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Democratic Party Consultants Surround Troy Jackson with Pro-Israel Donors
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson speaks at a town hall on September 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images.
The Troy Jackson campaign in Maine may have found a new way to measure just how far Democratic Party consultants are able to drag a candidate away from his grassroots supporters. This week, as Jackson ventured into the Facebook group set up for his volunteers, he was facing a legion of Maine supporters expressing a deep sense of betrayal, following an exposé by [Rebecca Traister in New York Magazine][1], which had laid out in precise detail how a squadron of mostly out-of-state political consultants had done as much as possible to drain the life from Jackson and his campaign.
In the Facebook group, Jackson’s defense of his campaign, and his attack on the reporting, was considered so condescending that supporters concluded there was no way that Jackson himself was running the account—and promptly kicked Jackson out of his own Facebook group, with less than six weeks until election day.
Jackson, it turned out, was indeed still manning his own Facebook account, and he has since been allowed back in. But the damage his consultant-run campaign has done to his relationship with Maine voters will take more than a restored account to repair.
Drop Site is producing paywall-free journalism you can share in the Jackson Facebook group — or anywhere else you want. Considering subscribing to support our work.
Interviews with sources in Jackson’s orbit, and a review of campaign documents that have been circulating among insiders, color inside the lines sketched by Traister, filling out a portrait of a populist politician being molded into an inoffensive, vanishing name on a ballot—the platonic ideal of a generic Democrat.
Driving it all is a fight for control of the direction of the Democratic Party. During the primary, the Washington establishment was beaten handily by a populist wave that lifted Graham Platner to victory. After Platner’s withdrawal from the race, the establishment was beaten again in the contest to replace him, this time by the populist Troy Jackson, powered by Platner’s volunteers, who organized in every county to overwhelm the party apparatus at the nominating convention.
The party brass’s third run at power has been more successful, as they’ve managed to surround Jackson with consultants from a wide array of losing campaigns, from Dan Goldman in New York to Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow in Michigan and Colin Allred in Texas. After Platner ran fiercely against AIPAC and Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Jackson consultants have brought in Impact Research, one of AIPAC’s top pollsters, to run polling for the campaign.
The funding strategy for the campaign has also changed. After Platner powered his way to the Democratic nomination in Maine at the head of a volunteer army powered by millions in small dollars, the new nominee, Jackson, effectively disbanded the volunteers, focusing instead on high-dollar fundraisers over grassroots supporters.
Jackson has canceled media interviews and Q&As with the public while putting Jackson primarily in front of wealthy donors. Traister reported that in September, according to records she reviewed, he was slated to be out of town for fundraisers 14 of those days. The records Drop Site reviewed confirm Traister’s reporting. It’s becoming an issue for Jackson, as Maine voters recall that Platner crisscrossed the state for in-person events nearly constantly. On Thursday, the Susan Collins campaign hit Jackson for being in Virginia for yet another high-dollar fundraiser.
The Jackson campaign told Drop Site that 94% of “contributions” continue to come from small donors, but the campaign is counting the total number of contributions, not total dollar amount. His campaign has not entered the top 5 list on ActBlue since late July. Drop Site has reviewed calendar invites, attendee lists, and fundraising strategy packets from Troy Jackson’s Senate campaign that suggest little is off limits for the campaign.
Sources in Jackson’s orbit say the campaign is effectively being dominated by Communications Director and Allred alum Dan Gottlieb, as well as David Farmer, who comes from Bernstein Shur, a corporate law and lobbying firm. Consultant B.J. McCollister is also playing a major role, and has brought in his own firm, Frame, to cut ads for the campaign, a job potentially worth many millions of dollars in a short stretch of time. As Traister puts it, “These firms had also been involved in Jackson’s gubernatorial efforts, but now they were in the driver’s seat.”
To establish leverage for moderating Jackson on Gaza, as Traister’s piece acutely explains, the consultants have sought to bring in donor dollars from pro-Israel sources. In the last three weeks, documents reviewed by Drop Site reveal Jackson’s campaign has held at least three fundraisers with prominent Democratic fundraisers with favorable views of Israel’s military actions in the Middle East. The consultants appear to believe that by surrounding Jackson with big donors who have a sympathetic view of Israel, they will be able to pressure Jackson into moderating his public statements on the genocide in Gaza. “They have told him to stop saying genocide, moved him to blocking offensive only, and his answers are pissing off voters,” said one source familiar with the guidance.
The Jackson campaign dismissed Drop Site’s questioning on the ethics of fundraising from big money sources, including those with favorable views of Israel. They believe the idea of raising funds from big-dollar sources is the only path to remaining competitive, representing what they described as a false choice between maximizing donor dollars and grass roots organizing. Current fundraising totals are not public yet, but Jackson raised $5.3 million in July and $4 million in August.
Effects of this new campaign strategy are now being reflected in polling. For the first time since either Platner or Jackson were the nominee, Susan Collins is leading in a NYT/Sienna poll. She is up 3 points on Jackson in a new survey released on September 24 by the group. Another poll released on Thursday from UMass Lowell showed Jackson up by 5 points along with a University of New Hampshire poll with him leading by 4 points, however. A ProPublica exposé on Collins, finding that the FBI probed her campaign over bribery allegations, may give the Jackson campaign a boost. [Current polling averages][2] for the US Senate race have tightened considerably, with Jackson up by 1.8 points.
Campaign spokesperson David Farmer, the senior adviser, provided Drop Site a short statement in reply to a detailed list of questions. “Troy has been clear with Mainers on where he stands, just like he has been as he has stood with them in the fight to ensure working people get a fair shake for the last 28 years,” the statement read. “Those are the values he’ll bring to the Senate, and he is working around the clock to make sure the campaign has the resources needed to beat back Susan Collins’ $135 million dark money machine and corrupt donor bribery schemes so he can defeat her and give Mainers a real champion in the Senate.”
## **West Coast Fundraising**
The campaign documents reviewed by Drop Site show Jackson for Maine organized, for instance, two fundraising events in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington on September 15. Both events were hosted by Democratic party fundraiser Suzi Levine, a pro-Israel advocate and former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
[In March 2024][3], Levine signed a letter to President Biden and Senator Chuck Schumer thanking them for their “leadership in safeguarding a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, grounded in a commitment to Israel’s security and safety for Jews worldwide.” [At the time][4], the United Nations reported that since October 7, at least 31,112 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 72,760 Palestinians were injured, of whom 72% were women and children as a result of Israel’s military actions. By this date, Israel had destroyed two-thirds of Gaza hospitals. Days later, Israel struck and killed a convoy of workers with the World Central Kitchen and Biden was under intense pressure to force an end to the conflict.
The Bellevue event was held at the home of Toni Hoover, an executive at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for more than 25 years. Attendee lists reviewed by Drop Site included former Microsoft executives including past president and COO Jon Shirley, who is worth at least $700M, and Eric Levine, husband of Amb. Levine, who was described as a “Microsoft technologist.”
Amazon’s Chief of Global Affairs & Legal Offices David Zapolsky was given a biography in fundraising strategy documents reviewed by Drop Site, and described as a host of the Bellevue fundraising reception for Jackson. During Amazon’s anti-union battle with Chris Smalls in 2023, [a leaked memo showed Zapolsky][5], then the General Counsel, referring to Smalls, a black man, as “not smart or articulate” and recommended making him “the face” of efforts to organize workers. Jackson comes from organized labor, having worked as a logger for much of his early life, and has the strong backing of the state’s AFL-CIO.
## **Campaign Strategy**
For many Jackson supporters, the most offensive shift has come on Gaza. Drop Site reviewed an internal document describing the consultants’ desired stance, in which they instruct Jackson to move away from calling what’s happening in Gaza a genocide and to call for a block on “offensive weapons”—an outdated position that, if he embraced it publicly, would make him more hawkish than even Rahm Emanuel, whose middle name is Israel and volunteered for the IDF.
The document tells Jackson to say: “I think what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is horrific, senseless violence. I think Israel has the right to defend itself, but I do not support the United States sending offensive weapons that enable more killing.” If he is asked about his previous position on the genocide, the document instructs Jackson to say: “START with ‘I’ve said what I’ve said.’ Do not sound like you’re walking back the previous position and do not invite an argument over semantics.”
As is the case with many working class people in the United States, the question of U.S. policy toward Israel was not something Jackson thought much about — until October 7th and the disastrous Iran War, which Israel urged the United States to launch. That has made him susceptible to the regular arguments he hears from donors and fundraisers, people who have spoken to him say, that the issue is complicated and that the term “genocide” is hurtful and loaded with historical context that needs to be taken into consideration. Such donors are able to get private access to him to make their case, of course, because they’re cutting checks.
The Jackson campaign’s consultant-driven stance on Gaza is now diminishing enthusiasm amongst campaign volunteers. “If he wants people to vote for him, instead of against Collins, he needs to shrug off the consultant class who is giving him mealy mouthed horrible advice,” an elected delegate during the Platner replacement process and current volunteer said. “No half stances or walking back on Gaza.”
Separately, Jackson’s suggested talking points on Medicare for All support a free health care system, but made sure to leave room to appease corporate interests. Consultants advised Jackson to reply to the question of “Can I keep my private insurance?,” by saying, “Yes. If you want to keep your private insurance, I’m in favor of letting you do that.” During the race for governor, Jackson supported Medicare for All nationally and a public option in Maine.
Volunteer leaders reported that the Jackson campaign has cancelled all remaining town halls with audience Q&A sessions. For the consultants, the move mitigates the risk of Jackson being asked to detail his position on the Gaza genocide in a public forum.
“Troy’s town halls, the true kind with open Q&As with the audience, have been cancelled,” Volunteer Carla Poindexter White said in a September 23 post on the private Troy Jackson volunteer Facebook page. “Campaign staff called me just a few days ago to confirm that and many of us had events planned and then nixxed, even after the campaign had said yes, dates agreed on, etc.”
The Jackson campaign responded to Drop Site with a list of events he has held over the course of his run for Senate. They further stated that no publicly announced Troy Jackson town hall, community conversation, meet-and-greet or campaign event featuring open voter interactions have been canceled, further saying they** **identified a total of three events that shifted time or location.
On Friday afternoon, Jackson posted a new condemnation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his X account, including a screenshot of his website, which still refers to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
## **AIPAC-Aligned Headliner**
The previously unreported September fundraising events in Washington complement a big ticket fundraiser in New York City on September 23 hosted by AIPAC-aligned Democrat Henry Beck for Jackson, who was listed as headlining.
Beck, a former state treasurer, has been a leading pro-Israel advocate in Maine, having recently moved to New York City to work for an asset management firm. In January 2024, he traveled to Israel to meet with IDF soldiers as part of a 10-person delegation organized by the American Israel Education Foundation, AIPAC’s arm which funds trips to Israel.
While State Treasurer, Beck released a controversial statement from the Treasurer’s office on the one-year anniversary of October 7 on the importance of “maintain[ing] our important relationship with the people of Israel,” while declining to mention any of Israel’s war crimes. At the time of Beck’s one-year anniversary statement, the United Nations reported that Israeli attacks had killed over 41,600 Palestinians following the October 7 attack. Women and children accounted for at least half of the death toll.
A Drop Site reporter was promptly removed from the NYC fundraiser—held at a pizza restaurant—after attempting to attend. Jackson is by no means only surrounded by pro-Israel donors at such events. Some attendees going in described themselves as anti-zionist. Defenders of the campaign, including Evan LeBrun, who was Jackson’s organizing director before leaving for the AFL-CIO, noted on a Jackson volunteer discord that the fundraiser was also co-hosted by Alexis Bittar, a Brooklyn-based jeweler who helped fundraise for Zohran Mamdani and was a supporter of Platner’s. “Not defending Henry Beck at all, and wish he weren’t attending, but I don’t think it’s fair to describe this as a pro-Israel fundraiser,” he told concerned volunteers in a Discord message that was shared with Drop Site. LeBrun did not respond to requests for comment.
## **People Powered Movement**
Concern over Jackson consultants moderating on Israel’s genocide in Gaza has spilled over into the People Powered Movement (PPM), a group formed by the 10,000 volunteers who backed Graham Platner in the primary campaign. Since Platner was replaced, the organization has held organizing events for state and local candidates across Maine, and have actively supported Jackson’s bid for Senate despite being iced out of formal involvement with the campaign itself.
PPM has drafted a host of letters from volunteers they are sending directly to Jackson’s campaign. Drop Site has reviewed several of these letters, which call for Jackson to “stop listening to the DSCC and Democratic Party Establishment politicos,” because they’re “not Mainers, and they don’t know what we need.” The documents call on Jackson to hold a “town hall barnstormer” across the state, “telling your personal story, “ and “calling what’s going on in Gaza a genocide.”
“We are rooting for you and we are 100% behind you, but we need this campaign to be ferociously urgent, completely open, genuinely grass roots and unrelentingly aggressive,” one letter says. “You need to run like you have nothing to lose, it’s the only way we will win.”
Another letter reviewed by Drop Site is from a Jewish volunteer who describes himself as “the son of two Holocaust survivors who lost many relatives in concentration camps in Europe” and currently has family living in Israel.
A letter written by a volunteer to Jackson.
“What the Israeli government has done in the past three years is genocide, unequivocally. They have killed thousands and thousands of Palestinians and continue to do so,” the letter says. “Our government has enabled this slaughter by funding the ISraeli military machine to the tune of billions of dollars that could have been spent supporting peace efforts there and supporting working folks here.”
The letter concludes by stating, “I am struggling to support your candidacy if you can’t call what is happening in Gaza a genocide and advocate for sanctions against Israel and an immediate freeze on all arms sales to Israel.”
*Areeba Fatima contributed reporting.*
[1]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[2]: https://x.com/ME_Politics_/status/2103474536800985285
[3]: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018e-8673-dc9c-ab9f-aef790e40000
[4]: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-136
[5]: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/amazon-broke-federal-labor-law-by-racially-disparaging-union-leaders.html
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/democratic-party-consultants-surround
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson speaks at a town hall on September 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images.
The Troy Jackson campaign in Maine may have found a new way to measure just how far Democratic Party consultants are able to drag a candidate away from his grassroots supporters. This week, as Jackson ventured into the Facebook group set up for his volunteers, he was facing a legion of Maine supporters expressing a deep sense of betrayal, following an exposé by [Rebecca Traister in New York Magazine][1], which had laid out in precise detail how a squadron of mostly out-of-state political consultants had done as much as possible to drain the life from Jackson and his campaign.
In the Facebook group, Jackson’s defense of his campaign, and his attack on the reporting, was considered so condescending that supporters concluded there was no way that Jackson himself was running the account—and promptly kicked Jackson out of his own Facebook group, with less than six weeks until election day.
Jackson, it turned out, was indeed still manning his own Facebook account, and he has since been allowed back in. But the damage his consultant-run campaign has done to his relationship with Maine voters will take more than a restored account to repair.
Drop Site is producing paywall-free journalism you can share in the Jackson Facebook group — or anywhere else you want. Considering subscribing to support our work.
Interviews with sources in Jackson’s orbit, and a review of campaign documents that have been circulating among insiders, color inside the lines sketched by Traister, filling out a portrait of a populist politician being molded into an inoffensive, vanishing name on a ballot—the platonic ideal of a generic Democrat.
Driving it all is a fight for control of the direction of the Democratic Party. During the primary, the Washington establishment was beaten handily by a populist wave that lifted Graham Platner to victory. After Platner’s withdrawal from the race, the establishment was beaten again in the contest to replace him, this time by the populist Troy Jackson, powered by Platner’s volunteers, who organized in every county to overwhelm the party apparatus at the nominating convention.
The party brass’s third run at power has been more successful, as they’ve managed to surround Jackson with consultants from a wide array of losing campaigns, from Dan Goldman in New York to Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow in Michigan and Colin Allred in Texas. After Platner ran fiercely against AIPAC and Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Jackson consultants have brought in Impact Research, one of AIPAC’s top pollsters, to run polling for the campaign.
The funding strategy for the campaign has also changed. After Platner powered his way to the Democratic nomination in Maine at the head of a volunteer army powered by millions in small dollars, the new nominee, Jackson, effectively disbanded the volunteers, focusing instead on high-dollar fundraisers over grassroots supporters.
Jackson has canceled media interviews and Q&As with the public while putting Jackson primarily in front of wealthy donors. Traister reported that in September, according to records she reviewed, he was slated to be out of town for fundraisers 14 of those days. The records Drop Site reviewed confirm Traister’s reporting. It’s becoming an issue for Jackson, as Maine voters recall that Platner crisscrossed the state for in-person events nearly constantly. On Thursday, the Susan Collins campaign hit Jackson for being in Virginia for yet another high-dollar fundraiser.
The Jackson campaign told Drop Site that 94% of “contributions” continue to come from small donors, but the campaign is counting the total number of contributions, not total dollar amount. His campaign has not entered the top 5 list on ActBlue since late July. Drop Site has reviewed calendar invites, attendee lists, and fundraising strategy packets from Troy Jackson’s Senate campaign that suggest little is off limits for the campaign.
Sources in Jackson’s orbit say the campaign is effectively being dominated by Communications Director and Allred alum Dan Gottlieb, as well as David Farmer, who comes from Bernstein Shur, a corporate law and lobbying firm. Consultant B.J. McCollister is also playing a major role, and has brought in his own firm, Frame, to cut ads for the campaign, a job potentially worth many millions of dollars in a short stretch of time. As Traister puts it, “These firms had also been involved in Jackson’s gubernatorial efforts, but now they were in the driver’s seat.”
To establish leverage for moderating Jackson on Gaza, as Traister’s piece acutely explains, the consultants have sought to bring in donor dollars from pro-Israel sources. In the last three weeks, documents reviewed by Drop Site reveal Jackson’s campaign has held at least three fundraisers with prominent Democratic fundraisers with favorable views of Israel’s military actions in the Middle East. The consultants appear to believe that by surrounding Jackson with big donors who have a sympathetic view of Israel, they will be able to pressure Jackson into moderating his public statements on the genocide in Gaza. “They have told him to stop saying genocide, moved him to blocking offensive only, and his answers are pissing off voters,” said one source familiar with the guidance.
The Jackson campaign dismissed Drop Site’s questioning on the ethics of fundraising from big money sources, including those with favorable views of Israel. They believe the idea of raising funds from big-dollar sources is the only path to remaining competitive, representing what they described as a false choice between maximizing donor dollars and grass roots organizing. Current fundraising totals are not public yet, but Jackson raised $5.3 million in July and $4 million in August.
Effects of this new campaign strategy are now being reflected in polling. For the first time since either Platner or Jackson were the nominee, Susan Collins is leading in a NYT/Sienna poll. She is up 3 points on Jackson in a new survey released on September 24 by the group. Another poll released on Thursday from UMass Lowell showed Jackson up by 5 points along with a University of New Hampshire poll with him leading by 4 points, however. A ProPublica exposé on Collins, finding that the FBI probed her campaign over bribery allegations, may give the Jackson campaign a boost. [Current polling averages][2] for the US Senate race have tightened considerably, with Jackson up by 1.8 points.
Campaign spokesperson David Farmer, the senior adviser, provided Drop Site a short statement in reply to a detailed list of questions. “Troy has been clear with Mainers on where he stands, just like he has been as he has stood with them in the fight to ensure working people get a fair shake for the last 28 years,” the statement read. “Those are the values he’ll bring to the Senate, and he is working around the clock to make sure the campaign has the resources needed to beat back Susan Collins’ $135 million dark money machine and corrupt donor bribery schemes so he can defeat her and give Mainers a real champion in the Senate.”
## **West Coast Fundraising**
The campaign documents reviewed by Drop Site show Jackson for Maine organized, for instance, two fundraising events in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington on September 15. Both events were hosted by Democratic party fundraiser Suzi Levine, a pro-Israel advocate and former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
[In March 2024][3], Levine signed a letter to President Biden and Senator Chuck Schumer thanking them for their “leadership in safeguarding a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, grounded in a commitment to Israel’s security and safety for Jews worldwide.” [At the time][4], the United Nations reported that since October 7, at least 31,112 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 72,760 Palestinians were injured, of whom 72% were women and children as a result of Israel’s military actions. By this date, Israel had destroyed two-thirds of Gaza hospitals. Days later, Israel struck and killed a convoy of workers with the World Central Kitchen and Biden was under intense pressure to force an end to the conflict.
The Bellevue event was held at the home of Toni Hoover, an executive at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for more than 25 years. Attendee lists reviewed by Drop Site included former Microsoft executives including past president and COO Jon Shirley, who is worth at least $700M, and Eric Levine, husband of Amb. Levine, who was described as a “Microsoft technologist.”
Amazon’s Chief of Global Affairs & Legal Offices David Zapolsky was given a biography in fundraising strategy documents reviewed by Drop Site, and described as a host of the Bellevue fundraising reception for Jackson. During Amazon’s anti-union battle with Chris Smalls in 2023, [a leaked memo showed Zapolsky][5], then the General Counsel, referring to Smalls, a black man, as “not smart or articulate” and recommended making him “the face” of efforts to organize workers. Jackson comes from organized labor, having worked as a logger for much of his early life, and has the strong backing of the state’s AFL-CIO.
## **Campaign Strategy**
For many Jackson supporters, the most offensive shift has come on Gaza. Drop Site reviewed an internal document describing the consultants’ desired stance, in which they instruct Jackson to move away from calling what’s happening in Gaza a genocide and to call for a block on “offensive weapons”—an outdated position that, if he embraced it publicly, would make him more hawkish than even Rahm Emanuel, whose middle name is Israel and volunteered for the IDF.
The document tells Jackson to say: “I think what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is horrific, senseless violence. I think Israel has the right to defend itself, but I do not support the United States sending offensive weapons that enable more killing.” If he is asked about his previous position on the genocide, the document instructs Jackson to say: “START with ‘I’ve said what I’ve said.’ Do not sound like you’re walking back the previous position and do not invite an argument over semantics.”
As is the case with many working class people in the United States, the question of U.S. policy toward Israel was not something Jackson thought much about — until October 7th and the disastrous Iran War, which Israel urged the United States to launch. That has made him susceptible to the regular arguments he hears from donors and fundraisers, people who have spoken to him say, that the issue is complicated and that the term “genocide” is hurtful and loaded with historical context that needs to be taken into consideration. Such donors are able to get private access to him to make their case, of course, because they’re cutting checks.
The Jackson campaign’s consultant-driven stance on Gaza is now diminishing enthusiasm amongst campaign volunteers. “If he wants people to vote for him, instead of against Collins, he needs to shrug off the consultant class who is giving him mealy mouthed horrible advice,” an elected delegate during the Platner replacement process and current volunteer said. “No half stances or walking back on Gaza.”
Separately, Jackson’s suggested talking points on Medicare for All support a free health care system, but made sure to leave room to appease corporate interests. Consultants advised Jackson to reply to the question of “Can I keep my private insurance?,” by saying, “Yes. If you want to keep your private insurance, I’m in favor of letting you do that.” During the race for governor, Jackson supported Medicare for All nationally and a public option in Maine.
Volunteer leaders reported that the Jackson campaign has cancelled all remaining town halls with audience Q&A sessions. For the consultants, the move mitigates the risk of Jackson being asked to detail his position on the Gaza genocide in a public forum.
“Troy’s town halls, the true kind with open Q&As with the audience, have been cancelled,” Volunteer Carla Poindexter White said in a September 23 post on the private Troy Jackson volunteer Facebook page. “Campaign staff called me just a few days ago to confirm that and many of us had events planned and then nixxed, even after the campaign had said yes, dates agreed on, etc.”
The Jackson campaign responded to Drop Site with a list of events he has held over the course of his run for Senate. They further stated that no publicly announced Troy Jackson town hall, community conversation, meet-and-greet or campaign event featuring open voter interactions have been canceled, further saying they** **identified a total of three events that shifted time or location.
On Friday afternoon, Jackson posted a new condemnation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his X account, including a screenshot of his website, which still refers to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
## **AIPAC-Aligned Headliner**
The previously unreported September fundraising events in Washington complement a big ticket fundraiser in New York City on September 23 hosted by AIPAC-aligned Democrat Henry Beck for Jackson, who was listed as headlining.
Beck, a former state treasurer, has been a leading pro-Israel advocate in Maine, having recently moved to New York City to work for an asset management firm. In January 2024, he traveled to Israel to meet with IDF soldiers as part of a 10-person delegation organized by the American Israel Education Foundation, AIPAC’s arm which funds trips to Israel.
While State Treasurer, Beck released a controversial statement from the Treasurer’s office on the one-year anniversary of October 7 on the importance of “maintain[ing] our important relationship with the people of Israel,” while declining to mention any of Israel’s war crimes. At the time of Beck’s one-year anniversary statement, the United Nations reported that Israeli attacks had killed over 41,600 Palestinians following the October 7 attack. Women and children accounted for at least half of the death toll.
A Drop Site reporter was promptly removed from the NYC fundraiser—held at a pizza restaurant—after attempting to attend. Jackson is by no means only surrounded by pro-Israel donors at such events. Some attendees going in described themselves as anti-zionist. Defenders of the campaign, including Evan LeBrun, who was Jackson’s organizing director before leaving for the AFL-CIO, noted on a Jackson volunteer discord that the fundraiser was also co-hosted by Alexis Bittar, a Brooklyn-based jeweler who helped fundraise for Zohran Mamdani and was a supporter of Platner’s. “Not defending Henry Beck at all, and wish he weren’t attending, but I don’t think it’s fair to describe this as a pro-Israel fundraiser,” he told concerned volunteers in a Discord message that was shared with Drop Site. LeBrun did not respond to requests for comment.
## **People Powered Movement**
Concern over Jackson consultants moderating on Israel’s genocide in Gaza has spilled over into the People Powered Movement (PPM), a group formed by the 10,000 volunteers who backed Graham Platner in the primary campaign. Since Platner was replaced, the organization has held organizing events for state and local candidates across Maine, and have actively supported Jackson’s bid for Senate despite being iced out of formal involvement with the campaign itself.
PPM has drafted a host of letters from volunteers they are sending directly to Jackson’s campaign. Drop Site has reviewed several of these letters, which call for Jackson to “stop listening to the DSCC and Democratic Party Establishment politicos,” because they’re “not Mainers, and they don’t know what we need.” The documents call on Jackson to hold a “town hall barnstormer” across the state, “telling your personal story, “ and “calling what’s going on in Gaza a genocide.”
“We are rooting for you and we are 100% behind you, but we need this campaign to be ferociously urgent, completely open, genuinely grass roots and unrelentingly aggressive,” one letter says. “You need to run like you have nothing to lose, it’s the only way we will win.”
Another letter reviewed by Drop Site is from a Jewish volunteer who describes himself as “the son of two Holocaust survivors who lost many relatives in concentration camps in Europe” and currently has family living in Israel.
A letter written by a volunteer to Jackson.
“What the Israeli government has done in the past three years is genocide, unequivocally. They have killed thousands and thousands of Palestinians and continue to do so,” the letter says. “Our government has enabled this slaughter by funding the ISraeli military machine to the tune of billions of dollars that could have been spent supporting peace efforts there and supporting working folks here.”
The letter concludes by stating, “I am struggling to support your candidacy if you can’t call what is happening in Gaza a genocide and advocate for sanctions against Israel and an immediate freeze on all arms sales to Israel.”
*Areeba Fatima contributed reporting.*
[1]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[2]: https://x.com/ME_Politics_/status/2103474536800985285
[3]: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018e-8673-dc9c-ab9f-aef790e40000
[4]: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-136
[5]: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/amazon-broke-federal-labor-law-by-racially-disparaging-union-leaders.html
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/democratic-party-consultants-surround
Iran pushes 7-day plan to end war; Saudi calls on regional pact for defense; Argentina’s poverty rate climbs to over 32%
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images.
**Friday, September 25, 2026 –***** **Iran pushes seven-day plan to end U.S. war in meetings with Qatari, Pakistani mediators. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran open to nuclear verification, agreement with U.S. Iran warns “flights for everyone or no one” as UAE, Iraq enforce U.S. aviation sanctions. Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani military chiefs to hold urgent talks on support for Riyadh. France to send troops, radars, and defense systems to protect Saudi oil port. Ansarallah claims attacks on Saudi military sites; government forces claim gains in Lahj. Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian, wounds others in Khan Younis. Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, torch vehicles. UNRWA faces $100 million cash flow deficit amid Israeli attacks, U.S. funding cutoff. Israel launches airstrikes, shelling and incursions across southern Lebanon despite ceasefire. Lebanese Prime Minister: “Lebanon wants to open a new page with Iran.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu excoriates
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, world leaders at UN amid Israel’s growing isolation. Mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time since January 2025 as Iran war fallout hits housing market. Trump administration airs government-funded ad against socialism. CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters regain White House access despite delays; TV pool still suspended. Senate narrowly fails to block Trump from ordering further Iran strikes. Ten Democrats back Rep. Greg Casar’s bill to ban superintelligence, pause advanced AI development. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pushes industry for voluntary diesel export cuts amid antitrust concerns. Trump administration asks Supreme Court to revive third-country deportation policy. Federal judge rules ICE's NYC detention conditions “inhumane and unconstitutional,” orders sweeping fixes. NSA spending billions to test AI models, exceeding prior estimates for federal oversight. Pentagon investigates how F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong. Nepal Prime Minister Balen
Shah warns UN that deadly floods are “a warning to the world” on climate change. U.S. arranges new trilateral Ukraine-Russia talks, possibly in UAE; Trump approves Patriot production. Argentina’s poverty rate climbs to 32.3% as President Javier Milei’s economic momentum stalls. At least 41 dead after boat capsizes on Lake Tanganyika in DRC. UNHCR reports 20-fold surge in Sudanese refugees fleeing to Chad amid funding shortfall. TPLF fighters in Ethiopia take over airport as “full-blown war” resumes in Amhara.*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Iran
* **Iran pushes seven-day plan to end U.S. war in meetings with Qatari, Pakistani mediators: **Iran is pushing a seven-day roadmap to end the war with the U.S., as Iranian officials held meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
* The plan, which Tehran said was transmitted via mediators, calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Gaza and Lebanon, the release of at least $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, sanctions waivers for Iranian oil, an end to the U.S. naval blockade, and immediate nuclear talks. Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz on the seventh day.
* The proposal seeks to revive key provisions of the June U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, which later collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations.
* A White House official told CNN that discussions through mediators were “positive and constructive,” while another U.S. official told the New York Times that Washington would not rush into an agreement.
* **Iran’s Pezeshkian says Tehran open to nuclear verification, agreement with U.S.: **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian [said][1] Tehran remains willing to reach an agreement with Washington and would accept international verification of its nuclear program and lower uranium enrichment levels, in an interview with Fox News.
* Asked whether Iran wants a nuclear bomb, Pezeshkian said, “Not at all,” citing the late Supreme Leader’s religious prohibition on weapons of mass destruction. “We are willing to dilute [enriched uranium] … We are willing to submit ourselves to verification,” he added.
* Pezeshkian said Iran still wants to move forward based on the previous agreement reached with the Trump administration. “If the current American government, within international legal frameworks, wishes to reach an agreement, fine,” he said, adding that Tehran would not tie diplomacy to the timing of U.S. elections.
* **Iran warns “flights for everyone or no one” as UAE, Iraq enforce U.S. aviation sanctions: **The UAE [suspended][2] all flights operated by Iranian airlines on Thursday, citing new U.S. sanctions threatening airports and aviation companies that continue servicing Iranian carriers. Iraq, Oman, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan have also imposed restrictions.
* Iran warned neighboring countries against enforcing the measures. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei urged them not to join what he called the U.S. “adventure.”
* “Flights in the region are either open to everyone or to no one,” Supreme Leader adviser Mohammad Mokhber wrote in a [post][3] on X. “If Iran is denied the ability to fly and receive airport services, no country in the region will have access to these facilities either.”
# Yemen
* **Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani military chiefs to hold urgent talks on support for Riyadh: **The military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan [will hold][4] an urgent meeting to discuss support for Riyadh under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, following Ansarallah attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure. The countries’ three foreign ministers met in New York on Thursday.
* The countries signed the agreement on August 7, stipulating that an armed attack against one would be considered an attack against all three. They have since begun establishing mechanisms to implement the pact, including a Saudi-based secretariat and expanded military cooperation.
* Pakistan said earlier this month that no military response to the Ansarallah attacks was then under discussion, while stressing it would fulfill its obligations if required. “When time comes, [we] will act under the agreement,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said.
* **France to send troops, radars, and defense systems to protect Saudi oil port: **France [will deploy][5] soldiers, radars, and defense systems to Saudi Arabia to protect the Red Sea oil export hub of Yanbu following an Ansarallah attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday, according to Le Monde.
* Macron said the deployment was intended to protect the site, not involve French forces in the fighting. Yanbu, which handles several million barrels of oil a day, was “severely damaged” in the attacks, he said.
* **Ansarallah claims attacks on Saudi military sites; government forces claim gains in Lahj: **Yemen’s Ansarallah said it attacked several Saudi military sites, including the Al-Tuwal area in Jizan and missile positions at Al-Dagharir camp on Friday. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the attacks.
* Separately, Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claimed they captured the summit of Mount Numan and the Dar al-Kafir area in Lahj following an overnight operation. Ansarallah has not confirmed this.
# Palestine
* **Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian, wounds others in Khan Younis: **An Israeli airstrike [targeted][6] a vehicle in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis on Friday, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others, according to WAFA.
* **Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, torch vehicles:**
* **Nablus:** Israeli settlers [assaulted and detained][7] a group of Palestinian young men after stopping their vehicle in Beita’s Al-Arma area, WAFA reported on Friday. Israeli forces separately raided Beita and detained a 17-year-old Palestinian boy from his home.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Settlers [set fire][8] Friday to three Palestinian vehicles in Rantis and spray-painted racist slogans on several homes.
* **Across the occupied West Bank:** There are now [942 Israeli checkpoints][9], gates, and other obstacles across the occupied West Bank, including 824 fixed closure points, increasingly restricting Palestinian movement, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported.
* Thirteen new fixed gates and checkpoints were documented over the past two months, including 10 in Jenin.
* **Israeli police kill Palestinian man, bringing 2026 toll inside Israel to 10: **Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man in his 30s in Yafa Al-Naseriyye, in northern Israel, Thursday night, bringing the documented number of Palestinians killed by police inside of Israel this year to 10.
* In most cases, victims’ families and local groups disputed police accounts of the shootings. Previous investigations into Israeli police killings of Palestinian citizens have also been closed without charges against officers.
* **UNRWA faces $100 million cashflow deficit amid Israeli attacks, U.S. funding cutoff: **UNRWA is [facing][10] a $100 million cashflow deficit, forcing it to cut service hours by 20% and reduce salaries for local staff.
* The U.S., historically UNRWA’s largest donor, has withheld funding since 2024. Israel has moved to dismantle the agency’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem and restrict its work across the occupied Palestinian territory. In 2026, Israeli authorities demolished UNRWA’s historic East Jerusalem headquarters, carried out an operation at its Kalandia vocational training center and forced the closure of its Old City health clinic. Nearly 400 UNRWA personnel have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023.
* **Abbas warns UN that Israeli policies threaten Palestinians’ “very existence”**: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in prerecorded remarks after the U.S. denied visas to a Palestinian delegation for the second consecutive year, [told][11] the UN General Assembly Thursday that Israeli policies now threaten Palestinians’ “very life and existence,” citing “killing, destruction, starvation, attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
* Abbas called Israeli activity in the West Bank a “malicious colonial plan” and urged the international community to implement a two-state solution based on international law.
* He also discussed the Palestinian Authority’s plans to hold legislative elections on Nov. 28—the first since 2005-2006.
# Lebanon
* **Israel launches airstrikes, shelling and incursions across southern Lebanon despite ceasefire:**
* **Nabatieh:** Israeli warplanes [carried out][12] two strikes within less than 15 minutes on the outskirts of Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah and another strike on Bani Hayyan on Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.
* An Israeli drone also struck between Kfar Tibnit and Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, while artillery shelling hit the outskirts of Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah, Mayfadoun, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, and Kfar Tibnit.
* **Marjayoun:** Israeli forces [set fire][13] to several homes in the Jallahiya area of Khiam.
* **Hasbaya:** Israeli forces [advanced into][14] the Sadana area outside Kfar Shouba, surrounded a farm where several shepherds were present and opened fire around it.
* Artillery shelling was also reported around Sadana and the outskirts of Hebbariyeh, alongside heavy machine-gun fire.
* **“Lebanon wants to open a new page with Iran”: **Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam [met][15] Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, saying Lebanon wants to “open a new page” with Iran, establishing state-to-state relations, respect for sovereignty and non-interference, NNA reported.
* Salam said Lebanon “paid a heavy price” in its security, stability and economy and does not want to be an arena for regional conflicts. Salam also asked Iran to nominate a new ambassador to Beirut, nearly six months after Lebanon declared Tehran’s former envoy persona non grata.
* The call for state-to-state relations comes amid Iran’s longstanding political and military support of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah. Israel has continued attacks on Lebanon despite the signing of a U.S.-sponsored Framework Agreement on June 26 providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
# U.S. News
* **Netanyahu excoriates Mamdani, world leaders at UN amid Israel’s growing isolation:** Israeli Prime Minister **Benjamin Netanyahu** opened his UN General Assembly address Thursday by telling “any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall” to leave, as many attendees [walked out][16] amid broad international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
* Netanyahu devoted a portion of his speech to New York Mayor **Zohran Mamdani**, calling him “antisemitic” and saying “shame on you for distorting the facts... shame on you for spitting in the face of truth.” Mamdani called Netanyahu a “war criminal” earlier in the week.
* Netanyahu also rejected French President **Emmanuel Macron**’s Wednesday condemnation of daily Israeli “violations” in the West Bank as a “grotesque absurdity,” highlighting the recent death of a French-Israeli citizen Netanyahu claimed came at the hands of Hamas.
* Nearly two dozen protesters, including Democratic nominee for Congress **Darializa Avila Chevalier**, whistleblower **Chelsea Manning**, and actor **Hannah Einbinder**, were arrested outside the UN on Thursday.
* **Mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time since January 2025 as Iran war fallout hits housing market: **The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate [rose][17] to 7.03% this week, up from 6.3% a year ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday, as war-driven energy costs and inflation push borrowing costs higher.
* Rates dipped below 6% in late February before climbing steadily after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Existing home sales fell 2% in August to their lowest level since June 2025.
* **Trump administration airs government-funded ad against socialism: ** A new 30-second Trump administration TV ad featuring President Donald Trump [denouncing][18] “communism, socialism, and Marxism” began airing Wednesday night on Fox News, Newsmax, and connected platforms, disclaiming it was “paid for by the U.S. government,” according to ad tracker AdImpact.
* Sen. **Maggie Hassan** (D-N.H.) sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff **Susie Wiles** demanding the ad’s total cost, precise funding source, and purpose, saying it “raises deep concerns about the Trump Administration’s use of taxpayer dollars” and potential violations of laws barring appropriated funds from promoting a political party.
* The White House called the spots “public service announcements” without addressing funding questions.
* Musician **JMSN**, whose song “Love Me” appears in the ad, said he did not authorize its use and is “looking for a lawyer.”
* **CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters regain White House access despite delays; TV pool still suspended**: CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists were [readmitted][19] to the White House around noon Thursday after a chaotic morning in which they were initially blocked despite an overnight order from Judge **Timothy J. Kelly **demanding their credentials be “immediately” restored. CNN’s **Betsy Klein** saying she was turned away three times before being let in.
* The major networks’ TV pool remained suspended. No print reporters were allowed into President Donald Trump and Chinese President **Xi Jinping**’s meeting in the Oval Office and no network aired live footage.
* **Senate narrowly fails to block Trump from ordering further Iran strikes**: The Senate [voted][20] 49-50 against a war powers resolution that would have blocked President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, with Republicans **Rand Paul **(Ky.), **Susan Collins **(Maine), **Lisa Murkowski **(Alaska)**, **and **Thom Tillis **(N.C.) breaking from the party to vote yes alongside the Democrats; Democrat **John Fetterman (Pa.) **voted no, and Sen. **Angela Alsobrooks **(Md.) did not vote.
* **Ten Democrats back Casar’s bill to ban superintelligence, pause advanced AI development:** Ten House Democrats, Reps. **Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez **and **Ro Khanna**, are [cosponsoring][21] Rep. **Greg Casar’s **Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would prohibit AI “superintelligence” and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime is established, with violators facing up to 20 years in prison. Khanna stressed the need for a verifiable pause and AI safety cooperation with China.
* **Energy Secretary Wright pushes industry for voluntary diesel export cuts amid antitrust concerns**: Energy Secretary **Chris Wright** [asked][22] oil industry executives to voluntarily reduce diesel exports and boost domestic inventories, telling reporters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, “let’s push prices down.” The comments follow a Politico report that the White House was weighing a 90-day mandatory export ban that drew industry pushback.
* Energy executives working with White House officials warned that coordinating voluntary export reductions among companies could violate federal antitrust laws.
* Diesel prices have hit record highs amid supply disruptions from the Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, with U.S. exports up more than 12% since the war began and domestic inventories running 12% below the five-year average.
* **Massachusetts to investigate DraftKings’ use of AI after NYT report on targeting losing gamblers**: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission [announced][23] Thursday it will examine how DraftKings and other betting companies use AI, following a New York Times investigation that found DraftKings used machine learning to identify losing gamblers most likely to keep betting when sent promotional offers.
* Massachusetts prohibits using automated systems “known or reasonably expected” to make gambling more addictive. DraftKings denied using AI “to target anyone based on losses” or market based on “indicators of potential problem gaming.”
* Federal lawmakers, including Sen. **Richard Blumenthal **(D-Conn), have proposed a nationwide ban on AI-driven targeted gambling promotions in response to the Times’ reporting,
* **Trump administration asks Supreme Court to revive third-country deportation policy**: The Justice Department [filed][24] an emergency request Thursday asking the Supreme Court to pause a lower court order requiring immigration officials to give deportees notice and a chance to challenge removal before sending them to “third countries” where they have no ties. Last week, an appellate court largely upheld the ruling and DHS was forced to cancel a flight carrying 70 would-be deportees to three countries.
* Solicitor General **D. John Sauer **wrote that the policy had enabled removal of “thousands” of people, including “some of the worst of the worst criminal aliens,” and warned the lower court’s ruling “undermines our standing abroad” by disrupting diplomatic arrangements with receiving nations. Justice **Ketanji Brown Jackson** gave lawyers challenging the policy until Monday to respond.
* **Federal judge rules ICE’s NYC detention conditions “inhumane and unconstitutional,” orders sweeping fixes**: U.S. District Judge **Lewis A. Kaplan** [issued][25] a permanent injunction against ICE over conditions at the 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in New York City, writing in a 127-page opinion that officials “intentionally concealed or recklessly disregarded the truth” about compliance with his earlier orders and that ICE “objectively deprived detainees of sleep, sanitary living conditions, basic personal hygiene needs, sufficient food and water, and adequate medical care” by holding people far longer than the facility’s intended 12-hour limit.
* Kaplan found detainees were also “severely restricted” from meaningfully accessing counsel, with phone calls limited to a few minutes and often overheard by ICE staff, calling the agency’s disregard of prior capacity limits “persistent, egregious, and, at a minimum, reckless, if not willful.”
* The injunction requires ICE to provide at least 50 square feet of floor space per person, temperatures between 68 and 74 degrees, three daily meals, hygiene supplies, bedding for overnight detainees, an on-site medical professional at all times, and confidential attorney phone access.
* **GAO finds ICE wasted millions in rushed detention expansion push:** A Government Accountability Office report [released][26] Thursday found ICE “wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives” by launching new expansion efforts without a strategic plan, including spending nearly $3 million assembling tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used and more than $20 million on “non-recoverable costs” for warehouses it purchased last year and now intends to sell.
* The report also found ICE is reimbursing Florida at 171% above the median rate for running “Alligator Alcatraz” and another detention facility.
* **California Supreme Court orders Riverside sheriff to return 650,000 illegally seized ballots**: The California Supreme Court [ruled][27] Thursday unanimously that Riverside County Sheriff **Chad Bianco **unlawfully seized about 650,000 ballots from California’s 2025 special election as part of a fraud investigation state officials said had no basis, ordering their return.
* Associate Justice **Goodwin H. Liu** wrote that the seizure involved “over 1,000 boxes of documents... the most precious documents of the citizenry in a democracy: their votes.”
* The investigation targeted a special election in which voters approved Proposition 50, a Democratic-backed congressional redistricting plan responding to Texas’s own gerrymander. Bianco launched the probe when he was a Republican candidate for governor.
* **NSA spending billions to test AI models, exceeding prior estimates for federal oversight**: The National Security Agency is [spending][28] billions of dollars this year evaluating frontier AI models through its Artificial Intelligence Security Center, according to two sources familiar with classified intelligence estimates, a figure far exceeding earlier congressional projections of just $20 million, according to The Washington Sun.
* **Pentagon investigates how F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong: **The Pentagon [confirmed][29] on Thursday that it is investigating how a shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts, in transit from Australia for repair, was diverted to Hong Kong, with a defense official saying it is “actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components.”
* Bloomberg News reported the parts are now in China’s possession, though the Pentagon declined to confirm this.
* The missing components reportedly relate to the F-35’s canopy and weapons bay door, which, while lacking advanced avionics, could still reveal information about the plane’s radar-absorbent stealth coating.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Nepal PM Shah warns UN that deadly floods are “a warning to the world” on climate change**: Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah [told][30] the UN General Assembly Thursday that August floods that killed at least 1,453 people, with 5,500 still missing, were “not just a local tragedy,” asking leaders if they had “really heard that warning” in reference to the rising threat of climate change.
* Shah noted Nepal contributes less than one-tenth of 1% of global heat-trapping emissions yet “our glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable... every major disaster threatens to erase years of development.”
* Nepal has requested the maximum $20 million from the UN’s loss and damage fund—a fraction of the disaster’s estimated $5 billion cost. The U.S. pledged an additional $31 million in flood recovery support earlier this week.
* **U.S. arranges new trilateral Ukraine-Russia talks, possibly in UAE; Trump approves Patriot production**: The U.S. is working to [arrange][31] new trilateral peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at a technical level, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Washington has proposed the United Arab Emirates as a possible location, while the Kremlin confirmed a meeting could happen soon.
* Zelenskyy also said Trump has agreed to let Ukraine produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles domestically, though any licensed production would take more than a year to come online.
* **Argentina’s poverty rate climbs to 32.3% as Milei’s economic momentum stalls**: Argentina’s poverty rate [rose][32] to 32.3% in the first half of 2026, up from 28.2% the previous half-year, according to an official report.
* Extreme poverty rose from 6.3% to 7.5%, with roughly 9.7 million people across surveyed urban areas living below the poverty line, including nearly 45% of children under 15. Formal private-sector employment has fallen for 13 consecutive months.
* As president, Javier Milei has pursued a rigid austerity program, slashing public spending and tightening the country’s monetary policy.
* **At least 41 dead after boat capsizes on Lake Tanganyika in DRC**: A boat carrying roughly 100 people and cargo [capsized][33] near the Congolese village of Mapera on Lake Tanganyika Thursday, killing at least 41 people and prompting ongoing search operations for remaining passengers, the Associated Press reports; 49 people have been rescued so far.
* The vessel, traveling from Kigoma, Tanzania, to Kalemie, DRC, reportedly began tilting around 1 a.m. as passengers slept, a survivor told Radio Okapi. The cause remains unclear.
* On August 28, a fire and explosion aboard the MV Pacifique on the same route killed six crew members.
* **Costa Rica’s president fires foreign minister after unauthorized attendance of Trump security summit: **Costa Rica President Laura Fernandez [dismissed][34] Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar effective immediately Thursday after he attended a Tuesday meeting of the Shield of the Americas—a U.S.-led anti-cartel coalition launched by the Trump administration in March—without notifying her, preventing her from participating herself.
* The government said Tovar’s negligence “caused significant strategic damage,” calling the coalition, which several right-wing Latin American presidents also attended, “fundamental to its national and public security policy.”
* **U.S.-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1 freed from Somali pirates in Puntland operation**: Puntland’s maritime police [announced][35] that the force had freed the U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker Sibu 1 during a counter-piracy operation, with commander Mohamed Jama telling Reuters “the ship is free and the pirates are all in the hands of our forces.”
* The Eritrea-flagged tanker, seized by six armed individuals on August 20, had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in December for allegedly forming part of a “shadow fleet” helping Iranian petroleum products evade U.S. sanctions.
* Sibu 1 was at least the 13th vessel attacked off Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden this year, according to International Maritime Bureau and UKMTO data.
* **UNHCR reports 20-fold surge in Sudanese refugees fleeing to Chad amid funding shortfall**: Over 55,000 Sudanese refugees have escaped into eastern Chad since January, fueled by ongoing violence and growing instability, according to the UNHCR. More than 400 people a day have crossed from Sudan into eastern Chad over the past week—a 20-fold increase from recent months—as fighting between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces intensifies across Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile, the UN refugee agency said.
UN Regional Refugee Coordinator Mamadou Dian Balde said arrivals describe fleeing “aerial bombardments” and “drone attacks.”
* Balde also discussed the UNHCR’s funding shortfall, with the agency receiving only 18% of the $1.6 billion it needs this year. He noted that the change means “less food ... less capacity for people to be relocated to safer areas ... less capacity to shelter themselves.”
* The UNHCR also warned that unmet needs in Chad could push more Sudanese refugees toward attempting dangerous onward journeys to Europe, as the more than three-year civil war has displaced up to 14 million people overall, with nearly 1 million refugees having crossed into Chad since the conflict began.
* **TPLF fighters in Ethiopia take over airport as “full-blown war” resumes in Amhara:** Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters have captured the Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, amidst fresh fighting with federal troops. Ethiopia’s National Defense Force also said on Friday it [killed][36] at least 272 Tigray People’s Liberation Front fighters and wounded 260 more in a counter-offensive after TPLF and allied forces attacked several areas of North Wollo in Amhara region.
* A civil aviation official at the airport, Tulu Ayenew, said on Friday that since Wednesday TPLF and government forces were fighting near the airport but eventually TPLF overpowered their opponents and are currently in full control.
* TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP, “We are in the situation of full-blown war now,” confirming Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside local groups in Afar and Amhara. The escalation has disrupted air travel after Tigrayan forces seized three local airports, forcing the suspension of flights to the UNESCO-listed site of Lalibela.
* Last week, the TPLF formed a seven-party alliance, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, aimed at ousting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
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[1]: https://www.foxnews.com/world/iranian-president-blames-us-middle-east-conflict-denying-nuclear-ambitions-offers-dilute-uranium
[2]: https://www.wam.ae/en/article/c2epfv7-general-civil-aviation-authority-announces
[3]: https://x.com/mokhberofficial/status/2103425701785543107?s=46
[4]: https://www.spa.gov.sa/N2685460
[5]: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/09/24/france-to-send-military-means-to-protect-saudi-oil-port-macron-says_6757914_7.html?srsltid=AU7gw4X_DYHfNoaGcrZkP_eSIpWju_LylsKGEs1Kt4l95RNU_Smjiojb
[6]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3-154646
[7]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-154648
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AE%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-154634
[9]: https://www.cwrc.ps/page-5018-ar.html
[10]: https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/175130
[11]: https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-policies-threaten-existence-palestinians-abbas-says
[12]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565143/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%91%D8%AF-%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A3%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%B7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A3%D9%82%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9-2
[13]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565124/%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-2
[14]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565090/%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%BA%D9%91%D9%84-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%83%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A8-2
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565013/%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%88-%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84-2
[16]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2103188484278129049
[17]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/business/mortgage-rates-7-percent.html
[18]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/trump-administration-midterm-tv-ads-01091499
[19]: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09/24/business/trump-cnn-politico-msnow-white-house
[20]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2026/09/24/how-every-senator-voted-iran-war-powers-resolution/
[21]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/24/congress/aoc-and-9-house-dems-sign-on-to-ai-superintelligence-ban-01092733
[22]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/wright-seeking-voluntary-fuel-export-cuts-01092137
[23]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/business/massachusetts-draftkings-ai-gambling.html
[24]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-supreme-court-third-country-deportation-policy/
[25]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/24/ice-nyc-detention-center-unconstitutional-conditions
[26]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/gao-trump-deportation-push-costs
[27]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/riverside-county-california-sheriff-seized-ballots.html
[28]: https://www.notus.org/technology/classified-estimates-nsa-paying-billions-to-test-ai-models
[29]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-f-35-fighter-jet-parts/
[30]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/nepal-leader-labels-devastating-flood-065651664.html
[31]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/25/us-seeking-to-revive-russia-ukraine-ceasefire-talks
[32]: https://apnews.com/article/argentina-president-javier-milei-economy-inflation-indec-austerity-84acfa87fe1bba6d06b387afbfe6abb7
[33]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/least-41-die-boat-capsizes-003813593.html
[34]: https://www.aol.ca/articles/costa-rican-foreign-minister-dismissed-162702000.html
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/25/us-sanctioned-oil-tanker-sibu-1-rescued-from-somali-pirates
[36]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/ethiopian-army-says-272-tigrayan-181903382.html
[37]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[38]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[39]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/iran-us-war-plan-saudi-defense-pakistan-turkey-yemen-argentina-poverty
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images.
**Friday, September 25, 2026 –***** **Iran pushes seven-day plan to end U.S. war in meetings with Qatari, Pakistani mediators. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran open to nuclear verification, agreement with U.S. Iran warns “flights for everyone or no one” as UAE, Iraq enforce U.S. aviation sanctions. Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani military chiefs to hold urgent talks on support for Riyadh. France to send troops, radars, and defense systems to protect Saudi oil port. Ansarallah claims attacks on Saudi military sites; government forces claim gains in Lahj. Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian, wounds others in Khan Younis. Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, torch vehicles. UNRWA faces $100 million cash flow deficit amid Israeli attacks, U.S. funding cutoff. Israel launches airstrikes, shelling and incursions across southern Lebanon despite ceasefire. Lebanese Prime Minister: “Lebanon wants to open a new page with Iran.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu excoriates
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, world leaders at UN amid Israel’s growing isolation. Mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time since January 2025 as Iran war fallout hits housing market. Trump administration airs government-funded ad against socialism. CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters regain White House access despite delays; TV pool still suspended. Senate narrowly fails to block Trump from ordering further Iran strikes. Ten Democrats back Rep. Greg Casar’s bill to ban superintelligence, pause advanced AI development. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pushes industry for voluntary diesel export cuts amid antitrust concerns. Trump administration asks Supreme Court to revive third-country deportation policy. Federal judge rules ICE's NYC detention conditions “inhumane and unconstitutional,” orders sweeping fixes. NSA spending billions to test AI models, exceeding prior estimates for federal oversight. Pentagon investigates how F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong. Nepal Prime Minister Balen
Shah warns UN that deadly floods are “a warning to the world” on climate change. U.S. arranges new trilateral Ukraine-Russia talks, possibly in UAE; Trump approves Patriot production. Argentina’s poverty rate climbs to 32.3% as President Javier Milei’s economic momentum stalls. At least 41 dead after boat capsizes on Lake Tanganyika in DRC. UNHCR reports 20-fold surge in Sudanese refugees fleeing to Chad amid funding shortfall. TPLF fighters in Ethiopia take over airport as “full-blown war” resumes in Amhara.*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Iran
* **Iran pushes seven-day plan to end U.S. war in meetings with Qatari, Pakistani mediators: **Iran is pushing a seven-day roadmap to end the war with the U.S., as Iranian officials held meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
* The plan, which Tehran said was transmitted via mediators, calls for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including Gaza and Lebanon, the release of at least $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, sanctions waivers for Iranian oil, an end to the U.S. naval blockade, and immediate nuclear talks. Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz on the seventh day.
* The proposal seeks to revive key provisions of the June U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, which later collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations.
* A White House official told CNN that discussions through mediators were “positive and constructive,” while another U.S. official told the New York Times that Washington would not rush into an agreement.
* **Iran’s Pezeshkian says Tehran open to nuclear verification, agreement with U.S.: **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian [said][1] Tehran remains willing to reach an agreement with Washington and would accept international verification of its nuclear program and lower uranium enrichment levels, in an interview with Fox News.
* Asked whether Iran wants a nuclear bomb, Pezeshkian said, “Not at all,” citing the late Supreme Leader’s religious prohibition on weapons of mass destruction. “We are willing to dilute [enriched uranium] … We are willing to submit ourselves to verification,” he added.
* Pezeshkian said Iran still wants to move forward based on the previous agreement reached with the Trump administration. “If the current American government, within international legal frameworks, wishes to reach an agreement, fine,” he said, adding that Tehran would not tie diplomacy to the timing of U.S. elections.
* **Iran warns “flights for everyone or no one” as UAE, Iraq enforce U.S. aviation sanctions: **The UAE [suspended][2] all flights operated by Iranian airlines on Thursday, citing new U.S. sanctions threatening airports and aviation companies that continue servicing Iranian carriers. Iraq, Oman, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan have also imposed restrictions.
* Iran warned neighboring countries against enforcing the measures. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei urged them not to join what he called the U.S. “adventure.”
* “Flights in the region are either open to everyone or to no one,” Supreme Leader adviser Mohammad Mokhber wrote in a [post][3] on X. “If Iran is denied the ability to fly and receive airport services, no country in the region will have access to these facilities either.”
# Yemen
* **Saudi, Turkish, and Pakistani military chiefs to hold urgent talks on support for Riyadh: **The military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan [will hold][4] an urgent meeting to discuss support for Riyadh under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, following Ansarallah attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure. The countries’ three foreign ministers met in New York on Thursday.
* The countries signed the agreement on August 7, stipulating that an armed attack against one would be considered an attack against all three. They have since begun establishing mechanisms to implement the pact, including a Saudi-based secretariat and expanded military cooperation.
* Pakistan said earlier this month that no military response to the Ansarallah attacks was then under discussion, while stressing it would fulfill its obligations if required. “When time comes, [we] will act under the agreement,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said.
* **France to send troops, radars, and defense systems to protect Saudi oil port: **France [will deploy][5] soldiers, radars, and defense systems to Saudi Arabia to protect the Red Sea oil export hub of Yanbu following an Ansarallah attack, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday, according to Le Monde.
* Macron said the deployment was intended to protect the site, not involve French forces in the fighting. Yanbu, which handles several million barrels of oil a day, was “severely damaged” in the attacks, he said.
* **Ansarallah claims attacks on Saudi military sites; government forces claim gains in Lahj: **Yemen’s Ansarallah said it attacked several Saudi military sites, including the Al-Tuwal area in Jizan and missile positions at Al-Dagharir camp on Friday. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the attacks.
* Separately, Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claimed they captured the summit of Mount Numan and the Dar al-Kafir area in Lahj following an overnight operation. Ansarallah has not confirmed this.
# Palestine
* **Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian, wounds others in Khan Younis: **An Israeli airstrike [targeted][6] a vehicle in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis on Friday, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others, according to WAFA.
* **Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, torch vehicles:**
* **Nablus:** Israeli settlers [assaulted and detained][7] a group of Palestinian young men after stopping their vehicle in Beita’s Al-Arma area, WAFA reported on Friday. Israeli forces separately raided Beita and detained a 17-year-old Palestinian boy from his home.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Settlers [set fire][8] Friday to three Palestinian vehicles in Rantis and spray-painted racist slogans on several homes.
* **Across the occupied West Bank:** There are now [942 Israeli checkpoints][9], gates, and other obstacles across the occupied West Bank, including 824 fixed closure points, increasingly restricting Palestinian movement, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported.
* Thirteen new fixed gates and checkpoints were documented over the past two months, including 10 in Jenin.
* **Israeli police kill Palestinian man, bringing 2026 toll inside Israel to 10: **Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man in his 30s in Yafa Al-Naseriyye, in northern Israel, Thursday night, bringing the documented number of Palestinians killed by police inside of Israel this year to 10.
* In most cases, victims’ families and local groups disputed police accounts of the shootings. Previous investigations into Israeli police killings of Palestinian citizens have also been closed without charges against officers.
* **UNRWA faces $100 million cashflow deficit amid Israeli attacks, U.S. funding cutoff: **UNRWA is [facing][10] a $100 million cashflow deficit, forcing it to cut service hours by 20% and reduce salaries for local staff.
* The U.S., historically UNRWA’s largest donor, has withheld funding since 2024. Israel has moved to dismantle the agency’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem and restrict its work across the occupied Palestinian territory. In 2026, Israeli authorities demolished UNRWA’s historic East Jerusalem headquarters, carried out an operation at its Kalandia vocational training center and forced the closure of its Old City health clinic. Nearly 400 UNRWA personnel have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023.
* **Abbas warns UN that Israeli policies threaten Palestinians’ “very existence”**: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in prerecorded remarks after the U.S. denied visas to a Palestinian delegation for the second consecutive year, [told][11] the UN General Assembly Thursday that Israeli policies now threaten Palestinians’ “very life and existence,” citing “killing, destruction, starvation, attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
* Abbas called Israeli activity in the West Bank a “malicious colonial plan” and urged the international community to implement a two-state solution based on international law.
* He also discussed the Palestinian Authority’s plans to hold legislative elections on Nov. 28—the first since 2005-2006.
# Lebanon
* **Israel launches airstrikes, shelling and incursions across southern Lebanon despite ceasefire:**
* **Nabatieh:** Israeli warplanes [carried out][12] two strikes within less than 15 minutes on the outskirts of Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah and another strike on Bani Hayyan on Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.
* An Israeli drone also struck between Kfar Tibnit and Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, while artillery shelling hit the outskirts of Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah, Mayfadoun, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, and Kfar Tibnit.
* **Marjayoun:** Israeli forces [set fire][13] to several homes in the Jallahiya area of Khiam.
* **Hasbaya:** Israeli forces [advanced into][14] the Sadana area outside Kfar Shouba, surrounded a farm where several shepherds were present and opened fire around it.
* Artillery shelling was also reported around Sadana and the outskirts of Hebbariyeh, alongside heavy machine-gun fire.
* **“Lebanon wants to open a new page with Iran”: **Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam [met][15] Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, saying Lebanon wants to “open a new page” with Iran, establishing state-to-state relations, respect for sovereignty and non-interference, NNA reported.
* Salam said Lebanon “paid a heavy price” in its security, stability and economy and does not want to be an arena for regional conflicts. Salam also asked Iran to nominate a new ambassador to Beirut, nearly six months after Lebanon declared Tehran’s former envoy persona non grata.
* The call for state-to-state relations comes amid Iran’s longstanding political and military support of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah. Israel has continued attacks on Lebanon despite the signing of a U.S.-sponsored Framework Agreement on June 26 providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
# U.S. News
* **Netanyahu excoriates Mamdani, world leaders at UN amid Israel’s growing isolation:** Israeli Prime Minister **Benjamin Netanyahu** opened his UN General Assembly address Thursday by telling “any other moral cowards who haven’t yet left this hall” to leave, as many attendees [walked out][16] amid broad international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
* Netanyahu devoted a portion of his speech to New York Mayor **Zohran Mamdani**, calling him “antisemitic” and saying “shame on you for distorting the facts... shame on you for spitting in the face of truth.” Mamdani called Netanyahu a “war criminal” earlier in the week.
* Netanyahu also rejected French President **Emmanuel Macron**’s Wednesday condemnation of daily Israeli “violations” in the West Bank as a “grotesque absurdity,” highlighting the recent death of a French-Israeli citizen Netanyahu claimed came at the hands of Hamas.
* Nearly two dozen protesters, including Democratic nominee for Congress **Darializa Avila Chevalier**, whistleblower **Chelsea Manning**, and actor **Hannah Einbinder**, were arrested outside the UN on Thursday.
* **Mortgage rates hit 7% for the first time since January 2025 as Iran war fallout hits housing market: **The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate [rose][17] to 7.03% this week, up from 6.3% a year ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday, as war-driven energy costs and inflation push borrowing costs higher.
* Rates dipped below 6% in late February before climbing steadily after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Existing home sales fell 2% in August to their lowest level since June 2025.
* **Trump administration airs government-funded ad against socialism: ** A new 30-second Trump administration TV ad featuring President Donald Trump [denouncing][18] “communism, socialism, and Marxism” began airing Wednesday night on Fox News, Newsmax, and connected platforms, disclaiming it was “paid for by the U.S. government,” according to ad tracker AdImpact.
* Sen. **Maggie Hassan** (D-N.H.) sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff **Susie Wiles** demanding the ad’s total cost, precise funding source, and purpose, saying it “raises deep concerns about the Trump Administration’s use of taxpayer dollars” and potential violations of laws barring appropriated funds from promoting a political party.
* The White House called the spots “public service announcements” without addressing funding questions.
* Musician **JMSN**, whose song “Love Me” appears in the ad, said he did not authorize its use and is “looking for a lawyer.”
* **CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters regain White House access despite delays; TV pool still suspended**: CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists were [readmitted][19] to the White House around noon Thursday after a chaotic morning in which they were initially blocked despite an overnight order from Judge **Timothy J. Kelly **demanding their credentials be “immediately” restored. CNN’s **Betsy Klein** saying she was turned away three times before being let in.
* The major networks’ TV pool remained suspended. No print reporters were allowed into President Donald Trump and Chinese President **Xi Jinping**’s meeting in the Oval Office and no network aired live footage.
* **Senate narrowly fails to block Trump from ordering further Iran strikes**: The Senate [voted][20] 49-50 against a war powers resolution that would have blocked President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran, with Republicans **Rand Paul **(Ky.), **Susan Collins **(Maine), **Lisa Murkowski **(Alaska)**, **and **Thom Tillis **(N.C.) breaking from the party to vote yes alongside the Democrats; Democrat **John Fetterman (Pa.) **voted no, and Sen. **Angela Alsobrooks **(Md.) did not vote.
* **Ten Democrats back Casar’s bill to ban superintelligence, pause advanced AI development:** Ten House Democrats, Reps. **Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez **and **Ro Khanna**, are [cosponsoring][21] Rep. **Greg Casar’s **Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would prohibit AI “superintelligence” and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime is established, with violators facing up to 20 years in prison. Khanna stressed the need for a verifiable pause and AI safety cooperation with China.
* **Energy Secretary Wright pushes industry for voluntary diesel export cuts amid antitrust concerns**: Energy Secretary **Chris Wright** [asked][22] oil industry executives to voluntarily reduce diesel exports and boost domestic inventories, telling reporters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, “let’s push prices down.” The comments follow a Politico report that the White House was weighing a 90-day mandatory export ban that drew industry pushback.
* Energy executives working with White House officials warned that coordinating voluntary export reductions among companies could violate federal antitrust laws.
* Diesel prices have hit record highs amid supply disruptions from the Iran war and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, with U.S. exports up more than 12% since the war began and domestic inventories running 12% below the five-year average.
* **Massachusetts to investigate DraftKings’ use of AI after NYT report on targeting losing gamblers**: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission [announced][23] Thursday it will examine how DraftKings and other betting companies use AI, following a New York Times investigation that found DraftKings used machine learning to identify losing gamblers most likely to keep betting when sent promotional offers.
* Massachusetts prohibits using automated systems “known or reasonably expected” to make gambling more addictive. DraftKings denied using AI “to target anyone based on losses” or market based on “indicators of potential problem gaming.”
* Federal lawmakers, including Sen. **Richard Blumenthal **(D-Conn), have proposed a nationwide ban on AI-driven targeted gambling promotions in response to the Times’ reporting,
* **Trump administration asks Supreme Court to revive third-country deportation policy**: The Justice Department [filed][24] an emergency request Thursday asking the Supreme Court to pause a lower court order requiring immigration officials to give deportees notice and a chance to challenge removal before sending them to “third countries” where they have no ties. Last week, an appellate court largely upheld the ruling and DHS was forced to cancel a flight carrying 70 would-be deportees to three countries.
* Solicitor General **D. John Sauer **wrote that the policy had enabled removal of “thousands” of people, including “some of the worst of the worst criminal aliens,” and warned the lower court’s ruling “undermines our standing abroad” by disrupting diplomatic arrangements with receiving nations. Justice **Ketanji Brown Jackson** gave lawyers challenging the policy until Monday to respond.
* **Federal judge rules ICE’s NYC detention conditions “inhumane and unconstitutional,” orders sweeping fixes**: U.S. District Judge **Lewis A. Kaplan** [issued][25] a permanent injunction against ICE over conditions at the 26 Federal Plaza detention facility in New York City, writing in a 127-page opinion that officials “intentionally concealed or recklessly disregarded the truth” about compliance with his earlier orders and that ICE “objectively deprived detainees of sleep, sanitary living conditions, basic personal hygiene needs, sufficient food and water, and adequate medical care” by holding people far longer than the facility’s intended 12-hour limit.
* Kaplan found detainees were also “severely restricted” from meaningfully accessing counsel, with phone calls limited to a few minutes and often overheard by ICE staff, calling the agency’s disregard of prior capacity limits “persistent, egregious, and, at a minimum, reckless, if not willful.”
* The injunction requires ICE to provide at least 50 square feet of floor space per person, temperatures between 68 and 74 degrees, three daily meals, hygiene supplies, bedding for overnight detainees, an on-site medical professional at all times, and confidential attorney phone access.
* **GAO finds ICE wasted millions in rushed detention expansion push:** A Government Accountability Office report [released][26] Thursday found ICE “wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives” by launching new expansion efforts without a strategic plan, including spending nearly $3 million assembling tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used and more than $20 million on “non-recoverable costs” for warehouses it purchased last year and now intends to sell.
* The report also found ICE is reimbursing Florida at 171% above the median rate for running “Alligator Alcatraz” and another detention facility.
* **California Supreme Court orders Riverside sheriff to return 650,000 illegally seized ballots**: The California Supreme Court [ruled][27] Thursday unanimously that Riverside County Sheriff **Chad Bianco **unlawfully seized about 650,000 ballots from California’s 2025 special election as part of a fraud investigation state officials said had no basis, ordering their return.
* Associate Justice **Goodwin H. Liu** wrote that the seizure involved “over 1,000 boxes of documents... the most precious documents of the citizenry in a democracy: their votes.”
* The investigation targeted a special election in which voters approved Proposition 50, a Democratic-backed congressional redistricting plan responding to Texas’s own gerrymander. Bianco launched the probe when he was a Republican candidate for governor.
* **NSA spending billions to test AI models, exceeding prior estimates for federal oversight**: The National Security Agency is [spending][28] billions of dollars this year evaluating frontier AI models through its Artificial Intelligence Security Center, according to two sources familiar with classified intelligence estimates, a figure far exceeding earlier congressional projections of just $20 million, according to The Washington Sun.
* **Pentagon investigates how F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong: **The Pentagon [confirmed][29] on Thursday that it is investigating how a shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts, in transit from Australia for repair, was diverted to Hong Kong, with a defense official saying it is “actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components.”
* Bloomberg News reported the parts are now in China’s possession, though the Pentagon declined to confirm this.
* The missing components reportedly relate to the F-35’s canopy and weapons bay door, which, while lacking advanced avionics, could still reveal information about the plane’s radar-absorbent stealth coating.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Nepal PM Shah warns UN that deadly floods are “a warning to the world” on climate change**: Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah [told][30] the UN General Assembly Thursday that August floods that killed at least 1,453 people, with 5,500 still missing, were “not just a local tragedy,” asking leaders if they had “really heard that warning” in reference to the rising threat of climate change.
* Shah noted Nepal contributes less than one-tenth of 1% of global heat-trapping emissions yet “our glaciers are retreating, our mountain slopes are becoming unstable... every major disaster threatens to erase years of development.”
* Nepal has requested the maximum $20 million from the UN’s loss and damage fund—a fraction of the disaster’s estimated $5 billion cost. The U.S. pledged an additional $31 million in flood recovery support earlier this week.
* **U.S. arranges new trilateral Ukraine-Russia talks, possibly in UAE; Trump approves Patriot production**: The U.S. is working to [arrange][31] new trilateral peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at a technical level, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Washington has proposed the United Arab Emirates as a possible location, while the Kremlin confirmed a meeting could happen soon.
* Zelenskyy also said Trump has agreed to let Ukraine produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles domestically, though any licensed production would take more than a year to come online.
* **Argentina’s poverty rate climbs to 32.3% as Milei’s economic momentum stalls**: Argentina’s poverty rate [rose][32] to 32.3% in the first half of 2026, up from 28.2% the previous half-year, according to an official report.
* Extreme poverty rose from 6.3% to 7.5%, with roughly 9.7 million people across surveyed urban areas living below the poverty line, including nearly 45% of children under 15. Formal private-sector employment has fallen for 13 consecutive months.
* As president, Javier Milei has pursued a rigid austerity program, slashing public spending and tightening the country’s monetary policy.
* **At least 41 dead after boat capsizes on Lake Tanganyika in DRC**: A boat carrying roughly 100 people and cargo [capsized][33] near the Congolese village of Mapera on Lake Tanganyika Thursday, killing at least 41 people and prompting ongoing search operations for remaining passengers, the Associated Press reports; 49 people have been rescued so far.
* The vessel, traveling from Kigoma, Tanzania, to Kalemie, DRC, reportedly began tilting around 1 a.m. as passengers slept, a survivor told Radio Okapi. The cause remains unclear.
* On August 28, a fire and explosion aboard the MV Pacifique on the same route killed six crew members.
* **Costa Rica’s president fires foreign minister after unauthorized attendance of Trump security summit: **Costa Rica President Laura Fernandez [dismissed][34] Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar effective immediately Thursday after he attended a Tuesday meeting of the Shield of the Americas—a U.S.-led anti-cartel coalition launched by the Trump administration in March—without notifying her, preventing her from participating herself.
* The government said Tovar’s negligence “caused significant strategic damage,” calling the coalition, which several right-wing Latin American presidents also attended, “fundamental to its national and public security policy.”
* **U.S.-sanctioned tanker Sibu 1 freed from Somali pirates in Puntland operation**: Puntland’s maritime police [announced][35] that the force had freed the U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker Sibu 1 during a counter-piracy operation, with commander Mohamed Jama telling Reuters “the ship is free and the pirates are all in the hands of our forces.”
* The Eritrea-flagged tanker, seized by six armed individuals on August 20, had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in December for allegedly forming part of a “shadow fleet” helping Iranian petroleum products evade U.S. sanctions.
* Sibu 1 was at least the 13th vessel attacked off Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden this year, according to International Maritime Bureau and UKMTO data.
* **UNHCR reports 20-fold surge in Sudanese refugees fleeing to Chad amid funding shortfall**: Over 55,000 Sudanese refugees have escaped into eastern Chad since January, fueled by ongoing violence and growing instability, according to the UNHCR. More than 400 people a day have crossed from Sudan into eastern Chad over the past week—a 20-fold increase from recent months—as fighting between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces intensifies across Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile, the UN refugee agency said.
UN Regional Refugee Coordinator Mamadou Dian Balde said arrivals describe fleeing “aerial bombardments” and “drone attacks.”
* Balde also discussed the UNHCR’s funding shortfall, with the agency receiving only 18% of the $1.6 billion it needs this year. He noted that the change means “less food ... less capacity for people to be relocated to safer areas ... less capacity to shelter themselves.”
* The UNHCR also warned that unmet needs in Chad could push more Sudanese refugees toward attempting dangerous onward journeys to Europe, as the more than three-year civil war has displaced up to 14 million people overall, with nearly 1 million refugees having crossed into Chad since the conflict began.
* **TPLF fighters in Ethiopia take over airport as “full-blown war” resumes in Amhara:** Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters have captured the Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, amidst fresh fighting with federal troops. Ethiopia’s National Defense Force also said on Friday it [killed][36] at least 272 Tigray People’s Liberation Front fighters and wounded 260 more in a counter-offensive after TPLF and allied forces attacked several areas of North Wollo in Amhara region.
* A civil aviation official at the airport, Tulu Ayenew, said on Friday that since Wednesday TPLF and government forces were fighting near the airport but eventually TPLF overpowered their opponents and are currently in full control.
* TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP, “We are in the situation of full-blown war now,” confirming Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside local groups in Afar and Amhara. The escalation has disrupted air travel after Tigrayan forces seized three local airports, forcing the suspension of flights to the UNESCO-listed site of Lalibela.
* Last week, the TPLF formed a seven-party alliance, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, aimed at ousting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
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[1]: https://www.foxnews.com/world/iranian-president-blames-us-middle-east-conflict-denying-nuclear-ambitions-offers-dilute-uranium
[2]: https://www.wam.ae/en/article/c2epfv7-general-civil-aviation-authority-announces
[3]: https://x.com/mokhberofficial/status/2103425701785543107?s=46
[4]: https://www.spa.gov.sa/N2685460
[5]: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/09/24/france-to-send-military-means-to-protect-saudi-oil-port-macron-says_6757914_7.html?srsltid=AU7gw4X_DYHfNoaGcrZkP_eSIpWju_LylsKGEs1Kt4l95RNU_Smjiojb
[6]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3-154646
[7]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-154648
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/25/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AE%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-154634
[9]: https://www.cwrc.ps/page-5018-ar.html
[10]: https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/175130
[11]: https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-policies-threaten-existence-palestinians-abbas-says
[12]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565143/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%91%D8%AF-%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A3%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%B7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A3%D9%82%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9-2
[13]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565124/%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-2
[14]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565090/%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%BA%D9%91%D9%84-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%83%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A8-2
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/565013/%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%88-%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84-2
[16]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2103188484278129049
[17]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/business/mortgage-rates-7-percent.html
[18]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/trump-administration-midterm-tv-ads-01091499
[19]: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09/24/business/trump-cnn-politico-msnow-white-house
[20]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2026/09/24/how-every-senator-voted-iran-war-powers-resolution/
[21]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/24/congress/aoc-and-9-house-dems-sign-on-to-ai-superintelligence-ban-01092733
[22]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/wright-seeking-voluntary-fuel-export-cuts-01092137
[23]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/business/massachusetts-draftkings-ai-gambling.html
[24]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-supreme-court-third-country-deportation-policy/
[25]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/24/ice-nyc-detention-center-unconstitutional-conditions
[26]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/24/gao-trump-deportation-push-costs
[27]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/riverside-county-california-sheriff-seized-ballots.html
[28]: https://www.notus.org/technology/classified-estimates-nsa-paying-billions-to-test-ai-models
[29]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-f-35-fighter-jet-parts/
[30]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/nepal-leader-labels-devastating-flood-065651664.html
[31]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/25/us-seeking-to-revive-russia-ukraine-ceasefire-talks
[32]: https://apnews.com/article/argentina-president-javier-milei-economy-inflation-indec-austerity-84acfa87fe1bba6d06b387afbfe6abb7
[33]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/least-41-die-boat-capsizes-003813593.html
[34]: https://www.aol.ca/articles/costa-rican-foreign-minister-dismissed-162702000.html
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/25/us-sanctioned-oil-tanker-sibu-1-rescued-from-somali-pirates
[36]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/ethiopian-army-says-272-tigrayan-181903382.html
[37]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[38]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[39]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/iran-us-war-plan-saudi-defense-pakistan-turkey-yemen-argentina-poverty
1
Trump rolls out red carpet for Xi; Israel blocks wheelchairs for Gaza’s amputee children; Argentine president threatens Falklands
Palestinian amputee football players who lost limbs in Israeli attacks gather for a training session on a pitch in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Palestine, on September 9, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images.
**Thursday, September 24, 2026 –***** **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vows Iran will fight “until our last breath” in UN speech. Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez promises elections "at the right moment" in first UN address. Argentine President Javier Milei threatens unilateral Argentine action on Falklands, calls UN “useless” at General Assembly. AI CEOs urge UN Security Council to regulate technology. Turkey agrees to “gradually” hand over Bashiqa military base to Iraq. Ukraine transfers two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells UN. U.S. pledges additional $267 million to fight central Africa Ebola outbreak. Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted six Ansarallah missiles amid renewed fighting in Yemen. Iran says no U.S. talks until conditions met, Hormuz to remain closed. U.S. Treasury chief says pressure campaign aims at Iranian government split, popular uprising, or deal. Financial Times: War-driven shipping costs hit
record highs, forcing refineries to cut production. Israeli attacks kill two Palestinians in central Gaza. Israeli forces raid Palestinian Red Crescent office as settler attacks injure Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. Israel issues tender for 400 new settlement units near Qalqilya. Son of Israeli ambassador to U.S. critically wounded in alleged West Bank ramming attack. Jared Kushner touts Gaza reconstruction plans as Israeli attacks and blockade stall ceasefire implementation. Israel blocks 900 donated wheelchairs for amputee children in Gaza, held in Jordan for over a year. Israeli attacks destroy elderly care center, target solar panels in southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire.” President Donald Trump gives Chinese President Xi Jinping rare airport welcome as high-stakes Washington summit begins. White House preparing 90-day diesel export ban despite internal opposition. Judge dismisses Trump’s election-interference lawsuit against Des Moines Register. ICE explores “mobile
detention facilities” in Pennsylvania amid detention expansion. Chicago mayor proposes year-long moratorium on new data centers. CNN: Eight U.S. sailors attempted suicide amid low morale during USS Abraham Lincoln's Iran combat deployment. Reuters: White House blocked State Department condemnation of West Bank import bans. Senate Democrats to introduce bill to sanction Israel's E1 settlement project. Pakistan strikes 10 sites in Afghanistan over drone launches, Kabul says four civilians killed. ICC convicts Central African Republic militia leader of crimes against humanity. OpenAI AI agent breached Australian public health website, PM says. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio conditions discussion with Cuba on regime change. UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warns thousands of displaced Somalis could face famine by year-end. Taiwan upgrades maritime patrols around vulnerable Pratas Islands amid Chinese pressure. North Korea tests upgraded rocket launcher, vows nuclear
status “irreversible.”*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# UN General Assembly
* **Pezeshkian vows Iran will fight “until our last breath” in UN speech: **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian [told][1] the UN General Assembly Wednesday that his people have been “victims of terrorism” by the U.S., noting that in the war Iran did not “bend the knee” after the U.S. began its campaign against the country.
* He also said that Iran remained “ready for negotiations” but would not allow the U.S. to employ “the language of force” against it.
* During his speech, he held up photos of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and children killed in the war’s opening days. “We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said.
* Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speech, claiming Iran had limited “standing” on the issues of human rights.
* **Venezuela’s Rodriguez promises elections “at the right moment” in first UN address:** Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez [told][2] the UN General Assembly Wednesday, “elections will be held in Venezuela,” saying her government has begun “political dialogue with opposition sectors” toward an “inclusive and transparent process,” while stressing that the Venezuelan people will determine “the right moment” for the vote.
* Rodríguez, who took power after a January U.S. military raid captured Nicolás Maduro, thanked President Donald Trump “for being willing to resume the course of diplomatic relations” and described strengthening cooperation with the U.S. in the country’s energy industry and related to its security.
* Trump and Rodríguez met late Tuesday evening during a reception at a New York hotel. Rodríguez wrote on X following the meeting that the two “discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries” and issues “in strategic areas such as energy, mining, security.”
* Her address was the first by a Venezuelan head of state to the Assembly since 2018.
* **Milei threatens unilateral Argentine action on Falklands, calls UN “useless” at General Assembly**: Argentine President Javier Milei [told][3] the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Argentina would “take matters into our own hands” over the disputed Falkland Islands, criticizing the UN for looking “the other way regarding the situation” and calling it a “useless organisation whose only purpose is to sustain a cast of faintly arrogant parasites.”
* Milei particularly condemned the Sea Lion offshore oil project, which has been jointly overseen by a British oil exploration company and an Israeli energy company, calling the drilling an “unlawful act.” He told the body that Argentina’s government had begun sanctions proceedings against more than 60 companies and individuals tied to the drilling.
* The UN does not recognize either Argentine or British claims on the island, and has encouraged the states to resolve the conflict through bilateral negotiations.
* **AI CEOs urge UN Security Council to regulate technology: **Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman [told][4] the UN Security Council Wednesday that AI poses potentially existential risks, with Amodei saying, “if managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” and Altman warning “we could lose control of the future to AI,” urging global safeguards including agreements against AI-built biological weapons and common testing standards.
* British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the U.K. will make AI control central to its G20 presidency next year, but White House Science Adviser Michael Kratsios countered that safety concerns are “not a reason to pause its further development or to constrain it with new global governance structure,” while Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong warned against countries “banding together into a petty us-vs.-them clique” and pushed open-source models instead.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately warned that AI may soon make battlefield targeting decisions without human control, citing a Russian drone that reportedly killed three Ukrainians after autonomously selecting a target.
* The meeting unfolded alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Washington visit, where U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed a potential AI incident “notification mechanism.”
* **Turkey agrees to “gradually” hand over Bashiqa military base to Iraq:** Turkey and Iraq [agreed][5] in a joint statement Wednesday that Turkish forces will “gradually hand over” the contentious Bashiqa-Zilkan military base to the Iraqi federal government, following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Zaidi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
* The handover is linked to Iraq removing “banned foreign armed elements” from the Yazidi region of Sinjar, which Turkey has long accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of using as a logistical corridor.
* The statement said the transition would take place “in line with an agreed mechanism and timetable,” though it did not offer detail on either.
* **Ukraine transfers two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, Zelenskyy tells UN**: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [told][6] the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Ukraine has sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
* The two soldiers, captured in Russia’s Kursk region in January last year, are reportedly the first North Koreans taken alive since Pyongyang joined the war.
* Zelenskyy said one of the soldiers “tried to kill himself” upon realizing he would be captured alive and “was shocked that fate did not let him die.”
* **U.S. pledges additional $267 million to fight central Africa Ebola outbreak**: The U.S. State Department [pledged][7] an additional $267 million Wednesday to combat the Ebola outbreak in central Africa, bringing the Trump administration’s total commitment to $886 million, senior officials announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
* The U.S. has reportedly been pushing other countries at the conclave to commit funds in hopes of reaching a $2 billion funding target.
* The outbreak, detected in May and already the second most lethal on record, is centered mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
* Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka called the outbreak “a major test” for the country during her speech before the General Assembly, claiming that the country’s experience handling 16 previous outbreaks had recently begun yielding “tangible results”
* **“We cannot be silent”: Netherlands calls Gaza conditions a “disgrace,” pledges to evacuate 250 children: **Speaking at a Call to Action for Palestinian Children in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, hosted by the EU, Belgium, and Jordan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Netherlands representative Sjoerd Sjoerdsma condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid and called on European governments to take further action.
* “It’s completely unacceptable. We should call it as it is, it’s a disgrace,” Sjoerdsma said. “While I appreciate the moment of silence, we cannot be silent. We need to speak up and we need to adhere to the call to action.”
* The Netherlands, Sjoerdsma said, has decided to ban products from Israeli settlements, continue calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel trade and association agreement, and join Jordan’s initiative to medically evacuate 1,000 sick and injured children from Gaza, taking responsibility for at least 250.
* **Watch a video dispatch from the meeting by Drop Site’s Maysa Mustafa [here][8].**
# Yemen
* **Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted six Ansarallah missiles amid renewed fighting in Yemen: **The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by Ansarallah, as Saudi Civil Defense briefly issued danger alerts for Mecca, Jeddah, Yanbu, Tabuk, and Taif.
* Separately, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces claimed they had repelled an Ansarallah attack and several infiltration attempts near the road connecting Aden, Taiz, and Lahj. No independent confirmation of the account or reported losses was immediately available.
# Iran
* **Iran says no U.S. talks until conditions met, Hormuz to remain closed: **Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei [said][9] Tehran will not negotiate with Washington or reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. implements seven Iranian conditions conveyed through intermediaries, including ending the war on all fronts, releasing Iran’s frozen funds, and ending the U.S. naval blockade,** **WANA News reported.
* He said the conditions must either be implemented in full at once or within roughly three to five days before the strait is reopened, arguing that Washington must first rebuild trust after violations of commitments during previous negotiations.
* Rezaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had conveyed the conditions through intermediaries, including Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, and Iraq, stressing that the exchanges taking place around the UN General Assembly in New York do not constitute negotiations.
* “The United States has been seeking negotiations for about a month and a half,” Rezaei said, adding that Tehran had instead “put its conditions in writing” and passed them to mediators.
* **U.S. Treasury chief says pressure campaign aims at Iranian government split, popular uprising, or deal: **U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent [said][10] the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Iran is aimed at producing one of three outcomes: divisions within Iran’s government, an uprising by Iranians, or an agreement with Tehran that Washington says Iran would be required to uphold.
* “The goal here can be one of three states of the world,” Bessent told Fox News. “One, the regime turns on each other—not impossible. Two, we get some kind of uprising from the Iranian people.” The third, he said, is “to get the Iranians, if they want to make a deal, to stick to the deal.”
* Bessent said Washington was carrying out an unprecedented effort to cut off Iran’s “financial oxygen,” predicting Tehran would eventually “yell uncle.” He also threatened companies and financial institutions doing business with Iran, saying the U.S. knows who they are and would target their companies and bank accounts “every day and every week.”
* He also claimed that “more than 80 or 90%” of Iran’s external flights had been shut down, adding: “I’m not sure how the Iranian representatives at the UN are gonna get home.”
* **FT: War-driven shipping costs hit record highs, forcing refineries to cut production: **Large supertankers (VLCCs) are being forced to travel much longer distances because of the war and can spend days waiting outside the Gulf for dark ship-to-ship transfers, [driving][11] shipping costs to record levels and squeezing refinery margins, the Financial Times reported. This is forcing refineries to cut production even as refined fuel prices surge to historic highs.
* The report says shipping accounts for 20-40% of delivered costs for crude.
* After five consecutive days of losses, Brent crude jumped 3% to around $103 today. But prices could fall further as refineries cut production.
* **At least six killed in clashes between Iranian forces and armed group in Iran’s Baluch region:** At least six people, including five alleged militants and one IRGC Quds Force member, were [killed][12] Wednesday in a roughly four-hour clash between Iranian security forces and unidentified gunmen in Saravan, near the Pakistani border in Sistan and Baluchistan province, according to Iranian state media.
* The IRGC said the armed group was planning assassinations and accused the group of “acting on behalf of the U.S. and Israel.”
* Clashes between state forces and rebel groups in the area are a frequent occurrence, though they appear to have increased in recent weeks. Unidentified assailants killed an Iranian police officer in the city of Bazman on Monday, and a Sunni cleric and two alleged members of the separatist group Jaish al-Adl were killed in Zahedan last week.
# Palestine
* **Israeli attacks kill two Palestinians in central Gaza: **Two Palestinians were killed and others wounded in Israeli [attacks][13] in central Gaza on Thursday, according to WAFA.
* One Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire west of Al-Zahra. Another was killed and others wounded when Israeli forces struck a vehicle near the American Hospital in Al-Zawayda.
* **Israeli forces raid Palestinian Red Crescent office as settler attacks injure Palestinians across the occupied West Bank:**
* **Salfit:** Israeli forces [raided][14] the Palestinian Red Crescent Society headquarters in Salfit city on Thursday, searched surveillance cameras, and held staff inside, WAFA reported.
* In Farkha, west of Salfit, dozens of Israeli settlers [attacked][15] a flock of sheep and assaulted two young Palestinian men, leaving both with head injuries.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli settlers [attacked][16] a Palestinian vehicle near Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, spraying pepper spray at the driver and several young men who tried to reach the area. In Atara, north of Ramallah, settlers torched two Palestinian vehicles and spray-painted racist slogans.
* Israeli forces also [bulldozed][17] Palestinian land in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, uprooting more than 400 olive trees, two days after issuing a military order targeting the land.
* **Hebron:** Armed Israeli settlers [set fire][18] to a Palestinian-owned vehicle in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
* **Israel issues tender for 400 new settlement units near Qalqilya: **Israeli authorities [issued][19] a new tender for 400 housing units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, built on Palestinian land east of Qalqilya, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
* The commission said the tender moves the project from the planning stage toward marketing and implementation. The deadline for bids is November 23.
* According to the commission, Israeli authorities have issued tenders containing a net total of 3,582 settlement housing units across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026 through September 22.
* **Son of Israeli ambassador to U.S. critically wounded in alleged West Bank ramming attack: **Neria Leiter, an Israeli military reservist and the son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, was critically wounded in an alleged ramming attack near the Israeli settlement of Beit Horon in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
* Israeli military and law enforcement authorities alleged that a Palestinian man drove his vehicle into a security checkpoint, striking Leiter. Israeli forces then shot and killed the man as he attempted to flee, according to the Israeli military.
* **Kushner touts Gaza reconstruction plans as Israeli attacks and blockade stall ceasefire implementation: **President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner [said][20] the goals for Gaza’s reconstruction are “transparent: a fully demilitarised Gaza, governed responsibly by Palestinians, where people can live with dignity, opportunity, hope and peace,” following a “Board of Peace” briefing on Wednesday.
* Kushner said “real progress” had been made, pointing to the ceasefire, the return of Israeli captives, a Palestinian technocratic government, a security and demilitarization framework, and 66 reconstruction projects that he said are ready to begin.
* Israel has killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in near-daily attacks since the ceasefire took effect. Israel has also prevented the Palestinian technocratic committee from entering Gaza and has yet to implement the agreed demilitarization process alongside its withdrawal from the territory, which Hamas agreed to.
* Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Thursday the group is “fully prepared” to implement the agreed roadmap, blaming delays on Israel’s refusal to implement the ceasefire and the Board’s failure to compel it to do so.
* “President Trump challenged us to break the old cycle and build something different,” Kushner said. “We have made real progress. Now we will move forward to the next phase.”
* **Israel blocks 900 donated wheelchairs for amputee children in Gaza, held in Jordan for over a year**: More than 900 all-terrain wheelchairs donated by two Australian charities for amputee children in Gaza have remained blocked in storage in Jordan since 2025, The New Arab [reported][21] on Wednesday.
* COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees aid entry, rejected a February 2025 application from the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation to include the equipment in an aid convoy, citing incomplete approval for medical equipment; the application has since been designated “pending” with no updates.
* The wheelchairs were designed for difficult terrain, according to the groups, including the rubble that now covers much of the Gaza Strip. Gaza currently has the largest group of child amputees in modern history, according to the UN.
* **Israel’s election committee bars both main Arab parties ahead of October vote:** Israel’s Central Elections Committee [voted][22] Wednesday to disqualify Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List (Ra’am) and the Joint List, an alliance of the Arab-led Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad parties from the upcoming October 27 elections. In addition to these, it issued a separate exclusion for Hadash legislator Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh.
* The bans require approval from Israel’s Supreme Court to take effect. Adalah, the legal center representing the parties, said it will challenge them next week.
* Ra’am called its exclusion “political and unacceptable.” The Joint List’s Yousef Jabareen accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of trying to suppress Arab turnout “because they fear our ability to bring down the government of genocide and racism.”
* In seeking the exclusions, Netanyahu’s Likud party cited a portion of Israel’s “Basic Law” which allows legislators to remove candidates for “denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state,” inciting racism, or encouraging armed struggle against Israel. Adalah disputes these allegations, noting that much of the evidence it marshaled in its case against the Joint List is dated.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli attacks destroy elderly care center, target solar panels in southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire”:**
* **Marjayoun:** A massive explosion [struck][23] Khiam shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, affecting an area stretching roughly 300 meters from Nabaa Al-Raqiqa to the Al-Mabarrat junction, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
* Dar al-Imam Zain al-Abidin, a center that provided services and activities for elderly residents, said its facility was among several civilian buildings and commercial establishments [destroyed][24] in the blast and was “razed to the ground.”
* **Bint Jbeil:** Israeli forces carried out explosions in Beit Yahoun as artillery fire struck the outskirts of the town and nearby Kounine. A large [explosion][25] was also reported near Bint Jbeil city. Another large demolition was carried out overnight in the Al-Abd al-Nabi neighborhood of Baraachit.
* **Nabatieh:** An Israeli drone [struck][26] between Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Mayfadoun. Israeli artillery also [targeted][27] solar panels on the outskirts of Mayfadoun overnight, setting them on fire.
# U.S. News
* **Trump gives Xi rare airport welcome as high-stakes Washington summit begins:** President Donald Trump [greeted][28] Chinese President **Xi Jinping** at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday with an unusually lavish ceremony, including a red carpet, military band, color guard and a flyover by two B-1 bombers, marking the first Chinese state visit to Washington in more than a decade.
* Trump’s welcome is a departure from custom under which U.S. presidents typically receive heads of state at the White House rather than the airport.
* The visit, which continues with substantive talks Thursday on trade, AI and Taiwan, comes as Trump seeks Chinese cooperation on manufacturing and in the Iran war (where he hopes to limit Chinese involvement). Xi reportedly aims to press on Taiwan and expand Chinese global influence. Expectations for major agreements this week remain muted.
* **White House preparing 90-day diesel export ban despite internal opposition: **The Trump administration is [preparing][29] a plan for a 90-day ban on diesel exports, five people familiar with the discussions told Politico, over objections from Energy Secretary** Chris Wright**, Treasury Secretary **Scott Bessent** and Interior Secretary **Doug Burgum.**
* Diesel prices reached $6.52 a gallon Wednesday, up 91 cents from a month ago.
* One oil industry executive said the political pressure to act had overpowered internal concerns, describing a shift from “cooler heads” to a camp insisting “dammit, something has to happen.”
* Wright separately told a Climate Week panel on Wednesday that “the blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work” since it could raise gasoline and jet fuel prices, and suggested any change would more likely be “entirely voluntary.”
* **Judge dismisses Trump’s election-interference lawsuit against Des Moines Register**: Judge **Scott Beatle** [dismissed][30] President Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register, parent company USA Today Co., and pollster **Ann Selzer**, ruling that the plaintiffs’ attempt to use consumer fraud law to hold the outlet liable for an inaccurate pre-election poll conflicted with First Amendment protections for political speech.
* “At its core, the Plaintiffs’ Petition seeks to stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability,” Beatle wrote, concluding “the protection is too great and the reach is too far.”
* **Two arrested at Springfield, Missouri city council meeting after Flock camera resolution blocked**: Springfield residents **Mia Hyder** and **Noah Powell **were [arrested][31] Monday at a Springfield, Missouri city council meeting after Mayor **Jeff Schrag** moved to send a resolution reviewing the city’s 41 Flock ALPR surveillance cameras to committee and blocked public comment on the issue, prompting outrage in the crowd. Hyder was handcuffed and removed while speaking about the cameras during an unrelated comment period, and Powell was detained and ticketed for shouting profanity as police cleared the room, according to reporting from 404 Media.
* City Councilor **Brandon Jenson**, who proposed the camera review, said before the vote, “This isn’t how government is supposed to run... we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”
* Local advocacy group Flock Out SGF backed the two arrestees, and the incident joins a string of similar arrests at city council meetings nationwide this year, including in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.
* **Cook Political Report shifts three Senate races toward Democrats**: Cook Political Report [reclassified][32] Senate races in Kansas, South Carolina and Georgia in Democrats’’ favor, moving Kansas from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican,” South Carolina from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican,” and Georgia—held by Sen. **Jon Ossoff**—from “Lean Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.” The shifts bring the number of Republican-held Senate seats rated “Toss Up” or better for Democrats to six.
* **ICE explores “mobile detention facilities” in Pennsylvania amid detention expansion**: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is [exploring][33] plans for “mobile detention facilities” in Pennsylvania—a network of vans run by GEO Group subsidiary GTI that would follow officers into the field—according to documents first obtained by watchdog group **Project Salt Box**.
* The units would be funded by the DHS’s $7 billion detention expansion contract with GEO Group, which was signed on Sunday and covers New York, Texas, Arizona, Florida, California, Colorado, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
* The plans offer few operational details beyond noting vans would be used “until full” and that women can’t be held in them for over 10 hours.
* **Chicago mayor proposes year-long moratorium on new data centers**: Chicago Mayor **Brandon Johnson**, [joined][34] by a group of aldermen, proposed a 12-month moratorium on new data center development within city limits while the city develops a “comprehensive regulatory framework,” giving his Data Centers Task Force time to study impacts on clean air, water and energy use. “Chicago is open for business, but we are not for sale,” Johnson said. The city currently has 39 active data centers.
* Ald. **Bill Conway**, who has his own competing ordinance imposing immediate zoning and environmental review requirements, criticized the moratorium as risking “months if not years of debate and litigation, all while data centers keep building, polluting, and spiking utility bills.”
* At least a half-dozen other major U.S. cities have similarly paused or restricted data center development.
* **CNN: Eight U.S. sailors attempted suicide amid low morale during USS Abraham Lincoln’s Iran combat deployment: **Eight U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group [attempted suicide][35] during its deployment, which included combat operations against Iran and more than six months without a port call, CNN reported, citing a letter from acting Navy Secretary **Hung Cao**.
* No sailors died by suicide during the deployment, Cao said. Crew members previously told CNN that morale aboard the carrier was very low, with sailors facing constant combat alerts, prolonged periods at sea and strains on basic amenities, including toilets, water fountains and hot water.
* Sen. **Kirsten Gillibrand** said the disclosure contradicted earlier dismissals by President Donald Trump and War Secretary **Pete Hegseth** of reports about conditions aboard the carrier. “What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members,” she told CNN.
* **Reuters: White House blocked State Department condemnation of West Bank import bans: **U.S. officials in early September [drafted][36] a statement attributed to Secretary of State **Marco Rubio** condemning the UK, France, and Canada’s plans to block imports from Israeli settlements, calling the moves akin to “the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement,” but the statement was never released after failing to gain White House or State Department senior leadership support, three people told Reuters.
* The draft, dated Sept. 8, was reportedly managed and pushed by **David Milstein**, an aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel **Mike Huckabee**.
* Rubio ultimately declined to criticize any specific country when asked by reporters about the occupied West Bank bans on the day they were announced.
* Milstein was recently accused of opening himself up to a national security breach when he reportedly asked for “monetary wedding gifts” from Israeli citizens in a wedding invitation.
* **Senate Democrats to introduce bill to sanction Israel’s E1 settlement project**: A group of Senate Democrats led by **Chris Coons**, **Elizabeth Warren**, **Ron Wyden** and **Ruben Gallego** are [expected][37] to introduce legislation Wednesday to sanction individuals and entities that facilitate Israel’s E1 West Bank settlement project, according to Reuters.
* The bill, which will reportedly have at least 10 co-sponsors, would authorize Treasury sanctions on foreign companies or individuals responsible for E1 construction or transferring Israeli civilians into the area.
* **Texas DPS error leaves tens of thousands of voter registrations unprocessed for up to a year**: Texas counties are [receiving][38] backlogs of unprocessed voter registration applications dating back to October 2025 after a Texas Department of Public Safety error prevented some registrations and updates submitted through its online driver’s license portal from reaching county registrars, Votebeat first reported.
* Travis County received about 32,000 applications overnight, bringing its total to 35,000, while Collin County was reportedly analyzing more than 40,000 additional records.
* DPS said “the system issue has been resolved” but has not disclosed what caused it or its full scope, and began delivering the backlogged registrations to counties Tuesday night.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Pakistan strikes 10 sites in Afghanistan over drone launches, Kabul says four civilians killed:** Pakistan’s air force [struck][39] 10 locations in Afghanistan Thursday that it said were being used to launch and store drones, some used against Pakistan a day earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced on X.
* Tarar added that “any further provocative act by Afghan Taliban will be responded [to] with firm and resolute response.”
* Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the strikes killed four civilians. An Afghan spokesperson, who denied that Taliban launched drones against Pakistan, said the strikes hit Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost provinces and warned of “adverse consequences for the Pakistani military.”
* The escalation follows an attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last week that killed at least 24 people, reigniting fighting between the two countries after roughly three months of relative calm.
* **ICC convicts Central African Republic militia leader of crimes against humanity**: On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court [convicted][40] former Seleka militia leader Mahamat Said Abdel Kani of four counts of crimes against humanity, including persecution and torture, over his role running a prison in Bangui where suspected supporters of ousted President Francois Bozize were beaten and tortured.
* Judges dismissed several war crimes charges against Said, finding the conflict had already ended when the alleged crimes occurred.
* The militia leader, who has denied all the charges against him, is the first member of the majority Muslim Seleka group convicted by the ICC. A separate hearing will determine his sentence.
* The court has previously convicted two leaders of the rival Christian “anti-Balaka” militia in its investigation into Central African Republic violence dating to 2014.
* **OpenAI AI agent breached Australian public health website, PM says:** Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese [said][41] Wednesday that an OpenAI research agent breached Australia’s Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal in June, marking the first known instance of a breach into government systems involving the firm.
* The agent reportedly circumvented “repeated blocks” to access nonpublic aggregate spending data on Australia’s public health insurance system.
* OpenAI did not inform Australia until Sept. 10, nearly three months later.
* Albanese called the breach “unacceptable,” but said that the data accessed was “nonsensitive” and that no personal data was released as a result of the incursion. OpenAI also claimed that its model accessed no patient records, only aggregate statistics and internal file names, after conducting an internal evaluation.
* **Rubio conditions discussion with Cuba on regime change:** U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio [said][42] Wednesday the U.S. was amenable to speaking with Havana on the condition that the discussion included talks about a change in the island’s leadership, telling reporters the U.S. was “prepared to be helpful” in facilitating that change.
* He also said Washington would work with Cuban leaders “whose hands are not stained with blood,” and accused the country’s current leadership of being “publicly quite recalcitrant” in their posture toward the United States.
* The offer follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday UN address calling Cuba a “failed state” and vowing to use military power “when necessary,” remarks that prompted the Cuban delegation to walk out.
* **IPC warns thousands of displaced Somalis could face famine by year-end: **The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [warned][43] Wednesday that about 26,000 displaced people in Baidoa, southwest Somalia—5% of that city’s displaced population—could face famine and livelihood collapse between October and December if El Niño causes worse-than-expected flooding and aid remains insufficient.
* The report found more than 5 million Somalis, or 26% of the population analyzed, already face crisis-level food insecurity or worse, a figure projected to rise to 5.4 million by year-end, while food aid is expected to reach only 70,400 people monthly in that period—just 1.3% of those in need.
* An estimated 1.92 million children aged 6 months to 5 years will require treatment for acute malnutrition by next June, including 433,000 severe cases. Somalia last experienced famine in 2011, when roughly 250,000 people died, and came close to famine again in 2017 and 2022.
* **Taiwan upgrades maritime patrols around vulnerable Pratas Islands amid Chinese pressure: **Taiwan’s Coast Guard [said][44] Wednesday it has “comprehensively upgraded” patrol and enforcement capacity around the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea, including stationing a newly built 100-tonne patrol boat there following a wharf project completed in July and regularly deploying larger vessels, in response to increased Chinese activity near the outpost.
* China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and rejects any Taiwanese territorial claims, including over the Pratas Islands. Taiwan’s Coast Guard, which oversees the uninhabited islands rather than the military, said it has confiscated nine Chinese fishing boats near Pratas since the start of the year and repurposed them for reef patrol and marine conservation work.
* **North Korea tests upgraded rocket launcher, vows nuclear status “irreversible”: **North Korea conducted a test of an upgraded 240mm guided multiple rocket launcher system Tuesday, state media KCNA [reported][45], saying the weapon—capable of striking targets up to 115 km away using autonomous precision guidance—will bolster firepower along its border with South Korea.
* Separately, Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Thursday that North Korea’s nuclear weapons status is “irreversible” and will only become more resolute, responding to a trilateral U.S.-South Korea-Japan meeting this week that reaffirmed commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearization.
📖 **[READ][46] **As Damascus Hangs Back, Syrians Have Been Left to Fend Off Israeli Occupation on Their Own
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[22]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/24/israel-moves-to-bar-both-main-arab-lists-from-october-election
[23]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564864/%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%B6%D8%AE%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7-2
[24]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564960/%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88-%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%83%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%BA
[25]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564901/%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%83%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84-2
[26]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564878/%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-2
[27]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564874/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%89-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A3%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-2
[28]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/23/trump-greets-xi-jinping-airport-rare-gesture-summit-starts/
[29]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/23/white-house-ban-diesel-01089294
[30]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/trump-des-moines-register-lawsuit-dismissed
[31]: https://www.404media.co/woman-arrested-after-city-council-denies-residents-right-to-speak-on-flock-cameras/
[32]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/midterms-senate-georgia-kansas-south-carolina-forecast
[33]: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2026/09/23/nx-s1-5976875/ice-is-looking-into-mobile-detention-facilities/
[34]: https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2026/09/23/chicago-12-month-moratorium-data-centers-ai-johnson-pritzker-trump
[35]: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/23/politics/eight-sailors-lincoln-carrier-group-iran-war-attempted-suicide
[36]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/exclusive-us-drafted-memo-condemning-uk-over-west-bank-sanctions-it-was-never-released
[37]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-senate-democrats-to-seek-sanctions-over-israels-e1-settlement-plan/
[38]: https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/09/23/dps-error-backlogged-voter-registration-applications-county-election-officials/
[39]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/least-three-killed-pakistani-airstrike-afghanistan-tolo-news-reports-2026-09-21/
[40]: https://www.reuters.com/world/international-criminal-court-convicts-central-african-militia-leader-2026-09-23/
[41]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/world/asia/australia-openai-agent-infiltration.html
[42]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/us-says-it-is-open-to-talks-with-cuba-if-it-changes-government
[43]: https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-156/en/
[44]: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-upgrades-maritime-patrol-capacity-vulnerable-south-china-sea-outpost-2026-09-24/
[45]: https://www.nknews.org/2026/09/north-korea-says-240mm-rockets-range-upgraded-to-instill-fear-in-south-koreans/
[46]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/syria-golan-israeli-occupation-resistance-damascus
[47]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio
[48]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[49]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[50]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[51]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-us-china-xi-israel-gaza-wheelchairs-amputees-argentine-falklands
Palestinian amputee football players who lost limbs in Israeli attacks gather for a training session on a pitch in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Palestine, on September 9, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images.
**Thursday, September 24, 2026 –***** **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vows Iran will fight “until our last breath” in UN speech. Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez promises elections "at the right moment" in first UN address. Argentine President Javier Milei threatens unilateral Argentine action on Falklands, calls UN “useless” at General Assembly. AI CEOs urge UN Security Council to regulate technology. Turkey agrees to “gradually” hand over Bashiqa military base to Iraq. Ukraine transfers two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells UN. U.S. pledges additional $267 million to fight central Africa Ebola outbreak. Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted six Ansarallah missiles amid renewed fighting in Yemen. Iran says no U.S. talks until conditions met, Hormuz to remain closed. U.S. Treasury chief says pressure campaign aims at Iranian government split, popular uprising, or deal. Financial Times: War-driven shipping costs hit
record highs, forcing refineries to cut production. Israeli attacks kill two Palestinians in central Gaza. Israeli forces raid Palestinian Red Crescent office as settler attacks injure Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. Israel issues tender for 400 new settlement units near Qalqilya. Son of Israeli ambassador to U.S. critically wounded in alleged West Bank ramming attack. Jared Kushner touts Gaza reconstruction plans as Israeli attacks and blockade stall ceasefire implementation. Israel blocks 900 donated wheelchairs for amputee children in Gaza, held in Jordan for over a year. Israeli attacks destroy elderly care center, target solar panels in southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire.” President Donald Trump gives Chinese President Xi Jinping rare airport welcome as high-stakes Washington summit begins. White House preparing 90-day diesel export ban despite internal opposition. Judge dismisses Trump’s election-interference lawsuit against Des Moines Register. ICE explores “mobile
detention facilities” in Pennsylvania amid detention expansion. Chicago mayor proposes year-long moratorium on new data centers. CNN: Eight U.S. sailors attempted suicide amid low morale during USS Abraham Lincoln's Iran combat deployment. Reuters: White House blocked State Department condemnation of West Bank import bans. Senate Democrats to introduce bill to sanction Israel's E1 settlement project. Pakistan strikes 10 sites in Afghanistan over drone launches, Kabul says four civilians killed. ICC convicts Central African Republic militia leader of crimes against humanity. OpenAI AI agent breached Australian public health website, PM says. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio conditions discussion with Cuba on regime change. UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warns thousands of displaced Somalis could face famine by year-end. Taiwan upgrades maritime patrols around vulnerable Pratas Islands amid Chinese pressure. North Korea tests upgraded rocket launcher, vows nuclear
status “irreversible.”*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# UN General Assembly
* **Pezeshkian vows Iran will fight “until our last breath” in UN speech: **Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian [told][1] the UN General Assembly Wednesday that his people have been “victims of terrorism” by the U.S., noting that in the war Iran did not “bend the knee” after the U.S. began its campaign against the country.
* He also said that Iran remained “ready for negotiations” but would not allow the U.S. to employ “the language of force” against it.
* During his speech, he held up photos of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and children killed in the war’s opening days. “We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said.
* Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the speech, claiming Iran had limited “standing” on the issues of human rights.
* **Venezuela’s Rodriguez promises elections “at the right moment” in first UN address:** Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez [told][2] the UN General Assembly Wednesday, “elections will be held in Venezuela,” saying her government has begun “political dialogue with opposition sectors” toward an “inclusive and transparent process,” while stressing that the Venezuelan people will determine “the right moment” for the vote.
* Rodríguez, who took power after a January U.S. military raid captured Nicolás Maduro, thanked President Donald Trump “for being willing to resume the course of diplomatic relations” and described strengthening cooperation with the U.S. in the country’s energy industry and related to its security.
* Trump and Rodríguez met late Tuesday evening during a reception at a New York hotel. Rodríguez wrote on X following the meeting that the two “discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries” and issues “in strategic areas such as energy, mining, security.”
* Her address was the first by a Venezuelan head of state to the Assembly since 2018.
* **Milei threatens unilateral Argentine action on Falklands, calls UN “useless” at General Assembly**: Argentine President Javier Milei [told][3] the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Argentina would “take matters into our own hands” over the disputed Falkland Islands, criticizing the UN for looking “the other way regarding the situation” and calling it a “useless organisation whose only purpose is to sustain a cast of faintly arrogant parasites.”
* Milei particularly condemned the Sea Lion offshore oil project, which has been jointly overseen by a British oil exploration company and an Israeli energy company, calling the drilling an “unlawful act.” He told the body that Argentina’s government had begun sanctions proceedings against more than 60 companies and individuals tied to the drilling.
* The UN does not recognize either Argentine or British claims on the island, and has encouraged the states to resolve the conflict through bilateral negotiations.
* **AI CEOs urge UN Security Council to regulate technology: **Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman [told][4] the UN Security Council Wednesday that AI poses potentially existential risks, with Amodei saying, “if managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” and Altman warning “we could lose control of the future to AI,” urging global safeguards including agreements against AI-built biological weapons and common testing standards.
* British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the U.K. will make AI control central to its G20 presidency next year, but White House Science Adviser Michael Kratsios countered that safety concerns are “not a reason to pause its further development or to constrain it with new global governance structure,” while Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong warned against countries “banding together into a petty us-vs.-them clique” and pushed open-source models instead.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately warned that AI may soon make battlefield targeting decisions without human control, citing a Russian drone that reportedly killed three Ukrainians after autonomously selecting a target.
* The meeting unfolded alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Washington visit, where U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed a potential AI incident “notification mechanism.”
* **Turkey agrees to “gradually” hand over Bashiqa military base to Iraq:** Turkey and Iraq [agreed][5] in a joint statement Wednesday that Turkish forces will “gradually hand over” the contentious Bashiqa-Zilkan military base to the Iraqi federal government, following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Zaidi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
* The handover is linked to Iraq removing “banned foreign armed elements” from the Yazidi region of Sinjar, which Turkey has long accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of using as a logistical corridor.
* The statement said the transition would take place “in line with an agreed mechanism and timetable,” though it did not offer detail on either.
* **Ukraine transfers two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, Zelenskyy tells UN**: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [told][6] the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Ukraine has sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
* The two soldiers, captured in Russia’s Kursk region in January last year, are reportedly the first North Koreans taken alive since Pyongyang joined the war.
* Zelenskyy said one of the soldiers “tried to kill himself” upon realizing he would be captured alive and “was shocked that fate did not let him die.”
* **U.S. pledges additional $267 million to fight central Africa Ebola outbreak**: The U.S. State Department [pledged][7] an additional $267 million Wednesday to combat the Ebola outbreak in central Africa, bringing the Trump administration’s total commitment to $886 million, senior officials announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
* The U.S. has reportedly been pushing other countries at the conclave to commit funds in hopes of reaching a $2 billion funding target.
* The outbreak, detected in May and already the second most lethal on record, is centered mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
* Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka called the outbreak “a major test” for the country during her speech before the General Assembly, claiming that the country’s experience handling 16 previous outbreaks had recently begun yielding “tangible results”
* **“We cannot be silent”: Netherlands calls Gaza conditions a “disgrace,” pledges to evacuate 250 children: **Speaking at a Call to Action for Palestinian Children in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, hosted by the EU, Belgium, and Jordan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Netherlands representative Sjoerd Sjoerdsma condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid and called on European governments to take further action.
* “It’s completely unacceptable. We should call it as it is, it’s a disgrace,” Sjoerdsma said. “While I appreciate the moment of silence, we cannot be silent. We need to speak up and we need to adhere to the call to action.”
* The Netherlands, Sjoerdsma said, has decided to ban products from Israeli settlements, continue calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel trade and association agreement, and join Jordan’s initiative to medically evacuate 1,000 sick and injured children from Gaza, taking responsibility for at least 250.
* **Watch a video dispatch from the meeting by Drop Site’s Maysa Mustafa [here][8].**
# Yemen
* **Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted six Ansarallah missiles amid renewed fighting in Yemen: **The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by Ansarallah, as Saudi Civil Defense briefly issued danger alerts for Mecca, Jeddah, Yanbu, Tabuk, and Taif.
* Separately, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces claimed they had repelled an Ansarallah attack and several infiltration attempts near the road connecting Aden, Taiz, and Lahj. No independent confirmation of the account or reported losses was immediately available.
# Iran
* **Iran says no U.S. talks until conditions met, Hormuz to remain closed: **Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei [said][9] Tehran will not negotiate with Washington or reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. implements seven Iranian conditions conveyed through intermediaries, including ending the war on all fronts, releasing Iran’s frozen funds, and ending the U.S. naval blockade,** **WANA News reported.
* He said the conditions must either be implemented in full at once or within roughly three to five days before the strait is reopened, arguing that Washington must first rebuild trust after violations of commitments during previous negotiations.
* Rezaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had conveyed the conditions through intermediaries, including Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, and Iraq, stressing that the exchanges taking place around the UN General Assembly in New York do not constitute negotiations.
* “The United States has been seeking negotiations for about a month and a half,” Rezaei said, adding that Tehran had instead “put its conditions in writing” and passed them to mediators.
* **U.S. Treasury chief says pressure campaign aims at Iranian government split, popular uprising, or deal: **U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent [said][10] the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Iran is aimed at producing one of three outcomes: divisions within Iran’s government, an uprising by Iranians, or an agreement with Tehran that Washington says Iran would be required to uphold.
* “The goal here can be one of three states of the world,” Bessent told Fox News. “One, the regime turns on each other—not impossible. Two, we get some kind of uprising from the Iranian people.” The third, he said, is “to get the Iranians, if they want to make a deal, to stick to the deal.”
* Bessent said Washington was carrying out an unprecedented effort to cut off Iran’s “financial oxygen,” predicting Tehran would eventually “yell uncle.” He also threatened companies and financial institutions doing business with Iran, saying the U.S. knows who they are and would target their companies and bank accounts “every day and every week.”
* He also claimed that “more than 80 or 90%” of Iran’s external flights had been shut down, adding: “I’m not sure how the Iranian representatives at the UN are gonna get home.”
* **FT: War-driven shipping costs hit record highs, forcing refineries to cut production: **Large supertankers (VLCCs) are being forced to travel much longer distances because of the war and can spend days waiting outside the Gulf for dark ship-to-ship transfers, [driving][11] shipping costs to record levels and squeezing refinery margins, the Financial Times reported. This is forcing refineries to cut production even as refined fuel prices surge to historic highs.
* The report says shipping accounts for 20-40% of delivered costs for crude.
* After five consecutive days of losses, Brent crude jumped 3% to around $103 today. But prices could fall further as refineries cut production.
* **At least six killed in clashes between Iranian forces and armed group in Iran’s Baluch region:** At least six people, including five alleged militants and one IRGC Quds Force member, were [killed][12] Wednesday in a roughly four-hour clash between Iranian security forces and unidentified gunmen in Saravan, near the Pakistani border in Sistan and Baluchistan province, according to Iranian state media.
* The IRGC said the armed group was planning assassinations and accused the group of “acting on behalf of the U.S. and Israel.”
* Clashes between state forces and rebel groups in the area are a frequent occurrence, though they appear to have increased in recent weeks. Unidentified assailants killed an Iranian police officer in the city of Bazman on Monday, and a Sunni cleric and two alleged members of the separatist group Jaish al-Adl were killed in Zahedan last week.
# Palestine
* **Israeli attacks kill two Palestinians in central Gaza: **Two Palestinians were killed and others wounded in Israeli [attacks][13] in central Gaza on Thursday, according to WAFA.
* One Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire west of Al-Zahra. Another was killed and others wounded when Israeli forces struck a vehicle near the American Hospital in Al-Zawayda.
* **Israeli forces raid Palestinian Red Crescent office as settler attacks injure Palestinians across the occupied West Bank:**
* **Salfit:** Israeli forces [raided][14] the Palestinian Red Crescent Society headquarters in Salfit city on Thursday, searched surveillance cameras, and held staff inside, WAFA reported.
* In Farkha, west of Salfit, dozens of Israeli settlers [attacked][15] a flock of sheep and assaulted two young Palestinian men, leaving both with head injuries.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli settlers [attacked][16] a Palestinian vehicle near Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, spraying pepper spray at the driver and several young men who tried to reach the area. In Atara, north of Ramallah, settlers torched two Palestinian vehicles and spray-painted racist slogans.
* Israeli forces also [bulldozed][17] Palestinian land in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, uprooting more than 400 olive trees, two days after issuing a military order targeting the land.
* **Hebron:** Armed Israeli settlers [set fire][18] to a Palestinian-owned vehicle in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
* **Israel issues tender for 400 new settlement units near Qalqilya: **Israeli authorities [issued][19] a new tender for 400 housing units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, built on Palestinian land east of Qalqilya, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
* The commission said the tender moves the project from the planning stage toward marketing and implementation. The deadline for bids is November 23.
* According to the commission, Israeli authorities have issued tenders containing a net total of 3,582 settlement housing units across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026 through September 22.
* **Son of Israeli ambassador to U.S. critically wounded in alleged West Bank ramming attack: **Neria Leiter, an Israeli military reservist and the son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, was critically wounded in an alleged ramming attack near the Israeli settlement of Beit Horon in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
* Israeli military and law enforcement authorities alleged that a Palestinian man drove his vehicle into a security checkpoint, striking Leiter. Israeli forces then shot and killed the man as he attempted to flee, according to the Israeli military.
* **Kushner touts Gaza reconstruction plans as Israeli attacks and blockade stall ceasefire implementation: **President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner [said][20] the goals for Gaza’s reconstruction are “transparent: a fully demilitarised Gaza, governed responsibly by Palestinians, where people can live with dignity, opportunity, hope and peace,” following a “Board of Peace” briefing on Wednesday.
* Kushner said “real progress” had been made, pointing to the ceasefire, the return of Israeli captives, a Palestinian technocratic government, a security and demilitarization framework, and 66 reconstruction projects that he said are ready to begin.
* Israel has killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in near-daily attacks since the ceasefire took effect. Israel has also prevented the Palestinian technocratic committee from entering Gaza and has yet to implement the agreed demilitarization process alongside its withdrawal from the territory, which Hamas agreed to.
* Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Thursday the group is “fully prepared” to implement the agreed roadmap, blaming delays on Israel’s refusal to implement the ceasefire and the Board’s failure to compel it to do so.
* “President Trump challenged us to break the old cycle and build something different,” Kushner said. “We have made real progress. Now we will move forward to the next phase.”
* **Israel blocks 900 donated wheelchairs for amputee children in Gaza, held in Jordan for over a year**: More than 900 all-terrain wheelchairs donated by two Australian charities for amputee children in Gaza have remained blocked in storage in Jordan since 2025, The New Arab [reported][21] on Wednesday.
* COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees aid entry, rejected a February 2025 application from the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation to include the equipment in an aid convoy, citing incomplete approval for medical equipment; the application has since been designated “pending” with no updates.
* The wheelchairs were designed for difficult terrain, according to the groups, including the rubble that now covers much of the Gaza Strip. Gaza currently has the largest group of child amputees in modern history, according to the UN.
* **Israel’s election committee bars both main Arab parties ahead of October vote:** Israel’s Central Elections Committee [voted][22] Wednesday to disqualify Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List (Ra’am) and the Joint List, an alliance of the Arab-led Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad parties from the upcoming October 27 elections. In addition to these, it issued a separate exclusion for Hadash legislator Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh.
* The bans require approval from Israel’s Supreme Court to take effect. Adalah, the legal center representing the parties, said it will challenge them next week.
* Ra’am called its exclusion “political and unacceptable.” The Joint List’s Yousef Jabareen accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of trying to suppress Arab turnout “because they fear our ability to bring down the government of genocide and racism.”
* In seeking the exclusions, Netanyahu’s Likud party cited a portion of Israel’s “Basic Law” which allows legislators to remove candidates for “denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state,” inciting racism, or encouraging armed struggle against Israel. Adalah disputes these allegations, noting that much of the evidence it marshaled in its case against the Joint List is dated.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli attacks destroy elderly care center, target solar panels in southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire”:**
* **Marjayoun:** A massive explosion [struck][23] Khiam shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, affecting an area stretching roughly 300 meters from Nabaa Al-Raqiqa to the Al-Mabarrat junction, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
* Dar al-Imam Zain al-Abidin, a center that provided services and activities for elderly residents, said its facility was among several civilian buildings and commercial establishments [destroyed][24] in the blast and was “razed to the ground.”
* **Bint Jbeil:** Israeli forces carried out explosions in Beit Yahoun as artillery fire struck the outskirts of the town and nearby Kounine. A large [explosion][25] was also reported near Bint Jbeil city. Another large demolition was carried out overnight in the Al-Abd al-Nabi neighborhood of Baraachit.
* **Nabatieh:** An Israeli drone [struck][26] between Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Mayfadoun. Israeli artillery also [targeted][27] solar panels on the outskirts of Mayfadoun overnight, setting them on fire.
# U.S. News
* **Trump gives Xi rare airport welcome as high-stakes Washington summit begins:** President Donald Trump [greeted][28] Chinese President **Xi Jinping** at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday with an unusually lavish ceremony, including a red carpet, military band, color guard and a flyover by two B-1 bombers, marking the first Chinese state visit to Washington in more than a decade.
* Trump’s welcome is a departure from custom under which U.S. presidents typically receive heads of state at the White House rather than the airport.
* The visit, which continues with substantive talks Thursday on trade, AI and Taiwan, comes as Trump seeks Chinese cooperation on manufacturing and in the Iran war (where he hopes to limit Chinese involvement). Xi reportedly aims to press on Taiwan and expand Chinese global influence. Expectations for major agreements this week remain muted.
* **White House preparing 90-day diesel export ban despite internal opposition: **The Trump administration is [preparing][29] a plan for a 90-day ban on diesel exports, five people familiar with the discussions told Politico, over objections from Energy Secretary** Chris Wright**, Treasury Secretary **Scott Bessent** and Interior Secretary **Doug Burgum.**
* Diesel prices reached $6.52 a gallon Wednesday, up 91 cents from a month ago.
* One oil industry executive said the political pressure to act had overpowered internal concerns, describing a shift from “cooler heads” to a camp insisting “dammit, something has to happen.”
* Wright separately told a Climate Week panel on Wednesday that “the blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work” since it could raise gasoline and jet fuel prices, and suggested any change would more likely be “entirely voluntary.”
* **Judge dismisses Trump’s election-interference lawsuit against Des Moines Register**: Judge **Scott Beatle** [dismissed][30] President Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register, parent company USA Today Co., and pollster **Ann Selzer**, ruling that the plaintiffs’ attempt to use consumer fraud law to hold the outlet liable for an inaccurate pre-election poll conflicted with First Amendment protections for political speech.
* “At its core, the Plaintiffs’ Petition seeks to stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability,” Beatle wrote, concluding “the protection is too great and the reach is too far.”
* **Two arrested at Springfield, Missouri city council meeting after Flock camera resolution blocked**: Springfield residents **Mia Hyder** and **Noah Powell **were [arrested][31] Monday at a Springfield, Missouri city council meeting after Mayor **Jeff Schrag** moved to send a resolution reviewing the city’s 41 Flock ALPR surveillance cameras to committee and blocked public comment on the issue, prompting outrage in the crowd. Hyder was handcuffed and removed while speaking about the cameras during an unrelated comment period, and Powell was detained and ticketed for shouting profanity as police cleared the room, according to reporting from 404 Media.
* City Councilor **Brandon Jenson**, who proposed the camera review, said before the vote, “This isn’t how government is supposed to run... we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”
* Local advocacy group Flock Out SGF backed the two arrestees, and the incident joins a string of similar arrests at city council meetings nationwide this year, including in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.
* **Cook Political Report shifts three Senate races toward Democrats**: Cook Political Report [reclassified][32] Senate races in Kansas, South Carolina and Georgia in Democrats’’ favor, moving Kansas from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican,” South Carolina from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican,” and Georgia—held by Sen. **Jon Ossoff**—from “Lean Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.” The shifts bring the number of Republican-held Senate seats rated “Toss Up” or better for Democrats to six.
* **ICE explores “mobile detention facilities” in Pennsylvania amid detention expansion**: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is [exploring][33] plans for “mobile detention facilities” in Pennsylvania—a network of vans run by GEO Group subsidiary GTI that would follow officers into the field—according to documents first obtained by watchdog group **Project Salt Box**.
* The units would be funded by the DHS’s $7 billion detention expansion contract with GEO Group, which was signed on Sunday and covers New York, Texas, Arizona, Florida, California, Colorado, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
* The plans offer few operational details beyond noting vans would be used “until full” and that women can’t be held in them for over 10 hours.
* **Chicago mayor proposes year-long moratorium on new data centers**: Chicago Mayor **Brandon Johnson**, [joined][34] by a group of aldermen, proposed a 12-month moratorium on new data center development within city limits while the city develops a “comprehensive regulatory framework,” giving his Data Centers Task Force time to study impacts on clean air, water and energy use. “Chicago is open for business, but we are not for sale,” Johnson said. The city currently has 39 active data centers.
* Ald. **Bill Conway**, who has his own competing ordinance imposing immediate zoning and environmental review requirements, criticized the moratorium as risking “months if not years of debate and litigation, all while data centers keep building, polluting, and spiking utility bills.”
* At least a half-dozen other major U.S. cities have similarly paused or restricted data center development.
* **CNN: Eight U.S. sailors attempted suicide amid low morale during USS Abraham Lincoln’s Iran combat deployment: **Eight U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group [attempted suicide][35] during its deployment, which included combat operations against Iran and more than six months without a port call, CNN reported, citing a letter from acting Navy Secretary **Hung Cao**.
* No sailors died by suicide during the deployment, Cao said. Crew members previously told CNN that morale aboard the carrier was very low, with sailors facing constant combat alerts, prolonged periods at sea and strains on basic amenities, including toilets, water fountains and hot water.
* Sen. **Kirsten Gillibrand** said the disclosure contradicted earlier dismissals by President Donald Trump and War Secretary **Pete Hegseth** of reports about conditions aboard the carrier. “What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members,” she told CNN.
* **Reuters: White House blocked State Department condemnation of West Bank import bans: **U.S. officials in early September [drafted][36] a statement attributed to Secretary of State **Marco Rubio** condemning the UK, France, and Canada’s plans to block imports from Israeli settlements, calling the moves akin to “the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement,” but the statement was never released after failing to gain White House or State Department senior leadership support, three people told Reuters.
* The draft, dated Sept. 8, was reportedly managed and pushed by **David Milstein**, an aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel **Mike Huckabee**.
* Rubio ultimately declined to criticize any specific country when asked by reporters about the occupied West Bank bans on the day they were announced.
* Milstein was recently accused of opening himself up to a national security breach when he reportedly asked for “monetary wedding gifts” from Israeli citizens in a wedding invitation.
* **Senate Democrats to introduce bill to sanction Israel’s E1 settlement project**: A group of Senate Democrats led by **Chris Coons**, **Elizabeth Warren**, **Ron Wyden** and **Ruben Gallego** are [expected][37] to introduce legislation Wednesday to sanction individuals and entities that facilitate Israel’s E1 West Bank settlement project, according to Reuters.
* The bill, which will reportedly have at least 10 co-sponsors, would authorize Treasury sanctions on foreign companies or individuals responsible for E1 construction or transferring Israeli civilians into the area.
* **Texas DPS error leaves tens of thousands of voter registrations unprocessed for up to a year**: Texas counties are [receiving][38] backlogs of unprocessed voter registration applications dating back to October 2025 after a Texas Department of Public Safety error prevented some registrations and updates submitted through its online driver’s license portal from reaching county registrars, Votebeat first reported.
* Travis County received about 32,000 applications overnight, bringing its total to 35,000, while Collin County was reportedly analyzing more than 40,000 additional records.
* DPS said “the system issue has been resolved” but has not disclosed what caused it or its full scope, and began delivering the backlogged registrations to counties Tuesday night.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Pakistan strikes 10 sites in Afghanistan over drone launches, Kabul says four civilians killed:** Pakistan’s air force [struck][39] 10 locations in Afghanistan Thursday that it said were being used to launch and store drones, some used against Pakistan a day earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced on X.
* Tarar added that “any further provocative act by Afghan Taliban will be responded [to] with firm and resolute response.”
* Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the strikes killed four civilians. An Afghan spokesperson, who denied that Taliban launched drones against Pakistan, said the strikes hit Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost provinces and warned of “adverse consequences for the Pakistani military.”
* The escalation follows an attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last week that killed at least 24 people, reigniting fighting between the two countries after roughly three months of relative calm.
* **ICC convicts Central African Republic militia leader of crimes against humanity**: On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court [convicted][40] former Seleka militia leader Mahamat Said Abdel Kani of four counts of crimes against humanity, including persecution and torture, over his role running a prison in Bangui where suspected supporters of ousted President Francois Bozize were beaten and tortured.
* Judges dismissed several war crimes charges against Said, finding the conflict had already ended when the alleged crimes occurred.
* The militia leader, who has denied all the charges against him, is the first member of the majority Muslim Seleka group convicted by the ICC. A separate hearing will determine his sentence.
* The court has previously convicted two leaders of the rival Christian “anti-Balaka” militia in its investigation into Central African Republic violence dating to 2014.
* **OpenAI AI agent breached Australian public health website, PM says:** Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese [said][41] Wednesday that an OpenAI research agent breached Australia’s Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal in June, marking the first known instance of a breach into government systems involving the firm.
* The agent reportedly circumvented “repeated blocks” to access nonpublic aggregate spending data on Australia’s public health insurance system.
* OpenAI did not inform Australia until Sept. 10, nearly three months later.
* Albanese called the breach “unacceptable,” but said that the data accessed was “nonsensitive” and that no personal data was released as a result of the incursion. OpenAI also claimed that its model accessed no patient records, only aggregate statistics and internal file names, after conducting an internal evaluation.
* **Rubio conditions discussion with Cuba on regime change:** U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio [said][42] Wednesday the U.S. was amenable to speaking with Havana on the condition that the discussion included talks about a change in the island’s leadership, telling reporters the U.S. was “prepared to be helpful” in facilitating that change.
* He also said Washington would work with Cuban leaders “whose hands are not stained with blood,” and accused the country’s current leadership of being “publicly quite recalcitrant” in their posture toward the United States.
* The offer follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday UN address calling Cuba a “failed state” and vowing to use military power “when necessary,” remarks that prompted the Cuban delegation to walk out.
* **IPC warns thousands of displaced Somalis could face famine by year-end: **The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [warned][43] Wednesday that about 26,000 displaced people in Baidoa, southwest Somalia—5% of that city’s displaced population—could face famine and livelihood collapse between October and December if El Niño causes worse-than-expected flooding and aid remains insufficient.
* The report found more than 5 million Somalis, or 26% of the population analyzed, already face crisis-level food insecurity or worse, a figure projected to rise to 5.4 million by year-end, while food aid is expected to reach only 70,400 people monthly in that period—just 1.3% of those in need.
* An estimated 1.92 million children aged 6 months to 5 years will require treatment for acute malnutrition by next June, including 433,000 severe cases. Somalia last experienced famine in 2011, when roughly 250,000 people died, and came close to famine again in 2017 and 2022.
* **Taiwan upgrades maritime patrols around vulnerable Pratas Islands amid Chinese pressure: **Taiwan’s Coast Guard [said][44] Wednesday it has “comprehensively upgraded” patrol and enforcement capacity around the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea, including stationing a newly built 100-tonne patrol boat there following a wharf project completed in July and regularly deploying larger vessels, in response to increased Chinese activity near the outpost.
* China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and rejects any Taiwanese territorial claims, including over the Pratas Islands. Taiwan’s Coast Guard, which oversees the uninhabited islands rather than the military, said it has confiscated nine Chinese fishing boats near Pratas since the start of the year and repurposed them for reef patrol and marine conservation work.
* **North Korea tests upgraded rocket launcher, vows nuclear status “irreversible”: **North Korea conducted a test of an upgraded 240mm guided multiple rocket launcher system Tuesday, state media KCNA [reported][45], saying the weapon—capable of striking targets up to 115 km away using autonomous precision guidance—will bolster firepower along its border with South Korea.
* Separately, Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Thursday that North Korea’s nuclear weapons status is “irreversible” and will only become more resolute, responding to a trilateral U.S.-South Korea-Japan meeting this week that reaffirmed commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearization.
📖 **[READ][46] **As Damascus Hangs Back, Syrians Have Been Left to Fend Off Israeli Occupation on Their Own
📖 **[READ][47] **Why Rodrigo Paz Is Trying to Distance Himself From “MAGA’s Man in Latin America”
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[1]: https://apnews.com/article/iran-pezeshkian-united-nations-general-assembly-trump-war-210d432587bb8dc2d7303ca4c8ea67b6
[2]: https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-delcy-rodriguez-un-general-assembly-e71c81d9e152375a0c425025ea2e15ae
[3]: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/23/argentina-president-attacks-un-over-inaction-on-falkland-islands-sovereignty
[4]: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/23/tech/altman-amodei-ai-safety-un-security-council
[5]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/turkey-agrees-hand-over-contentious-bashiqa-base-iraq
[6]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/24/ukraine-sent-two-captured-north-korean-soldiers-to-south-korea-zelenskiy-says
[7]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/24/us-pledges-267-million-more-to-fight-ebola-in-central-africa
[8]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2102882356390658072
[9]: https://wanaen.com/71375-2/
[10]: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6405509624112
[11]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2102796525311037823
[12]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/fresh-clashes-leave-6-dead-irans-sistan-and-baluchistan-what-know
[13]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-154580
[14]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA-154581
[15]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D8%A5%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AE%D8%A9-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA-154578
[16]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A7-154582
[17]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%B9-%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-400-%D8%B4%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7-154568
[18]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/24/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-154579
[19]: https://www.cwrc.ps/page-5016-ar.html
[20]: https://x.com/jaredkushner/status/2102898314672849220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2102898314672849220%7Ctwgr%5E49d2cce22513b6bd3e0a53e0bb5cc983499bc2dd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2Fliveblog%2F2026%2F9%2F24%2Firan-war-live-tehran-says-it-wont-be-bullied-remains-open-for-talks
[21]: https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-blocks-900-wheelchairs-gazas-child-amputees
[22]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/24/israel-moves-to-bar-both-main-arab-lists-from-october-election
[23]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564864/%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%B6%D8%AE%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7-2
[24]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564960/%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88-%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%83%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%83%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%BA
[25]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564901/%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%83%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84-2
[26]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564878/%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D9%82%D8%A7-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-2
[27]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564874/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%89-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A3%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-2
[28]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/23/trump-greets-xi-jinping-airport-rare-gesture-summit-starts/
[29]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/23/white-house-ban-diesel-01089294
[30]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/trump-des-moines-register-lawsuit-dismissed
[31]: https://www.404media.co/woman-arrested-after-city-council-denies-residents-right-to-speak-on-flock-cameras/
[32]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/midterms-senate-georgia-kansas-south-carolina-forecast
[33]: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2026/09/23/nx-s1-5976875/ice-is-looking-into-mobile-detention-facilities/
[34]: https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2026/09/23/chicago-12-month-moratorium-data-centers-ai-johnson-pritzker-trump
[35]: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/23/politics/eight-sailors-lincoln-carrier-group-iran-war-attempted-suicide
[36]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/exclusive-us-drafted-memo-condemning-uk-over-west-bank-sanctions-it-was-never-released
[37]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-senate-democrats-to-seek-sanctions-over-israels-e1-settlement-plan/
[38]: https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/09/23/dps-error-backlogged-voter-registration-applications-county-election-officials/
[39]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/least-three-killed-pakistani-airstrike-afghanistan-tolo-news-reports-2026-09-21/
[40]: https://www.reuters.com/world/international-criminal-court-convicts-central-african-militia-leader-2026-09-23/
[41]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/world/asia/australia-openai-agent-infiltration.html
[42]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/us-says-it-is-open-to-talks-with-cuba-if-it-changes-government
[43]: https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-156/en/
[44]: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taiwan-upgrades-maritime-patrol-capacity-vulnerable-south-china-sea-outpost-2026-09-24/
[45]: https://www.nknews.org/2026/09/north-korea-says-240mm-rockets-range-upgraded-to-instill-fear-in-south-koreans/
[46]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/syria-golan-israeli-occupation-resistance-damascus
[47]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio
[48]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[49]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[50]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[51]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-us-china-xi-israel-gaza-wheelchairs-amputees-argentine-falklands
Why Rodrigo Paz Is Trying to Distance Himself From “MAGA’s Man in Latin America”
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Fernando Cerimedo speaks during the Hispanic Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago on February 10, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Latino Wall Street.
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A political operative who helped engineer far-right political victories across Latin America is now[ jailed][3] in Bolivia for allegedly hiring a hitman to murder his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He also has strong ties to Trumpworld and played a key role as an adviser to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, functioning in effect as a shadow cabinet member with more influence than some of the government’s actual ministers.
Like many others in the far-right political universe, Paz is now trying mightily to distance himself from Fernando Cerimedo, who built his career running bot networks and[ disinformation operations][4] across Latin America. Cerimedo was the strategic[ mastermind][5] behind a number of far-right political victories in the region, including in[ Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Colombia][6]. He has[ documented U.S. lobbying ties][7] running through former Trump campaign manager [Brad Parscale][8] and Miami consultant[ Damián Merlo][9]. In Bolivia, he was Paz’s chief adviser for the 2025 campaign that ended nearly two decades of socialist rule by former President Evo Morales’ MAS party.
Soon after taking office, Paz cut taxes for the ultra-rich, invited American investment and IMF financing, looked to privatize indigenous lands in an indigenous-majority country, and invited the U.S. Southern Command and Drug Enforcement Administration back into the country. He also began prosecuting MAS and left-wing figures, jailing former President Luis Arce and prominent union leaders, and went after former President Evo Morales. Cerimedo had spent months pushing for these policies, both publicly and privately, and used his social media accounts to wage war on what he called “dirty leftists.”
Screenshot of a tweet by Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighting his meeting with Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz.
According to [Vice President Edman Lara][10], Cerimedo kept an office near the president’s own workspace in the Palacio Quemado, wrote speeches, and controlled access to Paz himself. He was present at the “Shield of the Americas” summit at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump administration’s regional security initiative, [sitting across][11] from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and alongside Paz and his chief of staff Fernando Aramayo.
“During press conferences, [Cerimedo] would direct the media, and even us and the cabinet members, as if he was orchestrating the whole thing,” one staffer in the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Drop Site, who requested their name be withheld over fears of reprisal.
Bolivian Plurinational Deputy Claudia Herbas told Drop Site that Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz “lied to the public” about his relationship with Cerimedo.
“[He] said there was no relationship, when we had direct concrete evidence to the contrary. There is clearly a cover up of the facts, and denial of reality by this government,” said Herbas.
Cerimedo was arrested August 18, 2026 at the Santa Cruz airport, allegedly trying to flee to Buenos Aires, and is accused of planning the killing of his Bolivian girlfriend, Nadia Beller, who survived being shot three times by assassins posing as app-based delivery drivers. Prosecutors allege that Cerimedo contracted hitmen to kill Beller over fears she would expose his alleged criminal actions. Since the shooting, Beller has appeared from her hospital bed in media outlets throughout Latin America, sharing intimate details of her former partner’s work.
Since Cerimedo’s arrest Paz has tried to distance himself, publishing a crudely edited, nearly five-minute video denying claims that Cerimedo acted in an official capacity. During his transfer to the high-security Chonchocoro prison, Cerimedo delivered a message to Paz, telling a local outlet: “May he forgive me for not heeding his advice.”
One former advisor to Paz, who left his government post over policy disagreements, alleged that there is a government effort to cover up Cermido’s role in the government.
“It is clear that nobody involved is being honest about what transpired,” said the advisor, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation.
A [leaked recording][12] of a minister-level Bolivian official describing Cerimedo as someone who “gave orders to ministers” has undercut Paz’s own public denials of closeness to him. Since the arrest, Cerimedo’s business partner Javier Negre has also moved to sever ties, [saying][13] Cerimedo agreed to sell his 50% stake in their jointly owned right-wing outlet and Breitbart copycat, La Derecha Diario.
Cerimedo’s alleged criminal behavior extended well beyond Bolivia. Marlon Ochoa, ousted from his post on Honduras’s National Electoral Council after objecting to certification of the 2025 vote, told Drop Site that Cerimedo, as “[MAGA’s man in Latin America][14],” was the intermediary between Nasry Asfura’s right-wing National Party campaign and Trumpworld.
Ochoa’s complaint, filed with Attorney General Johel Zelaya on December 23, 2025, alleges Cerimedo’s operation stuffed ballot boxes for Asfura, discarded votes for other candidates, secured the alignment of the Armed Forces behind the result, and pressured election authorities to certify a winner without a full recount. He has since [posted][15] a recording of Cerimedo describing election fraud.
In the recording, a voice Ochoa identifies as Cerimedo’s says: “The votes where more nationalist votes are coming from, if there were votes for anyone else, they are gone, they are fixed. We will celebrate once the counting is over.”
“The elections of November 30, 2025 were marked by open external interference,” Ochoa told Drop Site. “Cerimedo is an international criminal, an electoral filibuster in Latin America, sheltered under the mantle of impunity of Donald Trump... he has the luxury of sailing like a pirate in our countries, but since there is no perfect crime, he is already imprisoned in Bolivia,” he added.
Ochoa has called into question the integrity of the 2025 election, alleging that the election authority declared a winner without counting all ballots or processing challenges, and that Congress then impeached and expelled him from the council for exposing it. He said he has received death threats he attributes to allies of Cerimedo.
Julián Macías Tovar, a Madrid-based data analyst who has spent years mapping bot networks and disinformation campaigns across Latin America and Spain, told Drop Site that Cerimedo’s operation was never a one-off.
“There’s a big ecosystem, international and regional, of figures and networks of hate and disinformation,” he said, while dismissing much of Cerimedo’s personal mythology as invention. “These are all charlatans. They sell lies, like that Cerimedo worked in the White House, and they use bots, social media to amplify narratives, lies, and hate to sell these candidates.”
Bolivian lawmaker Claudia Herbas emphasized that Cerimedo’s reach went beyond Bolivia.
“This is about a global criminal network. I have sent two petitions [to the government] so that they can explain this to the Bolivian people,” Herbas told Drop Site.
The Chilean Chamber of Deputies [voted][16] September 2 to establish a special investigative commission to probe Cerimedo’s political activities, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has [suggested][17] that the Mexican Congress look into Cerimedo’s operations as well.
“They will not stop with Cerimedo, this continues without him; digital tech, surveillance, and social media will still be there,” said Macías Tovar.
A second source close to Cerimedo who also requested anonymity for their safety added, “Cerimedo is entirely replaceable, and the right won’t let one legal case get in the way of their gaining power.”
Luis Alberto Echazú, a former minister and cabinet official under Evo Morales, told Drop Site that Paz’s work with advisors linked to foreign-influence operations rises to the level of treason.
“The rulers who, like Rodrigo Paz, have handed over state political decisions to this kind of foreign agent disguised as advisors must be put on trial for treason against the homeland,” said Echazú.
Bolivian lawmaker Herbas, for her part, insists that justice must be carried out for the attempted murder of Beller and the alleged corruption by the Paz government.
“The Cerimedo issue in our country has uncovered the mountains of corruption we’re experiencing under Rodrigo Paz’s government. We need to know even more, and we need the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary to truly act with objectivity, with transparency, and we want to know what has happened, especially regarding illicit enrichment,” Herbas told Drop Site.
“This is about corruption of the president, his government, and his friends.”
[Leave a comment][18]
[Share][19]
[1]: https://givebutter.com/dsn-substack
[2]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/trasladaron-a-cerimedo-a-una-carcel-de-maxima-seguridad-en-bolivia-y-sorprendio-con-un-mensaje-para-nid08092026/
[4]: https://jacobin.com/2026/09/cerimedo-latin-america-far-right-disinformation
[5]: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-09-13/he-was-called-magas-man-in-latin-america-now-hes-charged-with-murder
[6]: https://jacobin.com/2026/09/cerimedo-latin-america-far-right-disinformation
[7]: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/murder-for-hire-plot-rocking-maga-trump-brad-parscale-bolivia-fernando-cerimedo
[8]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-brad-parscale-ai-chatbots-gaza
[9]: https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6898-Exhibit-AB-20230929-9.pdf
[10]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=962609726852494
[11]: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/09/01/vyag-s01.html
[12]: https://brujuladigital.net/politica/2026/09/13/cerimedo-participaba-en-grupos-de-whastapp-con-ministros-y-les-daba-ordenes-66310
[13]: https://www.clarin.com/politica/fernando-cerimedo-vendio-50-derecha-diario-detenido-bolivia_0_NQwxYeC30X.html
[14]: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/12/09/magas-man-in-latam
[15]: https://x.com/MarlonOchoaHN/status/2092650782550081773
[16]: https://www.latinnews.com/component/k2/item/111334.html?archive=3&Itemid=6&cat_id=840001:chile-congress-approves-commission-to-investigate-cerimedo-links
[17]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1494002295865190
[18]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio/comments
[19]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio
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Fernando Cerimedo speaks during the Hispanic Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago on February 10, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Latino Wall Street.
[Subscribe now][2]
A political operative who helped engineer far-right political victories across Latin America is now[ jailed][3] in Bolivia for allegedly hiring a hitman to murder his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He also has strong ties to Trumpworld and played a key role as an adviser to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, functioning in effect as a shadow cabinet member with more influence than some of the government’s actual ministers.
Like many others in the far-right political universe, Paz is now trying mightily to distance himself from Fernando Cerimedo, who built his career running bot networks and[ disinformation operations][4] across Latin America. Cerimedo was the strategic[ mastermind][5] behind a number of far-right political victories in the region, including in[ Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Colombia][6]. He has[ documented U.S. lobbying ties][7] running through former Trump campaign manager [Brad Parscale][8] and Miami consultant[ Damián Merlo][9]. In Bolivia, he was Paz’s chief adviser for the 2025 campaign that ended nearly two decades of socialist rule by former President Evo Morales’ MAS party.
Soon after taking office, Paz cut taxes for the ultra-rich, invited American investment and IMF financing, looked to privatize indigenous lands in an indigenous-majority country, and invited the U.S. Southern Command and Drug Enforcement Administration back into the country. He also began prosecuting MAS and left-wing figures, jailing former President Luis Arce and prominent union leaders, and went after former President Evo Morales. Cerimedo had spent months pushing for these policies, both publicly and privately, and used his social media accounts to wage war on what he called “dirty leftists.”
Screenshot of a tweet by Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighting his meeting with Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz.
According to [Vice President Edman Lara][10], Cerimedo kept an office near the president’s own workspace in the Palacio Quemado, wrote speeches, and controlled access to Paz himself. He was present at the “Shield of the Americas” summit at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump administration’s regional security initiative, [sitting across][11] from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and alongside Paz and his chief of staff Fernando Aramayo.
“During press conferences, [Cerimedo] would direct the media, and even us and the cabinet members, as if he was orchestrating the whole thing,” one staffer in the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Drop Site, who requested their name be withheld over fears of reprisal.
Bolivian Plurinational Deputy Claudia Herbas told Drop Site that Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz “lied to the public” about his relationship with Cerimedo.
“[He] said there was no relationship, when we had direct concrete evidence to the contrary. There is clearly a cover up of the facts, and denial of reality by this government,” said Herbas.
Cerimedo was arrested August 18, 2026 at the Santa Cruz airport, allegedly trying to flee to Buenos Aires, and is accused of planning the killing of his Bolivian girlfriend, Nadia Beller, who survived being shot three times by assassins posing as app-based delivery drivers. Prosecutors allege that Cerimedo contracted hitmen to kill Beller over fears she would expose his alleged criminal actions. Since the shooting, Beller has appeared from her hospital bed in media outlets throughout Latin America, sharing intimate details of her former partner’s work.
Since Cerimedo’s arrest Paz has tried to distance himself, publishing a crudely edited, nearly five-minute video denying claims that Cerimedo acted in an official capacity. During his transfer to the high-security Chonchocoro prison, Cerimedo delivered a message to Paz, telling a local outlet: “May he forgive me for not heeding his advice.”
One former advisor to Paz, who left his government post over policy disagreements, alleged that there is a government effort to cover up Cermido’s role in the government.
“It is clear that nobody involved is being honest about what transpired,” said the advisor, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation.
A [leaked recording][12] of a minister-level Bolivian official describing Cerimedo as someone who “gave orders to ministers” has undercut Paz’s own public denials of closeness to him. Since the arrest, Cerimedo’s business partner Javier Negre has also moved to sever ties, [saying][13] Cerimedo agreed to sell his 50% stake in their jointly owned right-wing outlet and Breitbart copycat, La Derecha Diario.
Cerimedo’s alleged criminal behavior extended well beyond Bolivia. Marlon Ochoa, ousted from his post on Honduras’s National Electoral Council after objecting to certification of the 2025 vote, told Drop Site that Cerimedo, as “[MAGA’s man in Latin America][14],” was the intermediary between Nasry Asfura’s right-wing National Party campaign and Trumpworld.
Ochoa’s complaint, filed with Attorney General Johel Zelaya on December 23, 2025, alleges Cerimedo’s operation stuffed ballot boxes for Asfura, discarded votes for other candidates, secured the alignment of the Armed Forces behind the result, and pressured election authorities to certify a winner without a full recount. He has since [posted][15] a recording of Cerimedo describing election fraud.
In the recording, a voice Ochoa identifies as Cerimedo’s says: “The votes where more nationalist votes are coming from, if there were votes for anyone else, they are gone, they are fixed. We will celebrate once the counting is over.”
“The elections of November 30, 2025 were marked by open external interference,” Ochoa told Drop Site. “Cerimedo is an international criminal, an electoral filibuster in Latin America, sheltered under the mantle of impunity of Donald Trump... he has the luxury of sailing like a pirate in our countries, but since there is no perfect crime, he is already imprisoned in Bolivia,” he added.
Ochoa has called into question the integrity of the 2025 election, alleging that the election authority declared a winner without counting all ballots or processing challenges, and that Congress then impeached and expelled him from the council for exposing it. He said he has received death threats he attributes to allies of Cerimedo.
Julián Macías Tovar, a Madrid-based data analyst who has spent years mapping bot networks and disinformation campaigns across Latin America and Spain, told Drop Site that Cerimedo’s operation was never a one-off.
“There’s a big ecosystem, international and regional, of figures and networks of hate and disinformation,” he said, while dismissing much of Cerimedo’s personal mythology as invention. “These are all charlatans. They sell lies, like that Cerimedo worked in the White House, and they use bots, social media to amplify narratives, lies, and hate to sell these candidates.”
Bolivian lawmaker Claudia Herbas emphasized that Cerimedo’s reach went beyond Bolivia.
“This is about a global criminal network. I have sent two petitions [to the government] so that they can explain this to the Bolivian people,” Herbas told Drop Site.
The Chilean Chamber of Deputies [voted][16] September 2 to establish a special investigative commission to probe Cerimedo’s political activities, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has [suggested][17] that the Mexican Congress look into Cerimedo’s operations as well.
“They will not stop with Cerimedo, this continues without him; digital tech, surveillance, and social media will still be there,” said Macías Tovar.
A second source close to Cerimedo who also requested anonymity for their safety added, “Cerimedo is entirely replaceable, and the right won’t let one legal case get in the way of their gaining power.”
Luis Alberto Echazú, a former minister and cabinet official under Evo Morales, told Drop Site that Paz’s work with advisors linked to foreign-influence operations rises to the level of treason.
“The rulers who, like Rodrigo Paz, have handed over state political decisions to this kind of foreign agent disguised as advisors must be put on trial for treason against the homeland,” said Echazú.
Bolivian lawmaker Herbas, for her part, insists that justice must be carried out for the attempted murder of Beller and the alleged corruption by the Paz government.
“The Cerimedo issue in our country has uncovered the mountains of corruption we’re experiencing under Rodrigo Paz’s government. We need to know even more, and we need the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary to truly act with objectivity, with transparency, and we want to know what has happened, especially regarding illicit enrichment,” Herbas told Drop Site.
“This is about corruption of the president, his government, and his friends.”
[Leave a comment][18]
[Share][19]
[1]: https://givebutter.com/dsn-substack
[2]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/trasladaron-a-cerimedo-a-una-carcel-de-maxima-seguridad-en-bolivia-y-sorprendio-con-un-mensaje-para-nid08092026/
[4]: https://jacobin.com/2026/09/cerimedo-latin-america-far-right-disinformation
[5]: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-09-13/he-was-called-magas-man-in-latin-america-now-hes-charged-with-murder
[6]: https://jacobin.com/2026/09/cerimedo-latin-america-far-right-disinformation
[7]: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/murder-for-hire-plot-rocking-maga-trump-brad-parscale-bolivia-fernando-cerimedo
[8]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-brad-parscale-ai-chatbots-gaza
[9]: https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6898-Exhibit-AB-20230929-9.pdf
[10]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=962609726852494
[11]: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/09/01/vyag-s01.html
[12]: https://brujuladigital.net/politica/2026/09/13/cerimedo-participaba-en-grupos-de-whastapp-con-ministros-y-les-daba-ordenes-66310
[13]: https://www.clarin.com/politica/fernando-cerimedo-vendio-50-derecha-diario-detenido-bolivia_0_NQwxYeC30X.html
[14]: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/12/09/magas-man-in-latam
[15]: https://x.com/MarlonOchoaHN/status/2092650782550081773
[16]: https://www.latinnews.com/component/k2/item/111334.html?archive=3&Itemid=6&cat_id=840001:chile-congress-approves-commission-to-investigate-cerimedo-links
[17]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1494002295865190
[18]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio/comments
[19]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/fernando-cerimedo-rodrigo-paz-trump-rubio
As Damascus Hangs Back, Syrians Have Been Left to Fend Off Israeli Occupation on Their Own
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Hamada Msallam stands in front of his house in Kuwayya in southwestern Syria, overlooking Wadi Al Raqqad which separates him from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. June 10, 2025. Photo by Sam Kimball.
NAWA, Syria—”The Israelis passed through five other villages to get to us,” Abdullah Al-Saqr said. The septuagenarian was sitting on an embroidered cushion in a darkened room surrounded by other men from Nawa, a small town in southwestern Syria with houses built of concrete and basalt—the signature black volcanic rock pulled from the earth of Daraa province.
Al-Saqr recounted in detail what happened on April 3, 2025, when the Israeli military that has come to occupy a large swathe of southwestern Syria over the past two years, conducted a violent raid on Nawa. That night, the local residents fought back.
Israeli troops reached the village of Jubaylia, six kilometers (3.7 miles) away, before guards hired to look after vacant farmland spotted the advance and called in young men from Nawa.
“Everyone was armed,” Al-Saqr said. “They went out with hunting rifles, army rifles—whatever weapons they had—to stop the Israeli advance.”
The first groups raced to the location on motorbikes and engaged the soldiers with small arms. The Israelis called in reinforcements, and the young men of Nawa did the same, calling on their cousins and neighbors; the battle grew as more people arrived in waves. Israeli drones and helicopter gunships struck overhead, targeting locals on the ground. A contingent of Israeli troops hid themselves in a position behind the locals and first responders arriving at the scene, “effectively setting a trap” for those arriving to help the wounded, Al-Saqr said. Israeli artillery positioned in the far distance targeted the road leading to the battle.
In all, nine men from Nawa were killed and 12 wounded. Despite the losses, they managed to turn back the advancing Israeli troops. The battle was just one of several incidents over the past 18 months when local residents in towns and villages across southwestern Syria fought back against occupying Israeli forces.
In that time, resistance to Israeli occupation in Syria has stayed largely local and spontaneous—young men grabbing arms and confronting soldiers during raids in places like Nawa, Kuwayya, and Beit Jinn—with no formal command structure and no government support.
Yet it has produced a real deterrent: in every town that saw armed firefights, Israeli troops have reportedly not returned as of August 2026. Acts of unarmed resistance have been growing as well, with outraged families and residents launching impromptu street demonstrations to protest the Israeli military.
## **Expanding Israeli Occupation**
Syria’s entire political and security landscape was transformed on December 8, 2024 when, after nearly 14 years of revolution and war, a lightning offensive led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, [swept into Damascus][3] and toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government. Within hours, Israeli troops crossed from the occupied Golan Heights into a UN-patrolled buffer zone and later advanced farther into southwestern Syria. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes launched [hundreds of strikes][4] on Syrian bases, airfields, naval vessels, weapons depots, missiles and air-defense systems, decimating Syria’s military capability.
At first, Israel said the ground deployment was a temporary defensive measure and claimed the bombing was intended to prevent strategic weapons from reaching HTS or other groups it considered hostile. It subsequently abandoned any pretense of a limited military presence on the ground, with Defense Minister Israel Katz declaring that [Israeli forces would remain][5] on Syrian Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Shaykh) indefinitely and later reaffirming the military would remain in Syria for an “[unlimited amount of time][6].” The Syrian government has repeatedly demanded the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of Israeli forces to the lines held before December 8, 2024, though it has done little more than issue statements.
In southwestern Syria’s Quneitra, Dara’a, and Rif Dimashq (Damascus Countryside) provinces, which abut the UN-patrolled buffer zone, Israeli incursions are almost daily, with night patrols, house raids, checkpoints, and drone flights overhead.
To the north of Nawa, lies the Circassian village of Breiga, whose land spreads out over scenic hills inside the UN buffer zone. Just outside of the village, two locals on a motorcycle warned Drop Site about IDF checkpoints ahead. “Never turn around if you spot one. Just stay calm, or you’ll be followed,” the local men said.
Under what the Israeli military calls the [“New East” project][7], troops are digging a continuous barrier of earthen walls and trenches four meters deep and four meters wide that passes less than a mile from Breiga. The barrier stretches from the northern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, down to the southern border tripoint between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Jordan, and Syria, with increased surveillance over the entire area.
Hamza Ghadban, the head of Syria’s Sijil Center, has tracked nine Israeli military bases established from Mount Hermon on the Syria-Lebanon border in the north to the Yarmouk River in the southern border with Jordan since the fall of the Assad regime.
The new bases have come alongside the detention of at least 240 Syrian citizens, 46 of them still in Israeli custody as of August 2026. Thirty-six Syrians have been killed by the Israeli military in southwestern Syria, most of them during ground incursions: 13 in Beit Jinn, nine in Nawa, and seven in Kuwayya.
In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of violating Syria’s sovereignty and called for Israeli troops to withdraw from Syrian territory to the lines set under a 1974 disengagement agreement. Al-Sharaa said since December 2024, Israel had carried out nearly 500 air and artillery strikes, conducted more than 1,200 incursions into Syria, and detained around 300 people. “We reject the permanent Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli in Syria,” Al-Sharaa said, referring to the Israeli occupation of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights and beyond.
However, residents in southwestern Syria confronting Israeli forces on the ground say the government in Damascus has done little to come to their aid.
## **Localized Resistance**
Back in Nawa, Muhammad Khair Al-Batal said that the Israeli helicopter gunships arrived after the initial skirmishes began that night in April. “Half an hour later, we saw five or six [Israeli] helicopters arrive. As soon as they located someone, they struck him.”
Muhammad Khair Al-Batal, 27, a local resident who joined the battle of Nawa against the Israeli military in Nawa, Daraa, southwestern Syria on June 10, 2025. Photo by Sam Kimball.
Among the casualties were two brothers from the Batha family: “Hashim was killed and Abdullah was wounded,” Al-Saqr said. “A missile landed in front of Muhammad al-Rifai and killed him.”
“We believed the small drones were filming us and transmitting our coordinates to the helicopters so they could strike,” he added. “The missiles were fired from a safe distance from their soldiers so that they would not be harmed.”
Choking back his tears, Abdullah al-Saqr pointed to photos on a battered smartphone: the corpses of young men killed in the clash that night, one of them his son. “His name was Issa al-Saqr,” he said, his eyes red and voice cracking. “He was married and had four children.”
By all accounts, the resistance was spontaneous rather than planned. “Everything happened suddenly,” Muhammad al-Saqr said. “We never expected them to enter in the first place.”
Residents also suspected that Israel had manipulated the local telecommunications network. “At first, phone coverage was unusually strong—in this area, it is normally weak,” he said. “They strengthened the network, and then they began striking us,” he said, adding that he believed the Israelis strengthened mobile coverage to allow for better communication and precise targeting through the network signal.
No support arrived from the government in Damascus. “We asked the new government for help, but no help came,” said Jihad Tayasni, a local resident in Nawa. He said requests for military support and emergency rescue workers went unanswered. “They did not even allow an ambulance to reach us. Civilian cars were the ones that went in and evacuated the wounded.”
Outmanned and outgunned, the local residents of Nawa suffered losses but they did manage to prevent the advancing Israeli troops from entering the town or occupying Tal Al-Jumoua, a strategic Assad-era military position atop a nearby mountain. Israeli forces have occupied hilltops throughout southwestern Syria where they have built or reinforced military bases with sweeping views over the region. However, these acts of localized resistance seem to have acted as a deterrent. The Israeli military used to enter that stretch of the mountain on an almost daily basis, according to residents. “Since the battle,” al-Saqr said, “it has not returned.”
The same can be said about the village of Kuwayya, which lies some 16 miles to the south of Nawa and overlooks the Yarmouk River, which forms part of Syria’s border with Jordan. Last year, Israeli ground troops advanced on the town only to be met with bullets
“It was the first and last intervention,” said Hamada Msallam, a farmer who only offered a pseudonym out of fear of reprisals. He spoke to Drop Site from his home perched on a hill above the river.
On March 25, 2025, he found Israeli soldiers spread through the fields as he walked to his agricultural land below the village. When he and other farmers refused to let them into the village, the soldiers fired warning shots.
“Men from the village grabbed weapons from their homes and went and stood against the Israelis,” Msallam said. “It wasn’t small arms against small arms. The moment we fired, they struck us with explosives.”
According to Msallam, the Israelis sent surveillance drones over the village and later sent armed drones which fired missiles. In the battle, local resistance won out, and the Israelis withdrew, leaving six local men dead. He said that after the battle, the Israeli forces never came back.
When asked why resistance broke out in Kuwayya and not other villages facing the same patrols, Msallam only said it was a spontaneous act in the moment. “If the Israelis had come in on a different road, or caught us off guard, perhaps there would have been no resistance, or no blood spilled,” he said. “But there was fire in all the men’s hearts in the village.”
Msallam had heard rumors of soldiers in other villages dragging residents–including women–out of their homes at night. “I, my brother, my son, will die fighting before they ever enter our homes and touch our women,” he said. “Our home is our dignity.”
Other forms of quieter resistance have sprung up in nearby communities, with neighboring villages piling stones and earth to build barriers across roads in order to block Israeli patrols.
On June 28, 2026, residents of Abdeen, a village just two and a half miles to the north of Kuwayya, hurled stones at an Israeli patrol that answered with warning shots and artillery fire, prompting most of the village to flee the area. During one such confrontation near Abdeen, an Israeli soldier dropped a military-issue phone that ended up in a local’s hands, marked “Olar”—the Israeli military’s name for [Orion][8], a battlefield-mapping and terrain-analysis system.
At the Al-Jazeera base, an old Assad-era military barracks taken over by the Israelis, Israeli forces have demanded that residents of nearby Kuwayya hand over their weapons, and conducted routine searches of their homes. “People here genuinely believe they are left to their own fate,” one farmer said.
The newly occupied bases have become launching points for Israeli patrols and military operations against locals. On August 24, an Israeli patrol [launched a raid][9] from Al-Jazeera base with ground troops and vehicles backed by drones into Ma’ariya, a village just over a mile west of Kuwayya.
Beit Jinn, an isolated farming community 40 miles to the north of Kuwayya, in the mountains near the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border nestled among water channels and tree cover, has been subject to multiple Israeli incursions over the years.
On June 12, 2025, Israeli troops entered the village and abducted several young men from their homes. “We were at home, sleeping. At 3 a.m. they came, terrorizing the boys and women,” said Fatima Mohamed Safadi, a local resident.
“They let their dogs into the house and then entered themselves. They pulled young men out of their homes, beat them up, and took them in their cars,” she said, sitting at a plastic table in the shade of Beit Jinn’s trees.
Two of Safadi’s sons were taken in the raid. She said one of them had been a fighter in the Free Syrian Army years before. The Israeli military branded both of them as terrorists. For seven months she didn’t know if they were alive, until she saw a YouTube [video][10] of a fellow prisoner in Israel naming the men held alongside him. “That is how we found them,” she said.
Fatima Mohamed Safadi holds up a video of a former Palestinian where he mentions the names of her two sons who were imprisoned with him in Ofer Prison in Israel. Beit Jinn, southerwestern Syria. June 14, 2026. Photo by Safaa Al Safadi.
“No one fought back” that night, she said. “We lived next to them like neighbors. When they came in before, they never talked to us.” During the civil war, factions from Beit Jinn even received military support from Israel in their battle against the Assad government. Residents believed that history would protect them.
June 12, 2025 changed that. Israeli forces killed a local resident, Mohammed Hamada, and arrested seven others, including Safadi’s sons. Locals blamed informants for giving up their names. Safaa Safadi, a computer engineer and activist from the village, said the detainees were transferred to Israel and accused of belonging to Hamas, an allegation their families deny.
When the next Israeli raid came in late November, some in the village decided to resist. The response was fierce but unorganized.
Villagers rained bullets on the Israeli military unit from the streets and homes of Beit Jinn. During the firefight, “My neighbors told me that a local fighter was knocking on doors asking for ammunition,” Safaa said. “But neighbors were too afraid to assist him for fear that they would be the next target. The situation was chaotic and no one knew what was happening. People chose to stay out of it.”
“The guys resisting shot at an Israeli Humvee,” said Mohammed Abderrazzaq Al-Saadi, the mokhtar, or community leader, of Beit Jinn. “One of [the fighters firing at the Humvee] was Hassan, my son, a martyr. It was supposed to be his wedding day,” Al-Saadi said somberly. Israeli soldiers abandoned the Humvee. “When they could not retrieve it, they targeted it from the air with two missiles,” Al-Saadi said.
Israel called in air support: warplanes, artillery, tank fire, drones, and helicopters through the night, while ambulances were kept out for hours. “The shelling began by all possible means—from warplanes, to artillery shelling from Jabal al-Sheikh [Mount Hermon], to direct tank shelling on every location,” Safaa said.
Thirteen people were killed and as many as 35 wounded—five from the Hamada family alone, including four-year-old Shahad. The Israeli military later [said][11] six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the operation. The attack forced nearly all the 2,500 residents of the village to flee. Only a handful have been able to return.
“We did not initiate any attack on them, not even a stone, we were shocked that they were attacking us,” Safaa said. “We are the same people, before and after the fall of Assad... why would they change their intentions towards us? We live in fear of a repetition of what happened.”
Since the raids, residents have made repeated trips to Damascus to demand that the government press for their relatives’ release, including holding a [street protest ][12]in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 26, 2025. The ministry [said][13] it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the criminal attack perpetrated by a patrol of the Israeli occupation forces that infiltrated the town of Beit Jinn,” describing the subsequent deliberate bombardment of civilian homes as “a fully fledged war crime,” and held Israel “fully responsible for this grave aggression.” The government only told residents that negotiations are ongoing and that family members should wait for the results.
## **The Proclamations of Uli Al-Ba’as**
There have been claims of more organized resistance to the Israeli occupation of southwestern Syria, though the veracity of those claims remains dubious. An Iran-linked group calling itself Uli al-Ba’as—Possessors of Might, formally the Islamic Resistance Front in Syria—has claimed credit on the internet for several clashes with Israeli forces, mostly in southwestern Syria.
The group announced itself in January 2025 under a different name, Jabhat Tahrir al-Janoub, the “South Liberation Front,” which appeared on paper leaflets circulated across the Syrian south before it rebranded as Uli al-Ba’as. In a written statement sent to Drop Site on Telegram, the Uli al-Ba’as media office described the group as taking pride in belonging to “the Axis of Resistance extending from Tehran to Beirut and Palestine,” drawing on inspiration from “the experiences of Hezbollah and Hamas” and their “history full of victories and jihad against Zionism.”
The statement said Uli al-Ba’as operates as “an inseparable part of the joint operations rooms of the cross-border Axis of Resistance,” exchanging intelligence and logistics with allies like Hezbollah. The statement claims rocket strikes on Israeli positions at Tal al-Ahmar and the Al-Jazeera base, among others.
It also claimed a parallel campaign against Syria’s own transitional government, whose security services it brands as “tools of the Zionist enemy.”
Uli al-Ba’as special security groups, the statement says, have carried out “a series of silent strikes and hit-and-run attacks” against government security offices in Dara’a and Rif Dimashq, ranging from assassinating officers to foiling attempts to locate its rocket batteries.
However, researchers who track the group remain skeptical that its rhetoric matches its actions on the ground. Analyst Wail Olwan from Jusoor Research Center said Uli al-Ba’as messaging consistently outpaces independently verifiable attacks.
Syria-based researcher Aymenn al-Tamimi notes the group is itself split into two rival factions that accuse each other of being infiltrated, and that one faction’s claim that two of its fighters died fighting in Abdeen appears to be fabricated, as he found no evidence either man died there at all.
In contrast to the proclamations of Uli al-Ba’as, what resistance there is in Syria appears to be ad hoc, organic, and reactive.
Graffiti on a bus stop at the entrance of of Jubbatha Al Khashab in southwestern Syria declares that the village "refuses Israeli incursions." June 13, 2026. Photo by Sam Kimball.
On December 9, 2025, an Israeli patrol of seven vehicles set up an unexpected checkpoint inside Khan Arnabeh–the main market and administrative town in Quneitra province, hugging the UN buffer zone. It was the first time Israeli forces had established a direct presence in the town.
Villagers gathered to confront them. When an officer shouted in Arabic demanding they fall back, the mukhtar approached the Israelis while the crowd held its ground through a volley of warning shots.
“This is my land. When you’re the owner of the land, you don’t need someone to encourage you to resist,” Mohammad Debbek, a young Syrian from Khan Arnabeh, said, wearing an AK-47 pendant around his neck as he spoke.
During the confrontation, villagers threw rocks to force the patrol out. As troops opened fire, a round struck the back of Debbek’s leg. Months later, he walks with crutches and is still receiving treatment.
The standoff in Khan Arnabeh was an early example of unarmed civilian pushback. By April 2026, that localized defiance had grown into organized demonstrations across Quneitra, coordinated over Facebook and WhatsApp.
24-year-old organizer Ilaf Obeid, of the group Syrians for Palestine, helped drive a motorcycle rally near the neighboring village of Al-Rafeed and a flag-burning at Khan Arnabeh’s roundabout to protest the Israeli presence. For Obeid, non-violent action is both principled and necessary.
“Syria cannot bear armed conflict right now,” she said. “But when [the Israelis] see resistance, they think twice about advancing.” Patrols, she said, have visibly backed off wherever demonstrations took place.
*This reporting was supported in part by funding from the Overseas Press Club Foundation.*
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[1]: https://givebutter.com/dsn-substack
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[3]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-rebels-celebrate-captured-homs-set-sights-damascus-2024-12-07/
[4]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-incursion-into-syria-reaches-25-km-southwest-damascus-security-sources-2024-12-10/
[5]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-its-troops-syria-will-remain-atop-mt-hermon-indefinitely-2025-01-28/
[6]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/12/israel-to-occupy-syrian-southern-territory-for-unlimited-time-says-minister
[7]: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r111o11cruml
[8]: https://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-labels/defense/2025-06-11/ty-article-labels/the-force-multiplier-that-led-the-idf-to-unmatched-ground-superiority/00000197-5e2a-d0ed-a7df-df6e09fb0000
[9]: https://qna.org.qa/en/news/news-details?id=israeli-forces-raid-village-in-syrias-daraa-countryside&date=24/08/2026
[10]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-eoAOEoGLw
[11]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/six-soldiers-hurt-in-gun-battle-as-idf-detains-terror-suspects-in-southern-syria/
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Hamada Msallam stands in front of his house in Kuwayya in southwestern Syria, overlooking Wadi Al Raqqad which separates him from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. June 10, 2025. Photo by Sam Kimball.
NAWA, Syria—”The Israelis passed through five other villages to get to us,” Abdullah Al-Saqr said. The septuagenarian was sitting on an embroidered cushion in a darkened room surrounded by other men from Nawa, a small town in southwestern Syria with houses built of concrete and basalt—the signature black volcanic rock pulled from the earth of Daraa province.
Al-Saqr recounted in detail what happened on April 3, 2025, when the Israeli military that has come to occupy a large swathe of southwestern Syria over the past two years, conducted a violent raid on Nawa. That night, the local residents fought back.
Israeli troops reached the village of Jubaylia, six kilometers (3.7 miles) away, before guards hired to look after vacant farmland spotted the advance and called in young men from Nawa.
“Everyone was armed,” Al-Saqr said. “They went out with hunting rifles, army rifles—whatever weapons they had—to stop the Israeli advance.”
The first groups raced to the location on motorbikes and engaged the soldiers with small arms. The Israelis called in reinforcements, and the young men of Nawa did the same, calling on their cousins and neighbors; the battle grew as more people arrived in waves. Israeli drones and helicopter gunships struck overhead, targeting locals on the ground. A contingent of Israeli troops hid themselves in a position behind the locals and first responders arriving at the scene, “effectively setting a trap” for those arriving to help the wounded, Al-Saqr said. Israeli artillery positioned in the far distance targeted the road leading to the battle.
In all, nine men from Nawa were killed and 12 wounded. Despite the losses, they managed to turn back the advancing Israeli troops. The battle was just one of several incidents over the past 18 months when local residents in towns and villages across southwestern Syria fought back against occupying Israeli forces.
In that time, resistance to Israeli occupation in Syria has stayed largely local and spontaneous—young men grabbing arms and confronting soldiers during raids in places like Nawa, Kuwayya, and Beit Jinn—with no formal command structure and no government support.
Yet it has produced a real deterrent: in every town that saw armed firefights, Israeli troops have reportedly not returned as of August 2026. Acts of unarmed resistance have been growing as well, with outraged families and residents launching impromptu street demonstrations to protest the Israeli military.
## **Expanding Israeli Occupation**
Syria’s entire political and security landscape was transformed on December 8, 2024 when, after nearly 14 years of revolution and war, a lightning offensive led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, [swept into Damascus][3] and toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government. Within hours, Israeli troops crossed from the occupied Golan Heights into a UN-patrolled buffer zone and later advanced farther into southwestern Syria. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes launched [hundreds of strikes][4] on Syrian bases, airfields, naval vessels, weapons depots, missiles and air-defense systems, decimating Syria’s military capability.
At first, Israel said the ground deployment was a temporary defensive measure and claimed the bombing was intended to prevent strategic weapons from reaching HTS or other groups it considered hostile. It subsequently abandoned any pretense of a limited military presence on the ground, with Defense Minister Israel Katz declaring that [Israeli forces would remain][5] on Syrian Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Shaykh) indefinitely and later reaffirming the military would remain in Syria for an “[unlimited amount of time][6].” The Syrian government has repeatedly demanded the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of Israeli forces to the lines held before December 8, 2024, though it has done little more than issue statements.
In southwestern Syria’s Quneitra, Dara’a, and Rif Dimashq (Damascus Countryside) provinces, which abut the UN-patrolled buffer zone, Israeli incursions are almost daily, with night patrols, house raids, checkpoints, and drone flights overhead.
To the north of Nawa, lies the Circassian village of Breiga, whose land spreads out over scenic hills inside the UN buffer zone. Just outside of the village, two locals on a motorcycle warned Drop Site about IDF checkpoints ahead. “Never turn around if you spot one. Just stay calm, or you’ll be followed,” the local men said.
Under what the Israeli military calls the [“New East” project][7], troops are digging a continuous barrier of earthen walls and trenches four meters deep and four meters wide that passes less than a mile from Breiga. The barrier stretches from the northern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, down to the southern border tripoint between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Jordan, and Syria, with increased surveillance over the entire area.
Hamza Ghadban, the head of Syria’s Sijil Center, has tracked nine Israeli military bases established from Mount Hermon on the Syria-Lebanon border in the north to the Yarmouk River in the southern border with Jordan since the fall of the Assad regime.
The new bases have come alongside the detention of at least 240 Syrian citizens, 46 of them still in Israeli custody as of August 2026. Thirty-six Syrians have been killed by the Israeli military in southwestern Syria, most of them during ground incursions: 13 in Beit Jinn, nine in Nawa, and seven in Kuwayya.
In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of violating Syria’s sovereignty and called for Israeli troops to withdraw from Syrian territory to the lines set under a 1974 disengagement agreement. Al-Sharaa said since December 2024, Israel had carried out nearly 500 air and artillery strikes, conducted more than 1,200 incursions into Syria, and detained around 300 people. “We reject the permanent Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli in Syria,” Al-Sharaa said, referring to the Israeli occupation of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights and beyond.
However, residents in southwestern Syria confronting Israeli forces on the ground say the government in Damascus has done little to come to their aid.
## **Localized Resistance**
Back in Nawa, Muhammad Khair Al-Batal said that the Israeli helicopter gunships arrived after the initial skirmishes began that night in April. “Half an hour later, we saw five or six [Israeli] helicopters arrive. As soon as they located someone, they struck him.”
Muhammad Khair Al-Batal, 27, a local resident who joined the battle of Nawa against the Israeli military in Nawa, Daraa, southwestern Syria on June 10, 2025. Photo by Sam Kimball.
Among the casualties were two brothers from the Batha family: “Hashim was killed and Abdullah was wounded,” Al-Saqr said. “A missile landed in front of Muhammad al-Rifai and killed him.”
“We believed the small drones were filming us and transmitting our coordinates to the helicopters so they could strike,” he added. “The missiles were fired from a safe distance from their soldiers so that they would not be harmed.”
Choking back his tears, Abdullah al-Saqr pointed to photos on a battered smartphone: the corpses of young men killed in the clash that night, one of them his son. “His name was Issa al-Saqr,” he said, his eyes red and voice cracking. “He was married and had four children.”
By all accounts, the resistance was spontaneous rather than planned. “Everything happened suddenly,” Muhammad al-Saqr said. “We never expected them to enter in the first place.”
Residents also suspected that Israel had manipulated the local telecommunications network. “At first, phone coverage was unusually strong—in this area, it is normally weak,” he said. “They strengthened the network, and then they began striking us,” he said, adding that he believed the Israelis strengthened mobile coverage to allow for better communication and precise targeting through the network signal.
No support arrived from the government in Damascus. “We asked the new government for help, but no help came,” said Jihad Tayasni, a local resident in Nawa. He said requests for military support and emergency rescue workers went unanswered. “They did not even allow an ambulance to reach us. Civilian cars were the ones that went in and evacuated the wounded.”
Outmanned and outgunned, the local residents of Nawa suffered losses but they did manage to prevent the advancing Israeli troops from entering the town or occupying Tal Al-Jumoua, a strategic Assad-era military position atop a nearby mountain. Israeli forces have occupied hilltops throughout southwestern Syria where they have built or reinforced military bases with sweeping views over the region. However, these acts of localized resistance seem to have acted as a deterrent. The Israeli military used to enter that stretch of the mountain on an almost daily basis, according to residents. “Since the battle,” al-Saqr said, “it has not returned.”
The same can be said about the village of Kuwayya, which lies some 16 miles to the south of Nawa and overlooks the Yarmouk River, which forms part of Syria’s border with Jordan. Last year, Israeli ground troops advanced on the town only to be met with bullets
“It was the first and last intervention,” said Hamada Msallam, a farmer who only offered a pseudonym out of fear of reprisals. He spoke to Drop Site from his home perched on a hill above the river.
On March 25, 2025, he found Israeli soldiers spread through the fields as he walked to his agricultural land below the village. When he and other farmers refused to let them into the village, the soldiers fired warning shots.
“Men from the village grabbed weapons from their homes and went and stood against the Israelis,” Msallam said. “It wasn’t small arms against small arms. The moment we fired, they struck us with explosives.”
According to Msallam, the Israelis sent surveillance drones over the village and later sent armed drones which fired missiles. In the battle, local resistance won out, and the Israelis withdrew, leaving six local men dead. He said that after the battle, the Israeli forces never came back.
When asked why resistance broke out in Kuwayya and not other villages facing the same patrols, Msallam only said it was a spontaneous act in the moment. “If the Israelis had come in on a different road, or caught us off guard, perhaps there would have been no resistance, or no blood spilled,” he said. “But there was fire in all the men’s hearts in the village.”
Msallam had heard rumors of soldiers in other villages dragging residents–including women–out of their homes at night. “I, my brother, my son, will die fighting before they ever enter our homes and touch our women,” he said. “Our home is our dignity.”
Other forms of quieter resistance have sprung up in nearby communities, with neighboring villages piling stones and earth to build barriers across roads in order to block Israeli patrols.
On June 28, 2026, residents of Abdeen, a village just two and a half miles to the north of Kuwayya, hurled stones at an Israeli patrol that answered with warning shots and artillery fire, prompting most of the village to flee the area. During one such confrontation near Abdeen, an Israeli soldier dropped a military-issue phone that ended up in a local’s hands, marked “Olar”—the Israeli military’s name for [Orion][8], a battlefield-mapping and terrain-analysis system.
At the Al-Jazeera base, an old Assad-era military barracks taken over by the Israelis, Israeli forces have demanded that residents of nearby Kuwayya hand over their weapons, and conducted routine searches of their homes. “People here genuinely believe they are left to their own fate,” one farmer said.
The newly occupied bases have become launching points for Israeli patrols and military operations against locals. On August 24, an Israeli patrol [launched a raid][9] from Al-Jazeera base with ground troops and vehicles backed by drones into Ma’ariya, a village just over a mile west of Kuwayya.
Beit Jinn, an isolated farming community 40 miles to the north of Kuwayya, in the mountains near the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border nestled among water channels and tree cover, has been subject to multiple Israeli incursions over the years.
On June 12, 2025, Israeli troops entered the village and abducted several young men from their homes. “We were at home, sleeping. At 3 a.m. they came, terrorizing the boys and women,” said Fatima Mohamed Safadi, a local resident.
“They let their dogs into the house and then entered themselves. They pulled young men out of their homes, beat them up, and took them in their cars,” she said, sitting at a plastic table in the shade of Beit Jinn’s trees.
Two of Safadi’s sons were taken in the raid. She said one of them had been a fighter in the Free Syrian Army years before. The Israeli military branded both of them as terrorists. For seven months she didn’t know if they were alive, until she saw a YouTube [video][10] of a fellow prisoner in Israel naming the men held alongside him. “That is how we found them,” she said.
Fatima Mohamed Safadi holds up a video of a former Palestinian where he mentions the names of her two sons who were imprisoned with him in Ofer Prison in Israel. Beit Jinn, southerwestern Syria. June 14, 2026. Photo by Safaa Al Safadi.
“No one fought back” that night, she said. “We lived next to them like neighbors. When they came in before, they never talked to us.” During the civil war, factions from Beit Jinn even received military support from Israel in their battle against the Assad government. Residents believed that history would protect them.
June 12, 2025 changed that. Israeli forces killed a local resident, Mohammed Hamada, and arrested seven others, including Safadi’s sons. Locals blamed informants for giving up their names. Safaa Safadi, a computer engineer and activist from the village, said the detainees were transferred to Israel and accused of belonging to Hamas, an allegation their families deny.
When the next Israeli raid came in late November, some in the village decided to resist. The response was fierce but unorganized.
Villagers rained bullets on the Israeli military unit from the streets and homes of Beit Jinn. During the firefight, “My neighbors told me that a local fighter was knocking on doors asking for ammunition,” Safaa said. “But neighbors were too afraid to assist him for fear that they would be the next target. The situation was chaotic and no one knew what was happening. People chose to stay out of it.”
“The guys resisting shot at an Israeli Humvee,” said Mohammed Abderrazzaq Al-Saadi, the mokhtar, or community leader, of Beit Jinn. “One of [the fighters firing at the Humvee] was Hassan, my son, a martyr. It was supposed to be his wedding day,” Al-Saadi said somberly. Israeli soldiers abandoned the Humvee. “When they could not retrieve it, they targeted it from the air with two missiles,” Al-Saadi said.
Israel called in air support: warplanes, artillery, tank fire, drones, and helicopters through the night, while ambulances were kept out for hours. “The shelling began by all possible means—from warplanes, to artillery shelling from Jabal al-Sheikh [Mount Hermon], to direct tank shelling on every location,” Safaa said.
Thirteen people were killed and as many as 35 wounded—five from the Hamada family alone, including four-year-old Shahad. The Israeli military later [said][11] six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the operation. The attack forced nearly all the 2,500 residents of the village to flee. Only a handful have been able to return.
“We did not initiate any attack on them, not even a stone, we were shocked that they were attacking us,” Safaa said. “We are the same people, before and after the fall of Assad... why would they change their intentions towards us? We live in fear of a repetition of what happened.”
Since the raids, residents have made repeated trips to Damascus to demand that the government press for their relatives’ release, including holding a [street protest ][12]in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 26, 2025. The ministry [said][13] it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the criminal attack perpetrated by a patrol of the Israeli occupation forces that infiltrated the town of Beit Jinn,” describing the subsequent deliberate bombardment of civilian homes as “a fully fledged war crime,” and held Israel “fully responsible for this grave aggression.” The government only told residents that negotiations are ongoing and that family members should wait for the results.
## **The Proclamations of Uli Al-Ba’as**
There have been claims of more organized resistance to the Israeli occupation of southwestern Syria, though the veracity of those claims remains dubious. An Iran-linked group calling itself Uli al-Ba’as—Possessors of Might, formally the Islamic Resistance Front in Syria—has claimed credit on the internet for several clashes with Israeli forces, mostly in southwestern Syria.
The group announced itself in January 2025 under a different name, Jabhat Tahrir al-Janoub, the “South Liberation Front,” which appeared on paper leaflets circulated across the Syrian south before it rebranded as Uli al-Ba’as. In a written statement sent to Drop Site on Telegram, the Uli al-Ba’as media office described the group as taking pride in belonging to “the Axis of Resistance extending from Tehran to Beirut and Palestine,” drawing on inspiration from “the experiences of Hezbollah and Hamas” and their “history full of victories and jihad against Zionism.”
The statement said Uli al-Ba’as operates as “an inseparable part of the joint operations rooms of the cross-border Axis of Resistance,” exchanging intelligence and logistics with allies like Hezbollah. The statement claims rocket strikes on Israeli positions at Tal al-Ahmar and the Al-Jazeera base, among others.
It also claimed a parallel campaign against Syria’s own transitional government, whose security services it brands as “tools of the Zionist enemy.”
Uli al-Ba’as special security groups, the statement says, have carried out “a series of silent strikes and hit-and-run attacks” against government security offices in Dara’a and Rif Dimashq, ranging from assassinating officers to foiling attempts to locate its rocket batteries.
However, researchers who track the group remain skeptical that its rhetoric matches its actions on the ground. Analyst Wail Olwan from Jusoor Research Center said Uli al-Ba’as messaging consistently outpaces independently verifiable attacks.
Syria-based researcher Aymenn al-Tamimi notes the group is itself split into two rival factions that accuse each other of being infiltrated, and that one faction’s claim that two of its fighters died fighting in Abdeen appears to be fabricated, as he found no evidence either man died there at all.
In contrast to the proclamations of Uli al-Ba’as, what resistance there is in Syria appears to be ad hoc, organic, and reactive.
Graffiti on a bus stop at the entrance of of Jubbatha Al Khashab in southwestern Syria declares that the village "refuses Israeli incursions." June 13, 2026. Photo by Sam Kimball.
On December 9, 2025, an Israeli patrol of seven vehicles set up an unexpected checkpoint inside Khan Arnabeh–the main market and administrative town in Quneitra province, hugging the UN buffer zone. It was the first time Israeli forces had established a direct presence in the town.
Villagers gathered to confront them. When an officer shouted in Arabic demanding they fall back, the mukhtar approached the Israelis while the crowd held its ground through a volley of warning shots.
“This is my land. When you’re the owner of the land, you don’t need someone to encourage you to resist,” Mohammad Debbek, a young Syrian from Khan Arnabeh, said, wearing an AK-47 pendant around his neck as he spoke.
During the confrontation, villagers threw rocks to force the patrol out. As troops opened fire, a round struck the back of Debbek’s leg. Months later, he walks with crutches and is still receiving treatment.
The standoff in Khan Arnabeh was an early example of unarmed civilian pushback. By April 2026, that localized defiance had grown into organized demonstrations across Quneitra, coordinated over Facebook and WhatsApp.
24-year-old organizer Ilaf Obeid, of the group Syrians for Palestine, helped drive a motorcycle rally near the neighboring village of Al-Rafeed and a flag-burning at Khan Arnabeh’s roundabout to protest the Israeli presence. For Obeid, non-violent action is both principled and necessary.
“Syria cannot bear armed conflict right now,” she said. “But when [the Israelis] see resistance, they think twice about advancing.” Patrols, she said, have visibly backed off wherever demonstrations took place.
*This reporting was supported in part by funding from the Overseas Press Club Foundation.*
[Leave a comment][14]
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[1]: https://givebutter.com/dsn-substack
[2]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe?
[3]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-rebels-celebrate-captured-homs-set-sights-damascus-2024-12-07/
[4]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-incursion-into-syria-reaches-25-km-southwest-damascus-security-sources-2024-12-10/
[5]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-its-troops-syria-will-remain-atop-mt-hermon-indefinitely-2025-01-28/
[6]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/12/israel-to-occupy-syrian-southern-territory-for-unlimited-time-says-minister
[7]: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r111o11cruml
[8]: https://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-labels/defense/2025-06-11/ty-article-labels/the-force-multiplier-that-led-the-idf-to-unmatched-ground-superiority/00000197-5e2a-d0ed-a7df-df6e09fb0000
[9]: https://qna.org.qa/en/news/news-details?id=israeli-forces-raid-village-in-syrias-daraa-countryside&date=24/08/2026
[10]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-eoAOEoGLw
[11]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/six-soldiers-hurt-in-gun-battle-as-idf-detains-terror-suspects-in-southern-syria/
[12]: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EQqNLVYj6/
[13]: https://sana.sy/en/politics/2280377/
[14]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/syria-golan-israeli-occupation-resistance-damascus/comments
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Trump threatens to “annihilate” Iran, Tehran calls it “strategic desperation”; Greenland signs deal expanding U.S. presence
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the speech of President Donald Trump at the 81st United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2026 in New York City. Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images.
**Wednesday, September 23, 2026 –***** **President Donald Trump threatens to “annihilate” Iran in speech at UN General Assembly. Iran military warns of “more crushing” attacks after Trump threats. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warns against foreign election interference, defends Brazil’s sovereignty in UN Speech. French President Emmanual Macron condemns Israeli aid restrictions at UN; UK, France, Canada talk Palestinian statehood in committee. U.S.-Iran UN hold first indirect talks since June Memorandum of Understanding unraveled. Macron says France ready for greater role in reopening Strait of Hormuz. U.S., Denmark, Greenland sign deal expanding U.S. military presence. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready for energy truce after “productive” Trump talks. U.S. withholds visa for Sudanese Leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, tying it to ceasefire proposal Khartoum has resisted. Canada pledges $71 million in Palestinian aid, imposes restrictions on Israeli
settlement goods. Trump and Latin America allies invoke Rio Treaty against cartels. Ansarallah, Saudi-backed forces clash near Bab al-Mandab. Cargo vessel hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz. New U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation take effect. Israeli attacks kill six Palestinians across Gaza since dawn. Israeli forces carry out demolitions across the occupied West Bank as settlers block Salfit road. Military court extends detention of Palestinian-American journalist. Israeli forces arrest senior Palestinian Authority security official. Pregnant Palestinian detainee suffers bleeding, harsh conditions in Israeli prison. Trump's “Board of Peace” to unveil $2.45 billion Gaza plan. Israeli ceasefire violations continue in southern Lebanon as blast in Khiam damages homes, school, and power lines. DoorDash settles NYC underpayment probe for $131.5 million. Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by end of 2029. ShinyHunters hackers claim to have breached FBI, stolen data on
all employees. Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn release of pro-Palestinian scholar. Trump backs diesel export ban amid GOP pressure over record fuel prices. Trump officials plan to allow up to 17,500 more White Afrikaner refugees over next year. Trump officials cut 760,000 from Affordable Care Act coverage over alleged fraud. GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Senate probe of Donald Trump Jr. over Russian oligarch’s wedding gift. ICE officer who shot Austin man was not wearing body camera. Michigan Democratic Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed defends support from former Vice President Kamala Harris. Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds scrubs Trump references from campaign website amid president's sinking approval. U.S. claims neither Sudanese army nor Rapid Support Forces has legitimate authority. South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir dissolves transitional government. Tigray forces launch offensive against Ethiopia’s government. Survivors: Nigerian guards
sprayed substance into packed cell before 37 detainees died. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado makes unsuccessful bids to return home, adviser says. Alleged fentanyl trafficker arrested in Mexico City in joint U.S.-Mexico operation. Taiwan says it will stay in “close contact” with U.S. on arms sales. UN report finds Nicaragua's crackdown on dissent amounts to crimes against humanity. *
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# UN General Assembly
* **Trump threatens to “annihilate” Iran: **During his speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump [threatened][1] to “annihilate the Islamic republic” of Iran if the two countries fail to reach a deal.
* “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?” Trump said, suggesting that Iran was waiting to see the outcome of the midterm elections. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
* Trump also defended recent U.S. moves in the Western Hemisphere, saying “to the victor belong the spoils” when he discussed the U.S.’s seizure of Venezuelan oil after U.S. forces snatched Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas.
* He called Cuba a “failed state” that serves as a “haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America,” and said its government would soon fall. These remarks prompted Cuban delegates to walk out. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla later said: “The U.S. government proves incapable of accepting that Cuba is, and has the right to be, a fully independent and sovereign country.”
* Trump also attacked the International Criminal Court as a “rogue institution,” called for its members to resign, and dismissed climate change as a “hoax.”
* He rejected any “globalist scheme” to control advances in artificial intelligence, which he proposed be called “super intelligence,” as a “test” of his influence on the world stage.
* **Iran military warns of “more crushing” attacks after Trump threats: **Iran’s military warned Wednesday that it was prepared to launch “more crushing and less predictable” attacks against the U.S. and Israel after Trump threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic during his UN General Assembly address Tuesday.
* Responding in a [statement][2] carried by Mehr, Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Command accused Trump of using the UN podium to justify U.S. “aggression” and described his threats as evidence of Washington’s “strategic desperation,” warning that Iranian forces were prepared to strike the U.S. and Israel with attacks more severe than those carried out earlier in the war.
* **Lula warns against foreign election interference, defends Brazil’s sovereignty**: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva [warned][3] Tuesday against domestic or foreign interference in Brazil’s October 4 election, telling the UN General Assembly “Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians” and “Brazil will remain a sovereign country.”
* Lula did not name Trump directly, though he did appear to reference the United States when he condemned the resurgence of “hegemonic ambitions” in the region and asserted that the country did not “need aircraft carriers in its waters,” a probable reference to the U.S.’s Operation Southern Spear. “Brazil does not belong in anyone’s backyard,” he said, calling attempts to divide the world into spheres of influence “anachronistic.”
* Lula’s comments follow accusations that the Trump administration, allied with his election rival Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, is trying to influence the vote through economic pressure, after Washington imposed two new rounds of tariffs on Brazilian goods in July.
* **Macron condemns Israeli aid restrictions in UNGA speech; UK, France, Canada talk Palestinian statehood in committee: **French President Emmanuel Macron [condemned][4] Israel’s aid restrictions on Gaza as “a shame for the world” in his UN General Assembly address Tuesday, asking “what credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza?” Macron also criticized what he characterized as Israel’s “daily” violations in the occupied West Bank.
* Macron, alongside UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, chaired a meeting on Palestinian statehood, where Burnham warned that failing to deliver a two-state solution “will corrode trust in the political, diplomatic, and international process.”
* Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also announced his intention to introduce restrictions on goods produced in West Bank settlements, following the UK’s earlier announcement of similar restrictions.
* **U.S.-Iran UN hold first indirect talks since June MOU unraveled: **Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff said U.S.-Iran talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly were conducted through mediators who shuttled between the two delegations, clarifying that the sides did not hold direct discussions after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that three-hour talks with the Iranian delegation had been “very good.”
* Iran separately said the communications took place through a Qatari mediator and that Tehran presented conditions for ending the war, including an end to U.S. “acts of aggression,” a halt to the naval blockade and economic warfare, and the release of Iranian assets. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran maintained its negotiating stance in the discussions. “This was not anything new,” Baghaei said of Iran’s conditions.
* Witkoff said, in a [post][5] on X, the mediators had completed a round of discussions that he hoped would prove “constructive and promising” and would continue their work.
* **Macron says France ready for greater role in reopening Strait of Hormuz: **French President Emmanuel Macron [said][6] France was prepared to become more involved in efforts to secure transit through the Strait of Hormuz, while stressing that Paris did not want a confrontation with any country.
* Macron told ABC News that the “main objective” of his meeting with Trump was to find an agreement to reopen the vital waterway and address the global energy crisis. He reiterated France’s opposition to the U.S. decision to go to war with Iran, saying “regime change by bombing a country” was not feasible and that Washington had not consulted its allies before launching the war.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and criticized France’s “interventionist” positions toward Iran and its stance on U.S. and Israeli attacks.
* **U.S., Denmark, Greenland sign deal expanding U.S. military presence**: The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement Tuesday at the UN General Assembly granting Washington expanded military access to Greenland, allowing it to modernize the Pituffik Space Base and build new facilities at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig.
* The agreement resolves months of tension between the U.S. and Denmark, with President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to seize the territory.
* The open-ended agreement bars non-NATO countries from establishing military installations without unanimous approval from Denmark, Greenland and the U.S., restricts investment from “sensitive sectors” outside NATO and the EU, and grants the U.S. undersea access and unrestricted overflight rights.
* **Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready for energy truce after “productive” Trump talks**: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a 40-minute meeting with President Donald Trump in New York at the UN that Ukraine remains ready for a bilateral “energy ceasefire” with Russia, telling reporters “we are ready” to halt strikes on Russian refineries if Moscow stops targeting Ukraine’s energy system.
* Separately on Tuesday, Zelenskyy warned on Telegram that Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia was “preparing a new massive attack” against Ukraine.
* Trump called his talks with the Ukrainian president “positive and productive” and said ending the war is likely, though a similar energy truce he announced last week collapsed almost immediately after strikes resumed.
* Zelenskyy also said he asked Trump for additional Patriot air defense missiles for winter, proposing to swap future Patriot deliveries from a German deal in exchange for supplies from U.S. stockpiles now, though Trump had not yet agreed to this arrangement.
* **U.S. withholds visa for Sudan’s Burhan, tying it to ceasefire proposal Khartoum has resisted**: The United States is [withholding][7] a visa for Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ahead of his scheduled UN General Assembly speech, contingent on his acceptance of a 90-day ceasefire proposed by U.S. Senior Advisor Massad Boulos, Reuters reported.
* The suspension prompted Sudan’s UN ambassador to appeal to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he is “deeply concerned” and engaging with the U.S. on the issue.
* **Canada pledges $71 million in Palestinian aid, imposes restrictions on Israeli settlement goods: **Canada will provide about $71 million in assistance for the Palestinian government and impose trade restrictions on goods produced in Israeli settlements, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
* He described the restrictions on settlement products as a “pragmatic, practical” measure intended to help preserve “the possibility of a two-state solution, and ultimately a durable peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
* **Trump and Latin America allies invoke Rio Treaty against cartels: **The Trump administration is seeking to turn its campaign against Latin American cartels into a hemispheric security framework under the umbrella of the Shield of the Americas initiative. Fourteen governments joined a U.S.-backed declaration at the UN General Assembly pledging coordinated action against 24 organizations designated as “narco-terrorist”.
* The declaration calls for sanctions, intelligence sharing, security cooperation and a commitment to invoke the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, or Rio Treaty, to consider collective military action against the groups.
# Yemen
* **Ansarallah, Saudi-backed forces clash near Bab al-Mandab: **Ansarallah and Saudi-backed forces are fighting over the strategic area linking Taiz and Lahj governorates with Yemen’s western coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
* Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group shot down an armed reconnaissance drone conducting “hostile missions” over Mocha in Taiz governorate.
* On the opposing side, the Saudi-backed National Shield Brigades claimed they repelled an Ansarallah offensive in the strategic Kahboub mountain range and shot down three Ansarallah drones before they could reach their positions.
* The Southern Giants Brigades, also deployed along the front, said they were continuing to target Ansarallah fortifications and reinforcements.
# Iran
* **Cargo vessel hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz: **A cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, leaving the ship on fire and adrift and causing two casualties, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said.
* All crew members were evacuated from the vessel and no environmental impact was reported.
* **New U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation take effect: **A new package of U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector took effect Wednesday, after Washington pledged to ground Iranian airlines and penalize entities that continue doing business with them, AFP reported.
* Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said airports in Baghdad and Muscat would stop receiving Iranian flights from midnight, while negotiations were underway to reroute Baghdad-bound flights to Najaf and reach arrangements with Oman.
* Other international services, including flights to Istanbul, remained scheduled, according to Tasnim.
* Iraqi authorities have not formally announced measures, but several sources, including a senior government official, told AFP that Baghdad would comply with the U.S. restrictions.
* Separately, AFP reported that an Iranian commercial aircraft landed in China despite Washington’s threat of sanctions.
# Palestine
* **Killed and wounded in Gaza:** Over the past 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed and 18 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
* The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,922 killed, with 174,995 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,402 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,881, while 834 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
* **Israeli attacks kill six Palestinians across Gaza since dawn: **Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip [killed][8] six Palestinians and wounded others since dawn Wednesday, WAFA reported.
* In Gaza City, an Israeli drone strike near Al-Wafa Hospital killed one Palestinian and wounded others, while several Palestinians were wounded in a separate attack targeting a group of people near the Abu Khadra complex in the western Rimal neighborhood.
* In central Gaza, another Israeli drone strike in Deir el-Balah killed one Palestinian and wounded others.
* **Israeli forces carry out demolitions across the occupied West Bank as settlers block Salfit road:**
* **Hebron:** Israeli forces [began demolishing][9] homes, agricultural structures, livestock pens, and water wells belonging to Palestinian families in Janba village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, on Wednesday, according to WAFA.
* **Jenin:** Israeli bulldozers [demolished][10] agricultural and residential structures in the Abba village, southeast of Jenin, including four horse stables, greenhouses, sheep pens, a house under construction, a wall, and two agricultural rooms.
* **Salfit:** Israeli settlers [blocked][11] Wadi Al-Shaer road connecting Salfit city with Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya by placing rocks and metal spikes on the road, damaging several vehicles before Palestinians removed the obstacles and reopened it. Israeli forces also reclosed the northern entrance to Salfit city.
* **East Jerusalem:** Israeli authorities [demolished][12] sheet-metal industrial structures belonging to Palestinians in Jaba, northeast of Jerusalem, and bulldozed the surrounding land.
* **Military court extends detention of Palestinian-American journalist:** A military court on Wednesday extended the detention of Palestinian-American journalist and Drop Site contributor Naqaa Hamed until September 28, according to her lawyer, Khaled Mahajneh.
* Hamed was [arrested][13] by Israeli forces on September 15 as she was returning from a reporting assignment in the occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities have accused her of incitement against Israeli settlers and the army, communicating with the enemy, and cooperating with the enemy. She is currently being held in Damon Prison in northern Israel.
* Mahajneh previously told Drop Site “the whole case is related to her journalistic work” and that her arrest came solely because of a campaign targeting her by Israeli settlers.
* Hamed is a freelance journalist who has worked for various international outlets, including Drop Site News. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and other U.S. officials, as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists, have called for her release.
* **Israeli forces arrest senior PA security official**: Israeli forces arrested Majdi Amer, a colonel in the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service during an overnight raid on the village of Kafr Qallil, south of Nablus, according to the Times of Israel. In a statement, the Israeli police said that undercover Border Police officers apprehended a “wanted operative in the Fatah terror group.”
* **Pregnant Palestinian detainee suffers bleeding, harsh conditions in Israeli prison: **Pregnant Palestinian detainee Baraa Abu Khadija, 36, from Tulkarm suffered abdominal pain and bleeding after being detained by Israeli forces and subjected to hours of restraint and a strip search, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
* The commission said Abu Khadija, detained since August 27, was blindfolded and tightly handcuffed with plastic restraints that caused her hands to swell before being taken to an unknown location, where she was strip-searched and kept bound to a chair for hours.
* She was later transferred to Hasharon Prison for about five days, where she was held in a filthy, insect-infested cell without adequate drinking water, clean bedding, a shower, or a change of clothes, before being moved to Damon Prison.
* The commission said Abu Khadija is now held in a room designated for pregnant detainees, where three pregnant women receive no specialized meals and are given an egg or a piece of meat only about once every three or four days.
* **Trump’s “Board of Peace” to unveil $2.45 billion Gaza plan: **Trump’s Board of Peace will [unveil][14] a six-month, $2.45 billion Gaza recovery plan Wednesday covering 66 projects, including temporary housing, rubble removal, hospital repairs, economic recovery, governance, and security, Axios reported. The plan estimates Gaza’s physical damage at $35.2 billion and full reconstruction costs at $71.4 billion over the next decade.
* About $1 billion is allocated to infrastructure, including $400 million for temporary shelters and $275 million for rubble and unexploded ordnance clearance, while $885 million would go toward security, including the International Stabilization Force, Palestinian police and a $20 million weapons buy-back program.
* Representatives from 35 countries, including the EU and several non-Board member states, are expected at Wednesday’s briefing. The full $2.45 billion has not yet been secured.
* Hamas agreed July 30 to a roadmap linking decommissioning of weapons to Israeli withdrawal, which Israel has refused to implement. Israel is also reportedly blocking vetted Palestinian police recruits from leaving for training in Egypt and preventing the Board-approved Palestinian technocratic committee from entering Gaza.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli ceasefire violations continue in southern Lebanon as blast in Khiam damages homes, school, and power lines:**
* Israeli artillery shelling [targeted][15] the outskirts of Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil district and Wadi Zibqin in the Tyre (Sour) district on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
* Separately, a large explosion carried out by Israeli forces around midnight in the town of Khiam [caused][16] extensive damage in nearby Jdeidet Marjayoun and Qlayaa, shattering windows and cracking walls in several homes. Marjayoun National School also sustained extensive window damage and temporarily suspended classes for repairs. The blast [damaged][17] electricity supply lines in the Nabaa al-Hamam area, causing a complete power outage across Hasbaya, Shebaa, and the Arqoub region.
# U.S. News
* **DoorDash settles NYC underpayment probe for $131.5 million**: DoorDash [reached][18] a record $131.5 million settlement with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Tuesday over findings that the company underpaid or delayed payments to delivery workers, paying the City $16.7 million in fines and giving nearly $115 million in relief to about 264,000 “Dashers,” who received a median payout of roughly $48.
* DoorDash said in a statement, “Simply put, we screwed up... Our mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late.”
* The deal is the largest worker settlement in New York City history and the largest settlement involving food delivery workers in the United States. It comes nearly eight months after the city agency accused DoorDash and Uber Eats of using “design tricks” to deprive workers of more than $550 million in tips.
* **Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by end of 2029:** U.S. District Judge** Robert Pitman** [ordered][19] Texas to develop and implement a plan to install air conditioning across all 104 of its prison facilities by Dec. 31, 2029, ruling Tuesday that lockups without cooling violate the Eighth Amendment and that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s response to extreme heat constitutes “deliberate indifference.”
* Just over a third of Texas correctional facilities were fully air conditioned as of Sept. 1, and Pitman noted the agency’s recent $289 million legislative funding request for air conditioning fell well short of what it told the court it could obtain from state lawmakers. Installing air conditioning could cost up to $1.5 billion, the agency has noted.
* Inmate advocates have attributed at least 10 heat-related deaths to lack of air conditioning between 2022 and 2025.
* **ShinyHunters hackers claim to have breached FBI, stolen data on all employees:** Hacking group **ShinyHunters** [claimed][20] on Tuesday to have breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data “on all FBI employees and applicants,” including names, home addresses, phone numbers and spouse information, according to 404 Media.
* The group also defaced the FBI’s jobs website Tuesday with a message reading “this site has been seized by ShinyHunters.”
* A group representative provided a sample containing data on 5,000 FBI employees, some of which 404 Media verified through open-source tools, and said the group used a zero-day exploit in an Oracle PeopleSoft product to access AWS GovCloud servers and exfiltrate between two and three terabytes of data.
* An FBI spokesperson said the agency is “aware of claims” and investigating the incident.
* The group, which typically extorts victims after breaches, said its motivation here is not financial but rather “coercion” tied to a prior FBI report describing ShinyHunters’ tactics, which it demanded be corrected or removed within a week.
* **Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn release of pro-Palestinian scholar**: The Trump administration [petitioned][21] the Supreme Court Monday to overturn a lower court’s release of Georgetown scholar **Badar Khan Suri**, an Indian citizen and postdoctoral fellow arrested by masked ICE officers in March 2025 amid a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses, after a district court judge freed him in May 2025 on grounds he was likely to succeed in proving his arrest was retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.
* Solicitor General **D. John Sauer** argued the 4th Circuit’s July 2-1 ruling upholding Suri’s release—which found lower courts could hear constitutional detention challenges even amid pending immigration proceedings—threatens nationwide immigration enforcement by letting detainees “bypass immigration courts.”
* **Trump backs diesel export ban amid GOP pressure over record fuel prices**: President Donald Trump [said][22] Tuesday he has called for a ban on U.S. diesel exports, with Treasury Secretary **Scott Bessent** confirming the administration is examining whether a full or partial ban is feasible.
* The administration had previously resisted calls for a diesel export ban, which had come from farmers and truckers squeezed by fuel price increases. Iowa Republicans Sen. **Chuck Grassley** and Rep. **Ashley Hinson** made public calls for the policy earlier this week, and Senate Majority Leader **John Thune** said last week he was “open” to the idea.
* **Trump officials plan to allow up to 17,500 more White Afrikaner refugees over next year**: The Trump administration [notified][23] Congress Tuesday it plans to allocate up to 17,500 refugee spots for fiscal year 2027, “primarily” for White Afrikaners from South Africa, according to a notice obtained by CBS News.
* The State Department, which has effectively shuttered U.S. refugee resettlement program for all other groups, said Afrikaners “face the seizure of agricultural property without compensation” and discriminatory policies, claims the South African government has consistently denied.
* The effort—which the announcement projects will cost $500 million—follows new U.S. sanctions imposed last week on South African officials accused of discriminating against the group.
* **Trump officials cut 760,000 from ACA over alleged fraud: **Vice President **JD Vance** and administration officials [announced][24] Tuesday they are removing about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage over suspected fraud, with an additional 419,000 enrollees facing further verification.
* At the press conference announcing the removals, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator **Dr. Mehmet Oz** also said his agency would be imposing a six-month moratorium on new insurance brokers selling ACA plans.
* Officials claimed the removals would save $2.2 billion in federal spending.
* The crackdown comes as ACA enrollment, which peaked under President **Joe Biden**, has already fallen by more than 1 million since Trump took office.
* **GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Senate probe of Donald Trump Jr. over Russian oligarch’s wedding gift: **Sen. **John Curtis** (R-Utah) [sent][25] a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Chuck Grassley and **Dick Durbin** calling for an investigation into “the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit” urging subpoenas for **Donald Trump Jr.** after ProPublica reported that Russian businessman **Umar Kremlev**, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin, paid for a lavish Bahamas wedding afterparty for Trump Jr.
* “A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else,” Curtis said, also citing Trump Jr.’s crypto ventures and international real estate dealings.
* Curtis also called in his letter for an investigation into **Hunter Biden**.
* **ICE officer who shot Austin man was not wearing body camera:** The ICE officer who [shot][26] **Wilber Garcés Pérez** in Austin over the weekend was issued a body camera but was not using it during the incident, two former DHS officials told the Washington Post, despite an agency mandate rolled out after two prior shootings of unarmed immigrants by camera-less officers. The officer is also a recent recruit, the officials told the paper.
* ICE sent officers an email Tuesday reminding them cameras “must” be activated during enforcement activity.
* Garcés Pérez’s attorney, **Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch**, said he was taken to another hospital Monday night after reporting paralysis on his left side, with a bullet still lodged near his spine.
* **El-Sayed defends Harris support: **After campaigning alongside former Vice President **Kamala Harris**, in Detroit, Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee **Abdul El-Sayed** [defended][27] her support, with particular attention to the controversy surrounding her role in the Biden administration’s conduct during Israel’s genocide in Gaza and El-Sayed’s support for the “Uncommitted” movement in Michigan.
* El Sayed noted that his positions on Gaza had not changed. “I was very clear that I disagreed with my party when it came to the genocide,” he said. “None of those positions have changed at all. I’m not going to change them.”
* El-Sayed nevertheless urged Democrats divided over Gaza to build a coalition against Trump, arguing the country would be better positioned on “everything from gas to groceries to Gaza” had Trump lost in 2024.
* **Byron Donalds scrubs Trump references from campaign website amid president’s sinking approval**: Florida gubernatorial candidate **Byron Donalds **[removed][28] at least eight prominent references to President Donald Trump’s endorsement from his campaign website, including a homepage banner, a “Chip in” button, and a photo of Donalds with the president, according to the Miami Herald.
* Trump’s endorsement now appears only in a rolling banner alongside other conservative endorsers, and Donalds’ policy page no longer lists “Enact the Trump Agenda” as a top priority, replacing it with affordability.
* Spokesperson **Gates McGavick **said the site “reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians” and that Donalds remains “proud to have President Trump’s endorsement.”
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **U.S. claims neither Sudanese army nor RSF has legitimate authority**: The U.S. State Department [said][29] Tuesday that neither Sudan’s army nor the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have legitimate authority to govern the country, with spokesperson Thomas Pigott saying both sides rule “purely through force of arms” and accused both of failing to commit to ceasefire efforts and of escalating the conflict instead.
* The statement called Sudan’s war the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and said Washington would work to “raise the cost of continued conflict on all belligerents.”
* **South Sudan’s Kiir dissolves transitional government, consolidates power in interim: **South Sudan President Salva Kiir [dissolved][30] the country’s transitional government Tuesday, hours after signing amendments to election laws that removed requirements to complete a permanent constitution and census before holding a vote, in preparation for the country’s first-ever national elections.
* The transitional government was originally established under a 2018 peace deal that ended a years-long civil war in the country.
* Under the amended National Elections Act, passed by parliament Monday, Kiir’s executive leadership retains full constitutional powers through the election period, and the National Legislative Assembly will shrink from 650 to 270 members, with state assemblies cut from 100 to 58 seats.
* The moves come as Kiir’s longtime rival, opposition leader Riek Machar, remains under house arrest since March 2025 and on trial for treason and murder charges he denies.
* Elections were initially expected in 2022 but have been delayed twice.
* **Tigray forces launch offensive against Ethiopia’s government:** Tigrayan forces [launched][31] a major offensive against Ethiopia’s federal government Wednesday, a senior Ethiopian official said, shattering the Pretoria Agreement that ended the 2020-2022 civil war, with the officials from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front saying they entered a “defensive war” against government “aggression.”
* Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said the TPLF seized federally controlled airports in Tigray and launched an “all-out offensive” into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, where Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside local armed groups and the Fano militia. Ethiopian Airlines has suspended flights to Tigray.
* The fighting follows the announcement of a seven-group alliance on Sunday, which declared its aim at overthrowing Abiy’s government.
* **Survivors: Nigerian guards sprayed substance into packed cell before 37 detainees died**: Three survivors [told][32] Reuters that Nigerian prison guards sprayed an unidentified substance into an overcrowded cell holding dozens of detained gold miners near Minna, then kept the doors locked; 37 detainees died.
* The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps paramilitary agency jailed the miners after raiding suspected illegal mining sites. Many of those jailed were teenagers.
* President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered an investigation in response. The deaths, which authorities initially attributed to a possible disease outbreak before saying the cause remains under investigation, sparked protests that turned deadly Friday, leading officials in the country’s Niger state to impose a 24-hour curfew.
* **Venezuelan opposition leader Machado makes unsuccessful bids to return home, adviser says:** Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado [made][33] three unsuccessful attempts by sea and air to return to Venezuela in recent hours, her adviser Pedro Urruchurtu said on social media, bringing her total failed return attempts to seven since she clandestinely left the country nine months ago, according to the Spanish newspaper ABC.
* The paper did not report who blocked her Tuesday attempts.
* Machado’s efforts coincided with interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s first meeting with President Trump in New York following President Nicolas Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces in a January raid.
* **Alleged fentanyl trafficker arrested in Mexico City in joint U.S.-Mexico operation**: Mexican authorities [arrested][34] Jose Angel Rivera, known as “Don Flaco,” in Mexico City Tuesday for allegedly coordinating and financing an organization that transported fentanyl chemical precursors from China to Mexico and the U.S., in a joint operation with the FBI and DEA, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on X.
* Rivera had been sanctioned by the U.S. State Department in January 2023 over his alleged role in fentanyl trafficking.
* Harfuch said the arrest reflected “international cooperation, shared responsibility, and unrestricted respect for our sovereignty.”
* The arrest came the same day President Trump told the United Nations that Mexico was “the epicenter” of drug cartel violence and needed to “reclaim control of its territory.”
* **Taiwan says it will stay in “close contact” with U.S. on arms sales:** Taiwan’s defense ministry [said][35] Wednesday it would continue close coordination with the U.S. to implement arms sales “according to plan,” ahead of an expected meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week, where Xi is expected to press Trump to halt the sales.
* A $14 billion arms package remains in abeyance following Trump’s December approval of an $11 billion package, the largest ever.
* **UN report finds Nicaragua’s crackdown on dissent amounts to crimes against humanity**: Nicaraguan state institutions, coordinated through a chain of command reaching senior government levels, have [carried][36] out enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention of political opponents amounting to crimes against humanity, according to a report published by UN human rights officials on Tuesday.
* The report documents 161 cases of enforced disappearance and eight deaths in state custody since April 2018.
* The report also noted a shift, beginning in 2023, toward long-term disappearances and nationwide police raids targeting dissidents, church members, Indigenous leaders, and former officials. Female detainees have been subjected to threats of sexual violence.
* In July, Ortega said that Nicaragua would no longer hold elections, and in September, Nicaragua’s Congress passed a constitutional reform banning opposition parties from participating in future votes.
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[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/politics/un-trump-speech-iran-venezuela-greenland.html
[2]: https://en.mehrnews.com/news/247989/Trump-threats-against-Iran-sign-of-desperation
[3]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/22/lula-warns-against-foreign-interference-defends-brazils-sovereignty-at-un
[4]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/canada-pledges-aid-for-palestine-as-uk-and-france-demand-action-at-unga?traffic_source=rss
[5]: https://x.com/sepeacemissions/status/2102541416832336240?s=46
[6]: https://abcnews.com/Politics/macron-tells-abcs-david-muir-hormuz-strait-underestimated/story?id=136661829
[7]: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-withholding-sudanese-leaders-visa-over-ceasefire-plan-sources-say-2026-09-22/
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB-6-%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B0-%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-154490
[9]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B1-%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A7-154499
[10]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-154487
[11]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%BA%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A5%D8%BA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA-154501
[12]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D8%B9-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-154483
[13]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinian-american-journalist-naqaa-hamed-arrested
[14]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/trump-board-of-peace-gaza-reconstruction-plan
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564737/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-2
[16]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564688/%D8%A3%D8%B6%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D8%AE%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-2
[17]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564666/%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%82-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-2
[18]: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/doordash-settles-nyc-driver-pay-rcna599186
[19]: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/22/texas-prison-air-conditioning-lawsuit-ruling/
[20]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/22/shinyhunters-fbi-cyber-hack-01088494
[21]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/22/trump-admin-asks-top-us-court-to-reverse-pro-palestinian-scholars-release
[22]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/22/trump-diesel-exports-ban
[23]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-white-south-africans-refugees-afrikaners/
[24]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/22/trump-officials-plan-cut-hundreds-thousands-aca-claiming-fraud/
[25]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-jr-probe-john-curtis-81d86747?eafs_enabled=false
[26]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/09/22/man-shot-detained-by-ice-is-hospitalized-partial-paralysis-lawyer-says/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzkwMDQ5NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzkxNDMxOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3OTAwNDk2MDAsImp0aSI6IjNkMDVlMDRjLTU1NDctNDI1Yy1hZmM3LTkwODIzOTgwMTY5YiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9pbW1pZ3JhdGlvbi8yMDI2LzA5LzIyL21hbi1zaG90LWRldGFpbmVkLWJ5LWljZS1pcy1ob3NwaXRhbGl6ZWQtcGFydGlhbC1wYXJhbHlzaXMtbGF3eWVyLXNheXMvIn0.Ooeb-vLVj6mltjPAqbRYntjpACaoj2UJu-OWEgrj-u4
[27]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2102596032404111739
[28]: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article317335973.html
[29]: https://sudantribune.com/article/319128
[30]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/south-sudan-dissolves-government-ahead-of-first-ever-national-elections
[31]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/tigrayan-leaders-say-new-war-with-ethiopian-government-has-begun-as-fighting-erupts
[32]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/22/one-after-another-they-started-dying-survivors-recount-deaths-in-detention-in-nigeria
[33]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelan-opposition-leader-machado-fails-return-attempts-rodriguez-meets-trump-2026-09-23/
[34]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/mexico-arrests-alleged-prominent-fentanyl-trafficker
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/taiwan-to-maintain-close-contact-with-us-on-arms-sales
[36]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaraguas-crackdown-opponents-amounts-crimes-against-humanity-un-experts-say-2026-09-22/
[37]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida
[38]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[39]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[41]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-us-iran-unga-greenland-deal
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the speech of President Donald Trump at the 81st United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2026 in New York City. Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images.
**Wednesday, September 23, 2026 –***** **President Donald Trump threatens to “annihilate” Iran in speech at UN General Assembly. Iran military warns of “more crushing” attacks after Trump threats. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warns against foreign election interference, defends Brazil’s sovereignty in UN Speech. French President Emmanual Macron condemns Israeli aid restrictions at UN; UK, France, Canada talk Palestinian statehood in committee. U.S.-Iran UN hold first indirect talks since June Memorandum of Understanding unraveled. Macron says France ready for greater role in reopening Strait of Hormuz. U.S., Denmark, Greenland sign deal expanding U.S. military presence. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready for energy truce after “productive” Trump talks. U.S. withholds visa for Sudanese Leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, tying it to ceasefire proposal Khartoum has resisted. Canada pledges $71 million in Palestinian aid, imposes restrictions on Israeli
settlement goods. Trump and Latin America allies invoke Rio Treaty against cartels. Ansarallah, Saudi-backed forces clash near Bab al-Mandab. Cargo vessel hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz. New U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation take effect. Israeli attacks kill six Palestinians across Gaza since dawn. Israeli forces carry out demolitions across the occupied West Bank as settlers block Salfit road. Military court extends detention of Palestinian-American journalist. Israeli forces arrest senior Palestinian Authority security official. Pregnant Palestinian detainee suffers bleeding, harsh conditions in Israeli prison. Trump's “Board of Peace” to unveil $2.45 billion Gaza plan. Israeli ceasefire violations continue in southern Lebanon as blast in Khiam damages homes, school, and power lines. DoorDash settles NYC underpayment probe for $131.5 million. Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by end of 2029. ShinyHunters hackers claim to have breached FBI, stolen data on
all employees. Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn release of pro-Palestinian scholar. Trump backs diesel export ban amid GOP pressure over record fuel prices. Trump officials plan to allow up to 17,500 more White Afrikaner refugees over next year. Trump officials cut 760,000 from Affordable Care Act coverage over alleged fraud. GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Senate probe of Donald Trump Jr. over Russian oligarch’s wedding gift. ICE officer who shot Austin man was not wearing body camera. Michigan Democratic Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed defends support from former Vice President Kamala Harris. Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds scrubs Trump references from campaign website amid president's sinking approval. U.S. claims neither Sudanese army nor Rapid Support Forces has legitimate authority. South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir dissolves transitional government. Tigray forces launch offensive against Ethiopia’s government. Survivors: Nigerian guards
sprayed substance into packed cell before 37 detainees died. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado makes unsuccessful bids to return home, adviser says. Alleged fentanyl trafficker arrested in Mexico City in joint U.S.-Mexico operation. Taiwan says it will stay in “close contact” with U.S. on arms sales. UN report finds Nicaragua's crackdown on dissent amounts to crimes against humanity. *
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# UN General Assembly
* **Trump threatens to “annihilate” Iran: **During his speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump [threatened][1] to “annihilate the Islamic republic” of Iran if the two countries fail to reach a deal.
* “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?” Trump said, suggesting that Iran was waiting to see the outcome of the midterm elections. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
* Trump also defended recent U.S. moves in the Western Hemisphere, saying “to the victor belong the spoils” when he discussed the U.S.’s seizure of Venezuelan oil after U.S. forces snatched Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas.
* He called Cuba a “failed state” that serves as a “haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America,” and said its government would soon fall. These remarks prompted Cuban delegates to walk out. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla later said: “The U.S. government proves incapable of accepting that Cuba is, and has the right to be, a fully independent and sovereign country.”
* Trump also attacked the International Criminal Court as a “rogue institution,” called for its members to resign, and dismissed climate change as a “hoax.”
* He rejected any “globalist scheme” to control advances in artificial intelligence, which he proposed be called “super intelligence,” as a “test” of his influence on the world stage.
* **Iran military warns of “more crushing” attacks after Trump threats: **Iran’s military warned Wednesday that it was prepared to launch “more crushing and less predictable” attacks against the U.S. and Israel after Trump threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic during his UN General Assembly address Tuesday.
* Responding in a [statement][2] carried by Mehr, Iran’s General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Command accused Trump of using the UN podium to justify U.S. “aggression” and described his threats as evidence of Washington’s “strategic desperation,” warning that Iranian forces were prepared to strike the U.S. and Israel with attacks more severe than those carried out earlier in the war.
* **Lula warns against foreign election interference, defends Brazil’s sovereignty**: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva [warned][3] Tuesday against domestic or foreign interference in Brazil’s October 4 election, telling the UN General Assembly “Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians” and “Brazil will remain a sovereign country.”
* Lula did not name Trump directly, though he did appear to reference the United States when he condemned the resurgence of “hegemonic ambitions” in the region and asserted that the country did not “need aircraft carriers in its waters,” a probable reference to the U.S.’s Operation Southern Spear. “Brazil does not belong in anyone’s backyard,” he said, calling attempts to divide the world into spheres of influence “anachronistic.”
* Lula’s comments follow accusations that the Trump administration, allied with his election rival Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, is trying to influence the vote through economic pressure, after Washington imposed two new rounds of tariffs on Brazilian goods in July.
* **Macron condemns Israeli aid restrictions in UNGA speech; UK, France, Canada talk Palestinian statehood in committee: **French President Emmanuel Macron [condemned][4] Israel’s aid restrictions on Gaza as “a shame for the world” in his UN General Assembly address Tuesday, asking “what credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza?” Macron also criticized what he characterized as Israel’s “daily” violations in the occupied West Bank.
* Macron, alongside UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, chaired a meeting on Palestinian statehood, where Burnham warned that failing to deliver a two-state solution “will corrode trust in the political, diplomatic, and international process.”
* Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also announced his intention to introduce restrictions on goods produced in West Bank settlements, following the UK’s earlier announcement of similar restrictions.
* **U.S.-Iran UN hold first indirect talks since June MOU unraveled: **Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff said U.S.-Iran talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly were conducted through mediators who shuttled between the two delegations, clarifying that the sides did not hold direct discussions after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that three-hour talks with the Iranian delegation had been “very good.”
* Iran separately said the communications took place through a Qatari mediator and that Tehran presented conditions for ending the war, including an end to U.S. “acts of aggression,” a halt to the naval blockade and economic warfare, and the release of Iranian assets. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran maintained its negotiating stance in the discussions. “This was not anything new,” Baghaei said of Iran’s conditions.
* Witkoff said, in a [post][5] on X, the mediators had completed a round of discussions that he hoped would prove “constructive and promising” and would continue their work.
* **Macron says France ready for greater role in reopening Strait of Hormuz: **French President Emmanuel Macron [said][6] France was prepared to become more involved in efforts to secure transit through the Strait of Hormuz, while stressing that Paris did not want a confrontation with any country.
* Macron told ABC News that the “main objective” of his meeting with Trump was to find an agreement to reopen the vital waterway and address the global energy crisis. He reiterated France’s opposition to the U.S. decision to go to war with Iran, saying “regime change by bombing a country” was not feasible and that Washington had not consulted its allies before launching the war.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and criticized France’s “interventionist” positions toward Iran and its stance on U.S. and Israeli attacks.
* **U.S., Denmark, Greenland sign deal expanding U.S. military presence**: The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement Tuesday at the UN General Assembly granting Washington expanded military access to Greenland, allowing it to modernize the Pituffik Space Base and build new facilities at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig.
* The agreement resolves months of tension between the U.S. and Denmark, with President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to seize the territory.
* The open-ended agreement bars non-NATO countries from establishing military installations without unanimous approval from Denmark, Greenland and the U.S., restricts investment from “sensitive sectors” outside NATO and the EU, and grants the U.S. undersea access and unrestricted overflight rights.
* **Zelenskyy says Ukraine ready for energy truce after “productive” Trump talks**: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a 40-minute meeting with President Donald Trump in New York at the UN that Ukraine remains ready for a bilateral “energy ceasefire” with Russia, telling reporters “we are ready” to halt strikes on Russian refineries if Moscow stops targeting Ukraine’s energy system.
* Separately on Tuesday, Zelenskyy warned on Telegram that Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia was “preparing a new massive attack” against Ukraine.
* Trump called his talks with the Ukrainian president “positive and productive” and said ending the war is likely, though a similar energy truce he announced last week collapsed almost immediately after strikes resumed.
* Zelenskyy also said he asked Trump for additional Patriot air defense missiles for winter, proposing to swap future Patriot deliveries from a German deal in exchange for supplies from U.S. stockpiles now, though Trump had not yet agreed to this arrangement.
* **U.S. withholds visa for Sudan’s Burhan, tying it to ceasefire proposal Khartoum has resisted**: The United States is [withholding][7] a visa for Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ahead of his scheduled UN General Assembly speech, contingent on his acceptance of a 90-day ceasefire proposed by U.S. Senior Advisor Massad Boulos, Reuters reported.
* The suspension prompted Sudan’s UN ambassador to appeal to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he is “deeply concerned” and engaging with the U.S. on the issue.
* **Canada pledges $71 million in Palestinian aid, imposes restrictions on Israeli settlement goods: **Canada will provide about $71 million in assistance for the Palestinian government and impose trade restrictions on goods produced in Israeli settlements, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
* He described the restrictions on settlement products as a “pragmatic, practical” measure intended to help preserve “the possibility of a two-state solution, and ultimately a durable peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
* **Trump and Latin America allies invoke Rio Treaty against cartels: **The Trump administration is seeking to turn its campaign against Latin American cartels into a hemispheric security framework under the umbrella of the Shield of the Americas initiative. Fourteen governments joined a U.S.-backed declaration at the UN General Assembly pledging coordinated action against 24 organizations designated as “narco-terrorist”.
* The declaration calls for sanctions, intelligence sharing, security cooperation and a commitment to invoke the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, or Rio Treaty, to consider collective military action against the groups.
# Yemen
* **Ansarallah, Saudi-backed forces clash near Bab al-Mandab: **Ansarallah and Saudi-backed forces are fighting over the strategic area linking Taiz and Lahj governorates with Yemen’s western coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
* Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group shot down an armed reconnaissance drone conducting “hostile missions” over Mocha in Taiz governorate.
* On the opposing side, the Saudi-backed National Shield Brigades claimed they repelled an Ansarallah offensive in the strategic Kahboub mountain range and shot down three Ansarallah drones before they could reach their positions.
* The Southern Giants Brigades, also deployed along the front, said they were continuing to target Ansarallah fortifications and reinforcements.
# Iran
* **Cargo vessel hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz: **A cargo vessel was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, leaving the ship on fire and adrift and causing two casualties, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said.
* All crew members were evacuated from the vessel and no environmental impact was reported.
* **New U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation take effect: **A new package of U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector took effect Wednesday, after Washington pledged to ground Iranian airlines and penalize entities that continue doing business with them, AFP reported.
* Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said airports in Baghdad and Muscat would stop receiving Iranian flights from midnight, while negotiations were underway to reroute Baghdad-bound flights to Najaf and reach arrangements with Oman.
* Other international services, including flights to Istanbul, remained scheduled, according to Tasnim.
* Iraqi authorities have not formally announced measures, but several sources, including a senior government official, told AFP that Baghdad would comply with the U.S. restrictions.
* Separately, AFP reported that an Iranian commercial aircraft landed in China despite Washington’s threat of sanctions.
# Palestine
* **Killed and wounded in Gaza:** Over the past 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed and 18 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
* The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,922 killed, with 174,995 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,402 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,881, while 834 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
* **Israeli attacks kill six Palestinians across Gaza since dawn: **Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip [killed][8] six Palestinians and wounded others since dawn Wednesday, WAFA reported.
* In Gaza City, an Israeli drone strike near Al-Wafa Hospital killed one Palestinian and wounded others, while several Palestinians were wounded in a separate attack targeting a group of people near the Abu Khadra complex in the western Rimal neighborhood.
* In central Gaza, another Israeli drone strike in Deir el-Balah killed one Palestinian and wounded others.
* **Israeli forces carry out demolitions across the occupied West Bank as settlers block Salfit road:**
* **Hebron:** Israeli forces [began demolishing][9] homes, agricultural structures, livestock pens, and water wells belonging to Palestinian families in Janba village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, on Wednesday, according to WAFA.
* **Jenin:** Israeli bulldozers [demolished][10] agricultural and residential structures in the Abba village, southeast of Jenin, including four horse stables, greenhouses, sheep pens, a house under construction, a wall, and two agricultural rooms.
* **Salfit:** Israeli settlers [blocked][11] Wadi Al-Shaer road connecting Salfit city with Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya by placing rocks and metal spikes on the road, damaging several vehicles before Palestinians removed the obstacles and reopened it. Israeli forces also reclosed the northern entrance to Salfit city.
* **East Jerusalem:** Israeli authorities [demolished][12] sheet-metal industrial structures belonging to Palestinians in Jaba, northeast of Jerusalem, and bulldozed the surrounding land.
* **Military court extends detention of Palestinian-American journalist:** A military court on Wednesday extended the detention of Palestinian-American journalist and Drop Site contributor Naqaa Hamed until September 28, according to her lawyer, Khaled Mahajneh.
* Hamed was [arrested][13] by Israeli forces on September 15 as she was returning from a reporting assignment in the occupied West Bank. Israeli authorities have accused her of incitement against Israeli settlers and the army, communicating with the enemy, and cooperating with the enemy. She is currently being held in Damon Prison in northern Israel.
* Mahajneh previously told Drop Site “the whole case is related to her journalistic work” and that her arrest came solely because of a campaign targeting her by Israeli settlers.
* Hamed is a freelance journalist who has worked for various international outlets, including Drop Site News. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and other U.S. officials, as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists, have called for her release.
* **Israeli forces arrest senior PA security official**: Israeli forces arrested Majdi Amer, a colonel in the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service during an overnight raid on the village of Kafr Qallil, south of Nablus, according to the Times of Israel. In a statement, the Israeli police said that undercover Border Police officers apprehended a “wanted operative in the Fatah terror group.”
* **Pregnant Palestinian detainee suffers bleeding, harsh conditions in Israeli prison: **Pregnant Palestinian detainee Baraa Abu Khadija, 36, from Tulkarm suffered abdominal pain and bleeding after being detained by Israeli forces and subjected to hours of restraint and a strip search, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
* The commission said Abu Khadija, detained since August 27, was blindfolded and tightly handcuffed with plastic restraints that caused her hands to swell before being taken to an unknown location, where she was strip-searched and kept bound to a chair for hours.
* She was later transferred to Hasharon Prison for about five days, where she was held in a filthy, insect-infested cell without adequate drinking water, clean bedding, a shower, or a change of clothes, before being moved to Damon Prison.
* The commission said Abu Khadija is now held in a room designated for pregnant detainees, where three pregnant women receive no specialized meals and are given an egg or a piece of meat only about once every three or four days.
* **Trump’s “Board of Peace” to unveil $2.45 billion Gaza plan: **Trump’s Board of Peace will [unveil][14] a six-month, $2.45 billion Gaza recovery plan Wednesday covering 66 projects, including temporary housing, rubble removal, hospital repairs, economic recovery, governance, and security, Axios reported. The plan estimates Gaza’s physical damage at $35.2 billion and full reconstruction costs at $71.4 billion over the next decade.
* About $1 billion is allocated to infrastructure, including $400 million for temporary shelters and $275 million for rubble and unexploded ordnance clearance, while $885 million would go toward security, including the International Stabilization Force, Palestinian police and a $20 million weapons buy-back program.
* Representatives from 35 countries, including the EU and several non-Board member states, are expected at Wednesday’s briefing. The full $2.45 billion has not yet been secured.
* Hamas agreed July 30 to a roadmap linking decommissioning of weapons to Israeli withdrawal, which Israel has refused to implement. Israel is also reportedly blocking vetted Palestinian police recruits from leaving for training in Egypt and preventing the Board-approved Palestinian technocratic committee from entering Gaza.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli ceasefire violations continue in southern Lebanon as blast in Khiam damages homes, school, and power lines:**
* Israeli artillery shelling [targeted][15] the outskirts of Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil district and Wadi Zibqin in the Tyre (Sour) district on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
* Separately, a large explosion carried out by Israeli forces around midnight in the town of Khiam [caused][16] extensive damage in nearby Jdeidet Marjayoun and Qlayaa, shattering windows and cracking walls in several homes. Marjayoun National School also sustained extensive window damage and temporarily suspended classes for repairs. The blast [damaged][17] electricity supply lines in the Nabaa al-Hamam area, causing a complete power outage across Hasbaya, Shebaa, and the Arqoub region.
# U.S. News
* **DoorDash settles NYC underpayment probe for $131.5 million**: DoorDash [reached][18] a record $131.5 million settlement with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Tuesday over findings that the company underpaid or delayed payments to delivery workers, paying the City $16.7 million in fines and giving nearly $115 million in relief to about 264,000 “Dashers,” who received a median payout of roughly $48.
* DoorDash said in a statement, “Simply put, we screwed up... Our mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late.”
* The deal is the largest worker settlement in New York City history and the largest settlement involving food delivery workers in the United States. It comes nearly eight months after the city agency accused DoorDash and Uber Eats of using “design tricks” to deprive workers of more than $550 million in tips.
* **Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by end of 2029:** U.S. District Judge** Robert Pitman** [ordered][19] Texas to develop and implement a plan to install air conditioning across all 104 of its prison facilities by Dec. 31, 2029, ruling Tuesday that lockups without cooling violate the Eighth Amendment and that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s response to extreme heat constitutes “deliberate indifference.”
* Just over a third of Texas correctional facilities were fully air conditioned as of Sept. 1, and Pitman noted the agency’s recent $289 million legislative funding request for air conditioning fell well short of what it told the court it could obtain from state lawmakers. Installing air conditioning could cost up to $1.5 billion, the agency has noted.
* Inmate advocates have attributed at least 10 heat-related deaths to lack of air conditioning between 2022 and 2025.
* **ShinyHunters hackers claim to have breached FBI, stolen data on all employees:** Hacking group **ShinyHunters** [claimed][20] on Tuesday to have breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data “on all FBI employees and applicants,” including names, home addresses, phone numbers and spouse information, according to 404 Media.
* The group also defaced the FBI’s jobs website Tuesday with a message reading “this site has been seized by ShinyHunters.”
* A group representative provided a sample containing data on 5,000 FBI employees, some of which 404 Media verified through open-source tools, and said the group used a zero-day exploit in an Oracle PeopleSoft product to access AWS GovCloud servers and exfiltrate between two and three terabytes of data.
* An FBI spokesperson said the agency is “aware of claims” and investigating the incident.
* The group, which typically extorts victims after breaches, said its motivation here is not financial but rather “coercion” tied to a prior FBI report describing ShinyHunters’ tactics, which it demanded be corrected or removed within a week.
* **Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn release of pro-Palestinian scholar**: The Trump administration [petitioned][21] the Supreme Court Monday to overturn a lower court’s release of Georgetown scholar **Badar Khan Suri**, an Indian citizen and postdoctoral fellow arrested by masked ICE officers in March 2025 amid a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses, after a district court judge freed him in May 2025 on grounds he was likely to succeed in proving his arrest was retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.
* Solicitor General **D. John Sauer** argued the 4th Circuit’s July 2-1 ruling upholding Suri’s release—which found lower courts could hear constitutional detention challenges even amid pending immigration proceedings—threatens nationwide immigration enforcement by letting detainees “bypass immigration courts.”
* **Trump backs diesel export ban amid GOP pressure over record fuel prices**: President Donald Trump [said][22] Tuesday he has called for a ban on U.S. diesel exports, with Treasury Secretary **Scott Bessent** confirming the administration is examining whether a full or partial ban is feasible.
* The administration had previously resisted calls for a diesel export ban, which had come from farmers and truckers squeezed by fuel price increases. Iowa Republicans Sen. **Chuck Grassley** and Rep. **Ashley Hinson** made public calls for the policy earlier this week, and Senate Majority Leader **John Thune** said last week he was “open” to the idea.
* **Trump officials plan to allow up to 17,500 more White Afrikaner refugees over next year**: The Trump administration [notified][23] Congress Tuesday it plans to allocate up to 17,500 refugee spots for fiscal year 2027, “primarily” for White Afrikaners from South Africa, according to a notice obtained by CBS News.
* The State Department, which has effectively shuttered U.S. refugee resettlement program for all other groups, said Afrikaners “face the seizure of agricultural property without compensation” and discriminatory policies, claims the South African government has consistently denied.
* The effort—which the announcement projects will cost $500 million—follows new U.S. sanctions imposed last week on South African officials accused of discriminating against the group.
* **Trump officials cut 760,000 from ACA over alleged fraud: **Vice President **JD Vance** and administration officials [announced][24] Tuesday they are removing about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage over suspected fraud, with an additional 419,000 enrollees facing further verification.
* At the press conference announcing the removals, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator **Dr. Mehmet Oz** also said his agency would be imposing a six-month moratorium on new insurance brokers selling ACA plans.
* Officials claimed the removals would save $2.2 billion in federal spending.
* The crackdown comes as ACA enrollment, which peaked under President **Joe Biden**, has already fallen by more than 1 million since Trump took office.
* **GOP Sen. John Curtis calls for Senate probe of Donald Trump Jr. over Russian oligarch’s wedding gift: **Sen. **John Curtis** (R-Utah) [sent][25] a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Chuck Grassley and **Dick Durbin** calling for an investigation into “the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit” urging subpoenas for **Donald Trump Jr.** after ProPublica reported that Russian businessman **Umar Kremlev**, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin, paid for a lavish Bahamas wedding afterparty for Trump Jr.
* “A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else,” Curtis said, also citing Trump Jr.’s crypto ventures and international real estate dealings.
* Curtis also called in his letter for an investigation into **Hunter Biden**.
* **ICE officer who shot Austin man was not wearing body camera:** The ICE officer who [shot][26] **Wilber Garcés Pérez** in Austin over the weekend was issued a body camera but was not using it during the incident, two former DHS officials told the Washington Post, despite an agency mandate rolled out after two prior shootings of unarmed immigrants by camera-less officers. The officer is also a recent recruit, the officials told the paper.
* ICE sent officers an email Tuesday reminding them cameras “must” be activated during enforcement activity.
* Garcés Pérez’s attorney, **Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch**, said he was taken to another hospital Monday night after reporting paralysis on his left side, with a bullet still lodged near his spine.
* **El-Sayed defends Harris support: **After campaigning alongside former Vice President **Kamala Harris**, in Detroit, Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee **Abdul El-Sayed** [defended][27] her support, with particular attention to the controversy surrounding her role in the Biden administration’s conduct during Israel’s genocide in Gaza and El-Sayed’s support for the “Uncommitted” movement in Michigan.
* El Sayed noted that his positions on Gaza had not changed. “I was very clear that I disagreed with my party when it came to the genocide,” he said. “None of those positions have changed at all. I’m not going to change them.”
* El-Sayed nevertheless urged Democrats divided over Gaza to build a coalition against Trump, arguing the country would be better positioned on “everything from gas to groceries to Gaza” had Trump lost in 2024.
* **Byron Donalds scrubs Trump references from campaign website amid president’s sinking approval**: Florida gubernatorial candidate **Byron Donalds **[removed][28] at least eight prominent references to President Donald Trump’s endorsement from his campaign website, including a homepage banner, a “Chip in” button, and a photo of Donalds with the president, according to the Miami Herald.
* Trump’s endorsement now appears only in a rolling banner alongside other conservative endorsers, and Donalds’ policy page no longer lists “Enact the Trump Agenda” as a top priority, replacing it with affordability.
* Spokesperson **Gates McGavick **said the site “reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians” and that Donalds remains “proud to have President Trump’s endorsement.”
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **U.S. claims neither Sudanese army nor RSF has legitimate authority**: The U.S. State Department [said][29] Tuesday that neither Sudan’s army nor the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have legitimate authority to govern the country, with spokesperson Thomas Pigott saying both sides rule “purely through force of arms” and accused both of failing to commit to ceasefire efforts and of escalating the conflict instead.
* The statement called Sudan’s war the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and said Washington would work to “raise the cost of continued conflict on all belligerents.”
* **South Sudan’s Kiir dissolves transitional government, consolidates power in interim: **South Sudan President Salva Kiir [dissolved][30] the country’s transitional government Tuesday, hours after signing amendments to election laws that removed requirements to complete a permanent constitution and census before holding a vote, in preparation for the country’s first-ever national elections.
* The transitional government was originally established under a 2018 peace deal that ended a years-long civil war in the country.
* Under the amended National Elections Act, passed by parliament Monday, Kiir’s executive leadership retains full constitutional powers through the election period, and the National Legislative Assembly will shrink from 650 to 270 members, with state assemblies cut from 100 to 58 seats.
* The moves come as Kiir’s longtime rival, opposition leader Riek Machar, remains under house arrest since March 2025 and on trial for treason and murder charges he denies.
* Elections were initially expected in 2022 but have been delayed twice.
* **Tigray forces launch offensive against Ethiopia’s government:** Tigrayan forces [launched][31] a major offensive against Ethiopia’s federal government Wednesday, a senior Ethiopian official said, shattering the Pretoria Agreement that ended the 2020-2022 civil war, with the officials from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front saying they entered a “defensive war” against government “aggression.”
* Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said the TPLF seized federally controlled airports in Tigray and launched an “all-out offensive” into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, where Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside local armed groups and the Fano militia. Ethiopian Airlines has suspended flights to Tigray.
* The fighting follows the announcement of a seven-group alliance on Sunday, which declared its aim at overthrowing Abiy’s government.
* **Survivors: Nigerian guards sprayed substance into packed cell before 37 detainees died**: Three survivors [told][32] Reuters that Nigerian prison guards sprayed an unidentified substance into an overcrowded cell holding dozens of detained gold miners near Minna, then kept the doors locked; 37 detainees died.
* The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps paramilitary agency jailed the miners after raiding suspected illegal mining sites. Many of those jailed were teenagers.
* President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered an investigation in response. The deaths, which authorities initially attributed to a possible disease outbreak before saying the cause remains under investigation, sparked protests that turned deadly Friday, leading officials in the country’s Niger state to impose a 24-hour curfew.
* **Venezuelan opposition leader Machado makes unsuccessful bids to return home, adviser says:** Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado [made][33] three unsuccessful attempts by sea and air to return to Venezuela in recent hours, her adviser Pedro Urruchurtu said on social media, bringing her total failed return attempts to seven since she clandestinely left the country nine months ago, according to the Spanish newspaper ABC.
* The paper did not report who blocked her Tuesday attempts.
* Machado’s efforts coincided with interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s first meeting with President Trump in New York following President Nicolas Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces in a January raid.
* **Alleged fentanyl trafficker arrested in Mexico City in joint U.S.-Mexico operation**: Mexican authorities [arrested][34] Jose Angel Rivera, known as “Don Flaco,” in Mexico City Tuesday for allegedly coordinating and financing an organization that transported fentanyl chemical precursors from China to Mexico and the U.S., in a joint operation with the FBI and DEA, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on X.
* Rivera had been sanctioned by the U.S. State Department in January 2023 over his alleged role in fentanyl trafficking.
* Harfuch said the arrest reflected “international cooperation, shared responsibility, and unrestricted respect for our sovereignty.”
* The arrest came the same day President Trump told the United Nations that Mexico was “the epicenter” of drug cartel violence and needed to “reclaim control of its territory.”
* **Taiwan says it will stay in “close contact” with U.S. on arms sales:** Taiwan’s defense ministry [said][35] Wednesday it would continue close coordination with the U.S. to implement arms sales “according to plan,” ahead of an expected meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week, where Xi is expected to press Trump to halt the sales.
* A $14 billion arms package remains in abeyance following Trump’s December approval of an $11 billion package, the largest ever.
* **UN report finds Nicaragua’s crackdown on dissent amounts to crimes against humanity**: Nicaraguan state institutions, coordinated through a chain of command reaching senior government levels, have [carried][36] out enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention of political opponents amounting to crimes against humanity, according to a report published by UN human rights officials on Tuesday.
* The report documents 161 cases of enforced disappearance and eight deaths in state custody since April 2018.
* The report also noted a shift, beginning in 2023, toward long-term disappearances and nationwide police raids targeting dissidents, church members, Indigenous leaders, and former officials. Female detainees have been subjected to threats of sexual violence.
* In July, Ortega said that Nicaragua would no longer hold elections, and in September, Nicaragua’s Congress passed a constitutional reform banning opposition parties from participating in future votes.
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[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/politics/un-trump-speech-iran-venezuela-greenland.html
[2]: https://en.mehrnews.com/news/247989/Trump-threats-against-Iran-sign-of-desperation
[3]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/22/lula-warns-against-foreign-interference-defends-brazils-sovereignty-at-un
[4]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/canada-pledges-aid-for-palestine-as-uk-and-france-demand-action-at-unga?traffic_source=rss
[5]: https://x.com/sepeacemissions/status/2102541416832336240?s=46
[6]: https://abcnews.com/Politics/macron-tells-abcs-david-muir-hormuz-strait-underestimated/story?id=136661829
[7]: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-withholding-sudanese-leaders-visa-over-ceasefire-plan-sources-say-2026-09-22/
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB-6-%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B0-%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-154490
[9]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B1-%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A7-154499
[10]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%83%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-154487
[11]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%BA%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B1-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A5%D8%BA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AA-154501
[12]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/23/%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A2%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D8%B9-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-154483
[13]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/palestinian-american-journalist-naqaa-hamed-arrested
[14]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/23/trump-board-of-peace-gaza-reconstruction-plan
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564737/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-2
[16]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564688/%D8%A3%D8%B6%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AC%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D8%AE%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-2
[17]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564666/%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%82-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-2
[18]: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/doordash-settles-nyc-driver-pay-rcna599186
[19]: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/22/texas-prison-air-conditioning-lawsuit-ruling/
[20]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/22/shinyhunters-fbi-cyber-hack-01088494
[21]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/22/trump-admin-asks-top-us-court-to-reverse-pro-palestinian-scholars-release
[22]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/22/trump-diesel-exports-ban
[23]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-white-south-africans-refugees-afrikaners/
[24]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/09/22/trump-officials-plan-cut-hundreds-thousands-aca-claiming-fraud/
[25]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-jr-probe-john-curtis-81d86747?eafs_enabled=false
[26]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/09/22/man-shot-detained-by-ice-is-hospitalized-partial-paralysis-lawyer-says/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzkwMDQ5NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzkxNDMxOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3OTAwNDk2MDAsImp0aSI6IjNkMDVlMDRjLTU1NDctNDI1Yy1hZmM3LTkwODIzOTgwMTY5YiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9pbW1pZ3JhdGlvbi8yMDI2LzA5LzIyL21hbi1zaG90LWRldGFpbmVkLWJ5LWljZS1pcy1ob3NwaXRhbGl6ZWQtcGFydGlhbC1wYXJhbHlzaXMtbGF3eWVyLXNheXMvIn0.Ooeb-vLVj6mltjPAqbRYntjpACaoj2UJu-OWEgrj-u4
[27]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2102596032404111739
[28]: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article317335973.html
[29]: https://sudantribune.com/article/319128
[30]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/23/south-sudan-dissolves-government-ahead-of-first-ever-national-elections
[31]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/tigrayan-leaders-say-new-war-with-ethiopian-government-has-begun-as-fighting-erupts
[32]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/22/one-after-another-they-started-dying-survivors-recount-deaths-in-detention-in-nigeria
[33]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelan-opposition-leader-machado-fails-return-attempts-rodriguez-meets-trump-2026-09-23/
[34]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/mexico-arrests-alleged-prominent-fentanyl-trafficker
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/23/taiwan-to-maintain-close-contact-with-us-on-arms-sales
[36]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/nicaraguas-crackdown-opponents-amounts-crimes-against-humanity-un-experts-say-2026-09-22/
[37]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida
[38]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[39]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[41]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-us-iran-unga-greenland-deal
Inside the Armed Incursion From Florida Intended to Topple Cuba’s Government
Last March, when I traveled to Cuba on a reporting trip, I had a number of things I was trying to find out, but chief among them was the mystery of the ill-fated assault on Cuba launched from the Florida keys by a band of Cuban-Americans hoping to overthrow the government. The attack was a disaster—it got nicknamed the Bay of Piglets—and ended up with half the men dead and the other half in Cuban custody. Along with Reed Lindsay, a reporter at the great news outlet Belly of the Beast, we pressed the Cuban government for access to the survivors of the boat raid. Four of the five men eventually agreed to speak while still in Cuba’s custody. Their stories, of course, must be viewed with skepticism, as is the case with any interview subject who is behind bars and at the mercy of a government. But their stories can be checked against testimony from their comrades, interviews with others back in the United States, and forensic and other evidence from the scene. What follows is the most
thorough account to date of the February assault by a band of would-be counterrevolutionaries.
It begins, of course, on TikTok.
—Ryan Grim
Drop Site relies on readers to make this journalism possible. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, one of the men detained during a failed attempt to land in Cuba and spark an overthrow of the government on February 25, 2026, during an interview in Havana. Photo: Belly of the Beast.
*Story by Reed Lindsay. Published in collaboration with Belly of the Beast and Miami New Times*
HAVANA, Cuba—Last November, 33-year-old truck driver José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló was scrolling TikTok when he came across a live video posted by Raúl Quevedo, a Cuban living in the United States.
It had been nearly a decade since Rodríguez immigrated to the United States from Cuba via a fiancé visa. He later became a permanent resident and was living with his girlfriend and her daughter in Nashville, Tennessee. Still, he harbored deep resentment toward what he saw as a dictatorial government repressing the Cuban people, and he was glad to see Quevedo calling it out.
Quevedo’s account, [La Nueva Cuba][1] (The New Cuba), is largely populated with images depicting armed resistance and an imagined post-communist Cuba, many of them AI-generated. Rodríguez messaged Quevedo. Quevedo messaged him back. The two hit it off, and Rodríguez said that Quevedo invited him to Florida to meet a group of like-minded exiles.
“They were looking for people who had the courage to join an armed uprising in Cuba,” Rodríguez said.
Half a year later, Rodríguez would be in Havana, explaining to a reporter how he wound up in Cuban custody—but unbowed in his determination to overthrow the government.
On the evening of February 24, Rodríguez joined nine other men on a fishing boat full of weapons bound for Cuba from the Florida Keys. They planned to seize a police station, ignite an uprising, and prompt U.S. intervention.
“The action plan was simple: Get the Cuban people to rise up in arms, control a province for 72 hours, and ask for a military intervention from the U.S. government,” Rodríguez said in an interview.
Rodríguez and the nine other men encountered the Cuban Border Guard before reaching Cuban soil. A firefight broke out, leaving four of the men—Ledián Padrón Guevara, Pavel Alling Peña, Michel Ortega Casanova, and Héctor Duani Cruz Correa—dead. A fifth, Roberto Álvarez Ávila, would later die from his wounds. The Border Guard suffered no fatal casualties, although the commanding officer of the patrol boat was shot.
Cuban authorities detained the five survivors.** **The incident made major headlines, but the details—what group the men represented, who funded them, and what their ultimate goal was—remained hazy. Drop Site and Belly of the Beast reached out to Cuban authorities to request interviews with the men and officials investigating the incident. In June, Cuban authorities said they had granted the requests and that four of the five survivors agreed to talk.
José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, and Conrado Galindo Sariol all spoke from custody in July while they awaited trial on terrorism-related charges that could carry sentences up to 30 years in prison. The fifth survivor, Amijail Sánchez González, is also awaiting trial and either declined to be interviewed or was not permitted to speak to journalists.
These interviews offer the first public account of the failed operation from its participants, but, as with any interview conducted with a person in detention, the conditions were less than ideal. Still, even as the men remained at the mercy of Cuban authorities, some were willing to speak in blunt terms about their hostility to the Cuban government and to complain of mistreatment. Where possible, their accounts have been checked against forensic evidence, property records, and interviews with family members and allies in the United States.
Clockwise from top left: Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, and José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló. Photos: Belly of the Beast.
## **The Interviews**
The four men were interviewed one at a time in a conference room at a large house in a residential neighborhood of Havana belonging to the Interior Ministry’s International Relations Department (MININT). Each was brought to the house in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, which an officer from MININT’s Special Tactical Unit removed for the interview. Each interview lasted between 30 and 55 minutes. Follow-up interviews were not possible.
The interviews were conducted in the presence of Edward Robert Campbell, the case’s prosecutor, and Col. Francisco Estrada Portales, who heads the Interior Ministry’s investigations into crimes against national security. All four detainees said they were not pressured into speaking to a journalist or promised anything in return, though that could not be independently verified.
They also said they voluntarily agreed to be interviewed without the presence of legal representation. Their access to lawyers has been uneven. Rodríguez said he had not yet found a lawyer willing to take his case. Cruz said he had not asked for a lawyer yet. Acosta said he had met with his attorney several times. According to his wife, Ana Seguí, Galindo has been represented by a lawyer since March.
The four men answered questions about how they became involved, the voyage, the clash with the Cuban Border Guard, and their time in custody. None showed outward signs of duress, but their accounts of their involvement and their attitudes toward the operation varied. Galindo said he had been forced to go; Acosta expressed regret; Cruz remained committed to “freedom” for Cuba but questioned whether armed struggle was the right path; Rodríguez was openly defiant and committed to fighting to overthrow the Cuban government.
Their accounts broadly corroborated one another on the operation’s objective and what happened once they encountered the Border Guard. But they diverged over who funded and planned the operation and how involved Cuban exile organizations were. Those unresolved questions center largely on Maritza Lugo Fernández, a longtime Cuban activist living in Miami who knew most of the ten men on the boat and whom the four men interviewed said provided a small farm in Florida as their training ground.
Cuban authorities also granted interviews with a senior Border Guard official, the MININT’s lead investigator, a ballistics expert, a forensic pathologist, the top MININT doctor, and the prosecutor.
## **Recruited on TikTok**
Like José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara found out about the group last year through TikTok. At the time, he was working as a driver for a moving company in Austin, Texas. A permanent resident, Acosta had been in the U.S. for about ten years and planned to apply for citizenship this year.
He connected with Pavel Alling Peña, a 45-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen living in Florida who created a [TikTok account][2] in late May 2025 called the Cardumen Movement (*cardumen* means a school of fish).
“I wrote a comment that I wished Cuba could prosper, be more liberal. That’s when he contacted me,” Acosta said. “He asked if I wanted a free Cuba. I said yes, I hoped it would happen one day.”
Alling invited him to join the Cardumen Movement, Acosta recalled, telling him it was a group dedicated to publishing videos, posters and other material in favor of Cuba’s freedom. Later that year, Alling told Acosta about a group of people training for a “military intervention” in Cuba.
“He asked if I was willing to join them and I said no problem, just tell me where,” Acosta said. “He said, ‘Come to my house, and I’ll take you with me.”
In November, they went to a *finca*, or small farm, near Fort Myers, Florida, to begin training. Amid the peppers, sugarcane, and farm animals, there was a rustic shooting range.
Acosta and the other three detainees interviewed said they were told the *finca* belonged to Maritza Lugo Fernández, a Cuban-born political activist who runs an anti-communist organization called the Partido 30 de Noviembre (November 30 Party). Lugo denied any knowledge of the operation but confirmed she gave one of the men—Amijail Sánchez—access to the property.
The party [traces its roots][3] to the Movimiento Revolucionario 30 de Noviembre “Frank País,” an underground anti-Castro group that was founded in Cuba in 1960 and later reorganized in Florida after several of its leaders went into exile. In 1991, the exile movement [helped establish][4] the 30 de Noviembre Party inside Cuba. Lugo was among its founding members and later assumed its leadership after her husband, Rafael Ibarra Roque, was imprisoned in 1994. She moved to South Florida in 2002 and continued the party’s work from exile.
While Acosta and Rodríguez each made multiple trips to the *finca* to train for the mission, they both insisted they knew few details about what the group’s leaders were planning. They identified the leaders as Roberto Álvarez Ávila, who died a week after being shot during the clash with the Cuban Border Guard, and Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez. Acosta said Amijail Sánchez González, co-founder of a militant organization called the Auto Defensa del Pueblo (ADP), was also a leader.
“[The leaders] kept the plans hidden for security reasons, to avoid leaks,” Rodríguez said.
In January, the group’s leaders asked Acosta, Rodríguez, and several others who had been training to remain at the *finca* while they readied a boat for the trip to Cuba.
According to Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni Rodríguez, he left their house in Nashville on Friday, January 23, telling her he was going to a camp in Florida with some friends. She said he collected magazines about guns and owned two or three firearms, which he took with him. She said he had a full-time job driving a dump truck, hauling dirt and stone to construction sites, and she expected him to return soon.
The operation was a “complete surprise” to her. “Who throws his life away like that?” she said.
Ultimately, Raúl Quevedo—a 40-year-old carpenter who runs a [home renovation company][5] [incorporated in Bradenton, Florida][6] in addition to La Nueva Cuba Corp, [registered in the state][7] as a nonprofit organization—did not join the other men on the boat. Reached by phone, Quevedo said he was in touch with most of the men through TikTok, but declined to answer questions about his relationship to them and whether he was involved in the operation.
“I have nothing to say about that,” he said. “The more you talk, the more your enemy knows about you.”
Quevedo said overthrowing the Cuban government is “doable” with enough money, but he was critical of the operation. “It wasn’t the right timing. It wasn’t the right organization. It wasn’t organized,” he said. “For something like that, you have to have a plan, structure, a Plan B and Plan C, and an escape plan. If you don’t have that, being only 10 people, you’re lost. And it’s a shame because they were good guys.”
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## **Trying to Light a Spark, Maybe**
Before the operation, Leordán Cruz Gómez said he lived in Tampa and worked as an industrial painter for a Missouri-based company called Thomas Industrial Coating. He had left Cuba in 2014 aboard a makeshift boat and landed in the Marquesas Keys, later obtaining permanent residency and ultimately U.S. citizenship.
Cruz said someone he met on a WhatsApp group invited him to the *finca*. He said that initially the training there had no specific operation in mind, but the worsening crisis in Cuba—and the relentless stream of desperate images from the island circulating on social media—inspired them to make concrete plans for armed action.
“It had become almost unbearable,” said Cruz, who left behind his wife and nine-year-old son. “There was the constant bombardment on social media. Everything we were seeing: mothers with children searching the garbage for food, buildings collapsing, all those crises. That perhaps made it feel more serious.”
Since President Donald Trump’s first term, the U.S. government has hammered Cuba with “maximum pressure” sanctions that have ravaged the country’s economy, fueling unprecedented migration and a growing humanitarian crisis that the UN high commissioner for human rights [says][9] is “endangering lives.”
However, many Cubans on and off the island blame the Cuban government for the economic crisis. This view has been amplified by social media feeds inundated with content minimizing the role of sanctions—some of it produced by U.S. government-funded media outlets and other organizations, and some coming directly from U.S. officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Cruz said he initially began training militarily with an armed group called La Nueva Nación Cubana en Armas (The New Cuban Nation in Arms)—an organization[ Cuban authorities][10] allege was behind a 2023 terrorist plot that also aimed to provoke an armed uprising.
But after becoming disillusioned with the group’s lack of a political vision for a post-Communist Cuba, he gravitated toward Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party and the [Republican Party of Cuba][11], a conservative exile group based in Florida.
Cruz said he and the other men began planning the incursion approximately a year in advance. Although he had no formal military training, he attempted to prepare himself by reading books and watching videos of Navy SEALs and Delta Force soldiers. “I often led the military training sessions and taught people how to shoot,” he said.
Cruz insisted there were no leaders and decisions were made collectively, although he said Álvarez was more involved in planning the operation.
Although one of the Republican Party of Cuba’s members, Michel Ortega Casanova, joined the operation, the group’s president, Ibrahim Bosch, denied any links to the armed incursion and said he did not know Cruz.
In a phone interview, Bosch said he knew Ortega, who had led the party in Tampa but had stepped down for work-related reasons.
Bosch said he had heard of training and shooting practice happening at “Maritza’s *finca*,” but was unaware of any plans to stage an incursion and of Ortega’s involvement.
“It’s possible that some of our people went at the same time as [the men training for the incursion], but they didn’t go as Republican Party members to train and shoot, but as individuals,” Bosch said.
The plan, according to Cruz, was to seize control of a police station in Cárdenas, Matanzas, a city about 90 miles east of Havana, and to then incite people to take the streets. Another member of the group already in Cuba planned to meet the boat on the coast to organize transportation inland, Cruz said. Cuban authorities later arrested Duniel Hernández Santos, who they allege was the group’s ground contact.
(The account Cuban officials obtained through interrogations was slightly different. According to Col. Estrada, the plan was to seize the police station in Santa Marta, about eight miles away from Cárdenas, and the nearby Varadero Border Guard Unit. Cruz said he understood only the broad outlines of the operation and that Álvarez had worked out the details.)
“It’s illogical to think that 10 men can declare war on a country. That would be absurd,” Cruz said. “But we were aware of the social discontent. We knew people wanted something to happen. A spark, maybe.”
The men never made it to shore.
## **A Plot in Plain Sight**
As the men honed their shooting skills at the farm and plotted to spark a rebellion in Cuba, they made no secret of their intentions.
On May 29, 2025, two days after creating the Movimiento Cardumen TikTok account, Pavel Alling Peña[ posted an image][12] of two semi-automatic rifles with a text that read: “Collecting funds for Cuba’s freedom.” In the comments, he wrote: “More information will be provided soon. This didn’t just begin. We’ve been planning this for 2 years. But as you’ll understand, there is a lot at stake.”
In the following months, Alling’s posts offered glimpses of the preparations underway.
Last September, he[ posted a photo][13] of a camouflaged waterproof backpack with the text: “My new acquisition.” In a[ selfie video][14] posted a month later, Alling announced: “We are very close. And soon the first steps will be taken.”
[@movimientocardumen][15][Cuba es un atleta de alto rendimiento lesionado.#freecuba #marcorubio #libertad #movimientocardumen #fyp ][16]
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Sometime before their trip, Acosta and Ledián Padrón Guevara, one of the five men killed by the Cuban Border Guard, appeared in a video at what appears to be a gun store showing off semi-automatic rifles. Univision journalist Javier Díaz subsequently [published][17] the video.
Meanwhile, the political organizations associated with the men were publicly advocating for the use of force against the Cuban government.
“The only way to remove the murderous communist dictatorship clinging to power is to confront it physically. And we are willing to do so,” Javier Berovides, a Cuban activist living in Florida, [said in August 2025][18] at the first annual Anti-Communist Summit of the Cuban Right in Miami. Berovides claimed to be speaking in the name of Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party, Sánchez’s ADP, and his own organization, [Movimiento Escudo Cubano][19] (Cuban Shield Movement).
On its [2025 federal tax return][20], Movimiento Escudo Cubano identified itself as a church, although its website says it’s a movement defending human and civil rights in Cuba. Maritza Lugo is Movimiento Escudo Cubano’s [vice-president][21], while Berovides is a member of 30 de Noviembre. Berovides declined to comment.
On January 1, Conrado Galindo[ posted ][22]an AI-generated photo on Facebook of himself holding a semi-automatic weapon in fatigues and a bulletproof vest. The caption reads: “Everything for freedom.”
AI-generated photo posted by Conrado Galindo on Facebook.
Later that month, Raúl Quevedo[ posted a video on TikTok][23] in which he appears dressed in fatigues holding a rifle with a Cuban flag in the background. “From the New Cuba, I send this message to all the Cubans on the island,” he says. “The time is very near to achieve our freedom. And work is underway on all fronts to make that happen. And now, one very important moment is that the American government, under the leadership and presidency of Donald Trump, is finally doing things. And we Cubans living in exile are willing to give everything for our freedom. And we are also ready to join the American government’s fight.”
[@lanuevacuba.corp][24][ @lanuevacuba.corp ♬ original sound - lanuevacuba.corp ][25]
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Quevedo insisted the video had nothing to do with the operation and was instead inspired by the U.S. military action in Venezuela that led to the abduction of Nicolás Maduro. He said he hoped to encourage the Trump administration to take similar action in Cuba.
“The uniform and gun was to show to the American government in case they wanted Cuban men in the United States to join,” he said.
On January 30, Alling[ posted on Facebook][26]: “The time has come for those dictators who stole our country. Thanks to all those committed to this struggle and for their efforts and desire. Cuba will be free and we will rebuild it as God commands.”
The next day, Sánchez[ posted a press release][27] from ADP, the 30 de Noviembre Party, Movimiento Escudo Cubano, and Alling’s Movimiento Cardumen, declaring: “There is no space for negotiation [with the Cuban government]. Our objective: A free, just and sovereign Cuba.”
None of those organizations are widely known in Cuba, but their public postings of an impending attack seemed to draw the attention of Cuban authorities. On February 5, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel[ warned][28] of “plans for terrorist acts that are being supported, financed and prepared from the United States to attack Cuba.”
## **Ten Men, 25 Guns**
After sunset on February 24, the men set out in two boats from Marathon in the Florida Keys.
Cuban authorities said the boats contained weapons and other equipment: 25 firearms—14 long arms and 11 handguns—along with some 13,000 rounds of ammunition, more than 100 magazines, homemade pipe bombs packed with fragments of nuts and bolts and black powder, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, camouflage uniforms and helmets, knives, night-vision equipment, a drone, a Starlink satellite-internet terminal, and medical supplies.
They had purchased one boat for the operation, and they had been told the other was borrowed. About halfway to Cuba, the motor on the purchased boat stopped working, Acosta said. The men transferred their weapons and gear to the other boat—*El Tornado*—and all ten continued.
*El Tornado* was a 24-foot Pro-Line fishing boat built in 1981, bearing the Florida registration number FL7726SH. One of the men on board, Héctor Duani Cruz Correa, who [had been doing tile work][29] as a contractor for its owner, took the fishing boat.
According to Acosta, Cruz Correa told the group that he had permission to take the boat fishing. The boat’s owner, Angel Walter Montera, later[ reported the boat stolen][30] and told the Monroe County police that he wished to press charges.
The men had planned to arrive under cover of darkness, but the breakdown delayed them, according to Cruz Gómez. “We knew that if daylight caught up with us, there was a chance they’d see us,” he said.
At approximately 7 a.m., a lookout at a Cuban Border Guard post on Cayo Bahía de Cádiz, a cay off Cuba’s northern coast, spotted the boat less than four nautical miles to the northwest. A radar operator confirmed the sighting and began tracking its course and speed, according to First Col. Ybey Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard’s chief of staff.
Cruz Gómez said they steered the boat toward a small cay near shore, hoping to hide until nightfall. But the tide was out, and *El Tornado* ran aground in shallow water.
“Almost everyone got out of the boat to try to dislodge it and keep going, and to add more fuel because we were almost out,” Acosta said. “That’s when we saw a boat coming toward us. We didn’t know it was the Border Guard, but we assumed it was. We got the boat free, and everyone got on board.”
But *El Tornado*, at a maximum speed of 24 knots, could not outrun the Border Guard vessel.
“By the time we took off, the Coast Guard boat was almost on top of us,” Acosta said. “That’s when Leordán Cruz Gómez shouted: ‘Get ready. They’re going to shoot. Look for the magazines.’”
Most of the weapons aboard *El Tornado* were wrapped in moving blankets and packed inside bags. “The magazines and the guns were in different bags,” Acosta said. The group had expected to slip ashore undetected, Cruz and Rodríguez said—not fight its way onto the island.
Cuban authorities say someone aboard *El Tornado* fired first, striking the Border Guard captain in the abdomen. All four men confirmed that the first shot came from their own boat.
“One of us fired the first shot. I have to admit that,” said Rodríguez, who was the most critical of Cuban authorities. Rodríguez, Cruz and Galindo said they did not know who fired first.
Acosta said Amijail Sánchez took the first shot. “Amijail grabbed a magazine for the Chinese-made AK-47 he had and opened fire on the Coast Guard. That’s when a shootout began. I don’t know exactly what happened because at that point I got scared and threw myself onto the floor of the boat so I wouldn’t get hit by the gunfire,” he said.
The five-man Border Guard crew carried just five weapons: the captain’s handgun, three AKM assault rifles (a modernized version of an AK-47) and an RPK light machine gun, a longer-barreled relative of the AKM. According to Estrada, none of the five Border Guard officers had combat experience.
Lt. Col. Avelino Guilarte Paumier, the forensics ballistics expert assigned to the case, said that after the shooting, investigators found five rifles and three pistols outside the bags. Spent casings recovered from the boat were matched to just three weapons: a Glock 19 pistol and two Ruger Precision rifles.
Guilarte said the number of recovered shell casings did not necessarily reflect the number of shots fired because the clash occurred on the water and evidence had fallen into the sea. Divers searched the area but found no additional casings, he said.
Nine of the ten men were shot, while on the Cuban side, only the Border Guard captain was wounded. All four men interviewed said they did not fire a shot.
“It was only when I managed to pull out a rifle that a bullet hit me,” said Cruz, adding that the all-night voyage had left the men physically depleted and slow to react.
“We had been vomiting [from sea sickness],” he said. “We were wet, cold and exhausted. It kept us from thinking. It paralyzed us.”
“At that moment, all I could think to do was put the weapon beside me and lie down in the boat,” Acosta said. “I got scared,” he added. “I always said back at the farm that shooting at a target, a bullseye, is not the same as facing people in real life who are shooting back at you.”
The exchange lasted minutes, according to the survivors and Cuban authorities. Cruz eventually raised an arm to signal surrender. Galindo said one of the Border Guards continued firing until the wounded captain ordered him to stop.
“The captain shouted at him—shouted strongly,” Galindo said. “If the captain had let him continue, he would have killed us all.”
Ledián Padrón Guevara, Héctor Duani Cruz Correa, and Pavel Alling Peña died aboard *El Tornado*. Michel Ortega Casanova died while being evacuated. Roberto Álvarez Ávila died a week later, on March 4, from complications associated with his wounds.
Investigators counted 14 bullet impacts on the Border Guard vessel and 23 on *El Tornado*. The boats were moving throughout the firefight, making it difficult to reconstruct events and impossible to establish a precise firing distance, according to Cuban ballistics expert Guilarte.
“We can’t know if it was 20, 25, or 30 meters,” he said. “What we can show scientifically is that it wasn’t at close range.” Álvarez was the only one who died from a gunshot wound above the neck—a bullet entered through his shoulder blade and struck him in the jaw—but investigators determined he was not shot at close range.
“Perhaps the idea was somewhat naive because we hadn’t prepared for every possible situation,” said Cruz. “We weren’t prepared to face the Border Guard.”
“We had no training to confront the Cuban Border Guard,” Rodríguez said.
## **A Long History of Violence—and Impunity**
In the years before the attempted incursion, Cuba had already placed two of its participants—[Amijail Sánchez González][31] in 2023 and[ Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez][32] in 2025—on its national list of terrorism suspects for financing acts of violence on Cuban soil. Cuba also submitted the list to the United Nations as part of its reporting under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373.
Sánchez’s[ Facebook page][33] is littered with videos of burning sugar cane fields in Cuba and graffiti featuring the name of the organization he co-founded, the Auto Defensa del Pueblo, or ADP. The page of [ADP’s co-founder][34], Michel “Kiki” Naranjo Riverón,[ features a post][35] offering to pay $1,000 to anyone who kills a Cuban police officer.
“Burning a building, cutting fiber optic cables in Camagüey, lighting fire to a hospital, burning an electrical generator,” Col. Estrada said. “In a year and a half, one person [in Cuba] committed 18 acts of terrorism that were financed by Amijail and his organization, the Auto Defensa del Pueblo, designated as a terrorist organization and which is based and acts openly in the United States.”
The U.S. has not designated this organization as a terrorist group. Nor is there any indication that U.S. authorities took any action to dissuade Sánchez, who in 2021 [was convicted][36] in Florida of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer [for striking a moving police car][37] with a vehicle he was driving in Miami, and the other men despite their open preparations for armed action in Cuba.
Since the Cuban revolution, the U.S. has frequently tolerated acts of violence and terrorism aimed at overthrowing the communist government.
In March 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower[ approved][38] a[ CIA plan][39] to topple the Cuban government by forming exile groups, launching a radio station to broadcast U.S. propaganda on the island, creating “a covert intelligence and action organization” inside Cuba, and training paramilitary forces outside the island. This culminated in the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Shortly after, the CIA launched Operation Mongoose to coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism[ aimed at civilian targets][40] in Cuba.
After direct CIA support was phased out, exile paramilitary groups continued staging attacks from Florida. In 1971, when the Coast Guard sought to rein in Alpha 66, a U.S.-based Cuban-American terrorist organization, President Richard Nixon[ wrote][41]: “We should not inhibit Cuban exile activity against their homeland.”
Five years later, two bombs killed 73 people aboard Cubana Flight 455 in the deadliest act of airline terrorism in the Western Hemisphere at the time. The suspected masterminds were paramilitary leaders Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Both men lived in Florida until their deaths and were never prosecuted in the United States for the bombing.
Militants based in Florida and New Jersey also staged attacks on U.S. soil, including [bombings of businesses][42] that dealt with Cuba and the assassinations of a Cuban diplomat and a Cuban-American advocate for dialogue with Havana. The FBI considered one of the armed groups, Omega 7, to be [the most dangerous terrorist organization][43] in the United States.
The acts of terrorism continued into the 1990s, as militants in speedboats[ sprayed beachside resorts][44] with machine gun fire and a[ bombing campaign][45] targeted hotels in Havana, killing an Italian tourist and injuring several others.
In 1998, Cuban officials[ handed the FBI][46] extensive documentation detailing dozens of U.S.-based terrorist plots. The FBI[ responded][47] by arresting undercover Cuban agents in Florida who had infiltrated the terrorist networks.
As recently as December 2023, Cuban authorities[ said][48] they foiled an attempt by people linked to La Nueva Nación Cubana en Armas to foment an armed rebellion. They captured a Florida man who had traveled to Cuba with handguns and ammunition on a jet ski and then tried to recruit people to commit acts of violence and arson.
“We’ve been attacked for 67 years and while it may seem that these things are something of the past, it’s not the past,” said Col. Estrada, the Interior Ministry investigator. “For those of us working to combat terrorism, we’ve seen how this type of activity is constantly happening in the United States.”
## **Maritza Lugo**
Cuban authorities say the operation involved multiple leaders, but they allege that Maritza Lugo, head of the 30 de Noviembre Party, was its mastermind.
“She was the one who organized, financed and oversaw the logistics of everything,” Estrada alleged. “[The *finca*] is where everything was prepared. It’s where they trained, prepared, and tested the explosives. Even the [purchased] boat was there. They left from there for the coast, for Marathon Key.”
Lugo denies any involvement in the operation. “The Castro regime has accused me endlessly—of being a terrorist, of paying for things,” she said. “What could I possibly pay for? I live on [Social Security]. I receive $700 a month, which isn’t enough for anything. I try to save. I do odd jobs. My family helps me if I need something extra. But I don’t have the money to finance absolutely anything.”
Maritza Lugo meeting George W. Bush. Screenshot: Facebook.
Born in 1963 on the outskirts of Havana, Lugo became politically active in the 1990s alongside her then husband, Rafael Ibarra Roque. Together they founded the 30 de Noviembre Party, but Lugo assumed its leadership when Cuban authorities arrested Ibarra in 1994 and [sentenced][49] him in February 1995 to 20 years for sabotage. Cuban authorities accused Ibarra of setting off an explosive device at a military building. Lugo[ maintains][50] the charges were trumped up.
Lugo herself was[ arrested and imprisoned][51] multiple times and[ identified by Amnesty International][52] as a prisoner of conscience. She[ says][53] she was kept in isolation and subjected to torture.
In 2002, Lugo left Cuba for South Florida, where she has been a persistent, albeit relatively fringe, presence among Cuba’s exile opposition. She has occasionally had the spotlight,[ being interviewed][54] about rights abuses in Cuba,[ appearing][55] at a Capitol Hill news conference,[ meeting][56] with members of Congress, and[ greeting][57] President George W. Bush during a White House visit.
Recently, Lugo has also been associated with figures linked to political violence. She was featured prominently at a[ July 2025 event][58] sponsored by the Hispanic Republican Club of Collier County, Florida, alongside Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader[ convicted of seditious conspiracy][59] for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol and subsequently[ pardoned by President Donald Trump][60].
In 2018, Lugo[ posted a photo of herself][61] with Luis Posada Carriles, the paramilitary leader, a month before he died.[ Another photo of their encounter][62] was posted earlier this year on a Facebook page called “10 Cuban Patriots,” which Lugo says she created in support of the men involved in the February incursion. The post praises Posada Carriles as “a great man and friend, a great patriot” and “the terror of the great demon Fidel Castro.”
Poster for the Hispanic Republican Club of Collier, featuring Lugo.
Maritza Lugo and Luis Posada Carriles. Screenshot: Facebook.
In recent years, Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party forged an alliance with ADP, which has openly endorsed violence and sabotage as a means of overthrowing the Cuban government. Their relationship was both political and personal. According to Lugo, she was romantically involved with Amijail Sánchez, ADP’s co-founder, for about a year, and he was living with her before he joined the incursion.
While ADP was the military arm of the group that went to Cuba, the 30 de Noviembre Party was the political arm, according to Cruz.
“If we succeeded, 30 de Noviembre was the group that would present its political program to the people,” he said.
The fatigues and helmets that Cuban authorities say they seized bore patches featuring the insignia of both ADP and the 30 de Noviembre Party.
Since February, Lugo has been most visible as a prominent public advocate for the imprisoned men, organizing events to support them and posting frequently online about their case.
In a telephone interview from Miami, she said she knew most of the men before their ill-fated trip.
Yet, despite her romantic relationship with Sánchez and the alliance between their two organizations, she said she knew nothing about the operation and would have opposed it had she known.
“They are very good people who did something crazy,” she said. “They went far beyond the bounds of what is normal because what they did was truly madness. Who in their right mind could think that 10 men could accomplish anything against a dictatorship like that?”
“I am very much in favor, and I’ve said so publicly, of a military intervention, but a military intervention by the United States, a country that has enough power to overthrow such a cruel regime,” she continued. “Trump has all the resources, all the intelligence and all the means necessary for it to succeed and achieve its objective. But doing it the other way is a waste of courage. It’s a tragedy for any Cuban to lose their life over something like that.”
## **The***** Finca***
The Hendry County Property Appraiser’s records show Lugo [owned a 13-acre farm][63] in LaBelle, Florida, a rural area an hour east of Fort Myers, from March 2020 until September 2024. She [sold the property to her daughter][64], Rosalia Agnello, and Alexis Martínez, a Miami resident who [took full possession][65] in July 2025.
Acosta, Rodríguez, and Cruz said they trained at the farm in the months leading up to the February 2026 operation, even after it was sold to Martínez. But both Martínez and Lugo acknowledge that she continued to have access to the property.
Lugo said that the *finca* was used for shooting practice and hunting rabbits, doves and wild hogs. “At the *finca*, you can shoot safely, and it’s permitted in that area,” she said. “We hunt animals there. We shoot because we like guns.”
She said she never witnessed any military training or preparations for an incursion into Cuba. “Anyone who trained on my *finca*, who said they trained, that’s their problem,” she said. “Here in the United States, that is against the law. It’s a crime.”
From his home in Miami, Martínez said Lugo was formerly his romantic partner and that they remained friends. He said he demolished the shooting range shortly after taking full possession of the property, and knew nothing about any training taking place there.
However, in response to an inquiry for this story, Hendry County Sheriff’s detectives went to the property in August and observed what appeared to be “a three-sided berm designed for multidimensional shooting exercises.”
According to the detectives, the structure appeared designed “to facilitate training that incorporates multiple shooting angles and directions rather than functioning as a traditional shoot house.”
The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has received no reports or complaints of any gunshots, explosions or any criminal activity happening at the address, according to Public Information Officer Capt. Susan Harrelle.
The sheifff’s office contacted the FBI, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, but Harrelle said they have received no information confirming that military training took place on the property.
Cruz and Rodríguez said that Lugo was often present while they met and trained, though she was not involved with planning the incursion or obtaining weapons.
“She was always at the *finca*, helping with the logistics, food, transportation, making sure we weren’t lacking for anything,” said Rodríguez.
Lugo gave a different account.
“I’m almost always in Miami,” she said. “I would go to the *finca*, spend one, two or three days there, and then return to Miami. [Sánchez] had free rein there and did whatever he wanted because I trusted him.”
Rodríguez said individual members of the group provided the weapons. “Nobody ever paid us anything,” said Rodríguez. “We were self-financed. We bought our own bullets, our own rifles, our own military equipment.”
Lugo was not involved in the planning, Acosta said, but her party was their “sponsor.” “What she did mostly was handle the political part,” said Rodríguez.
Patches bearing the insignia of Auto Defensa del Pueblo (ADP) and a Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre patch affixed to a helmet. Cuban authorities say these were recovered from the boats. Photos: Belly of the Beast.
## **“He’s No Terrorist”**
Conrado Galindo’s account diverges from the others. A 59-year-old permanent resident living in Miami, Galindo ran a small delivery business, but he had studied video production at the Miami Media School.
According to Galindo, a former classmate recommended him to Lugo, who offered $500 to film and edit the training videos. Galindo said when he arrived at the *finca*, Lugo told him he would be joining the other men on the incursion into Cuba.
“She told me: ‘There’s a change in plans. You’re going to Cuba,’” he said.
Galindo said he protested, but was threatened by Lugo and another member of the group, Roberto Álvarez Ávila. He said they took his phone and his green card.
Acosta said he also gave his phone and green card to Lugo and that Cruz warned him not to leave because they had “sworn an oath.”
Lugo denied both men’s accounts, and claimed the testimonies of all four men were coerced.
“Everything they are saying is a lie, and I don’t blame them,” she said. “What are they supposed to say? They want to save their lives, and they are being forced to say those things.”
Reached by phone, Galindo’s wife, Ana Seguí, said she met Lugo at events in Miami in support of the detainees, but distanced herself after speaking with his family members in Cuba who had met with him in prison. Seguí said she subsequently received a threatening WhatsApp message with photos that appeared to show her husband dead about a month after the clash with the Border Guard. She said she didn’t know who sent the messages and changed her number shortly after.
“Conrado is no terrorist, that I can guarantee,” said Seguí. “He’s a family man. I don’t know how this happened.”
In Cuba, Galindo had been a dissident and was imprisoned for seven years, according to Seguí. But he said he had given up his political activism after immigrating to the United States.
“He was always against the Cuban government, but going [to Cuba]?” said Seguí. “Conrado didn’t go anywhere unless it was for work.”
Seguí said Galindo had never used a gun before, and the AI-generated Facebook photo of him with a gun was a joke (he had posted [similar images ][66]of himself and Seguí dressed as police officers while holding a gun two weeks earlier).
Reached by phone in Nashville, Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni, also rejected the terrorist label.
“He was a good person, a good father and partner,” said Yeni, who lived with him for five years. “He has always helped [others].”
She said last year he joined [other Nashville residents][67] in donating food to immigrant families afraid to leave their homes amid an ICE crackdown in the city.
She said Rodríguez neither supported nor opposed Trump, despite sharing the president’s hostility toward Cuba’s government.
## **No Help From the U.S.**
The Cuban Border Guard informed the Miami-based Coast Guard’s Southeast District and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) liaison at the U.S. embassy in Havana within three hours of the firefight, according to First Colonel Ybey Daniel Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard’s chief of staff.
That evening, Carballo said, the USCG liaison,[ Luis García][68], was called in to the Interior Ministry’s International Relations Department house in Havana, where he was provided details on what had occurred, including *El Tornado*’s registration number and the identities of the people aboard.
According to Carballo, even as the Trump administration has ramped up its efforts to bring about regime change in Cuba, the two maritime services have continued to cooperate behind the scenes.
“Every time a boat approaches Cuba en route to U.S. territory, we inform them in real time,” he said. “Even with the situation Cuba is enduring, with the maximum pressure imposed by the U.S. government on our country, the Cuban Border Guard has maintained the same level of cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard.”
During Barack Obama’s opening with Cuba and to a lesser extent under Joe Biden, the two countries held bilateral meetings to coordinate responses to irregular migration, human and drug trafficking, and search-and-rescue operations. After Trump returned to office, his administration discontinued the meetings, in line with Rubio’s confrontational approach toward Cuba.
“If there isn’t more cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and other U.S. law enforcement, it’s due to the Trump administration’s policy and everything the State Department is doing to interfere in our relationship,” said Carballo.
From left: First Colonel Ybey Daniel Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard's chief of staff; Colonel Francisco Estrada Portales, head of Interior Ministry investigations into crimes against national security; and Lieutenant Colonel Avelino Guilarte Paumier, the case's forensic ballistics expert. Photo: Belly of the Beast.
Operational communication never stopped, but Cuban Border Guard officials complain their efforts are not reciprocated. “For every three messages we send, we receive one in return,” said Carballo. “National security doesn’t flow in just one direction.”
Carballo expressed skepticism that the U.S. Coast Guard was not aware of the approach of *El Tornado*—pointing to the extensive U.S. surveillance deployed to target drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
“We didn’t receive a single report about that vessel coming our way, even though we all know that no recreational vessel is permitted to leave U.S. territory to come here to Cuba,” he said.
“Everything is monitored. And yet a speedboat of this kind, carrying ten people, shrapnel-filled explosives, Molotov cocktails and wartime supplies, a boat coming to sow grief here in Cuba and to kill people, was able to make the journey,” said Carballo.
On March 6, Cuba’s Interior Ministry sent the Trump administration a detailed report on the incident, along with six pages of questions about how the operation was organized and financed in the United States, according to Estrada.
More than three weeks passed, and they received no response.
Then, on March 31, Cuban Border Guard and Interior Ministry officials [received an FBI delegation][69]. Carballo said they spent two and a half days briefing the agents, who were joined by the Coast Guard liaison and the U.S. embassy’s security chief. They met at the International Relations house and traveled to Varadero to inspect *El Tornado* and the Coast Guard patrol boat involved in the confrontation. The agents also briefly met with the detainees and took their fingerprints and DNA samples.
Cuban authorities said they reiterated their questions about the operation’s organization and financing, but aside from information identifying where some of the men had purchased their weapons and the criminal history of two or three of the men, they’ve received no response.
“It’s been three months, and we haven’t received any information from them,” said Carballo in July.
The Coast Guard responded to a request for comment with a boilerplate statement about Operation Vigilant Sentry, which focuses on irregular maritime migration. It declined to comment on *El Tornado*, cooperation with its Cuban counterparts, or the investigation into the February 25 clash with the Cuban Border Guard, referring questions to the State Department.
The State Department, in turn, declined to comment and directed questions to the FBI. The FBI also declined to comment and referred questions to the State Department.
Ana Seguí said FBI agents questioned her at her home, while Yeni Rodríguez said people she believed were federal agents also came to question her. Maritza Lugo said the FBI has not contacted her.
## **The Aftermath**
After the clash, Cuban Border Guard officers handcuffed the men and transferred them from *El Tornado* to a Border Guard boat. On shore, they received first aid and were then taken to Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial Hospital in Santa Clara.
Two of the men—Leordán Cruz Gómez and Roberto Álvarez Ávila—underwent surgeries. Cruz’s case was the most urgent, according to Dr. Juan Antonio Ramírez Aguilera, the Interior Ministry’s head of medical services. He had been shot in the arm, and the bullet had damaged the radial nerve and caused significant bleeding. Cruz, who later underwent a second surgery at a military hospital in Havana, said the medical care was “very professional and humane.”
Despite undergoing surgery, Álvarez died a week later from complications related to his gunshot wound. The cremated remains of all five men who died were later turned over to family members, according to Dr. Annia Silva Socarrás, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
After being discharged from the military hospital, the survivors were taken to a detention center known as Villa Marista, where Interior Ministry investigators questioned them.
After the interrogations, the detainees were moved to a maximum-security section of a prison called Combinado del Este. There, Galindo reported being kicked in the legs on the day they arrived. Rodríguez said he was threatened once there and that a Border Guard officer intentionally stepped on his injured leg shortly after the firefight. Apart from that, he, Acosta, and Cruz said they had not been physically harmed or tortured while incarcerated.
Lugo said Sánchez’s family members in Cuba told her that he had reported being repeatedly beaten in custody, suffering hearing loss in one ear and injuries to his arm and ribs.
Cuban authorities deny that Sánchez has been physically mistreated in custody. At Villa Marista, detainees could receive family visits once a week. At Combinado del Este, visits are allowed once every three weeks. Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni, said she traveled to Cuba in July and was allowed to spend two hours with him in a private room. She said he had lost weight and was pale, but that he showed no signs of having been physically harmed.
The five surviving men and Duniel Hernández Santos, their alleged co-conspirator on the island, remain in pretrial detention on terrorism-related charges.
[According to Edward Robert Campbell][70], the case’s prosecutor, the charges carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison or even death, though Cuba has not executed anyone since 2003. Campbell said his office was considering whether to try Maritza Lugo in absentia.
## **Regret and Resolve**
The operation was intended to fracture Cuba. Instead, its failure created fault lines in the exile organizations that backed it.
Kiki Naranjo, who co-founded ADP with Sánchez, publicly split with Lugo and her party in an August 27 [TikTok video post][71]. In the post, Naranjo said ADP had sought an alliance with the 30 de Noviembre Party so its members would not be considered “terrorists,” but complained that it did not receive the support he expected. He also criticized the operation and Lugo’s alleged involvement.
“I don’t understand how 10 men, well united, died the way they did,” he said. “I don’t understand how someone close to them could have known where those guys were planning to enter and yet failed to explain that it was a restricted military zone—an area they couldn’t enter. I don’t understand how those men could have been sent directly to their deaths.”
Conrado Galindo said that if he returned to the United States, he intended to sue Maritza Lugo for allegedly kidnapping and threatening him.
Acosta said he regretted joining the operation, which he described as “madness.”
“The advice I’d give other Cubans is stop consuming so much trash [on social media]. Keep your jobs and don’t come to Cuba to do anything because it’s not going to turn out well,” he said. “The Cuban people and the military are well trained to stop an intervention.”
Cruz said he still believed in their cause, but they needed more resources to carry out a successful armed struggle. He compared their failed incursion to Fidel Castro’s 1956 landing in Cuba aboard the *Granma*. “I’m convinced that everyone in Cuba wants change,” he said. “We still have many of the same problems we faced in the 1950s, and those problems will inevitably give rise to revolutionary movements fighting for a just cause.”
Rodríguez said he did not regret joining the operation, although he lamented watching his companions die, the suffering his detention had caused his family, and “having failed all those Cubans who want a free Cuba.” He said he remained committed to bringing about the end of what he considers a “dictatorship,” whether it be through military action or the Trump administration’s current policy of economic warfare.
“If they told me they would send an oil tanker to Cuba in exchange for freeing José Manuel,” he said, referring to himself, “I would rather rot in prison than let a single drop of oil enter this country.”
***Reed Lindsay** is a journalist, award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of Belly of the Beast, an independent media organization covering Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations. He has reported from Cuba since 2015.*
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[25]: https://www.tiktok.com/@lanuevacuba.corp/video/7594623078605360398
[26]: https://www.facebook.com/pavel.alling/posts/pfbid0WWVPGDprFCPgu5cn3h7d5kpAMwcXSEnFxSLE6iUVuwa12pUpqcsEQUD3wM9drYB8l
[27]: https://www.facebook.com/amijail.sanchez.31/posts/pfbid0X1yKQ7vnqJqfyYXbTqwUJbVej4TLaqJ7YETXJSRSWnJ8tuQU4Fq8BYchNyNeozn4l?rdid=ZxYmNIWaBD3EYov3
[28]: https://www.presidencia.gob.cu/es/presidencia/intervenciones/comparecencia-del-presidente-de-la-republica-ante-los-medios-de-prensa-nacionales-y-extranjeros-en-el-palacio-de-la-revolucion
[29]: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/77/44/e53deb6c4d04b53f4f5c3299ebdd/boat.pdf
[30]: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/cuba-boat-shooting-florida-keys-boat-stolen-monroe-county/
[31]: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/sites/default/files/goc-2023-ex83-.pdf
[32]: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/sites/default/files/goc-2025-ex34_0.pdf
[33]: https://www.facebook.com/amijail.sanchez.31
[34]: https://elpais.com/us/2026-03-05/las-autodefensas-del-pueblo-el-grupo-al-que-pertenecian-los-tripulantes-de-la-lancha-que-intento-llegar-a-cuba.html
[35]: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid026Q3oCFWUoqFqv97yQ9qroTcdEb9Kgok2NnJdFnjxu38YEji6XowowXDJrsmJCu9Bl&id=100077423390580&rdid=DUZFrrsKiycOlmHQ
[36]: https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/viewDocument?qs=KKAudFw6F3ySf4BBl7udemETwhKUyLhck0yKsREU3bOnFlDAjTb6Rs9RfxNcmt%252BKkt0%252B2plQQfmxZCMHIGYlbpMwNhTxuGQAAkp1D5A30mrK0Ixh%252FFZxsNZc542xlJOoTrC5bcNeZlkUwAFz%252BH1mQWwoWEczzenQE3PYagATqH%252FAtO0KCsF7UjOGCo7s4Zzo6v0ND51WyFXPTQiBWtvzyw%253D%253D
[37]: https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/viewDocument?qs=KKAudFw6F3ySf4BBl7udemETwhKUyLhck0yKsREU3bOVnMSmepLlVGgxMUYhURpkDkiEFlvn%252FooBWmL6QYY7ZCL6CTpTIUlB8DZbnhLDZ40qnVsDzL0UHU7992ggEw81N4vTedAq9RmfH3DMDZfQcCVReVCqCHJ3yAVpM3zZh0nu1ywwxB%252FtNQQMssGQ8YZjOUXmQek8SB4ivZg6hgqw8XD5ijpjli0a6JtZGj%252BZDUY%253D
[38]: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html
[39]: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d481
[40]: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2019-10-03/kennedy-cuba-operation-mongoose
[41]: https://theconversationus.substack.com/p/history-shadows-a-deepening-uscuba
[42]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRTNTWkPgY&t=452s
[43]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRTNTWkPgY&t=497s
[44]: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alpha-males-6359755/
[45]: https://time.com/archive/7157222/why-posada-carriles-should-still-be-tried-for-terrorism/
[46]: https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/07/10/the-cuban-five-a-cold-war-case-in-a-post-cold-war-world/
[47]: https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/raul-castros-indictment-and-washingtons-double-standard-on-terrorism
[48]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-thwarts-terrorist-plot-by-s-florida-man-who-arrived-by-jetski-state-run-2023-12-10/
[49]: https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Cuba.htm
[50]: https://www.contactomagazine.com/maritza0215.htm
[51]: https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr250042000en.pdf
[52]: https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr250022002en.pdf
[53]: https://eltoque.com/en/who-is-the-cuban-woman-maritz-lugo-why-is-she-accused
[54]: https://www.elindependiente.com/internacional/2021/11/15/de-los-plantados-contra-fidel-a-los-jovenes-que-ahora-marchan-por-la-libertad-en-cuba/
[55]: https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2002-05-08-27-congress-67568792/287697.html
[56]: https://x.com/MarioDB/status/1985727089467695466
[57]: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1146297253397&set=pb.1106497950.-2207520000&type=3
[58]: https://www.hrccollier.org/events-1/voices-silenced-the-fight-for-political-freedom
[59]: https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-enrique-tarrio-seditious-conspiracy-trial-f8738f17552cda21eef6d89504da2a0e
[60]: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/freedom-information-act-foia-release-pardon-certificate-recipients
[61]: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10211456209296682&set=pb.1106497950.-2207520000
[62]: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122113649871228896&set=pb.61586866890702.-2207520000&type=3
[63]: https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=1105&LayerID=27399&PageTypeID=4&PageID=11143&Q=1397680943&KeyValue=1+30+44+04+010+0004-001.0
[64]: https://www.myfloridacounty.com/orisearch/s/image?q1=-I3DJUD7uFqFn9C0BV9xsA&q2=cb2b4db3350eb09c877039345516997b
[65]: https://www.myfloridacounty.com/orisearch/s/image?q1=-I3DJUD7uFqFn9C0BV9xsA&q2=d7e5a03572ebb2cf17958de9de492a38
[66]: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1466575062136454&set=pb.100063519216369.-2207520000
[67]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nashville-volunteers-deliver-food-immigrant-families-afraid-leave-homes/
[68]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-garc%C3%ADa-pe-cfm-52173357/
[69]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/fbi-arrives-cuba-investigate-deadly-speedboat-shootout-2026-04-01/
[70]: https://apnews.com/article/cuba-terrorism-charges-us-boat-shooting-34ce5212cd10f58fb45a347f9cbb7630
[71]: https://www.tiktok.com/@michelnaranjo56/video/7677989332430490911
[72]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida/comments
[73]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida
Last March, when I traveled to Cuba on a reporting trip, I had a number of things I was trying to find out, but chief among them was the mystery of the ill-fated assault on Cuba launched from the Florida keys by a band of Cuban-Americans hoping to overthrow the government. The attack was a disaster—it got nicknamed the Bay of Piglets—and ended up with half the men dead and the other half in Cuban custody. Along with Reed Lindsay, a reporter at the great news outlet Belly of the Beast, we pressed the Cuban government for access to the survivors of the boat raid. Four of the five men eventually agreed to speak while still in Cuba’s custody. Their stories, of course, must be viewed with skepticism, as is the case with any interview subject who is behind bars and at the mercy of a government. But their stories can be checked against testimony from their comrades, interviews with others back in the United States, and forensic and other evidence from the scene. What follows is the most
thorough account to date of the February assault by a band of would-be counterrevolutionaries.
It begins, of course, on TikTok.
—Ryan Grim
Drop Site relies on readers to make this journalism possible. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, one of the men detained during a failed attempt to land in Cuba and spark an overthrow of the government on February 25, 2026, during an interview in Havana. Photo: Belly of the Beast.
*Story by Reed Lindsay. Published in collaboration with Belly of the Beast and Miami New Times*
HAVANA, Cuba—Last November, 33-year-old truck driver José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló was scrolling TikTok when he came across a live video posted by Raúl Quevedo, a Cuban living in the United States.
It had been nearly a decade since Rodríguez immigrated to the United States from Cuba via a fiancé visa. He later became a permanent resident and was living with his girlfriend and her daughter in Nashville, Tennessee. Still, he harbored deep resentment toward what he saw as a dictatorial government repressing the Cuban people, and he was glad to see Quevedo calling it out.
Quevedo’s account, [La Nueva Cuba][1] (The New Cuba), is largely populated with images depicting armed resistance and an imagined post-communist Cuba, many of them AI-generated. Rodríguez messaged Quevedo. Quevedo messaged him back. The two hit it off, and Rodríguez said that Quevedo invited him to Florida to meet a group of like-minded exiles.
“They were looking for people who had the courage to join an armed uprising in Cuba,” Rodríguez said.
Half a year later, Rodríguez would be in Havana, explaining to a reporter how he wound up in Cuban custody—but unbowed in his determination to overthrow the government.
On the evening of February 24, Rodríguez joined nine other men on a fishing boat full of weapons bound for Cuba from the Florida Keys. They planned to seize a police station, ignite an uprising, and prompt U.S. intervention.
“The action plan was simple: Get the Cuban people to rise up in arms, control a province for 72 hours, and ask for a military intervention from the U.S. government,” Rodríguez said in an interview.
Rodríguez and the nine other men encountered the Cuban Border Guard before reaching Cuban soil. A firefight broke out, leaving four of the men—Ledián Padrón Guevara, Pavel Alling Peña, Michel Ortega Casanova, and Héctor Duani Cruz Correa—dead. A fifth, Roberto Álvarez Ávila, would later die from his wounds. The Border Guard suffered no fatal casualties, although the commanding officer of the patrol boat was shot.
Cuban authorities detained the five survivors.** **The incident made major headlines, but the details—what group the men represented, who funded them, and what their ultimate goal was—remained hazy. Drop Site and Belly of the Beast reached out to Cuban authorities to request interviews with the men and officials investigating the incident. In June, Cuban authorities said they had granted the requests and that four of the five survivors agreed to talk.
José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, and Conrado Galindo Sariol all spoke from custody in July while they awaited trial on terrorism-related charges that could carry sentences up to 30 years in prison. The fifth survivor, Amijail Sánchez González, is also awaiting trial and either declined to be interviewed or was not permitted to speak to journalists.
These interviews offer the first public account of the failed operation from its participants, but, as with any interview conducted with a person in detention, the conditions were less than ideal. Still, even as the men remained at the mercy of Cuban authorities, some were willing to speak in blunt terms about their hostility to the Cuban government and to complain of mistreatment. Where possible, their accounts have been checked against forensic evidence, property records, and interviews with family members and allies in the United States.
Clockwise from top left: Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, and José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló. Photos: Belly of the Beast.
## **The Interviews**
The four men were interviewed one at a time in a conference room at a large house in a residential neighborhood of Havana belonging to the Interior Ministry’s International Relations Department (MININT). Each was brought to the house in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, which an officer from MININT’s Special Tactical Unit removed for the interview. Each interview lasted between 30 and 55 minutes. Follow-up interviews were not possible.
The interviews were conducted in the presence of Edward Robert Campbell, the case’s prosecutor, and Col. Francisco Estrada Portales, who heads the Interior Ministry’s investigations into crimes against national security. All four detainees said they were not pressured into speaking to a journalist or promised anything in return, though that could not be independently verified.
They also said they voluntarily agreed to be interviewed without the presence of legal representation. Their access to lawyers has been uneven. Rodríguez said he had not yet found a lawyer willing to take his case. Cruz said he had not asked for a lawyer yet. Acosta said he had met with his attorney several times. According to his wife, Ana Seguí, Galindo has been represented by a lawyer since March.
The four men answered questions about how they became involved, the voyage, the clash with the Cuban Border Guard, and their time in custody. None showed outward signs of duress, but their accounts of their involvement and their attitudes toward the operation varied. Galindo said he had been forced to go; Acosta expressed regret; Cruz remained committed to “freedom” for Cuba but questioned whether armed struggle was the right path; Rodríguez was openly defiant and committed to fighting to overthrow the Cuban government.
Their accounts broadly corroborated one another on the operation’s objective and what happened once they encountered the Border Guard. But they diverged over who funded and planned the operation and how involved Cuban exile organizations were. Those unresolved questions center largely on Maritza Lugo Fernández, a longtime Cuban activist living in Miami who knew most of the ten men on the boat and whom the four men interviewed said provided a small farm in Florida as their training ground.
Cuban authorities also granted interviews with a senior Border Guard official, the MININT’s lead investigator, a ballistics expert, a forensic pathologist, the top MININT doctor, and the prosecutor.
## **Recruited on TikTok**
Like José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara found out about the group last year through TikTok. At the time, he was working as a driver for a moving company in Austin, Texas. A permanent resident, Acosta had been in the U.S. for about ten years and planned to apply for citizenship this year.
He connected with Pavel Alling Peña, a 45-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen living in Florida who created a [TikTok account][2] in late May 2025 called the Cardumen Movement (*cardumen* means a school of fish).
“I wrote a comment that I wished Cuba could prosper, be more liberal. That’s when he contacted me,” Acosta said. “He asked if I wanted a free Cuba. I said yes, I hoped it would happen one day.”
Alling invited him to join the Cardumen Movement, Acosta recalled, telling him it was a group dedicated to publishing videos, posters and other material in favor of Cuba’s freedom. Later that year, Alling told Acosta about a group of people training for a “military intervention” in Cuba.
“He asked if I was willing to join them and I said no problem, just tell me where,” Acosta said. “He said, ‘Come to my house, and I’ll take you with me.”
In November, they went to a *finca*, or small farm, near Fort Myers, Florida, to begin training. Amid the peppers, sugarcane, and farm animals, there was a rustic shooting range.
Acosta and the other three detainees interviewed said they were told the *finca* belonged to Maritza Lugo Fernández, a Cuban-born political activist who runs an anti-communist organization called the Partido 30 de Noviembre (November 30 Party). Lugo denied any knowledge of the operation but confirmed she gave one of the men—Amijail Sánchez—access to the property.
The party [traces its roots][3] to the Movimiento Revolucionario 30 de Noviembre “Frank País,” an underground anti-Castro group that was founded in Cuba in 1960 and later reorganized in Florida after several of its leaders went into exile. In 1991, the exile movement [helped establish][4] the 30 de Noviembre Party inside Cuba. Lugo was among its founding members and later assumed its leadership after her husband, Rafael Ibarra Roque, was imprisoned in 1994. She moved to South Florida in 2002 and continued the party’s work from exile.
While Acosta and Rodríguez each made multiple trips to the *finca* to train for the mission, they both insisted they knew few details about what the group’s leaders were planning. They identified the leaders as Roberto Álvarez Ávila, who died a week after being shot during the clash with the Cuban Border Guard, and Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez. Acosta said Amijail Sánchez González, co-founder of a militant organization called the Auto Defensa del Pueblo (ADP), was also a leader.
“[The leaders] kept the plans hidden for security reasons, to avoid leaks,” Rodríguez said.
In January, the group’s leaders asked Acosta, Rodríguez, and several others who had been training to remain at the *finca* while they readied a boat for the trip to Cuba.
According to Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni Rodríguez, he left their house in Nashville on Friday, January 23, telling her he was going to a camp in Florida with some friends. She said he collected magazines about guns and owned two or three firearms, which he took with him. She said he had a full-time job driving a dump truck, hauling dirt and stone to construction sites, and she expected him to return soon.
The operation was a “complete surprise” to her. “Who throws his life away like that?” she said.
Ultimately, Raúl Quevedo—a 40-year-old carpenter who runs a [home renovation company][5] [incorporated in Bradenton, Florida][6] in addition to La Nueva Cuba Corp, [registered in the state][7] as a nonprofit organization—did not join the other men on the boat. Reached by phone, Quevedo said he was in touch with most of the men through TikTok, but declined to answer questions about his relationship to them and whether he was involved in the operation.
“I have nothing to say about that,” he said. “The more you talk, the more your enemy knows about you.”
Quevedo said overthrowing the Cuban government is “doable” with enough money, but he was critical of the operation. “It wasn’t the right timing. It wasn’t the right organization. It wasn’t organized,” he said. “For something like that, you have to have a plan, structure, a Plan B and Plan C, and an escape plan. If you don’t have that, being only 10 people, you’re lost. And it’s a shame because they were good guys.”
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## **Trying to Light a Spark, Maybe**
Before the operation, Leordán Cruz Gómez said he lived in Tampa and worked as an industrial painter for a Missouri-based company called Thomas Industrial Coating. He had left Cuba in 2014 aboard a makeshift boat and landed in the Marquesas Keys, later obtaining permanent residency and ultimately U.S. citizenship.
Cruz said someone he met on a WhatsApp group invited him to the *finca*. He said that initially the training there had no specific operation in mind, but the worsening crisis in Cuba—and the relentless stream of desperate images from the island circulating on social media—inspired them to make concrete plans for armed action.
“It had become almost unbearable,” said Cruz, who left behind his wife and nine-year-old son. “There was the constant bombardment on social media. Everything we were seeing: mothers with children searching the garbage for food, buildings collapsing, all those crises. That perhaps made it feel more serious.”
Since President Donald Trump’s first term, the U.S. government has hammered Cuba with “maximum pressure” sanctions that have ravaged the country’s economy, fueling unprecedented migration and a growing humanitarian crisis that the UN high commissioner for human rights [says][9] is “endangering lives.”
However, many Cubans on and off the island blame the Cuban government for the economic crisis. This view has been amplified by social media feeds inundated with content minimizing the role of sanctions—some of it produced by U.S. government-funded media outlets and other organizations, and some coming directly from U.S. officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Cruz said he initially began training militarily with an armed group called La Nueva Nación Cubana en Armas (The New Cuban Nation in Arms)—an organization[ Cuban authorities][10] allege was behind a 2023 terrorist plot that also aimed to provoke an armed uprising.
But after becoming disillusioned with the group’s lack of a political vision for a post-Communist Cuba, he gravitated toward Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party and the [Republican Party of Cuba][11], a conservative exile group based in Florida.
Cruz said he and the other men began planning the incursion approximately a year in advance. Although he had no formal military training, he attempted to prepare himself by reading books and watching videos of Navy SEALs and Delta Force soldiers. “I often led the military training sessions and taught people how to shoot,” he said.
Cruz insisted there were no leaders and decisions were made collectively, although he said Álvarez was more involved in planning the operation.
Although one of the Republican Party of Cuba’s members, Michel Ortega Casanova, joined the operation, the group’s president, Ibrahim Bosch, denied any links to the armed incursion and said he did not know Cruz.
In a phone interview, Bosch said he knew Ortega, who had led the party in Tampa but had stepped down for work-related reasons.
Bosch said he had heard of training and shooting practice happening at “Maritza’s *finca*,” but was unaware of any plans to stage an incursion and of Ortega’s involvement.
“It’s possible that some of our people went at the same time as [the men training for the incursion], but they didn’t go as Republican Party members to train and shoot, but as individuals,” Bosch said.
The plan, according to Cruz, was to seize control of a police station in Cárdenas, Matanzas, a city about 90 miles east of Havana, and to then incite people to take the streets. Another member of the group already in Cuba planned to meet the boat on the coast to organize transportation inland, Cruz said. Cuban authorities later arrested Duniel Hernández Santos, who they allege was the group’s ground contact.
(The account Cuban officials obtained through interrogations was slightly different. According to Col. Estrada, the plan was to seize the police station in Santa Marta, about eight miles away from Cárdenas, and the nearby Varadero Border Guard Unit. Cruz said he understood only the broad outlines of the operation and that Álvarez had worked out the details.)
“It’s illogical to think that 10 men can declare war on a country. That would be absurd,” Cruz said. “But we were aware of the social discontent. We knew people wanted something to happen. A spark, maybe.”
The men never made it to shore.
## **A Plot in Plain Sight**
As the men honed their shooting skills at the farm and plotted to spark a rebellion in Cuba, they made no secret of their intentions.
On May 29, 2025, two days after creating the Movimiento Cardumen TikTok account, Pavel Alling Peña[ posted an image][12] of two semi-automatic rifles with a text that read: “Collecting funds for Cuba’s freedom.” In the comments, he wrote: “More information will be provided soon. This didn’t just begin. We’ve been planning this for 2 years. But as you’ll understand, there is a lot at stake.”
In the following months, Alling’s posts offered glimpses of the preparations underway.
Last September, he[ posted a photo][13] of a camouflaged waterproof backpack with the text: “My new acquisition.” In a[ selfie video][14] posted a month later, Alling announced: “We are very close. And soon the first steps will be taken.”
[@movimientocardumen][15][Cuba es un atleta de alto rendimiento lesionado.#freecuba #marcorubio #libertad #movimientocardumen #fyp ][16]
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Sometime before their trip, Acosta and Ledián Padrón Guevara, one of the five men killed by the Cuban Border Guard, appeared in a video at what appears to be a gun store showing off semi-automatic rifles. Univision journalist Javier Díaz subsequently [published][17] the video.
Meanwhile, the political organizations associated with the men were publicly advocating for the use of force against the Cuban government.
“The only way to remove the murderous communist dictatorship clinging to power is to confront it physically. And we are willing to do so,” Javier Berovides, a Cuban activist living in Florida, [said in August 2025][18] at the first annual Anti-Communist Summit of the Cuban Right in Miami. Berovides claimed to be speaking in the name of Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party, Sánchez’s ADP, and his own organization, [Movimiento Escudo Cubano][19] (Cuban Shield Movement).
On its [2025 federal tax return][20], Movimiento Escudo Cubano identified itself as a church, although its website says it’s a movement defending human and civil rights in Cuba. Maritza Lugo is Movimiento Escudo Cubano’s [vice-president][21], while Berovides is a member of 30 de Noviembre. Berovides declined to comment.
On January 1, Conrado Galindo[ posted ][22]an AI-generated photo on Facebook of himself holding a semi-automatic weapon in fatigues and a bulletproof vest. The caption reads: “Everything for freedom.”
AI-generated photo posted by Conrado Galindo on Facebook.
Later that month, Raúl Quevedo[ posted a video on TikTok][23] in which he appears dressed in fatigues holding a rifle with a Cuban flag in the background. “From the New Cuba, I send this message to all the Cubans on the island,” he says. “The time is very near to achieve our freedom. And work is underway on all fronts to make that happen. And now, one very important moment is that the American government, under the leadership and presidency of Donald Trump, is finally doing things. And we Cubans living in exile are willing to give everything for our freedom. And we are also ready to join the American government’s fight.”
[@lanuevacuba.corp][24][ @lanuevacuba.corp ♬ original sound - lanuevacuba.corp ][25]
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Quevedo insisted the video had nothing to do with the operation and was instead inspired by the U.S. military action in Venezuela that led to the abduction of Nicolás Maduro. He said he hoped to encourage the Trump administration to take similar action in Cuba.
“The uniform and gun was to show to the American government in case they wanted Cuban men in the United States to join,” he said.
On January 30, Alling[ posted on Facebook][26]: “The time has come for those dictators who stole our country. Thanks to all those committed to this struggle and for their efforts and desire. Cuba will be free and we will rebuild it as God commands.”
The next day, Sánchez[ posted a press release][27] from ADP, the 30 de Noviembre Party, Movimiento Escudo Cubano, and Alling’s Movimiento Cardumen, declaring: “There is no space for negotiation [with the Cuban government]. Our objective: A free, just and sovereign Cuba.”
None of those organizations are widely known in Cuba, but their public postings of an impending attack seemed to draw the attention of Cuban authorities. On February 5, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel[ warned][28] of “plans for terrorist acts that are being supported, financed and prepared from the United States to attack Cuba.”
## **Ten Men, 25 Guns**
After sunset on February 24, the men set out in two boats from Marathon in the Florida Keys.
Cuban authorities said the boats contained weapons and other equipment: 25 firearms—14 long arms and 11 handguns—along with some 13,000 rounds of ammunition, more than 100 magazines, homemade pipe bombs packed with fragments of nuts and bolts and black powder, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, camouflage uniforms and helmets, knives, night-vision equipment, a drone, a Starlink satellite-internet terminal, and medical supplies.
They had purchased one boat for the operation, and they had been told the other was borrowed. About halfway to Cuba, the motor on the purchased boat stopped working, Acosta said. The men transferred their weapons and gear to the other boat—*El Tornado*—and all ten continued.
*El Tornado* was a 24-foot Pro-Line fishing boat built in 1981, bearing the Florida registration number FL7726SH. One of the men on board, Héctor Duani Cruz Correa, who [had been doing tile work][29] as a contractor for its owner, took the fishing boat.
According to Acosta, Cruz Correa told the group that he had permission to take the boat fishing. The boat’s owner, Angel Walter Montera, later[ reported the boat stolen][30] and told the Monroe County police that he wished to press charges.
The men had planned to arrive under cover of darkness, but the breakdown delayed them, according to Cruz Gómez. “We knew that if daylight caught up with us, there was a chance they’d see us,” he said.
At approximately 7 a.m., a lookout at a Cuban Border Guard post on Cayo Bahía de Cádiz, a cay off Cuba’s northern coast, spotted the boat less than four nautical miles to the northwest. A radar operator confirmed the sighting and began tracking its course and speed, according to First Col. Ybey Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard’s chief of staff.
Cruz Gómez said they steered the boat toward a small cay near shore, hoping to hide until nightfall. But the tide was out, and *El Tornado* ran aground in shallow water.
“Almost everyone got out of the boat to try to dislodge it and keep going, and to add more fuel because we were almost out,” Acosta said. “That’s when we saw a boat coming toward us. We didn’t know it was the Border Guard, but we assumed it was. We got the boat free, and everyone got on board.”
But *El Tornado*, at a maximum speed of 24 knots, could not outrun the Border Guard vessel.
“By the time we took off, the Coast Guard boat was almost on top of us,” Acosta said. “That’s when Leordán Cruz Gómez shouted: ‘Get ready. They’re going to shoot. Look for the magazines.’”
Most of the weapons aboard *El Tornado* were wrapped in moving blankets and packed inside bags. “The magazines and the guns were in different bags,” Acosta said. The group had expected to slip ashore undetected, Cruz and Rodríguez said—not fight its way onto the island.
Cuban authorities say someone aboard *El Tornado* fired first, striking the Border Guard captain in the abdomen. All four men confirmed that the first shot came from their own boat.
“One of us fired the first shot. I have to admit that,” said Rodríguez, who was the most critical of Cuban authorities. Rodríguez, Cruz and Galindo said they did not know who fired first.
Acosta said Amijail Sánchez took the first shot. “Amijail grabbed a magazine for the Chinese-made AK-47 he had and opened fire on the Coast Guard. That’s when a shootout began. I don’t know exactly what happened because at that point I got scared and threw myself onto the floor of the boat so I wouldn’t get hit by the gunfire,” he said.
The five-man Border Guard crew carried just five weapons: the captain’s handgun, three AKM assault rifles (a modernized version of an AK-47) and an RPK light machine gun, a longer-barreled relative of the AKM. According to Estrada, none of the five Border Guard officers had combat experience.
Lt. Col. Avelino Guilarte Paumier, the forensics ballistics expert assigned to the case, said that after the shooting, investigators found five rifles and three pistols outside the bags. Spent casings recovered from the boat were matched to just three weapons: a Glock 19 pistol and two Ruger Precision rifles.
Guilarte said the number of recovered shell casings did not necessarily reflect the number of shots fired because the clash occurred on the water and evidence had fallen into the sea. Divers searched the area but found no additional casings, he said.
Nine of the ten men were shot, while on the Cuban side, only the Border Guard captain was wounded. All four men interviewed said they did not fire a shot.
“It was only when I managed to pull out a rifle that a bullet hit me,” said Cruz, adding that the all-night voyage had left the men physically depleted and slow to react.
“We had been vomiting [from sea sickness],” he said. “We were wet, cold and exhausted. It kept us from thinking. It paralyzed us.”
“At that moment, all I could think to do was put the weapon beside me and lie down in the boat,” Acosta said. “I got scared,” he added. “I always said back at the farm that shooting at a target, a bullseye, is not the same as facing people in real life who are shooting back at you.”
The exchange lasted minutes, according to the survivors and Cuban authorities. Cruz eventually raised an arm to signal surrender. Galindo said one of the Border Guards continued firing until the wounded captain ordered him to stop.
“The captain shouted at him—shouted strongly,” Galindo said. “If the captain had let him continue, he would have killed us all.”
Ledián Padrón Guevara, Héctor Duani Cruz Correa, and Pavel Alling Peña died aboard *El Tornado*. Michel Ortega Casanova died while being evacuated. Roberto Álvarez Ávila died a week later, on March 4, from complications associated with his wounds.
Investigators counted 14 bullet impacts on the Border Guard vessel and 23 on *El Tornado*. The boats were moving throughout the firefight, making it difficult to reconstruct events and impossible to establish a precise firing distance, according to Cuban ballistics expert Guilarte.
“We can’t know if it was 20, 25, or 30 meters,” he said. “What we can show scientifically is that it wasn’t at close range.” Álvarez was the only one who died from a gunshot wound above the neck—a bullet entered through his shoulder blade and struck him in the jaw—but investigators determined he was not shot at close range.
“Perhaps the idea was somewhat naive because we hadn’t prepared for every possible situation,” said Cruz. “We weren’t prepared to face the Border Guard.”
“We had no training to confront the Cuban Border Guard,” Rodríguez said.
## **A Long History of Violence—and Impunity**
In the years before the attempted incursion, Cuba had already placed two of its participants—[Amijail Sánchez González][31] in 2023 and[ Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez][32] in 2025—on its national list of terrorism suspects for financing acts of violence on Cuban soil. Cuba also submitted the list to the United Nations as part of its reporting under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373.
Sánchez’s[ Facebook page][33] is littered with videos of burning sugar cane fields in Cuba and graffiti featuring the name of the organization he co-founded, the Auto Defensa del Pueblo, or ADP. The page of [ADP’s co-founder][34], Michel “Kiki” Naranjo Riverón,[ features a post][35] offering to pay $1,000 to anyone who kills a Cuban police officer.
“Burning a building, cutting fiber optic cables in Camagüey, lighting fire to a hospital, burning an electrical generator,” Col. Estrada said. “In a year and a half, one person [in Cuba] committed 18 acts of terrorism that were financed by Amijail and his organization, the Auto Defensa del Pueblo, designated as a terrorist organization and which is based and acts openly in the United States.”
The U.S. has not designated this organization as a terrorist group. Nor is there any indication that U.S. authorities took any action to dissuade Sánchez, who in 2021 [was convicted][36] in Florida of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer [for striking a moving police car][37] with a vehicle he was driving in Miami, and the other men despite their open preparations for armed action in Cuba.
Since the Cuban revolution, the U.S. has frequently tolerated acts of violence and terrorism aimed at overthrowing the communist government.
In March 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower[ approved][38] a[ CIA plan][39] to topple the Cuban government by forming exile groups, launching a radio station to broadcast U.S. propaganda on the island, creating “a covert intelligence and action organization” inside Cuba, and training paramilitary forces outside the island. This culminated in the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Shortly after, the CIA launched Operation Mongoose to coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism[ aimed at civilian targets][40] in Cuba.
After direct CIA support was phased out, exile paramilitary groups continued staging attacks from Florida. In 1971, when the Coast Guard sought to rein in Alpha 66, a U.S.-based Cuban-American terrorist organization, President Richard Nixon[ wrote][41]: “We should not inhibit Cuban exile activity against their homeland.”
Five years later, two bombs killed 73 people aboard Cubana Flight 455 in the deadliest act of airline terrorism in the Western Hemisphere at the time. The suspected masterminds were paramilitary leaders Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Both men lived in Florida until their deaths and were never prosecuted in the United States for the bombing.
Militants based in Florida and New Jersey also staged attacks on U.S. soil, including [bombings of businesses][42] that dealt with Cuba and the assassinations of a Cuban diplomat and a Cuban-American advocate for dialogue with Havana. The FBI considered one of the armed groups, Omega 7, to be [the most dangerous terrorist organization][43] in the United States.
The acts of terrorism continued into the 1990s, as militants in speedboats[ sprayed beachside resorts][44] with machine gun fire and a[ bombing campaign][45] targeted hotels in Havana, killing an Italian tourist and injuring several others.
In 1998, Cuban officials[ handed the FBI][46] extensive documentation detailing dozens of U.S.-based terrorist plots. The FBI[ responded][47] by arresting undercover Cuban agents in Florida who had infiltrated the terrorist networks.
As recently as December 2023, Cuban authorities[ said][48] they foiled an attempt by people linked to La Nueva Nación Cubana en Armas to foment an armed rebellion. They captured a Florida man who had traveled to Cuba with handguns and ammunition on a jet ski and then tried to recruit people to commit acts of violence and arson.
“We’ve been attacked for 67 years and while it may seem that these things are something of the past, it’s not the past,” said Col. Estrada, the Interior Ministry investigator. “For those of us working to combat terrorism, we’ve seen how this type of activity is constantly happening in the United States.”
## **Maritza Lugo**
Cuban authorities say the operation involved multiple leaders, but they allege that Maritza Lugo, head of the 30 de Noviembre Party, was its mastermind.
“She was the one who organized, financed and oversaw the logistics of everything,” Estrada alleged. “[The *finca*] is where everything was prepared. It’s where they trained, prepared, and tested the explosives. Even the [purchased] boat was there. They left from there for the coast, for Marathon Key.”
Lugo denies any involvement in the operation. “The Castro regime has accused me endlessly—of being a terrorist, of paying for things,” she said. “What could I possibly pay for? I live on [Social Security]. I receive $700 a month, which isn’t enough for anything. I try to save. I do odd jobs. My family helps me if I need something extra. But I don’t have the money to finance absolutely anything.”
Maritza Lugo meeting George W. Bush. Screenshot: Facebook.
Born in 1963 on the outskirts of Havana, Lugo became politically active in the 1990s alongside her then husband, Rafael Ibarra Roque. Together they founded the 30 de Noviembre Party, but Lugo assumed its leadership when Cuban authorities arrested Ibarra in 1994 and [sentenced][49] him in February 1995 to 20 years for sabotage. Cuban authorities accused Ibarra of setting off an explosive device at a military building. Lugo[ maintains][50] the charges were trumped up.
Lugo herself was[ arrested and imprisoned][51] multiple times and[ identified by Amnesty International][52] as a prisoner of conscience. She[ says][53] she was kept in isolation and subjected to torture.
In 2002, Lugo left Cuba for South Florida, where she has been a persistent, albeit relatively fringe, presence among Cuba’s exile opposition. She has occasionally had the spotlight,[ being interviewed][54] about rights abuses in Cuba,[ appearing][55] at a Capitol Hill news conference,[ meeting][56] with members of Congress, and[ greeting][57] President George W. Bush during a White House visit.
Recently, Lugo has also been associated with figures linked to political violence. She was featured prominently at a[ July 2025 event][58] sponsored by the Hispanic Republican Club of Collier County, Florida, alongside Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader[ convicted of seditious conspiracy][59] for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol and subsequently[ pardoned by President Donald Trump][60].
In 2018, Lugo[ posted a photo of herself][61] with Luis Posada Carriles, the paramilitary leader, a month before he died.[ Another photo of their encounter][62] was posted earlier this year on a Facebook page called “10 Cuban Patriots,” which Lugo says she created in support of the men involved in the February incursion. The post praises Posada Carriles as “a great man and friend, a great patriot” and “the terror of the great demon Fidel Castro.”
Poster for the Hispanic Republican Club of Collier, featuring Lugo.
Maritza Lugo and Luis Posada Carriles. Screenshot: Facebook.
In recent years, Lugo’s 30 de Noviembre Party forged an alliance with ADP, which has openly endorsed violence and sabotage as a means of overthrowing the Cuban government. Their relationship was both political and personal. According to Lugo, she was romantically involved with Amijail Sánchez, ADP’s co-founder, for about a year, and he was living with her before he joined the incursion.
While ADP was the military arm of the group that went to Cuba, the 30 de Noviembre Party was the political arm, according to Cruz.
“If we succeeded, 30 de Noviembre was the group that would present its political program to the people,” he said.
The fatigues and helmets that Cuban authorities say they seized bore patches featuring the insignia of both ADP and the 30 de Noviembre Party.
Since February, Lugo has been most visible as a prominent public advocate for the imprisoned men, organizing events to support them and posting frequently online about their case.
In a telephone interview from Miami, she said she knew most of the men before their ill-fated trip.
Yet, despite her romantic relationship with Sánchez and the alliance between their two organizations, she said she knew nothing about the operation and would have opposed it had she known.
“They are very good people who did something crazy,” she said. “They went far beyond the bounds of what is normal because what they did was truly madness. Who in their right mind could think that 10 men could accomplish anything against a dictatorship like that?”
“I am very much in favor, and I’ve said so publicly, of a military intervention, but a military intervention by the United States, a country that has enough power to overthrow such a cruel regime,” she continued. “Trump has all the resources, all the intelligence and all the means necessary for it to succeed and achieve its objective. But doing it the other way is a waste of courage. It’s a tragedy for any Cuban to lose their life over something like that.”
## **The***** Finca***
The Hendry County Property Appraiser’s records show Lugo [owned a 13-acre farm][63] in LaBelle, Florida, a rural area an hour east of Fort Myers, from March 2020 until September 2024. She [sold the property to her daughter][64], Rosalia Agnello, and Alexis Martínez, a Miami resident who [took full possession][65] in July 2025.
Acosta, Rodríguez, and Cruz said they trained at the farm in the months leading up to the February 2026 operation, even after it was sold to Martínez. But both Martínez and Lugo acknowledge that she continued to have access to the property.
Lugo said that the *finca* was used for shooting practice and hunting rabbits, doves and wild hogs. “At the *finca*, you can shoot safely, and it’s permitted in that area,” she said. “We hunt animals there. We shoot because we like guns.”
She said she never witnessed any military training or preparations for an incursion into Cuba. “Anyone who trained on my *finca*, who said they trained, that’s their problem,” she said. “Here in the United States, that is against the law. It’s a crime.”
From his home in Miami, Martínez said Lugo was formerly his romantic partner and that they remained friends. He said he demolished the shooting range shortly after taking full possession of the property, and knew nothing about any training taking place there.
However, in response to an inquiry for this story, Hendry County Sheriff’s detectives went to the property in August and observed what appeared to be “a three-sided berm designed for multidimensional shooting exercises.”
According to the detectives, the structure appeared designed “to facilitate training that incorporates multiple shooting angles and directions rather than functioning as a traditional shoot house.”
The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office has received no reports or complaints of any gunshots, explosions or any criminal activity happening at the address, according to Public Information Officer Capt. Susan Harrelle.
The sheifff’s office contacted the FBI, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, but Harrelle said they have received no information confirming that military training took place on the property.
Cruz and Rodríguez said that Lugo was often present while they met and trained, though she was not involved with planning the incursion or obtaining weapons.
“She was always at the *finca*, helping with the logistics, food, transportation, making sure we weren’t lacking for anything,” said Rodríguez.
Lugo gave a different account.
“I’m almost always in Miami,” she said. “I would go to the *finca*, spend one, two or three days there, and then return to Miami. [Sánchez] had free rein there and did whatever he wanted because I trusted him.”
Rodríguez said individual members of the group provided the weapons. “Nobody ever paid us anything,” said Rodríguez. “We were self-financed. We bought our own bullets, our own rifles, our own military equipment.”
Lugo was not involved in the planning, Acosta said, but her party was their “sponsor.” “What she did mostly was handle the political part,” said Rodríguez.
Patches bearing the insignia of Auto Defensa del Pueblo (ADP) and a Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre patch affixed to a helmet. Cuban authorities say these were recovered from the boats. Photos: Belly of the Beast.
## **“He’s No Terrorist”**
Conrado Galindo’s account diverges from the others. A 59-year-old permanent resident living in Miami, Galindo ran a small delivery business, but he had studied video production at the Miami Media School.
According to Galindo, a former classmate recommended him to Lugo, who offered $500 to film and edit the training videos. Galindo said when he arrived at the *finca*, Lugo told him he would be joining the other men on the incursion into Cuba.
“She told me: ‘There’s a change in plans. You’re going to Cuba,’” he said.
Galindo said he protested, but was threatened by Lugo and another member of the group, Roberto Álvarez Ávila. He said they took his phone and his green card.
Acosta said he also gave his phone and green card to Lugo and that Cruz warned him not to leave because they had “sworn an oath.”
Lugo denied both men’s accounts, and claimed the testimonies of all four men were coerced.
“Everything they are saying is a lie, and I don’t blame them,” she said. “What are they supposed to say? They want to save their lives, and they are being forced to say those things.”
Reached by phone, Galindo’s wife, Ana Seguí, said she met Lugo at events in Miami in support of the detainees, but distanced herself after speaking with his family members in Cuba who had met with him in prison. Seguí said she subsequently received a threatening WhatsApp message with photos that appeared to show her husband dead about a month after the clash with the Border Guard. She said she didn’t know who sent the messages and changed her number shortly after.
“Conrado is no terrorist, that I can guarantee,” said Seguí. “He’s a family man. I don’t know how this happened.”
In Cuba, Galindo had been a dissident and was imprisoned for seven years, according to Seguí. But he said he had given up his political activism after immigrating to the United States.
“He was always against the Cuban government, but going [to Cuba]?” said Seguí. “Conrado didn’t go anywhere unless it was for work.”
Seguí said Galindo had never used a gun before, and the AI-generated Facebook photo of him with a gun was a joke (he had posted [similar images ][66]of himself and Seguí dressed as police officers while holding a gun two weeks earlier).
Reached by phone in Nashville, Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni, also rejected the terrorist label.
“He was a good person, a good father and partner,” said Yeni, who lived with him for five years. “He has always helped [others].”
She said last year he joined [other Nashville residents][67] in donating food to immigrant families afraid to leave their homes amid an ICE crackdown in the city.
She said Rodríguez neither supported nor opposed Trump, despite sharing the president’s hostility toward Cuba’s government.
## **No Help From the U.S.**
The Cuban Border Guard informed the Miami-based Coast Guard’s Southeast District and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) liaison at the U.S. embassy in Havana within three hours of the firefight, according to First Colonel Ybey Daniel Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard’s chief of staff.
That evening, Carballo said, the USCG liaison,[ Luis García][68], was called in to the Interior Ministry’s International Relations Department house in Havana, where he was provided details on what had occurred, including *El Tornado*’s registration number and the identities of the people aboard.
According to Carballo, even as the Trump administration has ramped up its efforts to bring about regime change in Cuba, the two maritime services have continued to cooperate behind the scenes.
“Every time a boat approaches Cuba en route to U.S. territory, we inform them in real time,” he said. “Even with the situation Cuba is enduring, with the maximum pressure imposed by the U.S. government on our country, the Cuban Border Guard has maintained the same level of cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard.”
During Barack Obama’s opening with Cuba and to a lesser extent under Joe Biden, the two countries held bilateral meetings to coordinate responses to irregular migration, human and drug trafficking, and search-and-rescue operations. After Trump returned to office, his administration discontinued the meetings, in line with Rubio’s confrontational approach toward Cuba.
“If there isn’t more cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and other U.S. law enforcement, it’s due to the Trump administration’s policy and everything the State Department is doing to interfere in our relationship,” said Carballo.
From left: First Colonel Ybey Daniel Carballo Pérez, the Border Guard's chief of staff; Colonel Francisco Estrada Portales, head of Interior Ministry investigations into crimes against national security; and Lieutenant Colonel Avelino Guilarte Paumier, the case's forensic ballistics expert. Photo: Belly of the Beast.
Operational communication never stopped, but Cuban Border Guard officials complain their efforts are not reciprocated. “For every three messages we send, we receive one in return,” said Carballo. “National security doesn’t flow in just one direction.”
Carballo expressed skepticism that the U.S. Coast Guard was not aware of the approach of *El Tornado*—pointing to the extensive U.S. surveillance deployed to target drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
“We didn’t receive a single report about that vessel coming our way, even though we all know that no recreational vessel is permitted to leave U.S. territory to come here to Cuba,” he said.
“Everything is monitored. And yet a speedboat of this kind, carrying ten people, shrapnel-filled explosives, Molotov cocktails and wartime supplies, a boat coming to sow grief here in Cuba and to kill people, was able to make the journey,” said Carballo.
On March 6, Cuba’s Interior Ministry sent the Trump administration a detailed report on the incident, along with six pages of questions about how the operation was organized and financed in the United States, according to Estrada.
More than three weeks passed, and they received no response.
Then, on March 31, Cuban Border Guard and Interior Ministry officials [received an FBI delegation][69]. Carballo said they spent two and a half days briefing the agents, who were joined by the Coast Guard liaison and the U.S. embassy’s security chief. They met at the International Relations house and traveled to Varadero to inspect *El Tornado* and the Coast Guard patrol boat involved in the confrontation. The agents also briefly met with the detainees and took their fingerprints and DNA samples.
Cuban authorities said they reiterated their questions about the operation’s organization and financing, but aside from information identifying where some of the men had purchased their weapons and the criminal history of two or three of the men, they’ve received no response.
“It’s been three months, and we haven’t received any information from them,” said Carballo in July.
The Coast Guard responded to a request for comment with a boilerplate statement about Operation Vigilant Sentry, which focuses on irregular maritime migration. It declined to comment on *El Tornado*, cooperation with its Cuban counterparts, or the investigation into the February 25 clash with the Cuban Border Guard, referring questions to the State Department.
The State Department, in turn, declined to comment and directed questions to the FBI. The FBI also declined to comment and referred questions to the State Department.
Ana Seguí said FBI agents questioned her at her home, while Yeni Rodríguez said people she believed were federal agents also came to question her. Maritza Lugo said the FBI has not contacted her.
## **The Aftermath**
After the clash, Cuban Border Guard officers handcuffed the men and transferred them from *El Tornado* to a Border Guard boat. On shore, they received first aid and were then taken to Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial Hospital in Santa Clara.
Two of the men—Leordán Cruz Gómez and Roberto Álvarez Ávila—underwent surgeries. Cruz’s case was the most urgent, according to Dr. Juan Antonio Ramírez Aguilera, the Interior Ministry’s head of medical services. He had been shot in the arm, and the bullet had damaged the radial nerve and caused significant bleeding. Cruz, who later underwent a second surgery at a military hospital in Havana, said the medical care was “very professional and humane.”
Despite undergoing surgery, Álvarez died a week later from complications related to his gunshot wound. The cremated remains of all five men who died were later turned over to family members, according to Dr. Annia Silva Socarrás, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
After being discharged from the military hospital, the survivors were taken to a detention center known as Villa Marista, where Interior Ministry investigators questioned them.
After the interrogations, the detainees were moved to a maximum-security section of a prison called Combinado del Este. There, Galindo reported being kicked in the legs on the day they arrived. Rodríguez said he was threatened once there and that a Border Guard officer intentionally stepped on his injured leg shortly after the firefight. Apart from that, he, Acosta, and Cruz said they had not been physically harmed or tortured while incarcerated.
Lugo said Sánchez’s family members in Cuba told her that he had reported being repeatedly beaten in custody, suffering hearing loss in one ear and injuries to his arm and ribs.
Cuban authorities deny that Sánchez has been physically mistreated in custody. At Villa Marista, detainees could receive family visits once a week. At Combinado del Este, visits are allowed once every three weeks. Rodríguez’s girlfriend, Yeni, said she traveled to Cuba in July and was allowed to spend two hours with him in a private room. She said he had lost weight and was pale, but that he showed no signs of having been physically harmed.
The five surviving men and Duniel Hernández Santos, their alleged co-conspirator on the island, remain in pretrial detention on terrorism-related charges.
[According to Edward Robert Campbell][70], the case’s prosecutor, the charges carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison or even death, though Cuba has not executed anyone since 2003. Campbell said his office was considering whether to try Maritza Lugo in absentia.
## **Regret and Resolve**
The operation was intended to fracture Cuba. Instead, its failure created fault lines in the exile organizations that backed it.
Kiki Naranjo, who co-founded ADP with Sánchez, publicly split with Lugo and her party in an August 27 [TikTok video post][71]. In the post, Naranjo said ADP had sought an alliance with the 30 de Noviembre Party so its members would not be considered “terrorists,” but complained that it did not receive the support he expected. He also criticized the operation and Lugo’s alleged involvement.
“I don’t understand how 10 men, well united, died the way they did,” he said. “I don’t understand how someone close to them could have known where those guys were planning to enter and yet failed to explain that it was a restricted military zone—an area they couldn’t enter. I don’t understand how those men could have been sent directly to their deaths.”
Conrado Galindo said that if he returned to the United States, he intended to sue Maritza Lugo for allegedly kidnapping and threatening him.
Acosta said he regretted joining the operation, which he described as “madness.”
“The advice I’d give other Cubans is stop consuming so much trash [on social media]. Keep your jobs and don’t come to Cuba to do anything because it’s not going to turn out well,” he said. “The Cuban people and the military are well trained to stop an intervention.”
Cruz said he still believed in their cause, but they needed more resources to carry out a successful armed struggle. He compared their failed incursion to Fidel Castro’s 1956 landing in Cuba aboard the *Granma*. “I’m convinced that everyone in Cuba wants change,” he said. “We still have many of the same problems we faced in the 1950s, and those problems will inevitably give rise to revolutionary movements fighting for a just cause.”
Rodríguez said he did not regret joining the operation, although he lamented watching his companions die, the suffering his detention had caused his family, and “having failed all those Cubans who want a free Cuba.” He said he remained committed to bringing about the end of what he considers a “dictatorship,” whether it be through military action or the Trump administration’s current policy of economic warfare.
“If they told me they would send an oil tanker to Cuba in exchange for freeing José Manuel,” he said, referring to himself, “I would rather rot in prison than let a single drop of oil enter this country.”
***Reed Lindsay** is a journalist, award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of Belly of the Beast, an independent media organization covering Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations. He has reported from Cuba since 2015.*
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[24]: https://www.tiktok.com/@lanuevacuba.corp
[25]: https://www.tiktok.com/@lanuevacuba.corp/video/7594623078605360398
[26]: https://www.facebook.com/pavel.alling/posts/pfbid0WWVPGDprFCPgu5cn3h7d5kpAMwcXSEnFxSLE6iUVuwa12pUpqcsEQUD3wM9drYB8l
[27]: https://www.facebook.com/amijail.sanchez.31/posts/pfbid0X1yKQ7vnqJqfyYXbTqwUJbVej4TLaqJ7YETXJSRSWnJ8tuQU4Fq8BYchNyNeozn4l?rdid=ZxYmNIWaBD3EYov3
[28]: https://www.presidencia.gob.cu/es/presidencia/intervenciones/comparecencia-del-presidente-de-la-republica-ante-los-medios-de-prensa-nacionales-y-extranjeros-en-el-palacio-de-la-revolucion
[29]: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/77/44/e53deb6c4d04b53f4f5c3299ebdd/boat.pdf
[30]: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/cuba-boat-shooting-florida-keys-boat-stolen-monroe-county/
[31]: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/sites/default/files/goc-2023-ex83-.pdf
[32]: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/sites/default/files/goc-2025-ex34_0.pdf
[33]: https://www.facebook.com/amijail.sanchez.31
[34]: https://elpais.com/us/2026-03-05/las-autodefensas-del-pueblo-el-grupo-al-que-pertenecian-los-tripulantes-de-la-lancha-que-intento-llegar-a-cuba.html
[35]: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid026Q3oCFWUoqFqv97yQ9qroTcdEb9Kgok2NnJdFnjxu38YEji6XowowXDJrsmJCu9Bl&id=100077423390580&rdid=DUZFrrsKiycOlmHQ
[36]: https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/viewDocument?qs=KKAudFw6F3ySf4BBl7udemETwhKUyLhck0yKsREU3bOnFlDAjTb6Rs9RfxNcmt%252BKkt0%252B2plQQfmxZCMHIGYlbpMwNhTxuGQAAkp1D5A30mrK0Ixh%252FFZxsNZc542xlJOoTrC5bcNeZlkUwAFz%252BH1mQWwoWEczzenQE3PYagATqH%252FAtO0KCsF7UjOGCo7s4Zzo6v0ND51WyFXPTQiBWtvzyw%253D%253D
[37]: https://www2.miamidadeclerk.gov/cjis/viewDocument?qs=KKAudFw6F3ySf4BBl7udemETwhKUyLhck0yKsREU3bOVnMSmepLlVGgxMUYhURpkDkiEFlvn%252FooBWmL6QYY7ZCL6CTpTIUlB8DZbnhLDZ40qnVsDzL0UHU7992ggEw81N4vTedAq9RmfH3DMDZfQcCVReVCqCHJ3yAVpM3zZh0nu1ywwxB%252FtNQQMssGQ8YZjOUXmQek8SB4ivZg6hgqw8XD5ijpjli0a6JtZGj%252BZDUY%253D
[38]: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html
[39]: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d481
[40]: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2019-10-03/kennedy-cuba-operation-mongoose
[41]: https://theconversationus.substack.com/p/history-shadows-a-deepening-uscuba
[42]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRTNTWkPgY&t=452s
[43]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRTNTWkPgY&t=497s
[44]: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alpha-males-6359755/
[45]: https://time.com/archive/7157222/why-posada-carriles-should-still-be-tried-for-terrorism/
[46]: https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/07/10/the-cuban-five-a-cold-war-case-in-a-post-cold-war-world/
[47]: https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/raul-castros-indictment-and-washingtons-double-standard-on-terrorism
[48]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-thwarts-terrorist-plot-by-s-florida-man-who-arrived-by-jetski-state-run-2023-12-10/
[49]: https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Cuba.htm
[50]: https://www.contactomagazine.com/maritza0215.htm
[51]: https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr250042000en.pdf
[52]: https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr250022002en.pdf
[53]: https://eltoque.com/en/who-is-the-cuban-woman-maritz-lugo-why-is-she-accused
[54]: https://www.elindependiente.com/internacional/2021/11/15/de-los-plantados-contra-fidel-a-los-jovenes-que-ahora-marchan-por-la-libertad-en-cuba/
[55]: https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2002-05-08-27-congress-67568792/287697.html
[56]: https://x.com/MarioDB/status/1985727089467695466
[57]: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1146297253397&set=pb.1106497950.-2207520000&type=3
[58]: https://www.hrccollier.org/events-1/voices-silenced-the-fight-for-political-freedom
[59]: https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-enrique-tarrio-seditious-conspiracy-trial-f8738f17552cda21eef6d89504da2a0e
[60]: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/freedom-information-act-foia-release-pardon-certificate-recipients
[61]: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10211456209296682&set=pb.1106497950.-2207520000
[62]: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122113649871228896&set=pb.61586866890702.-2207520000&type=3
[63]: https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=1105&LayerID=27399&PageTypeID=4&PageID=11143&Q=1397680943&KeyValue=1+30+44+04+010+0004-001.0
[64]: https://www.myfloridacounty.com/orisearch/s/image?q1=-I3DJUD7uFqFn9C0BV9xsA&q2=cb2b4db3350eb09c877039345516997b
[65]: https://www.myfloridacounty.com/orisearch/s/image?q1=-I3DJUD7uFqFn9C0BV9xsA&q2=d7e5a03572ebb2cf17958de9de492a38
[66]: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1466575062136454&set=pb.100063519216369.-2207520000
[67]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nashville-volunteers-deliver-food-immigrant-families-afraid-leave-homes/
[68]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-garc%C3%ADa-pe-cfm-52173357/
[69]: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/fbi-arrives-cuba-investigate-deadly-speedboat-shootout-2026-04-01/
[70]: https://apnews.com/article/cuba-terrorism-charges-us-boat-shooting-34ce5212cd10f58fb45a347f9cbb7630
[71]: https://www.tiktok.com/@michelnaranjo56/video/7677989332430490911
[72]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida/comments
[73]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/inside-the-armed-incursion-from-florida
D.C. co-opts Troy Jackson campaign; Fierce clashes in Yemen as Saudi reopens pipeline; Paramount clears path for Warner Bros merger
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson speaks at a town hall on September 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images.
**Tuesday, September 22, 2026 –***** **UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes. Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks. Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues. G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah. Tanker hit by projectile debris in Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says Iran fully prepared for war but open to negotiations. Iran rejects U.S. blame for rising fuel prices. China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines. IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister in Tehran. Wall Street Journal: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure. Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson
campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drop “genocide,” New York magazine reports. Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case. 8th Circuit reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden endorses GOP Rep. Mike Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race. TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms. George W. Bush and Sen. John Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser. GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly.” British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter's account before massacre. Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say. China expels
two top generals, including President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election. UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case. Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial. Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279. Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected meeting between President Recep Erdoğan and Trump in New York. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian presidential polls. Sudan warns UN against engagement with Rapid Support Forces that could confer political legitimacy. Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan. Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward. *
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Yemen
* **UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes: **Britain will deploy one RAF Voyager aircraft to [refuel][1] Saudi fighter jets amid renewed fighting with Yemen’s Ansarallah, according to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
* The aircraft will operate from a British base in Cyprus and begin air-to-air refuelling in the coming days, allowing Saudi jets to remain airborne longer.
* “We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defense secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling,” Burnham told reporters on Tuesday. The agreement is “time-limited” and will be kept under review, he added.
* **Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia: **Ansarallah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned Turkey and Pakistan against providing support to Saudi Arabia amid the fighting in Yemen, accusing Riyadh of seeking their involvement in its military campaign.
* “We advise Turkey and Pakistan not to become involved for political and material gains from the Saudi enemy,” Al-Houthi said in a televised address Monday.
* In August, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, expanding security cooperation between the three countries. Pakistan has condemned Ansarallah’s attacks and pledged to uphold its defense commitments to Saudi Arabia, but has not publicly announced direct military involvement.
* **Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks: **Saudi Arabia [restarted][2] its East-West oil pipeline and could resume crude exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later Tuesday, Reuters reported.
* The pipeline, which had been rerouting around 4 million barrels per day around the Strait of Hormuz, was shut on September 13 following drone attacks. It is currently operating at a low rate, with Saudi Aramco seeking to restore flows to 4 million barrels per day, though full operations could take weeks.
* Brent crude fell more than $2 a barrel following news of the restart.
* **Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues: **Fighting was reported across several parts of Yemen on Tuesday:
* **Mocha:** Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed at least six civilians, including two children and a woman, and wounded eight others, according to the Ansarallah-affiliated Saba news agency.
* **Lahj:** The Saudi-backed Yemeni government accused Ansarallah of firing two ballistic missiles at a commercial market on Monday, injuring civilians and damaging shops and vehicles.
* **Taiz:** Saudi-backed forces said they repelled an Ansarallah attack in Bani Bakari in Jabal Habashi district and shot down a drone in southwestern Taiz.
* **Marib and Al-Jawf:** Saudi strikes on Al-Batin in Al-Hazm killed a woman and her child and wounded her husband and two other children, according to Ansarallah. Separately, the Ansarallah-affiliated National Commission for Human Rights [said][3] a Saudi strike hit a prison holding prisoners of war in Al-Hazm on Monday, killing nine detainees captured during recent clashes. Marib also recorded the arrival of 3,000 displaced people.
* At least 154 people have been killed over the past two days in fighting between Ansarallah and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, AFP reported. Ansarallah sources reported 118 deaths from Saudi airstrikes and attacks, while government sources said 36 of their fighters were killed.
* **G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah: **Foreign Ministers from the G7 nations—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States—[issued][4] a statement on Monday on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly calling on Iran to end its arming and support of Ansarallah in Yemen.
* The ministers said they “condemn in the strongest terms the unacceptable continued strikes carried out by the Houthis in Yemen and against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and called on Ansarallah to “immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith.”
# Iran
* **Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports: **Iran [could][5] reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Tuesday.
* The official said Tehran sent Washington a proposal through mediators on September 16 and that Iran’s delegation at the UN General Assembly has authority to revive talks. President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, will not meet President Donald Trump in New York.
* “The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the U.S. to return to diplomacy,” the official added.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will use the UNGA to defend Iran’s “legitimacy, rights, and interests” following the U.S.-Israeli war, saying the country remains under wartime conditions.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC Washington is open to meeting Iranian officials at the United Nations, although no talks are currently scheduled.
* Iran’s armed forces are “100% ready” for war and the IRGC has prepared for a prolonged conflict, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi [told][6] IRNA Tuesday, while saying Tehran could also pursue negotiations if required by its national interests. “Negotiation does not mean compromise; negotiation is another scene of war,” Mohebbi said.
* **China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines: **China said Tuesday it opposes U.S. sanctions targeting Iranian airlines, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iranian carriers would be “shut down around the world” through U.S. sanctions.
* “China consistently opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law or authorization from the UN Security Council,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
* International flights operated by Iranian airlines will continue as scheduled from the beginning of October, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said Tuesday, according to ISNA. Iran’s aviation authority said no international flights have been cancelled so far and no orders have been issued to suspend them.
* **IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone: **Iran will begin reverse-engineering a U.S. autonomous underwater vehicle recently captured by IRGC naval forces, spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said.
* Mohebbi identified the vessel as a Dive-LD, an unmanned underwater vehicle designed for long-range surveillance and other undersea missions.
* **Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister over possible U.S. attacks:** Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran Monday, his sixth visit since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began in February, and a day after Tehran said it had received intelligence the U.S. was planning new attacks.
* During the meeting, Pezeshkian said “U.S. actions and pressures have contributed to greater convergence” among Islamic countries, and Naqvi noted that Pakistan believes “relations between Iran and Pakistan have never been at such a high level as they are today.”
* Separately, Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari representatives on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman saying that Doha was working in coordination with Pakistan, to “facilitate an agreement between Tehran and Washington,” even if it ends up being a short-term agreement.
* **WSJ: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure: **The Trump administration [proposed][7] contributing $5 billion to a new fund to rebuild energy infrastructure damaged during the seven-month Iran war and develop routes that reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported.
* Washington is seeking another $5 billion from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan. The proposed $10 billion fund, called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction (Pact), would be managed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation.
# Palestine
* **Killed and wounded in Gaza:** Over the past 24 hours, five Palestinians were killed—four in new Israeli attacks and one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 25 injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
* The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,919 killed, with 174,977 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,399 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,863, while 834 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
* **Israeli fire wounds Palestinian woman in Khan Younis: **A Palestinian woman was [wounded][8] by Israeli forces’ gunfire on Tuesday in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to WAFA.
* **Israeli forces, settlers uproot trees and attack Palestinians across the occupied West Bank:**
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli authorities [issued][9] military orders targeting trees and vegetation across 438.8 dunams (~108.4 acres) in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh and Jenin governorates on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. Israeli bulldozers also uprooted dozens of olive trees in Deir Nidham, while settlers razed land and uprooted trees in Ni’lin.
* More than 200 settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, [attacked][10] Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, damaging homes and vehicles, while settlers raided Silwad and stole dozens of livestock, WAFA reported.
* **Nablus:** Settlers [assaulted][11] four Palestinians in Aqraba, leaving them wounded, and fired live ammunition to prevent residents from approaching the area.
* **Hebron:** Settlers raided a family home in Yatta and assaulted women and children. Israeli forces later detained a member of the Palestinian family.
* **Over 160 Irish players urge football team to boycott Israel matches: **More than 160 Irish sports players [signed][12] an open letter urging Ireland’s men’s national football team to boycott upcoming matches against Israel on September 27 and October 4, calling on players to “act collectively with conscience,” RTE reported.
* The Football Association of Ireland said it will not act unilaterally and has instead urged UEFA to suspend Israel from international competition.
* The Palestinian Football Association recently announced its own return with the Thousand Martyrs Cup, commemorating more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes killed by Israel since October 7, 2023. **Read Abubaker Abed’s report on the return of Palestinian football for Drop Site [here][13].**
* **Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against Israeli soldier in Italy: **The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint in Italy against Israeli soldier Yonatan Chalich, accusing him of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide during his deployment in Gaza between October 2023 and August 2024. The foundation said Chalich is currently on holiday in Tuscany and alleged that he may have been involved in the siege and destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital, an attack on the Haj Hamdi Harzallah Mosque, and the destruction of Palestine Square.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli forces shell southern Lebanon, set homes ablaze in Khiam amid “ceasefire”: **Israeli forces [carried out][14] heavy machine-gun fire inside the town of Khiam, while setting several homes ablaze, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Tuesday.
* Israeli artillery also [shelled][15] Baraachit and the outskirts of Haddatha in the Bint Jbeil district.
* **Lebanon PM calls for continued UN presence in south after UNIFIL: **Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam [called][16] for a continued international presence under the UN in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL’s mandate ends, during a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York.
* Salam said a post-UNIFIL presence should maintain monitoring, reporting, and liaison functions, help preserve stability, and support the Lebanese state in extending its authority across the country.
* Around 329,000 people remain displaced in Lebanon, he said, calling for continued humanitarian funding alongside programs supporting their return and recovery in affected areas.
# U.S. News
* **Susan Collins caught dead-to-rights in bribery scheme: **A ProPublica investigation finds that the Department of Justice’s public corruption unit, just before it was gutted by President Donald Trump, was circling the Maine Republican senator facing **Troy Jackson**. The evidence suggests that** Susan Collins** and her campaign solicited illegal contributions from a Hawaii-based weapons maker.
* The company sent the funds to a super PAC through a shell company—amusingly named Society of Young Scientist and Engineers LLC—in exchange for Collins steering defense contracts to the company. It is illegal for defense contractors to make federal contributions to candidates.
* Collins appears to have been aware of and directly involved in the scheme. Writes ProPublica: “Seven days after the super PAC cashed the check from **[Martin] Kao**’s shell company, one of **[Scott] Reed**’s subordinates emailed a Navatek lobbyist asking for Kao’s phone number: “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.”
* The Collins campaign said it was investigated and there was no crime.** **[Read the full report.][17]
* **Troy Jackson campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drops “genocide,”[ NY Mag reports: ][18]**New York Magazine reports that national Democratic consultants running **Troy Jackson**’s Senate campaign have pushed him to soften his messaging on Gaza and avoid questions about Israel. **Rebecca Traister** reports that out of state advisors and “consultants, some connected to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and national party leaders,” have discouraged open Q&As and sought to minimize opportunities for Jackson to discuss Gaza, despite his previously unequivocal support for a total arms embargo and his description of Israel’s assault as genocide.
* A campaign document seen by Drop Site instructs Jackson to say, “I think what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is horrific, senseless violence. I think Israel has the right to defend itself, but **I do not support the United States sending offensive weapons **that enable more killing.” It also encourages him to call for “the release of the hostages,” though Hamas holds no hostages.
* A person familiar with the campaign tells Drop Site News: “They have told him to stop saying genocide, moved him to blocking offensive only, and his answers are pissing off voters.” Drop Site reviewed campaign materials that instruct him to say, when asked whether it is a genocide, “START with ‘I’ve said what I’ve said.’ Do not sound like you’re walking back the previous position and do not invite an argument over semantics.”
* At a September town hall, Jackson delivered what Traister describes as “word salad,” speaking of people suffering on “both sides” and said Gaza and Israel both “deserve to be there, be protected,” drawing visible disapproval from some attendees.
* The Jackson campaign’s [recent responses to Drop Site][19] also appear consistent with the shifting message on Gaza. When questioned if an upcoming big ticket fundraiser hosted by an AIPAC-aligned Democrat represented a moderation of his position on Gaza, the campaign avoided a direct response, replying through a spokesperson that “Jackson has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, and has pledged to reject money from AIPAC.”
* Jackson’s campaign told New York Magazine his positions on Gaza have not changed. A spokesperson told Drop Site yesterday that Jackson “opposes U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel” and “has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide.” The statement did not repeat his earlier support for a total arms embargo. [Read the full NY Mag story here.][20]
* **Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal**: Paramount settled an antitrust lawsuit brought by a dozen state attorneys general led by California’s **Rob Bonta**, removing the last obstacle to its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
* The settlement includes the establishment of a board to oversee the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News, financial penalties tied to CEO **David Ellison’s** commitment to making 30 movies a year, a $1.5 billion investment in American films, a $47.5 million “workforce development fund,” and a requirement to honor existing union agreements.
* Paramount will not have to sell any of its cable networks for the deal to go through.
* Four holdout attorneys general reportedly came around to the deal late Sunday after Bonta pledged to hold Paramount’s “feet to the fire” on compliance. “I want to be clear about something right up front: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger,” Bonta said at a news conference on Monday. “We believe further consolidation of markets that are central to American economic life doesn’t serve the American economy.”
* The Writers Guild of America, which filed a separate lawsuit in July, announced on Monday that it could not afford to continue the legal battle alone and that it had settled its lawsuit as well.
* The deal follows the FCC’s September 17 decision allowing sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to hold a non-voting 49.5% stake in the merged company. It also follows threats by Paramount to leave California, potentially relocating thousands of jobs.
* **Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case**: California Attorney General **Rob Bonta’s** office [said][21] Monday it will dismiss charges against five former and current Stanford University students who barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office during a 2024 pro-Palestinian demonstration, provided each completes 100 hours of community service and the group pays roughly $52,000 combined in restitution to the university.
* The case, among the most serious brought against participants in the 2024 campus protest movement, had ended in a mistrial in February after jurors deadlocked, and the state attorney general’s office took over after defense attorneys successfully argued for the removal of Santa Clara County District Attorney **Jeff Rosen**, who had planned to seek a retrial.
* **Circuit court reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election**: The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [ruled][22] Monday that using Missouri’s older 2022 map, which gives Republicans a 6-2 House advantage, would be unconstitutional and reinstated the newer 7-1 map Republicans passed last year, writing that under the old map “some Missouri voters will have more say than others on who represents them in Congress.”
* The ruling will take effect in a week, allowing a grace period for an expected Supreme Court appeal. This would mark the third time the high court has weighed in on the dispute; the court earlier halted a lower court order from U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, that also favored the 7-1 map.
* **Democratic Rep. Golden endorses GOP Rep. Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race**: Rep. **Jared Golden** (D-Maine) [endorsed][23] New York Republican Rep.** Mike Lawler** in an opinion piece for Westchester County’s Journal News on Monday, praising Lawler for his “bipartisanship” and calling him “a true partner” in his work with Golden on a bill altering regulations that affected Maine lobstermen.
* Lawler faces Democrat **Cait Conley** in a district which **Kamala Harris** narrowly won in 2024. Both Golden and Lawler belong to the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Golden is not seeking re-election in 2026.
* **TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico**: Five major TV networks [suspended][24] pooled coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday, leaving his press conference audible only through unusable White House-provided video.
* The unified pushback followed Trump’s recent expulsion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over reporting he called “FAKE NEWS,” which prompted the outlets to file a First Amendment lawsuit earlier this week.
* **AOC says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms:** Rep. **Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez **[told][25] The New York Times on Tuesday she will decide whether to run for president after the midterms, telling the paper she was “crunching…the mental math,” and was taking into consideration her plans to start a family as well as her fears that, as a woman and as Latina, her opponents might challenge her electability.
* She said she is also weighing a potential Senate challenge to Sen. **Chuck Schumer,** adding “I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,” and noted that a failed presidential bid this cycle would likely end her House career, calling the decision “very all or nothing.”
* **Bush and Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser**: Former President **George W. Bush** and Sen. **John Cornyn** [hosted][26] a Dallas fundraiser on Monday evening for six Republican Senate nominees in battleground states, including **Susan Collins** of Maine, **Jon Husted** of Ohio, and **Dan Sullivan** of Alaska, while pointedly excluding Texas nominee **Ken Paxton**, who defeated Cornyn in a bitter GOP primary.
* Paxton has trailed his Democratic opponent, **James Talarico**, in fundraising, though he has received considerable support from Trump-aligned PACs and Senate Republican groups, who have spent over $80 million on advertising in favor of the Republican attorney general.
* **GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly”:** Michigan Republican Senate nominee **Mike Rogers** said Monday the war with Iran “needs to end, and end quickly,” [calling][27] for a temporary diesel export embargo to lower prices for Michigan families.
* Rogers follows Iowa’s **Ashley Hinson**, who earlier that day also publicly distanced herself from the White House over the conflict’s economic toll, calling for a “successful and immediate end” to the war. Hinson has voted against resolutions to end the war in the House four times, and as recently as last week.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **JNIM jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say: **Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin, a Salafi group in the Maghreb with ties to Al-Qaeda, [killed][28] more than 100 soldiers in a week-long attack on the central Malian town of Dioura on September 10, with a security source telling Reuters that the group killed 130 and a diplomatic source giving an estimate of around 120 (JNIM itself claimed it killed 150). One of these security sources also said that the militants took 100 soldiers hostage.
* In April, JNIM joined forces with the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) to fight Mali’s military government.
* JNIM separately claimed on Sunday to have struck air defense systems at the Sevare airport, which houses military aircraft and drones supported by Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary group, and claimed that it had killed 33 more pro-government forces in Sevare and nearby Konna.
* **China expels two top generals, including Xi’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption: **China [expelled][29] Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, a chief of staff at CMC, from the Communist Party and military, state media reported, citing corruption and rare charges of “disloyalty” and forming “cliques and factions.”
* Zhang has long been viewed as President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally.
* Probes into the pair were first announced in January. The purge has left only two active figures on the formerly seven-member commission, including Xi himself.
* **Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election:** Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party [secured][30] more than 58% of the vote in Russian elections, putting it on track to hold over three-quarters of the seats in the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house.
* The parliamentary election was the first since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia.
* Yabloko, Russia’s only registered anti-war party, won no national seats after the Supreme Court removed it from the ballot last month. Russia’s Communist Party, which has been critical of the war, won 40 Duma seats.
* **UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case: **British prosecutors [charged][31] Vincent Brown (formerly Bajinya), a 65-year-old Rwandan man, with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. Brown is the first person to be charged by Crown Prosecutors related to the genocide.
* Britain’s Counter Terrorism Policing War Crimes Team accused Brown of directing and inciting the killing of Tutsis in Kigali in April 1994. Police said investigations into six other individuals remain ongoing.
* More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 100-day genocide in 1994.
* **Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial:** Sanna Manjang, former head of the Gambian paramilitary unit known as the Junglers, [appeared][32] before a military court on Monday to face desertion charges.
* Manjang fled the country in 2017 following the end of President Yahya Jammeh’s 20-year rule. The Junglers have long been accused by the UN of extrajudicial killings and torture.
* Manjang was previously charged with four counts of murder, including the 2004 murder of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, though the charges were dropped in July over an inability to summon witnesses.
* **Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279**: Sri Lanka’s High Court [convicted][33] 14 of 24 defendants on Tuesday of murder and terrorism conspiracy for aiding and abetting the suicide bombers who struck three hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday 2019, killing 279 people.
* Among those convicted was Mohamed Naufar, identified by prosecutors as the ringleader who supported the eight-member suicide squad.
* An investigation into former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay is ongoing. Sallay is accused of orchestrating the bombings to manufacture a security threat that would bolster political support for the ruling Rajapaksa family, an allegation he and the family deny.
* **Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected Erdoğan-Trump meeting in New York**: Turkey and the United States have [resumed][34] talks over F-16 fighter jets, a source told Al-Monitor, ahead of a possible meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.
* Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called U.S. sanctions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system “an impediment” and said that officials are pursuing “some creative ideas” to resolve the issue. These sanctions have also blocked Turkey’s acquisition of F-35 jets it paid roughly $1.4 billion toward.
* It remains unclear whether the renewed talks concern Turkey’s 2021 request for 40 new F-16 Block 70 jets, U.S. approval for domestic modernization of its existing fleet of more than 230 F-16s, or both.
* **Lula and Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian polls:** Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro [remain][35] statistically tied in polls conducted before Brazil’s October elections, with a Quaest poll showing Bolsonaro leading 42% to 41%, and a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showing Lula ahead 46% to 45%; both leads are within the polls’ margins of error.
* The first round of voting will take place on October 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of votes in the first round, the two frontrunners advance to a runoff on October 25.
* **Sudan warns UN against engagement with RSF that could confer political legitimacy**: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem [pressed][36] UN officials, including Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, in New York Monday over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Darfur and Kordofan while warning that public UN engagement with the Rapid Support Forces risks legitimizing the parallel administrations the group has established across areas it controls, Sudan Tribune reported,.
* UN officials responded that any operational contact with groups on the ground is meant strictly to facilitate neutral aid delivery, not political recognition.
* Salem separately met with the head of the UN Office for Project Services to request support for health, agriculture and housing reconstruction projects in areas it has deemed secure
* **Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan: **Two members of North Korea’s roughly 180-person [delegation][37] to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games have reportedly told Japanese contacts they do not want to return home and would prefer to seek asylum in Japan rather than South Korea, according to South Korea’s Monthly Chosun.
* **Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward:** Spain’s Council of Ministers decided on Tuesday to allow the Trump administration’s extradition request against Fergie Chambers—a pro-Palestine American activist and heir to the Cox Enterprises family fortune—to proceed to the Spanish courts.
* The U.S. indictment against Chambers is sealed but his lawyer in Spain, Baltasar Garzón, has said the government is claiming money laundering to ultimately fund terrorism, as well as disorderly conduct and conspiracy to riot related to pro-Palestine protests in 2023.
* Garzón warned Tuesday’s decision by the Council of Ministers “sets a dangerous precedent regarding the defense of the Palestinian cause.”
* Chambers reportedly received $250 million after cutting ties with his family and has donated over £1 million to humanitarian projects in Gaza.
* **British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter’s account before massacre**: British Columbia [filed][38] a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court accusing OpenAI of negligence and aiding and abetting the February mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which killed nine people, alleging the company’s leadership rejected reviewers’ recommendation to refer the shooter’s account to police months before the attack, after automated monitoring flagged a “credible specific risk of harm to others.”
🎥 **[WATCH][39] **The War Brief: Trump Hiding the Real Death Toll; Why the Saudi Military Can’t Fight; and AI’s Role in Killing Minab Children
📖 **[READ][40] **Pakistan Tells Hospitals To Clear Bed Space For "Mass Casualty Incident" Ahead of Major Protest
📖 **[READ][41] **Israel Is Expanding and Upgrading Compounds for Palestinian Militias in Gaza
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[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlykpe4dk0yo
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-arabia-restarts-east-west-oil-pipeline-resume-exports-yanbu-sources-say-2026-09-22/
[3]: https://www.saba.ye/ar/news3793512.htm
[4]: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/g7-foreign-ministers-call-iran-024516433.html
[5]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-ready-reopen-strait-hormuz-if-us-eases-military-pressure-lifts-blockade-2026-09-22/
[6]: https://en.irna.ir/news/86271016/Negotiations-are-another-battlefield-enemy-lacks-capacity-for
[7]: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-administration-proposes-5-billion-to-kickstart-investment-fund-to-rebuild-gulf-energy-sites-5b75cadf
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B5-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3-154437
[9]: https://www.cwrc.ps/page-4999-ar.html
[10]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%B7%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-154415
[11]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-154436
[12]: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2026/0921/1592334-sportspeople-ask-roi-players-to-boycott-israel-fixtures/
[13]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/the-thousand-martyrs-cup-football?utm_source=publication-search
[14]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564534/%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A9-2
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564519/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%B1-2
[16]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564443/%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%89-%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%84%D8%B6%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9
[17]: https://www.propublica.org/article/fbi-susan-collins-navatek-campaign-donations-investigation
[18]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[19]: https://x.com/dropsitenews/status/2101873741814763540?s=46
[20]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[21]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/charges-against-pro-palestinian-stanford-protesters-be-dismissed
[22]: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6102804-mo-court-reinstates-gop-house-map/
[23]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/nyregion/lawler-endorsement-golden-democrat.html
[24]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/21/trump-white-house-pool-tv-ban-audio
[25]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/politics/aoc-2028-presidential-race.html
[26]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/us/politics/bush-cornyn-paxton-senate-fund-raiser.html
[27]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/21/congress/rogers-says-iran-war-needs-to-end-01086434
[28]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/al-qaeda-linked-militants-kill-more-than-100-malian-soldiers-in-attack-this-month-sources-say
[29]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/china-expels-two-top-generals-from-party-and-military-alleging-disloyalty-corruption
[30]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/pro-putin-party-wins-supermajority-amid-ramped-up-ukrainian-attacks
[31]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/uk-charges-man-over-alleged-rwanda-genocide-offences
[32]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/former-death-squad-leader-appears-205743035.html
[33]: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sri-lanka-issue-verdict-landmark-000102203.html
[34]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/turkey-us-resume-f-16-talks-ahead-expected-trump-erdogan-meeting
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/brazil-s-lula-would-beat-bolsonaro-by-1-point-in-runoff-suggests-btg-nexus-poll
[36]: https://sudantribune.com/article/319079
[37]: https://www.reuters.com/sports/two-north-korea-members-asian-games-seek-asylum-japan-report-says-2026-09-22/
[38]: https://www.ft.com/content/30d2f29b-e750-4a90-9e8d-b1a7f14e4908
[39]: https://youtu.be/o-Q5VGvLCts?si=IXHE3H-4Xb_A_4Pi
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-military-protest-imran-khan-sisters-detained-hospitals-beds
[41]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-gaza-palestinian-militias-compounds-yellow-line-bases
[42]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[43]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[44]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[45]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/troy-jackson-maine-yemen-ansarallah-saudi-pipeline-paramount-warner-bros-merger
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson speaks at a town hall on September 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. Photo by Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images.
**Tuesday, September 22, 2026 –***** **UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes. Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks. Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues. G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah. Tanker hit by projectile debris in Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says Iran fully prepared for war but open to negotiations. Iran rejects U.S. blame for rising fuel prices. China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines. IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister in Tehran. Wall Street Journal: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure. Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson
campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drop “genocide,” New York magazine reports. Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case. 8th Circuit reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden endorses GOP Rep. Mike Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race. TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms. George W. Bush and Sen. John Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser. GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly.” British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter's account before massacre. Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say. China expels
two top generals, including President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election. UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case. Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial. Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279. Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected meeting between President Recep Erdoğan and Trump in New York. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian presidential polls. Sudan warns UN against engagement with Rapid Support Forces that could confer political legitimacy. Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan. Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward. *
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Yemen
* **UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes: **Britain will deploy one RAF Voyager aircraft to [refuel][1] Saudi fighter jets amid renewed fighting with Yemen’s Ansarallah, according to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
* The aircraft will operate from a British base in Cyprus and begin air-to-air refuelling in the coming days, allowing Saudi jets to remain airborne longer.
* “We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defense secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling,” Burnham told reporters on Tuesday. The agreement is “time-limited” and will be kept under review, he added.
* **Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia: **Ansarallah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned Turkey and Pakistan against providing support to Saudi Arabia amid the fighting in Yemen, accusing Riyadh of seeking their involvement in its military campaign.
* “We advise Turkey and Pakistan not to become involved for political and material gains from the Saudi enemy,” Al-Houthi said in a televised address Monday.
* In August, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, expanding security cooperation between the three countries. Pakistan has condemned Ansarallah’s attacks and pledged to uphold its defense commitments to Saudi Arabia, but has not publicly announced direct military involvement.
* **Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks: **Saudi Arabia [restarted][2] its East-West oil pipeline and could resume crude exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later Tuesday, Reuters reported.
* The pipeline, which had been rerouting around 4 million barrels per day around the Strait of Hormuz, was shut on September 13 following drone attacks. It is currently operating at a low rate, with Saudi Aramco seeking to restore flows to 4 million barrels per day, though full operations could take weeks.
* Brent crude fell more than $2 a barrel following news of the restart.
* **Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues: **Fighting was reported across several parts of Yemen on Tuesday:
* **Mocha:** Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed at least six civilians, including two children and a woman, and wounded eight others, according to the Ansarallah-affiliated Saba news agency.
* **Lahj:** The Saudi-backed Yemeni government accused Ansarallah of firing two ballistic missiles at a commercial market on Monday, injuring civilians and damaging shops and vehicles.
* **Taiz:** Saudi-backed forces said they repelled an Ansarallah attack in Bani Bakari in Jabal Habashi district and shot down a drone in southwestern Taiz.
* **Marib and Al-Jawf:** Saudi strikes on Al-Batin in Al-Hazm killed a woman and her child and wounded her husband and two other children, according to Ansarallah. Separately, the Ansarallah-affiliated National Commission for Human Rights [said][3] a Saudi strike hit a prison holding prisoners of war in Al-Hazm on Monday, killing nine detainees captured during recent clashes. Marib also recorded the arrival of 3,000 displaced people.
* At least 154 people have been killed over the past two days in fighting between Ansarallah and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, AFP reported. Ansarallah sources reported 118 deaths from Saudi airstrikes and attacks, while government sources said 36 of their fighters were killed.
* **G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah: **Foreign Ministers from the G7 nations—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States—[issued][4] a statement on Monday on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly calling on Iran to end its arming and support of Ansarallah in Yemen.
* The ministers said they “condemn in the strongest terms the unacceptable continued strikes carried out by the Houthis in Yemen and against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and called on Ansarallah to “immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith.”
# Iran
* **Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports: **Iran [could][5] reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Tuesday.
* The official said Tehran sent Washington a proposal through mediators on September 16 and that Iran’s delegation at the UN General Assembly has authority to revive talks. President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, will not meet President Donald Trump in New York.
* “The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the U.S. to return to diplomacy,” the official added.
* Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will use the UNGA to defend Iran’s “legitimacy, rights, and interests” following the U.S.-Israeli war, saying the country remains under wartime conditions.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC Washington is open to meeting Iranian officials at the United Nations, although no talks are currently scheduled.
* Iran’s armed forces are “100% ready” for war and the IRGC has prepared for a prolonged conflict, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi [told][6] IRNA Tuesday, while saying Tehran could also pursue negotiations if required by its national interests. “Negotiation does not mean compromise; negotiation is another scene of war,” Mohebbi said.
* **China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines: **China said Tuesday it opposes U.S. sanctions targeting Iranian airlines, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iranian carriers would be “shut down around the world” through U.S. sanctions.
* “China consistently opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law or authorization from the UN Security Council,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
* International flights operated by Iranian airlines will continue as scheduled from the beginning of October, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said Tuesday, according to ISNA. Iran’s aviation authority said no international flights have been cancelled so far and no orders have been issued to suspend them.
* **IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone: **Iran will begin reverse-engineering a U.S. autonomous underwater vehicle recently captured by IRGC naval forces, spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said.
* Mohebbi identified the vessel as a Dive-LD, an unmanned underwater vehicle designed for long-range surveillance and other undersea missions.
* **Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister over possible U.S. attacks:** Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran Monday, his sixth visit since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began in February, and a day after Tehran said it had received intelligence the U.S. was planning new attacks.
* During the meeting, Pezeshkian said “U.S. actions and pressures have contributed to greater convergence” among Islamic countries, and Naqvi noted that Pakistan believes “relations between Iran and Pakistan have never been at such a high level as they are today.”
* Separately, Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari representatives on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman saying that Doha was working in coordination with Pakistan, to “facilitate an agreement between Tehran and Washington,” even if it ends up being a short-term agreement.
* **WSJ: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure: **The Trump administration [proposed][7] contributing $5 billion to a new fund to rebuild energy infrastructure damaged during the seven-month Iran war and develop routes that reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported.
* Washington is seeking another $5 billion from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan. The proposed $10 billion fund, called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction (Pact), would be managed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation.
# Palestine
* **Killed and wounded in Gaza:** Over the past 24 hours, five Palestinians were killed—four in new Israeli attacks and one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 25 injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
* The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,919 killed, with 174,977 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,399 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,863, while 834 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
* **Israeli fire wounds Palestinian woman in Khan Younis: **A Palestinian woman was [wounded][8] by Israeli forces’ gunfire on Tuesday in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to WAFA.
* **Israeli forces, settlers uproot trees and attack Palestinians across the occupied West Bank:**
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli authorities [issued][9] military orders targeting trees and vegetation across 438.8 dunams (~108.4 acres) in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh and Jenin governorates on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. Israeli bulldozers also uprooted dozens of olive trees in Deir Nidham, while settlers razed land and uprooted trees in Ni’lin.
* More than 200 settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, [attacked][10] Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, damaging homes and vehicles, while settlers raided Silwad and stole dozens of livestock, WAFA reported.
* **Nablus:** Settlers [assaulted][11] four Palestinians in Aqraba, leaving them wounded, and fired live ammunition to prevent residents from approaching the area.
* **Hebron:** Settlers raided a family home in Yatta and assaulted women and children. Israeli forces later detained a member of the Palestinian family.
* **Over 160 Irish players urge football team to boycott Israel matches: **More than 160 Irish sports players [signed][12] an open letter urging Ireland’s men’s national football team to boycott upcoming matches against Israel on September 27 and October 4, calling on players to “act collectively with conscience,” RTE reported.
* The Football Association of Ireland said it will not act unilaterally and has instead urged UEFA to suspend Israel from international competition.
* The Palestinian Football Association recently announced its own return with the Thousand Martyrs Cup, commemorating more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes killed by Israel since October 7, 2023. **Read Abubaker Abed’s report on the return of Palestinian football for Drop Site [here][13].**
* **Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against Israeli soldier in Italy: **The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint in Italy against Israeli soldier Yonatan Chalich, accusing him of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide during his deployment in Gaza between October 2023 and August 2024. The foundation said Chalich is currently on holiday in Tuscany and alleged that he may have been involved in the siege and destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital, an attack on the Haj Hamdi Harzallah Mosque, and the destruction of Palestine Square.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli forces shell southern Lebanon, set homes ablaze in Khiam amid “ceasefire”: **Israeli forces [carried out][14] heavy machine-gun fire inside the town of Khiam, while setting several homes ablaze, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Tuesday.
* Israeli artillery also [shelled][15] Baraachit and the outskirts of Haddatha in the Bint Jbeil district.
* **Lebanon PM calls for continued UN presence in south after UNIFIL: **Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam [called][16] for a continued international presence under the UN in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL’s mandate ends, during a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York.
* Salam said a post-UNIFIL presence should maintain monitoring, reporting, and liaison functions, help preserve stability, and support the Lebanese state in extending its authority across the country.
* Around 329,000 people remain displaced in Lebanon, he said, calling for continued humanitarian funding alongside programs supporting their return and recovery in affected areas.
# U.S. News
* **Susan Collins caught dead-to-rights in bribery scheme: **A ProPublica investigation finds that the Department of Justice’s public corruption unit, just before it was gutted by President Donald Trump, was circling the Maine Republican senator facing **Troy Jackson**. The evidence suggests that** Susan Collins** and her campaign solicited illegal contributions from a Hawaii-based weapons maker.
* The company sent the funds to a super PAC through a shell company—amusingly named Society of Young Scientist and Engineers LLC—in exchange for Collins steering defense contracts to the company. It is illegal for defense contractors to make federal contributions to candidates.
* Collins appears to have been aware of and directly involved in the scheme. Writes ProPublica: “Seven days after the super PAC cashed the check from **[Martin] Kao**’s shell company, one of **[Scott] Reed**’s subordinates emailed a Navatek lobbyist asking for Kao’s phone number: “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.”
* The Collins campaign said it was investigated and there was no crime.** **[Read the full report.][17]
* **Troy Jackson campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drops “genocide,”[ NY Mag reports: ][18]**New York Magazine reports that national Democratic consultants running **Troy Jackson**’s Senate campaign have pushed him to soften his messaging on Gaza and avoid questions about Israel. **Rebecca Traister** reports that out of state advisors and “consultants, some connected to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and national party leaders,” have discouraged open Q&As and sought to minimize opportunities for Jackson to discuss Gaza, despite his previously unequivocal support for a total arms embargo and his description of Israel’s assault as genocide.
* A campaign document seen by Drop Site instructs Jackson to say, “I think what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is horrific, senseless violence. I think Israel has the right to defend itself, but **I do not support the United States sending offensive weapons **that enable more killing.” It also encourages him to call for “the release of the hostages,” though Hamas holds no hostages.
* A person familiar with the campaign tells Drop Site News: “They have told him to stop saying genocide, moved him to blocking offensive only, and his answers are pissing off voters.” Drop Site reviewed campaign materials that instruct him to say, when asked whether it is a genocide, “START with ‘I’ve said what I’ve said.’ Do not sound like you’re walking back the previous position and do not invite an argument over semantics.”
* At a September town hall, Jackson delivered what Traister describes as “word salad,” speaking of people suffering on “both sides” and said Gaza and Israel both “deserve to be there, be protected,” drawing visible disapproval from some attendees.
* The Jackson campaign’s [recent responses to Drop Site][19] also appear consistent with the shifting message on Gaza. When questioned if an upcoming big ticket fundraiser hosted by an AIPAC-aligned Democrat represented a moderation of his position on Gaza, the campaign avoided a direct response, replying through a spokesperson that “Jackson has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, and has pledged to reject money from AIPAC.”
* Jackson’s campaign told New York Magazine his positions on Gaza have not changed. A spokesperson told Drop Site yesterday that Jackson “opposes U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel” and “has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide.” The statement did not repeat his earlier support for a total arms embargo. [Read the full NY Mag story here.][20]
* **Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal**: Paramount settled an antitrust lawsuit brought by a dozen state attorneys general led by California’s **Rob Bonta**, removing the last obstacle to its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
* The settlement includes the establishment of a board to oversee the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News, financial penalties tied to CEO **David Ellison’s** commitment to making 30 movies a year, a $1.5 billion investment in American films, a $47.5 million “workforce development fund,” and a requirement to honor existing union agreements.
* Paramount will not have to sell any of its cable networks for the deal to go through.
* Four holdout attorneys general reportedly came around to the deal late Sunday after Bonta pledged to hold Paramount’s “feet to the fire” on compliance. “I want to be clear about something right up front: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger,” Bonta said at a news conference on Monday. “We believe further consolidation of markets that are central to American economic life doesn’t serve the American economy.”
* The Writers Guild of America, which filed a separate lawsuit in July, announced on Monday that it could not afford to continue the legal battle alone and that it had settled its lawsuit as well.
* The deal follows the FCC’s September 17 decision allowing sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to hold a non-voting 49.5% stake in the merged company. It also follows threats by Paramount to leave California, potentially relocating thousands of jobs.
* **Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case**: California Attorney General **Rob Bonta’s** office [said][21] Monday it will dismiss charges against five former and current Stanford University students who barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office during a 2024 pro-Palestinian demonstration, provided each completes 100 hours of community service and the group pays roughly $52,000 combined in restitution to the university.
* The case, among the most serious brought against participants in the 2024 campus protest movement, had ended in a mistrial in February after jurors deadlocked, and the state attorney general’s office took over after defense attorneys successfully argued for the removal of Santa Clara County District Attorney **Jeff Rosen**, who had planned to seek a retrial.
* **Circuit court reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election**: The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [ruled][22] Monday that using Missouri’s older 2022 map, which gives Republicans a 6-2 House advantage, would be unconstitutional and reinstated the newer 7-1 map Republicans passed last year, writing that under the old map “some Missouri voters will have more say than others on who represents them in Congress.”
* The ruling will take effect in a week, allowing a grace period for an expected Supreme Court appeal. This would mark the third time the high court has weighed in on the dispute; the court earlier halted a lower court order from U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, that also favored the 7-1 map.
* **Democratic Rep. Golden endorses GOP Rep. Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race**: Rep. **Jared Golden** (D-Maine) [endorsed][23] New York Republican Rep.** Mike Lawler** in an opinion piece for Westchester County’s Journal News on Monday, praising Lawler for his “bipartisanship” and calling him “a true partner” in his work with Golden on a bill altering regulations that affected Maine lobstermen.
* Lawler faces Democrat **Cait Conley** in a district which **Kamala Harris** narrowly won in 2024. Both Golden and Lawler belong to the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Golden is not seeking re-election in 2026.
* **TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico**: Five major TV networks [suspended][24] pooled coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday, leaving his press conference audible only through unusable White House-provided video.
* The unified pushback followed Trump’s recent expulsion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over reporting he called “FAKE NEWS,” which prompted the outlets to file a First Amendment lawsuit earlier this week.
* **AOC says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms:** Rep. **Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez **[told][25] The New York Times on Tuesday she will decide whether to run for president after the midterms, telling the paper she was “crunching…the mental math,” and was taking into consideration her plans to start a family as well as her fears that, as a woman and as Latina, her opponents might challenge her electability.
* She said she is also weighing a potential Senate challenge to Sen. **Chuck Schumer,** adding “I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,” and noted that a failed presidential bid this cycle would likely end her House career, calling the decision “very all or nothing.”
* **Bush and Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser**: Former President **George W. Bush** and Sen. **John Cornyn** [hosted][26] a Dallas fundraiser on Monday evening for six Republican Senate nominees in battleground states, including **Susan Collins** of Maine, **Jon Husted** of Ohio, and **Dan Sullivan** of Alaska, while pointedly excluding Texas nominee **Ken Paxton**, who defeated Cornyn in a bitter GOP primary.
* Paxton has trailed his Democratic opponent, **James Talarico**, in fundraising, though he has received considerable support from Trump-aligned PACs and Senate Republican groups, who have spent over $80 million on advertising in favor of the Republican attorney general.
* **GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly”:** Michigan Republican Senate nominee **Mike Rogers** said Monday the war with Iran “needs to end, and end quickly,” [calling][27] for a temporary diesel export embargo to lower prices for Michigan families.
* Rogers follows Iowa’s **Ashley Hinson**, who earlier that day also publicly distanced herself from the White House over the conflict’s economic toll, calling for a “successful and immediate end” to the war. Hinson has voted against resolutions to end the war in the House four times, and as recently as last week.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **JNIM jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say: **Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin, a Salafi group in the Maghreb with ties to Al-Qaeda, [killed][28] more than 100 soldiers in a week-long attack on the central Malian town of Dioura on September 10, with a security source telling Reuters that the group killed 130 and a diplomatic source giving an estimate of around 120 (JNIM itself claimed it killed 150). One of these security sources also said that the militants took 100 soldiers hostage.
* In April, JNIM joined forces with the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) to fight Mali’s military government.
* JNIM separately claimed on Sunday to have struck air defense systems at the Sevare airport, which houses military aircraft and drones supported by Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary group, and claimed that it had killed 33 more pro-government forces in Sevare and nearby Konna.
* **China expels two top generals, including Xi’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption: **China [expelled][29] Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, a chief of staff at CMC, from the Communist Party and military, state media reported, citing corruption and rare charges of “disloyalty” and forming “cliques and factions.”
* Zhang has long been viewed as President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally.
* Probes into the pair were first announced in January. The purge has left only two active figures on the formerly seven-member commission, including Xi himself.
* **Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election:** Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party [secured][30] more than 58% of the vote in Russian elections, putting it on track to hold over three-quarters of the seats in the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house.
* The parliamentary election was the first since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia.
* Yabloko, Russia’s only registered anti-war party, won no national seats after the Supreme Court removed it from the ballot last month. Russia’s Communist Party, which has been critical of the war, won 40 Duma seats.
* **UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case: **British prosecutors [charged][31] Vincent Brown (formerly Bajinya), a 65-year-old Rwandan man, with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. Brown is the first person to be charged by Crown Prosecutors related to the genocide.
* Britain’s Counter Terrorism Policing War Crimes Team accused Brown of directing and inciting the killing of Tutsis in Kigali in April 1994. Police said investigations into six other individuals remain ongoing.
* More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 100-day genocide in 1994.
* **Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial:** Sanna Manjang, former head of the Gambian paramilitary unit known as the Junglers, [appeared][32] before a military court on Monday to face desertion charges.
* Manjang fled the country in 2017 following the end of President Yahya Jammeh’s 20-year rule. The Junglers have long been accused by the UN of extrajudicial killings and torture.
* Manjang was previously charged with four counts of murder, including the 2004 murder of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, though the charges were dropped in July over an inability to summon witnesses.
* **Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279**: Sri Lanka’s High Court [convicted][33] 14 of 24 defendants on Tuesday of murder and terrorism conspiracy for aiding and abetting the suicide bombers who struck three hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday 2019, killing 279 people.
* Among those convicted was Mohamed Naufar, identified by prosecutors as the ringleader who supported the eight-member suicide squad.
* An investigation into former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay is ongoing. Sallay is accused of orchestrating the bombings to manufacture a security threat that would bolster political support for the ruling Rajapaksa family, an allegation he and the family deny.
* **Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected Erdoğan-Trump meeting in New York**: Turkey and the United States have [resumed][34] talks over F-16 fighter jets, a source told Al-Monitor, ahead of a possible meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.
* Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called U.S. sanctions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system “an impediment” and said that officials are pursuing “some creative ideas” to resolve the issue. These sanctions have also blocked Turkey’s acquisition of F-35 jets it paid roughly $1.4 billion toward.
* It remains unclear whether the renewed talks concern Turkey’s 2021 request for 40 new F-16 Block 70 jets, U.S. approval for domestic modernization of its existing fleet of more than 230 F-16s, or both.
* **Lula and Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian polls:** Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro [remain][35] statistically tied in polls conducted before Brazil’s October elections, with a Quaest poll showing Bolsonaro leading 42% to 41%, and a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showing Lula ahead 46% to 45%; both leads are within the polls’ margins of error.
* The first round of voting will take place on October 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of votes in the first round, the two frontrunners advance to a runoff on October 25.
* **Sudan warns UN against engagement with RSF that could confer political legitimacy**: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem [pressed][36] UN officials, including Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, in New York Monday over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Darfur and Kordofan while warning that public UN engagement with the Rapid Support Forces risks legitimizing the parallel administrations the group has established across areas it controls, Sudan Tribune reported,.
* UN officials responded that any operational contact with groups on the ground is meant strictly to facilitate neutral aid delivery, not political recognition.
* Salem separately met with the head of the UN Office for Project Services to request support for health, agriculture and housing reconstruction projects in areas it has deemed secure
* **Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan: **Two members of North Korea’s roughly 180-person [delegation][37] to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games have reportedly told Japanese contacts they do not want to return home and would prefer to seek asylum in Japan rather than South Korea, according to South Korea’s Monthly Chosun.
* **Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward:** Spain’s Council of Ministers decided on Tuesday to allow the Trump administration’s extradition request against Fergie Chambers—a pro-Palestine American activist and heir to the Cox Enterprises family fortune—to proceed to the Spanish courts.
* The U.S. indictment against Chambers is sealed but his lawyer in Spain, Baltasar Garzón, has said the government is claiming money laundering to ultimately fund terrorism, as well as disorderly conduct and conspiracy to riot related to pro-Palestine protests in 2023.
* Garzón warned Tuesday’s decision by the Council of Ministers “sets a dangerous precedent regarding the defense of the Palestinian cause.”
* Chambers reportedly received $250 million after cutting ties with his family and has donated over £1 million to humanitarian projects in Gaza.
* **British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter’s account before massacre**: British Columbia [filed][38] a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court accusing OpenAI of negligence and aiding and abetting the February mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which killed nine people, alleging the company’s leadership rejected reviewers’ recommendation to refer the shooter’s account to police months before the attack, after automated monitoring flagged a “credible specific risk of harm to others.”
🎥 **[WATCH][39] **The War Brief: Trump Hiding the Real Death Toll; Why the Saudi Military Can’t Fight; and AI’s Role in Killing Minab Children
📖 **[READ][40] **Pakistan Tells Hospitals To Clear Bed Space For "Mass Casualty Incident" Ahead of Major Protest
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[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlykpe4dk0yo
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-arabia-restarts-east-west-oil-pipeline-resume-exports-yanbu-sources-say-2026-09-22/
[3]: https://www.saba.ye/ar/news3793512.htm
[4]: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/g7-foreign-ministers-call-iran-024516433.html
[5]: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-ready-reopen-strait-hormuz-if-us-eases-military-pressure-lifts-blockade-2026-09-22/
[6]: https://en.irna.ir/news/86271016/Negotiations-are-another-battlefield-enemy-lacks-capacity-for
[7]: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-administration-proposes-5-billion-to-kickstart-investment-fund-to-rebuild-gulf-energy-sites-5b75cadf
[8]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B5-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3-154437
[9]: https://www.cwrc.ps/page-4999-ar.html
[10]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AD%D8%B7%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%84-154415
[11]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/22/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-154436
[12]: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2026/0921/1592334-sportspeople-ask-roi-players-to-boycott-israel-fixtures/
[13]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/the-thousand-martyrs-cup-football?utm_source=publication-search
[14]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564534/%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%A9-2
[15]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564519/%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%91%D8%B1-2
[16]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564443/%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%89-%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%84%D8%B6%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9
[17]: https://www.propublica.org/article/fbi-susan-collins-navatek-campaign-donations-investigation
[18]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[19]: https://x.com/dropsitenews/status/2101873741814763540?s=46
[20]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/maine-senate-democratic-party-troy-jackson-graham-platner-susan-collins.html
[21]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/charges-against-pro-palestinian-stanford-protesters-be-dismissed
[22]: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6102804-mo-court-reinstates-gop-house-map/
[23]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/nyregion/lawler-endorsement-golden-democrat.html
[24]: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/21/trump-white-house-pool-tv-ban-audio
[25]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/politics/aoc-2028-presidential-race.html
[26]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/us/politics/bush-cornyn-paxton-senate-fund-raiser.html
[27]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/21/congress/rogers-says-iran-war-needs-to-end-01086434
[28]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/al-qaeda-linked-militants-kill-more-than-100-malian-soldiers-in-attack-this-month-sources-say
[29]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/china-expels-two-top-generals-from-party-and-military-alleging-disloyalty-corruption
[30]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/pro-putin-party-wins-supermajority-amid-ramped-up-ukrainian-attacks
[31]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/uk-charges-man-over-alleged-rwanda-genocide-offences
[32]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/former-death-squad-leader-appears-205743035.html
[33]: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sri-lanka-issue-verdict-landmark-000102203.html
[34]: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/09/turkey-us-resume-f-16-talks-ahead-expected-trump-erdogan-meeting
[35]: https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/09/21/brazil-s-lula-would-beat-bolsonaro-by-1-point-in-runoff-suggests-btg-nexus-poll
[36]: https://sudantribune.com/article/319079
[37]: https://www.reuters.com/sports/two-north-korea-members-asian-games-seek-asylum-japan-report-says-2026-09-22/
[38]: https://www.ft.com/content/30d2f29b-e750-4a90-9e8d-b1a7f14e4908
[39]: https://youtu.be/o-Q5VGvLCts?si=IXHE3H-4Xb_A_4Pi
[40]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-military-protest-imran-khan-sisters-detained-hospitals-beds
[41]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-gaza-palestinian-militias-compounds-yellow-line-bases
[42]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[43]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[44]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[45]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/troy-jackson-maine-yemen-ansarallah-saudi-pipeline-paramount-warner-bros-merger
Israel Is Expanding and Upgrading Compounds for Palestinian Militias in Gaza
*Drop Site is a reader-funded, independent news outlet. Without your support, we can’t operate. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a [501(c)(3) tax-deductible donation today][1].*
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At least five Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are operating out of compounds in areas under Israeli military control across the Gaza Strip. Source: Forensic Architecture.
At least five Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are operating out of compounds in areas under Israeli military control across the Gaza Strip, according to satellite imagery and videos published online. Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect nearly a year ago, these compounds have been upgraded and expanded in size and sophistication, according to a preliminary analysis by Forensic Architecture. Many of these upgrades resemble Israeli military infrastructure, with berms, barracks, fences, and buildings. At least one compound in East Rafah includes new shops, classrooms, and a playground.
While there have been some splinter groups and defections, the five main Israel-backed Palestinian militias are known as:
* Northern forces/Popular Army in Beit Lahia, led by Ashraf Al-Mansi
* Popular Defense Forces in Shujaieya, east of Gaza City, led by Rami Halas
* Free Homeland Forces in central/eastern Gaza near Deir al-Balah, led by Shawqi Abu Nasira
* Counter-Terrorism Strike Force in southeastern Khan Younis, led by Hussam al-Astal
* Popular Forces/Counter-Terrorism Service in East Rafah, led by Ghassan Al-Duhaini
Many of the militia leaders who rose to power in collaboration with Israel during the genocide in Gaza are former gang leaders with a history of criminal activity, were associated with jihadi groups, or are former Palestinian Authority security forces that were all sidelined after Hamas gained control of the enclave in 2007.
“These militias are not just Israel-backed. These militias are Israel-created,” Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Drop Site News. “The IDF and the Shin Bet [Israel’s domestic intelligence service] were the ones that recruited, funded, trained, provided shelter, accommodation, food, and so on to these gangs, brought them together, and designated each one of them a very specific turf that they operate in.”
Four of the five compounds where the militias are based are located very close to the “yellow line”—the demarcation of Israel’s line of control—and all are close to Israeli military bases. Israel has established nearly 40 military bases in areas across Gaza east of the yellow line. One militia compound located in east Khan Younis, right on the yellow line, is less than one kilometer from two Israeli military bases.
Initially, Israel’s primary objective for the gangs was to systematically loot aid coming into Gaza, starting around May 2024, as Israeli troops stood by and did not intervene. “That was the first use that Israel had for them: loot aid systematically while giving Israel plausible deniability,” Shehada said. “They eventually dressed them up in police uniforms with Palestinian logos on to pretend that they were some sort of a legitimate authority with a propaganda psyop operation behind them.” He added, “They suddenly became an organized militia instead of just bandits.”
Militia members are granted relative freedom of movement by the Israeli military and privileged access to resources, such as weapons and medical treatment within Israel. Militias have also conducted armed raids and [attacks][3] on Palestinians living near the yellow line in coordination with the Israeli military, who have backed them up with artillery and aerial support.
At least one compound in East Rafah includes new shops, classrooms, and a playground. A [video][4] published on April 2, 2026 shows the inside of a classroom equipped with air conditioning inside the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia. In the video, Ghassan Al-Duhaini—who took over as commander of the Popular Forces militia, also known as the Counter-Terrorism Service, following the killing of its former leader Yasser Abu Shabbab—is seen touring a classroom as schoolchildren receive educational instruction. These compounds are not open to all Palestinians but are used for a select few, including the families of those affiliated with the militias.
Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect nearly a year ago, Israel has been [fortifying][5] military bases in the eastern part of the territory it controls and constructing a physical barrier walling off Palestinians from most of the Gaza Strip. In parallel, the compounds for the Israel-backed Palestinian militias have also been upgraded and fortified, including using Israeli construction materials such as T walls (a T-shaped structural barrier or wall panel).
The ongoing construction and fortification of the Israeli military bases and Palestinian militia compounds comes despite a complete lack of reconstruction in the western part of Gaza, where nearly all Palestinians in Gaza have been corralled. Israel has not allowed reconstruction materials and equipment into Gaza over the past year, in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in dilapidated tent encampments or seeking shelter in buildings badly damaged by the Israeli assault that are at risk of collapse. Last week, in just the latest incident, at least 21 Palestinians, including 12 children, were killed and 45 others injured when a residential building collapsed in Gaza City. More than 100 people, including 50 children, are estimated to have been sheltering in the building.
“The thing to know about these gangs is that their structures are entirely unsustainable,” Shehada said. “They have been artificially created by the Israeli government, the army, the Shin Bet—and the only thing that binds them together is basically the bribes that they receive from the IDF, the protection that they receive from the IDF, the territory that they are allowed to live in, with upgraded privileges compared to the rest of the population in western Gaza. If these things disappear, the gangs will disintegrate.”
## The Forensic Architecture Analysis
### Militia compounds
In Gaza, at least five Palestinian militias are operating in the area under Israeli military control. These are Palestinian armed groups backed by Israel, who provide them with resources and freedom of movement.
Their compounds are located in the Israeli-controlled area, between military bases.
*Still from [a video][6] published on social media on May 25, 2026 showing armed members of an Israeli-backed militia in northern Gaza, on the pier along the coast north of Gaza City.*
### Militias are given freedom of movement
This compound in Khan Younis is located on the ‘yellow line’, less than 1km from two Israeli military bases.
A video shows the group operating in the Palestinian area.
*Still from [a video][7] published on social media on April 20, 2026 showing members of a militia operating in the Palestinian area of Khan Younis.*
### Since the ceasefire, militia compounds have developed
Another militia compound is located near an Israeli military base in east Rafah. This group, known as the Counter-Terrorism Service, existed before the ceasefire, but since the ceasefire its presence has grown.
While Israel has continued to demolish buildings nearby, new structures have been added to the compound. Videos show it has new shops, classrooms, and a playground—facilities that are accessible only to militia members and their families.
Israel has allowed the militias to use large machinery and Israeli materials.
*Still from a [video][8] published on May 3, 2026 showing construction work underway for the base of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia.*
*Still from a [video][9] published on April 2, 2026, showing classrooms and a playground built at the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia.*
*Still from a [video][10] published on April 2, 2026 ,showing the inside of a classroom equipped with air conditioning inside the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service.*
### These upgrades share similarities with Israeli military infrastructure
Many of these upgrades share architectural components with Israeli military infrastructure: berms, barracks, fences, and buildings.
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[5]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-israel-earth-berms-military-bases-ceasefire
[6]: https://x.com/Arabosint/status/2058872418563707352
[7]: https://x.com/Arabosint/status/2046481245450666252
[8]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1280213564199206
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[10]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/942440391861102
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https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-gaza-palestinian-militias-compounds-yellow-line-bases
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At least five Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are operating out of compounds in areas under Israeli military control across the Gaza Strip. Source: Forensic Architecture.
At least five Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are operating out of compounds in areas under Israeli military control across the Gaza Strip, according to satellite imagery and videos published online. Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect nearly a year ago, these compounds have been upgraded and expanded in size and sophistication, according to a preliminary analysis by Forensic Architecture. Many of these upgrades resemble Israeli military infrastructure, with berms, barracks, fences, and buildings. At least one compound in East Rafah includes new shops, classrooms, and a playground.
While there have been some splinter groups and defections, the five main Israel-backed Palestinian militias are known as:
* Northern forces/Popular Army in Beit Lahia, led by Ashraf Al-Mansi
* Popular Defense Forces in Shujaieya, east of Gaza City, led by Rami Halas
* Free Homeland Forces in central/eastern Gaza near Deir al-Balah, led by Shawqi Abu Nasira
* Counter-Terrorism Strike Force in southeastern Khan Younis, led by Hussam al-Astal
* Popular Forces/Counter-Terrorism Service in East Rafah, led by Ghassan Al-Duhaini
Many of the militia leaders who rose to power in collaboration with Israel during the genocide in Gaza are former gang leaders with a history of criminal activity, were associated with jihadi groups, or are former Palestinian Authority security forces that were all sidelined after Hamas gained control of the enclave in 2007.
“These militias are not just Israel-backed. These militias are Israel-created,” Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Drop Site News. “The IDF and the Shin Bet [Israel’s domestic intelligence service] were the ones that recruited, funded, trained, provided shelter, accommodation, food, and so on to these gangs, brought them together, and designated each one of them a very specific turf that they operate in.”
Four of the five compounds where the militias are based are located very close to the “yellow line”—the demarcation of Israel’s line of control—and all are close to Israeli military bases. Israel has established nearly 40 military bases in areas across Gaza east of the yellow line. One militia compound located in east Khan Younis, right on the yellow line, is less than one kilometer from two Israeli military bases.
Initially, Israel’s primary objective for the gangs was to systematically loot aid coming into Gaza, starting around May 2024, as Israeli troops stood by and did not intervene. “That was the first use that Israel had for them: loot aid systematically while giving Israel plausible deniability,” Shehada said. “They eventually dressed them up in police uniforms with Palestinian logos on to pretend that they were some sort of a legitimate authority with a propaganda psyop operation behind them.” He added, “They suddenly became an organized militia instead of just bandits.”
Militia members are granted relative freedom of movement by the Israeli military and privileged access to resources, such as weapons and medical treatment within Israel. Militias have also conducted armed raids and [attacks][3] on Palestinians living near the yellow line in coordination with the Israeli military, who have backed them up with artillery and aerial support.
At least one compound in East Rafah includes new shops, classrooms, and a playground. A [video][4] published on April 2, 2026 shows the inside of a classroom equipped with air conditioning inside the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia. In the video, Ghassan Al-Duhaini—who took over as commander of the Popular Forces militia, also known as the Counter-Terrorism Service, following the killing of its former leader Yasser Abu Shabbab—is seen touring a classroom as schoolchildren receive educational instruction. These compounds are not open to all Palestinians but are used for a select few, including the families of those affiliated with the militias.
Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect nearly a year ago, Israel has been [fortifying][5] military bases in the eastern part of the territory it controls and constructing a physical barrier walling off Palestinians from most of the Gaza Strip. In parallel, the compounds for the Israel-backed Palestinian militias have also been upgraded and fortified, including using Israeli construction materials such as T walls (a T-shaped structural barrier or wall panel).
The ongoing construction and fortification of the Israeli military bases and Palestinian militia compounds comes despite a complete lack of reconstruction in the western part of Gaza, where nearly all Palestinians in Gaza have been corralled. Israel has not allowed reconstruction materials and equipment into Gaza over the past year, in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in dilapidated tent encampments or seeking shelter in buildings badly damaged by the Israeli assault that are at risk of collapse. Last week, in just the latest incident, at least 21 Palestinians, including 12 children, were killed and 45 others injured when a residential building collapsed in Gaza City. More than 100 people, including 50 children, are estimated to have been sheltering in the building.
“The thing to know about these gangs is that their structures are entirely unsustainable,” Shehada said. “They have been artificially created by the Israeli government, the army, the Shin Bet—and the only thing that binds them together is basically the bribes that they receive from the IDF, the protection that they receive from the IDF, the territory that they are allowed to live in, with upgraded privileges compared to the rest of the population in western Gaza. If these things disappear, the gangs will disintegrate.”
## The Forensic Architecture Analysis
### Militia compounds
In Gaza, at least five Palestinian militias are operating in the area under Israeli military control. These are Palestinian armed groups backed by Israel, who provide them with resources and freedom of movement.
Their compounds are located in the Israeli-controlled area, between military bases.
*Still from [a video][6] published on social media on May 25, 2026 showing armed members of an Israeli-backed militia in northern Gaza, on the pier along the coast north of Gaza City.*
### Militias are given freedom of movement
This compound in Khan Younis is located on the ‘yellow line’, less than 1km from two Israeli military bases.
A video shows the group operating in the Palestinian area.
*Still from [a video][7] published on social media on April 20, 2026 showing members of a militia operating in the Palestinian area of Khan Younis.*
### Since the ceasefire, militia compounds have developed
Another militia compound is located near an Israeli military base in east Rafah. This group, known as the Counter-Terrorism Service, existed before the ceasefire, but since the ceasefire its presence has grown.
While Israel has continued to demolish buildings nearby, new structures have been added to the compound. Videos show it has new shops, classrooms, and a playground—facilities that are accessible only to militia members and their families.
Israel has allowed the militias to use large machinery and Israeli materials.
*Still from a [video][8] published on May 3, 2026 showing construction work underway for the base of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia.*
*Still from a [video][9] published on April 2, 2026, showing classrooms and a playground built at the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service militia.*
*Still from a [video][10] published on April 2, 2026 ,showing the inside of a classroom equipped with air conditioning inside the compound of the Counter-Terrorism Service.*
### These upgrades share similarities with Israeli military infrastructure
Many of these upgrades share architectural components with Israeli military infrastructure: berms, barracks, fences, and buildings.
[Leave a comment][11]
[Share][12]
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[3]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-abu-nasira-militia-attack-maghazi-camp-gaza?utm_source=publication-search
[4]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/942440391861102
[5]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-israel-earth-berms-military-bases-ceasefire
[6]: https://x.com/Arabosint/status/2058872418563707352
[7]: https://x.com/Arabosint/status/2046481245450666252
[8]: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1280213564199206
[9]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/942440391861102
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https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-gaza-palestinian-militias-compounds-yellow-line-bases
Trump Hiding the Real Death Toll; Why the Saudi Military Can’t Fight; and AI’s Role in Killing Minab Children: The War Brief
In this week’s episode of The War Brief Murtaza Hussain and Sarmad discuss the steady stream of leaks coming out of the War Department, the real number of deaths to U.S. personnel, the high and ongoing price of war against Iran, Saudi Arabia potentially turning to Israel for aid, how Ansarallah managed to shoot down a F-15A fighter jet, and more. Murtaza then discusses why Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Arab states, cannot put together an effective fighting force.
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https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-hiding-the-real-death-toll
In this week’s episode of The War Brief Murtaza Hussain and Sarmad discuss the steady stream of leaks coming out of the War Department, the real number of deaths to U.S. personnel, the high and ongoing price of war against Iran, Saudi Arabia potentially turning to Israel for aid, how Ansarallah managed to shoot down a F-15A fighter jet, and more. Murtaza then discusses why Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Arab states, cannot put together an effective fighting force.
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https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-hiding-the-real-death-toll
Pakistan Tells Hospitals To Clear Bed Space For "Mass Casualty Incident" Ahead of Major Protest
Since you’re a reader of Drop Site News, you probably are aware that we are, more or less, the only Western news outlet that offers any serious investigative coverage of Pakistan’s authoritarian descent. We consider it scandalous that a nuclear-armed country of 250 million people receives so little attention. But we also have to be honest that we understand why that’s the case. Audiences aren’t used to it, and only with regular reporting can we get them there, creating a chicken-and-egg problem that can only be solved by contributions from readers who do understand why it’s so important. If you’re one of them, please consider chipping in few dollars as a vote of support for more of this coverage.
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Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, and Noreen Niazi, sisters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, walk with supporters during a protest in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, December 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Salahuddin.
Police in Lahore detained former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s three sisters, Aleema Khan, Noureen Niazi, and Dr. Uzma Khan, along with their children, on Sunday, as Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), prepares to march on Islamabad on September 27 to demand his release.
Imran Khan’s health has deteriorated significantly over the past few months after more than three years in prison. His primary healthcare provider, Dr. Faisal Sultan, has not been allowed to visit him for several weeks. In their last meeting, Imran Khan told his sister Uzma Khan that he is subjected to “absolute inhumane treatment.” The Telegraph [reported][2] her saying, “He told me to tell people outside that they are being unjust to me, they don’t listen to me, these are not humans.”
In all, eight members of his family were detained within 24 hours. The children were released after a few hours of detention, Aleema Khan’s son Shershah Khan told Drop Site, but Khan’s sisters remain in custody.
Simultaneously, several elected leaders of PTI were also arrested, and party offices were raided in a nationwide crackdown ahead of the September 27 march.
At the same time, Islamabad’s hospitals were placed on emergency footing. Documents obtained by Drop Site show that federal health authorities issued instructions before the planned protest, directing hospitals to prepare for a potential “humanitarian crisis” and “mass casualty incident” in Islamabad.
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The measures have now started to affect the patients in Islamabad hospitals. On Monday, patients scheduled for surgeries were told that their procedures would be postponed, according to people familiar with the situation. The surgical departments are to be reconfigured for a potential influx of casualties. “All scheduled elective (planned) surgical procedures are postponed indefinitely,” the documents state.
All forms of leave for medical, nursing, paramedical, administrative, and support staff have been suspended, while employees already on leave have been recalled immediately. To do this, patients that hospitals consider to be “stable,” or recovering are being discharged from the hospitals.
The instructions to hospitals show that the government is yet again preparing a brutal crackdown on protestors. In a similar protest in November 2024, the Pakistani military killed dozens of PTI protestors using live rounds and snipers on the gathered crowds in the middle of the night. A Drop Site [investigation][4] from the time showed that the Pakistani military had planned the crackdown on the protestors. The military later successfully covered up the total number of casualties from the incident and [arrested][5] journalists trying to investigate.
Imran Khan has been in prison [since][6] August 2023 after a vote of no confidence was used to overthrow his government. In these three years, several human rights organizations have called his imprisonment a case of arbitrary detention, and the military leadership of Pakistan has cracked down on members of his party all over the world. In August, concerns about Khan’s health reached a crescendo when he was taken to PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences). Earlier this year, he [reportedly][7] lost 85% vision in his right eye. Khan’s wife has also been facing multiple health issues in prison, under solitary confinement similar to Khan, including the complete loss of vision in one eye, according to her sister.
Aleema Khan’s arrest was backed by a formal order by the deputy commissioner of Lahore and obtained by Drop Site News, which authorized the detention of Aleema Khan and her driver, Muhammad Ameer, for 30 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). A similar order circulated on social media alleging similar charges against Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan. The MPO has been used repeatedly to subdue protests by detaining organizers and accusing them of threatening public safety.
Hours after Aleema’s arrest, her son Shershah Khan [announced][8] on social media that police had surrounded the family’s Lahore residence. In Lahore, Aleema and Uzma Khan’s houses share a wall. Sources close to the family who requested anonymity for safety reasons confirmed that officers remained stationed outside for several hours before the rest of the family was arrested and driven to an undisclosed location in armored vehicles.
“We only found out through social media that they took her under MPO; we have no information about where they have taken her,” Noreen Niazi said in a [press conference before she was arrested. ][9]“They don’t realize September 27 will be a huge day; we are all a part of the movement for Imran Khan’s freedom.”
Later that day, a member of the family told Drop Site News, they forcibly entered Uzma Khan’s home as well. “Uzma Khan has a heart condition; she was sleeping when two hundred men entered her house and broke down her bedroom door.” Uzma Khan wears a hijab, but, the family reported, the police did not allow her to cover herself while she was being detained. “These women are in their late sixties and mid-seventies, but their bags were packed since they knew something like this could happen before the 27th,” he said.
Despite the arrests, the family insisted the march should continue as planned. “They don’t need a case. They don’t need the facade of an order,” said Imran Khan’s nephew. “The people of Pakistan should step out for their own freedom.”
Sameer Khosa, a prominent lawyer of the Supreme Court, spoke to Drop Site about the legal implications of the MPO. “In recent years, it has been used to prevent protests and detain political opponents when there is no other ground of arrest available,” he said. “It is not surprising that it has been used in this case in advance of a call to protest.”
“Imran Khan’s sisters have been outspoken in the past to bring attention to his solitary confinement, deteriorating health, and deprivation of his meetings with family members and lawyers,” said Khosa. “This is clearly an attempt to contain any galvanizing figures in advance of the September 27 long march.”
The general secretary of PTI and the head of their legal affairs, Salman Akram Raja, told Drop Site, “There is this law, MPO, which has been challenged several times as unconstitutional, but it has been struck down, but it has been revived.” He further added, “This is a pathetic attack on Imran Khan’s family; it is completely unacceptable, and similar attacks have been happening all across Punjab. Pakistan has become a fascist state effectively, so nobody’s life, liberty is safe.”
The sisters are being represented by lawyers Taimur Malik and Rana Mudassar, who aim to file a habeas petition in the next few days. In a press conference today, senior party leader Barrister Gohar Khan confirmed the long march will go as planned.
“In the four years since our government was overthrown, we have not been allowed a single long march,” he said. “We have gone to the high courts 25 times and 19 times to the Supreme Court. We raised our voice in the parliament and the senate, but it has fallen on deaf ears.”
According to Gohar, 1,500 workers, five parliamentarians, and one minister have been abducted just this week.
In a video posted on social media, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Sohail Afridi, recorded a [message][10] condemning the arrest of Khan’s sisters. He said security forces have been attacking party infrastructure all over the province and that they also tried to abduct a provincial minister.
PTI leader Taimur Jhagra confirmed this to Drop Site. “Yesterday there was an incident where a provincial minister was followed by masked men and people got injured in the firing,” he said. “Another KP MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) was picked up from his house in Islamabad.”
Addressing Imran Khan’s sisters’ detention, Jhagra said, “It is, sadly, a reflection of a Pakistan today with an illegitimate setup, where everything from the constitution to the judiciary, the bureaucracy to the media, are all controlled and able to flaunt the law as they want it.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is a trusted friend of Field Marshall Asim Munir, has vowed the government “will not leave any loopholes” in its response if the party proceeds with the long march. “Do not harm yourself and your workers,” he threatened.
*Aqeedat Chishty contributed reporting.*
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[4]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/leaked-information-reveals-pakistan
[5]: https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/article/pakistan-journalist-arrested-on-false-terrorism-charges
[6]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/5/pakistans-khan-in-jail-for-3-years-pti-amnesty-slam-solitary-confinement
[7]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgdr9vr50po
[8]: https://x.com/KhanShershah/status/2101733825000935674
[9]: https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/2101819911286735142?s=20
[10]: https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/2101804418966634779?s=20
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Since you’re a reader of Drop Site News, you probably are aware that we are, more or less, the only Western news outlet that offers any serious investigative coverage of Pakistan’s authoritarian descent. We consider it scandalous that a nuclear-armed country of 250 million people receives so little attention. But we also have to be honest that we understand why that’s the case. Audiences aren’t used to it, and only with regular reporting can we get them there, creating a chicken-and-egg problem that can only be solved by contributions from readers who do understand why it’s so important. If you’re one of them, please consider chipping in few dollars as a vote of support for more of this coverage.
[Chip in for Pakistan coverage][1]
Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, and Noreen Niazi, sisters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, walk with supporters during a protest in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, December 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Salahuddin.
Police in Lahore detained former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s three sisters, Aleema Khan, Noureen Niazi, and Dr. Uzma Khan, along with their children, on Sunday, as Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), prepares to march on Islamabad on September 27 to demand his release.
Imran Khan’s health has deteriorated significantly over the past few months after more than three years in prison. His primary healthcare provider, Dr. Faisal Sultan, has not been allowed to visit him for several weeks. In their last meeting, Imran Khan told his sister Uzma Khan that he is subjected to “absolute inhumane treatment.” The Telegraph [reported][2] her saying, “He told me to tell people outside that they are being unjust to me, they don’t listen to me, these are not humans.”
In all, eight members of his family were detained within 24 hours. The children were released after a few hours of detention, Aleema Khan’s son Shershah Khan told Drop Site, but Khan’s sisters remain in custody.
Simultaneously, several elected leaders of PTI were also arrested, and party offices were raided in a nationwide crackdown ahead of the September 27 march.
At the same time, Islamabad’s hospitals were placed on emergency footing. Documents obtained by Drop Site show that federal health authorities issued instructions before the planned protest, directing hospitals to prepare for a potential “humanitarian crisis” and “mass casualty incident” in Islamabad.
[Subscribe now][3]
The measures have now started to affect the patients in Islamabad hospitals. On Monday, patients scheduled for surgeries were told that their procedures would be postponed, according to people familiar with the situation. The surgical departments are to be reconfigured for a potential influx of casualties. “All scheduled elective (planned) surgical procedures are postponed indefinitely,” the documents state.
All forms of leave for medical, nursing, paramedical, administrative, and support staff have been suspended, while employees already on leave have been recalled immediately. To do this, patients that hospitals consider to be “stable,” or recovering are being discharged from the hospitals.
The instructions to hospitals show that the government is yet again preparing a brutal crackdown on protestors. In a similar protest in November 2024, the Pakistani military killed dozens of PTI protestors using live rounds and snipers on the gathered crowds in the middle of the night. A Drop Site [investigation][4] from the time showed that the Pakistani military had planned the crackdown on the protestors. The military later successfully covered up the total number of casualties from the incident and [arrested][5] journalists trying to investigate.
Imran Khan has been in prison [since][6] August 2023 after a vote of no confidence was used to overthrow his government. In these three years, several human rights organizations have called his imprisonment a case of arbitrary detention, and the military leadership of Pakistan has cracked down on members of his party all over the world. In August, concerns about Khan’s health reached a crescendo when he was taken to PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences). Earlier this year, he [reportedly][7] lost 85% vision in his right eye. Khan’s wife has also been facing multiple health issues in prison, under solitary confinement similar to Khan, including the complete loss of vision in one eye, according to her sister.
Aleema Khan’s arrest was backed by a formal order by the deputy commissioner of Lahore and obtained by Drop Site News, which authorized the detention of Aleema Khan and her driver, Muhammad Ameer, for 30 days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). A similar order circulated on social media alleging similar charges against Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan. The MPO has been used repeatedly to subdue protests by detaining organizers and accusing them of threatening public safety.
Hours after Aleema’s arrest, her son Shershah Khan [announced][8] on social media that police had surrounded the family’s Lahore residence. In Lahore, Aleema and Uzma Khan’s houses share a wall. Sources close to the family who requested anonymity for safety reasons confirmed that officers remained stationed outside for several hours before the rest of the family was arrested and driven to an undisclosed location in armored vehicles.
“We only found out through social media that they took her under MPO; we have no information about where they have taken her,” Noreen Niazi said in a [press conference before she was arrested. ][9]“They don’t realize September 27 will be a huge day; we are all a part of the movement for Imran Khan’s freedom.”
Later that day, a member of the family told Drop Site News, they forcibly entered Uzma Khan’s home as well. “Uzma Khan has a heart condition; she was sleeping when two hundred men entered her house and broke down her bedroom door.” Uzma Khan wears a hijab, but, the family reported, the police did not allow her to cover herself while she was being detained. “These women are in their late sixties and mid-seventies, but their bags were packed since they knew something like this could happen before the 27th,” he said.
Despite the arrests, the family insisted the march should continue as planned. “They don’t need a case. They don’t need the facade of an order,” said Imran Khan’s nephew. “The people of Pakistan should step out for their own freedom.”
Sameer Khosa, a prominent lawyer of the Supreme Court, spoke to Drop Site about the legal implications of the MPO. “In recent years, it has been used to prevent protests and detain political opponents when there is no other ground of arrest available,” he said. “It is not surprising that it has been used in this case in advance of a call to protest.”
“Imran Khan’s sisters have been outspoken in the past to bring attention to his solitary confinement, deteriorating health, and deprivation of his meetings with family members and lawyers,” said Khosa. “This is clearly an attempt to contain any galvanizing figures in advance of the September 27 long march.”
The general secretary of PTI and the head of their legal affairs, Salman Akram Raja, told Drop Site, “There is this law, MPO, which has been challenged several times as unconstitutional, but it has been struck down, but it has been revived.” He further added, “This is a pathetic attack on Imran Khan’s family; it is completely unacceptable, and similar attacks have been happening all across Punjab. Pakistan has become a fascist state effectively, so nobody’s life, liberty is safe.”
The sisters are being represented by lawyers Taimur Malik and Rana Mudassar, who aim to file a habeas petition in the next few days. In a press conference today, senior party leader Barrister Gohar Khan confirmed the long march will go as planned.
“In the four years since our government was overthrown, we have not been allowed a single long march,” he said. “We have gone to the high courts 25 times and 19 times to the Supreme Court. We raised our voice in the parliament and the senate, but it has fallen on deaf ears.”
According to Gohar, 1,500 workers, five parliamentarians, and one minister have been abducted just this week.
In a video posted on social media, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Sohail Afridi, recorded a [message][10] condemning the arrest of Khan’s sisters. He said security forces have been attacking party infrastructure all over the province and that they also tried to abduct a provincial minister.
PTI leader Taimur Jhagra confirmed this to Drop Site. “Yesterday there was an incident where a provincial minister was followed by masked men and people got injured in the firing,” he said. “Another KP MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) was picked up from his house in Islamabad.”
Addressing Imran Khan’s sisters’ detention, Jhagra said, “It is, sadly, a reflection of a Pakistan today with an illegitimate setup, where everything from the constitution to the judiciary, the bureaucracy to the media, are all controlled and able to flaunt the law as they want it.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is a trusted friend of Field Marshall Asim Munir, has vowed the government “will not leave any loopholes” in its response if the party proceeds with the long march. “Do not harm yourself and your workers,” he threatened.
*Aqeedat Chishty contributed reporting.*
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[2]: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/21/imran-khan-being-tortured-in-prison-says-sister/
[3]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/subscribe?
[4]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/leaked-information-reveals-pakistan
[5]: https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/article/pakistan-journalist-arrested-on-false-terrorism-charges
[6]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/5/pakistans-khan-in-jail-for-3-years-pti-amnesty-slam-solitary-confinement
[7]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgdr9vr50po
[8]: https://x.com/KhanShershah/status/2101733825000935674
[9]: https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/2101819911286735142?s=20
[10]: https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/2101804418966634779?s=20
[11]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-military-protest-imran-khan-sisters-detained-hospitals-beds?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share
[12]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-military-protest-imran-khan-sisters-detained-hospitals-beds/comments
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-military-protest-imran-khan-sisters-detained-hospitals-beds
Trump and Iran exchange threats as UNGA begins; Pakistan arrests Imran Khan’s sisters; ICE shoots DoorDash driver
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen aboard Marine One as it lands at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on September 19, 2026. Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.
**Monday, September 21, 2026 –***** **Four workers killed in Saudi airstrikes on telecom towers in Yemen. Ansarallah targeted Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi-backed forces claim to recapture positions near Taiz. Ansarallah reiterates Saudi ships are the sole target in Red Sea. U.S. urges Americans to “seriously reconsider” Middle East travel, warns of rapid escalation. Tanker struck by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, two crew injured. Iran says it shot down U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz. President Donald Trump threatens to “blow up all of Iran,” says he is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran says it sent mediators conditions for starting negotiations to end war. “All Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary says. U.S. refuses visas for Iranian president’s communications team. Bloomberg: Pentagon probe found “cascade of preventable failures” behind U.S. strike on Iranian school. WaPo: More U.S. troops have died in Iran
war than publicly disclosed. Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians, including child, wound several across Gaza. Israeli forces kill one Palestinian, carry out mass detentions and closures across the occupied West Bank. Israeli settler killed in shooting near West Bank settlement. Gaza hospital suspends nearly all medical services as fuel deliveries halt. Senate war vote looms. Israeli weapons transfer still lacks Senate objector. Crypto super PAC Fairshake launches $30 million campaign against Former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. ICE officer shoots, seriously wounds DoorDash driver in Austin. CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue Trump administration over revoked White House press access. Huckabee aide with top-secret clearance solicited cash wedding gifts from Israelis, sparking security concerns. Pro-Israel Democrat Henry Beck to fundraise for Maine’s Troy Jackson. White House drafts order to give political panel veto power over NIH research grants. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley calls on Trump to
embargo diesel exports. Trump announces “Historic” U.S., Greenland, Denmark Agreement. Pakistan detains three sisters of jailed former PM Imran Khan ahead of planned protest march. Pakistani air raids kill at least three civilians in Afghanistan. Pakistani forces kill five militants, free 23 hostages in Balochistan operation. Explosions at weapons depot in northern Syria injure at least four. Ukraine launches mass drone strike on Moscow on final day of Russian election, killing two. Russia continues to strike Ukraine, killing five. Zelenskyy plans to meet with Trump in New York. Three South Korean soldiers wounded in DMZ explosion. 18 suspects in Haitian President Jovenal Moïse’s assassination extradited to US. Australia to see more deaths than births by 2060s, Treasury report forecasts. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she will ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools. Trump administration prepares additional sanctions against ICC. German far right wins more regional
elections, Chancellor Friedrich Merz continues to suffer. Seven Ethiopian armed groups announce alliance to oust President Abiy Ahmed’s government.*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Yemen
* **Four workers killed in Saudi airstrikes on telecom towers in Yemen: **Four workers were [killed][1] and three wounded in Saudi airstrikes on telecommunications towers in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province on Sunday, according to Ansarallah-affiliated Al Masirah.
* Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi F-15 and Typhoon jets carried out 28 airstrikes in Taiz, Al-Jawf, and Marib over 24 hours, bringing the group’s claimed total since the latest escalation to 760.
* Meanwhile, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said it struck Ansarallah forces in Al-Bayda, while an army officer claimed more than 80 Ansarallah fighters were killed in fighting around oil and gas rich Marib.
* **Ansarallah targeted Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu: **Ansarallah [targeted][2] “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu on Saturday using a large number of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones. Saudi Civil Defense alerts were triggered multiple times for 10 different cities and provinces during the attacks.
* NASA FIRMS data confirmed that fuel storage at the Aramco Central Region Distribution facility was struck causing a fire. Photos and videos circulating online showed a large smoke column rising from the vicinity of King Khalid International Airport, where the Aramco distribution facility is located.
* **Saudi-backed forces claim to recapture positions near Taiz:** Saudi-backed Yemeni forces recaptured several front-line positions near Taiz city from Ansarallah, the chief of staff of the Taiz military force told state-run Saba news agency. Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been divided along front lines between Ansarallah and the internationally recognized government since 2015. Taiz governorate remains the epicenter of displacement in Yemen, with more than 63,000 people displaced, as the nationwide total surpassed 104,796 people, according to the International Organization for Migration.
* **Ansarallah reiterates Saudi ships are the sole target in Red Sea: **Mahdi Al-Mashat, president of the Ansarallah-run Supreme Political Council in Sana’a, [said][3] Saudi Arabia will be forced to pay compensation for its “unjust blockade” of Yemen, reaffirming an “equation of blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation.”
* Al-Mashat said Yemen would press ahead until airports and ports are reopened, national resources restored, compensation paid, and Saudi forces withdrawn from “occupied” territory.
* He added that international shipping through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab “will face no danger from Yemen.”
* **Saudi crude exports surge as kingdom shifts more oil to Gulf terminals: **Saudi Arabia’s September crude exports are averaging 4.60 million barrels per day (bpd), up 2.16 million bpd from August but still 1.89 million below a year earlier, [according][4] to Kpler.
* The sharp increase suggests the kingdom is shifting substantial volumes from Yanbu and the disrupted Red Sea route to eastern Gulf terminals, sending them through Hormuz instead.
* Bloomberg energy columnist Javier Blas said satellite imagery showed seven supertankers, capable of carrying roughly 14 million barrels combined, loading simultaneously on September 20.
* TankerTrackers said Saudi east-coast crude exports have “picked up massively” over the past two weeks.
* **Casualty toll continues to rise in Yemen:** Over 160 people were killed and more than 500 injured across Yemen between September 12 and 18, [according][5] to the World Health Organization, bringing the total number of casualties since the fighting resumed on August 6 to 674 killed and nearly 3,000 injured. An estimated 125,000 people have been displaced over the same period.
* **U.S. urges Americans to “seriously reconsider” Middle East travel, warns of rapid escalation: **The U.S. State Department [urged][6] Americans outside the Middle East to “seriously reconsider” travel to and through the region, warning that the military conflict “has the potential to escalate rapidly.” It cited ongoing hostilities, including Ansarallah attacks on Saudi Arabia, and warned of possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions.
# Iran
* **Tanker struck by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, two crew injured: **A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was [struck][7] by an unknown projectile on Monday, leaving two crew members with minor injuries, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said.
* The vessel was entering the Strait and continued toward its next port under its own power. No environmental impact was reported.
* **Iran says it shot down U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz: **Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [said][8] Monday it intercepted and destroyed another U.S. MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported. The IRGC claimed the U.S. had returned the older MQ-1 to service after losing a large number of MQ-9 drones. There was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the reported shootdown.
* **Trump threatens to “blow up all of Iran,” says he is open to meeting Pezeshkian: **President Donald Trump [escalated][9] his threats against Iran in a Fox News interview on Sunday, saying Washington’s options are “to obliterate Iran, letting it rot economically, or reach a deal.”
* “My question is when—and if—I will blow up all of Iran, and they had better behave themselves,” Trump added.
* Trump also said he is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. He claimed some Iranian officials are hiding and it’s impossible to find the contacts to strike a deal.
* The U.S. remains in “constant contact” with Yemen’s Ansarallah, Trump said, adding that they have agreed not to fight U.S. forces.
* **Iran says it sent mediators conditions for starting negotiations to end war: **Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s National Security Council Secretary, [told][10] Al Jazeera Tehran shared seven conditions for negotiating an end to the war with mediators, Rezaei said, including an end to attacks on all fronts, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and ending the U.S.’s naval blockade.
* “The U.S. President’s assessments and calculations regarding Iran were flawed, and the war was instigated by Netanyahu,” Rezaei said. “Trump’s threats will yield no results. We are prepared for a decisive war.”
* **Iran says U.S. planning renewed attacks, warns of retaliation “without limitations”: **Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters—Iran’s conventional joint military command—said it had received information indicating the U.S. was planning to resume attacks on Iran and warned it would retaliate “without limitations.” The military command also warned regional countries against supporting any U.S. attacks.
* Iran’s IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said Monday the war had not ended and the IRGC was prepared for a prolonged conflict, warning that any renewed confrontation would involve new targets, a changed “geography of war,” and weapons and capabilities not previously used that would “surprise the world.”
* **“All Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary says: **“On September 23rd, all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday, announcing new sanctions targeting Iran’s civil aviation network.
* Bessent said foreign airports and companies that refuel Iranian aircraft, provide landing services or sell tickets could risk losing access to the U.S. banking system. Iran has not publicly responded.
* **U.S. refuses visas for Iranian president’s communications team:** The Trump administration has refused to issue visas for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s communications team for the UN General Assembly opening in New York this week, according to Iranian state media. While entry visas were granted to President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and other key Iranian officials, the U.S. imposed restrictions on the delegation’s movement in New York, limiting officials to areas in and around the UN headquarters.
* **Bloomberg: Pentagon probe found “cascade of preventable failures” behind U.S. strike on Iranian school: **“Within hours of a February 28 missile attack that hit an Iranian school, some Pentagon personnel knew the U.S. was responsible, according to officials involved in an internal investigation of the incident,” Bloomberg [reported][11].
* The report added that Pentagon investigators found a “cascade of preventable failures” behind the U.S. strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children, though Washington still has not publicly accepted responsibility.
* The probe found outdated intelligence, missed evidence the site had operated openly as a school for years, and overreliance inside CENTCOM on Palantir’s AI-enabled “Maven” system.
* The investigation that began in March has been nearly complete for months but remains unreleased.
* **CENTCOM claims Hormuz shipping at six-month high; Iran rejects account:** CENTCOM [claimed][12] the volume of oil, cargo, and liquefied natural gas moving through the Strait of Hormuz during the past two weeks was higher than at any point in the previous six months.
* Admiral Brad Cooper said on Saturday that U.S. forces had supported the passage of more than 2,000 transits and one billion barrels of Gulf crude through Hormuz over the “last couple of months.”
* That figure, if Cooper begins the count on July 13, when the U.S. announced it was resuming its naval blockade, would equal about 14.7 million bpd. Reuters recently cited Vortexa data estimating that crude and fuel flows through Hormuz were closer to 8 million bpd, while Goldman Sachs placed exports through all Gulf routes combined at 15–16 million bpd.
* Iranian military spokesperson Abolfazl Shekarchi rejected CENTCOM’s account as a “failed psychological operation” intended to boost U.S. troop morale and justify the war’s enormous human and financial costs.
* Oil flows out of the Gulf [increased][13] substantially since late July, with the seven-day average reaching over 15 million barrels per day in the latest September readings, according to Kpler’s chart.
* These are combined regional exports, including passage through Hormuz, Gulf of Oman net exports, and loadings at Fujairah and Omani ports. Kpler marks the latest 14 days as provisional or preliminary and says the figures represent confirmed minimums that rise as additional shipments are verified.
* **WaPo: More U.S. troops have died in Iran war than publicly disclosed:** More American troops have died during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, [according][14] to the Washington Post, citing six U.S. officials. The Pentagon’s database lists 18 U.S. military fatalities since the start of the war in February, but five of the officials told the Post there have been at least 22, while a sixth official put the number at 23.
# Palestine
* **Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians, including child, wound several across Gaza:**
* A Palestinian child died from wounds after being [shot][15] by Israeli forces in Al-Mawasi, Rafah, on Monday, while a man was shot in the head by an Israeli quadcopter in northern Gaza and died, WAFA reported. Israeli fire killed a woman and injured a girl near tents between Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps.
* On Sunday, Israeli forces [shot and wounded][16] a woman in Jabalia. A girl was separately shot in the thigh west of Halawa camp. In Bureij refugee camp, an Israeli drone shot and wounded a child east of the camp.
* An Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Saturday.
* Israeli forces also targeted and killed Basir Al-Boursh, the son of the director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh in a strike on Jabalia, northern Gaza. His voice breaking as he spoke, Dr. Al-Boursh told Drop Site: “The occupation targeted him in his tent. He was only meters away from me. It killed my son before my eyes. This oppressive occupation tore him in half with modern missiles. This is the occupation.”
* **Watch the full report from Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed [here][17].**
* **Israeli forces kill one Palestinian, carry out mass detentions and closures across the occupied West Bank: **Israeli forces killed a Palestinian, carried out mass detentions, and imposed widespread closures across the occupied West Bank on Sunday and Monday. More than 100 Palestinians were [subjected to field interrogations][18] over the past two days, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said.
* **Jenin:** Israeli forces [shot and killed][19] a 32-year-old Palestinian and wounded another after opening fire on a vehicle near Haddad village east of Jenin on Sunday, WAFA reported. Israeli forces withheld the slain man’s body and prevented Palestinian Red Crescent crews from reaching the scene. Israeli media later alleged the vehicle attempted a ramming attack, but did not share any evidence to back the claim. Forces also raided villages west of Jenin, closed roads and entrances, forced businesses to shut, and detained residents.
* **Tubas and northern Jordan Valley:** Israeli forces prevented 104 teachers from reaching their schools on Sunday by closing the Tayasir and Ein Shibli checkpoints, disrupting schools serving around 1,100 students.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli forces detained at least 35 Palestinians during an ongoing raid on Al-Mughayyir, closed the village’s only entrance, searched homes, and seized money and gold, according to local sources.
* **East Jerusalem:** Israeli forces continued a large-scale operation in Biddu, raiding homes and holding dozens of Palestinians for field interrogation in a house converted into a detention center. In Sur Baher, several shops caught fire during confrontations in which Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas.
* **Nablus:** Israeli forces [will close][20] all military checkpoints surrounding Nablus at 6 p.m. Monday, coinciding with planned settler movements and marches, the Palestinian military liaison said.
* **Israeli settler killed in shooting near West Bank settlement: **An Israeli settler was [killed][21] and others wounded in a shooting near the illegal Halamish settlement, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday.
* The gunman reportedly fired at settlers at a spring close to Deir Nidham village, before escaping. Israeli forces deployed drones and a helicopter, surrounded nearby Palestinian communities and established military checkpoints during the manhunt.
* Hours later, Israeli soldiers stormed H-Clinic Hospital in Ramallah and seized 37-year-old Qadri Samara from his treatment bed while he was wounded and receiving oxygen, The New Arab reported. Israel claims Samara, a former Palestinian prisoner from Biddu, carried out the shooting. Soldiers reportedly assaulted healthcare workers during the raid.
* **Gaza hospital suspends nearly all medical services as fuel deliveries halt: **Gaza’s Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital in Khan Younis [suspended][22] nearly all medical services as the World Health Organization told the hospital that fuel deliveries would stop, Palestine Online reported on Sunday.
* With Gaza’s electrical grid down since Israel began its genocide, the hospital depends entirely on generators. The fuel shortage has halted surgeries, C-sections, outpatient care, scans, laboratory work, ambulances and other essential services.
* The outlet said that the hospital treats more than 3,000 patients daily and serves roughly 700,000 displaced Palestinians. It needs at least 1,000 liters of fuel per day.
* Medical director Dr. Jamal Al-Hams called the deprivation of essential healthcare “deliberate killing,” and urged international pressure on Israel to open the crossings.
* **Israel shuts down crossings for religious holiday:** Israel shut down border crossings for 24 hours on Sunday afternoon in observance of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, including the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing where aid deliveries enter Gaza, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for Palestinian medical evacuations, and the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.
* **Female Palestinian prisoner reports beatings, denial of medical care at Damon prison: **A female Palestinian prisoner held at Israel’s Damon prison [said][23] conditions are worsening, with prisoners facing overcrowding, inadequate food and deprivation of basic rights, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
* Detained since February 9, she developed scabies and a urinary tract infection but said she has received no treatment. She also reported being strip-searched and severely beaten following her arrest, including blows to her head and face. At Damon, she said several female prisoners sleep on the floor and time outside cells is severely restricted.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli airstrikes, shelling and explosions hit southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire”: **In the Bint Jbeil district, Israeli warplanes [struck][24] the outskirts of Baraachit, on Monday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, while artillery shelling targeted Kounine and Israeli forces carried out a large explosion in Ainata.
* An Israeli airstrike also [targeted][25] Deir Siryan in the Marjayoun district.
# U.S. News
* **Senate war vote looms: **Last week, the House passed a new war powers resolution ordering the end of the Iran war, by a vote of 220-204, with seven Republicans breaking with Trump. The measure could come to the Senate floor as soon as this week, with GOP Sens. **Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Thom Tillis** all likely to support it, giving it the majority it would need. Trump ignored the previous war powers resolution passed by both chambers of Congress.
* **Trump to meet with Mamdani as UNGA begins: **Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with New York City Mayor **Zohran Mamdani** at Gracie Mansion on Monday. Trump is in town to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he is set to speak Tuesday. This is the third meeting between Trump and Mamdani.
* **Israeli weapons transfer still lacks Senate objector: **The Trump administration’s plan to ship 40,000 tons of bombs to Israel is likely to spark a vote of objection on the Senate floor, Democratic senators tell Drop Site. A single senator can introduce a Joint Resolution of Disapproval and force a vote. [Sens. ][26]**[Chris Van Hollen ][27]**[and ][28]**[Tim Kaine ][29]**[tell Drop Site such a vote is likely.][30] So far, no senator has come forward to introduce such a resolution.
* **Crypto super PAC Fairshake launches $30 million campaign against Sherrod Brown**: Fairshake, the crypto industry’s main super PAC, is [beginning][31] a $30 million ad and mail campaign against former Sen. **Sherrod Brown** of Ohio, according to the New York Times. Brown is now running for JD Vance’s former Senate seat in Ohio.
* Crypto industry interests are expected to retaliate after every Senate Democrat—including senators previously supportive of the industry—blocked the pro-crypto Clarity Act last week.
* Fairshake, which has $120.4 million alongside two affiliated groups, spent $41 million against Brown in 2024, and its spending this cycle is expected to lean heavily Republican.
* Brown, who has dialed back public criticism of crypto, said he has “not moderated” his position but doesn’t have “great interest” in going further than acknowledging the industry’s economic role.
* Brown’s opponent, Sen. **Jon Husted**, already holds a roughly $30 million advertising advantage in the race.
* **ICE officer shoots, seriously wounds DoorDash driver in Austin:** An ICE officer [shot][32] and wounded **Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez**, a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver, as he was delivering food in Austin, Texas on Sunday.
* Garcés Perez was taken to the hospital and was reportedly in “serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, according to a county EMS employee.
* According to his attorney, Garcés Perez is in the process of seeking asylum and had no criminal history. She also noted that she and his wife were barred from the hospital and given no information on his condition until Austin Mayor **Kirk Watson **intervened hours later.
* The shooting sparked protests in the city, where state troopers deployed tear gas against protesters and reportedly tackled some of those assembled in the downtown area.
* **CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue Trump administration over revoked White House press access**: CNN, MS NOW and Politico are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration after their reporters were blocked from the White House Saturday and had their press badges deactivated, a day after President Donald Trump barred the outlets over coverage he called “fake news.”
* White House Correspondents’ Association President **Jacqui Heinrich** called for the outlets’ access to be immediately restored, warning that “a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future.”
* **Rep. Max Miller threatens legal action over Democratic opponent’s ad**: Rep. **Max Miller** [sent][33] a cease-and-desist letter demanding Cleveland station WKYC stop airing a Democratic challenger **Brian Poindexter’s** ad that features a sheriff detailing abuse allegations against Miller, including claims he poured hot water on his ex-wife, **Emily Moreno**, held a gun to her head, and broke his daughter’s collarbone.
* Miller’s lawyer warned the station of pending legal action over “false, malicious, and defamatory statements.”
* Miller, who has denied the allegations, is drawing significant national GOP support despite recent polling showing a tight race, including a $4.85 million ad buy from the Congressional Leadership Fund set to run September 30 through Election Day.
* **Huckabee aide with top-secret clearance solicited cash wedding gifts from Israelis, sparking security concerns:** **David Milstein**, a senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel **Mike Huckabee** who [holds][34] a top-secret security clearance, solicited monetary wedding gifts in U.S. dollars or Israeli shekels from Israeli citizens via a QR code before retracting the request Saturday, hours after Politico asked whether he had State Department or White House approval for this solicitation.
* **Pro-Israel Democrat Henry Beck to fundraise for Maine’s Troy Jackson:** AIPAC-aligned Democrat **Henry Beck** is [hosting][35] a big-ticket fundraiser in New York City for **Troy Jackson’s** Senate Campaign this week, Drop Site contributor **Nathan Bernard** reported, with Jackson expected to headline the event.
* Beck, a former state treasurer, was a leading pro-Israel voice in Maine before moving to New York City to work for an asset management firm. In January 2024, he traveled to Israel to meet with IDF soldiers as part of a 10-person delegation organized by the American Israel Education Foundation.
* While State Treasurer, Beck released a controversial statement from the Treasurer’s office on the first anniversary of October 7 on the importance of “maintain[ing] our important relationship with the people of Israel,” while declining to mention any of Israel’s war crimes
* Asked for comment, the Jackson campaign did not address the fundraiser but reiterated his stance on Israel. A campaign spokesperson told Bernard that: “Troy opposes U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel, has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, and has pledged to reject money from AIPAC.”
* **White House drafts order to give political panel veto power over NIH research grants:** The White House is [drafting][36] an executive order to create an external committee with power to veto National Institutes of Health research awards that don’t align with President Donald Trump’s political agenda, according to The New York Times.
* The draft follows a contentious Friday Oval Office meeting first reported on by The Washington Post, where Trump complained about his administration’s failure to force Harvard to accept his administration’s demands.
* NIH spokesman **Joshua Pradko** said the agency “remains committed to its mission” and that “there will be no rescissions” to its grant money.
* **Grassley calls on Trump to embargo diesel exports: **Iowa Republican Sen. **Chuck Grassley** [called][37] on President Trump to embargo U.S. diesel exports as prices in the state hit $6.57 a gallon, an all-time high. Grassley said high fuel costs are “killing farmers’ income.” Iowa had 86,200 farms operating 29.9 million acres in 2025, according to USDA.
* Nearly 1 in 20 Iowans, in a state of 3.24 million, are agricultural producers. USDA says about 305,000 people, or roughly 9.4% of Iowa’s population, live in farm-producer households.
* **Josh Turek**, the Democratic nominee for Iowa’s open Senate seat, backed the proposal and said the U.S. should “ultimately, end this war.” Turek is running against Republican Rep. **Ashley Hinson** for retiring Sen. **Joni Ernst’s** seat.
* **U.S. kills four in eastern Caribbean strike:** The U.S. military conducted a strike on a boat in the Caribbean on Saturday, killing four people, according to U.S. Southern Command. SOUTHCOM posted [video][38] of the strike and said it “executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel,” claiming without evidence it was engaged in narco-trafficking. The Trump administration’s targeting of vessels has killed at least 231 people in nearly 70 strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean since September 2025.
* In a new report, **Ben Saul**, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, found that U.S. attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels amount to “serial extrajudicial killings” in violation of the right to life. The [briefing note][39] concludes that the attacks cannot be justified under national or personal self-defense, international humanitarian law, the law of the sea, narcotics suppression conventions, or international counter-terrorism law and these strikes “plausibly constitute crimes against humanity.” The report also called the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan President **Nicolás Maduro** an “arbitrary detention” and said he is entitled to head of state protection before U.S. courts.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Pakistan detains three sisters of jailed former PM Imran Khan ahead of planned protest march**: Pakistani police [arrested][40] Aleema Khan from her Lahore residence under the Maintenance of Public Order law, according to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Hours later, they also detained Uzma Khan and Noureen Niazi; all three are sisters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
* PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said the sisters and several other family members, including children, were taken to an unknown location in an armored vehicle, a move Khan’s son Kasim called “criminal behavior” and “inexcusable.”
* The detentions have been challenged in Lahore High Court, according to Aleema Khan’s lawyer.
* PTI is planning a September 27 march demanding Khan’s release, which Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had warned against, advising planners: “Don’t get into a situation from which there is no turning back.”
* There are significant concerns about Imran Khan’s health in prison. The condition of his right eye has reportedly deteriorate, and he has experienced “severe anxiety,” according to his sons.
* **Pakistani air raids kill at least three civilians in Afghanistan: **Pakistani air strikes hit three targets including a house in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Paktika provinces early Monday, killing at least three members of one family and injuring four in Kunar’s Nurgal district, according to Afghan officials; Pakistan’s information ministry claimed the strikes killed 28 “terrorists.”
* The strikes came days after a Pakistani Taliban faction [claimed][41] a bombing at a mosque in a police facility in Kohat that killed at least 31 people, which Pakistan’s information ministry blamed on Afghanistan-based fighters. Following Saturday’s attack, Pakistan warned that it could strike targets inside Afghanistan.
* **Drop Site’s June reporting on the months-long clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from contributor Emran Feroz, is available[ here][42].**
* **Pakistani forces kill five militants, free 23 hostages in Balochistan operation**: Pakistani security forces [killed][43] five militants and freed 23 hostages Sunday in an operation near Kalat in Balochistan province, according to a statement from the military.
* The militants, identified by the military as members of a Baloch separatist group, reportedly set up an illegal checkpoint overnight to abduct people for ransom, extort money, and seize vehicles. The operation came days after the state’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti ruled out negotiations with Baloch insurgents.
* **Explosions at weapons depot in northern Syria injure at least four**: A series of explosions at a Syrian army weapons depot near al-Eis, south of Aleppo, [injured][44] at least four people early Monday, state news agency SANA reported. The cause was not immediately clear.
* Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib urged residents to stay home as ambulances and fire crews responded and authorities closed roads to the site.
* The explosion is the latest in a string of incidents across Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, including a blast that killed 11 at a military site in Deir Az Zor on Friday and one that killed 14 at an Idlib weapons depot earlier this month.
* **Ukraine launches mass drone strike on Moscow on final day of Russian election, killing two**: Ukraine [launched][45] hundreds of drones at Moscow on Sunday, killing three people and wounding 20 others on the final day of Russia’s State Duma election.
* Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia shot down more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed toward Moscow, calling the strike an attempt “clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections.”
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes hit “one of the key enterprises of Russia’s oil industry” and suggested Moscow could “end its brutal war and choose peace.”
* Ukrainian strikes overnight on Sunday reportedly set one of Moscow’s largest oil refineries ablaze, hit a warehouse and a market, residential buildings, and at least 11 suburban areas. All three Moscow airports grounded flights.
* Turnout in the election, the first since Russia’s full-scale invasion and one from which most anti-war candidates have been barred, exceeded 45% by Sunday morning, according to Russian electoral officials.
* **Russia continues to strike Ukraine, killing five: **Russian strikes on Ukraine on Sunday [killed][46] a mother and two small children in Kyiv and four more in a drone strike on Sumy, according to Ukraine’s national news service.
* Russia fired 138 drones overnight, half of them jet-powered, according to the country’s air force.
* **Zelenskyy plans to meet with Trump in New York:** Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [said][47] he and President Donald Trump agreed to meet in New York during the coming UN General Assembly, writing on X that the meeting “could change a lot” and that “there is diplomatic momentum” toward ending the war.
* He added that Ukraine is “working together with the American team” and is “ready to take really serious steps.”
* **Three South Korean soldiers wounded in DMZ explosion: **Three South Korean military officers were [wounded][48] in an explosion Monday in the western sector of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with the cause of the explosion not immediately clear.
* Mine explosions are a recurring hazard along the heavily fortified, 248-kilometer DMZ, which contains an estimated 2 million mines.
* **18 suspects in Haitian President Moïse’s assassination extradited to US**: Eighteen suspects, including 17 Colombian soldiers and former Haiti Justice Ministry employee Joseph Badio, were [extradited][49] from Haiti to the United States on Sunday to face trial in Florida for the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones announced.
* Haiti’s Ministry of Justice said it surrendered the suspects to “strengthen its cooperation with the American judicial authorities” after its own proceedings faced “significant difficulties,” as judges resigned over safety fears and gangs seized the Port-au-Prince courthouse.
* Relatives of the Colombian suspects said the extradition came as a surprise and expressed concern over the men’s health after detention in Haitian prisons.
* The extraditions bring the total indicted in the case to 30, following the May conviction of four men in Florida and guilty pleas from at least five others now serving life sentences.
* Christian Sanon, the Haitian-American who was the alleged mastermind of the attack, awaits trial in the U.S.
* **Australia to see more deaths than births by 2060s, Treasury report forecasts: ** Australia’s Treasury projected in its latest Intergenerational Report Monday that deaths will outnumber births by the 2060s, joining several advanced economies, including Japan, France, and Germany, who will also rely on migration to increase their populations based on current projections. Australia’s fertility rate is expected to fall to 1.34 live births per woman, while the number of Australians aged 85 and older will triple by 2065-66.
* **Meloni says she will ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools:** Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni [told][50] her Brothers of Italy party’s youth wing on Sunday that she will soon introduce a measure to cap foreign students in classrooms, ban burqas and niqabs in schools, and require compulsory Italian lessons for parents of foreign students “serious difficulties integrating into the school system.”
* **Trump administration prepares additional sanctions against ICC: ** The Trump administration is [preparing][51] sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, the Wall Street Journal reported, expanding its campaign against the body in retaliation for its cases against Israel and Israeli officials.
* The U.S. has already sanctioned several ICC officials, including former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, court president Tomoko Akane, and the lead prosecutor in the court’s case against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in July the administration would dismantle the court “brick by brick.”
* The sanctions would prohibit most financial transactions with the ICC after a six- or seven-month grace period, WSJ reports. A final decision could come as soon as this week, during the UN General Assembly meeting, officials told the paper.
* **German far right wins more regional elections, Merz continues to suffer:** Germany’s far-right AfD [placed][52] first in elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union suffered its worst result in any state election since World War II, according to the AP.
* The AfD won a projected 37.7%, while the CDU collapsed to 5.2%, barely clearing the threshold for parliamentary representation. Merz called the results a “disaster” but rejected calls for his resignation.
* **Seven Ethiopian armed groups announce alliance to oust Abiy’s government: **Seven Ethiopian armed groups—including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Amhara Fano National Movement, which fought on opposite sides of the 2020-2022 Tigray war—[announced][53] they have formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, aiming to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, Reuters reported.
* Fano leader Zemene Kassie read a statement on Tigrayan television that declared that the groups “bear the historic responsibility of overthrowing this regime.”
* Clashes were renewed between federal and Tigrayan forces when the TPLF reasserted regional political control in May, violating the 2022 peace deal. Ethiopia is accusing neighboring Eritrea of backing insurgent groups, a claim Eritrea denies.
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[23]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/21/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D8%AD%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D8%AC%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D9%86-154373
[24]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564343/%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-2
[25]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564335/%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-2
[26]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[27]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[28]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[29]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[30]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[31]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/us/politics/crypto-sherrod-brown-ohio-senate-race.html
[32]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shooting-austin-texas-rcna598870
[33]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/21/congress/miller-ad-spurs-legal-threat-01085665
[34]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/09/21/huckabees-walking-counterintel-red-flag-01085994
[35]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101873741814763540
[36]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/science/nih-omb-grants-bhattacharya-vought.html
[37]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101519664052421047
[38]: https://x.com/Southcom/status/2101458571758063975
[39]: https://x.com/profbensaul/status/2101816627167985965
[40]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/former-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-125757400.html
[41]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/death-toll-31-pakistan-police-compound-attack-afp-reports-2026-09-19/
[42]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/peace-abroad-war-next-door-pakistani
[43]: https://www.newarab.com/news/pakistan-forces-kill-5-militants-and-free-23-hostages
[44]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/powerful-explosions-at-syrian-army-site-near-aleppo-injures-at-least-four
[45]: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/two-dead-moscow-region-drones-hit-oil-refinery-russian-capital-rcna598767
[46]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101708796020101379
[47]: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/ukraines-zelenskiy-says-he-and-trump-agree-to-meet-in-new-york
[48]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/three-south-korean-officers-wounded-in-border-explosion
[49]: https://www.npr.org/2026/09/21/nx-s1-5976026/suspects-killing-haiti-president-extradited
[50]: https://apnews.com/article/italy-meloni-ban-burqas-niqabs-ban-schools-862c88cc1aa98560ba2b3f7bf31ae622
[51]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101769380434702672
[52]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101748717657481360
[53]: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-09-21/seven-ethiopian-armed-groups-announce-anti-government-alliance
[54]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZz-mgbUy3E
[55]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/rojava-syria-kurds-ypj-sdf-aanes
[56]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[57]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[58]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[59]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/trump-us-iran-unga-pakistan-imran-khan-ice-doordash-shooting
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen aboard Marine One as it lands at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on September 19, 2026. Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.
**Monday, September 21, 2026 –***** **Four workers killed in Saudi airstrikes on telecom towers in Yemen. Ansarallah targeted Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi-backed forces claim to recapture positions near Taiz. Ansarallah reiterates Saudi ships are the sole target in Red Sea. U.S. urges Americans to “seriously reconsider” Middle East travel, warns of rapid escalation. Tanker struck by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, two crew injured. Iran says it shot down U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz. President Donald Trump threatens to “blow up all of Iran,” says he is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran says it sent mediators conditions for starting negotiations to end war. “All Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary says. U.S. refuses visas for Iranian president’s communications team. Bloomberg: Pentagon probe found “cascade of preventable failures” behind U.S. strike on Iranian school. WaPo: More U.S. troops have died in Iran
war than publicly disclosed. Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians, including child, wound several across Gaza. Israeli forces kill one Palestinian, carry out mass detentions and closures across the occupied West Bank. Israeli settler killed in shooting near West Bank settlement. Gaza hospital suspends nearly all medical services as fuel deliveries halt. Senate war vote looms. Israeli weapons transfer still lacks Senate objector. Crypto super PAC Fairshake launches $30 million campaign against Former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. ICE officer shoots, seriously wounds DoorDash driver in Austin. CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue Trump administration over revoked White House press access. Huckabee aide with top-secret clearance solicited cash wedding gifts from Israelis, sparking security concerns. Pro-Israel Democrat Henry Beck to fundraise for Maine’s Troy Jackson. White House drafts order to give political panel veto power over NIH research grants. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley calls on Trump to
embargo diesel exports. Trump announces “Historic” U.S., Greenland, Denmark Agreement. Pakistan detains three sisters of jailed former PM Imran Khan ahead of planned protest march. Pakistani air raids kill at least three civilians in Afghanistan. Pakistani forces kill five militants, free 23 hostages in Balochistan operation. Explosions at weapons depot in northern Syria injure at least four. Ukraine launches mass drone strike on Moscow on final day of Russian election, killing two. Russia continues to strike Ukraine, killing five. Zelenskyy plans to meet with Trump in New York. Three South Korean soldiers wounded in DMZ explosion. 18 suspects in Haitian President Jovenal Moïse’s assassination extradited to US. Australia to see more deaths than births by 2060s, Treasury report forecasts. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she will ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools. Trump administration prepares additional sanctions against ICC. German far right wins more regional
elections, Chancellor Friedrich Merz continues to suffer. Seven Ethiopian armed groups announce alliance to oust President Abiy Ahmed’s government.*
**This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday**
# Yemen
* **Four workers killed in Saudi airstrikes on telecom towers in Yemen: **Four workers were [killed][1] and three wounded in Saudi airstrikes on telecommunications towers in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province on Sunday, according to Ansarallah-affiliated Al Masirah.
* Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi F-15 and Typhoon jets carried out 28 airstrikes in Taiz, Al-Jawf, and Marib over 24 hours, bringing the group’s claimed total since the latest escalation to 760.
* Meanwhile, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said it struck Ansarallah forces in Al-Bayda, while an army officer claimed more than 80 Ansarallah fighters were killed in fighting around oil and gas rich Marib.
* **Ansarallah targeted Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu: **Ansarallah [targeted][2] “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu on Saturday using a large number of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones. Saudi Civil Defense alerts were triggered multiple times for 10 different cities and provinces during the attacks.
* NASA FIRMS data confirmed that fuel storage at the Aramco Central Region Distribution facility was struck causing a fire. Photos and videos circulating online showed a large smoke column rising from the vicinity of King Khalid International Airport, where the Aramco distribution facility is located.
* **Saudi-backed forces claim to recapture positions near Taiz:** Saudi-backed Yemeni forces recaptured several front-line positions near Taiz city from Ansarallah, the chief of staff of the Taiz military force told state-run Saba news agency. Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been divided along front lines between Ansarallah and the internationally recognized government since 2015. Taiz governorate remains the epicenter of displacement in Yemen, with more than 63,000 people displaced, as the nationwide total surpassed 104,796 people, according to the International Organization for Migration.
* **Ansarallah reiterates Saudi ships are the sole target in Red Sea: **Mahdi Al-Mashat, president of the Ansarallah-run Supreme Political Council in Sana’a, [said][3] Saudi Arabia will be forced to pay compensation for its “unjust blockade” of Yemen, reaffirming an “equation of blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation.”
* Al-Mashat said Yemen would press ahead until airports and ports are reopened, national resources restored, compensation paid, and Saudi forces withdrawn from “occupied” territory.
* He added that international shipping through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab “will face no danger from Yemen.”
* **Saudi crude exports surge as kingdom shifts more oil to Gulf terminals: **Saudi Arabia’s September crude exports are averaging 4.60 million barrels per day (bpd), up 2.16 million bpd from August but still 1.89 million below a year earlier, [according][4] to Kpler.
* The sharp increase suggests the kingdom is shifting substantial volumes from Yanbu and the disrupted Red Sea route to eastern Gulf terminals, sending them through Hormuz instead.
* Bloomberg energy columnist Javier Blas said satellite imagery showed seven supertankers, capable of carrying roughly 14 million barrels combined, loading simultaneously on September 20.
* TankerTrackers said Saudi east-coast crude exports have “picked up massively” over the past two weeks.
* **Casualty toll continues to rise in Yemen:** Over 160 people were killed and more than 500 injured across Yemen between September 12 and 18, [according][5] to the World Health Organization, bringing the total number of casualties since the fighting resumed on August 6 to 674 killed and nearly 3,000 injured. An estimated 125,000 people have been displaced over the same period.
* **U.S. urges Americans to “seriously reconsider” Middle East travel, warns of rapid escalation: **The U.S. State Department [urged][6] Americans outside the Middle East to “seriously reconsider” travel to and through the region, warning that the military conflict “has the potential to escalate rapidly.” It cited ongoing hostilities, including Ansarallah attacks on Saudi Arabia, and warned of possible flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions.
# Iran
* **Tanker struck by projectile in Strait of Hormuz, two crew injured: **A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was [struck][7] by an unknown projectile on Monday, leaving two crew members with minor injuries, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said.
* The vessel was entering the Strait and continued toward its next port under its own power. No environmental impact was reported.
* **Iran says it shot down U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz: **Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [said][8] Monday it intercepted and destroyed another U.S. MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported. The IRGC claimed the U.S. had returned the older MQ-1 to service after losing a large number of MQ-9 drones. There was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the reported shootdown.
* **Trump threatens to “blow up all of Iran,” says he is open to meeting Pezeshkian: **President Donald Trump [escalated][9] his threats against Iran in a Fox News interview on Sunday, saying Washington’s options are “to obliterate Iran, letting it rot economically, or reach a deal.”
* “My question is when—and if—I will blow up all of Iran, and they had better behave themselves,” Trump added.
* Trump also said he is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. He claimed some Iranian officials are hiding and it’s impossible to find the contacts to strike a deal.
* The U.S. remains in “constant contact” with Yemen’s Ansarallah, Trump said, adding that they have agreed not to fight U.S. forces.
* **Iran says it sent mediators conditions for starting negotiations to end war: **Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s National Security Council Secretary, [told][10] Al Jazeera Tehran shared seven conditions for negotiating an end to the war with mediators, Rezaei said, including an end to attacks on all fronts, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and ending the U.S.’s naval blockade.
* “The U.S. President’s assessments and calculations regarding Iran were flawed, and the war was instigated by Netanyahu,” Rezaei said. “Trump’s threats will yield no results. We are prepared for a decisive war.”
* **Iran says U.S. planning renewed attacks, warns of retaliation “without limitations”: **Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters—Iran’s conventional joint military command—said it had received information indicating the U.S. was planning to resume attacks on Iran and warned it would retaliate “without limitations.” The military command also warned regional countries against supporting any U.S. attacks.
* Iran’s IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said Monday the war had not ended and the IRGC was prepared for a prolonged conflict, warning that any renewed confrontation would involve new targets, a changed “geography of war,” and weapons and capabilities not previously used that would “surprise the world.”
* **“All Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary says: **“On September 23rd, all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday, announcing new sanctions targeting Iran’s civil aviation network.
* Bessent said foreign airports and companies that refuel Iranian aircraft, provide landing services or sell tickets could risk losing access to the U.S. banking system. Iran has not publicly responded.
* **U.S. refuses visas for Iranian president’s communications team:** The Trump administration has refused to issue visas for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s communications team for the UN General Assembly opening in New York this week, according to Iranian state media. While entry visas were granted to President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and other key Iranian officials, the U.S. imposed restrictions on the delegation’s movement in New York, limiting officials to areas in and around the UN headquarters.
* **Bloomberg: Pentagon probe found “cascade of preventable failures” behind U.S. strike on Iranian school: **“Within hours of a February 28 missile attack that hit an Iranian school, some Pentagon personnel knew the U.S. was responsible, according to officials involved in an internal investigation of the incident,” Bloomberg [reported][11].
* The report added that Pentagon investigators found a “cascade of preventable failures” behind the U.S. strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children, though Washington still has not publicly accepted responsibility.
* The probe found outdated intelligence, missed evidence the site had operated openly as a school for years, and overreliance inside CENTCOM on Palantir’s AI-enabled “Maven” system.
* The investigation that began in March has been nearly complete for months but remains unreleased.
* **CENTCOM claims Hormuz shipping at six-month high; Iran rejects account:** CENTCOM [claimed][12] the volume of oil, cargo, and liquefied natural gas moving through the Strait of Hormuz during the past two weeks was higher than at any point in the previous six months.
* Admiral Brad Cooper said on Saturday that U.S. forces had supported the passage of more than 2,000 transits and one billion barrels of Gulf crude through Hormuz over the “last couple of months.”
* That figure, if Cooper begins the count on July 13, when the U.S. announced it was resuming its naval blockade, would equal about 14.7 million bpd. Reuters recently cited Vortexa data estimating that crude and fuel flows through Hormuz were closer to 8 million bpd, while Goldman Sachs placed exports through all Gulf routes combined at 15–16 million bpd.
* Iranian military spokesperson Abolfazl Shekarchi rejected CENTCOM’s account as a “failed psychological operation” intended to boost U.S. troop morale and justify the war’s enormous human and financial costs.
* Oil flows out of the Gulf [increased][13] substantially since late July, with the seven-day average reaching over 15 million barrels per day in the latest September readings, according to Kpler’s chart.
* These are combined regional exports, including passage through Hormuz, Gulf of Oman net exports, and loadings at Fujairah and Omani ports. Kpler marks the latest 14 days as provisional or preliminary and says the figures represent confirmed minimums that rise as additional shipments are verified.
* **WaPo: More U.S. troops have died in Iran war than publicly disclosed:** More American troops have died during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, [according][14] to the Washington Post, citing six U.S. officials. The Pentagon’s database lists 18 U.S. military fatalities since the start of the war in February, but five of the officials told the Post there have been at least 22, while a sixth official put the number at 23.
# Palestine
* **Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians, including child, wound several across Gaza:**
* A Palestinian child died from wounds after being [shot][15] by Israeli forces in Al-Mawasi, Rafah, on Monday, while a man was shot in the head by an Israeli quadcopter in northern Gaza and died, WAFA reported. Israeli fire killed a woman and injured a girl near tents between Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps.
* On Sunday, Israeli forces [shot and wounded][16] a woman in Jabalia. A girl was separately shot in the thigh west of Halawa camp. In Bureij refugee camp, an Israeli drone shot and wounded a child east of the camp.
* An Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Saturday.
* Israeli forces also targeted and killed Basir Al-Boursh, the son of the director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh in a strike on Jabalia, northern Gaza. His voice breaking as he spoke, Dr. Al-Boursh told Drop Site: “The occupation targeted him in his tent. He was only meters away from me. It killed my son before my eyes. This oppressive occupation tore him in half with modern missiles. This is the occupation.”
* **Watch the full report from Drop Site’s Mohamed Ahmed [here][17].**
* **Israeli forces kill one Palestinian, carry out mass detentions and closures across the occupied West Bank: **Israeli forces killed a Palestinian, carried out mass detentions, and imposed widespread closures across the occupied West Bank on Sunday and Monday. More than 100 Palestinians were [subjected to field interrogations][18] over the past two days, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said.
* **Jenin:** Israeli forces [shot and killed][19] a 32-year-old Palestinian and wounded another after opening fire on a vehicle near Haddad village east of Jenin on Sunday, WAFA reported. Israeli forces withheld the slain man’s body and prevented Palestinian Red Crescent crews from reaching the scene. Israeli media later alleged the vehicle attempted a ramming attack, but did not share any evidence to back the claim. Forces also raided villages west of Jenin, closed roads and entrances, forced businesses to shut, and detained residents.
* **Tubas and northern Jordan Valley:** Israeli forces prevented 104 teachers from reaching their schools on Sunday by closing the Tayasir and Ein Shibli checkpoints, disrupting schools serving around 1,100 students.
* **Ramallah and Al-Bireh:** Israeli forces detained at least 35 Palestinians during an ongoing raid on Al-Mughayyir, closed the village’s only entrance, searched homes, and seized money and gold, according to local sources.
* **East Jerusalem:** Israeli forces continued a large-scale operation in Biddu, raiding homes and holding dozens of Palestinians for field interrogation in a house converted into a detention center. In Sur Baher, several shops caught fire during confrontations in which Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas.
* **Nablus:** Israeli forces [will close][20] all military checkpoints surrounding Nablus at 6 p.m. Monday, coinciding with planned settler movements and marches, the Palestinian military liaison said.
* **Israeli settler killed in shooting near West Bank settlement: **An Israeli settler was [killed][21] and others wounded in a shooting near the illegal Halamish settlement, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday.
* The gunman reportedly fired at settlers at a spring close to Deir Nidham village, before escaping. Israeli forces deployed drones and a helicopter, surrounded nearby Palestinian communities and established military checkpoints during the manhunt.
* Hours later, Israeli soldiers stormed H-Clinic Hospital in Ramallah and seized 37-year-old Qadri Samara from his treatment bed while he was wounded and receiving oxygen, The New Arab reported. Israel claims Samara, a former Palestinian prisoner from Biddu, carried out the shooting. Soldiers reportedly assaulted healthcare workers during the raid.
* **Gaza hospital suspends nearly all medical services as fuel deliveries halt: **Gaza’s Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital in Khan Younis [suspended][22] nearly all medical services as the World Health Organization told the hospital that fuel deliveries would stop, Palestine Online reported on Sunday.
* With Gaza’s electrical grid down since Israel began its genocide, the hospital depends entirely on generators. The fuel shortage has halted surgeries, C-sections, outpatient care, scans, laboratory work, ambulances and other essential services.
* The outlet said that the hospital treats more than 3,000 patients daily and serves roughly 700,000 displaced Palestinians. It needs at least 1,000 liters of fuel per day.
* Medical director Dr. Jamal Al-Hams called the deprivation of essential healthcare “deliberate killing,” and urged international pressure on Israel to open the crossings.
* **Israel shuts down crossings for religious holiday:** Israel shut down border crossings for 24 hours on Sunday afternoon in observance of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, including the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing where aid deliveries enter Gaza, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for Palestinian medical evacuations, and the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.
* **Female Palestinian prisoner reports beatings, denial of medical care at Damon prison: **A female Palestinian prisoner held at Israel’s Damon prison [said][23] conditions are worsening, with prisoners facing overcrowding, inadequate food and deprivation of basic rights, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
* Detained since February 9, she developed scabies and a urinary tract infection but said she has received no treatment. She also reported being strip-searched and severely beaten following her arrest, including blows to her head and face. At Damon, she said several female prisoners sleep on the floor and time outside cells is severely restricted.
# Lebanon
* **Israeli airstrikes, shelling and explosions hit southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire”: **In the Bint Jbeil district, Israeli warplanes [struck][24] the outskirts of Baraachit, on Monday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported, while artillery shelling targeted Kounine and Israeli forces carried out a large explosion in Ainata.
* An Israeli airstrike also [targeted][25] Deir Siryan in the Marjayoun district.
# U.S. News
* **Senate war vote looms: **Last week, the House passed a new war powers resolution ordering the end of the Iran war, by a vote of 220-204, with seven Republicans breaking with Trump. The measure could come to the Senate floor as soon as this week, with GOP Sens. **Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Thom Tillis** all likely to support it, giving it the majority it would need. Trump ignored the previous war powers resolution passed by both chambers of Congress.
* **Trump to meet with Mamdani as UNGA begins: **Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with New York City Mayor **Zohran Mamdani** at Gracie Mansion on Monday. Trump is in town to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he is set to speak Tuesday. This is the third meeting between Trump and Mamdani.
* **Israeli weapons transfer still lacks Senate objector: **The Trump administration’s plan to ship 40,000 tons of bombs to Israel is likely to spark a vote of objection on the Senate floor, Democratic senators tell Drop Site. A single senator can introduce a Joint Resolution of Disapproval and force a vote. [Sens. ][26]**[Chris Van Hollen ][27]**[and ][28]**[Tim Kaine ][29]**[tell Drop Site such a vote is likely.][30] So far, no senator has come forward to introduce such a resolution.
* **Crypto super PAC Fairshake launches $30 million campaign against Sherrod Brown**: Fairshake, the crypto industry’s main super PAC, is [beginning][31] a $30 million ad and mail campaign against former Sen. **Sherrod Brown** of Ohio, according to the New York Times. Brown is now running for JD Vance’s former Senate seat in Ohio.
* Crypto industry interests are expected to retaliate after every Senate Democrat—including senators previously supportive of the industry—blocked the pro-crypto Clarity Act last week.
* Fairshake, which has $120.4 million alongside two affiliated groups, spent $41 million against Brown in 2024, and its spending this cycle is expected to lean heavily Republican.
* Brown, who has dialed back public criticism of crypto, said he has “not moderated” his position but doesn’t have “great interest” in going further than acknowledging the industry’s economic role.
* Brown’s opponent, Sen. **Jon Husted**, already holds a roughly $30 million advertising advantage in the race.
* **ICE officer shoots, seriously wounds DoorDash driver in Austin:** An ICE officer [shot][32] and wounded **Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez**, a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver, as he was delivering food in Austin, Texas on Sunday.
* Garcés Perez was taken to the hospital and was reportedly in “serious but stable condition” after being shot in the torso, according to a county EMS employee.
* According to his attorney, Garcés Perez is in the process of seeking asylum and had no criminal history. She also noted that she and his wife were barred from the hospital and given no information on his condition until Austin Mayor **Kirk Watson **intervened hours later.
* The shooting sparked protests in the city, where state troopers deployed tear gas against protesters and reportedly tackled some of those assembled in the downtown area.
* **CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue Trump administration over revoked White House press access**: CNN, MS NOW and Politico are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration after their reporters were blocked from the White House Saturday and had their press badges deactivated, a day after President Donald Trump barred the outlets over coverage he called “fake news.”
* White House Correspondents’ Association President **Jacqui Heinrich** called for the outlets’ access to be immediately restored, warning that “a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future.”
* **Rep. Max Miller threatens legal action over Democratic opponent’s ad**: Rep. **Max Miller** [sent][33] a cease-and-desist letter demanding Cleveland station WKYC stop airing a Democratic challenger **Brian Poindexter’s** ad that features a sheriff detailing abuse allegations against Miller, including claims he poured hot water on his ex-wife, **Emily Moreno**, held a gun to her head, and broke his daughter’s collarbone.
* Miller’s lawyer warned the station of pending legal action over “false, malicious, and defamatory statements.”
* Miller, who has denied the allegations, is drawing significant national GOP support despite recent polling showing a tight race, including a $4.85 million ad buy from the Congressional Leadership Fund set to run September 30 through Election Day.
* **Huckabee aide with top-secret clearance solicited cash wedding gifts from Israelis, sparking security concerns:** **David Milstein**, a senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel **Mike Huckabee** who [holds][34] a top-secret security clearance, solicited monetary wedding gifts in U.S. dollars or Israeli shekels from Israeli citizens via a QR code before retracting the request Saturday, hours after Politico asked whether he had State Department or White House approval for this solicitation.
* **Pro-Israel Democrat Henry Beck to fundraise for Maine’s Troy Jackson:** AIPAC-aligned Democrat **Henry Beck** is [hosting][35] a big-ticket fundraiser in New York City for **Troy Jackson’s** Senate Campaign this week, Drop Site contributor **Nathan Bernard** reported, with Jackson expected to headline the event.
* Beck, a former state treasurer, was a leading pro-Israel voice in Maine before moving to New York City to work for an asset management firm. In January 2024, he traveled to Israel to meet with IDF soldiers as part of a 10-person delegation organized by the American Israel Education Foundation.
* While State Treasurer, Beck released a controversial statement from the Treasurer’s office on the first anniversary of October 7 on the importance of “maintain[ing] our important relationship with the people of Israel,” while declining to mention any of Israel’s war crimes
* Asked for comment, the Jackson campaign did not address the fundraiser but reiterated his stance on Israel. A campaign spokesperson told Bernard that: “Troy opposes U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel, has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, and has pledged to reject money from AIPAC.”
* **White House drafts order to give political panel veto power over NIH research grants:** The White House is [drafting][36] an executive order to create an external committee with power to veto National Institutes of Health research awards that don’t align with President Donald Trump’s political agenda, according to The New York Times.
* The draft follows a contentious Friday Oval Office meeting first reported on by The Washington Post, where Trump complained about his administration’s failure to force Harvard to accept his administration’s demands.
* NIH spokesman **Joshua Pradko** said the agency “remains committed to its mission” and that “there will be no rescissions” to its grant money.
* **Grassley calls on Trump to embargo diesel exports: **Iowa Republican Sen. **Chuck Grassley** [called][37] on President Trump to embargo U.S. diesel exports as prices in the state hit $6.57 a gallon, an all-time high. Grassley said high fuel costs are “killing farmers’ income.” Iowa had 86,200 farms operating 29.9 million acres in 2025, according to USDA.
* Nearly 1 in 20 Iowans, in a state of 3.24 million, are agricultural producers. USDA says about 305,000 people, or roughly 9.4% of Iowa’s population, live in farm-producer households.
* **Josh Turek**, the Democratic nominee for Iowa’s open Senate seat, backed the proposal and said the U.S. should “ultimately, end this war.” Turek is running against Republican Rep. **Ashley Hinson** for retiring Sen. **Joni Ernst’s** seat.
* **U.S. kills four in eastern Caribbean strike:** The U.S. military conducted a strike on a boat in the Caribbean on Saturday, killing four people, according to U.S. Southern Command. SOUTHCOM posted [video][38] of the strike and said it “executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel,” claiming without evidence it was engaged in narco-trafficking. The Trump administration’s targeting of vessels has killed at least 231 people in nearly 70 strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean since September 2025.
* In a new report, **Ben Saul**, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, found that U.S. attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels amount to “serial extrajudicial killings” in violation of the right to life. The [briefing note][39] concludes that the attacks cannot be justified under national or personal self-defense, international humanitarian law, the law of the sea, narcotics suppression conventions, or international counter-terrorism law and these strikes “plausibly constitute crimes against humanity.” The report also called the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan President **Nicolás Maduro** an “arbitrary detention” and said he is entitled to head of state protection before U.S. courts.
📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected]
# Other International News
* **Pakistan detains three sisters of jailed former PM Imran Khan ahead of planned protest march**: Pakistani police [arrested][40] Aleema Khan from her Lahore residence under the Maintenance of Public Order law, according to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Hours later, they also detained Uzma Khan and Noureen Niazi; all three are sisters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
* PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said the sisters and several other family members, including children, were taken to an unknown location in an armored vehicle, a move Khan’s son Kasim called “criminal behavior” and “inexcusable.”
* The detentions have been challenged in Lahore High Court, according to Aleema Khan’s lawyer.
* PTI is planning a September 27 march demanding Khan’s release, which Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had warned against, advising planners: “Don’t get into a situation from which there is no turning back.”
* There are significant concerns about Imran Khan’s health in prison. The condition of his right eye has reportedly deteriorate, and he has experienced “severe anxiety,” according to his sons.
* **Pakistani air raids kill at least three civilians in Afghanistan: **Pakistani air strikes hit three targets including a house in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Paktika provinces early Monday, killing at least three members of one family and injuring four in Kunar’s Nurgal district, according to Afghan officials; Pakistan’s information ministry claimed the strikes killed 28 “terrorists.”
* The strikes came days after a Pakistani Taliban faction [claimed][41] a bombing at a mosque in a police facility in Kohat that killed at least 31 people, which Pakistan’s information ministry blamed on Afghanistan-based fighters. Following Saturday’s attack, Pakistan warned that it could strike targets inside Afghanistan.
* **Drop Site’s June reporting on the months-long clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from contributor Emran Feroz, is available[ here][42].**
* **Pakistani forces kill five militants, free 23 hostages in Balochistan operation**: Pakistani security forces [killed][43] five militants and freed 23 hostages Sunday in an operation near Kalat in Balochistan province, according to a statement from the military.
* The militants, identified by the military as members of a Baloch separatist group, reportedly set up an illegal checkpoint overnight to abduct people for ransom, extort money, and seize vehicles. The operation came days after the state’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti ruled out negotiations with Baloch insurgents.
* **Explosions at weapons depot in northern Syria injure at least four**: A series of explosions at a Syrian army weapons depot near al-Eis, south of Aleppo, [injured][44] at least four people early Monday, state news agency SANA reported. The cause was not immediately clear.
* Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib urged residents to stay home as ambulances and fire crews responded and authorities closed roads to the site.
* The explosion is the latest in a string of incidents across Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, including a blast that killed 11 at a military site in Deir Az Zor on Friday and one that killed 14 at an Idlib weapons depot earlier this month.
* **Ukraine launches mass drone strike on Moscow on final day of Russian election, killing two**: Ukraine [launched][45] hundreds of drones at Moscow on Sunday, killing three people and wounding 20 others on the final day of Russia’s State Duma election.
* Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia shot down more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed toward Moscow, calling the strike an attempt “clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections.”
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes hit “one of the key enterprises of Russia’s oil industry” and suggested Moscow could “end its brutal war and choose peace.”
* Ukrainian strikes overnight on Sunday reportedly set one of Moscow’s largest oil refineries ablaze, hit a warehouse and a market, residential buildings, and at least 11 suburban areas. All three Moscow airports grounded flights.
* Turnout in the election, the first since Russia’s full-scale invasion and one from which most anti-war candidates have been barred, exceeded 45% by Sunday morning, according to Russian electoral officials.
* **Russia continues to strike Ukraine, killing five: **Russian strikes on Ukraine on Sunday [killed][46] a mother and two small children in Kyiv and four more in a drone strike on Sumy, according to Ukraine’s national news service.
* Russia fired 138 drones overnight, half of them jet-powered, according to the country’s air force.
* **Zelenskyy plans to meet with Trump in New York:** Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [said][47] he and President Donald Trump agreed to meet in New York during the coming UN General Assembly, writing on X that the meeting “could change a lot” and that “there is diplomatic momentum” toward ending the war.
* He added that Ukraine is “working together with the American team” and is “ready to take really serious steps.”
* **Three South Korean soldiers wounded in DMZ explosion: **Three South Korean military officers were [wounded][48] in an explosion Monday in the western sector of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with the cause of the explosion not immediately clear.
* Mine explosions are a recurring hazard along the heavily fortified, 248-kilometer DMZ, which contains an estimated 2 million mines.
* **18 suspects in Haitian President Moïse’s assassination extradited to US**: Eighteen suspects, including 17 Colombian soldiers and former Haiti Justice Ministry employee Joseph Badio, were [extradited][49] from Haiti to the United States on Sunday to face trial in Florida for the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones announced.
* Haiti’s Ministry of Justice said it surrendered the suspects to “strengthen its cooperation with the American judicial authorities” after its own proceedings faced “significant difficulties,” as judges resigned over safety fears and gangs seized the Port-au-Prince courthouse.
* Relatives of the Colombian suspects said the extradition came as a surprise and expressed concern over the men’s health after detention in Haitian prisons.
* The extraditions bring the total indicted in the case to 30, following the May conviction of four men in Florida and guilty pleas from at least five others now serving life sentences.
* Christian Sanon, the Haitian-American who was the alleged mastermind of the attack, awaits trial in the U.S.
* **Australia to see more deaths than births by 2060s, Treasury report forecasts: ** Australia’s Treasury projected in its latest Intergenerational Report Monday that deaths will outnumber births by the 2060s, joining several advanced economies, including Japan, France, and Germany, who will also rely on migration to increase their populations based on current projections. Australia’s fertility rate is expected to fall to 1.34 live births per woman, while the number of Australians aged 85 and older will triple by 2065-66.
* **Meloni says she will ban burqas and niqabs in Italian schools:** Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni [told][50] her Brothers of Italy party’s youth wing on Sunday that she will soon introduce a measure to cap foreign students in classrooms, ban burqas and niqabs in schools, and require compulsory Italian lessons for parents of foreign students “serious difficulties integrating into the school system.”
* **Trump administration prepares additional sanctions against ICC: ** The Trump administration is [preparing][51] sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, the Wall Street Journal reported, expanding its campaign against the body in retaliation for its cases against Israel and Israeli officials.
* The U.S. has already sanctioned several ICC officials, including former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, court president Tomoko Akane, and the lead prosecutor in the court’s case against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in July the administration would dismantle the court “brick by brick.”
* The sanctions would prohibit most financial transactions with the ICC after a six- or seven-month grace period, WSJ reports. A final decision could come as soon as this week, during the UN General Assembly meeting, officials told the paper.
* **German far right wins more regional elections, Merz continues to suffer:** Germany’s far-right AfD [placed][52] first in elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union suffered its worst result in any state election since World War II, according to the AP.
* The AfD won a projected 37.7%, while the CDU collapsed to 5.2%, barely clearing the threshold for parliamentary representation. Merz called the results a “disaster” but rejected calls for his resignation.
* **Seven Ethiopian armed groups announce alliance to oust Abiy’s government: **Seven Ethiopian armed groups—including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Amhara Fano National Movement, which fought on opposite sides of the 2020-2022 Tigray war—[announced][53] they have formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, aiming to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, Reuters reported.
* Fano leader Zemene Kassie read a statement on Tigrayan television that declared that the groups “bear the historic responsibility of overthrowing this regime.”
* Clashes were renewed between federal and Tigrayan forces when the TPLF reasserted regional political control in May, violating the 2022 peace deal. Ethiopia is accusing neighboring Eritrea of backing insurgent groups, a claim Eritrea denies.
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[1]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101808430595887452
[2]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101380193579413596
[3]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101804346711138368
[4]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101773059887599707
[5]: https://www.emro.who.int/yemen/information-resources/yemen-conflict-escalation-situation-report.html
[6]: https://x.com/travelgov/status/2101435381329879206?s=46
[7]: https://www.ukmto.org/recent-incidents#406d6745-4ca0-4a3d-8acb-27f76bd78827
[8]: https://en.mehrnews.com/news/247930/Iran-downs-yet-another-US-MQ-1-drone-over-Strait-of-Hormuz
[9]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101791427407892552
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[14]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/09/18/more-us-troops-have-died-amid-iran-war-than-pentagon-has-disclosed-publicly/
[15]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/21/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B5-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-154363
[16]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101760603346075758
[17]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101292377113571530
[18]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/21/%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-100-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%86-%D8%AE%D8%B6%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%A7-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%88-154367
[19]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/20/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%89-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-154344
[20]: https://www.wafa.ps/news/2026/9/21/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%8A%D8%BA%D9%84%D9%82-%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%A9-154375
[21]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101757554791452848
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[24]: https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/564343/%D8%BA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%B9%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AA-2
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[26]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
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[29]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[30]: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdaM0zbp1YI/?stkn=MW5rdThpa2RqcnloZg==
[31]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/us/politics/crypto-sherrod-brown-ohio-senate-race.html
[32]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shooting-austin-texas-rcna598870
[33]: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/21/congress/miller-ad-spurs-legal-threat-01085665
[34]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/09/21/huckabees-walking-counterintel-red-flag-01085994
[35]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101873741814763540
[36]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/science/nih-omb-grants-bhattacharya-vought.html
[37]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101519664052421047
[38]: https://x.com/Southcom/status/2101458571758063975
[39]: https://x.com/profbensaul/status/2101816627167985965
[40]: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/former-pakistan-pm-imran-khan-125757400.html
[41]: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/death-toll-31-pakistan-police-compound-attack-afp-reports-2026-09-19/
[42]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/peace-abroad-war-next-door-pakistani
[43]: https://www.newarab.com/news/pakistan-forces-kill-5-militants-and-free-23-hostages
[44]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/powerful-explosions-at-syrian-army-site-near-aleppo-injures-at-least-four
[45]: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/two-dead-moscow-region-drones-hit-oil-refinery-russian-capital-rcna598767
[46]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101708796020101379
[47]: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/ukraines-zelenskiy-says-he-and-trump-agree-to-meet-in-new-york
[48]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/three-south-korean-officers-wounded-in-border-explosion
[49]: https://www.npr.org/2026/09/21/nx-s1-5976026/suspects-killing-haiti-president-extradited
[50]: https://apnews.com/article/italy-meloni-ban-burqas-niqabs-ban-schools-862c88cc1aa98560ba2b3f7bf31ae622
[51]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101769380434702672
[52]: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2101748717657481360
[53]: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-09-21/seven-ethiopian-armed-groups-announce-anti-government-alliance
[54]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZz-mgbUy3E
[55]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/rojava-syria-kurds-ypj-sdf-aanes
[56]: https://shop.dropsitenews.com/products/drop-news-not-bombs-hoodie
[57]: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC8sIT2Jl8B4r4N202q
[58]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
[59]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/account
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