Iran war rages ahead of Trump’s “important update”; Houthis launch third attack on Israel; Lebanese army withdraws from border towns

Drop Site Daily: April 1, 2026

U.S.-Israeli attacks hit Iran. IRGC claims hundreds of attacks on Israel and Gulf. Houthis launch third attack on Israel. Drone strike hits fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport. Fires reported in Bahrain following missile strike. Oil tanker struck off Qatar coast. Drones strike BP subsidiary in Iraq. Debris kills Bangladeshi in UAE. UAE bars Iranian nationals from entering country. Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei praises Hezbollah. IRGC commander claims strike on U.S. personnel housing in Saudi Arabia. China and Pakistan propose five-point peace plan. WSJ: UAE willing to join Strait of Hormuz military operation. Israeli strikes hit Beirut, killing nine. Lebanese army withdraws from southern border towns. Israeli strikes kill three in Gaza. Israel to nix French defense imports. Israeli settlers attack West Bank village, injuring four. President Donald Trump signs executive order creating national voter list, restricting mail-in voting. Supreme Court strikes down Colorado conversion therapy ban. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commits to oppose all U.S. arms funding for Israel. Pentagon weighs deploying anti-drone laser system to defend War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. journalist kidnapped in Iraq. U.S. senators urge Taiwan not to be “naive” about China. MSF reports 3,300 sexual violence victims treated in Darfur in under two years. Sudanese army strikes kill RSF-aligned political figure in Nyala. Serbian students clash with police. Ukraine continues strikes on Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. Colombian army rescues six siblings who hid in rainforest to evade rebel capture. Gang violence continues in Haiti’s Artibonite region.

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Smoke rises after a drone attack struck fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City on April 01, 2026. Photo by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images.

War on Iran

• U.S.-Israeli attacks hit Iran:

  • U.S.-Israeli airstrikes hit several civilian neighborhoods in Tehran on Wednesday morning as well as in the nearby city of Malard, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. Among the targets struck in Tehran appears to be the former U.S. Embassy compound, according to AP. The embassy has been controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard since the 1979 hostage crisis.

  • On Tuesday, the Red Crescent said airstrikes hit multiple sites across Iran including the Mobarakeh Steel complex in Isfahan, Shahid Haghani Port in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf coast, a steel complex in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in western Iran, and meteorological facilities in Bushehr. A Red Crescent emergency worker was also reportedly killed on Tuesday morning in an airstrike on Zanjan.

• IRGC claims hundreds of attacks on Israel and Gulf: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran’s latest wave of attacks and its allied “resistance fronts” used more than 100 heavy missiles and attack drones, along with at least 200 rockets, according to IRIB. The IRGC claimed the attacks targeted various locations in Israel, a site hosting U.S. forces in Bahrain, and a U.S. helicopter unit at the al-Adiri base in Kuwait.

• Iran continues to hit sites in Israel: At least 25 people were wounded across 20 sites in Israel in attacks on Wednesday morning, according to Israeli media. A missile strike caused a four-story building south of Tel Aviv to partially collapse. Iran’s army also announced Tuesday that it launched drone attacks targeting what it believed to be Israeli military-linked industrial and communications facilities near Ben Gurion Airport and in Haifa, according to Fars News Agency. The army claimed the sites were affiliated with Siemens and AT&T, both of which, it claimed, support Israeli weapons production, artificial intelligence systems, and military communications infrastructure.

• Houthis launch third attack on Israel: The Houthis said in a televised statement on Wednesday that they fired ballistic missiles at “sensitive targets” in southern Israel. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said in the statement that Israel’s “aggression, crimes and attacks on Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Palestine will only push us towards further military escalation.”

• Drone strike hits fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport: A drone attack struck fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport on Tuesday, sparking a large fire at facilities belonging to the Kuwait Aviation Fuel Supply Company, according to the country’s state news agency KUNA. Emergency crews moved to contain the blaze, with thick smoke reported at the scene. No injuries were immediately reported, though material damage was confirmed. KUNA said the attack may have been carried out by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

• Fires reported in Bahrain following missile strike: Bahrain’s interior ministry said on Tuesday that it is working to extinguish a fire at a business facility following what it described as an Iranian attack, with images online showing thick black smoke rising over multiple sites in the Hamala area of western Bahrain. Unverified claims from open-source trackers suggest the strike may have hit infrastructure linked to Batelco, Bahrain’s main telecommunications provider and the host of AWS cloud operations in the country.

• Tanker struck off Qatar coast: An oil tanker leased to QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian missile off the coast of Qatar early Wednesday, according to the Qatari Ministry of Defense, which added that it intercepted two other missiles.

• Drones strike BP subsidiary in Iraq: Multiple drones attacked a fuel warehouse in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Wednesday, according to the AP. The attack started a massive fire that sent a column of black smoke into the air. The facility is owned by Castrol, a subsidiary of BP.

• Debris kills Bangladeshi in UAE: Debris from an intercepted drone killed a citizen of Bangladesh in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, on Wednesday, according to authorities. The fatality brings the death toll in the UAE to nine civilians and two soldiers since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.

• UAE bars Iranian nationals from entering country: Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Flydubai issued travel advisories Tuesday barring Iranian nationals from entering or transiting through the United Arab Emirates, with exceptions made for certain individuals, including holders of a UAE Golden Visa. Over 1,200 Iranians living in Dubai have returned to Iran since the war started, according to the Tasnim news agency. With direct flights to Iran closed, the returnees have flown via Afghanistan and Armenia.

• Mojtaba Khamenei praises Hezbollah: Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei sent a message of gratitude to Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem on Wednesday. In a statement read on air by a state television anchor, Khamenei also vowed to continue “to support the resistance against the Zionist-American enemy.”

• IRGC commander claims strike on U.S. personnel housing in Saudi Arabia: IRGC Air Force commander Seyed Majid Moosavi claimed on Tuesday that Iranian forces struck a residence housing American pilots and aircrew in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Moosavi said the attack caused multiple casualties and injuries among United States personnel, though the U.S. has yet to confirm either the casualties or the attack. Footage circulating online on Tuesday does appear to show an Iranian ballistic missile striking near a U.S. base in the Middle East, though the exact date and location of this video have not been verified.

• China and Pakistan propose five-point peace plan: China and Pakistan on Tuesday jointly issued a five-point plan aimed at ending the conflict in the Gulf. The plan, a result of a one-day meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, calls for an immediate ceasefire, the launch of peace talks, protections for civilians, secure shipping in the Gulf, and a “comprehensive peace framework” under international law.

• Syrian president says Damascus will stay out of Iran war: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said at a Chatham House event on Tuesday that Syria will not involve itself in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. “As long as Syria is not targeted by any party, it will remain outside any conflict,” Al-Sharaa said, adding that Damascus has had no official ties with Iran since the war began. Al-Sharaa did, however, note the risk of spillover from fighting in neighboring Lebanon and stressed the need to secure Syria’s borders against weapons smuggling.

• Aragchi confirms messages sent from Witkoff: Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview on Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he receives messages from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. “I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he said. “We do not have any faith that negotiations with the U.S. will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”

• Trump says U.S. achieved regime change in Iran, expects to leave in weeks: President Donald Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he expects the United States to withdraw from the war in Iran within two to three weeks, declaring that Washington has achieved regime change and eliminated the Iranian nuclear threat. He said a diplomatic deal between the countries is “irrelevant” to the timeline of American withdrawal, which he predicted could happen in “two to three weeks.” In similar remarks, Trump told NBC News during a phone interview on Tuesday that the United States military campaign against Iran is “coming to an end,” claiming on day 32 of the conflict that American strikes have “decimated” the Iranian military and that the U.S. is “way ahead of schedule” in its objectives. The White House announced President Donald Trump will provide “an important update on Iran” on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

• Thousands of additional U.S. troops, carrier strike group deploy to Middle East: The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush departed Tuesday for the Middle East, accompanied by three destroyers and more than 6,000 sailors, as thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division also began arriving in the region, the Associated Press reports. The Trump administration has not disclosed what role those troops will play, though the 82nd Airborne specializes in parachuting into hostile or contested territory to seize key ground and airfields. Describing the deployment, Pete Hegseth said, “Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are.”

• WSJ: UAE willing to join Strait of Hormuz military operation: The United Arab Emirates is preparing to support a U.S.-led coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force, lobbying for a UN Security Council resolution to authorize military action and potentially becoming the first Gulf state directly involved in combat since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Arab officials told the Wall Street Journal. Emirati officials say they are ready to assist with operations such as mine-clearing and have even proposed U.S. occupation of strategic islands. While Bahrain is sponsoring the resolution, Gulf states have so far supported the war against Iran without committing troops. Gulf countries fear a diplomatic resolution would give Iran a formal say over the Strait, the officials said. Following the report, an Emirati official said the country maintains a “defensive posture” and “remains ready to support collective international efforts aimed at safeguarding maritime security.”

• Argentina designates IRGC a “terrorist organization”: Argentina designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization on Tuesday, enabling the country to levy financial sanctions and other operational restrictions on the group, its presidential office said. Argentina also designated Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a terrorist organization earlier in the week.

Lebanon

• Israeli strikes hit Beirut, killing nine: A pair of Israeli strikes hit vehicles in two locations in the Beirut area, killing at least nine people and wounding 24, according to a Wednesday statement from Lebanon’s health ministry. One strike in the Khaldeh area south of Beirut killed two and wounded three; a second in the Jnah district killed seven and wounded 26. Israel’s military claimed both strikes targeted senior Hezbollah commanders but did not identify them or confirm whether they were killed.

• Casualty count: At least 21 people were killed and 70 wounded in Lebanon on Tuesday, according to the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, bringing the cumulative toll since the start of Israel’s war and invasion to 1,268 killed and 3,750 wounded. The dead include 125 children and 88 women. The country’s health system has sustained severe damage across the conflict: 52 healthcare workers have been killed and 128 wounded, 52 ambulances struck, 19 medical centers damaged, and five hospitals forced out of service.

• Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon kill at least 9: Israeli air raids, artillery, and drone strikes hit multiple towns across southern Lebanon Tuesday evening, killing at least nine people, according to Al Jazeera and L’Orient Today. Five were killed in Najjariyah near the coastal city of Sidon, including two women, in a strike on a house; three were killed and at least 19 were wounded in Srifa near Tyre; and one was killed in Arab Salim, inland from Tyre. Israeli strikes also hit towns across Nabatieh province, including Jibsheet, Aita al-Jabal, and Harouf, while artillery shelled border towns, including Kfar Tibnit, Zawtar, and Naqoura.

• Lebanese army withdraws from southern border towns: The Lebanese military said its forces have largely withdrawn from border towns in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops invade the area. In a statement, the army said troops had to reposition as they were being encircled and cut off from their supply lines. Lebanese citizens remain in the towns however. Israel has declared it will invade and occupy southern Lebanon up until the Litani River and residents will not be able to return until further notice. Over 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced over the past month.

• Rockets, drone launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel: Around 50 rockets and a drone were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel within the span of an hour, Israeli Channel 12 reported on Tuesday.

The Gaza Genocide, Israel, and the West Bank

• Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, four Palestinians were killed and 12 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,289 killed, with 172,040 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 713 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,940, while 756 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

• Israeli strikes kill three in Gaza: Two Palestinians, a father and his child, Mahmoud and Yahya al-Byok, were killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to WAFA. A separate strike in Mawasi Rafah killed one and wounded eight others.

• Israel to nix French defense imports: Israel’s Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that it would reduce defense imports from France to zero, in retaliation for what it described as hostile French policies during the Iran war. “France has taken a series of actions that have harmed Israel’s security and the operational capabilities of its defense industry,” the statement said, which a spokesperson later clarified included the French recognition of a Palestinian state and its ban on Israeli aircraft carrying munitions through French airspace. Israeli procurement of French weapons totaled approximately $260 million between 2015 and 2024, according to the AFP.

• Israeli settlers attack West Bank village, injuring four: Israeli settlers launched an attack on the occupied West Bank village of Tayasir on Tuesday, injuring at least four Palestinians and setting homes, vehicles, and farm structures on fire, according to CNN. Witnesses said Israeli soldiers blocked ambulances and firefighters from accessing the area while allowing the assault to continue. The attack follows an earlier settler raid on the same village in which Israeli soldiers detained and assaulted a CNN crew. Despite limited disciplinary action against soldiers, no arrests have been made over either incident.

• Outgoing UNRWA chief calls for investigation into killing of nearly 400 agency staff: Philippe Lazzarini, outgoing commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), called on Tuesday for a “high-level panel of experts” to investigate the killing of more than 390 UNRWA staff members since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Lazzarini said many others had sustained life-changing injuries or been arbitrarily detained and tortured, and called for the inquiry to extend to the deaths of other United Nations personnel and the large-scale destruction of UN premises in Gaza. “The more time” before an investigation is started, he said, “the more difficult the task for the commission will be in the future.” Lazzarini said he had raised the matter with the office of Secretary-General António Guterres and with several UN member states.

• Protests in the West Bank and Gaza, amid widespread condemnation of death penalty law: Protests took place Wednesday in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian demonstrators marched through the city rejecting Israel’s newly approved death penalty law targeting Palestinian prisoners, with calls for international intervention and a general strike declared across the northern West Bank, reported WAFA. A protest was also held outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza, with families of Palestinian prisoners present. The law has drawn widespread international condemnation, with UN High Commissioner Volker Türk calling it “deeply discriminatory” and a violation of international law, while a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General said it is “particularly cruel and discriminatory” and reaffirmed opposition to the death penalty in all forms. The European Union also described the legislation as a “grave regression” and raised concerns over its discriminatory nature, urging Israel to rescind it.

United States

By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.

• Trump signs executive order creating national voter list, restricting mail-in voting: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to create a national list of verified eligible voters and seeking to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on state-approved lists. Voting law experts say the move unconstitutionally usurps states’ authority to run elections. Federal funding could be withheld from states that do not comply.

• Supreme Court strikes down Colorado conversion therapy ban: The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors, with an 8-1 majority finding the measure violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court and joined by liberal justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint” and sent the case back to a lower court for further review. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, warning the decision “opens a dangerous can of worms” that threatens states’ ability to regulate medical care. The ruling is expected to render similar laws in roughly two dozen other states unenforceable.

• Trump to attend Supreme Court arguments on birthright citizenship: Trump plans to attend Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments over his executive order limiting birthright citizenship, which would make him the first sitting president to do so. The order, signed on the first day of Trump’s second term, declares that children born to non-citizen parents who are in the United States temporarily or without authorization are not American citizens.

• AOC commits to oppose all U.S. arms funding for Israel: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday she would vote against “any spending on arms for Israel, including so-called defensive capabilities” at a candidate forum for the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America. “There are a lot of organizations with which I may have a more transactional political relationship. I do not seek a transactional relationship with DSA,” she said. “I seek a relationship of mutuality and shared interest.” The remarks were reported by City & State NY’s Peter Sterne, full article here.

• Pentagon weighs deploying anti-drone laser system to defend Hegseth and Rubio: The Pentagon is considering using the Army’s LOCUST anti-drone laser system near Fort Lesley J. McNair in southwest Washington, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reside, the New York Times reports, following reports of unusual drone activity over the installation. The potential deployment is complicated by an ongoing dispute between the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department over the laser’s safety risks, especially in congested airspace—a dispute that came to a head last month when the laser fired near El Paso prompted the FAA to shut down the city’s airspace.

• Trump administration planning international summit to counter “antifa”: The Trump administration is organizing an international summit, tentatively scheduled for June or July, to convene officials from multiple nations to share intelligence and coordinate strategies against “antifa” (which is not an organization) and related left-wing groups, Reuters reports.

• Private equity’s “continuation fund” crisis: Private equity firms are increasingly selling companies to themselves through “continuation funds,” which allow fund managers to transfer aging investments into newer investment structures. A lawsuit by Abu Dhabi’s $330 billion sovereign wealth fund against Houston firm Energy & Minerals Group offers a rare window into the practice; the suit alleges the firm presented contradictory valuations to existing and prospective investors in the sale of a natural gas company. That case, and the private equity crisis at large, are discussed in the latest from David Dayen and Moe Tkacik at The American Prospect, here.

Other International News

• U.S. journalist kidnapped in Iraq: Iraq’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday that a foreign journalist was kidnapped by unknown assailants, with the victim later being identified as award-winning freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson, who covers Iraq and the broader Middle East for Al-Monitor, Foreign Policy, BBC World Service, and Politico. Security forces pursued the kidnappers as they fled, causing one of their vehicles to overturn and resulting in the arrest of one suspect. In an online post, Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said the State Department was aware of the kidnapping, adding, “The State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them and we will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible.”

• U.S. senators urge Taiwan not to be “naive” about China: A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation visiting Taipei on Tuesday pressed Taiwan to move forward on President Lai Ching-te’s proposed $40 billion defense spending increase, which has stalled in a Taiwanese parliament controlled by Ching-te’s opposition. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) warned that Taiwan should heed the example of Hong Kong, where China’s “intentions…were made very, very clear.” “Please don’t be naive,” King said. The visit coincides with an invitation from China to Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, to visit Beijing next week.

• Thousands held in overcrowded RSF prison in South Darfur: Around 13,000 people are being held at the Rapid Support Forces-operated Diqris prison near Nyala in South Darfur, according to the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, well over three times the facility’s capacity. Reports indicate detainees have died from disease and poor conditions at the site, which remains heavily guarded and largely inaccessible to independent monitors.

• MSF reports 3,300 sexual violence victims treated in Darfur in under two years: Médecins Sans Frontières said Tuesday it treated 3,396 survivors of sexual violence at facilities in Sudan’s North and South Darfur states between January 2024 and November 2025, identifying Rapid Support Forces fighters and allied militias as the primary responsible party for the widespread and systemic abuse. Women and girls accounted for 97% of victims, and one in five survivors in South Darfur were under 18, including 41 children under the age of five.

• ​​Sudanese army strikes kill RSF-aligned political figure in Nyala: A senior member of the Sudan Founding Coalition, the RSF-aligned political body that forms the basis of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo’s parallel government in Nyala, was killed Tuesday during Sudanese army drone strikes on the South Darfur capital. Local sources identified the victim as Osama Hassan, a prominent young coalition leader. The strikes hit multiple areas of the city including the Cinema neighborhood, areas near the Specialized Hospital, and a Starlink internet cafe where several people were injured, marking the second consecutive day of aerial bombardment of Nyala.

• Serbian students clash with police: Hundreds of students clashed with police in Belgrade on Tuesday after officers searched University of Belgrade offices, seizing computers and finding firecrackers, gas masks, and other materials. The police allegedly operated under a court order linked to the death of a 25-year-old female student who fell from a faculty building window last Friday. Antigovernment protests have been a feature of life in Serbia since the winter of 2024, when a train accident catalyzed opposition to President Aleksandar Vucic, who has been accused by his opponents of corruption, ties to organized crime, and stifling press freedom.

• Argentina detains Gaza aid activist at Buenos Aires airport: Brazilian humanitarian activist Thiago Ávila, known for co-leading Gaza aid flotillas alongside climate activist Greta Thunberg under the Global Sumud Flotilla, was detained Tuesday at Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque airport and separated from his wife and child. Ávila had previously been detained by Israel during each of his last two missions to Gaza.

• Ukraine continues strikes on Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga: Ukrainian drones struck the Transneft crude oil loading terminal at Ust-Luga on Russia’s Baltic coast for the fifth time in ten days on Tuesday, with industry sources telling Reuters the attack hit oil export facilities at the port, which typically handles around 700,000 barrels of crude per day. At least 40% of Russia’s total oil export capacity has been halted through a combination of drone strikes, a disputed pipeline strike, and tanker seizures, according to Reuters calculations.

• Fire at Russian petrochemicals plant kills three, injures dozens: A gas explosion and fire at the Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemicals complex in Russia’s Tatarstan region killed at least three people—two employees and a firefighter—and injured 68 on Tuesday, with 21 remaining hospitalized. Owner Sibur said a gas mixture exploded following a loss of pressure at a facility producing synthetic rubber and plastics, with the cause of the ignition still unclear.

• Colombian army rescues six siblings who hid in rainforest to evade rebel capture: Colombia’s army rescued five children and their adult sister Tuesday after they spent three days hiding in a rainforest in the southwestern province of Caquetá to avoid capture by a rebel group that had kidnapped their parents, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said. The group responsible is led by Alexander Díaz, known as Calarca, a former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia commander who refused to join the 2016 peace deal and now leads a militia faction currently in peace talks with President Gustavo Petro’s government.

• Gang violence continues in Haiti’s Artibonite region: Armed men from the Gran Grif gang and its ally Kokorat San Ras repositioned Tuesday in the town of Pont Benoit and attempted a new offensive on Marchand Dessalines, days after a weekend assault on Jean-Denis in Haiti’s Artibonite region left approximately 70 dead. Also on Tuesday, Haiti’s prime minister met with a UN delegation to discuss expanding the partially deployed international security mission, which has been hampered by shortages of equipment, troops, and funding.

• Video: A doctor describes the severe constraints on healthcare imposed by the U.S. blockade on Cuba, using the particularly harrowing case of a 6-year-old undergoing urological surgery. Watch the full video, from Liz Oliva Fernández here.

More from Drop Site

• Israel’s football violations against Palestinians have been “normalized” by FIFA and UEFA, sparking legal cases and an ICC complaint: The world’s leading football governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, are confronting a growing backlash over their handling of Israeli football, including a February filing before the International Criminal Court accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin of aiding and abetting war crimes by permitting Israeli settlement-based clubs in the occupied West Bank to compete in their competitions. Last week, FIFA declined to sanction the Israeli Football Association over the matter, citing the West Bank’s legal status as unresolved.” “In this decision, FIFA ignored 59 years of UN resolutions and settled international legal doctrine regarding the status of the West Bank as being nothing but Palestinian land that Israel occupies,” Iranian football journalist Nima Roodsari told Drop Site News. Read more about the crisis in football and the relationship of international sports bodies to Palestine in the latest from Drop Site contributor Abubaker Abed, available here.

• Report from Komala camp in Iraqi Kurdistan: Drop Site contributor Alexis Daloumis visited a camp of Komala, an Iranian Kurdish Marxist group banned and designated a terrorist organization by Tehran, in Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday, capturing new footage from inside the base. The group, led by Ibrahim Alizade and based near Sulaymaniyah, has faced growing pressure in recent months as Iraqi authorities push Kurdish opposition factions to relocate under security agreements with Iran, and its members have repeatedly been targeted in Iranian strikes. An interview with Komala’s leadership will be published by Drop Site soon.

• LIVESTREAM: Trump, Hegseth: Open Your Own Strait of Hormuz | Ep. 52

Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain discuss Trump and Hegseth, the Strait of Hormuz, recent events in Bahrain, and the Cuban blockade, recently broken by Russia.

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