TYB
Ukraine Hits $100M Nebo-U Radar, Drone Bases in Coordinated Strike Across Occupied Territories
Updated Feb 13, 2026 16:09
Ukrainian forces struck multiple high-value Russian military targets across occupied territories, according to a statement released by Ukraine’s General Staff on February 13.
Ukrainian strikes targeted concentrations of Russian personnel near Solodkovodne and Liubymivka. Separate attacks hit locations used by Russian drone operators in the areas of Tokmak and Mykhailivka in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region.
Further east, in the occupied Donetsk region near the town of Selydove, Ukrainian forces struck a Russian logistics and supply depot.
Ukrainian strikes also reached occupied Crimea, where a 55Zh6U Nebo-U radar station was hit near Yevpatoria. The Nebo-U is a long-range radar system used to detect aerial targets and support air defense operations.
The estimated cost of such a radar system is around $100 million.
In addition, Ukrainian forces struck an area of concentrated Russian military equipment near Komyshuvakha in the occupied Donetsk region.
The full scale of Russian losses and damage from the attacks is still being assessed, the General Staff said.
“The Defense Forces of Ukraine will continue to systematically carry out measures aimed at reducing the combat potential of the Russian aggressor,” the statement read.
Earlier, Ukrainian military intelligence operatives conducted precision drone strikes on several Russian air defense assets, including a rare Arctic-configured surface-to-air missile system.
https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukraine-hits-100m-radar-drone-bases-and-supply-depots-in-coordinated-strike-across-occupied-territories-15884
https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2022291444799619118
other Russia and Ukraine
https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/russian-drones-strike-children-s-hospital-in-sumy-officials-say-50583700.html
https://english.nv.ua/nation/explosions-in-sarny-rivne-oblast-amid-attacks-by-suicide-drones-map-of-air-alerts-on-february-13-50583541.html
https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-technology-proven-in-battle-zelensky-unveils-1st-drone-produced-by-german-ukrainian-joint-venture/
https://en.haberler.com/stunning-drone-supported-operation-by-the-19564373/
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/02/13/nato-exercise-reveals-alliance-cant-survive-ukraine-style-drone-warfare/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2170620/turkey-russia-drone-black-sea
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/africa/2-Nigerians-fighting-for-Russia-found-dead-in-Luhansk-after-drone-strike-2021607
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-looks-to-wean-itself-off-us-aid-but-breaking-free-could-cost-both-sides/
other Israel
https://vinnews.com/2026/02/13/idf-chief-of-staff-military-wont-abandon-goal-of-disarming-hamas-has-plans-ready-for-renewed-gaza-offensive/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-it-struck-hezbollah-operative-repairing-terror-infrastructure-in-south-lebanon/
https://www.agcnews.eu/israeliranwar-trump-and-netanyahu-talks-reach-no-conclusion-second-us-aircraft-carrier-in-the-middle-east-idf-strikes-in-syria-and-gaza-stun-bombs-and-drones-in-lebanon/
https://www.ifcj.org/news/stand-for-israel-blog/idf-captures-terrorist-behind-2025-attack-and-others
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-strike-targeted-two-terrorists-who-crossed-gaza-ceasefire-line-overnight/
https://spectator.com/article/terror-tunnels-and-snipers-life-on-the-frontline-in-gazas-suspended-reality/
https://news.antiwar.com/2026/02/12/israel-launches-new-raids-into-southern-syria-troops-fire-on-civilians/
https://worldisraelnews.com/idf-spokesman-urges-iranians-to-communicate-only-through-official-military-channels/
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-886561
Israel looks to wean itself off US aid, but breaking free could cost both sides
February 13, 2026 8:22 am
A US C-17 sits at the Nevatim Air Base in the desert in Israel, October 13, 2023, after bringing crates of American munitions for Israel. (AP/ Lolita Baldor/ File)
Israel’s battle against Hamas in Gaza over the past two years was waged with extensive military support from the country’s closest ally, the United States.
Since the Hamas-led invasion and massacre that sparked the war, Washington has supplied Israel with an estimated $16-22 billion in military assistance.
That wartime support supplemented the $3.8 billion the US sends Israel in defense aid annually, together reinforcing the strength of the military alliance.
But while largely appreciated in Jerusalem, the heavy reliance on foreign assistance has also raised concerns in Israel about the downsides of the aid, including the level of control it gives the US over Israel’s military spending and priorities.
With the agreement underpinning the annual aid disbursement set to expire in the coming years, the White House occupied by a president who has sought to reduce handouts to foreign allies, and restrictions on arms sales during the war with Hamas a fresh and painful memory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that Jerusalem will phase out its dependence on US military assistance.
The shift could help recalibrate the US-Israel relationship and address those downsides, but analysts warn it could also carry deep knock-on effects domestically and on the international stage, depleting Israeli coffers and boosting hostile elements.
Phasing out aid would represent “a much deeper decline of US influence in the Middle East,” warned former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, adding that it risks weakening US-Israel military ties and calling for careful consideration of a potentially destabilizing move.
While the move carries considerable risk, Israel has survived without US aid before. It fought in 1967 without US weapons, and has found ways to cope with restrictions even since aid was ramped up.
After the US restricted the use of American cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel developed its own improved version.
For Jerusalem, the challenge of weaning off Washington’s assistance will be to preserve cooperation while reducing unwanted control.
If done carefully, Israel has much to gain by moving “from a recipient status to a partner status with the United States,” said former Israeli envoy to the US Michael Oren.
‘Maximal independence’
Speaking to The Economist in an interview published last month, Netanyahu declared that he wanted to “taper off” military aid to zero over the next 10 years.
Days later, he said in a Hebrew-language press conference that he was seeking “maximal independence” from foreign military aid “so we don’t run out of weapons or ammunition.”
In the press conference, Netanyahu leveled an incendiary accusation against the former US president Joe Biden’s administration, saying that Israeli soldiers lost their lives in Gaza because of an “embargo” that he alleged caused the IDF to run out of ammunition.
That policy only ended, he said, when US President Donald Trump took office.
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The premier has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of limiting arms supplies to Israel, notably in June 2024.
President Joe Biden has denied withholding arms apart from a batch of 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs, over concerns about their potential use in southern Gaza’s Rafah at that time.
To prevent such instances from recurring, Netanyahu said he was prioritizing establishing a robust domestic Israeli arms manufacturing sector, aiming to shift the Israel-US relationship “from aid to partnership.”
This would be done, he said, through Israeli development and joint production, and such a partnership could extend to other allies, including India and Germany.
Gil Pinchas, who stepped down last month as chief financial adviser to the Israel Defense Forces and Defense Ministry, told the Financial Times before leaving his position that Israel would seek to prioritize joint military and defense projects over cash handouts in talks with the Trump administration on a new memorandum of understanding, or MOU, which he expected to take place in the coming weeks.
The last MOU, a 10-year deal signed in 2016 that went into effect two years later, granted Israel $3.8 billion per year in military aid, much of it to purchase US-made arms.
Pinchas called the annual aid “one component of the MOU [that] could decrease gradually.”
Double-edged aid
Annual US military aid to Jerusalem dates back to 1979, when Washington committed to providing billions in assistance to both Israel and Egypt as part of the US-brokered peace treaty between the countries.
While the aid once made up a significant chunk of Israel’s military spending, the percentage it makes up of the defense budget has significantly declined in recent years as Israel’s economy has flourished and its own defense spending has expanded.
US aid currently makes up some 15-20 percent of Israel’s defense budget.
Shapiro, who helped negotiate the 2016 MOU as envoy under then-president Barack Obama, and is now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the agreement was built on a rigorous assessment of Israel’s threat environment and projected needs, as “there was a strong consensus between our two sides that we wanted to ensure Israel had adequate means to defend itself.”
Under the agreement, Israel receives $3.3 billion annually in Foreign Military Financing — US grants earmarked for buying American weapons — and a separate $500 million per year for missile-defense development and procurement, specifically the Iron Dome.
The deal formalized missile defense funding for the first time, reducing yearly bargaining with Congress.
While the framework greatly assisted Israel in areas like missile defense, interoperability, and procurement, it also imposed some limitations.
Earlier MOUs allowed Israel to spend more than a quarter of the funds at home, helping nurture Israel’s defense manufacturing, but Obama chose to gradually eliminate this flexibility from 26% to 0% by the final year, so that by 2028, the assistance will be spent exclusively on US systems.
Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the US from 2009 to 2013, described the current aid framework as a liability for Israel, pointing to multiple cases over recent decades where Israel’s dependence on the US constrained military action, including when Obama delayed delivery of certain weapons during fighting in Gaza in 2014.
Oren said he warned Netanyahu at the time that this could happen again in a larger and higher-stakes conflict — as occurred two years ago under the Biden administration.
There are also more subtle setbacks for Israel in accepting hefty American aid.
Under Biden and Obama, dependence on American aid encouraged a shift toward defensive systems at the expense of conventional readiness for an offensive campaign — which is partly what caused the IDF to be less prepared for sustained ground combat when the 2023 Gaza war erupted, Oren argued.
Because those administrations preferred that Israel rely on defensive, rather than offensive, operations, US funding emphasized missile defense systems like Iron Dome, claimed the former envoy.
“We were dependent on the aid, and the aid was geared to making us defensive, not offensive… This not just created leverage, it contributed to a change of our military culture, which was profound and immensely harmful.”
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Oren encouraged Jerusalem to gradually phase out annual aid while preserving a close strategic partnership with the US, an option that could allow cooperation to flourish outside the military procurement sphere in areas like technology cooperation, intelligence sharing, and joint projects.
It would also free up Israel to procure weapons systems outside the US, fostering the expansion of multilateral ties and reducing its dependence on a single relationship.
That could help shift the current power dynamic, which has resulted in the US effectively wielding veto power over who Israel can make arms deals with.
In 2000, then-president Bill Clinton blocked a nearly $1 billion sale of Phalcon surveillance aircraft to Beijing. Four years later, president George W. Bush pressured Israel over plans to service Harpy drones previously sold to China.
As Israel moves to build up its own arms industry, it will rely on sales to foreign countries to fund the sector, with each of them a potential friction point with Washington, whether due to geopolitical issues or market competition.
For Israel, ensuring that the US relationship survives those challenges may mean reducing the level to which that partnership is linked to military aid and procurement, though there could also be pitfalls in navigating those shifting ties.
Eran Lerman, vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and former deputy director of Israel’s National Security Council, encouraged shifting from an aid model to a deeper technological partnership, while reinforcing the US commitment to deterring dangerous actors.
The dynamic of the US being seen as Israel’s ATM helped promulgate a false perception of Israel as weak and fragile without the US.
That means deterrence, a major part of Israel’s defense strategy in dealing with regional enemies, is put at risk any time support from Washington seems to waver, Lerman warned.
“The main difficulty inherent in [the MOU] lies in the image that has been created of one-sided dependence, when in practice Israel also contributes quite a bit to US security,” he said.
Going it alone
Even with its limitations on Israel, the current aid framework serves as a key stabilizer of procurement pipelines and US-Israel military integration. Without it, Israel could face new challenges in planning, budgeting, and financing arms procurements.
The US is likely to remain Israel’s main arms supplier, but, absent the funding guarantees of an MOU, Jerusalem will have a tougher time securing expensive, long-lead multi-year contracts.
Current contracting often relies on the assurance of future MOU funding even before Congress appropriates it, Shapiro explained; without such a framework, Israel will need new budgeting structures to reassure suppliers and sustain long-term agreements.
To many, Netanyahu’s call to decrease assistance is seen as an attempt to get in front of negative trends in US politics toward supplying the aid — from Democrats citing humanitarian concerns to a growing bloc of “America First” isolationists within the GOP.
Israel may diversify suppliers over time to avoid the effects of these trends, though Shapiro predicted that it would not be an immediate shift, especially for the Air Force, which would strongly prefer US systems for interoperability with Washington and coordination with CENTCOM.
The problem is that with or without the MOU, the US is always able to limit weapons sales.
Requests for Tomahawk missiles and strategic bombers have often been denied, and, even when Israel buys systems like the F-35, the IDF does not receive full access to their operating software.
“To the extent that one of the drivers of heightened skepticism about aiding Israel in the US is concerns about civilian casualties, humanitarian assistance, and those kinds of considerations — those also apply to sales of weapons, not only arms provided through assistance programs,” Shapiro said, noting that Congress can still attach conditions to assistance, review sales, and, although rarely put into practice, block sales or try to condition them.
Retired US Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, a former deputy head of US European Command, warned that Israel moving away from US aid could make it easier for Washington to restrict F-35 parts, air-to-air missiles, and other advanced munitions.
While Israel has the technology to produce these items domestically, it still lacks sufficient industrial production capacity to do so, said Wald, a distinguished fellow at the Jewish Institute for the National Security of America.
Cutting aid could also signal to members of Congress who are on the fence about supporting Israel that Jerusalem is “going it alone,” possibly reducing their support, the former general added.
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There is reason, however, to believe that arms sales would continue smoothly, thanks to the US interest in keeping its top Middle Eastern ally well-armed.
“The number one objective ought to be that Israel remains the superpower of the Middle East,” said Wald.
Defense firms are also eager to keep selling to Israel, noted Oren. Israel already jumps procurement lines for F-35 fighter jets because the IDF shows off how they can be used in actual combat, a trend likely to continue.
Israel flying F-35s built by Lockheed Martin provides “billions of dollars in free advertisement,” he said.
Risky ripples
While Israel is likely to try to preserve the $500 million for missile defense, replacing the remaining annual $3.3 billion — which at present amounts to about 0.6% of Israel’s GDP — would likely cause some domestic unrest in Israel as the government cut from other services to pay for the shortfall.
The need to reduce funding for healthcare, social services, or other domestic priorities would spark a public debate about defense spending, but the economic impact would be manageable if done gradually, Lerman said.
The weaning would also carry other considerable potential downsides for both Israel and the US, including weakening regional deterrence or hurting Arab normalization.
A full phase-out weakens cooperation and interoperability, not just US leverage over Israel, said Shapiro, warning about “the second- and third-order effects of how that would affect US influence and ability to protect our interests in the region, and the openings it gives to our competitors.”
Phasing out aid “would almost certainly embolden Iran and its allies in the region if they perceive reduced US support,” Shapiro continued, adding that efforts to maintain or expand the moderate Abraham Accords normalization coalition could also be harmed, since many Arab states are incentivized to normalize ties with Israel to get closer to the US and improve CENTCOM cooperation.
What’s more, if the US stops aiding Israel, Congress may be unlikely to proceed with comparable aid to Egypt and Jordan, since those packages are linked to peace with Israel, Shapiro added, which may lead to additional adverse effects.
In the absence of sufficient US assistance programs, instability in Jordan can “spill over to the West Bank, to Syria, to Iraq,” he noted, adding that Egypt would “simply buy its weapons from Russia and China. It really opens the door to US competitors.”
Similar to Shapiro’s warning, Wald maintained that phasing out aid would weaken US influence and embolden adversaries, saying that, rather than retreat from Washington, the relationship should be strengthened, formalized, and ideally upgraded through a renewed MOU.
He proposed expanding joint weapons development, deepening tech cooperation, and writing stronger guarantees into the next agreement.
There are also ways to reinforce the military alliance outside a future MOU, like moving US aircraft from Qatar to Israel and basing more forces there to strengthen deterrence.
The countries could even move toward a formal defense treaty guaranteeing protection like NATO’s Article 5 — but noted that Israel has historically resisted such treaties over fear of the US gaining veto power over Israeli military action.
Deterrence could alternatively be preserved outside of a formal aid agreement by tightening legislative guarantees protecting Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region and increasing tech partnerships, argued Lerman.
He pushed for improved partnership with the US through joint technological development, the restriction of advanced systems to Arab states, and by highlighting Israeli defense industries as strategic partners for the West.
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quite the vantage point we have.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/liveblog/202602011665
other Iran
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5737201-uss-gerald-r-ford-middle-east-us-iran/
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5736030-iran-war-us-threat/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/zelenskiy-meets-iranian-opposition-figure-pahlavi-2026-02-13/
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/893827/iaea-iran-has-the-right-to-a-peaceful-nuclear-program-says-grossi
Trump says second aircraft carrier needed if Iran talks fail
February 13. 2026
Summary
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Washington is redeploying the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford from the Caribbean to the Middle East, a move that will station two US carrier strike groups in the region as friction with Iran intensifies.
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US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that Tehran will face a "very traumatic" outcome if no deal is reached. When asked about a deadline, he said "I guess over the next month".
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Israel's prime minister said on Thursday Trump’s tougher stance toward Tehran could push Iran to accept terms for a new agreement, but stressed that he is skeptical and that any deal must address its ballistic missiles and regional proxy groups.
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The Trump administration covertly sent thousands of Starlink satellite internet terminals into Iran following a deadly crackdown on demonstrations and sweeping internet shutdowns, The Wall Street Journal reported citing US officials.
7 minutes ago
Trump says second aircraft carrier needed if no deal reached with Iran
US President Donald Trump told reporters the second aircraft carrier being sent to the Middle East will be needed "in case we don't make a deal" with Iran.
"If we have a deal, it'll be leaving. It'll be leaving very soon. We have one out there that just arrived. If we need it, we'll, we'll, we have it ready. A big, a very big force."
38 minutes ago
It'd be a disaster if Trump allows Iran’s regime to survive, senator says
If US President Donald Trump does not deliver on his promises and lets the Iranian regime survive, “it will be a disaster," Republican Senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham told Politico Pub in Munich.
“It means you can’t rely on America. It means the Western World is full of crap. All they do is talk and when rubber meets the road they don’t do a damn thing.”
1 hour ago
Grossi says Iran's nuclear infrastructure 'radically altered' after June war
"After the twelve-day war, Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has been radically altered, with key facilities severely damaged or no longer operational.
That fundamentally changes the basis for any future nuclear agreement," IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said during a speech in Munich.
1 hour ago
Ukrainian president meets Iranian exiled crown prince in Munich
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday he met with exiled Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi in Munich on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
"Ukraine supports the Iranian people as they are fighting for their future; we also express our sympathy to all the victims of the Iranian regime," Zelenskyy said in a post on his X account.
"During our conversation, we focused on the situation in Iran and the areas where the Iranian people need support. We discussed the importance of strengthening sanctions against the Iranian regime and any other dictatorial regimes."
"We condemned the cooperation between Russia and Iran, in particular the supply of “shaheds” by the Iranian regime to Russia and the granting of licenses for their production," he said.
Zelenskyy described such a partnership as "a real threat not only to Ukraine but to the entire region."
"I thank the Crown Prince of Iran for supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It is vital to make every effort to protect human lives. Ukraine is ready to help on its part."
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1 hour ago
EXCLUSIVE
Internet shutdown chokes off one of the last lifelines for young Iranians
Freelancers across Iran lost foreign contracts and saw income dry up during January’s internet shutdown, digital workers told Iran International, as weeks offline cut their access to projects and payments in an economy already hit by global isolation.
Iran’s internet, throttled for 20 days during January’s mass killing of protesters, has been restored since earlier this month, but remains unstable, with VPNs and other censorship-bypassing tools now far harder to access than before the shutdown.
“The internet is not stable enough for me to confidently take on projects, and transferring money has become so complicated that the losses outweigh the income,” one electrical engineer working as a freelancer told Iran International, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Iranian entrepreneurs and freelancers are mostly shut out of global platforms and payment systems due to US sanctions, forcing them to depend on expensive workarounds that put their businesses at risk.
The engineer said that before the shutdown, earnings depended on the size and complexity of each contract.
Continue reading
2 hours ago
Next round of Iran-US talks expected to be held next week - Axios
A second round of Iran-US talks is expected to be held next week, Axios reported on Friday, but said no official date has been set.
3 hours ago
Witnesses say new wave of student arrests hits Iran
A new wave of arrests targeting protesting students has taken place in several Iranian cities including Borujerd, Izeh and Rafsanjan, according to messages sent to Iran International.
Among those detained is 17-year-old Arian Movafaghi, who faces the charge of “moharebeh,” or waging war against God. The Borujerd teenager took part in protests on January 8 and was arrested at his home on January 14. He has since been transferred to Khorramabad prison.
A resident of Rafsanjan told Iran International that a 15-year-old student was detained for defending Pahlavi at school. The teenager was held for two days and has remained silent since his release.
In Izeh, south of Iran, Basij forces went to a public boys’ school in recent days and took at least two students with them, according to the messages.
There are no confirmed figures on the number of children and teenagers detained. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations previously said that 200 students were killed by security forces during the recent protests.
3 hours ago
Video shows Iranians heading to Munich rally
A video sent to Iran International shows a group of Iranians traveling together toward Munich in Germany following exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call to attend a rally in the city on Saturday.
Iranians are set to hold gatherings in support of protesters inside the country on February 14 in Los Angeles, Toronto and Munich.
4 hours ago
Officials offer gift cards to families of those killed in protests, citizens say
Commanders from the Revolutionary Guards and provincial officials in northern Golestan province have visited the homes of some people killed during January protests, offering fifty-million-rial gift cards ($33), according to messages sent to Iran International.
In recent weeks, delegations of six to ten officials went to several homes in Gorgan, presented the government’s account of the events and warned families about publicizing information.
At the end of the visits, they left behind a folder containing a certificate of appreciation and one or two bank gift cards, witnesses said.
Families describe the gesture as humiliating and view it as an attempt to buy silence, contain protests and deter legal action over how their children were killed, according to the messages.
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