27/07/2026

MONDAY | JULY 27, 2026

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Russia seeks 30,000 more N. Korea troops KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia has sought an extra 30,000 troops and missile launchers from North Korea to fight his country. Russia’s invasion since 2022. According to South Korea, some 2,000 North Korean troops have been killed in the war. gain real combat experience in using them,” he said. “All of this is a threat to everyone in Asia who is within range of North Korean missiles.”

PROGRESS IN OMAN TALKS, SAYS TEHRAN TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday it had made progress in talks with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said several rounds of negotiations were held in Tehran on Friday and Saturday between Iranian and Omani deputy foreign ministers. The discussions focused on “common principles and operational mechanism” for ensuring the safe passage of shipping through the strait while respecting the sovereign rights of the two states, Baqaei said. He described the talks as “useful” and said progress had been made, adding that “technical and political consultations between the two sides were continuing”. Oman and Iran said last month they would discuss imposing service fees. – AFP IRAN ACCUSES UKRAINE OF ATTACK TEHRAN: Iran accused Ukraine on Saturday of attacking one of its merchant vessels in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor and wounding another, and warned it would not leave the incident unanswered. The accusation came after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had carried out long range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels involved in transporting military cargo involving Iran, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the attack on Saturday caused the ship “to explode, killing one sailor and injuring another”. The Islamic republic “has never intervened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”, it said. – AFP D-DAY BEACHES ON HERITAGE LIST RENNES: The iconic D-Day landing beaches in Normandy were yesterday inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage List, marking the culmination of a project launched nearly two decades ago. Stretching for more than 80km of coastline in northwestern France, the beaches where Allied forces landed on June 6, 1944, were the scene of a decisive battle to liberate Europe and bring an end to World War II. The nomination included the five D-Day beaches known by their code names: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The beaches join more than 50 French sites on the list, alongside Mont Saint Michel island and the Palace of Versailles. – AFP

of the Ukrainian dispute and defend its national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international justice”, the North’s KCNA state news agency said after the talks. President Vladimir Putin expressed “gratitude” for North Korea’s support in a video released ahead of Choe’s visit. In return for its military aid, North Korea has received cash, military technology and food and energy commodities to help it overcome international sanctions over its nuclear programme. – AFP

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“Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea. Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them,” Zelensky said on X. “North Korea is also preparing to transfer additional launchers for ballistic missiles to Russia. This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons, and

The two countries signed a military assistance treaty in 2024 and North Korea reaffirmed its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine during a visit to Moscow last week by its Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. Pyongyang “expressed invariable support for all the internal and external policies of the Russian Federation to eliminate the root cause

Preparations for the extra troops are being made in Russia’s Voronezh region near the frontier with Ukraine, Zelensky said in a social media post late on Saturday. North Korea sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight off a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kursk region in 2024. It has also provided arms to help

US holds off attacks

o NYT reports of dwindling munitions

TEHRAN: Iran passed another day without US airstrikes yesterday, as Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation. The lull has revived hopes of a return to negotiations after nearly two weeks of US bombardments, although US media reported the pause could also reflect pressure on stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other defensive weapons. Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, but the conflict then expanded beyond the vital energy corridor to include attacks on US bases, regional shipping and Gulf allies. Iran’s army warned yesterday that the war would widen even further if the US chose to press ahead with attacks, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington. “If the Americans once again fall for the Zionists’ deception, or move in line with them, and insist on continuing the war, particularly through airstrikes, geographically this will expand further,” army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia told state television. US operations against Iran were “on a hold”, CNN reported, quoting an unidentified Pentagon source, even as US President Donald Trump threatened a “much higher level” of strikes on Friday. Plans to escalate the campaign have been shelved in part because of those shrinking supplies, The New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter. Trump also faces the risk of a

A banner is displayed outside the main gate of the RAF Fairford airbase, which hosts US Air Force personnel in Gloucestershire, Britain on Saturday. – REUTERSPIC

several large Israeli settlements, had found graffiti and signs of arson and were searching for suspects. It said police officers would be sent to collect evidence. “The security forces strongly condemn incidents of this kind, including harm to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the area,” the military said. – Reuters The war that Trump once predicted would last four or five weeks is now nearing its fifth month, and is weighing on the Republican’s approval ratings ahead of crucial US midterm elections in November. The Pentagon had presented Trump with a plan for a 14th night of strikes but he declined to authorise it in favour of a push for talks, Axios reported. – AFP

West Bank illegal, a position Israel rejects, while the Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since Israel launched a war against Hamas rulers in October 2023, settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply. The Israeli military said troops sent to Qusra, which sits near to him successfully but warned of the possible implications. Trump said on Friday he had not decided whether to return to an all out operation. “We’re talking to them right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious,” he told journalists. Trump said Iran faced a choice between a deal and strikes at a “much higher level”.

of Nablus, said settlers had torched a newly completed mosque in his village early yesterday. He said they sprayed slogans on the walls and the name of one of the Israelis killed near Tal. “The village has faced repeated attacks since 2011, and these attacks have increased since the war,” he told Reuters by telephone. Most countries and UN bodies consider Jewish settlements in the wider war, the estrangement of vulnerable Gulf allies and further shocks to the global economy, the newspaper said. Vice-President JD Vance and top US general Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalation at a White House meeting on Friday, CNN reported. Caine told Trump the military could carry out the options available

Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian buildings QUSRA: Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank early yesterday, setting fire to two buildings and scrawling graffiti, Palestinian officials said. Villagers came out of their homes to confront the settlers, officials said.

The subsequent shootout joined a growing series of clashes involving settlers in which dozens of Palestinians have been killed this year and hundreds wounded, according to figures from the UN and the Palestinian Authority. Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the village council in Qusra, southeast

On Friday, four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers – one of them acting as a local security coordinator – had been killed when a crowd of Israeli settlers made an incursion around the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.