—❗️🪖🇬🇷🤝🇧🇬 NEW: Greece has extended its anti-ballistic “umbrella” to Bulgaria, with the Hellenic Defence Minister telling his Bulgarian counterpart in a phone call that Greek forces will protect Bulgarian airspace and territory from any potential Iranian ballistic missile attack, building on Athens’ longstanding role in NATO air policing over the southern Balkans.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🪧🇽🇰 NEW: Kosovo feminist groups will hold a Women’s Day protest on 8 March in Prishtina, targeting what they describe as “colonialism” in the Middle East and Kosovo’s role in Trump’s Board of Peace, of which the country is a founding member.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇭🇷 ✈️ 🇦🇪 WATCH: A Croatia Airlines plane, organized by the Croatian government and foreign ministry, has landed in Dubai to evacuate the most vulnerable groups of Croatian citizens for repatriation to Croatia, the MFA announced.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

🇺🇸🇮🇱❌🇮🇷❗️ — President Donald Trump has privately expressed serious interest in deploying U.S. troops on the ground inside of Iran, according to two U.S. officials, a former U.S. official and another person with knowledge of the conversations

📝 Trump has discussed the idea of deploying ground troops with aides and Republican officials outside the White House while outlining his vision for a post-war Iran in which Iran’s uranium is secure and the U.S. and a new Iranian regime cooperate on oil production similar to how the U.S. and Venezuela are, the sources said.

🇺🇸🇮🇱❌🇮🇷 — The president’s comments expressing serious interest in deploying ground troops have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather on the idea of a small contingent of U.S. troops that would be used for specific strategic purposes, the U.S. officials, the former U.S. official and the person with knowledge of the discussions said.

📝 They said Trump has not made any decisions or given any orders related to ground troops.

—🇷🇸 (🇧🇦) /🇺🇸 NEW: Serb member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Željka Cvijanović has held a second meeting in just over a month with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington, focused on energy and infrastructure projects.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

🇬🇷🏛️💙❌🇺🇸 During a speech focusing on the Iran-Israel/US conflicts leader of the right-wing Greek Solution (EL) party, Kyriakos Velopoulos, attacked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle and referred to her as “Milfoil” and a “socialite”:

The Americans came here and told us, Mrs.... Milfoil, what is the name of this lady, Mr. Argyros' close friend, who told us: “Close the [Piraeus] port, it's Chinese”

✍️ Konstantinos Argyros is a renowned Greek singer, Guilfoyle often attends his performances and other shows, which has led to criticism for her non-diplomatic style.


🗺 @PoliticsGR

—🇷🇸📞🇮🇱 NEW: Serbian FM Marko Đurić held a phone call with Israeli FM Gideon Sa'ar, focusing on the current regional situation and reiterating the strength of bilateral relations between Serbia and Israel.

➡️ Đurić underlined Belgrade’s interest in further developing political and economic cooperation with Israel and restated Serbia’s support for de-escalation efforts in the Middle East, including backing an initiative for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇺🇳/🇱🇧/🇷🇸 NEW: Three UNIFIL peacekeepers were injured after heavy fire hit a UN base in Al Qawzah, southwestern Lebanon; one was evacuated to a hospital in Beirut, while two are being treated at a UN medical facility, and a fire inside the base has been extinguished.

➡️ Contrary to claims circulating online, Serbian peacekeepers are not stationed at the struck base but are deployed along the coast between Tyre and Naqoura.

🔗 Dunav Intel

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇹🇷🤝🏳️ NEW: Türkiye’s defence ministry warned it “will not hesitate” to use its guarantor powers against “hostile attitudes” threatening Turkish Cypriot security, after an Iranian-made drone targeted the British Akrotiri base in Cyprus and a ballistic missile fired from Iran was shot down over Türkiye’s Hatay province, reportedly aimed at Incirlik airbase.

➡️ Ankara’s message came as Greece deployed F-16s and frigates to Cyprus and prepares to send an air force delegation to Türkiye as a “confidence-building measure,” underscoring how the widening regional conflict is now intersecting directly with the Cyprus file.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇨🇾❓🪖🇬🇧 NEW: Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said “nothing has been ruled out” regarding the future of the UK’s sovereign bases on the island, after talks in Nicosia with MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli and days after an Iranian-made drone struck the RAF Akrotiri base.

➡️ The drone incident has reignited long-standing political opposition to the bases, with Akel and other parties rejecting a parliamentary resolution condemning the attack and instead warning that the British military presence poses security risks for Cyprus.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—✈️🇹🇷🤝🏳️ NEW: Türkiye is set to deploy four F-16 fighter jets to Ercan (Tymbou) airport in northern Cyprus on Sunday, following Greece’s deployment of four F-16s to Paphos earlier this week amid heightened tensions after Iranian-made drones and missiles targeted Cyprus and Türkiye.

➡️ Multiple NATO and EU states, including France, Italy, Spain and the UK, have already sent or announced naval and air assets to the island and surrounding waters, with Athens and Ankara now signalling rare alignment over Cyprus’ role in the unfolding regional crisis.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇮🇷/🇧🇬 NEW: Iran’s ambassador has stated that Bulgaria is not a legitimate target for Iranian military action, addressing concerns that Sofia could be drawn into any potential escalation.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇦🇱/🇮🇹 FACT: The oldest known Arbëresh (Italo-Albanian) flag still in existence is the Piana degli Albanesi flag from 1744, preserved by the Petrotta family in Sicily, Italy.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English