Israel angles for permanent occupation in Lebanon; Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyah transferred to solitary confinement; Trump sanctions Cuban president

Drop Site Daily: June 5, 2026

Israeli attacks continue across Gaza. “The war is not over”: Gaza grandfather whose daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren were burned alive rejects claims of ceasefire. Iranian foreign minister reaffirms support for Palestinians. Hamas arrives in Cairo ahead of new round of ceasefire negotiation. Palestinian rights group says May was deadliest month of 2026 in Gaza. Israeli strikes kill eight in Lebanon on Friday. Parties continue to respond to Wednesday’s “ceasefire agreement.” Lebanese parliament speaker rejects “booby-trapped” ceasefire, says Hezbollah withdrawal contingent on Israeli pullback. IRGC demands full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Iran’s foreign minister warns U.S. bases in region are legitimate targets. Oman reportedly briefly suspends oil loading at primary crude export terminal. House Armed Services Committee rejects amendment to strip U.S.-Israel military integration provision from defense bill. Tlaib’s Lebanon War Powers Resolution defeated. Senate passes $70 billion immigration enforcement bill. House passes agriculture spending bill that would slash WIC fruit and vegetable benefits. ICE eliminates requirement to report deaths occurring within 30 days of release from custody. Whistleblower says DOGE sought to have 2.7 million living people declared dead to pressure immigrants into self-deportation. New York Times drops investigation into Graham Platner. WFP warns U.S.-Iran war is pushing 45 million people toward acute hunger. Trump administration sanctions Cuban president, first lady, and Castro family members. Trump administration backs Bolivian president against protests. Hundreds protest outside UNHCR headquarters in Tripoli demanding expulsion of migrants, closure of UN agency. Russian drone strike kills four outside Kyiv. Zelenskyy proposes direct talks with Putin. Xi Jinping to visit North Korea next week in first trip to Pyongyang in seven years.

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Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel holds a Cuban flag during a rally in support of former Cuban president Raul Castro in Havana on May 22, 2026. Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP via Getty Images.

Palestine

• Israeli attacks continue across Gaza: Israeli forces continued ceasefire violations across Gaza Thursday night and into early Friday, killing at least two Palestinians and wounding dozens. Israeli strikes hit a displacement tent, a gas station, residential buildings, civilian vehicles, and a bicycle, while naval gunboats opened fire on the Gaza City coastline, Palestine Online reported.

  • Israeli forces bombed a tent west of Khan Younis at 4:07 a.m., killing an 18-year-old and wounding a sleeping grandfather, according to Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha.

  • Another person was killed and others wounded in a strike on the Isleem Petroleum Station near Al-Sha’abiyya junction in Gaza City, five were wounded in a strike on a residential building in Tel al-Hawa, and Israeli drones struck a civilian vehicle on Al-Quds Street with three missiles before reportedly pursuing the fleeing driver with further strikes.

• “The war is not over”: Gaza grandfather whose daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren were burned alive rejects claims of ceasefire: Ibrahim Labad’s family was burned to death after an Israeli strike set their Gaza City apartment ablaze shortly after midnight Thursday. He told Drop Site contributor Mohamed Ahmed that claims the war has ended are a trick. “I only saw myself and my wife. Everything else was darkness and fire,” Labad said, describing being pulled out through a small opening under the door before learning five members of his family had been killed and several others wounded. Nine-year-old Hala Labad survived the strike as the sole remaining member of her immediate family. “Every day there are martyrs. Every single day. Everywhere in Gaza there are martyrs,” Labad said. “What war ended? It only ended for one side.”

• Iranian foreign minister reaffirms support for Palestinians: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone on Thursday with Khalil Al-Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza, covering developments in Palestine, Lebanon, and the broader region, according to a Hamas statement. Al-Hayya praised Iran’s insistence on a simultaneous cessation of war on all fronts and briefed Araghchi on conditions in Gaza, including Israel obstructing an implementation of the ceasefire while reaffirming the resistance factions’ commitment to continuing until Palestinian national objectives are achieved.

• Hamas arrives in Cairo ahead of new round of ceasefire talks: A Hamas delegation led by Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s leader in Gaza, arrived in Cairo on Friday ahead of a new round of negotiations expected to begin on Saturday and continue for several days. Hamas said the talks with Egyptian officials and mediators would focus on completing implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, stopping “repeated Zionist aggressions” on the Gaza Strip, and establishing mechanisms for moving to the second phase of the deal. The delegation is also expected to hold meetings with Palestinian factions to coordinate a unified national position.

• Gaza flotilla volunteers held 11 days in Libyan “black site” enter dry hunger and water strike: Ten volunteers with the Global Sumud Flotilla, detained in Benghazi, Libya for 11 days while attempting to reach Gaza, are in deteriorating condition after entering a dry hunger and water strike on Monday. The group has been held without access to lawyers, embassies, or independent medical teams. In a secretly placed phone call, one detainee described their location as “a black site similar to a CIA black site, a prison that has no name.” The organizations are calling on the Argentine government (one member is an Argentine national), the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the foreign ministries of all nationalities involved to intervene immediately to prevent irreversible harm.

• Ireland bans Ben Gvir and Smotrich from entering the country: Ireland announced a ban on Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, barring them from entering the country over their anti-Palestinian statements and conduct toward Gaza flotilla activists, according to the Times of Israel. Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, said last month that the two extremist ministers’ statements “essentially amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine.” Both ministers have previously been sanctioned by several EU countries for inciting extremist violence.

• Israel transfers Gaza doctor to solitary confinement: Israeli authorities transferred detained Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safiya to solitary confinement at Nafha Prison on June 3 following his legal team’s challenge to an extension of his detention, with his lawyer describing the move as punitive and saying it has left Abu Safiya without necessary medical treatment. Healthcare Workers Watch reports that at least 83 Palestinian healthcare workers are currently held by Israel, including 75 from Gaza.

• Palestinian rights group says May was deadliest month of 2026 in Gaza: May 2026 recorded the highest death toll for any month of 2026, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights announced Thursday, with 119 killed, including 19 children and 10 women. Women, children, and the elderly accounted for roughly 30% of Israel’s victims in May.

• Israeli forces shoot two Palestinians in Hebron: Israeli forces shot two Palestinians—injuring one seriously—when they attempted to access their land near Hebron, as armed settlers ploughed the property for a second consecutive day, raised Israeli flags, and blocked roads with earth mounds and stones to prevent residents from reaching their fields, Wafa reported. Settlers also assaulted a third Palestinian in the area, leaving him wounded.

Lebanon

• Casualty count: At least 3,558 people have been killed, and 10,870 wounded, in Israeli strikes across Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

• Israeli strikes kill eight in Lebanon on Friday:

  • At least eight people were killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon on Friday, according to the state’s National News Agency. Four people were killed in multiple Israeli drone strikes across areas in the south. Two men were killed in separate incidents in Nabatieh and Kfar Roumman after Israeli drones struck their vehicles. In two other strikes, Israeli drones targeted motorcycles in Bint Jbeil and in Deir al-Zahrani, killing one person in each attack.

  • An Israeli strike on Doueir destroyed a residential building and killed one person, leaving another in critical condition. In Habboush, two separate strikes killed two men, one of whom was a physician.

  • A strike on Qalawiya Tower killed one person and wounded another, and Israeli aircraft bombed Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Zibdine, Shoukin, and Jibchit. Near Tyre, warplanes struck close to Jabal Amel Hospital targeting the Bank Audi area, while Israeli forces carried out a demolition operation in Khiam.

  • The Israeli military also issued forced displacement orders on Friday to residents of nine towns in southern Lebanon.

• Parties continue to respond to Wednesday’s “ceasefire agreement”:

  • Israeli Defense Minister hails Lebanon ceasefire for codifying Israel’s right to maintain a presence: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that the U.S.-brokered Lebanon ceasefire declaration includes “unequivocal” support for Hezbollah’s disarmament, the removal of Hezbollah forces from south of the Litani River, continued IDF presence in Lebanon, as well as a “freedom of action for Israel.” Katz described the agreement as an “expression of the reality” Israel’s military has created in Lebanon and said it could eventually lead to a formal “peace” agreement with the Lebanese state.

  • Lebanese parliament speaker rejects “booby-trapped” ceasefire, says Hezbollah withdrawal contingent on Israeli pullback: Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament and leader of Lebanon’s Amal Movement, the Shia ally of Hezbollah, criticized the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan as a “hybrid agreement” that had been “booby-trapped” with conditions, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Berri said the text could have been viewed positively had it simply called for an unconditional ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas, but instead included provisions requiring “a complete cessation of fire by Hezbollah” and the withdrawal of its fighters from south of the Litani River. He said he would only accept two principles: “a full and comprehensive ceasefire without conditions” and a parallel withdrawal of both Hezbollah from south of the Litani and Israeli forces from territories they occupy. “The rest of the text is unjust and not worth mentioning,” he added.

  • IRGC demands full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force issued separate statements Thursday declaring that no calm will be established in the region without a full Israeli withdrawal. The IRGC said its primary condition for accepting a ceasefire in the regional war has been a halt to hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, and warned that the Lebanese people will not allow Israel to achieve through a forced agreement what it failed to achieve through war. “The enemy must immediately halt its attacks on the people of Lebanon, and swiftly withdraw to international borders by evacuating the occupied Lebanese territories, and recognize the territorial integrity of Lebanon,” the IRGC said, according to Press TV. “Our primary condition for accepting a ceasefire in the regional war has been a ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon.”

• Israel killed 91 medical workers of one health body in Lebanon: At least 91 medical personnel of the Islamic Health Authority in Lebanon have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks across the country, the organization said Friday via Al-Araby TV. Mahmoud Karki, a media official in the healthcare and emergency service provider affiliated with Hezbollah, said Israeli forces claim, without evidence, that ambulances are being used to transport weapons. Israel has killed over 125 health workers in Lebanon since March 2, according to the state’s Health Ministry.

• Hezbollah claims operations in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah claimed strikes on six Merkava tanks around Beaufort Castle using guided missiles and Ababil suicide drones, and the downing of four Israeli Hermes-450 surveillance drones using surface-to-air missiles. The group also claimed strikes on a command position around Beaufort Castle, a newly established logistical support center in Yahmar al-Shaqif, a site in Al-Adaisseh hit with a drone swarm, and repeated rocket and artillery barrages targeting Israeli soldiers and vehicle concentrations throughout the night.

  • Israeli captain killed by Hezbollah anti-tank missile in southern Lebanon: An Israeli Armored Corps captain in the 75th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade was killed after a Hezbollah fighter fired a guided anti-tank missile at his tank north of the Litani River, according to Israeli military reports. The 21-year-old was the fourth Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon this week.

Iran and Ceasefire

• Iran’s foreign minister warns U.S. bases in region are legitimate targets: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Friday that U.S. bases in the region used for any aggression against Iran are legitimate targets, and said Iran had warned regional states accordingly. When discussing the war more generally, Araghchi said that standing against the world’s greatest nuclear-armed power for 40 days has been “no joke” and that “the world has realized the true power of the Iranian nation.”

  • In the same remarks, Araghchi noted Iran’s commitment to “fostering sustainable, constructive ties with Saudi Arabia.”

• Oman reportedly briefly suspends oil loading at primary crude export terminal: Oman suspended oil loading operations at the Mina al Fahal terminal near Muscat on Thursday, its primary facility, after an explosion near its offshore berths, according to Reuters. Two sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that the shutdown is believed to have been caused by a drone attack. Oman’s largest oil producer later said the terminal was operating normally.

• CNN footage reveals fire aboard USS Gerald Ford was far more severe than Pentagon acknowledged: New footage obtained by CNN shows the fire, which was reported aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier two months ago, was more extensive than the Pentagon’s official account suggested, disrupting the operational capability of the $13 billion warship at the height of the U.S. war on Iran. The Navy had claimed the fire was quickly contained, and the carrier remained fully operational, but CNN’s footage shows devastated sailors’ quarters with collapsed ceilings, burnt metal, and deformed beds amid piles of ash.

• Houthi leader warns of readiness for escalation: Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said Thursday in a televised address on Al-Masirah TV that his group is prepared for regional escalation and is coordinating with its regional allies on developments in Lebanon and Palestine. Separately, Yemen’s Foreign Ministry expressed support for Hezbollah, calling resistance the “most effective option” to end Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory and halt attacks.

U.S. News

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

• House Armed Services Committee rejects amendment to strip U.S.-Israel military integration provision from defense bill: The House Armed Services Committee rejected Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) amendment Thursday to strip Section 224 from the National Defense Authorization Act, a provision that would require the Pentagon to designate an executive agent to synchronize cooperative efforts between the U.S. and Israeli militaries. The measure failed in a voice vote.

  • The provision follows a letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana) endorsing a “move from aid recipient to partner,” language Khanna said Section 224 directly mirrors. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the committee’s top Democrat, said he opposed Netanyahu’s leadership but backed the provision regardless. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has pledged to introduce an amendment to revoke Section 224 when the NDAA goes to a full House floor vote.

  • Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), the only other committee member to join Khanna in opposition to the measure, encouraged people to “Watch as a stream of Republicans and Democrats stand up in support of the enhanced cooperation.”

• Tlaib’s Lebanon War Powers Resolution defeated: The Lebanon War Powers Resolution proposed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was defeated on Thursday after drawing support from 90 lawmakers, prompting Democratic leadership to back a separate resolution they said would prevent direct U.S. involvement in the conflict. Ahead of the vote, Tlaib told Drop Site’s Julian Andreone that every day of inaction results in 11 more Lebanese children killed or injured by the Israeli military in what she called a U.S.-supported invasion. After the vote, Tlaib urged House Democratic leadership to move forward with a new Lebanon War Powers Resolution.

• Senate passes $70 billion immigration enforcement bill: The Senate voted 52-47 Friday morning to approve $70 billion in additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol, sending the bill to the House with no Democratic support; Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the only Republican to vote against the bill. The marathon session was repeatedly upended by Trump’s controversial “anti-weaponization fund,” which Trump said Wednesday he considers “so important,” even as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the Justice Department would not move forward with it. Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio), and Dan Sullivan (Alaska)—all facing competitive reelection races in November—voted with Democrats on a failed 50-49 motion to eliminate the provision.

• House passes agriculture spending bill that would slash WIC fruit and vegetable benefits: The House voted 213-210 Thursday to pass a bill to fund the Agriculture Department that would cut $141 million in fruit and vegetable funding from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which serves nearly 5.4 million pregnant women and young children, according to the Washington Post. The National WIC Association estimated the cuts would reduce monthly produce benefits from $52 to $13 for breastfeeding mothers and from $26 to $10 for young children, as grocery prices continue to rise nationally.

• ICE eliminates requirement to report deaths occurring within 30 days of release from custody: ICE acting director David Venturella sent a memo to agency employees on Thursday announcing that the agency is ending its requirement to report deaths that occur within 30 days of a detainee’s release. The agency will report only deaths that occur while people remain in agency custody, the Washington Post reported, reverting a 30-day rule adopted under the Biden administration. The policy change comes as ICE has recorded 18 detainee deaths in the first five months of 2026.

• Trump administration has re-separated dozens of families protected by landmark settlement, AP investigation finds: The Trump administration has re-separated dozens of children from parents, in contravention of a 2023 court settlement that protects these families—a settlement that the first Trump administration’s policy of family separation precipitated—according to a new investigation by the Associated Press. In some cases, officials have deported parents even after being notified by the ACLU that they were off limits for removal.

  • Among those affected is Ederson Galicia Alva, an 11-year-old who was first taken from his mother at the border in 2018 at age three, then separated last June again when agents arrested his mother near Mar-a-Lago and deported her to Guatemala. “I felt the very same thing I went through the first time,” his mother said in response to the outlet. “I was living it all over again.” Read the AP’s full investigation here.

• AIPAC super PAC spends $1.2 million in Maryland congressional race to replace Steny Hoyer: AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has spent nearly $1.2 million to boost Adrian Boafo—retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer’s former campaign manager and a former lobbyist for Oracle, Jewish Insider reports. Prince George’s County Councilmember and congressional candidate Wala Blegay, speaking with Breaking Points, argued the race extends beyond AIPAC, with residents facing soaring utility bills, federal layoffs, and a wave of proposed AI data centers tied to the same corporate interests funding establishment politics.

• Whistleblower says DOGE sought to have 2.7 million living people declared dead to pressure immigrants into self-deportation: A former senior Social Security Administration official has disclosed in a whistleblower complaint to Senate investigators that DOGE officials sought to have 2.7 million living people, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, added to the agency’s Death Master File as part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy, the Washington Post reported Thursday. Jeremiah Schofield, who spent 25 years at the agency, said he refused to implement the plan after sampling 25 names from the list and finding all were alive, and that a DOGE official confirmed on a speakerphone call that the goal was to force immigrants to self-deport or show up at Social Security offices where they could be arrested. The Social Security Administration said the plan was never carried out, though the Post previously reported that a smaller version—marking 6,100 immigrants as dead—was implemented last year.

• New York Times drops investigation into Graham Platner: The New York Times published an investigation into Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s past relationships on Thursday, with the most serious allegation from ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield stating that Platner shoved her into a room. Fifield is a longtime Republican operative, with past stints at the Heritage Foundation, super PACs, and the Chamber of Commerce. Notably, after publication, Fifield’s podcast co-host Bethany Mandel confirmed on X that Fifield was the original source of the claim that Platner had bragged about “my Totenkopf”—but that when that anonymous claim had not tanked his candidacy, she went to the Times.

Other International News

• WFP warns U.S.-Iran war is pushing 45 million people toward acute hunger: The United Nations World Food Programme warned on Friday that the ongoing U.S.-Iran war is putting millions at risk of hunger. The sharpest impacts of the war have been felt in fragile states already facing preexisting vulnerabilities. In Somalia, 6.5 million people—roughly a third of the population—are expected to face severe hunger in 2026, with an additional 2.5 million unable to afford a basic food basket, while Afghanistan could see 17.4 million people affected on top of 13.8 million who were already food insecure before the war. The WFP also warned of a “double squeeze” on the global humanitarian system from rising delivery costs, estimating it will serve 1.5 million fewer people than planned in 2026, and that a six-month continuation of the conflict could cause more than 9 million additional people to lose assistance altogether.

• Trump administration sanctions Cuban president, first lady, and Castro family members: The Trump administration sanctioned Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Lady Lis Cuesta Peraza, his stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta, Raúl Castro’s son Alejandro Castro Espín, and Castro’s grandson Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis on Thursday, along with five entities, including Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Díaz-Canel called the measures “illegitimate,” saying Washington’s “aggressiveness will clash with our determination to resist.”

  • Trump told reporters Thursday that the island nation is “sort of collapsed” and threatening to “handle that” as soon as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran concludes. “We’ll take care of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and as soon as that is done, on our way back we’ll just make a brief stopover.”

• Trump administration backs Bolivian president against protests: War Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the U.S. military would “reject all attempts to overthrow the legitimate government” of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, and framed mass anti-government protests by teachers, miners, farmers, and union workers as an attempted coup linked to “narco-terrorists.” Paz, who was elected in October and attended the Trump administration’s inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Coalition summit in March, has faced mounting unrest since scrapping fuel subsidies and pursuing economic reforms that have alarmed Bolivia’s powerful coca farming unions.

• Hundreds protest outside UNHCR headquarters in Tripoli demanding expulsion of migrants, closure of UN agency: Hundreds of Libyans gathered outside the UNHCR headquarters in Tripoli on Thursday in the largest of several recent anti-migrant demonstrations, chanting “Libya belongs to Libyans” and calling for the closure of the UN refugee agency, which they accused of seeking to permanently settle undocumented migrants in the country. Demonstrators erected tents, blocked the building’s main gate with a truckload of sand, and carried signs reading “Libya is not the world’s garbage bin.” The UN mission in Libya denied running any resettlement programs in the country, saying it works to find solutions outside Libya, including evacuation to third countries and voluntary returns, and warned against the spread of hate and incitement against UN staff. Libya, with a population of roughly 7 million, hosts an estimated 900,000 migrants according to the International Organization for Migration, many of them Sudanese refugees.

• Russian drone strike kills four outside Kyiv: A Russian drone strike on a dairy factory in the Kyiv region killed four people and wounded seven Friday, destroying an administrative building and damaging two vehicles at a facility that produced yogurt and baby food, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces also struck food warehouses and a postal facility in Dnipropetrovsk, an ambulance in Kherson, a school in Sumy, port infrastructure in Odesa, and an outpatient clinic in Kharkiv, and repeated his calls for additional air defense support and sustained economic pressure on Moscow.

  • Zelenskyy proposes direct talks with Putin: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an open letter to Vladimir Putin to propose direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, saying it would be “wrong to simply wait” for the war in Europe to become Washington’s focus again and calling for a full ceasefire during talks—an idea Putin had earlier ruled out. While proposing a peace framework, the letter also included mockery of Putin, pointing to Ukraine’s recent strikes inside Russia and saying that “after 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll” on the Russian leader.

  • IAEA brokers localized ceasefire around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for repairs: The International Atomic Energy Agency announced Friday that it has brokered a localized ceasefire around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—Europe’s largest—to allow technicians from both sides to repair war-related damage to the Dniprovska power line, which has been severed for more than two months and left the plant reliant on a single backup line to cool its six shutdown reactors.

• Xi Jinping to visit North Korea next week in first trip to Pyongyang in seven years: Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea on June 8–9 at Kim Jong Un’s invitation, state broadcaster CCTV announced Friday, marking Xi’s first trip to Pyongyang since 2019. Kim has supplied troops and weapons to Russia’s war in Ukraine, after Xi hosted Putin in Beijing last month to discuss the U.S. war with Iran, and Trump has expressed interest in reviving his own relationship with Kim. The visit comes as Kim called on Thursday for an “exponential” expansion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.

• U.S. terrorist designations of Brazilian gangs raise fears of military intervention: The U.S. designation of Brazil’s Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital as foreign terrorist organizations, effective Friday, could shift investigations currently handled by the FBI, DEA, and U.S. immigration authorities to the CIA, according to two São Paulo state officials who spoke to Reuters anonymously. Brazilian officials in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration also fear the designation could pave the way for U.S. military or covert actions in Brazil similar to operations carried out in Venezuela and against Mexican cartels. “We will not allow any form of foreign intervention ​in our country,” National Public Security Secretary Chico Lucas told the outlet.

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