather led to fourth deaths late Thursday and Friday, and people were waking up Saturday to scenes of destruction and loss in several towns across the state.
"Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt posted on X.
Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said in a statement that two people died in a tornado that hit the town of Beggs on Friday night.
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