Daily World Briefing, June 16

Iran launches new aerial attack on Israel, injures 2

Iran launched a fresh aerial attack on Israel on Sunday night, injuring at least two people and igniting fires, Israeli authorities said.

The attack came shortly after Israel announced its warplanes had begun a new wave of airstrikes in western Iran, targeting missile launchers.

Air warning sirens were activated in multiple areas across northern, southern, and central Israel, as well as in the occupied Golan Heights, sending residents to shelters, according to the Israeli military. Loud explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and other cities, eyewitnesses said.

Zaki Heler, a spokesman for Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service, said missiles or missile fragments hit three locations, lightly injuring two people. Several others were treated for panic, he said.

Iran confirms deaths of 8 more senior commanders in Israeli attacks

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that eight other senior commanders of its aerospace division were killed in Israel's Friday airstrikes on the capital Tehran.

In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC extended condolences over the "martyrdom" of its senior commanders.

It listed the slain commanders as Mahmoud Bagheri, Davoud Sheikhian, Mohammad-Bagher Taherpour, Mansour Safarpour, Masoud Tayyeb, Khosrow Hassani, Javad Jorsara, and Mohammad Aghajafari.

Israel early Friday launched airstrikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, hitting nuclear facilities and killing a number of Iran's top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It continued its attacks on different parts of Iran on Saturday and Sunday.

Israeli strikes kill 244, injure 1,277 in Iran

Iran's Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said on Sunday that 244 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Iran over the past 65 hours.

In a post on the social media platform X, Kermanpour noted that women and children were among the dead, and that 1,277 people had been hospitalized.

He added that over 90 percent of the casualties were civilians.

Early Friday, Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran and several other cities across Iran, killing a number of the country's top military commanders and nuclear scientists. The strikes continued across various parts of Iran on Saturday and Sunday.

In response, Iran has launched missile attacks on multiple targets in Israel since Friday, causing casualties and significant damage.

Trump says he, Putin agree "war in Israel-Iran should end"

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday over the tensions in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine peace talks, and both of them agreed that "this war in Israel-Iran should end."

"He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Putin knows Iran "very well."

Trump said he also explained to the Russian president that the Russia-Ukraine conflict "should also end" during the one-hour call.

"We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week," said Trump. "He (Putin) is doing the planned prisoner swaps -- large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides."

33 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza

At least 33 Palestinians have been killed, and dozens wounded in Israeli attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday, according to Palestinian medical sources.

Nasser Hospital said in a press statement that at least 10 people were killed in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis after a series of Israeli airstrikes.

Three members of the same family were also killed in Khan Younis while trying to reach their homes, according to Palestinian medical sources.

In addition, an Israeli drone strike on a gathering of Palestinians in the south of Khan Younis killed five Palestinians, according to the sources.

In the north, al-Shifa Hospital said in a statement that seven people were transferred to the hospital after the Israeli army targeted civilians in the Beit Lahia area.

Cambodia seeks UN court resolution for border disputes with Thailand

Cambodia on Sunday submitted an official letter to the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking the court's resolution for four disputed border areas with Thailand, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said.

Hun Manet said Cambodia needs only justice, fairness and clarity in determining its borderline with neighboring countries so that future generations will not continue to have endless issues with each other.

The move came after soldiers of both countries briefly exchanged gunfire on May 28, resulting in the death of a Cambodian soldier.■