Israel claims killing of IRGC naval commander; Hezbollah mounts heavy resistance in Lebanon; U.S. conditions Ukraine security on ceding Donbas

Drop Site Daily: March 26, 2026

U.S.-Israeli attacks continue in Iran. Israel says Iranian naval commander killed in strike. Thousands of American troops forced off U.S. bases by Iran attacks. Iran’s IRGC claims it shot down U.S. F/A-18 over Chabahar. Iran strikes chemical complex in Negev linked to white phosphorus production. Pakistan confirms role in relaying messages from U.S. to Iran. Trump insists Iran interested in talks. Iran’s foreign minister says no negotiations taking place. Hezbollah claims record day of attacks. Iran pushes to include Lebanon in any deal to end war with the U.S. Israel has not prosecuted a single killing of a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank since 2020. Gaza electricity costs soar tenfold. Palestinian killed, eight wounded by IDF gunfire in South Hebron. Jeffries, Meeks face backlash over delay on war powers vote. Top Republican slams Pentagon for leaving Congress in the dark on Iran war plans. Graham Platner blowing out Janet Mills in new Maine Senate poll, beating Susan Collins by 7. TSA warns of historic wait times as DHS shutdown drains staff and cripples airport security. ICE admits it lied for over a year about legal authority to arrest immigrants at courthouses. U.S. kills four more in 47th maritime strike; total death toll reaches roughly 163. Ukraine has knocked out 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity. U.S. conditioning security guarantees on Ukraine ceding all of Donbas to Russia, Zelenskyy says. RSF and allied forces capture strategic border town of Kurmuk in Sudan’s Blue Nile region. Rwanda-backed rebels in Congo detain journalists in shipping containers, advocacy group says. UN General Assembly declares transatlantic slave trade a “gravest crime against humanity.”

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Video released by Hezbollah, claiming to show the targeting of an armored personnel carrier and an Israeli tank in Taybeh’s town square in southern Lebanon. March 25, 2026.

War on Iran

• U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran continue: Heavy U.S.-Israeli airstrikes continued in Iran on Thursday with strikes on Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashad, according to the AP. At least 1,937 people have been killed in Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera. He said 240 of the dead were women and 212 were children. At least 24,800 people have been injured.

• Israel says Iranian naval commander killed in strike: Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said the Iranian naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Alireza Tangsiri, was killed along with other “senior officers of the naval command” in a strike overnight. Iran has not yet confirmed Tangsiri’s killing. “The IDF eliminated the commander of the IRGC Navy, the person directly responsible for the terror operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic,” Katz said during a briefing with military officials on Thursday.

• Thousands of American troops forced off U.S. bases by Iran attacks: Iran’s bombing of U.S. bases in the Middle East in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war has forced many American troops to relocate to hotels and office spaces throughout the region, according to The New York Times. “Many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable, with the ones in Kuwait, which is next door to Iran, suffering perhaps the most damage,” the Times wrote. “There were close to 40,000 U.S. troops in the region when the war started, and Central Command has dispersed thousands of them, some to as far away as Europe, American military officials said. But many have remained in the Middle East, although not on their original bases...The result, according to current and former military officials, is a war that is much harder to prosecute.” Iranian officials have accused the U.S. military of using civilians as human shields by putting American military personnel in hotels. “We are forced to identify and target the Americans,” the IRGC said according to the Tasnim news agency. “Therefore, it is better not to shelter them in hotels and to stay away from their locations.”

• Iran’s IRGC claims it shot down U.S. F/A-18 over Chabahar: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed Tuesday evening it downed a U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jet over Chabahar, a port city on Iran’s southeastern coast near the Pakistani border, using a new air defense system, with the aircraft—valued between $66 million and $75 million—reportedly crashing into the Indian Ocean. The IRGC described Tuesday’s incident as “the fourth successful hunt” for U.S. or Israeli fighter jets since the war began. U.S. Central Command denied the claim on X.

• CENTCOM: U.S. has struck more than 10,000 targets in Iran: CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said Wednesday that American forces have struck more than 10,000 targets across Iran since the war began on February 28, including naval assets and missile sites. Cooper claimed 92 percent of Iran’s largest naval vessels have been destroyed and are “not sailing” and said the U.S. has “significantly” degraded Iran’s naval drone and missile capabilities while removing the regime’s ability to rebuild them.

• Two killed in UAE: Two people were killed by falling shrapnel from a missile interception over Abu Dhabi, according to authorities in the UAE.

• Jordan suspends residency of Iranian diplomat: Jordan suspended the residency of an Iranian diplomat and denied accreditation to another, the foreign minister told state-owned TV on Thursday, in what he said was a message to Iran. Both Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have declared Iranian diplomats personae non gratae in recent days.

• Gulf states activate air defenses amid incoming Iranian fire:

  • Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates moved to intercept incoming Iranian projectiles early Thursday, the Associated Press reported. Bahraini authorities said they were working to extinguish a fire at a site in Muharraq—home to the country’s international airport.

  • On Wednesday, Iran launched a missile strike on Israel’s largest power plant in Hadera, a coastal city in northern Israel roughly halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, with the missile striking a short distance from its target.

• Iran strikes chemical complex in Negev linked to white phosphorus production: An Iranian ballistic missile struck the state-owned ICL Rotem chemical complex in Israel’s Negev on Wednesday, causing a large blast and fire at the facility, according to reports and geolocated footage. The site, located near Dimona, is part of Israel’s largest chemicals company and is linked to phosphate extraction used in white phosphorus production, which Israel has used illegally in both Gaza and southern Lebanon.

• Pakistan confirms role in relaying messages from U.S. to Iran: Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar confirmed on Thursday that Pakistan has been relaying messages between the U.S. and Iran. “There has been unnecessary speculation in the media regarding peace talks to end ongoing conflict in the Middle East. In reality, US-Iran indirect talks are taking place through messages being relayed by Pakistan. In this context, the United States has shared 15 points, being deliberated upon by Iran,” Dar wrote in a post on X. “Brotherly countries of Turkiye and Egypt, among others, are also extending their support to this initiative.”

• Trump insists Iran interested in talks: U.S. President Donald Trump again insisted Iran is interested in a deal after Tehran dismissed the claims. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said, “The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!! They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”

• Iran’s foreign minister says no negotiations taking place: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flatly contradicted Trump’s claims of active diplomacy between the countries in a state television interview Wednesday. “No negotiations have happened with the enemy until now, and we do not plan on any negotiations,” Araghchi said. He added the U.S. tried to send messages to Iran through other nations, “but that is not a conversation nor a negotiation.” Araghchi said Iran has selectively allowed passage through the Strait of Hormuz only to countries it considers friends—naming China, Russia, India, Iraq, and Pakistan—and that there is “no reason” to extend that access to enemies.

• Iran fortifies Kharg Island as U.S. weighs ground operation: Iran is reinforcing defenses on Kharg Island—which handles roughly 90 percent of the country’s crude exports—including laying mines and deploying additional air defenses and forces, CNN reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with U.S. intelligence. The Trump administration is weighing a ground operation to seize the island as leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, while U.S. officials, military planners, and regional sources warn of significant casualty risks. A senior Gulf official told CNN that Gulf allies are actively urging Washington against deploying ground forces, cautioning that such a move could trigger Iranian retaliation against regional infrastructure.

• Iran’s parliament moves toward formalizing tolls in Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s parliament is pursuing legislation to assert formal sovereignty and control over the Strait of Hormuz and charge tolls to vessels transiting it, according to Fars News Agency. “This is entirely natural, just as goods pay transit fees when passing through other corridors, the Strait of Hormuz is also a corridor,” lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi was quoted as saying. “We provide its security, and it is natural that ships and oil tankers should pay such fees.” The shipping analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence published a report claiming Iran is already charging fees and is running “de facto ‘toll booth’ regime” for passage through the strait.

• UAE envoy calls for “conclusive outcome” beyond ceasefire with Iran: UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba wrote in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that a simple ceasefire with Iran is insufficient and that any resolution must address Tehran’s “full range of threats.” Al Otaiba announced the UAE would join international efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and keep it open, reaffirmed the country’s $1.4 trillion investment commitment in the U.S., and claimed Iran has launched more than 2,180 missiles and drones at the UAE since the war began, with over 95 percent intercepted. The op-ed marks a significant public signal of UAE alignment with Washington’s war aims at a moment when both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are reportedly weighing whether to formally join U.S. military operations against Iran.

• UN Security Council split over resolution to authorize force in Strait of Hormuz: Bahrain has put forward a draft UN Security Council resolution calling on countries to use “all necessary means” to keep the Strait of Hormuz open—including military action to “repress, neutralize and deter” attempts to obstruct international navigation—but the proposal is facing significant resistance, according to three council diplomats who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The draft, placed under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter which authorizes measures up to the use of force, is being reworked after multiple countries raised concerns; China and Russia, both veto-wielding members, are among those opposed to the current text. France separately introduced a competing resolution Monday that makes no mention of Iran, carries no Chapter Seven authorization, and instead urges all parties to de-escalate and return to diplomacy. Neither draft is expected to come to a vote this week.

• Trump is receiving curated, daily “highlight reel” of Iran war strikes: Each day since the war on Iran began, U.S. military officials compile a roughly two-minute video of the biggest U.S. strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours for President Donald Trump—a montage one official described as “stuff blowing up”—but the briefing format is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s own allies that he is not absorbing the full picture of the conflict, three current and one former U.S. official told NBC News. The concerns echo a pattern from previous wars: former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent said recently that “key decision-makers were not allowed to come express their opinion to the president” and that “there wasn’t a robust debate.”

Lebanon

• Casualty count: The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 1,094—with 3,119 wounded—since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

• Attacks on Lebanon continue:

  • Israeli artillery fired phosphorus shells targeting several villages Thursday, including Deir Siryan, Al-Qantara, Al-Taybeh, Zawtar, Froun, Al-Ghandourieh, and Burj Qallawiya, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

  • At least five people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon overnight and early Thursday. Two were killed when an airstrike hit a residential and commercial building in the Al-Ma‘aqil neighborhood of Kfarreman, completely destroying it, while another strike on the Saf al-Hawa area in Bint Jbeil killed three people.

  • Three people were killed and four others wounded in an Israeli airstrike Wednesday on the town of Kounin in southern Lebanon in the Bint Jbeil district near the Israeli border, according to Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry.

  • A separate airstrike in Touline, in the Marjayoun district, wounded seven people, the ministry said.

  • The Health Ministry also reported that two people were killed and eight wounded in another strike on the town of Harouf, in the Nabatieh district.

  • In light of Israel’s war on the country’s first responders—with at least 42 killed—Lebanese health workers in Nabatieh have begun to deliberately delay their arrival at emergency scenes to avoid Israeli “double-tap” strikes, according to Sky News foreign correspondent Alex Crawford.

• Hezbollah claims record day of attacks: Hezbollah reported on Wednesday that it carried out 87 operations against Israeli forces, its highest single-day total since the war began. An Israeli soldier, of the Golani Brigade, was killed during an exchange of fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon overnight, the IDF announced. He is the third IDF soldier to be killed in clashes with the Lebanese resistance. Among the operations Hezbollah announced on Wednesday were:

  • Rocket fire targeting Israeli positions in Dhaira and Yarin, both along Lebanon’s western border sector, and the Blat site, a recently established Israeli military position near the frontier;

  • Clashes with Israeli armored forces advancing from Taybeh toward Qantara, another nearby village in the Marjayoun district;

  • Strikes in Nahariya, a coastal city in northern Israel, and Beit Hillel, near Kiryat Shmona in the Upper Galilee, and

  • The launch of nine rockets targeting central Israel, with reports of one direct impact in Tel Aviv.

  • Lebanese journalist Fatima Ftouni reported that Hezbollah fighters destroyed four Israeli Merkava tanks and a D9 bulldozer in the Taybeh clashes. Since the beginning of the war on March 2, Hezbollah has fired more than 3,500 rockets, artillery shells, and drones towards Israeli positions.

• Iran pushes to include Lebanon in any deal to end war with the U.S.: Iran has told mediators that any agreement with the U.S. and Israel must also halt Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, six regional sources told Reuters on Wednesday. “Iran is prioritizing Lebanon—it will not accept Israeli violations in Lebanon like what happened after the 2024 ceasefire,” one source said.

The Gaza Genocide, Israel, and the West Bank

• Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed—one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks and another in new strikes—and 17 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,267 killed, with 171,976 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 691 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,876, while 756 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

• Israel has not prosecuted a single killing of a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank since 2020: No Israeli soldier, police officer, or settler has been charged for killing a Palestinian civilian in the occupied West Bank since the start of this decade, a Guardian review of legal data and public records shows. At least 1,100 Palestinian civilians have been killed there since 2020—more than a quarter of them children, according to UN data—with legal rights group Yesh Din finding that out of 1,746 complaints filed against Israeli soldiers, including over 600 related to killings, less than 1% resulted in charges, and only eight of 368 settler violence cases ended in any conviction.

• Hamas appeal against UK proscription set to begin Thursday: Hamas’s legal challenge to Britain’s ban on the organization is scheduled to be heard at the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission in London on Thursday, more than seven months after the appeal was first lodged, Middle East Monitor reported. Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas’ International Relations and Legal Office, is expected to appear by video link; his April 2025 filing argued Hamas poses no threat to Britain and has not conducted operations outside historic Palestine. Britain banned Hamas’s military wing in 2001, with then-Home Secretary Priti Patel extending the prohibition to its political wing in 2021. Additional background on this case from Drop Site is available here.

• Gaza electricity costs soar tenfold: Palestinians in Gaza are paying between 20 and 30 shekels per kilowatt-hour for generator electricity—nearly ten times the pre-war rate of 2.5 shekels—as Israel has allowed only 14.7% of the fuel shipments required under the ceasefire’s humanitarian protocol, Al Jazeera reports. Of the 8,050 fuel trucks expected since the ceasefire began, Israeli authorities have permitted just 1,190 to enter; cooking gas reaches households only every 45 to 100 days, compared with every 25 days before the war.

• Palestinian killed, eight wounded by IDF gunfire in South Hebron: A 31-year-old Palestinian was killed and eight others wounded Wednesday after Israeli troops, together with settlers, pursued Palestinian vehicles in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron area of the occupied West Bank and opened fire, according to WAFA. No further details about the circumstances of the incident were provided, and the IDF had not issued a response at time of reporting.

• At least 11 Palestinian families forced out of homes in East Jerusalem: Eleven Palestinian families were forcibly displaced from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan, south of Jerusalem’s Old City, according to Al Jazeera. The Norwegian Refugee Council said the homes are expected to be transferred to the settler group Ateret Cohanim after Israel’s Supreme Court rejected appeals earlier this year. Rights group Ir Amim described a “sharp escalation in evictions,” citing a 1970 law that grants Jews property reclamation rights while denying Palestinians the same. B’Tselem warned of “imminent” displacement for at least 2,200 more residents, while one Palestinian resident said his family was being expelled again after 1948, having built their home “stone by stone.”

• VW in talks to convert German car factory into Iron Dome missile defense plant: Volkswagen is in discussions with Israel’s state-owned Rafael Advanced Defence Systems to repurpose its Osnabrück plant in Lower Saxony from car manufacturing to producing components for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the talks. The factory, slated to cease vehicle production next year, would manufacture the heavy-duty trucks, launchers, and power generators that carry the system—though not the interceptor missiles themselves—with the German government backing the proposal and production potentially beginning within 12 to 18 months, pending worker approval.

United States

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

• Jeffries, Meeks face backlash over delay on war powers vote: House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Greg Meeks, both of New York, are facing sharp criticism from progressive allies after postponing a War Powers Resolution vote to limit President Donald Trump’s authority in Iran until mid-April, despite indications the measure now commands enough support to pass. Meeks may in fact be pulling back precisely because the resolution has the votes, as some Democrats are reluctant to end a war they view as a political liability for Trump. Ryan Grim’s segment on the WPR for Breaking Points is here.

• Graham Platner blowing out Janet Mills in new Maine Senate poll, beating Susan Collins by 7: In the wake of negative ads launched by Gov. Janet Mills against her oysterman opponent for Senate, Platner has only grown his lead. Mills is out with a new attack ad, but the poll showing Platner with a significant lead over Collins undercuts Mills’ electability argument. Platner holds his 50th town hall today—a trivia night—in Kittery, Maine.

• Top Republican slams Pentagon for leaving Congress in the dark on Iran war plans: House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) denounced Pentagon officials after a classified briefing on Operation Epic Fury failed to answer basic questions about troop deployments and strategic planning, saying “we just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any answers.” Senate Armed Services chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) echoed the frustration, telling reporters “I can see why he might have said that” without elaborating. Rogers warned the administration directly that congressional support for the nearly month-old war is not unconditional: “This has consequences if you don’t remedy it.” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted on X after the briefing: “I will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing.” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) said he hoped the deployments were posturing to strengthen Trump’s negotiating hand rather than a prelude to invasion. “We certainly do not want to get embroiled in another forever war,” Mackenzie told Politico.

• TSA warns of historic wait times as DHS shutdown drains staff and cripples airport security: Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers Wednesday that airport security is experiencing “the highest wait times in TSA history,” with some passengers waiting more than 4.5 hours, as a roughly 40-day Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown that began February 14 has cost the agency more than 480 transportation security officers. At some major airports, between 40 and 50 percent of officers have called out on certain days, forcing TSA to consolidate screening lanes; George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston warned of four-hour waits after shutting down checkpoints and halting all PreCheck and CLEAR operations.

• Justice Department agrees to pay Michael Flynn $1.2 million to settle malicious prosecution lawsuit: The Justice Department has reached a settlement of roughly $1.2 million with former national security adviser Michael Flynn to resolve his lawsuit claiming he was politically targeted for prosecution during President Donald Trump’s first term, sources told ABC News Wednesday. The figure is well below the $50 million Flynn initially sought when he filed the suit in 2023, and comes after a federal judge threw out the case in 2024 for failing to meet the essential elements of a malicious prosecution claim—a ruling Flynn’s attorneys moved to revive after Trump returned to office. The Justice Department framed the settlement as redress for the “Russia Collusion Hoax.”

• ICE admits it lied for over a year about legal authority to arrest immigrants at courthouses: Immigration and Customs Enforcement misrepresented its legal authority to arrest immigrants at routine immigration court hearings for more than a year, according to a letter filed Wednesday by Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Clayton revealed that ICE legal counsel admitted the May 2025 memo they had been using to justify courthouse arrests—titled “Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or Near Courthouses”—never actually applied to immigration courts. Federal agents had used the guidance to detain immigrants outside hearings, including people judges had found to have credible asylum claims. More on ICE overreach is in the latest from The American Prospect, here.

• Black philosophy professor sues Texas State after firing over off-campus Palestine talk: Idris Robinson, a tenure-track philosophy professor and the only Black philosophy professor at Texas State University, has sued university officials alleging his constitutional rights were violated after the school terminated his contract. The termination followed a social media campaign by pro-Israel activists over a talk he gave at a North Carolina anarchist book fair in June 2024, the Guardian reported Wednesday. Robinson did not identify himself as affiliated with Texas State during the talk. Robinson’s lawsuit alleges violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and he is seeking a temporary restraining order to halt his firing in May.

Other International News

• U.S. kills four more in 47th maritime strike; total death toll reaches roughly 163: U.S. Southern Command conducted its 47th strike on an alleged “drug-trafficking” vessel Wednesday in the Caribbean, killing four people and bringing the total death toll from Operation Southern Spear to over 160 since the campaign began on September 2. SOUTHCOM described the strike as “applying total systemic friction on the cartels,” saying intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes, but provided no further details identifying who was on board or which organization they supposedly belonged to.

• Russian strikes kill two in Kharkiv region; Ukraine hits Danube port and Belgorod: Russian attacks killed two people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region early Thursday—a woman who died of injuries from strikes and a man killed in his car by a drone closer to the border—while a separate Russian strike damaged port facilities and energy infrastructure at the Danube port of Izmail in southwestern Ukraine, Reuters reported. On the Russian side, Ukrainian drones killed an 18-year-old on a motorcycle and a woman in her car in Russia’s Belgorod region, which has come under frequent Ukrainian attack throughout the war. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 17 Ukrainian drones targeting the capital were intercepted Wednesday.

• Ukraine has knocked out 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity: At least 40% of Russia’s crude oil export capacity—roughly two million barrels per day—was offline as of Wednesday, Reuters calculated from market data. The shutdown represents the most severe oil supply disruption in modern Russian history. Ukraine has hit Novatek’s Ust-Luga and Primorsk terminals on the Baltic Sea, the Novorossiysk terminal on the Black Sea, and damaged the Druzhba pipeline running through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia; frequent European seizures of Russia-linked tankers have separately disrupted around 300,000 barrels per day of Arctic oil exports from Murmansk. With western export routes under sustained attack, Russia is increasingly dependent on Asian markets, though traders say those routes are capacity-constrained. Oil and gas revenues account for around a quarter of Russia’s state budget.

• U.S. conditioning security guarantees on Ukraine ceding all of Donbas to Russia, Zelenskyy says: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters Wednesday that the United States is offering security guarantees for a Ukraine peace deal if it cedes the entire Donbas region to Russia. “The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy also told the outlet that Trump is applying disproportionate pressure on the Ukrainian side, influenced in part by his focus on the Iran conflict, and that Russia is betting Washington will lose interest and walk away if talks stall—a risk he acknowledged exists. A fourth round of trilateral U.S.-Russia-Ukraine talks, previously held in Abu Dhabi and Geneva, was postponed this month due to the Iran war.

• RSF and allied forces capture strategic border town of Kurmuk in Sudan’s Blue Nile region: A coalition of the Rapid Support Forces and the Abdul Aziz al-Hilu faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North said on Tuesday that they had seized Kurmuk, a strategic town on Sudan’s border with Ethiopia in the Blue Nile region, following what they described as fierce battles against the Sudanese army. The Blue Nile state’s government spokesperson alleged that attacking forces received foreign logistical support — including drones, mercenaries, and cross-border training—and pointed toward Ethiopia. Thousands of civilians have fled toward Ed Damazin, the regional capital, with the region’s humanitarian situation deteriorating rapidly.

• Rwanda-backed rebels in Congo detain journalists in shipping containers, advocacy group says: The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controlling parts of eastern Congo has been holding civilians—including at least two journalists—in metal shipping containers without light or ventilation at the compound of Goma’s provincial legislative assembly, Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday. Based on witness accounts, satellite imagery, and photos collected in 2025, the advocacy group said as many as 80 detainees at a time were packed into a single container, allowed outside only once daily, given minimal food, subjected to routine beatings, and endured suffocating heat by day and cold at night. M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka dismissed the findings as “disinformation” on X.

• Armed militants kill eleven in ambush on Nigerian security forces in Kebbi state: Armed militants fatally shot nine soldiers, a police officer, and one civilian and wounded several others in an ambush in the village of Giron Masa in Kebbi state’s Shanga council area, northwestern Nigeria, after luring security forces into an ambush, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but residents suspect the Islamic State Sahel Province, known locally as Lakurawa.

• UN General Assembly declares transatlantic slave trade a “gravest crime against humanity”: The United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution Wednesday declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement the “gravest crime against humanity,” passing 123 votes in favor with only three opposed—the United States, Israel, and Argentina—and 52 abstentions, including the United Kingdom and all 27 European Union members. Proposed by Ghana on behalf of the African Group, the resolution calls for a full formal apology, restitution of cultural artifacts, and financial reparations; defines the transatlantic slave trade as a violation of jus cogens—peremptory norms of international law binding on all nations—and asserts that slavery’s legacies continue to drive global racial disparities and systemic discrimination.

• Uganda’s military chief threatens to enter Iran war on Israel’s side: General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s military chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni, unleashed a flurry of posts on X Wednesday declaring solidarity with Israel and warning that Uganda would enter the war on Israel’s side if it faces defeat, saying Israel need only “ask” its “Ugandan brothers.” Kainerugaba, who has a well-established pattern of posting inflammatory statements he later deletes or walks back, threatened retaliation with Ugandan missiles if Tehran struck Uganda and separately claimed that any attack on Cuba would mark “the beginning of World War 3.” In a since-deleted post, he added that Israel and the U.S. could have taken Tehran “in 72 hours” without bombing had they sought Uganda’s help.

• The U.S. blockade of Cuba is leading to preventable deaths: U.S. policy toward Cuba is causing deteriorating conditions in the country’s once lauded healthcare system, with healthcare workers telling the New York Times that hospitals are canceling surgeries, doctors halting treatments due to power outages and supply shortages, ambulances are left idle due to a lack of fuel, and the state unable to procure medicine to stock pharmacies. Cuban doctors said that as a result the country is experiencing otherwise preventable deaths.

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