08/03/2026

theSun on Sunday MAR 8, 2026

WORLD 8

Azerbaijan foils several acts of sabotage BAKU: Azerbaijan said it had prevented several acts of sabotage, including a plot to attack a major oil pipeline running through the South Caucasus to Turkiye. The targets included the Baku an Ashkenazi synagogue and a leader of an ancient Jewish community in Azerbaijan called the Mountain Jews, according to a State Security Service statement. Iran has not commented on the statement.

of into Azerbaijan. Authorities have issued international arrest warrants for four people. On Friday, Azerbaijan ordered the evacuation of its diplomats from Iran, citing safety concerns, amid already tense relations between the two countries. – AFP C-4 explosives

incursion of four Iranian drones into its Nakhchivan exclave, which injured four people and damaged airport infrastructure. Iran denied it sent the drones into Azerbaijan. Baku said an investigation found two Iranian citizens and an Azerbaijani national had colluded to bring over 7kg

and also accounts for roughly a third of Israeli oil imports. Any damage to its infrastructure could drive global energy prices even higher as the war in the Middle East enters its second week. The Azerbaijani statement came just a day after Baku vowed to retaliate for what it said was an

The BTC pipeline via Georgia and Turkiye sends oil to Europe,

Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan,

Hezbollah repels Israeli troops BEIRUT: Hezbollah yesterday said it confronted Israeli troops that infiltrated an east Lebanon town on Friday night, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 16 killed in Israeli strikes on the area. In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters had “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”. After landing and disembarking, the advancing troops “were engaged” by a group of Hezbollah fighters as they reached a cemetery in the town of Nabi Sheet, Hezbollah said. “The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed.” It said Israeli troops launched intense strikes before evacuating. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. An AFP correspondent in the area heard warplanes and intense gunfire throughout the night. Lebanon’s east, where Hezbollah holds sway, was subjected to heavy Israeli strikes on Friday, particularly Nabi Sheet, which was struck at least 13 times, according to National News Agency (NNA). The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 16 people have been killed in strikes in the area, with 35 wounded. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it frired rockets at the Israelis’ “evacuation area” outside Nabi Sheet Israel has launched strikes and sent ground troops into Lebanon since Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Nabi Sheet raid would be the deepest Israeli forces have reached inside Lebanon since special unit troops apprehended Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz from the northern city of Batroun in November 2024. NNA also said earlier yesterday that “clashes are taking place on the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border to repel Israeli landing attempts”. – AFP

‘Iran will not surrender’ TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would never surrender to Israel and the United States, as the Middle East conflict entered its second week. President apologises to neighbouring countries

Iran’s enemies “must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves”, Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast on state TV yesterday. Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran on Feb 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering a regional conflict. Iran has since responded with missile and drone strikes on Israel and US interests in regional countries, mainly in the Gulf. Pezeshkian is among three members of an interim leadership council that has been in charge of Iran since Khamenei’s killing. During the speech, Pezeshkian apologised to neighbouring countries for Iran’s attacks across the region, saying that they would not be targeted unless attacks originated from them. “I must apologise on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” he said. “The interim leadership council agreed yesterday that no more attacks will be made on neighbouring countries and no missiles will be fired unless an attack on Iran originates from those countries.” Israel announced yesterday a new wave of “broad-scale” strikes. A provincial official in Iran said attacks on a central Iranian province killed at least eight people. “Eight citizens, including a woman, were martyred in these terrorist

Smoke rises following an explosion in Tehran. – WANA/REUTERSPIC

Dubai airport, the world’s busiest for international traffic, suspended operations yesterday after an aerial interception in the area. “For the safety of passengers, airport staff and airline crew, operations at Dubai International have been suspended,” the government’s Dubai Media Office said. The announcement came shortly after the aerial interception of an object near the airport, with a witness telling AFP of a loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke. The Flightradar24 tracking website earlier showed planes circling above the airport in an apparent holding pattern. – AFP

attacks,” said Akbar Salehi, a security official at the governor’s office in Isfahan province yesterday. “American and Zionist regime fighter jets attacked areas of Isfahan city and seven other cities in the province,” Salehi said, according to Tasnim news agency. He said “80 houses were severely damaged” in the city of Isfahan as well as the Lenjan and Borkhar areas. Meanwhile, air raid alerts and explosions were ringing out above Jerusalem as well as Gulf cities Dubai, Manama and near Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base housing US military personnel.

Finnish pupils take hovercraft to school PARGAS: Skipper Sampsa Jalo greets three young children on their way home from school as they board an amphibious vessel docked and humming at a wooden pier on the frozen Baltic Sea. Finland’s archipelagos. More than 81,000 islands dot the Nordic country’s 1,100km coastline.

said with a little smile. State-owned ferry operator Finferries replaced some of its regular vessels with six hovercraft when freezing temperatures last month led to the formation of unusually thick ice. “The ships can handle the ice but it’s so slow and expensive because it uses a lot of fuel,” Jalo said. A trip with a commuter ferry or vessel that normally takes an hour now takes “five or six hours to cover the same distance” due to the current ice conditions, he explained. By hovercraft, “the same journey can be completed in 10 minutes”. – AFP

Here in the Pargas archipelago, 107 islands are inhabited year round by nearly 3,000 residents. As the cushions under the vessel filled with air, the hovercraft lifted off the icy surface and set out across the frozen sea. In the back seat, the three children agreed their school commute was “very exciting”. “Especially when it drifts like this,” said Wickstrom, showing how the hovercraft glides sideways on the ice. “It moves very fast,” Jalkanen

Due to unusually thick ice this winter, a hovercraft called Snovit (Snow White) has replaced the ferries that normally transport 12-year-old Hugo Wickstrom, nine-year-old Julia Jalkanen and eight-year-old Nils-Johan Ostman to the islands where they live in southwestern Finland’s Pargas archipelago. This is only the third time in 15 years that hovercraft have been brought in because of thick ice in

A pupil boarding a hovercraft after school in Pargas. – AFPPIC