attack

On April 1, a British court is set to rule in an important trial that could define the limits of mass protest in Britain. Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Chris Nineham, vice chair of Stop the War Coalition, were both charged with breaching the Public Order Act 1986 for organising a pro-Palestine demonstration in London on January 18, 2025, on which the police had imposed conditions.

Last week, Judge Daniel Sternberg refused to dismiss the case, despite evidence provided by defence barrister Mark Summers that protesters did not break the conditions, nor had any intention to do so. The trial is seen as yet another indication of the rapidly shrinking space for the free expression of dissent in Britain.

Politicised policing

The proceedings in the trial against Jamal and Nineham have revealed the extraordinarily close relationship between the Metropolitan Police and Zionist groups. This includes the police accepting recommendations from these groups about the Palestine movement’s demonstration routes.

In negotiations between protest leaders and the police ahead of the January 18 demonstration, the police had agreed in principle to a demonstration forming up outside the BBC headquarters in central London, which is close to the Central Synagogue. Protesters had assembled there before and were keen to do so again in order to highlight the BBC’s pro-Israel bias.

During the trial, it was revealed that police commander Adam Slonecki received a letter from the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), which threatened a judicial review if he failed to impose conditions on the protest. Slonecki had also had a series of meetings with various pro-Israeli groups after receiving the letter.

On December 20, he met with protest organisers and explained – without offering evidence or mentioning the meetings that had taken place – that the demonstrations were producing a “cumulative impact” in the form of serious disruption to the Jewish way of life, and that protesters were to be banned from marching in the vicinity of the BBC.

Ultimately, the police allowed only a static protest on January 18, at Whitehall. In a carefully worded speech on the day, Jamal announced from the stage that a small delegation of protesters would walk towards the BBC to lay flowers in memory of those killed in Gaza. If prevented, they would lay the flowers at the feet of the police and disperse. The police allege that Jamal’s speech constituted incitement to breach the conditions.

In fact, as protesters waited for the police to decide where the flowers could be laid, Nineham was violently arrested.

The defence argued that the police were unduly influenced by pro-Israeli pressure in the run-up to the demonstration and failed to facilitate the right to protest. That the police commander did not make any effort to meet with sections of the Jewish community that are pro-Palestine validates the suggestion of police bias.

Growing restrictions on protest

The trial of Jamal and Nineham should be seen within the context of growing efforts by successive British governments to limit the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

In 2022, the British Parliament approved the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which expanded police powers to impose conditions based on the location and size of protests, and noise levels. It has been considered an affront to civil liberties, in part because it follows a logic that relies on police perception of risk rather than actual harm.

In 2023, the Conservatives introduced amendments to strengthen Public Order Act 1986, which remains the primary legislation for policing protests in the country. Public Order Act 2023 provides police with greater powers to prevent protests that are deemed disruptive – with vague definitions of what constitutes disruption – and includes pre-emptive restrictions around freedoms of assembly and association.

Both acts are widely criticised for having a chilling effect on people seeking to exercise the legitimate democratic right to protest.

Also in 2023, then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman attempted to push through regulations to lower the threshold for what is considered “serious disruption”, but this was struck down by the Court of Appeal in 2025, which ruled that the government had exceeded its powers.

Now the Labour government – in lockstep with the Conservatives – is seeking to further expand police discretion over the regulation of protest through the Crime and Policing Bill, one element of which is managing “cumulative impact”.

Over 100 MPs have expressed opposition to it, in addition to campaigning groups, because it would restrict protests based on frequency, not behaviour, and make protests more conditional and subject to police discretion.

In parallel, the government is trying to push through a bill that would cut in half the number of trials that go to jury. If this legislation passes, fewer protest-related cases may reach juries, reducing resistance to unpopular laws.

This is on top of the amendments made last year to The Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support the organisation, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. These came after a group of Palestine Action activists – known as the Filton 24 – broke into the Elbit Systems drone factory in Bristol to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They were arrested and held on remand, many for over 18 months.

Although they were recently cleared of the most serious charges, and the organisation was successful in pleading for a judicial review that ruled that the home secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation was unlawful, the police have already made 2,700 arrests and will continue arrests pending the outcome of an appeal.

Already, one of the Filton 24, Qesser Zuhrah, was rearrested on March 30 for a social media post calling for “direct action”.

Cumulative impact

The imposition of tougher legislation was introduced in response to climate protesters and anti-monarchy protesters. Now it is being reinforced over Palestine protest. But it is clear that it won’t stop there.

If implemented, the proposed legislation around cumulative impact could be used against any group of people exercising democratic rights, whether trade unionists or anti-war campaigners, curbing their ability to organise freely.

It could also serve to reinforce division in society, as measures are increasingly deployed at police discretion. Recently, for example, the police have not given protest organisers permission to march on their proposed route for the annual Nakba Day demonstration on May 16, while they have granted Tommy Robinson, a notorious fascist, the whole of central London to do its far-right march.

Whatever the outcome of Jamal and Nineham’s trial on April 1, there needs to be a society-wide mobilisation to defend the rights to free speech and assembly. This is no longer just about the Palestinian cause, but about British democracy.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

A new economic partner?

Libertad Velasco, a Chavista who grew up in the 23 de Enero neighbourhood, was only a teenager when Chavez came to power.

She went on to become one of the founding members of the youth wing of Chavez’s party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Eventually, she became the head of a government agency to expand access to higher education to members of vulnerable communities.

Still, Velasco described the period after Maduro’s abduction as a sort of awakening.

“It’s like we’re looking at ourselves without makeup,” Velasco said. “Now, everything is laid bare, revealed in its purest state, and we are beginning to recognise ourselves again.”

Since the US attack and Maduro’s removal, Velasco has thought deeply about her “red lines”: the ideals she feels should not be violated under the new government.

Standing up against invasive foreign powers remains one of her top priorities.

“I refuse to be colonised,” Velasco said. “For me, we shouldn’t have relations with Israel, and abandoning anti-imperialism is non-negotiable.”

Yet Velasco does not believe that the Venezuelan government has crossed that line yet. Rather, she is open to the prospect of the US as a trading partner to Venezuela, paying for access to its natural resources.

“It is a customer who should pay market price for the product they need. If Venezuela must act as a market player to lift people out of suffering, I can go along with that,” Velasco said.

But it is unclear whether that is happening. Critics point out that the Trump administration has demanded greater control over Venezuela’s natural resources. It has even claimed that Chavez stole Venezuelan oil from US hands.

Already, Venezuela has surrendered nearly 50 million barrels of oil to the US, with the Trump administration splitting the proceeds between the two countries.

Rodriguez, Venezuela’s interim president, has also agreed to submit a monthly budget to the US for approval.

Among Chavistas, there remains debate about whether the relationship with the US is beneficial or exploitative.

But economic recovery is an overwhelming priority for many Venezuelans of all political leanings. Under Maduro, Venezuela entered one of its worst economic crises in history. Inflation is currently at 600 percent, and living standards remain low.

Many Chavista loyalists blame US sanctions for their economic woes. Yet, analysts credit a combination of factors, including declining oil prices, economic mismanagement and pervasive corruption.

Delia Bracho, 68, lives in a district of Caracas called Caricuao, where water is delivered just once a week. Once a committed Chavista, she said her faith in the movement has faded.

Today’s movement, she explained, has been “ruined”, and she no longer wants anything to do with it.

“It’s like when you put on a pair of shoes,” she said. “They break, and you throw them away. Are you going to pick them up again, knowing they are no longer useful?”

Despite her initial fear after the US intervention, Bracho said she now feels cautiously optimistic that Venezuela might change for the better.

“It’s not that everything is fixed, but there is a different atmosphere — one of hope.”

Italian press reports that the government has refuse to authorise US to land bombers at a base in Sicily for transit to the Middle East, where they could be used to strike Iran.

Sunday evenings are usually a beehive of commercial activity at Angwan Rukuba Junction, but it turned deadly on March 29, at around 7:45 p.m., when assailants opened fire on people at random in the area, located in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA), Plateau State, in North Central Nigeria.

Eyewitnesses gave differing accounts of the attackers’ arrival, with some saying they came in a red Sharon van, while others reported they arrived on motorcycles. They were described as dressed in black camouflage, with their faces covered, and armed with guns and cutlasses. The motive and identity of the assailants remain unknown, and no group has claimed responsibility.

At least 27 people were killed, including a pregnant woman, while others were injured, according to Dalyop Mwantiri, President of the Berom Youth Moulders Association.

Sunday Akintola, a resident, said the high number of casualties was due to people being caught unawares, as residents initially assumed the gunshots were stray bullets from officers of the National Drug Enforcement Agency, which “usually come to harass young men in the area”. “Once people stepped in, they were shot at close range, while others were chased and struck with machetes,” he noted.

Although there is a police station at the junction where the incident occurred, residents said the response was slow, alleging that some officers on duty fled when the attack began, before reinforcements later arrived from the state headquarters.

Alfred Alabo, the spokesperson of the Plateau Police Command, says they “are currently combing the nearby bushes to ensure that the suspects are arrested or dislodged”.

Angwan Rukuba is located just 10 minutes from both the Jos Main Market and University of Jos facilities, including the Senior Staff Quarters, Main Campus, and Permanent Site, as well as private housing for university staff and students. It also borders a large stretch of hills, including the popular Gog and Magog.

Notably, it is not a rural farming settlement or a mining community, but a densely populated, urban residential area with a diverse mix of residents, including students, civil servants, and traders. As such, the incident does not fit the typical pattern of farmer–herder clashes often reported in Plateau State.

“This is right inside Jos. It is a mixed community; it is really a melting pot because everybody is here, and an injury to one is an injury to all,” said Julie Sanda, Director General of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA). “It was an unprovoked attack.”

Violence in Plateau State is multidimensional, involving terror attacks, conflict between farmers and herders in rural communities, and ethno-religious tensions that have rocked the city since 2001. However, one thing is common about these incidents in the Jos–Bukuru metropolis: they often lead to revenge attacks among ethno-religious groups, driven by deep-seated mistrust, which has in turn contributed to polarised settlements.

“If you know anything about Jos, if this incident had happened ten years ago, I don’t think we would be here today. It shows the resilience of the people and their courage,” Julie said.

Shortly after the attack on Sunday, the Plateau State Government imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Jos North LGA until Wednesday, April 1. However, residents took to the streets in protest, displaying the bodies of the deceased. Additionally, the University of Jos has rescheduled its ongoing semester examinations. Caleb Mutfwang, the state governor, also visited the community on Monday, March 30.

“I assure you that those responsible for this evil act will not go unpunished,” he said.

The state government has also reiterated its ban on commercial motorcycles in the Jos–Bukuru metropolis, which covers Jos North and Jos South LGAs. “Meanwhile, the hours of operation for tricycle riders (keke) still remain 6:00 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” according to Davou Gyang Jatua, the state Commissioner of Transport.

Residents who spoke to HumAngle said that, in recent months, unfamiliar motorcyclists — some of whom do not know locations within the metropolis — have been moving around. “Whenever I see keke and okada (motorcycles) out very late, I know there’s a risk of evil acts being perpetrated using them,” said Zoe Machunga, a Jos resident.

In the weeks leading up to the attack, some social media accounts had posted videos inciting violence in Jos, although it remains unclear whether such messaging contributed to the incident. The governor said the social media users responsible for the posts have been apprehended, a claim confirmed by Alfred, the police spokesperson, during a radio interview on Monday.

“Injustice has made healing difficult in Plateau State,” said Joseph Lengmang, a peace and security expert and former Director General of PPBA. “Peacebuilding efforts remain incomplete, and some underlying issues still need to be addressed.”

Smoke billows above buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike that followed Israeli warnings targeting the area. The neighbourhood has been largely emptied after residents were forcibly displaced by repeated Israeli attacks since the war with Hezbollah began on March 2.

Iran’s parliament speaker has accused the United States of plotting a ground attack despite publicly pushing for a negotiated deal, as the US deploys thousands of military personnel to the Middle East.

“Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement on Sunday, carried by the official IRNA news agency, as Iran struggled with power cuts amid escalating Israeli attacks on central and western areas of the country.

Iran’s Ministry of Energy reported power outages in the capital, Tehran, its surrounding region and neighbouring Alborz province on Sunday, “following attacks on electricity industry facilities”. The Fars news agency reported later that the outages were being resolved.

It was unclear whether the attacks were related to US President Donald Trump’s threats to strike Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if Tehran did not agree to a deal to end the war. Trump extended his deadline by 10 days through April 6 as Washington presented a 15-point plan for peace that critics described as “maximalist”.

Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said that authorities had activated substations to restore power. “This gives an indication of how much they’ve been also preparing for such situations,” he said.

Ghalibaf’s comments on Iran’s readiness for a ground assault came as The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of limited ground operations in Iran, potentially including raids on Kharg Island, a crude export hub, and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz shipping chokepoint.

As the US-Israel war on Iran stretches into its fifth week, the Trump administration is also planning to send thousands of soldiers from the army’s 82nd Airborne to the region, following a US Central Command (CENTCOM) announcement Saturday that about 3,500 military personnel had arrived in the Middle East on board the USS Tripoli.

IRGC threatens retaliation after university attacks

The Israeli military said it dropped more than 120 munitions on sites used for research, development, and production of weaponry in Tehran on Sunday.

Iran’s Ministry of Health reported that 2,076 people had been killed since the start of the war, including 216 children.

Among the deaths, six people were killed in a US-Israeli attack on a residential area in the Iranian village of Osmavandan, according to the Mehr news agency, which added that five houses were destroyed and 22 were severely damaged.

A university in Iran’s central city of Isfahan said it was hit by US-Israeli air strikes on Sunday for the second time since the war erupted, leaving four university staff members wounded.

The strike followed an attack the previous day on Iran’s University of Science and Technology. After that attack, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would target two Israeli or US universities in the region in retaliation, according to Iranian state television.

Hossein Sadeghi, head of the Information and Public Relations Center at Iran’s Ministry of Education, told the IRNA news agency that at least 250 students and teachers have been killed amid strikes on 600 educational facilities across Iran since the war began.

Also on Sunday, a commercial building housing Qatar’s Al-Araby TV in Tehran was hit, with video footage showing walls and windows blown out of the multistorey block. “It was a real miracle we survived,” said Al Araby camera operator Mohammadreza Shademan. “There was no military target here”.

As the civilian cost of the war mounts, Iran is demanding compensation in a five-point plan presented to the US.

That plan also includes a halt to killings of Iranian officials, an end to hostilities, safeguards against the outbreak of more war, and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz”.

Iran, Hezbollah launch attacks

Israel’s military said on Sunday evening that it had detected seven new incoming missile salvoes fired from Iran during the day. These coincided with Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel, with sirens triggered in more than 100 towns.

Israel’s ADAMA, a pesticide maker in the Neot Hovav industrial zone, located 9km (6 miles) south of the city of Beersheba, said its Makhteshim plant was hit either by an Iranian missile or debris ⁠from a missile. No casualties were reported, and no leak of hazardous materials was found.

Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said it was “an incident that raises a lot of alarms”.

“This industrial zone has about 19 different factories, including a bromide factory and some pharmaceutical factories. But it’s also home to the main hazardous disposal sites in Israel. So a lot is at stake here,” she said.

Another missile hit open ground near homes in Beersheba, injuring 11 people.

Israeli media reported that missile fragments fell on the northern port city of Haifa after missiles launched by Iran and Hezbollah were intercepted.

Houthis enter fray amid talks

As the war raged on, foreign ministers from Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad, looking to de-escalate the conflict, which has also ensnarled Gulf nations hosting US military assets.

Across the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted 16 ballistic missiles and 42 drones launched from Iran, while Saudi Arabia reported downing 10 drones. Sirens sounded in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Iranian army said it had targeted US forces based in Jordan, launching drones on the living quarters and military equipment sites at the Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Azraq, the ISNA news agency reported.

Meanwhile, readying itself for attacks amid the US military build-up, an Iranian naval commander, cited by state media, said Iran had complete control of waters near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil.

He said Iran was waiting for US forces to come within range, warning they could be targeted with coastal missile systems.

As oil prices shoot up and the world’s economy slides, the arrival of Yemen’s Houthis into the conflict, with Saturday’s strikes on Israel, further complicates matters, raising fears that the Yemeni group could block the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza upended commercial traffic worth about $1 trillion a year.

March 28 (UPI) — Law enforcement in Paris arrested one person and is pursuing another after they allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device outside a bank there.

The two suspected attackers attempted to detonate the device near Bank of America’s headquarters in France’s capitol, French officials confirmed on Saturday afternoon.

“Bravo for the swift intervention of a prefecture of of police crew that made it possible to thwart a violent action of a terrorist nature last night in Paris,” France’s minister of the interior, Laurent Nunez, said in a post on X.

“The investigation continues … Vigilance remains more than ever at a high level,” he said.

Around 3:30 a.m. early Saturday morning, officers in the area saw two people carrying a shopping bag, out of which came a container of some type of fuel taped to a tube that the duo attempted to light, the French radio station RTL reported.

The suspect who was caught by police told them he had been recruited online and was paid about $700 for the attempted attack.

Attacks have been committed at synagogues, Jewish schools and facilities, and near businesses associated with the United States and Israel in a handful of countries since the start of the war in Iran.

France, in particular, has ramped up security on the lookout for terrorist attacks.

The Iran-linked group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya posted video on Telegram of a bank in France last week which included a push to attack Bank of America in Paris because it “is not just a bank, but a shadowy Zionist force,” The Telegraph reported.

“This bank sends vast investments to Israel, while simultaneously strengthening Jewish economy, culture and politics in France,” the group said in the video. “Through its support for Zionist schools, associations, companies and urban development projects, Bank of America has become a ‘financial and strategic force’ in the European Zionist arena.”

Interior minister says ‘vigilance at high level’, after police arrest suspect before setting off explosive device outside US bank’s headquarters.

French authorities have opened an investigation into a foiled ⁠attack targeting Bank of America’s Paris headquarters after police detained one suspect who was allegedly attempting to ignite an explosive device outside the building.

In a social media post on Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the swift intervention by police had “thwarted a violent terrorist attack” in the French capital the previous night.

French newspaper Le Parisien cited a police source as saying the suspect was arrested at about 3:25am local time (02:25 GMT) outside the bank’s local headquarters in the city’s 8th arrondissement as he tried to light a device consisting of a five-litre (1.3-gallon) container filled with an unidentified liquid and an explosive charge made up of about 650 grams (23 ounces) of powder.

The suspect was taken into custody, while a second individual who was present fled the scene and remains at large. The device was taken to the Paris police’s forensics lab for full analysis.

The National Terrorism Prosecution Office told the Reuters news agency the suspected offences included attempted destruction by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a “terrorist plot”, as well as ⁠the making, possession ⁠and transport of an incendiary or explosive device with intent ⁠to carry out dangerous damage.

The probe ⁠also includes a ⁠charge of participation in a “terrorist” criminal association, covering potential ‌links to accomplices or a broader network, it said.

“Vigilance remains at a very high level,” said Nunez on X, thanking “security and intelligence forces, who are fully mobilised under my authority” in what he called the “current international context”, seemingly with reference to the escalating situation in parts of the Middle East amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Earlier in the week, Nunez had said that authorities had stepped up the personal protection of some figures from the Iranian opposition and increased security around sites that risked being targeted, including sites linked to US interests and to the Jewish community.

A spokesperson for Bank of America told Reuters the organisation was “aware of the situation” and “communicating with the authorities”.

Short-range kamikaze drones operated by an Iran-backed militia appear to have successfully targeted a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter and a critical air defense radar at an American base in Iraq. This is the first known example of a successful attack of this kind on a U.S. military aircraft. It’s also not the first time we have seen evidence of these kinds of drones zipping over the same installation in recent weeks.

The incidents underscore the reality of the threat posed by small drones in the Middle East, where a wide variety of nefarious players have already employed these systems for surveillance and attacks against U.S. forces on multiple occasions, for years now. It is also a preview of what the U.S. could end up facing on its own homefront as it grapples with constant and sometimes highly perplexing drone incursions over sensitive bases and facilities. Even since the war began, there have been very alarming drone incursions over one of America’s most important bases that houses nuclear weapons and B-52 bombers that carry them. You can read all about these developments here.

One of the videos that began circulating yesterday, filmed from a first-person view (FPV) drone, shows a pair of Black Hawk helicopters sitting in a compound, protected only by a low blast wall. The video feed cuts out just before detonation, on or close to the main rotor, but the assumption is that one of these helicopters (at least) was struck.

The location has been identified as the Victory Base Complex (VBC), a cluster of U.S. military installations surrounding Baghdad International Airport close to the Iraqi capital.

As for the helicopter, this appears to be a medical evacuation (medevac) configured HH-60M, emphasized by the video editing, in which it seems the prominent identification panels marked with red crosses have been obscured.

Whether the helicopter was damaged or even destroyed by the drone is unclear at this point, but most significant is the fact that such a target was able to be engaged by a relatively simple, low-cost threat. The same goes for the second video, where the extent of the damage is much clearer.

The target in this case is a container-based AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar, a system used to alert and cue short-range air defense (SHORAD) weapons, including the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS). The radar is in operating mode, its antenna clearly rotating.

A video showing a U.S. Army AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar in action with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade:

Sentinel Radar

This footage includes the perspective from another drone, which confirms that the radar was hit, after which it is seen burning.

While it’s clear that more than one drone was in the vicinity of the radar during the attack, there have also been unconfirmed reports that the militia used some kind of swarming tactics, or at least multiple kamikaze drones to perpetrate this attack, with some degree of coordination.

Reportedly, the attacks on the Black Hawk and Sentinel radar occurred yesterday. In both cases, it is apparent that there is no degradation in the video feeds as they drop very low over the ground, even behind structures. This might be the result of the drones having been launched very close to their targets, or that they used fiber-optic control links. Both those scenarios are alarming, but a fiber-optic FPV drone would explain why passive sensor systems would not have detected them as they approached the base.

The drone strikes are notable for a number of other reasons.

First, there is no sign of air defenses attempting to engage the incoming drones.

Of course, a response to the drones in the form of electronic warfare and cyber warfare, or other ‘soft-kill’ options, is a possibility. In regards to other counter-drone capabilities, there is no indication that the limited number of directed-energy weapons the U.S. has were deployed to this facility, while surface-to-air interceptors are not generally suitable for engaging such small drones. Other options would include gun-based systems, as well as drone-based systems, like the Coyote, and the laser-rocket-slinging VAMPIRE. On the other hand, we also know there is a chronic scarcity of many of these systems.

Video footage shows Block 2+ Coyote drones engaging drones in an undated demonstration:

Raytheon Missiles & Defense proves counter-UAS effectiveness against enemy drones

It should also be noted that, for all their relative simplicity and low cost, FPV drones are very hard to spot and target, especially when they are moving quickly at very low level. In many cases, they will evade detection by traditional radars, while even microwave radars, tailored for counter-drone work, can provide sporadic coverage at very low altitude.

The apparent vulnerability of the Victory Base Complex is all the more surprising since this is not the first time that the same installation has been targeted by FPV drones.

Earlier this month, videos emerged showing drones purportedly belonging to the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.

There have been suggestions that all of these various videos may have been recorded during the same (complex) attack, although the latest footage appears to come from a separate attack on a different date.

Thirdly, the threat posed by drones of this kind, while proliferating significantly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has been recognized long before that.

Last year, we reported on how U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had created a new task force specifically to counter the growing threats posed by small drones at home and abroad.

“There’s no doubt that the threats we face today from hostile drones grow by the day,” Hegseth stated at the time. “Emerging technologies — we see it in battlefields, in far-flung places, and we see it on our own border in small unmanned aerial systems. [These drones] target and bring harm on all warfighters, our people, our bases, and frankly, the sovereignty of our national airspace.”

Hegseth said the Pentagon “must focus on speed over process” when it came to new counter-drone efforts. 

Clearly, the U.S. military desperately needs a more potent counter-drone plan after years of incidents in which its assets at home and overseas have faced small drone incursions, many of which were of publicly unknown origin. TWZ was the first to report about drones flying over Langley Air Force Base in December 2023, as well as incursions last year over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Picatinny Arsenal, and many others in the U.S., and four bases in England. And these are just the tip of the iceberg: drone swarms have also harassed U.S. Navy ships off the coast of California, and other drones have been detected flying over nuclear energy plants and other sensitive areas, such as military training areas and airports.

Once in a conflict zone, the threat posed by small drones is even more glaring.

While there have been various regulatory barriers that have prevented the fielding of more robust drone defense of key installations and assets in the United States, this is not such a problem in Iraq, and especially in the course of a regional conflict.

It is notable, too, that there have been reports that some type of quadcopter-type drones may have been used for surveillance ahead of the Iranian strike on a U.S. logistics operations center in Kuwait on March 1. That attack led to the deaths of six U.S. service members, and more were wounded.

The incidents also underscore the very real risk faced by military infrastructure in the United States, a point that TWZ has repeatedly raised in the past. In particular, near-field attacks like these pose a huge threat and one that is hard to stop. Compared to a combat theater, something like this could be far more successful at home, where there are fewer defenses and more limited surveillance. As in Iraq, aircraft parked on the ground and radars are highly vulnerable, and the same threat even extends to traditional air defenses.

Operation Spiderweb, a Ukrainian drone attack that targeted multiple bomber bases deep in Russia, showed the world something that we had predicted for years.

On June 1, the Security Service of Ukraine carried out a brilliant operation— on enemy territory, targeting only military objectives, specifically the equipment used to strike Ukraine. Russia suffered significant losses.

In total, 117 drones were used in the operation – with a… pic.twitter.com/PeD1lTx9Nw

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 2, 2025

We have reached out to U.S. Central Command for more information about exactly what happened at the Victory Base Complex, and what kind of defensive measures are in place there.

As we wait for more details to emerge, to paint a fuller picture of these attacks on American assets in Iraq, it is clear that there are still questions to be asked about the resilience of the U.S. military in the face of kamikaze drones and similar threats.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, ex-IRGC commander, to replace late Ali Larijani as chief of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iran has named Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the successor to Ali Larijani, head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), who was killed in a US-Israeli air strike earlier this month.

President Masoud Pezeshkian’s deputy of communications announced the appointment on X on Tuesday.

The SNSC, formally chaired by Pezeshkian, coordinates security and foreign policy and includes top military, intelligence and government officials, in addition to representatives of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Zolghadr, who served in the 1980s war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, went on to become head of the IRGC’s joint staff for eight years and then deputy commander-in-chief of the elite force for another eight years.

In 2005, he was named deputy interior minister for security and police in the government of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a move that was seen at the time as bolstering the IRGC’s influence in politics.

Since 2023, he has been the secretary of the Expediency Council, a powerful body that plays both an advisory and mediating role between Iran’s various power structures and the supreme leader.

Zolghadr’s new position consolidates the IRGC’s growing clout in Iran amid growing uncertainty regarding decision-making at the top of the system. Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he succeeded his assassinated father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in early March.

Larijani, one of the most prominent non-clerical figures in Iranian politics, was killed last Tuesday in a week that saw the war spiralling throughout the region, upending global energy markets and roiling the world economy.

On Tuesday, the war showed no sign of de-escalation after US President Donald Trump’s claim that he was speaking to an unidentified “top person”, as he extended by five days a deadline to hit Iran’s power plants.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said “no negotiations” were under way, accusing Trump of seeking “to manipulate the financial and oil markets”.

“Playing for Wales is the highest honour you can get when you are a player and it’s the same when you are a coach,” said Beck.

“To be asked by Sean to join the set-up for the Women’s 2026 Six Nations is a real privilege and I am excited by the challenge of coaching at Test match level.

“Having worked with a host of the players in the Celtic Challenge, I know the talent we have in Wales and the challenge for the players is to believe they can compete at this level.”

Wales kick off their Six Nations campaign at home to Scotland at Principality Stadium on Saturday, 11 April.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has destroyed over 80,000 civilian units leaving many causalities, according to Iranian officials. Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reports from a residential building hit in a recent attack.

Video shows the aftermath of an airstrike in Iraq’s Anbar province on a headquarters of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilisation Forces, where at least ten people were killed during a commanders’ meeting.

A FOUNDING member of the indie rock band The Zutons has been badly hurt in an “abhorrent” racist attack.

Guitarist Boyan Chowdhury, 46, suffered a serious head injury needing hospital treatment when he was struck by a man with a piece of wood in the Wavertree area of Liverpool just after 2pm on Saturday.

Merseyside Police said Chowdhury, who left the band in 2007, had been “racially abused” after an “altercation” with a gang of men near Fieldway.

Chowdhury said they then struck him on the head with a piece of wood while he was out.

The Zutons star, known for singles like ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’, shared photos of his injuries on social media.

The guitarist wrote on Instagram: “If I hadn’t of turned around I believe I would’ve been struck on the back of the head and dead right now.”

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Cops said the ex-Zutons star sustained a serious head injury and required hospital treatment, following the altercation.

Detective Inspector Debra Morley of Merseyside Police said: “This was a shocking assault that has absolutely no place in our communities.

“To racially abuse someone and then attack him with a weapon is abhorrent and I’m sure the public in Merseyside will be just as appalled as we are about what happened.

“An investigation is ongoing into this incident and we are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

“If you saw this group of males near Fieldway or witnessed the incident, then please come forward.

“Violence and hate crime will simply never be tolerated in our communities.

“We have specially trained officers who respond to reports of hate crime with compassion and sensitivity, ensuring that every piece of information is acted upon to bring offenders to justice.”

Anybody with information can contact police on their social media desk, or call 101 quoting reference 26000226633.

Anonymous information can be given to independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via the online form.

The Zutons released three studio albums between 2004 and 2008, and celebrated nine UK Top 40 singles.

They included two Top 10 singles – Valerie (covered by Amy Winehouse) and Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?

Run by volunteers, it has served the north London community of Golders Green, which has a large Jewish population, since 1979. There are dozens of synagogues throughout the area and according to the London Data Store, 49% of residents in the Golders Green ward identify as Jewish.

A blast occurred in an apartment above a restaurant in Gaza City, causing a blaze. Rescue teams headed to the site to put off the fires. The cause of the blast is suspected to be an Israeli drone attack, several people had died in the blast.

US President Trump, who cut off oil supplies to Cuba after abducting Venezuela’s President Maduro, has threatened to take over the island-nation.

The Cuban government has said it is prepared for any potential United States attacks as the island-nation begins to recover from yet another blackout under a punishing oil blockade imposed by Washington that has pushed its economy to the brink.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio responded on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s threats this week to take over Cuba, insisting that it had “historically been ready to mobilise as a nation for military aggression”.

“We don’t believe it is something that is probable, but we would be naive if we do not prepare,” de Cossio told NBC’s Meet the Press.

His comments were aired a day after the latest collapse of the country’s ageing nationwide grid that had left millions of people in the dark. Saturday’s outage was the second in the past week and the third in March.

The state-run Electric Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines said some 72,000 customers in the capital, Havana, including five hospitals, had electricity again early on Sunday. But the number represented only a fraction of Havana’s total population of approximately two million.

The Cuban Electric Union, which reports to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said the total disconnection of the national system was caused by an unexpected shutdown of a generation unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camaguey province, without providing details on the specific cause of the failure.

Trump, who started blocking oil from reaching the island after abducting Cuba’s ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, early this year, has warned potential oil exporters that they could face high tariffs.

According to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba has not received oil from foreign suppliers for three months. The country produces barely 40 percent of the fuel it needs to power its economy.

On March 16, Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba, arguing the leadership was on the verge of collapse and saying he expected to have the “honour” of taking the country.

De Cossio denied that the nature, structure, or makeup of the Cuban government was up for negotiation in what Havana has called a “serious and responsible” dialogue with Washington launched earlier this month. He added that a change of the ruling system was “absolutely” off the table in discussions.

This week, General Francis Donovan, head of the US Southern Command overseeing armed forces in Latin America, told lawmakers at a US Senate hearing on Trump’s military action in the region that troops were not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba or actively preparing to take over the Communist-run island.

But, he added, the US stood ready to address any threats to the US embassy, to defend its base at Guantanamo Bay, and aid US government efforts to address any mass migration from the island, if needed.

The Cuban government reportedly refused a request by the embassy in Havana to allow it to import diesel for its generators in response to the oil blockade, The Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing two US officials.

Drone footage shows heavy damage to residential buildings in Arad, Israel, after an overnight Iranian missile strike.

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

President Trump, responding on social media, said: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” He added: “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: Preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

Later, he was special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Russia’s attempts to help Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign amounted to illegal cooperation to sway the outcome.

Mueller was a patrician Princeton graduate and Vietnam veteran who walked away from a lucrative midcareer job to stay in public service, and his old-school, buttoned-down style made him an anachronism during a social-media-saturated era.

In a statement, former President Obama called Mueller “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI” who saved “countless lives” after transforming the bureau. “But it was his relentless commitment to the rule of law and his unwavering belief in our bedrock values that made him one of the most respected public servants of our time,” Obama added.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The FBI Agents Assn., a nonprofit advocacy group representing current and former agency employees, lauded Mueller for his “commitment to public service and to the FBI’s mission.“

Investigator of a sitting president

The second-longest-serving director in FBI history, behind only J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller held the job until 2013 after agreeing to Obama’s request to stay on beyond his 10-year term.

After several years in private law practice, Mueller was asked by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to return to public service as special counsel in the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Mueller’s stern visage and taciturn demeanor matched the seriousness of the mission, as his team spent nearly two years quietly conducting one of the most consequential, and divisive, investigations in Justice Department history. He held no news conferences and made no public appearances during the investigation, remaining quiet despite attacks from Trump and his supporters and creating an aura of mystery around his work.

All told, Mueller brought criminal charges against six of the president’s associates, including his campaign chairman and first national security advisor.

His 448-page report released in April 2019 identified substantial contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy. He laid out damaging details about Trump’s efforts to seize control of the investigation, and even shut it down, though he declined to decide whether Trump had broken the law, in part because of Justice Department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president.

In perhaps the most memorable language of the report, Mueller pointedly noted: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

The nebulous conclusion did not deliver the knockout punch to the administration that some Trump opponents had hoped for, nor did it trigger a sustained push by House Democrats to impeach the president — though he was later tried and acquitted on impeachment charges related to pressuring Ukraine for campaign dirt on Joe Biden and Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riot and insurrection.

The outcome of the Mueller investigation also left room for Atty. Gen. William Barr to insert his own views. He and his team made their own determination that Trump did not obstruct justice, and he and Mueller privately tangled over a four-page summary letter from Barr that Mueller argued did not adequately capture his report’s damaging conclusion.

Mueller deflated Democrats during a highly anticipated congressional hearing on his report when he offered terse, one-word answers and appeared hesitant at times in his testimony. Frequently, he seemed to waver on details of his investigation. It was hardly the commanding performance many had expected from Mueller, who had a towering reputation in Washington.

Over the next months, Barr made clear his own disagreements with the foundations of the Russia investigation, moving to dismiss a false-statements prosecution that Mueller had brought against former national security advisor Michael Flynn, even though that investigation ended in a guilty plea.

Mueller’s tenure as special counsel was the capstone of a career spent in government.

A transformation at the FBI

His time as FBI director was defined by the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath, as the agency — granted broad new surveillance and national security powers — scrambled to confront an ascendant Al Qaeda, interrupt plots and take terrorists off the street before they could act.

It was a new model of policing for an FBI that had long been accustomed to investigating crimes that had already occurred.

When he became FBI director, “I had expected to focus on areas familiar to me as a prosecutor: drug cases, white-collar criminal cases and violent crime,” Mueller told a group of lawyers in October 2012.

Instead, “we had to focus on long-term, strategic change. We had to enhance our intelligence capabilities and upgrade our technology. We had to build upon strong partnerships and forge new friendships, both here at home and abroad.”

In response, the FBI shifted 2,000 of the total 5,000 agents in the bureau’s criminal programs to national security.

In hindsight, the transformation was a success. At the time, there were problems, and Mueller said as much. In a speech near the end of his tenure, he recalled “those days when we were under attack by the media and being clobbered by Congress; when the attorney general was not at all happy with me.”

Among the issues: The Justice Department’s inspector general found that the FBI circumvented the law to obtain thousands of phone call records for terrorism investigations.

Mueller decided that the FBI would not take part in abusive interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists, but the policy was not effectively communicated down the line for nearly two years.

In an effort to move the FBI into a paperless environment, the bureau spent more than $600 million on two computer systems — one that was 2½ years overdue and a predecessor that was only partly completed and had to be scrapped after consultants declared it obsolete and riddled with problems.

For the nation’s top law enforcement agency, it was a rocky trip through rough terrain.

But there were many successes as well, including thwarted terrorism plots and headline-making criminal cases like the one against corporate fraudster Bernie Madoff. The Republican also cultivated an apolitical reputation on the job, nearly quitting in a clash with the Bush administration over a surveillance program that he and his successor, James B. Comey, considered unlawful.

He famously stood alongside Comey, then deputy attorney general, during a dramatic 2004 hospital standoff over federal wiretapping rules. The two men planted themselves at the bedside of the ailing Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to block Bush administration officials from making an end run to get Ashcroft’s permission to reauthorize a secret no-warrant wiretapping program.

In an extraordinary vote of confidence, Congress, at the Obama administration’s request, approved a two-year extension for Mueller to remain at his post beyond its 10-year term.

A Marine who served in Vietnam

Mueller was born in New York City and grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in international relations from New York University. He then joined the Marines, serving three years as an officer during the Vietnam War. He led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals. After his military service, Mueller earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Mueller became a federal prosecutor and relished the work of handling criminal cases. He rose quickly through the ranks in U.S. attorneys’ offices in San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. Later, as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, he oversaw a range of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets as varied as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York crime boss John Gotti.

In a midcareer switch that shocked colleagues, Mueller left a job at a prestigious Boston law firm to join the homicide division of the U.S. attorney’s office in the nation’s capital. There, he immersed himself as a senior litigator in a bulging caseload of unsolved drug-related homicides in a city rife with violence.

Mueller was driven by a career-long passion for the painstaking work of building successful criminal cases. Even as head of the FBI, he would dig into the details of investigations, some of them major cases but others less so, sometimes surprising agents who suddenly found themselves on the phone with the director.

“The management books will tell you that as the head of an organization, you should focus on the vision,” Mueller once said. But “for me there were and are today those areas where one needs to be substantially personally involved,” especially in regard to “the terrorist threat and the need to know and understand that threat to its roots.”

Two terrorist attacks occurred toward the end of Mueller’s watch: the Boston Marathon bombing and the Ft. Hood shootings in Texas. Both weighed heavily on him, he acknowledged in an interview two weeks before his departure.

“You sit down with victims’ families, you see the pain they go through, and you always wonder whether there isn’t something more” that could have been done, he said.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Nicolas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.