Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command who abruptly announced he was stepping down in October, was pushed out by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The report said that Hegseth and Holsey were at odds during the first months of the Trump administration, and the tension intensified when Holsey expressed concerns about the “murky legal authority” for the bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in Latin America, which is clearly illegal under US and international law. Holsey also objected that parts of the operation fell outside...

President Trump sent a short handwritten letter to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda leader who took power in Damascus with his group of jihadists, known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), nearly one year ago. “Ahmed, you will be a great leader — and the United States will help!” Trump said in the note, which was delivered by Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, who has also served as an envoy to Syria. Attached to the letter was a photo of Trump and Sharaa’s Oval Office meeting that took place last month. Barrack met with Sharaa in Damascus on Monday, and, according to...

Pope Leo XIV has warned the US against invading Venezuela to oust President Nicolas Maduro amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean and threats of the US launching a regime change war. Leo was asked about the US threats against Venezuela during a press conference he held on his way back from Lebanon, where he prayed for peace in the war-torn nation that faces the threat of an escalation of ongoing Israeli attacks. The US-born pontiff pointed out to reporters the mixed signals coming from the Trump administration and urged dialogue. “On the one hand, it seems there has been a...

The Israeli military on Saturday killed two brothers, a nine-year-old and a ten-year-old, in southern Gaza as it continues to violate the US-backed ceasefire deal by launching attacks against Palestinians. The boys were identified as Fadi and Juma Abu Assi, and according to family members, they had gone out to gather wood for their wheelchair-bound father in Bani Suheila, a town to the east of Khan Younis and close to the so-called “yellow line,” the de facto boundary that separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the rest of the Strip. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the boys were killed when a...

France and the UK are still insisting that troops from NATO countries must be deployed to Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal, an idea that Russia has repeatedly rejected. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired a virtual meeting on Tuesday night of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” referring to countries willing to deploy troops to post-war Ukraine. According to POLITICO, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took part in the call and told the European officials that the US wants a peace deal before agreeing to any security guarantees for...

President Trump has told his advisers that he’s planning to speak directly with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Axios reported on Monday, citing administration officials. While the Trump administration has continued to build up its forces in the Caribbean, bomb boats in the region, and leak information to the media that suggests it’s preparing a regime change operation in Venezuela, Trump has signaled in recent weeks that he’s open to diplomacy with Maduro’s government after previously cutting off talks. “I see a diplomatic solution as being very likely,” one Trump adviser told Axios....

The Israeli military launched strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 28 Palestinians, including 17 women and children, as it continues to violate the US-backed ceasefire deal. The Israeli military claimed that its forces came under fire in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, but provided no evidence, and according to Israeli media, there were no casualties among IDF troops, and the attack occurred on the Israeli-occupied side of the yellow line. Hamas later denied that its fighters fired on Israeli troops, and called the claim “a weak and exposed attempt to justify their ongoing crimes...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday again rejected the idea of US military intervention against cartels in Mexico, comments that came a day after President Trump said he was willing to launch strikes on Mexican territory to stem the flow of drugs. “It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said, according to The Associated Press. “He (Trump) has suggested it on various occasions, or he has said, ‘we offer you a United States military intervention in Mexico, whatever you need to fight the criminal groups.'” The Mexican leader added that she has told Trump “on every occasion that we can...