What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' The group had reportedly been starving on the front line after up to 17 days without food deliveries and months without rotation. The fighters were holed up on the left, eastern bank of the Oskil River in the southeastern Donetsk region after Russian bombs destroyed the bridges connecting them to their brigade on the right bank. "They weren't listened to on the radio, or perhaps no one wanted to listen to them. My husband shouted and begged, saying there was no food and water," Silchuk wrote. She did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for an interview.

At least nine people, including two children, were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the health ministry said, as violence continues despite a ceasefire now in its second week. The strikes - which Israel said were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure - also wounded 23 people, among them eight children and seven women, the ministry said. Separately, Hezbollah said it had carried out attacks on Israeli forces in the south, including a drone strike targeting soldiers in the Bint Jbeil district. The violence comes as Israel presses ahead with military operations in Lebanon despite the ceasefire announced on 16 April, after direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticised what he described as continuing Israeli violations of the truce, saying strikes and demolitions of homes and places of worship were ongoing despite the ceasefire.

Kim Jong Un praises troops who'self-blasted' to avoid capture by Ukraine Kim Jong Un has praised North Korean soldiers who killed themselves by detonating their grenades while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, confirming a long-suspected battlefield policy. In a speech this week, the North Korean leader said those who unhesitatingly opted for self-blasting, suicide attack, in order to defend the great honour were heroes. South Korea estimates at least 15,000 North Koreans have been sent to help Russia recapture parts of western Kursk, and more than 6,000 have been killed so far. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow have confirmed the numbers. Intelligence agencies and defectors have said the soldiers were under Pyongyang's orders to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner by Ukraine.

'We will go wherever they hide': Rooting out IS in Somalia A figure appears in the picture, moving through a valley. He has been to fetch water for his friends, says the drone operator. He is running and carrying something on his back, adds another soldier. The man on the screen is near a cave, which the army believes is a hideout for 50 to 60 IS fighters. The Puntland Defence Forces have about 500 soldiers stationed at this base in the north-east of Somalia. Ten years ago the barren and inhospitable landscape was home to only a few nomadic communities, but that changed when IS established a foothold here, shifting its focus to Africa as its fighters were driven out of their strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

Drones aren't yet licensed to carry passengers, but some may already be airlifting wounded personnel off the battlefield and could be employed for smuggling people Still from a promotional video for Skysurfer, a US company that sells "ultralight aircraft" for personal, recreational use The first passenger-carrying drones may already be in use. These aren't sophisticated urban air taxis, but crudely modified cargo drones transporting combat casualties and criminals. Heavy-lift drones are essentially scaled-up versions of the familiar quadcopters. Hair-raising videos of hobbyists carried by home-made drones show that the basic technology is simple enough. But meeting aircraft safety requirements for passenger transport takes years, and drone-makers, including Volocopter, EHang and Eve Air Mobility, are all aiming to get vehicles certified this year or next.

Ukraine has responded to a war it didn't start by creating an industry it doesn't want, but could the nation's drone expertise help it rebuild? To learn more, gained exclusive access to the research labs, factories and military training schools behind Ukraine's drones Killhouse Academy, run by the 3rd Assault Brigade, is Ukraine's leading drone-pilot school. The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. As a result, in the four years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufacturing and operating a variety of ingenious drones.

Evidence is mounting that Elon Musk's decision to deny Russian forces access to his Starlink satellite-based internet service has blunted Moscow's advance, caused confusion among Russian soldiers and handed an advantage to Ukraine's defenders. And what can Ukraine's military achieve in the meantime? The Russians lost their ability to control the field, a Ukrainian drone operator who goes by the callsign Giovanni told us. I think they lost 50% of their capacity for offence, he said. That's what the numbers show.

Science Archaeology How a hobbyist's hunch uncovered hidden Roman military camps The finds are forcing historians to reconsider the extent of the Roman military's advance in Germany. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. An amateur archaeologist armed only with satellite imagery and a hunch helped uncover evidence that's reshaping how historians understand the Roman Empire's advance into present-day Germany in the third century CE. In 2020, hobbyist Michael Barkowski was combing through aerial imagery available online, when he spotted an unusual formation near the town of Aken, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in northwestern Germany. Barkowski suspected that the large rectangular outlines and apparent ditches he was seeing could be signs of marching camps that were commonly deployed by Roman legions .

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' A Russian drone attack killed two women and a man in Vilniansk in Ukraine's front-line Zaporizhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said on the Telegram messaging app. The attack also destroyed houses after fires broke out, Fedorov said.

The US military has launched a mission to transfer up to 7,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters from prisons in north-eastern Syria to Iraq, as Syrian government forces take control of areas long controlled by Kurdish-led forces. US Central Command said it had already moved 150 IS fighters from Hassakeh province to a secure location in Iraq. The move aimed to prevent a breakout that would pose a direct threat to the United States and regional security, it added. On Tuesday night, Syria's government announced a new ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), after the militia alliance withdrew from al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of relatives of IS fighters. Separately on Wednesday, Syria's defence ministry said seven soldiers were killed in a drone attack by Kurdish forces in the Kurdish-dominated province of Hasakah.