David Hopen

For the first time, Russia used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants, allowing its pilots to cut flight times and increase bombing payloads.

The U.S. expanded its war against the Islamic State into Libya yesterday, using both manned warplanes and drones to conduct airstrikes in the coastal city of Surt. The strikes, which seek to weaken the Islamic State’s stronghold in North Africa and free Libyan militias cornered by ISIS fighters, come after weeks of negotiation between the Obama administration and the UN-backed Libyan government on how best to strike precisely and reduce civilian casualties.

The Kremlin has denied accusations that it hacked the Democratic National Committee’s emails in order to interfere with the U.S. presidential election in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump, dismissing the allegations as “an old trick” and a “maniacal attemp[t] to exploit the Russian theme in the U.S.