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U.S. to add thousands of troops in Middle East; Israel continues to batter Lebanon, Gaza; Four killed in yet another Pacific boat strike

Mediators reportedly move closer to extending U.S.-Iran ceasefire. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance comment on war and ceasefire negotiations. President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran seeks dialogue. U.S will send thousands more troops to Middle East. Report: Iranian supertanker crosses Strait of Hormuz despite U.S. blockade. Iranian Kurdish leader signals that he would support further U.S. attacks on Iran. Despite ceasefire talks, Israel continues to batter Lebanon. U.S., Israel, and Lebanon hold talks. Israel continues to attack Gaza and the West Bank. Joint Chiefs chairman lobbies Congress to renew warrantless surveillance law. State Department accuses Cuba of role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump administration is ordering the Pentagon to prepare for military operations against Cuba, Zeteo reports. ICE arrests immigrant delivery drivers at California checkpoint. ICE pays $12.2 million for AI surveillance tool that maps immigrants’ daily routines. 86-year-old detained by ICE in Louisiana. Maine Gov. Janet Mills deflects genocide question, points to African countries instead. Tennessee passes act that would penalize student protest. Argentinian President Javier Milei’s disability agency at center of campaign corruption, report says. U.S. military kills four in second Pacific boat strike in two days. School shooting injures 16 in Turkey. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rebukes Trump for his immigration policy. Spain approves amnesty program for half a million undocumented immigrants. Greece accused of recruiting migrants as “enforcers” to pressure other migrants out. Rival Libyan factions participate in U.S. special forces exercises together for the first time. Somali forces kill 27 al-Shabaab militants in Jubbaland. Russian strikes hit Dnipro and Izmail, killing civilians and hitting foreign-flagged ships. From Drop Site: Voters Think Candidates Who Won’t Stand Up To AIPAC Won’t Fight On Other Issues, Either: New Poll Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now Palestinians who lost their relatives in an Israeli attack grieve during the funeral held outside their homes at Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on April 15, 2026. Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images. Iran and Ceasefire Mediators reportedly move closer to extending U.S.-Iran ceasefire: Efforts are underway to restart negotiations between the United States and Iran to extend a shaky ceasefire before it expires next week. Regional officials told the Associated Press Wednesday that the U.S. and Iran had given an “in principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. The main three sticking points include Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz, and compensation for wartime damages, a regional official told the AP. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif began a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey on Wednesday as part of a diplomatic push to secure a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. Trump and Vance comment on war and ceasefire negotiations: In an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the U.S-Israeli war on Iran is “very close” to an end. “I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to being over,” he told Fox Business. He appeared to break with that position in the same interview, however, threatening that the U.S. is “not finished,” and once again making dubious claims that the war was motivated by Iran’s near-acquisition of a nuclear weapon. Vice President JD Vance also talked about the war, telling attendees at a Turning Point USA event that there was a lot of mistrust between the Americans and Iranians, and “You are not going to solve that problem overnight,” but that he felt “very good about where we are.” Pezeshkian says Iran seeks dialogue: Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran is seeking dialogue. “Iran is not seeking war or instability and has always emphasized dialogue and constructive engagement with various countries. However, any attempt to impose one’s will or force the country to surrender is doomed to failure, and the Iranian nation will never accept such an approach,” Pezeshkian said, according to the IRNA news agency. WP: U.S sending thousands more troops to Middle East: While diplomatic efforts are underway to extend the ceasefire, the United States is sending thousands of additional troops into the Middle East in the coming days, according to the Washington Post. Citing U.S. officials, the Post reported that the forces include 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and several warships escorting it, and 4,200 others with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine Corps task force that are expected to arrive near the end of the month. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Post that Trump “has wisely kept all options on the table in the event that the Iranians will not forgo their nuclear ambitions and make a deal that is acceptable to the United States.” Report: Iranian supertanker crosses Strait of Hormuz despite U.S. blockade: A sanctioned Iranian supertanker crossed the Strait ⁠of Hormuz towards Iran’s ⁠Imam Khomeini Port despite a U.S. blockade, Iran’s Fars ‌News Agency reported on Wednesday. It was ⁠not clear ⁠if the tanker ⁠was returning with its cargo on board or ‌was empty, the report said. Fars also cited ship tracking data to report that a vessel transporting food supplies has entered the Gulf and is en route to Imam Khomeini port. On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command claimed that no ships calling at Iranian ports have passed the American blockade, saying six that merchant vessels were ordered to turn around re-entered an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. The commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Maj Gen Ali Abdollahi, warned on Wednesday that Iran’s military could block shipping beyond the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. continues with its naval blockade, which Tehran would consider a breach of the ceasefire. Iranian armed forces “will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman or the Red Sea” if the U.S. blockade continues “creates insecurity for Iran’s merchant and oil tanker vessels,” Abdollahi said, according to the Tasnim news agency. World Bank prepares up to $100 billion in war relief funding for Middle East: World Bank President Ajay Banga said Tuesday the institution could mobilize $80 billion to $100 billion over the next 15 months for countries hit hard by the Middle East war—surpassing the $70 billion it deployed during the COVID pandemic. “I’m trying to create a toolkit that has a tiered response capacity, depending on how this continues, to at least be able to bring adequate firepower to do something about it,” he said at the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings. The announcement came alongside an International Monetary Fund decision to cut its global growth outlook due to war-driven energy price spikes, with the IMF noting it would have upgraded its forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 3.4% absent the conflict. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the global economy could recover rapidly if the war ends within weeks, but warned the outlook would worsen significantly if the conflict extends through the summer. Iranian Kurdish leader signals that he would support further U.S. attacks on Iran: Iran launched four attacks on at least two Iranian Kurdish opposition groups inside Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday, continuing a campaign of drone and ballistic missile strikes against Kurdish targets, after Kurdish groups flirted with joining the U.S. and Israel in their war on Iran and reportedly received some “light weapons” from U.S. officials to help facilitate an uprising. The leader of the Kurdish Komala Party, Abdullah Mohtadi, told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview, that “America and Israel sustaining their bombing campaign, weakening the regime any further, would make it easier for the people to rise up,” and did not rule out cooperating with any country “including Israel.” He also denied that Komala had received weapons from the U.S., while expressing admiration for Trump, for putting “an end to the policy of appeasement toward Iran.” More on the Kurds, from Al Monitor, here. Lebanon Despite ceasefire talks, Israel continues to batter Lebanon: At least 14 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, according to the National News Agency, including four members of one family in Jbaa and five in Ansariyeh, with additional casualties reported in Qadmus. A drone strike on a motorcycle in Zahrani killed one person. Two Israeli airstrikes hit civilian vehicles south of Beirut on Wednesday morning without any reported casualties, artillery shelling struck the Bint Jbeil district, and strikes were reported in towns across the south, in the areas between Hallousiyeh and Zrariyeh. The Israeli military renewed its sweeping displacement order for all Lebanese residents in areas south of the Zahrani River on Wednesday. Intense fighting was reported in Bint Jbeil on Tuesday, as Israeli forces advanced toward the town center, according to Al Mayadeen. Machine-gun fire and shelling were heard across the area, with troops now about 500 meters from the main market, L’Orient reported. Air strikes on Tyre and al-Abbasiyya on Tuesday killed least two, according to Al Jazeera. Israel’s military claimed on Wednesday it struck more than 200 targets in southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours. U.S., Israel, and Lebanon hold talks: Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington, DC. The trilateral meeting was convened by the State Department with the participation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nadeh Hamadeh, and other officials. In a statement, the State Department claimed the two sides had “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon.” The U.S. also said any ceasefire agreement “must be reached between the two governments, brokered by the United States, and not through any separate track,” despite Lebanon being specifically mentioned as part of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement. Hezbollah staunchly opposed the talks. The U.S. made a point of reiterating its support of Israel’s “right to defend itself from Hezbollah’s attacks.” The Lebanese delegation emphasized its sovereignty, called for full implementation of the November 2024 ceasefire, and sought urgent humanitarian relief. Israel’s delegation, which has claimed as its foremost priority the disarming of Hezbollah, said that it “discovered today” that it was on “the same side of the equation” as its Lebanese counterparts. Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel Israel continues to attack Gaza The Israeli military said on Wednesday it killed one Palestinian in northern Gaza “who crossed the yellow line.” Israeli gunfire and shelling wounded four Palestinians in the Zeitoun neighborhood and at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City on Wednesday, WAFA reports. Later attacks on Zeitoun destroyed several houses in the neighborhood. At least 11 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks on Tuesday, including at least two children, according to Al Jazeera. Four people were killed, including a three-year-old in a strike targeting a police vehicle in Gaza City on Tuesday. Later in the evening, Civil Defense reported that another Israeli strike killed several people near an intersection in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Another person was killed by Israeli fire in Beit Lahia. Israeli forces shot and killed 14-year-old Adam Ahmed Khalaa near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday. Israeli attacks on the West Bank persist Israeli forces demolished a house and several residential structures in Silwan and Issawiya in East Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, and assaulted several community members and foreign journalists in a raid on the Al-Bustan neighborhood. Israeli settlers attacked a Bedouin family near Jericho on Wednesday, in the community of Halq al-Rumman, attempting to break into the house of a family in the community and causing widespread panic. Israeli security forces arrested a former head of a local charity in Hebron on Wednesday, storming into the city’s Charitable Islamic Association and grabbing him. Three Palestinians were detained in Bal’a, near Tulkarm, during a 15-hour raid on the village by the Israeli military, according to WAFA. Israeli soldiers reportedly conducted extensive raids in the town, handcuffing and blindfolding its young men before leading them to a “field interrogation center.” One of those still detained is a 63-year-old man. An attack by Israeli settlers on the village of Tuqu’, near Bethlehem, injured three Palestinians on Tuesday. The settlers reportedly sprayed pepper spray in the faces of the Palestinians while attempting to steal their sheep. Another Israeli settler attack, conducted late at night near Nablus, involved the destruction of the road that connects the village of Duma to Khirbet al-Marajem. And in an attack on the Jerusalem suburb of Al-Ram, a bulldozer, reportedly belonging to Israeli military forces, razed a Palestinian horse stable. Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti repeatedly assaulted by Israeli prison guards: Ben Marmarelli, a lawyer for Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, reported three violent assaults by Israeli prison guards against his client in the span of two weeks, including a severe beating on April 8 at Ganot Prison during which Barghouti was left bleeding for more than two hours and denied medical care, following an earlier attack during a prison transfer and a dog attack at Megiddo Prison. He said the attacks “form a pattern of rapidly escalating abuse” that places Barghouti “at immediate risk of severe harm or death,” and called for his immediate release. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com. House Dems introduce bill which would formally assess Trump’s fitness for office: House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would establish a 17-member bipartisan commission authorized under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to conduct a medical examination of President Donald Trump and assess whether he is mentally or physically unable to discharge the duties of his office, with 50 Democratic co-sponsors signed on. The bill faces long odds—Republicans control Congress, Trump could veto it, and any removal would ultimately require Vice President JD Vance’s sign-off and a two-thirds vote in both chambers—but comes after more than 85 House and Senate Democrats last week called for Trump’s impeachment or removal. Joint Chiefs chairman lobbies Congress to renew warrantless surveillance law: Joint Chiefs Chair General Dan Caine wrote a letter to several key congressional committees on Monday urging lawmakers to back President Donald Trump’s push for an 18-month clean reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which, though ostensibly used to collect data on “foreign targets abroad,” in effect permits the warrantless surveillance of Americans and the collection of their data. Caine warned that its loss would “increase risk to the Joint Force, degrade our worldwide combat lethality, and significantly impair U.S. security,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Politico. The intervention signals White House anxiety about vote counts ahead of the law’s April 20 expiration, with more than a dozen House Republican holdouts citing privacy concerns. Several Democrats are expected to flip from their 2024 “yes” votes amid fears the Trump administration could weaponize the program against immigrants, and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) introduced an amendment Monday to shorten the extension to one year. Ahead of the Wednesday vote on whether to reauthorize FISA without any reforms, Drop Site’s Julian Andreone caught up with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to address reporting that, led by Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the group sought to join the Trump administration—in particular, Stephen Miller—in pushing for a swift passage. Just hours before the vote, some CBC members are changing course and backing reforms. The video is available here. State Department accuses Cuba of role in Russia’s war in Ukraine: The Trump administration told Congress that between 1,000 and 5,000 Cuban nationals are fighting for Russia in Ukraine at any given time, while also supplying “diplomatic and political support for Moscow,” according to a five-page unclassified State Department memo reported on by Axios. The report stops short of concluding Havana officially dispatched “all Cuban fighters,” but states there are “significant indicators that the regime knowingly tolerated, enabled, or selectively facilitated the flow,” and dismisses Cuba’s claim to have prosecuted traffickers. In response to the report, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Axios, “If and when President Trump gets around to replacing” Cuba’s government, “and I believe that will happen sooner rather than later, it will be a very good day for the U.S. and our allies.” Trump admin is ordering the Pentagon to prepare for military operations against Cuba, Zeteo reports: The Trump administration has quietly directed Pentagon officials and other U.S. government agencies to step up preparations for possible military operations against Cuba, according to three sources familiar with the matter, Zeteo reported Tuesday. ICE pays $12.2 million for AI surveillance tool that maps immigrants’ daily routines and location: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $12.2 million contract to defense vendor Edge Ops LLC for an artificial intelligence tool called “Project SAFE HAVEN” that uses “persistent passive data collection” to map the “habitual locations, routes, and behavioral patterns” of its targets. It also purports to have the ability to build “profiles” of suspects by scraping data from Wi-Fi connections and mobile devices. The tool was purchased specifically for the Homeland Security Task Force National Coordination Center—a hub coordinating ICE, the Pentagon, and the FBI. Read more about this recent contract, and the expansion of ICE surveillance capacities, in the latest from The Lever, available here. ICE arrests immigrant delivery drivers at California checkpoint: An “interagency” pilot program at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in California has resulted in the detention of dozens of rideshare and delivery drivers, according to Capital & Main, with military police at the base’s gates calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement on any non-citizen or non-green card holder and attempting to persuade detainees to leave the United States. Among those caught up in the program is Assim Alkhawaja, a Palestinian man with a pending asylum claim and a valid work permit who was arrested in mid-February while dropping off two Marines at the base, shackled, pressured to voluntarily depart the country, before his community raised over $10,000 for his bail; another is a Haitian Uber Driver who complained about the exploitative nature of the detention facility, where detainees are made to pay for food, water, and calls to family. Read the full report from Capital & Main here. Thomson Reuters fires employee who dissented against selling data to ICE, lawsuit says: Thomson Reuters fired legal editor Billie Little on March 20, after more than 200 of its employees wrote a letter objecting to the use of the company’s CLEAR database, which contains significant amounts of personal data, by federal immigration authorities, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday and reported on by 404 Media. Little was singled out for her resistance, and according to her attorneys appears to be the only employee fired for her resistance. Her team argues that the firing violated Oregon’s whistleblower protection law. 86-year-old detained by ICE in Louisiana: An 86-year-old French woman identified only as Marie-Thérèse, who moved to Alabama last year to marry a former U.S. Army colonel she had fallen in love with at a NATO base in France in the 1950s, is being held in a crowded Louisiana detention facility after ICE agents arrested and shackled her on April 1. Marie-Thérèse’s husband died in January 2026 before she had obtained a green card, leaving her immigration status unresolved. Her son told Ouest-France that her family fears for her life, given her heart and back conditions. “Given her health, she won’t last a month in such conditions of detention,” he said. Tennessee passes act that would penalize student protest: The Tennessee General Assembly passed the Charlie Kirk Act on Monday, “free speech” legislation that could subject students and faculty to suspension or expulsion for staging walkouts and using oversized signs during speaking events on campus. The bill also offers protections against disinvitation for individuals with certain views, including opposition to abortion, homosexuality, and “transgender behavior.” It also allows student organizations to deny membership or leadership roles to students who conflict with their “lifestyle.” The measure passed along partisan lines and needs only Gov. Bill Lee’s signature to become law. New poll shows Cori Bush tied with Wesley Bell in Missouri Democratic primary: A new poll commissioned by former Rep. Cori Bush and conducted by HIT Strategies shows Bush and incumbent Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) statistically tied among likely Democratic primary voters in Missouri’s 1st congressional district, with Bell at 44% and Bush at 40%, within the survey’s 5.4% margin of error. The poll, conducted February 19–23 among 401 likely Democratic primary voters, also found Bush holds higher overall favorability than Bell—52% to 45%—and that AIPAC, a major backer of Bell’s 2024 campaign, carries a 40% unfavorable rating among district Democrats, while ICE is 86% unfavorable to the same demographic. Mills deflects genocide question, points to African countries instead: Maine governor and senatorial candidate Janet Mills (D) was asked at a campaign event on Tuesday if she thinks Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. After opening with a condemnation of events of October 7, using the word “horrific” to describe it and what has transpired in Gaza, she refused to answer the question directly. Instead she pointed to one African country with a widely reported genocide and two with historic genocides. “There’s a genocide right now going on in Sudan. Rwanda…there’s a genocide. There’s a genocide going on in Somalia.…There’s a lot we have to be concerned about, a lot on our plate.” Other International News Milei’s disability agency at center of campaign corruption, report says: Argentina’s National Disability Agency (ANDIS) is at the center of an alleged kickback scheme in which pharmaceutical companies received government contracts in exchange for bribes worth roughly 3% of contract value, bribes paid to officials close to President Javier Milei, according to Página/12. One defendant has even implicated Milei’s sister, Karina, in the scheme. Milei himself is accused of having a campaign event financed by the Kovalivker family, which owns a pharmaceutical distributor and is implicated in the case, and is reportedly under investigation. Read more on this story here. U.S. military kills four in second Pacific boat strike in two days: The U.S. military struck a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing four people in the 50th such strike since early September, bringing the total death toll to at least 174, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command cited unspecified intelligence and said the vessel had been traveling on “known narco-trafficking routes,” releasing a 16-second video showing the boat exploding, but provided no evidence of drug smuggling. School shooting injures 16 in Turkey: An 18-year-old opened fire with a shotgun at a vocational high school he had once attended in Siverek, Şanlıurfa province, on Tuesday, wounding 16 people—including 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee, and a police officer—before killing himself. Five of the wounded were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital due to the severity of their injuries. The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Mexico’s Sheinbaum rebukes Trump for his immigration policy: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum once again noted her disapproval of her northern neighbor’s immigration policy during a daily press briefing, calling the deaths of Mexican nationals in U.S. immigration detention “unacceptable” on Tuesday. Her remarks come a day after 49-year-old Alejandro Cabrera Clemente died at a Louisiana ICE facility, the fifteenth such death in little over a year. She announced she had opened investigations into all 15 deaths, instructed Mexican consulates to visit U.S. detention centers daily, and said she was bringing the cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was also considering an appeal to the United Nations. “We are going to defend Mexicans at every level,” Sheinbaum told the press, adding that “there are many Mexicans whose only crime is not having papers.” Spain approves amnesty program for half a million undocumented immigrants: Spain’s government approved a program on Tuesday that will allow up to 500,000 undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez fast-tracked the measure via decree to bypass a parliament where his left-wing government lacks a majority, after a previous amnesty bill failed because of parliamentary objections. Eligible applicants must have arrived before January 1, prove at least five months of residency, and have no criminal record. They will receive a one-year work and residency permit, which can be renewed into a longer-term status. Sánchez called the move “an act of justice and a necessity,” arguing that immigrants have helped Spain become “the fastest-growing economy in Europe.” Greece accused of recruiting migrants as “enforcers” to pressure other migrants out: Greek police have been recruiting detained migrants to carry out violent illegal pushbacks along the Evros river border with Turkey since at least 2020, according to a new investigation from the BBC. Witnesses described masked units stripping new arrivals, robbing them, and beating them, with some migrants reporting sexual violence and death threats at the hands of their masked captors. The mercenary migrants were reportedly compensated for their services with Arab or Turkish currencies, and occasionally with sexual services, according to one source. The BBC’s full investigation is available here. Hundreds of former European ministers, diplomats call for suspension of EU-Israel Association Agreement: A group of 350 former European ministers, ambassadors, and senior officials has urged the European Union to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement over Israel’s systematic violations of international law in Palestine. “With the world attention focussed elsewhere, Israel under the cloak of illegal military operations in Iran and Lebanon, has pursued the subjugation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by doubling down on its illegal occupation policy, the signatories said in a joint statement on Wednesday. Venezuela’s interim president calls for full sanctions relief: Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez called on Tuesday for the United States to lift all sanctions on Venezuela, writing on X that “We reiterate the need to advance towards a Venezuela free of sanctions, as a means of providing institutional legal certainty to investors coming to our country—a setting where they are guaranteed sustained investment over time and a forward-looking perspective.” She made this statement on the same day the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would be easing a small spate of restrictions on Venezuela’s banking system, by issuing licenses that would allow the country’s central bank and several state-owned financial institutions to make transactions. Hundreds of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals missing after boat capsizes: Approximately 250 Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals are missing after a boat capsized in the Andaman Sea, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported on Tuesday. The boat reportedly left Bangladesh and was en route to Malaysia. The Bangladesh Coast Guard rescued nine survivors on April 9, including one woman found floating on drums and logs; six of the nine are alleged traffickers and have been detained. One survivor, Rafiqul Islam, told AFP he had been lured aboard by traffickers who promised him work in Malaysia, that the vessel travelled for four days before capsizing, and that 25 to 30 people died from suffocation and overcrowding before he spent 36 hours floating in open water before rescue. U.S. to send third-country deportees to DRC. this week: The United States is set to send between 37 and 45 deportees—all nationals of countries other than Congo, including people from Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Guatemala—to the Democratic Republic of Congo by Friday under a third-country deportation agreement announced on April 5, with the deportees to be housed in a hotel near Kinshasa’s main airport for 10 to 15 days, Reuters reported Tuesday. Rival Libyan factions participate in U.S. special forces exercises together for the first time: Forces from Libya’s eastern and western rival administrations participated jointly in U.S. AFRICOM’s “Flintlock” special operations exercises in the central city of Sirte on Tuesday, the first such joint military event between the former civil war adversaries, with more than 30 countries taking part. The exercises come days after the two sides agreed to Libya’s first unified budget in more than a decade, marking a notable thaw between the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and Khalifa Haftar’s eastern Libyan National Army, which attempted to seize the capital in 2019–2020. Somali forces kill 27 al-Shabaab militants in Jubbaland: Somalia’s armed forces and regional security forces killed 27 al-Shabaab militants, including “key members” of the group, in a “large-scale operation” in the Lower and Middle Jubba regions of the country, Reuters reported Tuesday. The operation was supported by airstrikes from undisclosed international partners, the military said. The U.S. military has previously conducted airstrikes in support of the Somali government’s military actions. Russian strikes hit Dnipro and Izmail, killing civilians and hitting foreign-flagged ships: A Russian missile strike killed at least five civilians and wounded more than two dozen others in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Tuesday, according to Reuters. At least 10 of the hospitalized were in severe condition, and an infrastructure facility was also damaged in the strike. Russian drones also struck Ukraine’s Izmail port in the Odesa region overnight, damaging a Panama-flagged vessel and parts of the port’s infrastructure, and a separate strike hit the Liberian-flagged merchant vessel “Lady Maris” as it travelled through a maritime corridor to load corn, Ukrainian officials reported Tuesday. The Lady Maris reached the port of Chornomorsk after its crew extinguished a fire on board. Accusations of fraud in Peru’s presidential race: Latest figures from Peru’s election authority place leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez in second place, which would advance him to the runoff. Presidential candidate Rafael López Aliaga, a wealthy businessman and leader of the ultraconservative Popular Renewal party, who had been in second, called for the annulment of the April 2026 general election, warning he could push for “insurgency” if authorities do not comply. He accused National Jury of Elections president Roberto Burneo of complicity in alleged electoral sabotage tied to logistics delays, a claim other candidates have also raised, but Burneo has rejected. Four-time candidate Keiko Fujimori, who placed first but failed to secure a majority, will proceed to the runoff. More from Drop Site Weekly Livestream: Drop Site co-founder Jeremy Scahill and Middle East editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous host veteran Middle East analyst Rami Khouri to discuss the latest in Iran, cover the most recent developments in the ceasefire, and review the situation in Lebanon. The full livestream is available here: Panel on upcoming congressional renewal of warrantless surveillance: Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent, Julian Andreone, hosted a conversation about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the state of mass surveillance in America, in anticipation of Congress’ potential reauthorization of Section 702 of that act, which allows intelligence agencies to sweep up vast troves of personal data without a warrant in the pursuit of “security.” Andreone is joined by Liza Goitein of the Brennan Center, Sean Vitka of Demand Progress, and political commentator Jess Craven. That panel discussion is available here: Global Sumud Flotilla’s Spring Mission commences: Drop Site contributor Noa Avishag Schnall sent a video dispatch from the launch day of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s Spring Mission to Gaza, which launched from Barcelona on April 12 with 39 vessels and over 1,000 participants. The flotilla aims to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. That video is available here: If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Apr 15, 202615 votes

U.S. to add thousands of troops in Middle East; Israel continues to batter Lebanon, Gaza; Four killed in yet another Pacific boat strike

Apr 15, 20269 votes

Iran war ceasefire announced amid sporadic attacks; Israel bombards Lebanon in “largest coordinated strike”; Democrats expand majority on Wisconsin supreme court

President Donald Trump announces two-week ceasefire with Iran. Attacks in region continue, despite ceasefire. Trump decided on war with Iran after secret Israeli pitch, New York Times reports. Israel conducts “largest coordinated strike” against Lebanon. UAE says 375 have been arrested since war began. Defense for Children International–Palestine shuts down after 35 years. Congressmembers, NAACP call for invocation of the 25th Amendment. Liberal Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, expanding majority to 5-2. Republican Clay Fuller wins Georgia special election. ICE agents shoot man during vehicle stop in rural California town. House Freedom Caucus breaks with leadership, demands full DHS funding in reconciliation bill. American journalist Shelly Kittleson freed in Baghdad. Protesters storm Kuwaiti consulate in Basra. One killed in gun battle near Israeli consulate in Istanbul. Four killed in India’s Manipur. Libyan businessman reportedly funded Haftar’s Tripoli offensive, arms transfers to Sudan. Ukrainian forces operating covertly in Libya launched March drone strike on Russian tanker. Armed men kill at least 20 and abduct villagers in Nigeria’s Niger state. NEW from Drop Site: Israeli-backed militia raids Gaza refugee camp, killing at least ten. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now First responders stand amid rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood on April 8, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images. Ceasefire announcement Trump announces two-week ceasefire with Iran: President Donald Trump announced around 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday that the United States would suspend bombing and attacks on Iran for two weeks in what he called a “double sided ceasefire,” conditioning the pause on the “complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.” Trump said the U.S. had “met and exceeded all military objectives” and described a ten-point Iranian proposal as a “workable basis” for a broader deal, adding that the two sides were “very far along with a definitive agreement” on long-term peace and that the two-week window was intended to “finalize and consummate” that wider settlement. He called Tuesday a “big day for World Peace.” The ceasefire went into effect at 8:22 p.m. ET, according to Axios. Iran’s ten-point proposal—which Trump said he accepted as the basis for negotiations—calls for a complete cessation of hostilities against Iran and allied resistance groups; withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region and a prohibition on attacks launched from regional bases; limited daily passage through the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks under Iranian supervision; cancellation of all primary, secondary, and United Nations sanctions; compensation for war damages through an investment and financial fund; Iran’s commitment to not building nuclear weapons alongside U.S. acceptance of Iran’s right to uranium enrichment; Iranian agreement to negotiate bilateral and multilateral peace treaties with regional countries; extension of any non-aggression guarantees to all resistance groups; and termination of all International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors resolutions and United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iran, with all commitments formalized in an official United Nations resolution. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the Islamic Republic’s top security decision-making body, announced Wednesday that talks would begin “with complete distrust of the American side” on Friday, April 10, in Islamabad, with two weeks allocated to finalize the details of Tehran’s ten-point demands and codify them into a binding United Nations Security Council resolution—which the council said would render any agreements “binding international law.” The ceasefire proposal reportedly allows Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran saying it intends to use the funds for reconstruction, according to the Associated Press. The Omani government has not yet confirmed that it will participate in a program to charge fees on maritime traffic in the strait. Trump commented on the details of the ceasefire related to Hormuz as well, saying that the U.S. “will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz,” but did not clarify the substance of this role (nor, it should be noted, is American activity in Hormuz addressed in the reported text of the ceasefire deal). “There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process,” Trump added. The initial ceasefire announcement reportedly came after talks with Pakistan’s leadership. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called earlier on Tuesday for a two-week extension of President Donald Trump’s deadline, and had asked Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks as a “goodwill” gesture. Israel later announced it would join the ceasefire with Iran, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement that “the two-week ceasefire does not include Lebanon.” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, however, announced after the release of this statement that the ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the U.S., covers “everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.” The Associated Press also reported that Israel continued to strike Iran after the announcement of the ceasefire, according to an Israeli military official. Reported Iranian drone attacks also occurred in the UAE and Bahrain. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned Shiite militias that includes factions such as Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba and operates within the broader Popular Mobilization Forces network, announced a ceasefire of its own on Tuesday evening. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X that he held a “warm, substantive” conversation with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday and that “Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s participation in the upcoming negotiations.” Trump on Wednesday also threatened tariffs on countries that sell weapons to Iran writing on Truth Social: “A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!” Ongoing attacks despite ceasefire An oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island came under attack at around 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, according to PRESS TV, despite a two-week ceasefire agreement announced hours earlier. Firefighters were working to contain the blaze. The United Arab Emirates Defense Ministry said on Wednesday afternoon that its air defense had intercepted dozens of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones. Kuwait’s said it has intercepted an “extensive wave” of drone attacks targeting oil and power facilities despite the ceasefire announcement, according to AP. Bahrain also reported drone attacks. War on Iran U.S.-Israeli warplanes strike major aluminum and petrochemical facilities: U.S.-Israeli warplanes struck two major Iranian industrial sites Tuesday night, previous to the announcement of the ceasefire, hitting the Arak Aluminum Plant, one of Iran’s largest aluminum production facilities, and the Fajr Petrochemical Complex in Mahshahr, part of Iran’s principal petrochemical hub in Khuzestan province. Russia and China veto Hormuz Security Council resolution: The United Nations Security Council failed Tuesday to pass a draft resolution that would have authorized “all defensive means necessary” to protect international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, after Russia and China exercised their veto power. Sponsors had already stripped the resolution of any explicit Chapter VII language—which would have permitted offensive military force—in an effort to secure broader support, but the two permanent members argued the resolution failed to address “underlying regional dynamics” and warned that even defensive authorization risked further escalation. Missile debris strikes Qatari home: Debris from an intercepted Iranian missile struck a residential home in Qatar’s Marikh area Tuesday, injuring four people, including a child, the Interior Ministry said, with damage described as limited and all wounded transported to the hospital. Iranian strike sparks fire at Bahraini facility hours: A fire broke out at an unidentified facility in Bahrain following an Iranian strike Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Interior announced, with Civil Defense extinguishing the blaze and no injuries reported. The attack came several hours after a ceasefire was announced. A White House official told Axios that the strike was likely the result of the ceasefire news not yet having reached the lower ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. UAE says 375 arrested in Abu Dhabi since war began: Authorities in the United Arab Emirates 375 people have been detained across the capital, Abu Dhabi, over the course of the war, according to AP. Abu Dhabi police said the people are from various countries and were detained for filming and “disseminating false information” on social media. Cases have been referred to prosecutors on charges of violating the UAE’s laws aimed at “protecting the society.” Trump decided on war with Iran after secret Israeli pitch, New York Times reports: President Donald Trump authorized strikes on Iran following a February 11 Situation Room meeting in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appearing alongside Mossad chief David Barnea and military officials, presented a four-part regime-change pitch that included a video montage of potential replacement leaders such as Reza Pahlavi, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Netanyahu argued Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed within weeks, that the regime would be too weakened to close the Strait of Hormuz, and that Mossad-fomented street protests combined with a Kurdish ground front from Iraq could trigger an uprising. Trump’s immediate response was reported as: “Sounds good to me.” Vice President JD Vance was absent, stranded in Azerbaijan. U.S. intelligence officials pushed back sharply the following day. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe called the regime-change scenario “farcical,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “bullshit,” and General Dan Caine told the president the Israelis routinely “oversell” plans that are “not always well-developed,” the Times reported. War Secretary Pete Hegseth was described as the strongest proponent of immediate action. Lebanon Israel conducts “largest coordinated strike” against Lebanon: Israel conducted a massive wave of airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, hitting over 100 targets in 10 minutes, in what the Israeli military said was “the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon” since its escalated military campaign began over a month ago. The strikes targeted Beirut, Beqaa, and southern Lebanon. Footage and photos from the capital showed large plumes of smoke rising in the air in different parts of the city. Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine told Al Jazeera that, “Hospitals are overcrowded with martyrs and the wounded.” Drop Site contributor Lylla Younes said, “Ambulances nonstop and people screaming. Warplanes are back in the sky. That’s the soundscape in Beirut.” Israel vows to continue war on Lebanon: The Israeli military said Wednesday it is “continuing to conduct targeted ground operations against Hezbollah.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Israel would honor the Iran ceasefire while continuing the war in Lebanon. The Israeli military on Wednesday reiterated its sweeping displacement order for all residents south of the Zahrani River to flee to the north. While Israel has denied Lebanon’s inclusion in the agreement, Pakistan, France and Egypt, have all have confirmed Lebanon’s inclusion in the deal. Continuing Israeli attacks: Prior to the massive coordinated strike wave, Israeli strikes continued across southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, with an attack on the town of Saida killing at least eight people and wounding 22, Al Jazeera reported, and a separate strike hitting a medical center in Chaqra and killing several paramedics. A targeted Israeli strike on an ambulance killed four paramedics in the southern town of Al-Qaliila according to Al Mayadeen. In the 30 minutes following the announcement of the ceasefire, three airstrikes hit the village of Shutras, near the town of Khiam, where artillery shelling was also reported. Two earlier strikes were reported, one in the vicinity of a hospital in the city of Tyre, and the other in the Bekaa town of Lashkar, where Israel had previously destroyed two bridges across the Litani River. Nine people were killed, most from the same family, including women and children, when an Israeli airstrike hit a home in Srifa, in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, after residents returned overnight following the ceasefire announcement, AFP reported. Four others were wounded. Separately, Israeli drone strikes on the Qasmieh road killed two people, including a Syrian delivery worker, while another strike hit an ambulance, according to L’Orient Today and Quds News. Genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed, due to wounds sustained in the Israeli-backed militia attack on Al-Maghazi refugee camp, and three were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,315 killed, with 172,137 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 736 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,035, while 759 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli-backed militia raids Al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing at least ten: An Israeli-backed Palestinian militia raided the eastern part of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday, killing at least ten Palestinians and wounding dozens more in an assault supported by Israeli airstrikes. Eyewitnesses told Drop Site that fighters from the Abu Nasira militia—which calls itself the “Free Homeland Forces” and is led by former Palestinian Authority security officer Shawqi Abu Nasira—entered the neighborhood and began firing at homes and children inside them. When residents fought back, Israeli aircraft struck the area with missiles and quadcopter-dropped explosives. “Whenever anyone tried to approach to provide aid to the injured, they were immediately targeted by the aircraft,” one resident told Drop Site. Read an account of the attack, from journalist Mohammed Ahmed here. Defense for Children International–Palestine shuts down after 35 years: Defense for Children International–Palestine, the primary reporting agency to the United Nations Security Council on the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention, announced Tuesday it has ceased operations after 35 years, saying it was “not able to overcome operational challenges resulting from Israel’s targeted criminalization of Palestinian human rights organizations.” The group had documented solitary confinement, coerced confessions, and torture in Israeli military detention, provided free legal representation to children prosecuted in Israeli military courts, and independently verified killings, injuries, and abuses carried out by Israeli forces and settlers. The closure follows years of escalating Israeli pressure. Israel designated the group a “terrorist” organization in 2021, and in August 2022, Israeli forces raided its headquarters, welded the doors shut, and declared it illegal. As of December 31, 2025, 351 Palestinian children were held in Israeli prisons, with 51% under administrative detention, the highest proportion ever recorded. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com. Congressmembers, NAACP call for invocation of the 25th Amendment: More than 80 members of Congress echoed the initial calls for Trump to be removed from office after he had threatened to kill “a whole civilization.” The second wave of calls for the invocation of the 25th Amendment included Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Richie Torres (D-N.Y.), Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). The NAACP also called for Trump’s removal—the first time it has called for the 25th amendment to be invoked, the group noted—with Derrick Johnson, the CEO of the organization, saying, “The president is unfit, unwell, and unhinged.” Liberal Chris Taylor wins Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, expanding majority to 5-2: Chris Taylor, a state appeals court judge and former Democratic state legislator, won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by more than 20 points on Tuesday, NBC News projected, giving liberals a 5-2 majority on the battleground state’s highest court and putting conservatives out of reach of reclaiming it until at least 2030. Taylor, who was backed by the state Democratic Party and held a commanding fundraising advantage over her conservative opponent, Maria Lazar, centered her campaign on abortion rights and voting rights. The expanded majority deepens Democratic hopes of using the court to challenge Wisconsin’s congressional map, currently controlled 6-2 by Republicans, and to challenge conservative legislation, including restrictions on public sector collective bargaining rights. Republican Clay Fuller wins Georgia special election: District attorney Clay Fuller won the special election runoff Tuesday for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, the seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene following her public break with President Donald Trump, with the Associated Press projecting a Fuller victory over retired Army General Shawn Harris. Fuller, who was endorsed by Trump, will serve out the remainder of Greene’s term and must win a primary and general election in November to serve a full two-year term. ICE agents shoot man during vehicle stop in rural California town: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez during a vehicle stop in Patterson, a rural agricultural town in California’s Stanislaus County, on Tuesday, with ICE director Todd Lyons saying agents fired after Hernandez allegedly attempted to run over an officer with his car. Dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV showed a black sedan pinned between two vehicles before reversing and then moving forward toward agents who had their weapons drawn, though the clip contained no audio and the sequence of events remains under investigation by the FBI. Hernandez was hospitalized with an undisclosed condition. ICE described him as a member of the Los Angeles 18th Street gang wanted for questioning in El Salvador in connection with a murder, though Lyons provided no supporting evidence for the allegation. Tuesday’s shooting is at least the eighth involving ICE agents in 2026. House Freedom Caucus breaks with leadership, demands full DHS funding in reconciliation bill: The House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s two-step plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, demanding instead that the entire department—including ICE and Customs and Border Protection—be funded through a Republican-only budget reconciliation bill rather than splitting enforcement funding from the rest of the agency. Johnson’s plan, which has the backing of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and appeared to have President Donald Trump’s support, would fund the bulk of DHS through a bipartisan Senate bill while using reconciliation to fund immigration enforcement separately, circumventing a Democratic filibuster. The Freedom Caucus argued that leaving ICE and Border Patrol dependent on a second reconciliation bill amounted to relying on “hopes and prayers.” “That’s why we must use reconciliation to fully fund ALL of the Department of Homeland Security!” the Caucus posted on Tuesday. Center-left think tank has board members with AI financial ties: The Searchlight Institute, a Washington think tank launched last fall to push the Democratic Party toward the center, has not disclosed that its board includes philanthropist Simone Coxe—whose multibillion-dollar fortune stems largely from her venture capitalist husband Tench Coxe’s investments in Nvidia—or billionaire hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel, whose firm Lone Pine Capital is heavily invested in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Nvidia’s largest chip manufacturer, The Lever reported Tuesday. The think tank has been vocally opposing data center moratorium legislation proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) while publishing white papers favoring lighter-touch AI regulation. Read the full report from The Lever here. Other International News American journalist Shelly Kittleson freed in Baghdad: American journalist Shelly Kittleson, 49, was freed Tuesday after being held for more than a week by the Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah, which abducted her in Baghdad on March 31, two officials confirmed to Al-Monitor. Kataib Hezbollah announced on Telegram it had decided to release Kittleson “on the condition that she leaves the country immediately,” attributing the decision to its “appreciation of the patriotic stances” of Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Neither the U.S. nor the Iraqi government has confirmed Kittleson’s release. Protesters storm Kuwaiti consulate in Basra: Protesters stormed the Kuwaiti consulate in Basra, Iraq, on Tuesday after rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait struck a residential home in Khor al-Zubair, killing at least three people and wounding five, Reuters reported, citing Iraqi security and health officials. One killed in gun battle near Israeli consulate in Istanbul: One attacker was killed and two others were injured and “neutralized” by Turkish police Tuesday after opening fire near the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul’s Besiktas district, wounding two officers in a densely populated commercial area. Both Israel and Turkey condemned the incident as a terror attack. Four killed in India’s Manipur: At least four people were killed in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur on Tuesday, ending months of relative calm in a region gripped by ethnic conflict since May 2023, Reuters reported. Two children from the mostly Hindu Meitei community died when a bomb exploded in a house in the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district, with Meitei community members alleging the attack was carried out by Kuki militants—a charge Kuki groups denied. Later Tuesday, police opened fire on a crowd that had stormed a security forces camp, killing two more people, according to the state’s Interior Minister. Authorities imposed a curfew in the regional capital Imphal and surrounding areas and suspended internet service for five days. Afghanistan calls China-hosted peace talks with Pakistan “useful”: Afghanistan’s foreign ministry described the peace talks with Pakistan being held in the western Chinese city of Urumqi as “useful” on Wednesday. Mid-level delegations from both Pakistan and Afghanistan have been meeting in Urumqi since April 1, following a Chinese invitation to talks. According to the UNOCHA, the conflict has displaced 94,000 people overall. Libyan businessman reportedly funded Haftar’s Tripoli offensive, arms transfers to Sudan: A new investigation by The Sentry found that Libyan businessman Ahmed Gadalla helped secure $300 million in loans from an Abu Dhabi-based bank to help finance Khalifa Haftar’s failed 2019–2020 assault on Tripoli. After Haftar’s forces were repelled, the loans went largely unpaid, leaving Libyans to bear the cost, while Gadalla has since expanded his control over eastern Libya’s banking system and been linked to arms shipments to Sudan in violation of a United Nations embargo. More on Gadalla and Haftar is available from Al Jazeera, here. Ukrainian forces operating covertly in Libya launched March drone strike on Russian tanker: Ukrainian drone operators have been covertly deployed at military facilities in Libya’s capital Tripoli, the coastal city of Misrata, and the town of Zawiya as part of a deal between Kyiv and Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah’s government, according to the Associated Press. The deal is reportedly backed by a number of Western countries, including the United States. The AP also reported that Ukrainian operatives launched a sea drone strike from Tripoli on the Russian-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker Arctic Metagaz, which was badly damaged by the attack, and continues to drift off the Mediterranean coast. Cameroon confirms 16 of its soldiers killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine: Cameroon’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that 16 Cameroonian nationals described as “military contractors” have been killed while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, marking the first time the West African country has publicly acknowledged the involvement of its citizens in the conflict. The announcement came after Cameroon’s defence minister had issued an internal memo in March 2025 instructing commanding officers to monitor their units amid concerns that soldiers were leaving to join the war. Ukraine estimated in February that more than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia, with citizens from Kenya, Nigeria, and other nations also reported among the recruits—many allegedly lured by false promises of employment. Armed men kill at least 20 and abduct villagers in Nigeria’s Niger state: Armed men attacked villages in the Shiroro district of Nigeria’s Niger state on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and abducting an unknown number of others over several hours of violence that overwhelmed local security personnel and destroyed homes, with residents fleeing to nearby towns, Reuters reported. Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun confirmed the attack on Bagna and Erena villages but estimated that the death toll was lower than the confirmed number. North Korea fires ballistic missiles at the sea: North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles from its eastern coastal Wonsan area Wednesday morning, with several traveling approximately 240 kilometers toward the North’s eastern waters and a later launch traveling more than 700 kilometers, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. This is the second launch event in two days, with a separate projectile launched Tuesday near Pyongyang believed to have failed after displaying abnormal behavior in its initial launch stage. The back-to-back launches came as North Korea’s state media announced that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Pyongyang on Thursday for a two-day trip. Drone attacks continue in Ukraine and Russia: Russian attacks in southeastern Ukraine killed eight people and injured more than two dozen others, Reuters reported, with Ukrainian officials accusing Moscow of undermining the hopes for an Easter ceasefire. An attack on Kherson killed four elderly people and injured seven others, the region’s governor said on Telegram. Russian drones also attacked Ukraine’s largest Danube River port, Izmail, on Wednesday night, damaging the port’s infrastructure and a civilian vessel. Ukrainian drone strikes struck a school in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia, seriously injuring six people, five of whom were children, according to Yevgeny Balitsky, the governor of the region. More from Drop Site Weekly Livestream: Drop Site’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Murtaza Hussain discuss the latest in Iran and Lebanon with Professor Sina Azodi and Lylla Younes. Watch here: If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Apr 8, 202618 votes

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

U.S. and Israel continue to bombard Iran, striking residences, engineering university, petrochemical plants, and nuclear power plant. Iran responds with attacks on Israel and the Gulf. Israel assassinates Iranian military officials. U.S. reports rescue of downed F-15E crew members. Verified footage shows missiles fired from Kuwaiti territory into Iran. Trump threatens to “blow up” all of Iran. Mediators scrambling for ceasefire ahead of Trump ultimatum. Trump admits U.S. attempted to arm Iranian protesters. Araghchi conducts diplomatic blitz. Israeli assault on Lebanon continues, 36 killed over 24 hours. Israeli forces systematically demolish homes in southern Lebanon. Israel kills 10 in Gaza in weekend attacks. Israel attacks WHO vehicle, Rafah travel suspended. Video shows Israeli soldiers beating unarmed Palestinian in West Bank refugee camp. Rat bites surge among Gaza children. Democrats in Congress open space for Trump deal to end war. Mass surveillance fight in Congress pits reformer Jamie Raskin against Dem Rep. Jim Himes and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Mary Peltola surges in Alaska with populist message. Maine Gov. Mills skips tribal forum and Senate debate as Platner leads in polling. Anil Ambani sought White House access through Jeffrey Epstein, NYT reports. DRC agrees to accept U.S. third-country deportees. Drone strike ignites fire at foreign oil facility in Basra. Floods, landslides and lightning kill 77 across Afghanistan. Syrian Alawite women and girls are being abducted and brutalized, the NYT finds. Nepalese government cuts the work week short. Kidnappings and raids in northwestern Nigeria. Seven protesters arrested at UK air base used by the U.S. Ukraine escalates strikes on Russian ports and energy infrastructure. Over 70 people feared dead in Mediterranean after migrant boat capsizes. NEW from Drop Site: Iran Rejects Temporary Ceasefire, Says It Has Already Laid Out Terms for Agreement: A senior Iranian official who spoke to Drop Site said that they had rejected a proposal mediated by Pakistan for a temporary ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel, instead laying out their proposal for a permanent end to the war. Read the full story from Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Jawa Ahmad. Plus: Iran war threatens Gulf financing that underpins A.I. boom and Paramount-Warner merger. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now Smoke rises from residential areas in eastern and western parts of Tehran following airstrikes carried out by the United States and Israel in Tehran, Iran, on April 6, 2026. Photo by Tolga Akbaba/Anadolu via Getty Images. War on Iran U.S. and Israel continue to bombard Iran: The U.S. and Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on Iran overnight and early Monday morning, killing at least 34 people, according to Al Jazeera. In Tehran province, at least 23 people were killed, including six children. Five were killed in a residential neighborhood in the city of Qom, and six were killed in the port city of Bandar-e Lengeh. U.S.-Israeli airstrikes hit Sharif University of Technology, Iran’s top engineering school, in Tehran on Monday. Tasnim News Agency reported damage to the campus mosque including shattered windows and collapsed ceilings, while a nearby gas distribution site was also struck, triggering outages across the Sharif area and District 9. Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari, denounced the attack in a post on X, writing: “Sharif University is Iran’s MIT. They’ve produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies. Why are we bombing a university in a city of 10 million people?” U.S.-Israeli forces struck the Mahshahr petrochemical zone in Khuzestan province Saturday, hitting multiple facilities inside Iran’s largest petrochemical complex, according to Reuters and Iranian media. Local officials said explosions struck at least three companies within the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, while Iran’s Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex—part of the same industrial cluster—also sustained damage. At least five people were wounded, with officials warning the casualty toll may rise. People in Mahshahr reportedly are struggling to breathe due to the chemical pollution caused by the US and Israeli bombardment of the nearby petrochemical factories. Israel attacked Iran’s petrochemical plant in South Pars on Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which reported that plants in Asaluyeh, including Jam and Damavand, were targeted, while the companies Mobin and Damavand, which supply electricity, water, and oxygen to the Assaluyeh petrochemical plants, were also hit. Pars Petrochemical was not damaged. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, “The IDF has just powerfully struck the largest petrochemical facility in Iran, located in Asaluyeh, a central target responsible for about 50% of the country’s petrochemical production, following last week’s strike on the second main facility. As a result, both facilities, which together account for 85% of Iran’s petrochemical production, are now out of operation. This represents a multi-billion dollar economic blow to the Iranian regime.” A U.S.-Israeli strike hit the area near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Saturday at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time, killing one security guard, according to Iranian reports. The attack marks the fourth strike on the facility since the start of the war. Israeli forces struck the Alborz foothills north of Tehran just before midnight Friday, with Iranian media reporting massive explosions and the activation of air defenses in the capital. U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Abolfazl Dehnavi, a 20-year-old Iranian Red Crescent Society volunteer, on Saturday in Isfahan province while he was carrying out humanitarian work, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Dehnavi is the fourth Red Crescent volunteer killed since the war began on February 28. Israel assassinates Iranian military officials: The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran on Monday, according to state media. Israel claimed the killing, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz saying, “Iran’s leaders live with a sense of being targeted. We will continue to hunt them down one by one.” An Israeli military spokesperson also said on Monday that Israel killed the leader of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force Asghar Bakeri. Iran has not confirmed Bakeri’s killing yet. U.S. reports recovery of downed F-15 crew members but loses multiple aircraft in rescue operation: Both crew members of the U.S. F-15E shot down over Iran have reportedly been recovered alive, following a 36-hour search-and-rescue operation conducted inside Iranian territory. The operation appears to have cost multiple American aircraft, according to U.S. and Iranian accounts. The second recovered airman—who had not been identified—reportedly evaded Iranian forces in mountainous terrain before extraction. According to the U.S. account, two MC-130J Commando II special operations transport aircraft landed at a makeshift airstrip during the rescue but could not take off again. U.S. forces evacuated all personnel and deliberately destroyed the aircraft on the ground to prevent capture. Iranian military-linked sources, however, claimed Iranian forces destroyed two C-130/MC-130 transports, two Black Hawk helicopters, an MQ-9 Reaper drone, and a Hermes 900 drone in combat. Fars News Agency reported nine Iranians killed and seven wounded in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province during the overnight operation. Iran’s foreign ministry also claimed the U.S. operation may have been a cover to “steal enriched uranium” from Iran. “The area where the American pilot was claimed to be present in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province is a long way from the area where they attempted to land or wanted to land their forces in central Iran,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, according to Al Jazeera. “The possibility that this was a deception operation to steal enriched uranium should not be ignored at all.” Verified footage shows missiles fired from Kuwaiti territory into Iran: Videos verified by France 24 show missiles being launched from Kuwaiti territory into Iran, directly contradicting Kuwait’s official position that it has not allowed its land to be used for attacks. At least 13 missiles were filmed firing on March 24 from near Abdali in northern Kuwait, with a second barrage recorded March 31 through April 1 from the same area. Weapons experts said the launches are consistent with U.S.-made Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets fired from HIMARS platforms, which the Kuwaiti military does not operate but U.S. forces do. Iran responds with attacks on Israel and the Gulf: Four people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a residential building in Haifa on Sunday, according to the Israeli military. Other residential buildings in Haifa were hit over the weekend as well as a factory in the city. Iran launched at least five salvos targeting military and industrial infrastructure across Israel on Sunday, with one missile directly striking the Ne’ot Hovav Industrial Zone. Al Jazeera reported sirens and explosions across northern Israel including the Galilee, with fragments falling in areas including Petah Tikva. Drone strikes hit multiple government and energy sites across Kuwait City Saturday, according to state news agency KUNA. The Ministries Complex sustained “significant material damage” after a drone strike, with the Finance Ministry reporting no injuries and ordering staff to work remotely while barring visitors. A separate attack on the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex near Kuwait City sparked a fire that emergency crews quickly contained. A Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity spokesperson Fatima Hayat also announced on Saturday that two power generation units were out of service after drones struck power and water desalination plants. Iran struck Bahrain’s Bapco Energies refinery complex Saturday, with witnesses and early reports describing a drone or missile hitting the Sitra/Ma’ameer industrial area and producing visible flames and thick smoke near the facility. No details on injuries or damage have been reported. A drone strike damaged a state-funded telecommunications building in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, according to the state-run WAM news agency. Meanwhile, Emirati authorities confirmed on Saturday an Iranian attack on the Oracle building in Dubai, stating that the building’s facade was damaged by debris following an interception. UAE authorities said on Sunday that fires broke out at the Borouge petrochemical plant after debris from intercepted aerial threats struck the facility, forcing a shutdown of operations, with no injuries reported. Trump threatens to “blow up” all of Iran: President Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden threat Sunday on social media, writing: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Trump also reportedly told ABC that the conflict may end in “days, not weeks,” but threatened that if no deal is reached, the U.S. could escalate dramatically with “very little” off limits. “If it happens, it happens… if it doesn’t, we’re blowing up the whole country.” Iran rejects ceasefire proposal, mediators scrambling ahead of Trump ultimatum: Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iran and the U.S. a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the AP. Officials said the proposal was sent late Sunday night to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. A senior Iranian official who spoke to Drop Site said that they had rejected a proposal mediated by Pakistan for a temporary ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel, instead laying out their proposal for a permanent end to the war. Read the full story from Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Jawa Ahmad. A senior Iranian official also confirmed to Reuters that Iran won’t reopen the strait of Hormuz in exchange for a “temporary ceasefire,” adding that Tehran would not be pressured into accepting deadlines and making a decision. Araghchi conducts diplomatic blitz: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held calls with his counterparts in Turkey, Austria, Pakistan, Egypt, Russia, India, and France since Friday evening, in an intensive diplomatic push to build international pressure against U.S.-Israeli military operations. Across the calls, Araghchi described strikes on infrastructure, energy sites, residential areas, and nuclear facilities as “unprecedented war crimes,” called on the United Nations and international bodies to hold Washington and Tel Aviv accountable, and stressed Iran’s determination to defend its sovereignty. Trump admits U.S. attempted to arm Iranian protesters: President Donald Trump admitted on Sunday that the United States attempted to send weapons to anti-government protesters in Iran earlier this year, disclosing the covert effort in a phone interview with Fox News anchor Trey Yingst. Trump claimed “a lot of guns” were sent “through the Kurds” but said he believes the weapons never reached demonstrators, suggesting Kurdish intermediaries “kept them.” Oman and Iran hold talks on Hormuz transit: Oman and Iran held talks on Saturday to discuss options for ensuring smooth transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Omani Foreign Ministry announced. The meeting follows an Iranian official’s statement Thursday that Tehran was drafting a formal monitoring protocol with Oman for strait traffic. Separately, tracking data monitored by Lloyd’s List showed three Omani vessels—two large oil supertankers and one liquefied natural gas carrier—transiting the strait Sunday, outside Iran’s approved corridor near Larak Island, sailing unusually close to the Omani coastline. On Sunday, Iran officially declared Iraq exempt from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, and a Portuguese-flagged tanker carrying one million barrels of Iraqi Basra heavy crude crossed the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, becoming the first Iraqi oil shipment to transit the waterway since the war began February 28. U.S. arrests supposed relatives of slain Iranian general Soleimani: The State Department announced Saturday that Hamideh Soleimani Afshar—allegedly the niece of the late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Qasem Soleimani—and her daughter were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and were set to be removed from the country. Qasem Soleimani’s daughter, however, denies that the two individuals arrested in the U.S. are related to the family. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the lawful permanent resident status of both women, describing Soleimani Afshar as “an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran.” Gen. Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful military commander, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. U.S. missile inventory: The United States has committed nearly its entire inventory of JASSM-ER cruise missiles to the Iran campaign, according to Bloomberg. An order issued at the end of March redirected weapons from Pacific and continental U.S. stockpiles to Central Command bases and RAF Fairford in the UK, leaving only approximately 425 of a prewar inventory of 2,300 available for the rest of the world. U.S. operations consumed more than 1,000 JASSM-ERs in the first four weeks of the war alone. Combined with shorter-range JASSM variants, roughly two-thirds of total U.S. cruise missile stockpiles have been committed to the war on Iran. Gulf funds are reconsidering American investments, including Paramount-Warner merger: Gulf sovereign wealth funds are reportedly reviewing their American investments as the Iran war continues to strain the region’s finances, Ryan Grim reports in his latest. One particular deal, $111 billion Paramount Skydance–Warner Brothers Discovery merger, is imperiled by this development, as $24 billion of that total came from the Gulf. The Qatar Investment Authority is set to reconvene within the week to reassess its role in the merger, with industry sources saying widespread divestment on the part of the Gulf is now a mathematical inevitability if the war continues. For more on the economic fallout from the war in Iran – particularly its threat to the artificial intelligence industry. Read the latest from Ryan Grim for Drop Site, here. Lebanon Casualty count: The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 1,497, including 129 children—with 4,639 wounded—since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. At least 36 people were killed and 209 injured as a result of Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past 24 hours. Israeli strikes kill seven on Monday: Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least seven people and injured several others on Monday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. A missile strike on a vehicle at the Kafr Rumman roundabout in the Nabatieh district killed four. An attack on the town of Siddiqine killed one and injured another. In West Bekaa, a strike on Mashghara early today killed two people and injured five, according to preliminary reports. The Israeli army reissued forced displacement orders to residents of southern Lebanon to move north of the Zahrani River and ordered those in southern Beirut neighborhoods—including Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Lilaki, Hadath, Burj Al-Barajneh, Tahwitat Al-Ghdeir, and Chiyah—to immediately evacuate. Weekend strikes: Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and Beirut killed at least 14 people Sunday. An Israeli strike on the Al-Jinah area south of Beirut killed at least four people and wounded 39 others Sunday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported. The strike was within approximately 100 meters of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s largest public medical facility. An Israeli airstrike on Sunday night directly targeted a medical crew in the town of Haris, in the Bint Jbeil district, killing two medics, according to the state-run National News Agency. Over 50 Lebanese medical workers have been killed in Israeli attacks since March 2. Israeli strikes killed 10 others in southern Lebanon on Sunday—including a family of six and a four-year-old girl among seven killed in Kfar Hatta, where Israel had issued a forced evacuation order the previous evening. Israeli strikes killed two girls and wounded 22 others in the southern Lebanese village of Habbush on Saturday, Lebanon’s health ministry reported. An Israeli strike on Saturday near the coastal city of Tyre, approximately 50 miles south of Beirut, damaged a hospital and wounded 18 people, including three paramedics. Israeli attacks killed the mayor of Abba and a municipal police officer in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate on Sunday. Abba is a majority Shia town of roughly 8,000 to 9,000 residents located north of the Litani River between Nabatieh and Tyre. A Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli strike in ⁠southern Lebanon on Sunday, according to the Lebanese military. An Israeli strike on the Ain Saadeh Hills suburb northeast of Beirut killed Pierre Moawad, a local leader of the Lebanese Forces party, and his wife on Sunday. The Christian party is staunchly anti-Hezbollah and has a history of collaboration with Israel. According to sources cited by L’Orient-Le Jour, the intended target may have been on the floor above the Moawad family. Israeli forces systematically demolish homes in southern Lebanon: Israel demolished homes in the southern Lebanese border towns of Naqoura and Taybeh on Sunday in large, controlled explosions. Naqoura, a coastal town sitting directly on the border with Israel along the Blue Line—an unofficial border drawn up by the UN between Lebanon and Israel—hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and was known before the war as a vacation destination. Most of its roughly 4,000 residents have been displaced. Israel threatens to strike Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria: Israel announced Saturday that it intends to bomb the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria “in the near future,” claiming Hezbollah is using the passage for military purposes. The threat carries severe humanitarian implications—Masnaa is one of Lebanon’s primary land crossings with Syria and is used by thousands of travelers and commercial vehicles daily. Hezbollah claims success against major targets: Hezbollah claimed on Sunday that it had struck an Israeli warship 68 nautical miles off the Lebanese coast using an anti-ship cruise missile, with Israeli Channel 14 reporting that Israeli officials believe the warship hit may have been a British vessel, not an Israeli one. British defense officials denied that any of their warships were struck, according to the Telegraph. Hezbollah also released footage Saturday showing the targeting of two Israeli Merkava tanks in Wadi al-Ayun, southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border. Genocide in Gaza, West Bank, and Israel Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, seven Palestinians were killed and 17 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,302 killed, with 172,090 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 723 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,990, while 759 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One Palestinian man was killed in a building collapse, raising the death toll from structural collapse to 29. Israel kills 10 over the weekend: An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians and wounded others on Jaffa Street near the Darraj neighborhood in Gaza City on Sunday, local health authorities said. In another attack on Sunday, a child was shot in the head in Mawasi Rafah in southern Gaza. A strike on Saturday killed four people in Gaza City. One Palestinian was killed in a separate strike east of Gaza. At least six Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in tent camps in Rafah and Khan Younis. Rat bites surge among Gaza’s children: Medical workers in Gaza are reporting a surge in rat bites on children’s bodies and faces as Israel’s ongoing blockade denies displaced families proper shelter, with overcrowding and collapsing sanitation infrastructure leaving children especially vulnerable. Al Jazeera’s video report is available here. Israel attacks WHO vehicle, Rafah travel suspended: The Israeli military opened fire on a World Health Organization (WHO) vehicle transporting several WHO staff members in Khan Younis on Monday in an area designated as a “green zone,” according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The driver of the vehicle was killed in the attack, which the Health Ministry blasted as “undermining the work of humanitarian organizations and imposing further restrictions on their operations.” As a result, the WHO informed the Palestinian Red Crescent it had temporarily suspended medical evacuations of Palestinian patients and of returnees to Gaza through the Rafah crossing, according to the WAFA news agency. Video shows Israeli soldiers beating unarmed Palestinian in West Bank refugee camp: Israeli soldiers were filmed assaulting an unarmed Palestinian man with his hands raised in the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Qalandia on Sunday, with multiple soldiers taking turns beating him before dragging him off camera. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com. Democrats in Congress open space for Trump deal to end war: Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Ro Khanna, both appearing on “Meet The Press” on Sunday, were pressed on whether they’d support a deal to end the war with Iran still in control of the Strait of Hormuz. The question itself is embedded in the American media’s propensity to push politicians in a relentlessly more hawkish direction, but both Khanna and Kaine pushed back, saying that the most important thing to do now is end the war. Mass surveillance fight in Congress pits reformer Jamie Raskin against Dem Rep. Jim Himes and House Speaker Mike Johnson: Reauthorization of what’s known as Section 702 is likely coming to a floor vote next week in the House, with the focus of the battle on whether to allow the Trump administration to use data brokers to evade the Fourth Amendment, hoover up personal information, and feed it into government-controlled AI programs. Himes has been attacking his fellow Democrat Raskin, who has argued against giving the Trump administration these powers. “Jamie’s argument…is the reason we’re splitting right now,” he said recently. “Day in and day out, I see what this authority is doing to keep people safe … whereas Jamie lives in a domestic world where he has Pam Bondi publicly humiliating him.” A left-right coalition is forming to block the FISA legislation. As the American Prospect reported, the CPC has committed its members to voting against reauthorization, and a lack of trust in Trump has led more to join. “There’s a lot of people who are going to switch from yes two years ago to no today,” Himes told The Hill. “Because even though Donald Trump’s been president for five years, and he has never abused the program—I would know it pretty much in real time if he did—even though that’s true, people don’t trust Donald Trump.” The Trump administration, however, has gutted the inspectors general and other internal police who would spot Trump abusing the program. Mary Peltola surges in Alaska with populist message: Democrats looking to flip the Senate are increasingly eyeing Alaska as a major pickup opportunity, with polls showing former Rep. Peltola, who half-jokingly has run as “pro-fish,” consistently ahead of incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. What’s new this time, reports Alaska’s NPR station, is that Peltola is leaning hard into the kind of populist messaging that is working for candidates like Maine’s Graham Platner or independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska. “The former Alaska congresswoman is talking about more than fish, family and freedom as she runs for U.S. Senate,” Alaska Public Media reported. “Many of her posts are about ‘crooked politicians feathering their own nests,’ and an elite class that’s ‘rigging the system’ against regular people.” U.S. academics suspended or dismissed over opposition to Iran war: At least three American academics have been suspended or dismissed in the past month after voicing opposition to the U.S.-Israeli actions in the Middle East, the Guardian reported. Shirin Saeidi was formally dismissed from the University of Arkansas following social media posts supporting Palestine and praising Iranian leadership, as well as allegations she used university letterhead to advocate for the release of an Iranian official convicted in Sweden. Idris Robinson, a philosophy professor at Texas State University, filed a lawsuit after his contract was terminated following an off-campus talk on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Aria Fani was removed as director of the Middle East Center at the University of Washington after sending emails via the center’s listserv criticizing Israel and U.S. policy, though he retains his faculty position. Maine Gov. Janet Mills skips tribal forum and Senate debate as Platner leads in polling: Mills cited “scheduling conflicts” for backing out of the April 11 U.S. Senate primary debate with challenger Graham Platner as well as an April 16 forum hosted by the Penobscot Nation. Also: Platner called on Sunday for an end to U.S. military assistance to Israel, saying “not a single taxpayer dollar should be spent on arming and defending a country that commits a genocide.” “This is a nation that right now is exterminating people,” he added, saying it would be “very difficult” for him to view Israel as a close partner of the United States ever again. A recent Emerson College poll shows Platner leading Mills 55% to 28%. Anil Ambani sought White House access through Jeffrey Epstein, NYT reports: Indian billionaire Anil Ambani turned to Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 to navigate U.S.-India defense and diplomatic relations, the New York Times reported, citing hundreds of newly released Epstein-related communications. Epstein reportedly provided Ambani with advance intelligence on White House appointments—including correctly predicting John Bolton would replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser—in exchange for access to Modi’s government. Epstein also advised Ambani that India purchasing more Israeli weapons would improve its standing with the Trump White House, a suggestion that preceded Modi’s historic first visit to Israel and a roughly $2 billion Indian weapons purchase that year. Drop Site’s reporting on the Epstein-Ambani connection, which we published in January, is available here. Other International News DRC agrees to accept U.S. third-country deportees: The Democratic Republic of the Congo announced it will begin receiving migrants deported from the United States this month. The Congolese government described the new arrangement with the Trump administration as “temporary” and reflective of Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity.” The U.S. will reportedly cover costs of deportation, though no number of expected arrivals has not been specified. The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to third countries since February 2025, according to Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Drone strike ignites fire at foreign oil facility in Basra: A drone attack triggered a fire Saturday at a storage facility belonging to foreign oil companies in Basra, Iraq’s principal southern oil hub, according to security sources who spoke to Reuters. No casualties were reported and the company was not identified. Floods, landslides, and lightning kill 77 across Afghanistan: Widespread flooding, landslides, and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms have killed 77 people and injured 137 across Afghanistan over the past 10 days, the country’s Disaster Management Authority reported. Almost 800 homes have been completely destroyed and thousands more damaged. Critical routes, including the main artery linking the capital to the Pakistani border, and one connecting Kabul to northern cities including Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif, have been blocked by the storms. More rain is forecast in the coming days. Syrian Alawite women and girls abducted and brutalized: NYT: Abductions of women and girls from Syria’s Alawite minority are far more widespread and brutal than authorities have acknowledged, according to a New York Times investigation. While the government officially recognized only one verified case, the Times confirmed the kidnappings of 13 Alawite women and girls and received reports of many more. Survivors described being seized in broad daylight, held in filthy conditions, beaten, and subjected to sexual violence; five of the victims had reportedly been raped and two returned home pregnant. One family paid a $17,000 ransom for a relative who was never released. Read the full report here. Nepalese government cuts the work week short: The government of Nepal announced Sunday it would shorten the working week for government offices and educational institutions from six days to five, adding Saturday as a day off to cope with an energy crisis triggered by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Nepal has no domestic fossil fuel supplies and relies almost entirely on India for its energy, leaving it acutely exposed to the global price shock. Kidnappings and raids in northwestern Nigeria: Armed bandits abducted more than 150 people—mostly women and children—from Zamfara state’s Bukkuyum area last Thursday, in one of northwest Nigeria’s largest recent mass kidnappings, according to Reuters. The gunmen opened fire on vehicles and homes before sweeping through the communities, forcing residents to flee. A local councilman said those abducted were taken toward surrounding forest areas. In the neighboring Kaduna state, Nigeria’s army rescued 31 civilians taken hostage during an attack on a church during its Easter service, with five people found dead at the scene. The head of a local Christian organization said that two churches were attacked in the village and that seven people were killed, with an undetermined number taken hostage. Seven protesters arrested at UK air base used by the U.S.: British police arrested seven people Sunday at a peace encampment outside RAF Lakenheath on suspicion of supporting the group Palestine Action. The United Kingdom has authorized the U.S. to use British military bases for “defensive” operations against Iran and to protect the Strait of Hormuz. The five men and two women were arrested wearing clothing bearing the message “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action,” according to the organizers. The Starmer government’s designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization last year was ruled “disproportionate” in February, though it remains in effect pending a government appeal. More than 2,700 people have been arrested over rallies in support of the group. Ukraine escalates strikes on Russian ports and energy infrastructure: Ukrainian drone attacks struck Russia’s Baltic Sea oil export terminal at Primorsk and set fire to the NORSI oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday. Russia’s military reported intercepting 148 Ukrainian drones over a three-hour window. Debris from the assault struck a high-rise apartment building in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, injuring at least eight people including children, while a civil defense volunteer was killed in a separate drone strike in the border region of Belgorod. Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-installed leader of occupied Kherson, also announced on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone sunk a wheat cargo ship in the Sea of Azov on Friday, killing one crew member and leaving two others missing. Over 70 people feared dead in Mediterranean after migrant boat capsizes: A boat carrying migrants that departed from Libya on Saturday capsized in the central Mediterranean sea, according to Reuters. Thirty-two people were rescued from the boat by two commercial vessels. Two bodies were recovered and the rest are missing. The International Organization for Migration estimates at least 683 people have died in the central Mediterranean this year, one of the highest death tolls since 2014. UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances refers Mexico case to General Assembly: The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances requested the General Assembly to urgently consider Mexico’s situation, finding well-founded indications that enforced disappearances there have been crimes against humanity. The Mexican government protested the move, charging that the Committee is stretching its own definition of enforced disappearances and that the Convention’s procedure for widespread state‑committed disappearances with uncooperative authorities does not match current conditions in Mexico. More from Drop Site Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone joined Don Lemon on “Lemon LIVE at 5” on Friday to discuss the firing of Pam Bondi, rumors about further Cabinet dismissals, the domestic political implications of the war on Iran, and more. Watch his full appearance here. Brace Belden of TrueAnon joined Drop Site’s Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky on Breaking Points to discuss his recent trip to Cuba — including a heartbreaking encounter with Carlos, a young boy with cystic fibrosis whose medical care has been made nearly impossible by the U.S. blockade. Listen here. Drop Site’s Latin America Desk Head José Luis Granados Ceja recently joined the Katie Halper Show alongside Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson to discuss U.S. policy toward Cuba, watch here. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Apr 6, 202618 votes

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

Apr 6, 20265 votes

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

Apr 6, 20264 votes

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

Apr 6, 20268 votes

Trump issues another deadline to Iran; Strikes on universities, petrochemical plants; Israel strikes WHO vehicle in Gaza

Apr 6, 20267 votes

Suspicious market bets on the Iran war; Knesset advances bill to execute Palestinians accused of “terrorism”; Trump sends 15-point proposal to Iran

Israel continues attacks on Iran. Pakistan hands over 15-point U.S. proposal to Iran. Projectile hits Bushehr nuclear plant site again on Monday, no damage reported. Drone strike ignites fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport. Iranian strikes wound seven in Bnei Brak, as President Donald Trump declares Iran “militarily dead.” QatarEnergy declares force majeure on LNG contracts with Europe and Asia. Pentagon reports 290 U.S. troops wounded and 13 killed in Iran war. Iran reports 241 students and teachers killed, 644 schools damaged since war began. Hezbollah rockets kill woman in northern Israel on Tuesday. Five Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza. Israeli Knesset advances death penalty bill that would allow hanging for those accused of “terrorist acts.” Palestinian teen starved to death in Israeli prison. Oklahoma governor appoints energy executive Alan Armstrong to fill Mullin’s Senate seat. Democrat flips Florida House seat in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago district. North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger concedes primary defeat by 23 votes. Delta suspends congressional flight perks. Anonymous trader wins nearly $1 million on Polymarket with suspiciously timed bets on Iran strikes. Sen. Chris Murphy raises the red flag on futures bought ahead of major Trump announcement. Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 injured in an airstrike on a base in Anbar. Czech and Slovak police arrest three over arson attack on arms facility with Israeli ties. U.S.-backed Ecuador drug strike appears to have destroyed a cattle farm. Student kills two staff members in school shooting in Michoacán. WHO raises Darfur hospital death toll to 70 as UN flags possible war crimes. NEW from Drop Site: Trita Parsi joins the Drop Site livestream to discuss the latest in Iran. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Subscribe now Missiles fired from Iran toward Israel are spotted in the skies over Hebron on March 25, 2026. Photo by Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu via Getty Images. War on Iran Israel continues attacks on Iran: The Israeli military said it conducted several waves of airstrikes in Tehran on Wednesday, without elaborating. Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli air force has dropped over 15,000 bombs on Iran since the start of the war—four times the number of munitions dropped during the 12-day war on Iran in June. Katz, who made the remarks during a joint briefing with the Israeli army chief of staff, also said he has approved a new series of targets for strikes in Iran and Lebanon. Casualty counts: The death toll in Iran has reached at least 1,500, with more than 18,551 injured, Iran’s Health Ministry reported. At least 66 children under the age of five have been killed so far, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. Pakistan hands over 15-point U.S. proposal to Iran: Pakistan has shared a 15-point U.S. ceasefire proposal with Iran and is awaiting a response, according to multiple news outlets. According to Pakistani officials cited by the AP, the 15-point plan touches on “sanctions relief,” “missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” and addresses Iran’s nuclear enrichment and its non-military use. Iran, which has twice been bombed during negotiations with the U.S., has not officially confirmed receiving any U.S. plan and publicly dismissed the proposal. Iranian officials have said they will continue their retaliatory strikes until an agreement acceptable to Tehran is reached. In a televised statement, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said, “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” He added, “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.” Projectile hits Bushehr nuclear plant site again on Monday, no damage reported: A probable U.S.-Israeli projectile struck the Bushehr nuclear power plant site in southern Iran for the second time this month, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed it was informed by Iran that the strike caused no technical damage, no injuries to staff, and that operations remain normal, mirroring a similar incident on March 16. Iran warned that strikes on nuclear facilities violate international law and risk serious consequences for Gulf regional safety. Drone strike ignites fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport: Drones struck a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire that emergency teams brought under control, Kuwait’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said. Authorities reported material damage, but no casualties, with firefighting units and officials deployed to secure operations at the site. Footage from Wednesday morning showed a plume of dark smoke rising across Kuwait City’s skyline, as the fire appeared to be still burning. Iranian strikes wound seven in Bnei Brak, as Trump declares Iran “militarily dead”: A missile with a fragmenting warhead struck Bnei Brak in Israel without being intercepted, wounding seven people including an infant, a 7-year-old boy, and a 23-year-old man who suffered moderate injuries. President Donald Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, declared Iran “completely defeated” and “militarily dead” as the attacks unfolded. QatarEnergy declares force majeure on LNG contracts with Europe and Asia: State-owned QatarEnergy declared force majeure on several long-term gas supply contracts with buyers in Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China, suspending deliveries without penalty after Iranian missile and drone strikes disrupted its LNG export capacity. The decision threatens to ripple across energy markets in Europe and Asia, which rely significantly on Qatari gas supplies. Pentagon reports 290 U.S. troops wounded and 13 killed in Iran war: The Pentagon said Tuesday that 290 U.S. service members have been wounded in the war with Iran, an increase of 90 since mid-March, with 255 having returned to duty and 35 still out of action, including 10 seriously wounded, according to the Associated Press. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed in combat. Iran reports 241 students and teachers killed, 644 schools damaged since war began: Iran’s Ministry of Education reported Tuesday that 241 students and teachers have been killed and 183 wounded across 17 provinces since the start of the war, with 644 schools and educational facilities damaged or destroyed. Students account for 190 of the deaths and 164 of the injuries, while 51 teachers were killed and 19 were wounded. Trump claims victory in Oval Office remarks: President Donald Trump declared the war with Iran effectively won, asserting the U.S. has achieved “some form of regime change, very serious regime change,” while dismissing continued fighting as “fake news.” He described a major concession from Tehran—framed as a “present” tied to oil, gas, and the Strait of Hormuz—and claimed Iran has agreed it will never develop a nuclear weapon, though Iran had already committed to that position before the war began. In response to these remarks, Iranian state media published footage of what it described as a ground-to-ground missile strike on the U.S. base at Erbil airport, framing it as the “gift we sent to Trump.” U.S. awaits Iran’s answer on Islamabad talks: The U.S. and regional mediators Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey are pushing for talks in Islamabad as early as Thursday, but are still awaiting Tehran’s response, Axios reported. Iranian officials told Drop Site News that enrichment will continue, missile capabilities are “not subject to negotiation,” and any deal must include a broader ceasefire and compensation. Reuters also reported Tehran is seeking formal control over the Strait of Hormuz. Israel has expressed concern that Trump may cut a partial deal limiting its operations, and U.S. officials told Axios they expect at least two to three more weeks of war even if talks do proceed. Senior Iranian official Saeed Jalili dismisses U.S. talk of dialogue as “deception”: Saeed Jalili, the Supreme Leader’s representative to the Supreme National Security Council and member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, accused Washington of bad faith in calling for talks, saying the same side that had pushed for regime change and Iran’s fragmentation was now seeking dialogue. “The one who spoke of changing the regime… now yearns for dialogue… this too is an effort at deception,” he wrote. U.S. deploys 82nd Airborne elements to the Middle East: At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be deployed to the Middle East, according to AP. The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region. IRGC forces container ship to turn around: On Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy forced the St. Kitts-and-Nevis-flagged container ship SELEN to reverse course near the Strait of Hormuz entrance, citing failure to comply with “legal protocols” and lacking authorization to transit, IRGC naval commander Alireza Tangsiri said. Tangsiri maintained any vessel passing through the waterway must coordinate with Iran’s maritime authorities. UAE and Bahrain come under fire as Iran kills contractor: A Moroccan civilian contractor working with the UAE Armed Forces was killed in Bahrain after Iran launched missiles and drones at both Gulf states, Bahraini and Emirati authorities said. The UAE reported five Defense Ministry personnel wounded, while Bahrain said its forces were targeted with six missiles and 19 drones. The UAE said its air defenses intercepted five ballistic missiles and 17 drones, and that the country has faced a total of 372 missiles and 1,806 drones since the war began. Lebanon Casualty count: At least 33 people were killed and 90 injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the previous 24 hours, Lebanese authorities reported on Tuesday evening. The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 1072—with 2966 wounded—since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday: At least nine people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the state-run National News Agency. Four people were killed in an attack on Adloun in the southern Sidon area, and another two in a strike on an apartment in the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp that also left four wounded. An Israeli attack on the town of Habboush killed an additional three people. Journalist Hussein Hamoud, a cameraman for Al-Manar TV, was killed in an airstrike on the Al-Maslakh neighborhood in Nabatieh early Wednesday morning. Air strikes were recorded across the country; Tyre, Nabatieh, Marjeyoun, Hermel, Saida, Mount Lebanon, and the Bekaa were hit. Towns, roads, and residential areas were struck, with reports of phosphorus use by Israel in Naqoura, Qawzah, and Aita Al-Shaab. Israeli forces briefly entered Hilta, searched homes, executed a 15-year-old, detained another civilian, then withdrew. Two paramedics were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, while on a rescue mission, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The strike targeted their motorcycle despite them wearing medical uniforms and riding a vehicle marked with ambulance symbols. Among the victims was 15-year-old volunteer medic Joud Suleiman. The ministry said the attack brings the total number of killed emergency responders to 42. Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon later Tuesday killed at least nine more people and wounded dozens, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, according to the Associated Press. The casualties included: three killed and 18 wounded in Nabatieh, six killed and five wounded in Sidon, and 29 wounded in Tyre. Hezbollah rockets kill woman in northern Israel on Tuesday: A woman in her 30s was killed and two others lightly wounded by shrapnel when dozens of Hezbollah rockets struck the southern Hula Valley and Upper Galilee regions, Magen David Adom said. Israeli authorities said it marked the first civilian death in Israeli from Hezbollah fire since fighting intensified earlier this month. The Gaza Genocide, Israel, and the West Bank Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 11 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,265 killed, with 171,959 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 689 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,860, while 756 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Five Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza: Several Palestinians were injured on Wednesday morning after an Israeli drone targeted a facility distributing goods south of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to WAFA. On Tuesday night, four civilians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a group of people near Al-Sawarha cemetery in central Gaza. Earlier on Tuesday, a child, 13-year-old Khaled Arada, was killed after being shot by Israeli forces while inside his tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the south of the Strip. Israeli Knesset advances death penalty bill for final readings: Israel’s Knesset National Security Committee approved Tuesday a draft law—advancing toward final readings next week—that would impose the death penalty on prisoners accused of carrying out killings classified as “terrorist acts.” The bill mandates execution—by hanging within 90 days—without requiring unanimous judicial approval and eliminates any possibility of pardon, making sentences final and irreversible. The proposed law, introduced by Limor Son-Harmalk and backed by extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, establishes a geographically differentiated system that makes execution the primary punishment in the occupied West Bank and allows life sentences only in exceptional cases under military authority. The Prisoners’ Media Office labeled it “an unprecedented escalation,” warning it violates international law and could pave the way for systematic executions of prisoners. Palestinian teen starved to death in Israeli prison: Journalist Jasper Nathaniel: “Judge rules that 17-year-old Walid Ahmad likely starved to death in Israeli military detention, but closes the case anyway. Israel never charged him with a crime and still holds his body. Here’s how he died, as reported by his cellmate, 16-year-old American Mohammed Ibrahim.” UN experts demand Israel free Gaza hospital director amid new torture allegations: UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, health, and the occupied Palestinian territories called Tuesday for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, citing new reports of “severe torture” and denial of medical care despite deteriorating health. Detained since December 2024 under Israel’s “unlawful combatant” law, his detention is arbitrary and violates international law, the experts said, urging states with influence over Israel to act to secure his release and treatment. Read Drop Site’s coverage of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya here. United States By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com. Oklahoma governor appoints energy executive Alan Armstrong to fill Mullin’s Senate seat: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt named Alan Armstrong, executive chair of Tulsa-based Williams Companies, to fill the Senate seat vacated by Markwayne Mullin, who was sworn in Tuesday as Secretary of Homeland Security. Armstrong, who has never previously held public office, will serve until a successor is elected in November and is barred by state law from seeking election to the seat himself. Representative Kevin Hern, who secured Trump’s endorsement shortly after announcing his candidacy in mid-March, is the heavy favorite to win the full term in November. Democrat flips Florida House seat in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago district: Emily Gregory, a first-time candidate and business owner, defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Jon Maples 51% to 49% in a Florida state House special election covering the district that includes Mar-a-Lago, flipping a seat Trump carried by roughly 11 percentage points in 2024, according to Associated Press projections. It is the 10th GOP-held state legislative seat Democrats have flipped since President Donald Trump returned to office, while Republicans have not flipped any Democratic seats in the same period. North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger concedes primary defeat by 23 votes: Republican Phil Berger, who has led North Carolina’s state Senate since 2005, conceded defeat Tuesday to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page after a machine recount and hand recount confirmed he lost his primary by just 23 votes. Berger had touted a Trump endorsement throughout the campaign, though the president also called Page “great” and described both candidates as “outstanding people.” Page’s challenge was fueled in part by his vocal opposition to a 2023 casino expansion Berger championed before Republicans ultimately abandoned it. Berger’s loss creates a significant power vacuum in North Carolina Republican politics; he played a central role in cementing GOP legislative dominance, including a 2024 move to shift elections authority away from the governor and redrawing congressional maps to target a Democratic incumbent. Page is expected to win the Republican-leaning district in November. Delta suspends congressional flight perks: Delta Air Lines announced it is temporarily suspending dedicated airport escort and red coat services for members of Congress, citing strain on resources from the partial government shutdown that has left TSA officers without pay since Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed in mid-February. The move comes days after the Senate unanimously approved a proposal to end preferential airport treatment for lawmakers, including line-skipping privileges at security checkpoints. More than 400 TSA officers have quit altogether, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport—the world’s busiest—is asking passengers to allow at least four hours to clear security. Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked over a funding resolution, with Democrats refusing to back any bill that does not include reforms to immigration enforcement agencies. Anonymous trader wins nearly $1 million on Polymarket with suspiciously timed bets on Iran strikes: An anonymous trader netted nearly $967,000 on the prediction market Polymarket since 2024 by correctly wagering on U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran at an overall win rate of 83%—and 93% on bets over $10,000—according to an analysis by blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps shared with CNN. The bets were placed hours before Israeli strikes in October 2024, hours before U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, and hours before the joint U.S.-Israeli attack in February that started the current war. “Having win rates in the 80% to 90% range is just too good to be true,” said Todd Phillips, a finance professor and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission advisory board member. Sen. Murphy raises the red flag on $1.5 billion in futures bought ahead of Trump’s war announcement: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) raised concerns about suspicious trades on Monday in the oil market minutes ahead of President Trump touting “productive” talks with Iran and postponing strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure. Murphy cited reports showing $1.5 billion in S&P 500 futures bought and $192 million in oil futures sold just five minutes before the post, and asking who had advance knowledge. “Who was it? Trump? A family member? A White House staffer? This is corruption. Mind blowing corruption,” Murphy posted. The Financial Times reported bets worth half a billion dollars in the oil market were placed about 15 minutes before Trump’s post, which triggered a sharp sell-off across global energy markets and jumps in S&P 500 stock index futures. One source told the Financial Times, “It’s hard to prove causality . . . but you have to wonder who would have been relatively aggressive at selling futures at that point, 15 minutes before Trump’s post.” A portfolio manager told the paper, “My gut from watching markets for the last 25 years is this is really abnormal,” he added. “It’s Monday morning, there’s no important data today, there aren’t any Fed speakers you’d want to front run. It’s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk . . . Somebody just got a lot richer.” Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador prison sues U.S. government for $1.3 million: Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, a barber who lived in Irving, Texas, filed what appears to be the first lawsuit seeking damages from a deportee sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, accusing the U.S. government of false imprisonment and negligence after he was detained in March 2025 based solely on his tattoos and wrongly identified as a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Rengel spent four months in the maximum-security prison, where he said he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse, before being released in July 2025 and returned to Venezuela through a prisoner swap. Minnesota sues Trump administration: Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration Tuesday for access to evidence needed to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers—including the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti—after state officials say the federal government broke its promise to cooperate following the Minneapolis immigration crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge. Louisiana prosecutor with history of racism accusations runs for judge in Caddo Parish: Hugo Holland, a prosecutor whose nearly 40-year career in Caddo Parish includes findings by Louisiana judges that he withheld evidence in at least two death penalty cases and accusations of racism from defense attorneys, is running for a seat on the First Judicial District Court with Republican Party backing. Courts found Holland withheld evidence in cases involving Bobby Hampton, David Brown, and Corey Williams, a severely intellectually disabled 16-year-old whose conviction was eventually resolved through a plea deal after dozens of former federal prosecutors filed a brief supporting efforts to overturn it. Caddo Parish sent more people to death row per capita than any other county in the United States between 2010 and 2014, with 80 percent of those sentenced being Black despite Black residents comprising just under half the parish population. Read from ProPublica. Pentagon’s top technology official holds millions in Anthropic competitor: Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and Chief Technology Officer, holds between $2 million and $10 million in stock in Perplexity AI—a direct competitor to Anthropic—while playing a central role in the decision to blacklist Anthropic from government contracts, according to financial disclosures reviewed by The Lever. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth subsequently labeled Anthropic a “supply chain risk” over limitations Anthropic put on AI use. OpenAI is reportedly positioned to take over the contract. Michael’s disclosures list assets totaling between $121 million and $277 million, including additional stakes in robotics and AI companies with Pentagon ties. Other International News Another major strike in Iraq: Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 injured in an ⁠airstrike on a base in Anbar, which hosts both regular security forces and the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The Iraqi defense ministry said the strike also targeted the base’s military healthcare clinic, calling it a “flagrant and dangerous violation of international law, which prohibits targeting medical facilities and their personnel.” The strike came a day after an attack on the same base that killed at least 15 PMF fighters—including senior commander Saad al-Baiji—and wounded about 30, according to the group. That attack prompted Iraq’s government to grant the PMF a “right to respond” to any attack against it, a position that was reaffirmed on Wednesday. Iran files sovereignment claim with the UN over Iran war: Iraq is preparing to file a sovereignty complaint to the United Nations Security Council, Khalid al-Yaqoubi, security advisor to Iraq’s prime minister, told AP on Wednesday. Yaqoubi said 80 members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed and 150 have been wounded since the start of the war last month.“We are against the aggression on Iran because it is not justified,” he said about the U.S.-Israeli war. International activist convoy delivers aid to Cuba: A small ship carrying 14 tons of food, medicine, solar panels, and bicycles arrived in Havana Harbor on Tuesday as part of the Nuestra America Convoy, an international effort organized by nearly 300 groups from more than 30 countries to circumvent U.S. sanctions restricting fuel and goods to the island. The delivery, supplemented by six tons of goods flown in over the past week, was largely symbolic given Cuba’s near-catastrophic economic crisis, which the Trump administration has deepened by cutting off fuel supplies and threatening tariffs on countries that deliver oil to the island. Costa Rica recently joined Ecuador in severing diplomatic relations with Cuba, compounding pressure on a government that has long prized its international ties. Czech and Slovak police arrest three over arson attack on arms facility with Israeli ties: Czech and Slovak police detained three people—including U.S. and Czech citizens—on terrorism charges following a Friday arson attack on a building used by Czech defense group LPP Holding at an industrial complex in Pardubice, about 120 kilometers east of Prague. The group claiming responsibility, Earthquake Faction, said it targeted the facility over LPP’s announced plans to cooperate with Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems, though LPP says that cooperation was never carried out. Earthquake Faction said Tuesday it had taken restricted documents and would publish them unless LPP cut ties with Elbit and denounced what it called the occupation of Palestine. Colombia issues arrest warrants for rebel leaders over political assassination: Colombia’s attorney general issued arrest warrants Tuesday for seven leaders of the Segunda Marquetalia rebel group, including veteran guerrilla commanders Iván Márquez and Jhon 40, over the June 2025 assassination of senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe in Bogotá. Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo described the killing as a “structured criminal operation” in which a hired urban gang carried out the hit for a reported 1 billion peso ($250,000) payment, coordinated near the Venezuelan border—where several suspects are believed to be hiding. U.S.-backed Ecuador drug strike appears to have destroyed a cattle farm: A New York Times investigation raises serious questions about a March 6 airstrike that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicized on social media as proof the U.S. military was “now bombing Narco Terrorists on land”; according to the Times, the target appears to have been a 350-acre cattle and dairy farm owned by a 32-year-old carpenter named Miguel, not a drug trafficking compound. Farm workers told the Times that Ecuadorean soldiers arrived three days earlier, beat and detained four Colombian workers, subjected them to waterboarding and electric shocks, doused structures with gasoline and set them alight—then returned on March 6 to film themselves bombing the smoldering ruins, producing footage Ecuador and the U.S. jointly promoted as the destruction of a traffickers’ training camp. The Pentagon said the strike was conducted “jointly” with Ecuador, though Times sources said U.S. troops had no direct involvement in the bombing itself. Ecuador claimed to have recovered weapons and evidence of illicit activity but released no photographs, as it typically does following drug seizures. “It’s a lie that 50 people trained here,” Miguel said, standing amid his dead chickens. “There’s no logic.” (NYT) Student kills two female staff members in school shooting in Michoacán: A 15-year-old student allegedly opened fire with a high-powered assault rifle at the private Makarenko School in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, killing two female staff members—reported to be a teacher and an administrator—before being arrested, local authorities in Michoacán said. School shootings are rare in Mexico. The student, now detained, shared on social media his sympathy for the so-called incel movement. WHO raises Darfur hospital death toll to 70 as UN flags possible war crimes: The death toll from the strike on Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur on March 20 is now 70 people with 146 injured, according to the WHO. The attack put a facility serving more than 2 million people permanently out of operation. The UN Human Rights office said the strike involved drones in an area controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, though the office said it lacked sufficient evidence to assign blame, noting both sides in the civil war have used drones against civilians. More than 500 civilians have been killed in drone strikes since the start of the year, mostly in the Kordofan region, the UN rights office said. More from Drop Site Livestream: Drop Site’s Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill, and Murtaza Hussain discuss the latest developments on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran with Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Ryan Grim talks Cuba on Newsmax: Julian Andreone makes a cameo in Tommy G’s video about stock trading in Congress: If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Mar 25, 202611 votes

Suspicious market bets on the Iran war; Knesset advances bill to execute Palestinians accused of “terrorism”; Trump sends 15-point proposal to Iran

Mar 25, 202619 votes

Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

Israeli airstrikes hit two police stations in Gaza. Fourteen-year-old Palestinian shot by IDF at close range and denied medical care, BBC report shows. Iran and the United States conclude talks in Geneva. The U.S. State Department authorizes departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Israel. Vice President JD Vance will meet the Omani foreign minister in Washington. Hillary Clinton denies ties to Jeffrey Epstein in House deposition. House Democrats will force a vote on Khanna-Massie Iran War Powers Resolution. NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets President Donald Trump for a second time. DHS agents detain a student after entering Columbia dormitory in search of a “missing child”; Mamdani secures her release. The United States plans to take in up to 4,500 white South African refugees per month. Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros after Netflix walks away from the deal. Family of Francesca Albanese sues over U.S. sanctions. U.S. military laser downs Border Patrol drone in Texas. Labor leaders press Democrats to drop their support for Janet Mills. Israeli air strikes kill teenager in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Pakistan and Afghanistan enter “open war.” Cuba says it alerted United States to alleged armed infiltration attempt. Israeli forces enter Syria’s Quneitra province. Thousands displaced by RSF attacks in western Darfur. President Paul Kagame lobbied Senator Lindsey Graham over stalled Rwanda sanctions. Turkey and United States are reportedly negotiating an energy-for-defense framework tied to F-35s. Zelenskyy discusses more U.S.-brokered talks. Hannah Spencer wins Gorton and Denton by-election in an upset over Labour. New from Drop Site: Palantir’s AI is already playing a major role in tracking Gaza aid deliveries. Argentinian workers fight a bill that strips workers of protections. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Subscribe now A Pakistani soldier stands guard at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman on February 27, 2026, following overnight cross-border firing between the two countries. Photo by Abdul BASIT / AFP via Getty Images. The Gaza Genocide, West Bank, and Israel Israeli airstrikes hit two police stations in Gaza: At least five Palestinians were killed and several others injured by Israeli airstrikes on two police stations in the Mawasi area in southern Gaza and Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. In Rafah, the Israeli military struck Palestinian resistance fighters on Friday saying they were “emerging from underground terror infrastructure” and alleging violation of the ceasefire—as Israel continues to besiege and target fighters it signed the ceasefire with, citing unverified claims of security threats. 14-year-old Palestinian shot by IDF at close range and denied medical care, BBC report shows: Jad Jadallah, a 14-year-old Palestinian resident of the al-Far’a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, was shot at close range by Israeli soldiers during a November raid, a BBC investigation found. Closed-circuit television footage showed an Israeli soldier firing on an unsuspecting Jadallah, then continuing to shoot at him as he attempted to run away before collapsing in an alley. Video and witness accounts reviewed by the BBC indicate at least 14 soldiers formed a cordon as he “bled to death” for roughly 45 minutes. The soldiers administered no life-saving medical aid to Jadallah, and Red Crescent ambulances were reportedly blocked from reaching him. The Israeli army has since refused to return his body to his family. The BBC’s full report is available here. Israel’s High Court freezes deportation order against international aid groups: Israel’s High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction on Friday, halting a government move that would have forced 37 international aid organizations to stop operating in Gaza and the West Bank. Seventeen NGOs and the Association of International Development Agencies previously filed an urgent petition seeking suspension of the decision, warning of devastating humanitarian consequences if their work is shut down. The new rules, introduced in late December, require organizations to submit detailed staff information or cease operations within 60 days. Aid groups argue that sharing employee names could endanger staff, and are asking the court to remove the disclosure requirement and allow deregistered NGOs to continue operating while the case is heard. At least 588 aid workers have been killed by Israel since the start of the genocide in Gaza, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). State Department authorizes departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Israel: The State Department on Friday authorized the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of U.S. government personnel from Israel due to “safety risks.” The announcement comes amid concerns that the U.S. could strike Iran, and Iran’s threat to retaliate against Israel and U.S. bases. Mike Huckabee, the ambassador to Israel, told embassy employees in an email that they could leave the country and urged anyone considering departure to do so immediately, according to AP. “Those wishing to take AD should do so TODAY,” Huckabee wrote, using an acronym for “authorized departure.” Iran Iran and the United States conclude talks in Geneva: Another round of indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials concluded in Geneva on Thursday without a deal. Iran’s foreign minister said afterwards that “further progress has been made” in diplomatic engagement with the U.S., calling this round “the most intense so far.” He said six hours of talks included “a serious examination of the elements of an agreement, both in the nuclear field and in the sanctions field” and ended with a “mutual understanding” to continue detailed discussions on “sanctions termination and nuclear-related steps.” Further technical talks are scheduled for next week in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency is headquartered. Reports shed light on potential Iran proposal: A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Tehran rejects permanently ending enrichment, dismantling facilities, or exporting uranium stockpiles, calling enrichment a “sovereign right,” but confirmed offering a temporary freeze, reduced stockpiles under IAEA supervision, and economic cooperation. Separately, Elyas Hazrati, head of Iran’s Government Information Council, said enrichment “will continue in accordance with our needs,” that “nothing will leave Iran,” and that alternatives including dilution remain “on the table,” while stressing sanctions relief is the priority. Vice President JD Vance to meet Omani foreign minister in Washington: Vice President JD Vance is set to meet on Friday in Washington with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi in previously unreported talks aimed at averting war with Iran, NBC News reported. Vance told The Washington Post on Thursday that “there is no chance” of a years-long war with Iran. “The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen,” he said. United States House Democrats will force a vote on Khanna-Massie Iran War Powers Resolution next week: Democratic leadership in the House announced it will compel a vote as soon as the body reconvenes on the bipartisan Khanna-Massie Iran War Powers Resolution, which would require the president to seek congressional approval before using military force against Iran. The war, of course, could be launched before the vote, but the administration has indicated the assault will last for quite some time, meaning the vote would remain relevant. In a statement issued Thursday, Democratic leaders described a potential conflict as “a war of choice,” “reckless,” and “unconstitutional,” saying the resolution would allow every member of Congress to record his or her position regarding further escalation in the region. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said he would support the Khanna-Massie resolution, making him the second Republican to publicly signal his support. Mamdani meets President Donald Trump for a second time: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met on Thursday with President Donald Trump at the White House for a second time, proposing a $21 billion federal plan to build 12,000 affordable homes over Sunnyside Yard in Queens. To make his pitch, Mamdani presented Trump with mock New York Daily News front page reading “Trump to City: Let’s Build”—a play on a famous NYDN headline concerning the city’s request for a federal bailout (“Ford To City: Drop Dead”). Mamdani’s office described the president as “very enthusiastic” about the proposal. DHS agents detain student after entering Columbia dormitory, Mamdani secures release: An undergraduate at Columbia University, Ellie Aghayeva, was detained by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, according to a statement from Columbia University President Claire Shipman. According to Shipman, the agents entered a campus residential building at approximately 6:30 a.m on Thursday and detained Aghayeva, gaining entry by claiming they were searching for a “missing person.” She was released after Mayor Zohran Mamdani brought the issue up to Trump during their meeting. Mamdani also asked for cases against four others to be dismissed: Yunseo Cheng; Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate, was detained at his apartment in 2025; Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia undergraduate, was arrested by ICE agents in Colchester, Vermont. The fourth, Leqaa Kordia, who participated in protests at the school, remains in detention. Drop Site contributor Areeba Fatima spoke to protesters about the arrest of Aghayeva. U.S. to take in up to 4,500 white South African refugees per month: The United States aims to process up to 4,500 refugee applications per month from white South Africans, according to a January 27 State Department contracting document reviewed by Reuters. The document outlines plans to install 14 prefabricated trailers on United States embassy property in Pretoria to create a secure processing site after operations at a previous location in Johannesburg were disrupted by a South African immigration raid. Only about 2,000 white South Africans have entered the United States as refugees as of January 31, after the program was launched in May 2025. President Trump previously set a cap of 7,500 refugees to be admitted in total in FY 2026. The South African government has rejected Trump’s claims that Afrikaners face systemic persecution, the basis for the Trump administration’s refugee policy. Francesca Albanese’s family sues over U.S. sanctions: The family of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has sued the Trump administration over U.S. sanctions imposed on her last year for her criticism of Israel’s policies in Gaza. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, Albanese’s husband and child, who is a minor and a U.S. citizen, outlined the impact the sanctions have had on their lives. “At its heart, this case concerns whether Defendants can sanction a person—ruining their life and the lives of their loved ones, including their citizen daughter—because Defendants disagree with their recommendations or fear their persuasiveness,” the filing said. The State Department dismissed the lawsuit as baseless and said, “Francesca Albanese has openly supported antisemitism, terrorism, and has engaged in lawfare against our nation and our interests, including against major American companies vital to the world economy.” U.S. military laser downs Border Patrol drone in Texas: On Thursday, the United States military used a laser to shoot down what it described as a “seemingly threatening” drone near Fort Hancock, Texas, about 50 miles southeast of El Paso, later determining it belonged to Customs and Border Protection. It was the second laser-related airspace disruption in the area in two weeks, after Customs and Border Protection previously deployed a counter-drone system near Fort Bliss without hitting any targets, leading the Federal Aviation Administration to shut down El Paso airspace for several hours. Labor leaders press Democrats to drop their support for Janet Mills: Union leaders are urging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to withdraw support for Governor Janet Mills in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary, according to NBC News, arguing her record on labor is weaker than that of her opponent Graham Platner. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain discussed the race with Schumer on a phone call earlier this month, while the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have backed Platner and warned that national party spending for Mills could undermine Democratic chances against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Hillary Clinton denies ties to Jeffrey Epstein in House deposition: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied meeting Jeffrey Epstein or knowing about his crimes during a more than six-hour closed-door deposition on Thursday before the House Oversight Committee in Chappaqua, New York, calling the inquiry “partisan political theater” and accusing Republicans of trying to distract from President Donald Trump’s connections to Epstein. The session briefly descended into chaos after Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado leaked a photograph from inside the room to Benny Johnson, a right-wing podcaster, prompting objections from Clinton’s lawyers and Democratic members who said committee rules were violated. President Bill Clinton is scheduled to testify on Friday before the panel concerning his ties to Epstein. Epstein files shed light on Leon Black’s spending: Apollo Global Management co-founder and Epstein associate Leon Black spent lavishly on himself, according to a recent trove of Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department, with expenses including a $3 million 60th birthday party and more than $115 million on art purchases in 2011 alone, as well as an estimated $1.2 billion in family expenditures from 2007 to 2011. Two of the country’s largest teachers’ unions, which have pension investments in Apollo, have urged the SEC to investigate previous statements about the firm’s ties to Epstein, which they say may have been “misleading.” Apollo, one of the country’s largest private equity firms in the world, has invested in nearly every sector of the American economy and has been under increasing scrutiny for how it has pressured its healthcare acquisitions to aggressively cut costs. Read more about Black, Epstein, and Apollo, at The Lever, here. Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros after Netflix walks away from the deal: Paramount Skydance is in a position to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery after Netflix declined to match its $111 billion dollar offer. On Thursday, Warner’s board announced that Paramount’s latest offer to buy the entire company for $31 per share was superior to the agreement it had previously struck with Netflix. Warner gave Netflix four business days to come up with a counteroffer—but Netflix responded the same day, declining to raise its offer. Paramount’s offer still requires regulatory approval in the US and Europe. President Trump has a close relationship with billionaire Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount’s CEO David Ellison who is heavily backing Paramount’s bid to buy Warner. If completed, it would create the largest media conglomerate in U.S. history. International News Israeli air strikes kill teenager in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley: A wave of Israeli air strikes across Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley killed a 16-year-old Syrian national west of Baalbek, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Thursday; the report identified the teenager as Hussein al-Khalaf. Israeli jets also struck areas near Hermel, according to Al Jazeera English. The Israeli military claimed without evidence that it targeted “infrastructure” linked to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, and an Israeli Merkava tank reportedly fired two shells on the outskirts of Aitaroun and Yaroun in Nabatieh. Twenty-nine were wounded in Thursday’s attacks. Pakistan and Afghanistan enter “open war”: Pakistan’s defense minister declared an “open war” with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, with intense cross-border strikes and ground offensives along the Durand Line on Thursday. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan forces launched “large-scale offensive operations” on the border. Afghan officials claimed that they have captured between 13 and 19 Pakistani border posts and killed up to 55 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan responded with airstrikes on Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia on Friday, with Al Jazeera reporting explosions and anti-aircraft fire over the Afghan capital. Pakistani officials said more than 130 Taliban fighters were killed and 200 were injured in attacks on Thursday and Friday. Cuba says it alerted U.S. to alleged armed infiltration attempt: Cuba said it alerted U.S. authorities as soon as it detected that a Florida-registered vessel involved in what it described as a thwarted attempt at armed infiltration had come from U.S. territory, adding that Cuba remained in contact with the State Department and the Coast Guard before any shooting occurred. Cuban officials said the intercepted boat was carrying assault rifles, a sniper rifle, pistols, Molotov cocktails, night-vision equipment, body armor, camouflage clothing, ammunition, combat rations, and communications gear. It also stated that its investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Cuba’s Vice Foreign Minister Fernández de Cossío said two suspects, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, were already on Cuba’s national terrorism list. “This is not an isolated incident,” de Cossío said, saying that Cuba has in recent years warned of an “increase in violent and terrorist plots and actions against Cuba,” originating in the United States. United Nations seeks relief for Cuba: The United Nations is warning that without fuel, basic services and relief operations in Cuba cannot continue. United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cuba Francisco Pichon said Thursday that cargo extraction at ports and supply transport are already slowed or paralyzed, describing the fuel crisis triggered by a U.S. executive order as a “risk multiplier,” disrupting hospitals, water systems, food distribution, and medicine delivery, with only a 30-day contingency plan in place. The shortages are affecting some 5 million people with chronic illnesses, thousands of cancer patients, more than 32,000 pregnant women, and the roughly 20,000 newborns annually who depend on incubators and ventilators. Pichon also reports that the UN’s $74 million response plan is only about 30 percent funded as of Thursday. Claudia Sheinbaum criticizes the U.S. for allowing guns to enter Mexico: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the United States on Thursday over “Operation Fast and Furious,” the gun-walking program that allowed more than 2,000 weapons to reach Mexican cartels between 2009 and 2011, many of which later surfaced at crime scenes including the 2010 killing of United States Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Sheinbaum said 70 to 80 percent of illegal firearms seized in Mexico originate in the United States. Israeli forces enter Syria’s Quneitra province: Dozens of Israeli military vehicles entered Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, with Al-Ikhbariah TV reporting that a convoy of about 30 vehicles carried out a search operation near Tel al-Ahmar and Ain Ziwan. Syria’s state news agency said forces also approached Bariqa village, where they detained a young Syrian man. Quneitra lies partly within the buffer zone established by the United Nations under a 1974 disengagement agreement, after Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. Israeli strikes across Syria have intensified since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, with ACLED recording more than 600 Israeli air, drone, or artillery attacks on the country in 2025 alone. China escalates military purge: Chinese President Xi Jinping has dismissed nine senior People’s Liberation Army officers from China’s legislature, deepening an ongoing anti-corruption purge inside the military. The move follows an investigation into senior general Zhang Youxia and further consolidates Xi’s control over the top Chinese military authority. Among those removed are Ding Laifu, commander of the strategically vital 73rd Army—a unit central to any potential Taiwan conflict and the commander of a nuclear missile base. Paul Kagame lobbied Sen. Lindsey Graham over stalled Rwanda sanctions: Rwandan President Paul Kagame called South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in late January to urge him to block sanctions over Kigali’s alleged breach of a Trump-brokered Congo peace deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The proposed sanctions were drafted after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels renewed their offensive in the eastern DRC, threatening the peace agreement signed at the White House in December. Graham argued to Trump that Rwanda is an important security and critical minerals partner, and senior officials ultimately delayed the sanctions rollout. Fighting between M23 and the Congolese government continues in South Kivu, with M23 seizing a critical mining town in the region yesterday. Turkey and United States reportedly negotiating energy-for-defense framework tied to F-35s: Turkey is preparing to sign a multi-billion-dollar energy agreement with the United States that could pave the way for Ankara to purchase Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, according to a report from Defence Industry Europe, with negotiations said to center on a $500 billion cooperation framework linking energy investment to defense procurement. The proposal would see United States energy firms invest in exploration, production, and pipeline development in Turkey’s Mediterranean waters, as well as in Syria and Libya. Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after acquiring the Russian S-400 missile system, which Washington said threatened the aircraft’s security, and any revival of the deal would likely draw objections from Greece and Israel. There has been no official confirmation of a deal. Zelenskyy discusses more U.S.-brokered talks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the next round of negotiations with Russia would likely take place in Abu Dhabi in early March, after talks concluded in Geneva on Thursday. Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv’s delegation, said this round of negotiations involved economic and security issues, and that Ukraine wishes to make the next meeting with Russia “as substantive as possible.” Hannah Spencer wins Gorton and Denton by-election in upset over Labour: Pro-Palestine Green candidate Hannah Spencer won a United Kingdom parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton on Thursday, securing 14,980 votes en route to victory. The win represents the UK Green Party’s first in a by-election and its first seat in northern England. Spencer, a self-employed plumber who left school at 16 and campaigned as “Hannah the Plumber,” told Sky News she is “really proud” of her record supporting Palestinians, and was filmed earlier in the day dancing with supporters to the Palestinian anthem “Ana Dammi Falastini” on her way to a polling station. AP: Iranian security forces intimidated doctors, obstructed care to wounded protesters: Plainclothes Iranian security agents swarmed hospitals in several cities treating the wounded during mass protests in January, according to a report by the Associated Press based on interviews with doctors in Iran, reports from human rights groups, and AP’s verification of more than a dozen videos posted on social media. The agents monitored and sometimes prevented medical care to injured protesters, intimidated staff, harassed doctors, and detained demonstrators. The AP reported it verified videos posted from four hospitals “as a snapshot of the Iranian security forces’ activity.” One video verified by AP shows security agents breaking through glass entrance doors into Imam Khomeini Hospital in the western city of Ilam. The Health Ministry told state media it was investigating the incident, saying it was committed to protecting medical centers, staff and patients. Other videos verified by AP show a heavy presence of security forces surrounding three hospitals in Tehran, firing tear gas and chasing protesters. Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour denied reports of treatment being prevented or protesters being taken from hospitals, calling them “untrue, but also fundamentally impossible.” Thousands displaced by RSF attacks in western Darfur: Deadly attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s western Darfur region displaced more than 3,000 people in the past few days, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Thursday more than two and a half times the number of civilians were killed in Sudan in 2025 compared with the previous year with thousands still missing or unidentified. “This war is ugly. It’s bloody. And it’s senseless,” Türk said during a human rights council session in Geneva. “If much of the international community continues to act as a passive bystander, then something is fundamentally wrong with our collective moral compass.” Sudan Core Group launches atrocity prevention coalition: Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom announced the formation of a new Coalition for Atrocity Prevention and Justice in Sudan, aiming to strengthen civilian protection and advance accountability efforts as the war continues. They cited “collective outrage and profound sorrow” over a UN Fact-Finding Mission report that found Rapid Support Forces violence in El Fasher bears the “hallmarks of genocide.” The United States—historically a key player in the Sudan Core Group—did not join the statement. More from Drop Site Exclusive: Palantir maintains a desk at U.S.-led Gaza coordination center: Palantir Technologies maintains a permanent desk at the United States–led Civil Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, according to three diplomatic sources. Palantir is providing technological support on tracking delivery and distribution of aid, the sources tell Jonathan Whitall. “The United Nations already has a humanitarian architecture in place to step in during crises, abiding by humanitarian principles and grounded in international law,” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese told Drop Site. “This profit-driven parallel system involving companies like Palantir, already linked to Israel’s unlawful conduct, can only be regarded as a monstrosity.” Jonathan Whittall’s full report on Palantir in Gaza is here. Argentinian bill strips workers of protections: Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved a sweeping labor reform bill last Friday after a marathon parliamentary session stretching from Thursday into early Friday morning, amid the country’s fourth general strike since President Javier Milei took office. The measure, backed by Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party and allied right-wing blocs, would make it easier and cheaper to fire workers, extend the standard workday to 12 hours, reduce overtime and severance, and restrict strike and collective bargaining rights. Sam Carliner’s report on labor resistance to the Milei austerity regime can be found here. Programming note: You can sign up here to get updates from us on our WhatsApp channel. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Feb 27, 202612 votes

Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

Feb 27, 202620 votes

Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

Feb 27, 202612 votes

Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

Feb 27, 202630 votes

UK ban on Palestine Action ruled unlawful; Trump effectively ends greenhouse gas regulations; Nationalist party wins Bangladesh elections

Israeli fire kills one and wounds several in Gaza. Palestinian paramedic dies in Israeli detention. Whistleblowers say CPJ held back its index to protect Israel. Western governments move to oust UN rapporteur over remarks on Gaza, UN refuses to support her. Trump to launch Gaza reconstruction fund and Stabilization Force at first “Board of Peace” meeting. Palestinian citizens of Israel suffer disproportionately from crime wave. Widespread Israeli military assaults and settler attacks in the occupied West Bank. Trump administration dismantles the federal government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases. New York Fed says Americans bear most of the cost of Trump tariffs. New DOJ files reveal hidden-camera footage from Epstein’s Palm Beach office and references to secret recording equipment. Trump administration announces end to ICE operation in Minnesota. Attorney says detained 13-year-old attempted suicide at Texas ICE facility before her family’s deportation. Raskin calls conditions at Baltimore ICE facility “disgraceful” after surprise oversight visit. U.S. to deploy second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. UK High Court rules Palestine Action ban unlawful in landmark victory. Israeli attacks hit southern Lebanon villages. Bangladesh Nationalist Party claims victory in first post-uprising election. Dubai’s DP World replaces chief amid scrutiny over Epstein ties. Mexican aid ships arrive in Havana as U.S. tightens fuel pressure on Cuba. Cuba says no dialogue underway with United States. Russia launches major missile and drone barrage into Ukraine. Turkey says United States and Iran show flexibility on reviving nuclear deal. Turkey and Armenia move toward direct land trade via Georgia in normalization push. Syrian forces take control of former U.S. al-Tanf base as American troops withdraw. From Drop Site: Africa Update from Godfrey Olukya. Julian Andreone asks congresspeople about stock trading, Gaza. This is Drop Site Daily, our new, free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Supporters of Palestine Action celebrate outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the High Court ruled that the banning by the government under terrorism legislation, is unlawful, on 13th February 2026, in London, England. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images) The Gaza Genocide, West Bank, and Israel Israeli fire kills one and wounds several in Gaza: One Palestinian was killed and at least ten others were wounded by Israeli forces on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera. Mohammed Dabbash was killed by Israeli army fire in Al-Zarqa area northeast of Gaza City. Israeli troops backed by tanks and bulldozers advanced near the Kuwait roundabout east of Gaza City, opening heavy fire and injuring at least ten Palestinians along Salah al-Din Street, where Palestine Red Crescent Society crews evacuated three wounded under gunfire. Palestinian paramedic dies in Israeli detention: Hatem Rayyan, a Palestinian paramedic who was detained by Israel on December 27, 2024, during the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, died inside Israel’s Naqab Prison. The Prisoners’ Media Office said his death “brings the number of identified martyrs from the prisoners movement since October 2023 to 88, including 52 prisoners from the Gaza Strip,” describing it as part of “a systematic killing policy and enforced disappearance targeting Palestinian prisoners.” Trump to launch Gaza reconstruction fund and Stabilization Force at first “Board of Peace” meeting: President Donald Trump will unveil a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction fund for the Gaza Strip and outline plans for a United Nations-authorized International Stabilization Force at the first formal meeting of his Board of Peace on February 19 in Washington D.C., Reuters reports. Delegations from at least 20 countries will attend the gathering, with several states reportedly prepared to contribute “several thousands” troops. The meeting is also expected to include briefings on the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza—the Palestinian body designated to assume day-to-day governance from Hamas. Whistleblowers say CPJ cancelled its annual index to protect Israel: Whistleblowers told The Electronic Intifada that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) scrapped its annual Impunity Index because Israel was set to rank number one. The index—published annually since 2008 and regularly referenced in UN reports—measures countries where journalists are deliberately killed and killers go unpunished. The 2024 edition, covering killings through 2023, ranked Israel second. The 2025 index, reflecting 2024 amid record killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, would have pushed Israel to the top of the list. Since the index is calculated as a 10-year rolling rate relative to population, Israel would have been ranked near the top, if not number one, for many years to come, the whistleblowers said. They alleged donor and board pressure played a role. In response to Electronic Intifada, CPJ denied that donor considerations play any role in its decisions with respect to Israel or any other country. Western governments move to oust UN rapporteur over remarks on Gaza, UN refuses to support her: France, Germany, Italy, and the United States have escalated their calls for the removal of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, falsely accusing her of calling Israel the “common enemy of humanity.” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Paris will formally seek her ouster at the United Nations Human Rights Council session on February 23, 2026, while Germany’s top diplomat Johann Wadephul and Italy’s foreign minister echoed the claims in support of the push. When asked about the controversy, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres refused to back Albanese. He told reporters that the UN does not agree with much of what she says and stressed that Albanese operates independently. Supporters of Albanese, including Amnesty International, say the campaign is political retaliation for Albanese’s reporting on Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian citizens of Israel suffer disproportionately from crime wave: Five Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in a 12-hour period yesterday, bringing the number killed in suspected homicides in Palestinian towns within Israel to 45 in 2026. The mayor of Rahat called it “a black day”, while Balad party leader Sami Abu Shehadeh said, “This is not culture, this is policy,” blaming the Israeli government’s racism and police neglect for the crime wave. While Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 21 percent of the Israeli population, they accounted for more than 80 percent of all homicide victims in 2025. Israeli military assault and settler attacks continue in the occupied West Bank: Israeli forces and settlers carried out widespread attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to WAFA, leading to dozens of arrests and injuries, and the destruction of land and property. Settlers assaulted Palestinians in towns including Kafr al-Dik, Talfit, and Khallet Makhoul, preventing them from working their land, firing live ammunition, and causing injuries and property damage. Israeli forces fired tear gas at worshippers at a mosque in Ramallah and detained five Palestinians in Salfit, as well as a man, his wife and their child in the bedouin community of Khallet Makhoul. Settlers also cut down hundreds of olive trees in Turmus Ayya. According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, January saw a total of 1,872 incidents—1,404 by Israeli forces and 468 by settlers. These attacks followed Israel’s security cabinet approving new measures to tighten control over the West Bank and accelerate settlement expansion. U.S. News Trump administration dismantles the federal government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases: President Donald Trump announced on Thursday the repeal of the federal “endangerment finding,” the scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and the environment. The repeal effectively strips the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate carbon dioxide, methane, and other forms of pollution responsible for climate change. The finding, first issued in 2009, made it possible to impose limits on pollution from vehicles, power plants, and oil and gas operations. The repeal is expected to trigger major legal challenges from states and environmental groups. New York Fed says Americans bear most of the cost of Trump tariffs: A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that about 90 percent of tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump are paid by U.S. consumers and companies, contradicting administration claims that foreign exporters shoulder most of the burden of the administration’s tariffs. The analysis showed that the tariffs were almost totally absorbed by domestic prices last year. A summary of the report is available here. New DOJ files reveal hidden-camera footage from Epstein’s Palm Beach office and references to covert recording equipment: Newly released Department of Justice files include grainy footage from a hidden camera inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach office showing him at times engaging in sexual acts with what appeared to be young women, according to Channel 4. Earlier victim testimony described surveillance rooms in Epstein’s New York home, and photos from his 2019 arrest showing labeled monitoring equipment amid claims that Epstein systematically recorded sexual activity. Trump administration ends ICE surge operation in Minnesota after protests and killings: The Trump administration will wind down its two-month immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday. The move brings an end to what has been described as the largest immigration enforcement deployment in U.S. history with some 3,000 federal immigration agents, including from ICE, Border Patrol and other federal agencies, conducting immigration sweeps across the Twin Cities area. Some 4,000 people were arrested and two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by federal agents. Attorney says detained 13-year-old attempted suicide at Texas ICE facility before her family’s deportation: Immigration attorney Eric Lee said a 13-year-old girl held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Dilley, Texas attempted suicide earlier this month. According to the girl’s mother, she slit her wrists due to conditions in detention, and Lee said ICE deported the family to Colombia the following day. DHS earlier denied that the girl had attempted suicide. Raskin calls conditions at Baltimore ICE facility “disgraceful” after surprise oversight visit: Rep. Jamie Raskin disclosed on Thursday that he conducted an unannounced inspection of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Baltimore. At the facility, he said he found 60 men packed shoulder-to-shoulder in a room with one toilet, no showers, and aluminum foil blankets for sleeping. “What I saw was disgraceful,” Raskin said. Africa Update Libya: U.S. AFRICOM Deputy Commander John W. Brennan met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli on Wednesday to discuss expanding military and security cooperation. The talks were also attended by U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt. Brennan reaffirmed Washington’s readiness to expand technical and training assistance to the Libyan government, which Dbeibah accepted but noted that any cooperation must preserve Libyan sovereignty. Libya remains divided between Dbeibah’s Tripoli-based administration and a rival government appointed by the House of Representatives in 2022, led by Osama Hammad in Benghazi. DRC: The European Union reaffirmed its commitment to a political resolution to the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Crisis Management Commissioner Hadja Lahbib telling the European Parliament in Strasbourg on February 10 that multilateral efforts and an inter-Congolese dialogue are essential for lasting peace. She said the international community is intensifying efforts amid rising violence and announced plans to travel to the Great Lakes region next week to support conflict-resolution initiatives. The UN also announced that its Stabilization Mission would begin aerial reconnaissance flights in Uvira in the coming days to monitor the ceasefire agreement between the Congolese government and the M23 rebel group. Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, Angolan President João Lourenço, and Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé all arrived in Luanda on Tuesday for talks about increasing militarization in the country’s east, where fighting has continued, particularly in North and South Kivu. Humanitarian sources say renewed clashes since December 2025 have displaced more than 500,000 people. Madagascar: At least 31 people were killed when Cyclone Gezani struck Madagascar on Tuesday, making landfall in the port city of Toamasina with winds of around 180 kilometers per hour, according to Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management. The cyclone injured 33 people, damaged more than 3,200 homes, and displaced nearly 2,800 residents. President Michael Randrianirina said roughly 75 percent of Toamasina was left in ruins and that Madagascar lacks the capacity to address the damage on its own. Sudan: Médecins Sans Frontières has launched an emergency response in El Obeid in North Kordofan, as clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese Army were reported within 40 kilometers of the city. El Obeid’s main camp, Al-Mina Al-Muwahad, is sheltering around 25,000 people, and is experiencing extreme shortages of water and sanitation supplies, which heighten disease risks, MSF said. Kenya: Kenya will reopen parts of its border with Somalia in April, almost 15 years after shutting the crossings over attacks by the Islamist group al-Shabab, President William Ruto announced during a visit to the border town of Mandera on Thursday. Ruto said that troops and police officers will be deployed to the border posts to curb threats from militant groups, as well as weapons and contraband smuggling, adding that the reopening aims to restore links between transnational families and to boost cross-border trade. Other International News UK High Court rules Palestine Action ban unlawful in landmark victory: The High Court in the United Kingdom ruled on Friday that the government’s ban on the pro-Palestine direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful. The ruling marked a major legal victory for the group, which was founded in 2020 and campaigns against companies complicit in “the occupation, apartheid and genocide of Palestine,” with a focus on Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. In their ruling, the judges found that the “decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.” In July, the government declared Palestine Action a terrorist organization alongside ISIS and Al-Qaida, making membership in or support for the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,700 people have been arrested at protests for holding signs saying “I support Palestine Action.” Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori called the decision “a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history.” The ban will be kept in place as the UK government appeals the ruling although London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that in light of the ruling, they will “focus on gathering evidence…rather than making arrests.” U.S. to deploy second aircraft carrier to Middle East: The United States Navy will send the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln already operating in the Arabian Sea, according to the Associated Press, in a move sources tell the AP is calculated to increase pressure on Iran for a nuclear agreement. Trump has previously told Tehran that failure to reach a deal would be “very traumatic.” The Gerald R. Ford was previously part of the strike force that assembled off the coast of Venezuela. Israeli attacks hit southern Lebanon villages: Israeli forces launched a wave of drone, artillery, and machine-gun attacks across villages in southern Lebanon near the Blue Line on Thursday, killing one person near the coastal city of Tyre. Shelling and gunfire struck towns including Markaba, Maroun al-Ras, Yaroun, Alma al-Shaab, and Kfarshouba, while Israeli troops advanced into Odaisseh and Kfar Kila, demolishing homes. Israeli drones also hit equipment in Aita al-Shaab. Bangladesh Nationalist Party claims victory in first post-uprising election: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, claimed a sweeping victory in Bangladesh’s first election since a 2024 student uprising ousted longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and forced her into exile in India. The U.S., India, and Pakistan congratulated the BNP on the election victory, which brought the party back to power after 20 years. Rahman has pledged that his government will pursue democratic reforms aligned with the demands of the protesters. The Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, alleged irregularities after the results were announced, though the head of the party conceded defeat. Dubai’s DP World replaces chief amid scrutiny over Epstein ties: Sultan Sulayem, the chief of global logistics giant and port operator DP World, was replaced as head of the company following revelations of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The Dubai government’s statement on Friday did not mention Sulayem but announced that Essa Kazim had been named as chair of the company and Yuvraj Narayan as the chief executive—both positions that were held by Sulayem. Read Drop Site’s in-depth report on Sulayem’s history with Epstein here. Mexican aid ships arrive in Havana as U.S. tightens fuel pressure on Cuba: Two Mexican Navy vessels carrying humanitarian supplies docked this week in Havana, according to Al Jazeera, as the United States continues efforts to cut off fuel imports to Cuba. President Claudia Sheinbaum said that more assistance is on the way, and described Mexico’s role as “opening the doors for dialogue to develop” between the countries. Locals told reporters that they were grateful for the arrival of supplies. “Mexico hasn’t abandoned us,” a 65-year-old from Havana said. “Even with pressure from a global superpower, they weren’t afraid.” Cuba says no dialogue underway with United States: Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told Mexico’s newspaper La Jornada that there is “no high-level dialogue,” or even sustained mid-level talks, with the United States, confirming Drop Site’s recent reporting that negotiations with Cuba are not underway. He said Washington’s expanded fuel sanctions are deliberately designed to cripple electricity, transport, food production, water systems, and health care, warning the policy sets a dangerous precedent of economic coercion against sovereign states. Activists plan aid flotilla to Cuba to challenge tightened United States blockade: An international coalition of activists, trade unionists, and humanitarian groups says it will sail next month with food, medicine, and essential supplies to Cuba. The “Nuestra América Flotilla,” backed by figures including the UK’s Jeremy Corbyn and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, is explicitly modeled on past blockade-challenging missions, with organizer David Adler saying the goal is to “break the siege” and deliver life-saving aid to the Cuban people. Russia launches major missile and drone barrage into Ukraine: Russia fired more than 200 drones and dozens of ballistic missiles overnight Wednesday into cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa, leaving civilians injured and hundreds of thousands without heat or water, Ukrainian officials said Thursday, according to the AP. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv has agreed to attend another round of U.S.-brokered negotiations proposed for next week in Miami or Abu Dhabi, and accused Russia of hesitating as Moscow continues to escalate attacks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks were expected “soon” but gave no timeline, as disputes over occupied territory and security guarantees continue to block a broader agreement. Turkey says United States and Iran show flexibility on reviving nuclear deal: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Financial Times that both Washington and Iran are showing flexibility toward reviving a nuclear agreement, saying the United States appears willing to tolerate limited Iranian uranium enrichment under strict caps and inspections similar to the 2015 accord and that Tehran “genuinely wants” a deal. Fidan warned that expanding negotiations to cover Iran’s ballistic missile program or regional allies would likely stall progress and risk “another war,” as indirect talks resume following a first round in Oman, with a second expected but not yet scheduled. He also cautioned that potential United States strikes would be unlikely to trigger regime collapse, arguing that Iran’s leadership would remain a “functioning entity.” Turkey and Armenia move toward direct land trade via Georgia in normalization push: Turkey and Armenia have agreed to allow direct bilateral land trade through Georgia, ending a decades-old re-export system that routed goods through intermediaries, according to reporting in Al-Monitor. The step follows renewed normalization talks between the countries, and is expected to lower costs for traders while expanding commercial ties that exceeded $336 million in 2024. Ankara has accelerated its confidence-building measures with Yerevan, including increasing flights to and from the country and easing visa rules. The announcement also comes alongside broader United States-backed efforts to stabilize the South Caucasus, as exemplified in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan hosted by President Trump. Syrian forces take control of former U.S. al-Tanf base as American troops withdraw: Syrian government forces have assumed control of the al-Tanf base in eastern Syria following an orderly withdrawal by the United States Central Command, according to the AP. The U.S. military said the handover was coordinated and completed on Wednesday. The base, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq, had played a key role in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State, which was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019. CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper said U.S. forces remain positioned to respond to any resurgence of the group, though Washington has consolidated its remaining presence in Syria to around 900 troops, down from the 2,000 troops it posted in the wake of the October 7th attack. U.S. secretly sent thousands of Starlink terminals into Iran after protest crackdown: The administration of President Donald Trump covertly smuggled roughly 6,000 Starlink satellite-internet terminals into Iran after authorities violently suppressed nationwide protests in January and imposed sweeping internet blackouts, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The terminals—produced by SpaceX—were purchased by the State Department to help dissidents bypass censorship; to do this, funding for VPNs long used by Iranian dissidents was redirected. Imran Khan’s son says former prime minister losing vision after prolonged solitary confinement: Kasim Khan said his father, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, has lost most of the vision in his right eye—with only 15 percent remaining—after 922 days in solitary confinement. Kasim Khan blamed Pakistan’s ruling authorities and the army chief for his father’s condition, said family members are being denied visas to visit him, and called on international bodies to intervene. Pakistani authorities have not publicly responded to the allegations. U.S. military transfers ISIS detainees: U.S. Central Command announced that it has completed an operation transferring more than 5,700 adult male ISIS detainees from northeastern Syria to Iraqi custody with the final transfer flight taking place on February 12. The transfer comes amid loss of control of parts of the region by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces members who had administered prisons holding former ISIS members and their families. Zelensky visits joint German-Ukrainian drone factory: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the first joint German‑Ukrainian drone production facility in Germany in a ceremony that included receiving the first jointly produced AI‑equipped strike drone from the site. The facility is part of a broader program to expand joint defense production across Europe of drones and other military equipment as a means of indigenizing production and reducing reliance on U.S. weapons manufacturers for defense needs in the war with Russia. Drop Site on the Hill Send any congressional tips to Drop Site’s Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone via email at julian@dropsitenews.com or via Signal at julianandreone.2003 Sen. Mazie Hirono on Gaza: Julian asked Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) about Israel’s continued genocide in Gaza and consistent violations of the October 2025 ceasefire. She tried initially to stress the importance of affordability to Americans (and the potential cost of foreign entanglements), but said she supports “Israel’s right to defend itself.” She would not, however, answer a question about whether or not Israel’s behavior constitutes self-defense. “Not going there.” A video of their interaction is available here. Sen. Katie Britt on congressional stock trading: Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, disclosed a series of April stock trades months late, a violation of the STOCK Act. Drop Site correspondent Julian Andreone asked her about one standout purchase: JPMorgan stock, giving her a financial stake in the nation’s largest bank while serving on the committee tasked with regulating it. Between April 2025 and her January 2026 disclosure, the investment gained 27%. Sen. Britt first said, “I have not traded any stock,” then pivoted to say any proceeds from the trades were donated to charity. Their full interaction is here. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, also on congressional stock trading: Sen. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) told Drop Site correspondent Julian Andreone that no member of Congress should be trading individual stocks. “They shouldn’t buy them, they shouldn’t sell them, they shouldn’t hold them,” Warren said. “I’ve got a bill to do that.” Warren’s comments to Drop Site are available here. More from Drop Site Ryan Grim went on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” to discuss Epstein, particularly as it relates to our recent reporting on his ties with Israeli intelligence. His full appearance is available here. Programming note: You can sign up here to get updates from us on our WhatsApp channel. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment

Feb 13, 20269 votes

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U.S. to add thousands of troops in Middle East; Israel continues to batter Lebanon, Gaza; Four killed in yet another Pacific boat strike

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Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

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Pakistan and Afghanistan declare “open war”; Ellison’s Paramount poised to acquire Warner Bros for $111B; Mamdani to Trump: Let's Build

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