KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered Moscow’s armed forces to observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine this weekend for the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, the first such sweeping truce move in the nearly 11-month-old war. Putin did not appear to make his cease-fire order conditional on...
Syria Kurds Accuse Turkey of Violating Cease-Fire
CEYLANPINAR, Turkey — The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria accused Turkey on Friday of violating a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect overnight, as fighters from both sides clashed in and around a border town that has been one of the fiercest fronts in the Turkish invasion. The town of Ras al-Ayn...
Yemen's Warring Sides Agree on Truce in Key Port City
RIMBO, Sweden — Yemen's warring sides agreed Thursday to an immediate cease-fire in the strategic port city of Hodeida, where fighting has disrupted vital aid deliveries and left the country on the brink of starvation in the 4-year-old civil war. The agreement includes a withdrawal of combatants to outside the city...
Israel Must Prevent Unnecessary War in Gaza: Haaretz Editorial
This time, an army operation in Gaza went wrong, resulting in one Israeli officer and seven Palestinians being killed. The Pavlovian response by both sides naturally wasn’t long in coming: rocket fire toward Israel, and in response, extensive Israeli air strikes. This destructive cycle must be stopped immediately – not by...
Gaza's Hamas Rulers Say Cease-Fire Reached With Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza's Hamas rulers said Wednesday they had agreed to a cease-fire with Israel to end the largest flare-up of violence between the two sides since a 2014 war. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, said Egyptian mediators intervened "after the resistance succeeded in warding off...