On Oct. 23, 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at the U.S. Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon, while a near-simultaneous attack on French barracks in Beirut killed 58 paratroopers.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have announced a ceasefire following days of the deadliest clashes in years that killed dozens of people on both sides of the border. The pause came after appeals from major regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The violence has threatened to further destabilize a region where groups including the Islamic State and al-Qaida are trying to resurface. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring armed groups. The country's Taliban rulers deny it. Pakistan has seen a growing number of militant attacks since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. Key border crossings remain closed.
Yemen's Houthi rebels say that Israeli strikes on Yemen's capital the previous afternoon killed at least nine people and injured scores in Sanaa. Thursday's strikes came a day after a drone launched by the Houthis wounded 22 people in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, a rare breach of Israel's air defenses. According to the health ministry in the Houthi-controlled northern half of Yemen, which includes Sanaa, four children, two women and three older people were among the dead. The Israeli military said it carried out strikes in Yemen, with dozens of aircraft targeting Houthi military command headquarters, military camps and security and intelligence facilities.
Israel has launched its offensive in Gaza City, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war. Vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings clogged a coastal road as thousands of Palestinians fled Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands more remain. The operation into the largest Palestinian city further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The military wouldn't offer a timeline for the offensive, but Israeli media suggested it could take months. It says it aims to "destroy Hamas' military infrastructure."
On Aug. 30, 1916, on his fourth attempt, explorer Ernest Shackelton successfully returned to Elephant Island in Antarctica to rescue 22 of his stranded crew members, who had survived on the barren island for four and a half months after the sinking of their ship, the Endurance.
The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 63,000 as Palestinians face the start of Israel's expanded offensive in Gaza City. The count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians killed in the 22-month war between Israel and Hamas. The ministry says five people have died from malnutrition-related causes over the past day, raising the toll to 322, including 121 children, since the war began. A military official says Israel intends to continue helping aid reach Gaza City during the offensive, but a U.N. humanitarian group fears "a horrific impact" on people already deprived of basic needs.
U.S. President Donald Trump claims that the war in eastern Congo is among the ones he has stopped, after brokering a peace deal between Congo and Rwanda in June. But residents, conflict researchers and others tell The Associated Press that's not true. Trump on Monday repeated claims that he ended the decadeslong conflict, describing Congo as the "darkest, deepest" part of Africa. But a final peace deal between Congo and the rebels, facilitated by Qatar, appears to have stalled. And people on the ground say fighting has occurred even in the past 24 hours.
Days before the leaders of Russia and the U.S. hold a summit meeting in Alaska, Moscow's forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of infiltrations this week in the country's industrial heartland of Donetsk. The advances amount to only a limited success for Russia, since Moscow still needs to consolidate its gains before achieving a true breakthrough. Still, some observers say it's a potentially dangerous moment. Analyst Mykola Bieleskov says Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Kyiv by arguing the 3 1/2-year-old war is going badly for Kyiv.
Ukrainian soldiers on the front line doubt that peace talks can end the war with Russia. Explosions from Russian weapons keep them almost always underground, and nothing on the Eastern Front suggests an end is near. Soldiers' skepticism over diplomatic peace efforts is rooted in months of what they see as broken U.S. promises to end the war quickly. Suggestions to exchange territories confuse and frustrate them. Some soldiers believe a brief pause in hostilities is more likely than peace. As the war drags on, soldiers train intensively, knowing there's no way back.
An Army sergeant has been accused of shooting five soldiers at Fort Stewart. Officials say Wednesday that other troops tackled 28-year-old Sgt. Quornelius Radford after he started firing. The shooting prompted a brief lockdown at one the country's largest Army bases. Officials say Radford used a personal handgun, not a military firearm. Officials say Radford opened fire where he worked. An Army spokesman says officials wouldn't speculate about a motive. The injured soldiers are stable and expected to recover, and Radford is in law enforcement custody. Brig. Gen. John Lubas said fellow soldiers tackled Radford and subdued him.
