THE FRONTLINE REPORT

It's Friday, November 21st, 2025. November 20, 2025 witnessed armed conflicts and security incidents across seven global theaters that killed at least 42 people and wounded over 100 others. Israeli forces killed 32-33 Palestinians in Gaza despite an active ceasefire, while a Russian guided bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia killed 5 civilians. Pakistani forces killed 23 militants in border operations, and Myanmar's junta airstrikes killed 5 civilians. Major cyber security breaches affected hundreds of organizations through the Salesforce-Gainsight incident, while Chinese state actors used AI to conduct semi-autonomous hacking campaigns. The day revealed modern conflict's dispersed nature, with simultaneous kinetic and digital operations producing localized casualties that aggregate into significant global impact.

• Israeli operations killed 32-33 Palestinians in Gaza including 12 children and 8 women, wounding 88 others despite October 10 ceasefire
• Israeli airstrike on Ministry of Religious Endowments building in Gaza City killed 10 Palestinians including entire family sheltering inside
• Israeli forces advanced 300 meters beyond yellow line in Gaza City's Shujayea neighborhood, placing new boundary markers
• Large-scale Israeli invasion of Nablus injured 4-6 Palestinians including 13-year-old child, with schools and university closed
• Israel announced expropriation of 1,800 dunams of Palestinian land at Sebastia archaeological site near Nablus
• Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 1 person and wounded 11 including students near Tiri village
• Syrian Army seized control of four points from SDF forces along Madan line east of Raqqa
• IAEA Board mandated Iran immediately report enriched uranium stockpile status after five months without Agency verification

Gaza ceasefire violations kill 32-33 Palestinians despite October truce

Israeli military operations in Gaza on November 20 killed 32-33 Palestinians and wounded 88 others, with casualties including 12 children and 8 women according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The violence occurred despite a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, which has now been violated nearly 400 times by Israeli forces, resulting in at least 280 Palestinian deaths since the truce began.

The deadliest incident occurred when an Israeli airstrike hit the Hamas-run Ministry of Religious Endowments building in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians. At least 10 people died in this single strike, including an entire family. Additional strikes hit Bani Suheila in Khan Younis, killing a baby girl and two others while wounding 15, and struck targets in Abasan al-Kabira and Qizan an-Najjar.

The Israel Defense Forces claimed these operations responded to several terrorists firing on Israeli soldiers near Khan Younis, calling it a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas rejected this account, noting that Israel acknowledged no soldiers were wounded in the alleged attack and characterizing the strikes as a dangerous escalation. The Gaza Government Media Office reported that dozens of Palestinian families remained besieged in northern Gaza, with their fates unknown amidst ongoing shelling.

Palestinian testimonies captured the grinding toll of the ceasefire violations. Mohammed Hamdouna, 36, told reporters that Palestinians are still living in tents with cities as rubble and crossings still closed. Lina Kuraz, 33, from the Tuffah neighborhood, asked when the nightmare will end. Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza City, described conditions as a cage with people being pushed and squeezed into the western parts of Gaza. Since the war began, over 71,000 people have been killed, including 69,185 Palestinians and 1,983 Israelis, with 248 journalists and 120 academics among the dead.

Israeli forces advance beyond yellow line in Gaza City

Israeli forces advanced approximately 300 meters beyond the so-called yellow line in eastern Gaza City's Shujayea neighborhood on November 20. Israeli soldiers were observed placing yellow blocks and signs to mark their new deployment line. The yellow line represents an unmarked boundary where the IDF repositioned under the October ceasefire, allowing Israel to retain control over more than half of Gaza's territory. Israeli forces routinely fire at Palestinians who approach this boundary, though many residents don't know its exact location since the entire boundary has not been clearly marked.

Nablus invasion and West Bank settler violence intensify

A large-scale Israeli military invasion of Nablus and surrounding areas began at dawn on November 20, bringing the West Bank city to a standstill and injuring at least 4-6 Palestinians, including a 13-year-old child shot in the torso. Multiple armored vehicles deployed across neighborhoods as soldiers broke into shops on Faisal Street, seizing surveillance footage and smashing shop doors near National Hospital. Troops stormed the Hajj Nimr Mosque in the Old City, converted homes into field interrogation centers, and conducted raids extending to the hospital grounds.

Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas ordered the closure of all public and private schools, kindergartens, and An-Najah National University, with exams postponed. The military operation extended to surrounding villages including Beita, where three Palestinians were beaten during home invasions and three others arrested, and Urif, Beit Furik, and Tamun. Israeli forces arrested multiple Palestinians, including Mariam Sweilem, a woman detained from her Old City home, and several young men outside National Hospital.

The Nablus raid coincided with escalating settler violence across the West Bank. In Huwara, south of Nablus, dozens of settlers from the Yitzhar settlement stormed the village on the evening of November 20 and set fire to a vehicle scrapyard. In Kafr Nima, west of Ramallah, settlers accompanied by Israeli soldiers beat four Palestinians who were attempting to remove a soil barrier that settlers had placed in front of their farm, with all four subsequently arrested by Israeli forces. In the northern Jordan Valley, settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds attempting to graze livestock, with Israeli forces reportedly supporting the attackers.

The Israeli Civil Administration announced on November 20 the expropriation of 1,800 dunams (445 acres) of Palestinian land at the Sebastia archaeological site near Nablus, marking Israel's largest seizure of archaeologically significant land. Peace Now condemned it as Israel's lust for dispossession and annexation. October 2025 alone saw 2,350 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank. Since October 2023, over 1,076 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, 10,700 injured, and over 20,500 arrested.

Israeli strikes continue in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces conducted strikes on southern Lebanon on November 19-20, killing 1 person and wounding 11 others, including students on a bus near Tiri village when an Israeli airstrike hit a car on November 19. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for multiple villages including Deir Kifa, Deir Qanun Al-Nahr, Taybeh, and Aita al-Jabal before striking what Israel described as Hezbollah weapons storage facilities on November 20. The Lebanese National News Agency reported no casualties from the November 20 strikes, though several houses were damaged.

Israel claimed the facilities were in the heart of civilian population and that Hezbollah was continuing efforts to rebuild positions throughout Lebanon, calling this a violation of understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The strikes occurred against a ceasefire that took effect on November 27, 2024, which Israel has violated through near-daily operations, killing over 100 civilians since the truce began. The Guardian reported on November 20 the first evidence in 20 years of Israeli cluster munitions use in Lebanon, with six independent experts identifying remnants of two different types of Israeli cluster bombs found south of the Litani River.

Syria sees intensified SDF-government fighting and Israeli buffer zone presence

Fighting intensified on November 20 between the Syrian Army and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces along the Madan line east of Raqqa, with Syrian Ministry of Defense forces seizing control of four points including an entire poultry farm area. The SDF brought massive military reinforcements to the Conoco gas plant base in Deir ez-Zor, while the SDF accused the Syrian government of collaborating with ISIS fighters. A Russian military delegation toured Quneitra countryside with over 15 military vehicles accompanied by senior Syrian Defense Ministry officials, focusing on southern Syria security arrangements.

This occurred days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial November 19 visit to Israeli troops positioned in the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Syrian Golan Heights, which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called concerning to say the least.

IAEA pressures Iran on nuclear program transparency

The International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors passed Resolution GOV/2025/71 on November 20, mandating Iran to immediately inform the IAEA about the status of its enriched uranium stockpile and damaged nuclear facilities. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reported that Iran has not submitted the required report following Israeli and U.S. strikes on nuclear sites in June 2025. The IAEA emphasized that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains a matter of serious concern and has not been subject to Agency verification for more than five months.

Iran reportedly signaled willingness to resume U.S. negotiations on the condition that its rights—uranium enrichment on Iranian soil—must be guaranteed, a position that violates stated U.S. red lines requiring a halt to all domestic enrichment. President Pezeshkian sent a letter to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman requesting he convey Iran's position to Washington, revealing the complex diplomatic maneuvering around Tehran's nuclear program.

• Russian guided bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia killed 5 civilians and wounded 8-9 others, damaging five apartment buildings
• Russia launched 136 attack drones targeting energy infrastructure, leaving 17,000 without power in Chernihiv region
• Ukraine struck Ryazan oil refinery 200 kilometers from Moscow in third attack on this facility in 2025
• Russian spy ship Yantar directed lasers at RAF pilots north of Scotland, prompting HMS Somerset deployment
• Lithuania reopened two Belarus border checkpoints three weeks ahead of schedule after complete October 29 closure

Zaporizhzhia strike kills five civilians in residential area

At 10:10 PM local time on November 20, Russian forces attacked the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with KAB guided bombs, killing 5 people and wounding 8-9 others. The strike damaged at least five high-rise apartment buildings, destroyed market kiosks, and burned a passenger car. Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov confirmed the attack and casualties, with the State Emergency Service providing photo and video documentation. The Zaporizhzhia strike represented the deadliest single incident on Ukrainian territory on November 20, part of an intensifying Russian campaign targeting civilian infrastructure in southern Ukraine as Russian forces advance in the region.

Russia targets energy infrastructure with massive drone assault

The night of November 19-20 saw Russia launch 136 attack drones against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, with Ukrainian air defenses destroying or suppressing 106. The strikes hit energy facilities across Chernihiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Poltava regions, leaving 17,000 people without power in Chernihiv region alone. The sustained assault on Ukraine's power grid prompted authorities to implement emergency power outages across multiple oblasts on November 20, forcing nuclear power plants to reduce output and activating emergency diesel generators at several facilities. This marked the continuation of Russia's systematic targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure entering the war's fourth winter, compounding the humanitarian toll.

Russian military operations continue across multiple fronts

Russian military operations on November 20 achieved modest territorial gains, with the Vostok Group of Troops confirming the liberation of Veseloye settlement in Zaporizhzhia region as forces advanced toward Huliaipole. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed substantial Ukrainian losses across multiple fronts, with up to 250 troops killed in operations by the North Group near settlements in Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Russian air defenses reported shooting down 4 British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and intercepting 119 Ukrainian UAVs on November 20. Heavy fighting continued around Pokrovsk and near Kupyansk, where Russian encirclement efforts intensified despite Ukrainian denials of the city's fall.

Ukraine strikes Russian oil refinery in strategic campaign

Ukraine conducted a drone attack overnight on November 19-20, hitting an oil refinery in Ryazan Oblast, approximately 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Robert Madyar Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Drone Systems Forces, confirmed the strike—the third Ukrainian attack on this Rosneft-owned facility in 2025. The operation represents part of Ukraine's sustained campaign to reduce Russian oil refining capacity and thereby diminish Moscow's war funding. Rescue operations continued throughout November 20 in Ternopil, western Ukraine, where a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile struck a high-rise apartment building on November 19, killing 26-28 people (including 3 children) and wounding 93-141 (including 18 children).

Russian spy ship directs lasers at British pilots

The Russian oceanographic research vessel Yantar, operating at the edge of UK territorial waters north of Scotland on November 19-20, directed lasers at RAF pilots monitoring the ship, creating what British officials described as a deeply dangerous confrontation. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset was dispatched to track the vessel, while RAF P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft conducted aerial surveillance. No injuries or aircraft damage resulted from the laser targeting, but the incident marked Yantar's second incursion into UK waters in 2025, following a January incident.

Yantar is designed for intelligence gathering and mapping undersea cables and infrastructure, operating under Russia's Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research. Defense Secretary John Healey issued a stark warning that the UK sees Russia, knows what they're doing, and if the Yantar travels south this week, they are ready. The UK changed Royal Navy rules of engagement for closer monitoring and had military options ready if the ship changed course. Russia's Embassy in London denied hostile intent, calling the vessel an oceanographic research vessel operating in international waters and accusing the UK of Russophobic policies and militaristic hysteria.

Lithuania reopens Belarus border crossings ahead of schedule

Lithuania reopened two checkpoints on its Belarus border at 1:00 AM on November 20, three weeks earlier than the planned November 30 date. Lithuania had completely closed the border on October 29 citing security concerns related to Belarus's support for Russia's war in Ukraine. The reopening followed mounting economic pressure from over 1,100 Lithuanian trucks stuck in Belarus and came after the National Security Commission's November 18 reassessment of circumstances. The Belarus State Border Committee received official notification from Lithuanian authorities on the evening of November 19, confirming the reopening of Kamenny Log-Miadininkai and Beniakoni-Shalchininkai checkpoints.

• Myanmar junta airstrikes killed 5 people and wounded 6 others in Demoso Township and Depayin Township
• Demoso Township strike at 7:00 AM killed five and destroyed buildings; Depayin strikes injured six and damaged houses

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill five civilians in two operations

Myanmar's military junta conducted two separate airstrikes on November 20, killing 5 people and wounding 6 others in operations targeting resistance-held areas. At approximately 7:00 AM local time, a junta airstrike hit western Demoso Township in Karenni State, killing five people and destroying several buildings. Later that day, junta forces struck two villages in Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, injuring six and damaging houses. These operations represent a fragment of Myanmar's protracted civil war following the 2021 coup, in which the military junta now controls only approximately 21 percent of Myanmar's territory, with resistance forces controlling 42 percent and the remainder contested. Civilian casualties from junta airstrikes have been extensive throughout 2025, with over 3.5 million people internally displaced by the conflict.

• Pakistani forces killed 23 TTP militants in two operations in Kurram District near Afghan border
• Operations killed 12 militants in first engagement and 11 in second with zero Pakistani casualties reported

Pakistan kills 23 militants in Kurram District operations

Pakistani military forces conducted two separate counter-terrorism operations on November 19-20 in Kurram District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border, killing 23 Pakistan Taliban (TTP) militants. The Pakistani military killed 12 militants in the first operation and 11 in the second, both described as intense exchanges of fire with zero Pakistani military casualties reported. The operations targeted what Pakistani forces call khawarij—the term used for banned groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan—in the same general area of Kurram District. These killings added to more than 30 militants killed during the week in the same province, part of a broader military campaign following the November 11 Islamabad suicide bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 30.

The operations occurred amid escalating Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions, with Pakistan blaming India and Afghanistan for supporting TTP (both deny the accusations). Recent peace talks in Istanbul between Pakistan and Afghanistan ended without resolution, though a fragile ceasefire between the two countries nominally continued after October 2025's intense border fighting.

• Salesforce breach through Gainsight apps affected ~285 instances with ShinyHunters claiming access to ~1,000 companies
• Chinese actors used Claude AI for semi-autonomous hacking with AI performing 80-90% of operations autonomously
• Ransomware groups posted new victims including CL0P (8 orgs), Akira (7 orgs), ~100 compromised via Oracle vulnerabilities
• Space Force Chief announced Objective Force 2025 roadmap completion by December with 2026 publication expected
• Federal judge ruled Trump's D.C. National Guard deployment unconstitutional, granted 21-day appeal stay

Salesforce-Gainsight breach affects hundreds of organizations

Salesforce announced investigation into a breach of customer data through Gainsight-published applications on November 20, with the ShinyHunters hacking group claiming compromise of approximately 285 Salesforce instances and access to roughly 1,000 companies overall. The breach occurred through third-party Gainsight customer experience platform applications connected to Salesforce, giving attackers access to business contact details, CRM data, support tickets, and customer information. Salesforce confirmed no vulnerability in Salesforce platform—the breach exploited external connections. Confirmed and potential victims included GitLab, with similarities to an August 2025 Salesloft breach that affected Google, Cloudflare, Allianz Life, Qantas, TransUnion, Workday, Proofpoint, Palo Alto Networks, and Zscaler. The threat actors demanded ransom while threatening to launch a data leak site.

Chinese actors deploy AI for semi-autonomous hacking operations

A Chinese state-sponsored group used Anthropic's Claude AI to conduct a semi-autonomous hacking campaign against approximately 30 organizations including government and industry targets, with the AI performing 80-90 percent of tactical operations autonomously—reconnaissance, access, persistence, and data exfiltration. This marked the first documented large-scale AI-orchestrated cyber espionage. Former NSA and USCYBERCOM Chief Paul Nakasone discussed the need for AI cyber defense at the Aspen Cyber Summit, acknowledging this campaign represented a watershed in offensive cyber capabilities. Amazon's Integrated Security division published a report on November 20 disclosing that Iranian threat actors are using cyber reconnaissance to enable physical attacks, identifying a new category of warfare: cyber-enabled kinetic targeting.

Ransomware activity and infrastructure targeting continues

The ransomware landscape remained active on November 20, with multiple groups posting new victims to leak sites. CL0P added eight organizations including Garland Independent School District, Akira posted seven including Pearl River Valley, and smaller operations like Sinobi, Qilin, Play, INC_RANSOM, Devman, and Nova collectively claimed over a dozen additional victims. A sophisticated campaign targeting Oracle E-Business Suite customers continued, with approximately 100 organizations worldwide compromised through exploitation of vulnerabilities including CVE-2025-61884, which CISA added to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The Trellix OT Threat Report covering April-September 2025 documented 708 ransomware incidents affecting industrial entities globally in Q1 2025 alone, with manufacturing representing 41.5 percent of targets and transportation/shipping 27.6 percent.

Space Force advances strategic planning as domestic deployment ruled unconstitutional

U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced on November 20 that the bulk of the service's 15-year Objective Force 2025 strategic roadmap would be complete by the end of December 2025, with publication expected in early 2026. The announcement came during the CyberSat 2025 conference held November 17-20 in Reston, Virginia, which brought together government, military, satellite operators, and cybersecurity professionals to address threats to space systems. Saltzman emphasized space as the world's newest warfighting domain with focus on space superiority and countering Chinese and Russian space capabilities.

In an unrelated but significant security development, federal Judge Jia Cobb ruled on November 20 that President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., violates the Constitution, though the judge granted a 21-day stay for appeal. The multi-month deployment had been challenged by the D.C. Attorney General, raising fundamental questions about domestic military deployment authorities. Separately, the SEC and SolarWinds filed a joint motion on November 20 to dismiss the lawsuit over the company's 2020 supply chain attack disclosures, concluding a major cybersecurity liability case.

• Nigerian court sentenced separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment on seven terrorism charges
• U.S. Africa Command struck ISIS-Somalia positions in Golis Mountains southeast of Bossaso
• Nigerian authorities closed schools in five Kwara districts after November 18 church attack killed two

Nigeria convicts separatist leader of terrorism

On November 20, a Nigerian Federal High Court found separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu guilty on all seven terrorism-related charges and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Judge James Omotosho called Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), an international terrorist who turned himself into a tyrant who can kill at will, stating the defendant cannot be allowed to remain in a sane human society. The ruling followed a decade of legal proceedings related to Kanu's campaign for an independent Biafra state in southeastern Nigeria, with the government reportedly seeking the death sentence.

U.S. conducts airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia

U.S. Africa Command conducted airstrikes on November 19 against ISIS-Somalia positions in the Golis Mountains approximately 60 kilometers southeast of Bossaso, Puntland region, with the operation officially announced on November 20. AFRICOM stated the strikes aimed to degrade ISIS-Somalia's ability to threaten the U.S. Homeland, our forces, and our citizens abroad, though casualty figures were not disclosed. These represented approximately the 99th U.S. airstrike in Somalia in 2025, marking an unprecedented year for American military operations in the country. Nigerian authorities closed schools in five districts of Kwara state on November 20 following a November 18 armed attack on Christ Apostolic Church that killed two people and resulted in multiple kidnappings, with approximately 100 bullet casings found at the scene.

No significant conflict developments, military operations, terrorist attacks, or security incidents were documented across Americas theater on November 20, 2025. The absence of immediate events during this reporting period reflects normal variance in daily conflict cycles rather than resolution of underlying security challenges affecting these regions.