Israel assassinates three journalists in Lebanon; Iranian universities and energy sites targeted; Cuban oil embargo broken
Drop Site Daily: March 30, 2026
U.S.-Israeli attacks continue Monday. President Donald Trump resumes threats on Iranian civilian infrastructure. U.S. considers seizing Iran’s uranium. Iran rejects U.S. ceasefire framework. Iranian strikes damage aluminum facilities in Bahrain and UAE. Iran revokes residency permits for UAE citizens. Fire erupts at Israel’s main chemical hub following Iranian strike. Yemen’s Ansar Allah enters war directly, launches ballistic missile barrage at Israel. Kata’ib Hezbollah strikes Oman. Kurdistan Region bombarded. Iran agrees to allow 20 more Pakistani ships through Strait of Hormuz. Pentagon prepares ground operation options for Iran. Israeli airstrike kills three journalists in southern Lebanon. Israeli airstrike kills seven paramedics in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces launch cross-border incursion into southern Lebanon via Syria. Three UN peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in West Bank raids, including a teenager. Israeli shelling kills six police officers at Gaza checkpoint. Israel bars Catholic patriarch from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday. Millions march in “No Kings” protests across U.S. against Trump agenda and Iran war. Deaths in ICE detention reach record high. New Jersey man arrested in plot to firebomb Palestinian activist’s home. House forces floor vote on Haitian temporary protected status. Pakistan shells Afghan city as renewed fighting kills civilians. Russian tanker to deliver oil to Cuba, easing blockade. Sudanese paramilitaries kill 14 in Kordofan offensive, including five children. Russia and Ukraine trade strikes, no negotiations underway. Ukraine signs defense deals with Arab countries. Spain bars U.S. aircraft involved in strikes on Iran. Ecuador moves up elections.
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War on Iran
U.S.-Israeli attacks continue Monday:
US-Israeli strikes hit Tehran and other cities overnight, with power infrastructure targeted in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz was damaged in an airstrike.
A U.S.-Israeli airstrike in Isfahan killed nine students and a teacher, according to Press TV.
Explosions were reported Monday morning across several Iranian cities, including Tehran, Rey, Qom, Bandar Abbas, and Kish. A senior official in Qom confirmed four locations in the province were struck by U.S. and Israeli projectiles, including areas outside the city.
Trump resumes threats on civilian infrastructure: President Donald Trump threatened Monday on Truth Social to target Iran’s energy infrastructure, oil wells and Kharg Island, and desalinization plants, if a ceasefire deal is not reached soon. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said he was considering seizing Iran’s oil infrastructure, including Kharg Island, saying his “preference would be to take the oil.” Trump set an April 6 deadline for Iran to accept a deal or face further strikes on its energy infrastructure. “We’ve got about 3,000 targets left—we’ve bombed 13,000 targets—and another couple of thousand targets to go,” he told the paper. “A deal could be made fairly quickly.”
Iran rejects U.S. ceasefire framework: Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, on Monday reiterated that Iran has not had any direct negotiations with the U.S. “What has been communicated to us, whatever you may call it, 15-points or more or less, are a set of very excessive, unrealistic and irrational demands,” Baghaei said, according to the Tasnim news agency. “Iran has been clear about its position from the beginning, and we know very well what the framework is that we are considering. The material conveyed to us has been excessive and unreasonable requests. The meetings that Pakistan has are a framework that they established themselves and we did not participate in.” On Friday, Drop Site first reported that both Iran and the U.S. recently submitted their own sets of terms and conditions to end the war via intermediaries, according to a senior Iranian official with direct knowledge of internal deliberations. “These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the United States will not negotiate through the news media,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, in a statement to Drop Site. “As President Trump and his negotiators explore this newfound possibility of diplomacy, Operation Epic Fury continues unabated to achieve the military objectives laid out by the Commander in Chief and the Pentagon.”
U.S considers seizing uranium: President Trump is reportedly considering a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal, a complex mission that could take days. “Teams of U.S. forces would need to fly to the sites, likely under fire from Iranian surface-to-air missiles and drones,” the Wall Street Journal wrote. “Once on site, combat troops would need to secure perimeters so that engineers with excavating equipment could search through debris and check for mines and booby traps.”
U.S. and Israel pound Iran over the weekend:
A U.S.-Israeli airstrike destroyed more than ten residential units on Saturday in Kermanshah, a major city in western Iran near the Iraqi border.
Majid Zakariyayi, commander of the Protection Unit of Iran’s Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, died after being wounded in a U.S.-Israeli strike on the agency on Saturday, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.
An airstrike hit a residential building on Sabounchi Street in Tehran’s Abbas Abad neighborhood on Saturday, killing five people and injuring others.
An airstrike hit Isfahan University of Technology for the second time on Sunday, damaging buildings and injuring four staff, according to the university. Tehran University of Science and Technology was also struck a day earlier. The Israeli military admitted it bombed the Imam Hussein University in Tehran in recent days, claiming without evidence that “under civilian cover, research and development operations for advanced combat means were conducted inside the university.”
The IAEA said on Sunday that the Arak heavy water production plant, which Iran reported had been attacked on Friday, had sustained severe damage and is “no longer operational.”
Iran responds with attacks on U.S. installations and allies in the region:
Kuwait’s Electricity and Water Ministry said an Iranian strike hit a service building at a power generation and desalination plant on Sunday, killing one worker of Indian origin and causing significant material damage. Iran’s military accused Israel of attacking Kuwait’s desalination plant, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Several missile and drone strikes hit Victoria Base on Sunday, according to a source cited by Al Jazeera. Victoria is a U.S. logistics support camp west of Baghdad’s airport complex. The Mohamad Alaa air base, located next to Baghdad International Airport, was also hit by rockets, destroying an aircraft, but causing no casualties, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that 14 ballistic missiles and 12 drones were detected in the past 24 hours, with several striking a military camp and injuring ten personnel, who are receiving treatment. A separate strike hit a private logistics warehouse, damaging the structure.
Drone strikes hit Kuwait’s international airport on Saturday, significantly damaging its radar systems, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said.
A wave of strikes hit Bahrain on Saturday, with unconfirmed reports of an impact on an oil facility linked to BAPCO, the kingdom’s state energy company.
Iranian strikes damage aluminum facilities in Bahrain and UAE: Aluminium Bahrain, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, confirmed Saturday that its facilities were damaged in an Iranian attack. Two workers sustained minor injuries. Alba produces around 1.6 million tonnes of aluminum annually—roughly 1–1.5% of global output—making it a cornerstone of Bahrain’s economy and a significant node in global supply chains. Iranian missile and drone strikes on Saturday also significantly damaged Emirates Global Aluminium’s Al Taweelah facility in Abu Dhabi, one of the largest single-site aluminum smelters in the world.
Iran revokes residency permits for UAE citizens: Iran’s judiciary said on Monday it had revoked the residency permits of 1,200 Emiratis living in Iran in retaliation for the UAE revoking residency permits for Iranians in the UAE. The UAE had also shut down the Iranian Hospital and the Iranian Club in Dubai.
Fire erupts at Haifa oil refinery after strike: A fire erupted at an oil refinery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Monday after the facility was struck, according to Israeli media. It was unclear whether a missile strike or debris caused the blaze. It marked the second time the facility was hit in the war. Hezbollah later said its forces targeted a naval base in Haifa with a “barrage of advanced missiles.”
Fire erupts at Israel’s main chemical hub following Iranian strike: A fire broke out at Israel’s Neot Hovav industrial zone south of Beersheba on Sunday after an Iranian strike. The complex is Israel’s primary chemical hub and produces pharmaceuticals, bromine, and pesticides. It also contains the country’s central hazardous waste treatment facility.
U.S. university campuses in Qatar shut down: Several American universities with campuses in Qatar, including Northwestern, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, and Texas A&M, shifted to remote operations on Sunday after the IRGC warned that U.S. institutions in the region could be targeted in retaliation for strikes on Iranian universities, according to Doha News.
Yemen’s Ansar Allah enters war directly, launches ballistic missile barrage at Israel: Yemen’s Ansar Allah confirmed Saturday that it had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at what they described as sensitive Israeli military sites in southern Israel, marking the Houthi movement’s first declared direct military intervention in the current war. In a statement, the group said the operation was carried out in support of Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iraqi resistance factions, and the Palestinians. The movement said that it would resume its attacks on Israel, but that its ceasefire with the U.S. would hold unless the U.S. attacks Yemen directly. The Houthis launched a second and third wave of strikes toward Israel on Saturday and Sunday.
Kata’ib Hezbollah strikes Oman: Kata’ib Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Oman’s Port of Salalah, using drones that “flew from UAE territory.” The attack injured one worker and prompting Maersk to temporarily halt operations there. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned and distanced Iran from both the Barzani and Salalah attacks, warning that Israel may be conducting false-flag operations to broaden the conflict.
Kurdistan Region bombarded: The Kurdistan Region of Iraq suffered its most intense 24-hour period of attack since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, with 36 drone and missile strikes recorded between Saturday morning and early Sunday, according to Rudaw. Erbil and its surrounding areas absorbed 27 of those strikes, while Duhok recorded 8 and one drone exploded in Sulaimani. Since the war began, the Kurdistan Region has faced a total of 480 attacks, leaving at least 14 people killed and 93 injured, according to data compiled by The New Region.
Iranian strike on Saudi base destroys U.S. AWACS aircraft, may have hit refueling fleet: New images confirm the destruction of a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia following an Iranian strike, with the fuselage torn open and burned out. The U.S. has only approximately 16 of these crucial surveillance aircraft remaining, and replacement cost for the plane now exceeds $1 billion, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The strike also reportedly hit up to six KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft stationed at the base, with unconfirmed claims that three were destroyed and others damaged, each valued at around $80 million.
Iran agreed to allow 20 more Pakistani ships through Strait of Hormuz: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Iran has agreed to allow 20 additional Pakistani-flagged ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, with two ships crossing daily. President Trump said on Sunday night that Iran agreed to release these ships as a “tribute” to the United States and a “sign of respect” towards it. A senior Iranian official told Drop Site, however, that the move is entirely unrelated to Trump or Washington, saying some Pakistani ships have been permitted transit since the war began as part of bilateral goodwill discussions between Tehran and Islamabad. President Trump also declared Sunday that regime change in Iran had been achieved, saying “I think we’ve had regime change. You can’t do much better than that,” and described negotiations with Tehran as going “very well.”
Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia float consortium plan to manage Strait of Hormuz: Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have proposed to Washington a plan to form a consortium to manage oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports, as part of broader efforts to stabilize shipping through the waterway. The proposal, discussed at a meeting in Pakistan, would include Pakistan as an additional partner and has reportedly been raised with both the U.S. and Iran.
Analysis links new U.S. ballistic missile to deadly strikes on sports hall and school killing 21: The New York Times and BBC verified in separate reports that a newly developed and previously untested U.S.-made ballistic missile was likely used in a February 28 strike on a sports hall in Lamerd, Iran, where at least 21 people were killed, including young girls training at the facility. An IRGC facility adjacent to the facility appeared in the footage to be undamaged by the attacks. The analyses show that the munition used was a short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, which is designed to detonate just above its target and blast small tungsten pellets outward. Read Drop Site’s report on the strike featuring accounts by eyewitnesses and parents of the victims here.
Pentagon prepares ground operation options for Iran: The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, with options ranging from Special Operations raids to conventional infantry missions targeting coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz and a possible seizure of Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, according to U.S. officials cited by the Washington Post. Any operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion, with one official estimating objectives could take “weeks, not months” to complete. Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintained on Sunday, however, that the U.S. “can achieve all of [its] objectives without ground troops.”
Lebanon
Casualty count: The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 1,247—with 3,680 wounded—since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
At least eight killed in strikes on Monday: One person was killed and 17 injured in the Rahab area Monday, including Lebanese and Syrian nationals, four children, and a Kenyan woman, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Additional strikes hit Bint Jbeil and nearby towns, causing further casualties and widespread destruction to buildings and shops. An airstrike on a civil defense center in Mansouri left multiple people wounded. An Israeli attack on an army checkpoint in Ameriyeh killed one Lebanese soldier and injured others. Further raids on Hnaoueh, Baraachit, and Shaqra resulted in at least six deaths and three injuries.
Strikes on Lebanon continue over the weekend
An Israeli strike on the town of al-Haniyah in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded nine others on Saturday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Six of those killed were Syrian nationals, among them one child.
Israel killed two Lebanese soldiers on Saturday, one Corporal in the Lebanese Military Police in the town of Deir al-Zahrani, and another soldier, Fadel Ayoub, in a strike on Kfar Tibnit in Nabatieh.
Israeli airstrike kills three journalists in southern Lebanon: An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed three journalists on Saturday, bringing the number of media workers killed in Lebanon this year to five, according to the Associated Press. Ali Shoeib, a correspondent for Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV who had covered southern Lebanon for nearly three decades, was killed in the strike; the Israeli military falsely claimed that Shoeib was a Hezbollah intelligence operative. Also killed in the same strike in the Jezzine district were Al-Mayadeen TV reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother Mohammed, a video journalist. Their car, which was clearly carrying press equipment, according to an Al Araby correspondent, was struck multiple times, with Ftouni initially surviving and attempting to flee, before she was killed in a targeted strike by Israel. Two passersby who tried to help Ftouni were also reportedly killed. Days earlier, a separate Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment killed Mohammed Sherri, head of political programs at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.
Israeli airstrike kills seven paramedics in southern Lebanon: An Israeli airstrike struck an ambulance on the Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh road on Saturday, killing seven paramedics from the Al-Risala Scouts Association, an emergency service affiliated with the Amal Movement, according to local reports. An ambulance coordinator said the ambulance was sent to bury an elderly man. A Spanish reporter for the country’s Cuatro TV described arriving at the site of the attack to find paramedics still in bloodstained uniforms after treating their own comrades: “They’re all still here, and they say they’re not leaving because this is their job.” The strike is part of a broader pattern of attacks on medical personnel, with at least nine total paramedics killed in five separate attacks on Saturday, and two more fatal attacks on healthcare workers in Lebanon reported on Saturday and Sunday. The WHO estimates that at least 53 health care workers have been killed since the current conflict began on March 2.
Sixth Israeli soldier killed since the start of Lebanon invasion: An Israeli soldier, Sgt. Liran Ben Zion, was killed and an officer seriously wounded when a Hezbollah anti-tank missile struck a tank from the 401st Armored Brigade’s 9th Battalion in southern Lebanon, according to the IDF. Ben Zion is the sixth Israeli soldier killed in clashes with Hezbollah during Israel’s offensive in Lebanon.
Israeli forces launch cross-border incursion into southern Lebanon via Syria: Israeli forces carried out a cross-border incursion into southern Lebanon through the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on Sunday, Israeli media confirmed. The operation involved the Israel Defense Forces’ Alpinist Unit from the 810th Mountain Brigade, which moved from Syrian territory into the Mount Dov area, reportedly targeting weapons smuggling routes and Hezbollah infrastructure.
Three UN peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon: A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and another was seriously wounded after a projectile exploded at a UN position near Adchit Al Qusayr in southern Lebanon on Sunday, UNIFIL said. The source of the projectile is unknown and under investigation. UNIFIL warned that attacks on peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and urged all parties to ensure their protection. Two additional peacekeepers were killed and two others injured on Monday when an explosion struck an Indonesian UNIFIL unit between Talousa and Bani Hayyan, according to UNIFIL in a statement to Al-Araby TV.
Netanyahu orders expanded invasion of southern Lebanon as forces approach Litani River: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a further expansion of Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon on Sunday, saying he had instructed the military to enlarge the existing security buffer zone in a bid to replicate what he described as the “Gaza model” of occupation. Israeli forces advanced across multiple areas of southern Lebanon in a push toward the Litani River, reaching a tributary south of the town of Qantara on the eastern front near al-Muhaysibat—just a few hundred meters from the river itself in some areas.
The Gaza Genocide, Israel, and the West Bank
Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians died from wounds sustained in earlier attacks and one was injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,280 killed, with 172,014 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 704 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,914, while 756 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in West Bank raids, including a teenager: Israeli forces killed three Palestinians on Friday across two refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. In Qalandiya refugee camp, troops shot and killed Sufyan Ahmed Abu Leil, 46, while opening fire on mourners at a cemetery following a funeral, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The funeral had been held for Mustafa Hamad, 22, who was killed earlier that day during an Israeli raid at the camp’s entrance. Hours later, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed during an Israeli raid on Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. The Israeli military claimed “violent disturbances” involving stone-throwing and said troops used live fire against “key instigators.”
Israeli attacks kill three Palestinians across Gaza: Three Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, according to WAFA. In the south, one person was killed when an airstrike struck a vehicle east of Khan Younis. Earlier, two brothers were shot and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza City, with several others wounded, some critically.
Israeli shelling kills six police officers at Gaza checkpoint: An Israeli attack on a police checkpoint south of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday killed three police officers and wounded others, according to local reports.
Israel blocks attorney access to Marwan Barghouti: A planned visit to Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti was blocked after Israeli authorities transferred Barghouti from Megiddo Prison in northern Israel to Ganot Prison in the south, Attorney Ben Marmarelli said. Marmarelli described the transfer as an exercise of “arbitrary power,” and claims that the move forces him to restart the visitation process entirely.
Israel bars Catholic patriarch from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday: Israeli police blocked Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Rev. Francesco Ielpo from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass on Sunday, the first time in centuries the service could not be held at Christianity’s holiest site. The Patriarchate called the incident “a grave precedent” and it drew swift international condemnation: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the barring was “difficult to understand or justify.”
United States
By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.
Millions march in “No Kings” protests across U.S. against Trump agenda and Iran war: Thousands of rallies drew millions of demonstrators Saturday across the United States in the third nationwide “No Kings” protest, with participants citing opposition to the war in Iran, mass deportations, rising gas prices, voting restrictions, and complaint about the rising cost of living. Organizers claimed eight million participants across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and 39 international locations. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday found President Donald Trump’s approval rating had fallen to 36%, with just 35% of respondents approving of the U.S. strikes on Iran.
New from Ryan Grim: Adam Hamawy, Saikat Chakrabarti Get Boost in House Bids with Justice Dems Endorsement: Justice Democrats is endorsing two new candidates on Monday. Both candidates, for their own reasons, threaten to have outsized importance if they make it to Congress. Saikat Chakrabarti is the former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a founder of Justice Democrats. Chakrabarti was driven out of Washington by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who objected to his hard-charging approach. Now he’s running to replace her. In New Jersey, Dr. Adam Hamawy is running in an open seat to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman. Hamawy, an Army veteran and surgeon who served as a doctor in Iraq and, later, was part of a delegation of doctors to Gaza. More from Ryan Grim here.
Deaths in ICE detention reach record high: 46 people have died in federal immigration detention since President Donald Trump took office, including 13 in the first three months of this year alone—the highest annual total on record since the Department of Homeland Security began operating in 2003, according to the New York Times. The deaths come as the number of immigrants in ICE custody has nearly doubled in 14 months. The Times’ full investigation is available here.
New Jersey man arrested in plot to firebomb Palestinian activist’s home: Federal authorities arrested Alexander Heifler, 26, of Hoboken, New Jersey, on Thursday after an undercover New York City Police Department operation uncovered his plot to firebomb the Brooklyn home of Nerdeen Kiswani, a prominent Palestinian activist and co-founder of Within Our Lifetime. Heifler, identified as a member of JDL 613 Brotherhood—a New Jersey-based group founded in 2024 and inspired by the original Jewish Defense League—was apprehended while assembling eight Molotov cocktails and had planned to flee to Israel following the attack, the AP reported.
House forces floor vote on Haitian temporary protected status: A discharge petition to force a House floor vote on restoring temporary protected status for Haitian migrants reached the required 218 names on Friday. The petition, sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) secured support from four Republicans—Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), and Don Bacon (R-Neb.). The resolution would direct the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for temporary protected status through January 20, 2029, protecting roughly 350,000 Haitian nationals from deportation. The Trump administration had moved to revoke Haitian temporary protected status, but a federal judge blocked the policy last month. The case is now before the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear both the Haiti case and a similar challenge involving Syria’s temporary protected status designation.
Body camera footage shows rough arrest of 19-year-old who later died in ICE custody: Body camera footage obtained by Miami New Times shows the January 21 arrest of Royer Perez-Jimenez, a 19-year-old Mexican national who later died at the Glades County Detention Center in Florida in what ICE has described as a “presumed” suicide. The footage shows officers tackling Perez to the ground near Daytona Beach after he allegedly failed to stop when approached for crossing traffic lanes outside a crosswalk, with officers kneeling on his back while handcuffing him as he cried out in distress. Perez, who speaks Tzotzil, an Indigenous Mayan language, initially could not communicate with officers. Perez was transferred to ICE custody following his arrest and died last week. A full account of the new evidence is available from the New Times, here.
Other International News
Pakistan shells Afghan city as renewed fighting kills civilians: Afghanistan accused Pakistan’s military of shelling the outskirts of Asadabad, the capital of Kunar Province, on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 16 others, mostly women and children, according to Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, who said mortars and heavy weaponry struck rural areas and civilian homes. Pakistan did not immediately respond to the accusations. The latest violence follows a brief Eid al-Fitr truce mediated by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar that expired earlier this week, with renewed fighting erupting Wednesday. The current conflict, which began in late February after a series of cross border clashes and militant attacks. Pakistan has declared it is in “open war” with Afghanistan, citing Kabul’s alleged harboring of the Pakistani Taliban, a charge the Afghan government denies.
Russian tanker to deliver oil to Cuba, easing blockade: A Russian tanker carrying approximately 730,000 barrels of crude oil is expected to reach Cuba, easing a months-long blockade, according to U.S. officials cited by the New York Times. The tanker is expected to arrive at Matanzas, Cuba by Tuesday. With U.S. Coast Guard vessels in the area opting not to intercept, the decision also avoids a direct confrontation with Russia near U.S. waters. “We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, cause they have to survive,” said President Trump on Sunday. “If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with it.”
Airstrikes hit PMF base in Kirkuk and Kurdish leader’s residence in Duhok: Airstrikes struck a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Kirkuk on Saturday, killing at least three fighters and wounding up to seven others, according to a PMF statement and reports cited by Al Jazeera. The PMF said its Northern and East Tigris Operations Command headquarters was hit in three separate strikes. U.S. and Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted the PMF, a state-affiliated paramilitary network operating under the Iraqi government, in recent weeks, killing dozens of fighters. Another U.S.-Israeli airstrike killed two Iraqi police officers and wounded five others in Mosul on Saturday, in what Iraq’s Interior Ministry described as a deliberate double-tap attack.
Sudanese paramilitaries kill 14 in Kordofan offensive, including five children: The Rapid Support Forces and allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North fighters launched a major offensive Saturday on Dilling, the capital of South Kordofan province, killing at least 14 people including five children and two women, and wounding at least 23 others, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. The group said RSF forces shelled residential areas during the hourslong attack, and the Sudanese military said it repelled the assault.
Sudanese army claims it repels RSF offensive in Blue Nile region: The Sudanese army said Sunday it repelled a joint Rapid Support Forces and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North attack on the Al-Kaili area in the southern Blue Nile region, according to Sudan Tribune. The army claimed 94 opposition fighters were killed in the attack, four combat vehicles were destroyed, and several fighters were captured.
Russia and Ukraine trade strikes, no negotiations underway: Russian strikes hit Odesa and Kryvyi Rih early Saturday, killing at least four people and wounding more than a dozen others. Russian drones also struck three Naftogaz gas production facilities in the Poltava region on Saturday, killing one person, Ukraine’s state energy company said. A Russian glide bomb strike on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine killed three people and wounded 13 on Sunday, including a 13-year-old boy, Reuters reported. Russian attacks also struck the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka and the city of Sloviansk to the north.
Ukrainian drone strikes Russian port city: A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person, injured eight, and triggered fires across residential, social, and industrial sites in the southern Russian port city of Taganrog on Sunday, local officials said. Taganrog Mayor Svetlana Kambulova described widespread damage across the city.
Ukraine signs defense deals with Arab countries: Ukraine signed long-term defense agreements with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan aimed at expanding defense and economic cooperation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is interested in strengthening its anti-ballistic capabilities and securing energy supplies and in exchange, it would provide its drone expertise and technology.
Spain bars U.S. aircraft involved in strikes on Iran: Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. military aircraft involved in attacks on Iran, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Monday. The move expands Spain’s earlier restrictions on U.S. access to jointly operated bases in the country.
Ecuador moves up elections: Ecuador’s National Electoral Council has moved the 2027 local elections from February 2027 to November 2026, a move critics say is politically motivated and is aimed at holding the vote before the country’s electricity crisis worsens. Ecuador’s electoral authority alleges that the change, labeled as unconstitutional by legal experts, is necessary to avoid the impact of the “El Niño” climate phenomenon. The decision follows a ruling by the electoral court to temporarily ban the largest opposition party.
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Israel kills, Israel kills . . . . . is that all Israel is good at? Killing children, journalists, civilians, paramedics, students . . . whomever it wishes to kill. It's just an endless report of Israel killing people.
So Trump wants to bomb energy facilities, "take their oil," kill their leaders -- this is state thuggery and terrorism.
And let's not forget that we have nothing to gain from this war, no benefit to our nation.
We did this because we became a puppet of the otherl nation that excelsin thuggery and terrorism: Israel.