Lieutenant Colonel (res.) A., an Israeli Air Force pilot who commanded the initial airstrike of Operation Rising Lion deep inside Iranian territory, has for the first time revealed the personal letter he wrote to his loved ones once the combat mission concluded.
As the first pilot to cross into hostile airspace, A. took on the riskiest role in the opening wave of attacks. His assignment placed him at the forefront of what became one of the most daring operations carried out by Israel in recent years.
Knesset member Matan Kahana, a longtime friend of A., shared the contents of the letter on social media after the pilot gave his consent.

Ofra Keidar was buried on Thursday at Kibbutz Be’eri, after being held hostage for 625 days, nearly 21 months since her abduction on October 7, 2023.
Her son Elad Keidar spoke at the graveside, reflecting on their final phone call. “After they told us you had been recovered from Gaza, I couldn’t stop replaying our last phone conversation in my head – the photos and videos I saw, the situation we were in at home, and the state you were in when you faced the terrorists. I started analyzing the entire situation from every angle, like a 360-degree view. I need these details to find closure in my personal journey. I hope with all my heart that all the families of the hostages will also be able to find their closure.”

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Eric Adams set out Thursday to persua

Nestle said Wednesday it will eliminate artificial colors from its U.S. food and beverages by the middle of 2026. It’s the latest big food company making that pledge. Last week, Kraft Heinz and General Mills said they would remove artificial dyes from their U.S. products by 2027. General Mills also said it plans to remove artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals and from all foods served in K-12 schools by the middle of 2026. The move has broad support. About two-thirds of Americans favor restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove ingredients like added sugar or dyes, according to an AP-NORC poll. Both California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools. On Sunday, Republican Gov.

President Donald Trump claimed that reporters from CNN and The New York Times could soon face termination over what he called inaccurate coverage of the recent American airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Both media organizations had published pieces suggesting that the U.S. bombing campaign failed to achieve lasting damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, estimating that any disruption would last just a few months.
However, CIA Director John Ratcliffe contradicted those claims on Wednesday, stating that reliable intelligence pointed to severe destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, potentially requiring years for the regime to rebuild.
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday, Trump took aim at the two news giants.

A home in the southern Lebanon town of Houla, allegedly used by Hezbollah to observe Israeli forces, was demolished by IDF troops overnight, the military says. According to the IDF, the home belonged to Ahmad Ghazi Ali, a Hezbollah operative killed in a drone strike in Houla a week ago.

WH PRESS SECRETARY: “The contrast is clear, Obama and Biden sent taxpayer dollars in a failed attempt to buy the Iranian regime’s compliance. President Trump sent war planes to destroy Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.”

WH PRESS SECRETARY: “When we look at the entirety of the intelligence that we have to this date, it concludes that these strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities were absolutely successful. It was a total obliteration.”

The bombing has quieted in Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel. Now its battered theocracy and 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must regroup and rebuild in a changed landscape. Israeli airstrikes decimated the upper ranks of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and depleted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israeli missiles and American bunker buster bombs damaged the nuclear program—though how much remains disputed. Khamenei went into deep isolation in an undisclosed location, appearing only twice in videos as the Israelis had free rein over the country’s skies. Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance,” a group of allied countries and militias in the Mideast, has been mauled by the Israelis since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.