Military

Islamabad, Pakistan – The sister of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has told Al Jazeera that the family has rejected a government board’s claims that the cricketer-turned-politician’s eyesight has improved since a court report last week said he had lost most vision in one eye.

A government-appointed medical board examining the jailed ex-leader reported a significant improvement in his eyesight after weeks of controversy over his deteriorating vision. Its medical report, seen by Al Jazeera, claims that Khan’s vision in his right eye has improved from 6/36 to 6/9. His left eye remains at 6/6 vision with the use of glasses.

In ophthalmic terms, 6/6 vision means the person’s eyesight is fine. A 6/9 reading means the person can see at 6 metres (20 feet) what someone with normal vision sees at 9 metres (30 ft).

The assessment was carried out on Sunday by a two-member board comprising doctors Nadeem Qureshi and Muhammad Arif Khan. The specialists conducted a detailed examination at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where the 73-year-old founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been imprisoned since August 2023.

But Khan’s family said it had “no trust” in the authorities.

His sister, Aleema Khan, described it as “extremely concerning and unacceptable” that the government had resisted allowing Khan’s personal doctor and a family representative to be present during the examination and treatment.

“Without the physical presence of both his personal doctor and family representative, we categorically reject any claims made by the government regarding his examination, treatment or medical condition,” Aleema told Al Jazeera.

Aasim Yusuf, chief medical officer of the Imran Khan-founded Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and one of Khan’s personal physicians, said in a video message that he had held a 40-minute conversation with the two doctors who examined Khan on February 15.

In the video, shared by the PTI on social media, Yusuf said the visiting doctors briefed him on the treatment and future plan of care, adding that according to their latest assessment, “Khan had shown significant improvement as a result of treatment and his vision had improved significantly as well”.

“I would be extremely happy if I was able to confirm that this was the case. Unfortunately, because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care or to talk to him, I am unable to either confirm or deny the veracity of what we have been told,” Yusuf said.

Disputed diagnosis

The latest examination comes after reports last month that authorities had taken Khan late at night to a government facility for a medical procedure without informing his family. Following the outcry, Pakistan’s Supreme Court appointed Barrister Salman Safdar as amicus curiae to meet Khan and assess his condition.

In a seven-page report filed last week, Safdar painted a troubling picture. He wrote that Khan had suffered rapid and substantial vision loss over the past three months and that despite repeated complaints of persistent blurred and hazy vision, “no action was taken by the jail authorities to address these complaints”.

Safdar quoted Khan as saying that “only 15 percent” vision remained in his right eye.

PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja told reporters in Islamabad on Monday that the two doctors, one of whom was recommended after consultations with Yusuf, confirmed that Khan’s vision had improved.

“The two doctors who met him in jail said that Khan confirmed to them that he was unable to see the clock on the wall for a few weeks, [but] can now not only see that, but also the clock hands. According to doctors, this was an incredible improvement in his vision,” Raja said.

Aleema, however, insisted that the family could not accept any medical report until Khan’s physician examined him in person. She renewed the demand that he be transferred to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad.

She accused the government of repeatedly misleading the family about Khan’s health.

“After our protest and Salman Safdar’s report, we were told that he would be taken to Shifa International Hospital, along with [the] presence of his physician as well as a family member, but then, abruptly, they [the government] changed the plan. How can we be suddenly denied?” she asked.

Aleema said authorities had asked the family to provide the names of doctors and relatives who could accompany Khan, only to reject each proposal.

“There have been repeated back-and-forth phone calls. We gave them the names of his personal doctors, including Dr Aasim. Another name we gave was our sister, Uzma Khan, to represent the family. But the response from the government was that no sister will be allowed to meet him,” she claimed.

She added that her brother had no underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and described him as a political prisoner.

“Our hearts are breaking, and we are so frustrated. This is deliberate. When Salman Safdar went there and came back, he told us the story, and we cried hearing about Khan’s current situation. This is not just criminal negligence, this is outright criminal and deliberate,” she said.

Standoff over medical access

The PTI and its allies, who are holding a sit-in outside parliament, have promised to continue their protest until their demands are met, including access to Khan and his transfer to Shifa International Hospital.

Sheikh Waqas Akram, the party’s central information secretary, said the demand was straightforward and focused on securing “specialised treatment” for Khan.

“When you deny the family access, or the physicians recommended by the family, and when you break promises, how can we trust? We don’t even know what they have done with him. We believe the government is certainly hiding something,” he told Al Jazeera.

Aleema said she would hold a news conference on Tuesday outside Adiala jail and added that the family had not sought any concessions from authorities beyond medical access.

“Imran’s sons have been trying to visit Pakistan since last year and have applied several times, but their visa has not been processed. It is in limbo, they do not get a denial, nor an approval,” she said, referring to Kasim and Suleman, Khan’s two sons, who are nationals of the United Kingdom.

The sons were born during Khan’s first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith. The couple divorced in 2004 after nine years of marriage. Both sons are based in London.

Government rejects negligence claims

The government, meanwhile, has defended the medical board’s work. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the treatment provided to Khan had led to improvement and that the specialist team had expressed satisfaction with his progress.

Speaking at a public event on Monday, Tarar said opposition leaders and Khan’s personal doctors had been briefed.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry also said the examination inside the jail was conducted “in accordance with government directives and with complete transparency”.

“The government provided every necessary facility on site to ensure no question of any negligence arises,” Chaudhry wrote on social media, adding that Gohar Ali Khan, the PTI chairman in Khan’s absence, had been kept informed.

Imran Khan, a former Pakistan cricket captain who led Pakistan to its 1992 World Cup victory, became prime minister in 2018.

He was removed in 2022 through a parliamentary no-confidence vote, which he said was orchestrated by the military in collusion with Washington and his political rivals. Both the military and the United States have denied the allegations.

Since his ouster, Khan has blamed Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir for his legal and political troubles and has repeatedly urged supporters to protest.

In June 2024, a United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running [for] political office”.

The US soldiers will not have a combat role and are to operate under the full command authority of Nigeria’s military.

The United States has sent 100 military personnel to northern Nigeria to train and advise local forces, as deadly threats rise from armed groups such as Boko Haram and ISIL (ISIS)-linked factions.

Samaila Uba, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters spokesman, confirmed the US troops’ arrival in the northeastern area of Bauchi on Monday.

He said they will provide “technical support” and “intelligence sharing” to help target and defeat “terrorist organisations”. The US also sent “associated equipment” to support the mission.

Uba stressed that the US soldiers will not play a direct combat role, but will share technical expertise under the full command authority of Nigerian forces.

“The armed forces of Nigeria remain fully committed to degrading and defeating terrorist organisations that threaten the country’s sovereignty, national security, and the safety of its citizens,” said the military spokesman in comments carried by Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper.

Last weekend, gunmen on motorcycles rampaged through three villages in northern Nigeria, killing at least 46 people and abducting many others. The bloodiest attack happened in the village of Konkoso, in Niger State, where at least 38 people were shot dead or had their throats slit.

Protracted fight

The US deployment follows an easing of tensions that flared between Washington and Nigeria late last year, when US President Donald Trump accused the country of failing to stop killings against Christians and threatened to intervene militarily.

The Nigerian government has rejected Trump’s accusation, and analysts say people across all faiths, not just Christians, are victims of armed groups’ violence

In December, US forces launched air strikes on ISIL-affiliated fighters in the country’s northwest. Last month, following discussions with Nigerian authorities in Abuja, the head of US Africa Command confirmed that a small team of US military officers were in Nigeria, focused on intelligence support.

Nigeria is facing a protracted fight with dozens of local armed groups increasingly battling for turf, including the homegrown Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

There is also the ISIL-linked Lakurawa, as well as other “bandit” groups that specialise in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.

Recently, the crisis worsened to include other fighters from the neighbouring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.

Several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, according to data from the United Nations.

While Christians have been among those targeted, analysts and residents say the majority of victims of the armed groups are Muslims in the Muslim-dominated north, where most attacks occur.

Nigeria’s 240 million people are evenly split between Christians, mainly in the south, ‌and Muslims, mostly in the north.

Iran launched naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, state TV reports, ahead of US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday. Video shows Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, overseeing the drills.

Feb. 15 (UPI) — The U.S. military intercepted an oil tanker overnight that was linked to Venezuela after tracking it from the Caribbean into the Indian Ocean.

The tanker, the Veronica III, was boarded without incident late Saturday night in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility after it attempted to outrun the Trump administration’s naval blockade in the Caribbean, the Department of Defense announced early Sunday.

The United States has now intercepted or seized nine oil tankers associated with Venezuela since Dec. 10 when the administration started enforcing a blockade on oil tankers leaving the South American nation to pressure it’s president, Nicolas Maduro, to leave power.

After the U.S. military captured Maduro in a clandestine early morning mission in January, several tankers scattered from the country, according to reports.

“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said in a post on X. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance and shut it down. No other nation has the reach, endurance or will to do this.”

The Veronica III, flagged in Panama, has previously been linked with transporting sanctioned Iranian oil and working with a sanctioned Chinese ship-management company, Fox News reported.

The tanker was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for shipping Iranian oil to other markets and has since used different names and flags in order to evade capture.

At least 16 tankers docked in Venezuelan ports tried to escape the U.S. naval blockade in the days after Maduro’s capture, the New York Times reported, with at least 12 of them turning off their transmission signals in the effort.

The move, in coordination with the US, is the latest implementation of the ceasefire agreement with Kurdish-led forces.

The Syrian army has taken over the al-Shaddadi military base in the northeast of the country following the withdrawal of United States troops, as part of a ceasefire arrangement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Syria’s Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday that “forces of the Syrian Arab Army have taken over the al-Shaddadi military base in the Hasakah countryside following coordination with the American side”.

The US had been operating in al-Shadaddi since 2016, after Kurdish-led forces seized it from ISIL (ISIS). On Thursday, the Syrian army also took control of the US base of al-Tanf, near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the implementation of the ceasefire agreement was “headed in a positive direction”.

“There’s been some days that have been very concerning, but we like the trajectory,” he said. “We have to keep it on that trajectory. We’ve got good agreements in place. The key now is implementation, and we’ll be very involved in that regard.”

He noted that similar agreements needed to be reached with the Druze, Bedouin and Alawite communities in the country.

“We think that outcome, as difficult as it’s been, is far better than the Syria that would have been broken up into eight pieces, with all kinds of fighting going on, all kinds of mass migration, so we feel very positive about that.”

Reduced US presence

Reporting from Aleppo, Al Jazeera correspondent Heidi Pett said residents near al-Shaddadi said in recent days that they were hearing “explosions and seeing fires at the base as Americans destroy remaining material because they’ve been preparing to leave there for a number of weeks”.

“This is part of a broader change in US strategy in the region moving towards partnering directly with the Syrian government,” she said.

The US has been reducing its military footprint in Syria for months, going from 1,500 personnel in July to about 900 currently.

It has been consolidating its ground presence to Tower 22 in Jordan, although it continues to carry out air strikes on ISIL targets in Syria, with US Central Command (CENTCOM) announcing it had conducted 10 air strikes on 30 targets during the February 3-12 period, and killed or captured more than 50 people in two months.

CENTCOM’s commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement that US forces would “remain poised to respond to any [ISIS] threats that arise”.

Thousands of Western nationals joined the Israeli military amid its genocidal war in Gaza, raising questions over international legal accountability for foreign nationals implicated in alleged war crimes against Palestinians.

More than 50,000 soldiers in the Israeli military hold at least one other citizenship, with a majority of them holding US or European passports, information obtained by the Israeli NGO Hatzlacha through Israel’s Freedom of Information Law has revealed.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 72,061 people in military actions that have been dubbed war crimes and crimes against humanity by rights groups.

Rights organisations around the world have been trying to identify and prosecute foreign nationals, many of whom have posted videos of their abuse on social media, for their involvement in war crimes, particularly in Gaza.

So, what does the first such data reveal about the Israeli military? And what could be the legal implications for dual-national soldiers?

Which foreign nationals enlist most in the Israeli military?

At least 12,135 soldiers enlisted in the Israeli military hold United States passports, topping the list by a huge margin. That is in addition to 1,207 soldiers who possess another passport in addition to their US and Israeli ones.

The data – shared with Al Jazeera by Israeli lawyer Elad Man, who serves as the legal counsel for Hatzlacha – shows that 6,127 French nationals serve in the Israeli military.

The Israeli military, which shared such data for the first time, noted that soldiers holding multiple citizenships are counted more than once in the breakdown.

The numbers show service members enlisted in the military as of March 2025, 17 months into Israel’s devastating war in Gaza.

Russia stands at third, with 5,067 nationals serving in the Israeli military, followed by 3,901 Ukrainians and 1,668 Germans.

The data revealed that 1,686 soldiers in the military held dual British-Israeli citizenship, in addition to 383 other soldiers who held another passport in addition to their British and Israeli ones.

South Africa, which brought a case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also had 589 of its citizens serving in the Israeli military ranks.

Furthermore, 1,686 soldiers hold Brazilian citizenship, 609  Argentine, 505 Canadian, 112 Colombian, and 181 Mexican, in addition to their Israeli nationality.

Israel’s military comprises an estimated 169,000 active personnel and 465,000 reservists – of whom nearly eight percent hold dual or multiple citizenships.

Can dual nationals be tried for war crimes in Gaza?

Ilias Bantekas, a professor of transnational law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that “war crimes incur criminal liability under international law, irrespective of what the law of nationality says”.

Otherwise, Nazi Germans, whose law allowed and obliged them to commit atrocities, would incur no liability, Bantekas added. “Dual nationality is immaterial to criminal liability,” he said.

However, the major issue in prosecuting the accused “is getting [them] on your territory and putting them before a court”, he noted.

Bantekas also added that there is no difference in the question of liability between native soldiers and those of dual nationalities.

Dual nationals, in fact, “may in addition be liable under laws that prevent military service in foreign conflicts or joining armies of other nations”, the professor said.

Prosecuting foreign nationals has been “pretty much the norm”, he noted.

“Think of Nazi Germans tried by Allied war crimes tribunals after World War II, Japanese officers tried by US military courts, and crimes committed during the Bosnian conflict where alleged offenders were tried by various courts in Europe,” Bantekas told Al Jazeera.

Last May, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office said that allegations of war crimes should be submitted to the Metropolitan Police.

“The UK recognises the right of British dual nationals to serve in the legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationality,” it said. “Allegations of war crimes should be submitted to the Met Police for investigation.”

Have foreign nationals been tried for Gaza war crimes?

Nationals with dual or multiple citizenships have not yet been arrested for committing war crimes in Gaza. But rights groups, including lawyers, are trying to get them prosecuted.

In the UK last April, the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the UK-based Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) filed a 240-page report to the Metropolitan Police.

Accusations against the 10 British individuals, whose names have not been publicly disclosed, include murder, forcible transfer of people, and attacks on humanitarian personnel, between October 2023 and May 2024.

In September last year, a case was filed in Germany against a 25-year-old soldier, born and raised in Munich, for participating in the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, by PCHR, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Al-Haq, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.

The sniper, with shootings documented near Gaza’s al-Quds and Nasser hospitals between November 2023 and March 2024, was a member of a unit known as “Refaim”, “ghost” in Hebrew.

Legal proceedings against members of the same unit are also under way in France, Italy, South Africa, and Belgium.

The Belgian public prosecutor’s office also opened a judicial investigation last October into a 21-year-old Belgian-Israeli citizen, a member of Refaim.

The mandatory military service law in Israel exempts dual nationals residing abroad, making the enlistment a voluntary act, an important distinction when such crimes are tried in foreign courts. Lawyers have reportedly noted that the voluntary nature of the soldiers’ service makes them more liable for alleged crimes.

What does international law say about soldiers in foreign wars?

South Africa brought its case to the ICJ in December 2023, arguing that Israel’s war in Gaza violates the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

While a final ruling could take years, the ICJ issued provisional measures in January 2024 ordering Israel to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and to allow unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. But Israel has continued curb the supply of aid into Gaza in violation of the ICJ interim order.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, countries that are party to the treaty have a binding obligation to prevent and punish genocide. Countries can investigate and prosecute individuals who may have committed or been complicit in this crime.

In March last year, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced the “Global 195” campaign to hold Israeli and dual-national individuals accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The coalition aims to work simultaneously within multiple jurisdictions to apply for private arrest warrants and initiate legal proceedings against those implicated, including the Israeli military members and the entire Israeli military and political command in its scope.

For countries that are parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), there is an additional layer, where the ICC can assert its jurisdiction. Palestine has been a state party since 2015.

The State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign nation by 157 of the 193 UN member states, representing 81 percent of the international community. Most recently, it has been recognised by France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

A foreign national, whose country considers Palestine a “friendly state”, would also be vulnerable to prosecution for participating in the Israeli military’s war crimes in Gaza.

How is the Hind Rajab Foundation tracking alleged war criminals?

The Hind Rajab Foundation – named to honour a five-year-old Palestinian girl whose killing by Israeli soldiers on January 29, 2024 became emblematic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – has been amassing troves of data with identifiable information about Israeli soldiers.

The Belgium-based foundation is the force behind an international effort for accountability over war crimes in Gaza – and has since filed several cases, including a landmark challenge targeting 1,000 Israeli soldiers.

The foundation identified numerous individuals with dual citizenship, including 12 from France, 12 from the US, four from Canada, three from the UK, and two from the Netherlands, in the complaint.

The foundation has scoured TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where the Israeli soldiers boast about atrocities in Gaza, to collect information on the soldiers. It has been using those pieces of evidence to pursue the trail of the accused for war crimes.

“We are in possession of many more profiles of dual nationals beyond the 1,000 soldiers named in our complaint to the ICC. We will be pursuing legal action against all of them in the national courts of their respective countries,” the foundation had said in October 2024. “Impunity must end, everywhere.”

The Hind Rajab Foundation says it pursues criminal accountability for Israeli war criminals, from those who planned and ordered operations to those who executed them, including foreign nationals who have participated in or financed these crimes.

Its founder, Dyab Abou Jahjah, was also threatened by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who told him to “watch your pager” in a post on X, an allusion to deadly attacks on Hezbollah members’ communication systems in September 2024. At least 12 people were killed and more than 3,000 people were wounded when thousands of pagers were detonated by Israeli operatives during those attacks.

In January last year, a complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation led to a Brazilian judge ordering an investigation into an Israeli soldier vacationing in the country. The soldier had to flee, prompting the Israeli military to order all troops who participated in combat to conceal their identities.

“Criminal liability under international law cannot be dissolved by time bars. It extends forever, and no statute of limitations is applicable,” said Bantekas of Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

However, prosecuting Israeli military members “is practically difficult for two reasons”, he said, noting the difficulty of obtaining firsthand evidence and the wariness of national prosecutors who may fear political or other repercussions.

“If public opinion and political opinion in Europe shifts far more in favour of Palestine than it is now, then national prosecutions will feel more at ease to initiate prosecutions,” he told Al Jazeera.

New opinion poll finds seven in 10 US adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of Greenland issue.

Denmark’s prime minister and Greenland’s premier met ⁠with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and agreed that talks would be pursued on the running of Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump has threatened to take over.

Rubio held a 15-minute meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Greenland’s leader Nielsen said in a post on social media that during the meeting with Rubio, “it was emphasised that the conversations being made are the right way forward and the interests of Greenland were once again clearly highlighted”.

Prime Minister Frederiksen said on X after the meeting: “Constructive talk with Secretary of State Marco Rubio together with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Chairman of Naalakkersuisut, at the Munich Security Conference.”

“Work will continue as agreed in the high-level working group,” she said.

The meeting between the Danish and Greenlandic leaders and the US state secretary comes amid severely strained ties between Europe and Washington, and NATO allies, amid President Trump’s repeated threats to take over Greenland and criticism of European nations as “decaying” and “weak”.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said, “We’re negotiating ‌right ‌now for Greenland.”

“I ‌think Greenland’s going to want us, but we get along very well with Europe. We’ll see how it all works out,” he said.

After months of bellicose language regarding the US’s necessity to acquire Greenland, Trump abruptly stepped back from his threats last month, saying that he had reached an understanding with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that would give the US greater influence in the mineral-rich Arctic territory.

Late last month, the US, Denmark and Greenland also launched talks to find a diplomatic path out of the crisis.

Poll finds most US adults disapprove of Trump’s Greenland plan

The US administration has cited key national security concerns related to Russia and China to justify its demand to take control over Greenland and has accused Denmark, and Europe more broadly, of being unable to defend the strategic territory.

But, according to a new opinion poll conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Trump’s push to seize control of Greenland has gone down badly with the US public and members of his own party.

The survey, conducted between February 5-8, found that about seven in 10 US adults disapprove of how Trump is handling the Greenland issue – a higher disapproval rating than the share of those who dislike how he is handling foreign policy generally.

Even among Republican supporters, about half disapprove of his attempt to turn Greenland into US territory, according to the poll.

Sweden said on Thursday that it would send fighter jets to patrol Greenland as part of a newly launched NATO mission in the Arctic aimed at placating Trump’s concerns over the threats posed by Moscow and Beijing.

The government said in a statement that Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets would patrol Greenland as part of the newly-launched NATO mission, Arctic Sentry.

“As a NATO ally, Sweden has a responsibility to contribute to the security of the entire territory of the Alliance. The Arctic region is becoming increasingly important from a strategic perspective,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

In a separate statement, the Swedish Armed Forces said the fighter jets would be based out of Iceland, where six aircraft have been stationed since early February as part of the rotating incident response force, NATO Air Policing.

Swedish special forces would also be sent to Greenland to take part in training exercises for a couple of weeks, the military said.

US President Donald Trump says a second aircraft carrier strike group will deploy to the Middle East, increasing pressure on Iran as negotiations over its nuclear programme continue.

EL TORO — In an extraordinary step, Brig. Gen. Wayne T. Adams has permanently banished from local Marine bases the man he fired as his chief of staff, refusing him access to the officers’ club, the golf course and other facilities usually open to retired personnel.

Col. Joseph E. Underwood, 51, was fired from his post earlier this year and later retired amid allegations that included using base planes for golfing jaunts. Adams decided last week that, because of the charges, the colonel could no longer use the air bases at El Toro or Tustin, his spokesman, Maj. Jim V. McClain, said Monday.

“He’s debarred from this base–period,” McClain said. “He is not allowed to come aboard this base,” except for medical care and commissary visits with his wife, who is ailing, he added.

“The commanding general made the determination that, by the nature of the offenses, Col. Underwood’s presence on the El Toro and Tustin bases was prejudicial to the good order and discipline and proper functioning of these two bases,” McClain said of Adams’ decision.

Adams himself is under investigation by the Marine Corps inspector general’s office for his own use of military planes during trips to Florida, Big Bear and elsewhere.

McClain would not elaborate on what caused Underwood’s banishment. Underwood, however, said he believes that it came as a result of statements he made in an article two weeks ago in The Times Orange County Edition in his first interview since his disciplining.

“It’s so petty. Why don’t they just let it go away?” Underwood complained. “They’ve already killed Col. Sabow–what do they want from me?”

Col. James E. Sabow was the assistant chief of staff at El Toro who killed himself in January, after being suspended also in connection with allegations of misuse of base planes. Underwood and Sabow’s family have charged that what they characterize as the military’s mishandling of the investigation drove Sabow to suicide.

Military officials have vigorously disputed that assertion. McClain on Monday would not discuss Underwood’s claims that he was being “harassed” in the same way that Underwood said Sabow was or that his debarment was spurred by his comments in the Times article.

Underwood, known as “the mayor” of the El Toro base during a sometimes stormy four-year stint as chief of staff, asserted in the article that he had not done anything wrong in his use of base C-12 Beechcraft planes and that Adams had reneged on promises to end the matter quietly.

Underwood also asserted that Adams himself had once ordered a plane to pick him up from a family emergency, even after Underwood had specifically told him that doing so was against regulations.

The Marine Corps is now investigating whether Adams improperly mixed personal and business trips in that case and at least four other flights he took around the country.

In the newest step of that investigation, Adams is to meet in Washington today with the Marines’ inspector general, Maj. Gen. Hollis Davison, officials said.

In his position as commander of the Marines’ western air bases, Adams maintains authority over who can and cannot use government facilities. It was with this authority that he barred Underwood, a move that officials said probably cannot be appealed through the military.

McClain said 175 people–both military and civilian–have been barred from western air bases in the last five years. He did not have a breakdown of these people by rank, but Underwood and three other military officials, in Washington and on the West Coast, said debarments of officers–much less of a colonel–are extremely rare.

“It’s an extraordinary measure for someone of his rank and time of service to be debarred from a base–it’s just not done,” said one high-ranking officer close to the case.

Underwood, a veteran of three decades’ service, said that during his time at El Toro, there were debarments “many times for criminals–drug dealers, thieves, wife beaters, attempted rapists. . . . But how many colonels have ever been barred from a base? The answer I’m sure is zero. . . .”

While Underwood was visiting the East Coast last week, the El Toro command went so far as to boot the tires on his two cars on the base to ensure that he would see the base provost marshal and pick up the letter informing him of his debarment. The letter activates the order.

Since his firing earlier this year, Underwood had been staying in base officers’ quarters for about $5 a day, and he had planned to return there when he gets back to El Toro in mid-May. As a result of his banishment, he will have to find other temporary housing until he joins his wife in a few months to begin a vacation.

He also will not be able to attend official base functions or use facilities such as the officers’ club, the golf course and other recreational sites open to retired officers. He can only use the commissary when accompanied by his wife, McClain said.

One source close to the case said that Underwood’s debarment came in part because of prodding from the Marine Commandant’s office in Washington.

The banishment had been discussed in February at the time Underwood pleaded guilty to charges against him and agreed to pay fines and restitution before his retirement. The ban was not carried out at that time. But later, people from Washington “had seen him on the golf course at El Toro” and it angered them, the source said.

The CIA’s latest YouTube video offers instructions on how to contact the agency on the encrypted Tor Browser.

The CIA has released a new Chinese-language recruitment video on its YouTube channel, encouraging members of China’s military to spy for the United States.

Released on Thursday, the video is the latest addition to a YouTube series targeting Chinese and Russian citizens with information about how to securely contact the US spy agency using the encrypted Tor Browser.

The videos typically focus on a fictional character who is having doubts about their government before deciding to spy for Washington.

The latest video by the CIA, which runs just under two minutes, focuses on a Chinese military officer going through the motions of his job while sharing his growing alarm with his country’s leadership, who are said to be “protecting only their own selfish interests” in the clip.

The video then moves to the officer at home with his wife and daughter, observing that he cannot “allow these madmen to shape my daughter’s future world”.

Alluding to ancient China’s military strategist Sun Tzu’s The Art of War text, the narrator observes that while the greatest winner is the one who “triumphs without fighting”, China’s leadership is eager “to send us to the battlefield”.

In its final scenes, the video cuts to the protagonist removing a bag from a work safe and then driving through a military checkpoint to a deserted car park. Sitting alone, he logs onto a computer to contact the CIA, which he says is a “way of fighting for my family and my nation”.

The video ends with a dramatic flourish of words: “The fate of the world is in your hands” – before sharing instructions on how to download the Tor Browser to contact the CIA.

The accompanying text below the YouTube video asks users: “Do you have information about high-ranking Chinese leaders? Are you a military officer or have dealings with the military? Do you work in intelligence, diplomacy, economics, science, or advanced technology fields, or deal with people working in these fields?”

Beijing did not immediately comment on the CIA’s video, but its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described previous US intelligence recruitment drives as malicious “smears and attacks” against China that deceive and lure Chinese personnel to “surrender”.

The CIA’s network in China was famously dismantled by Beijing between 2010 and 2012, leading to the death or imprisonment of at least 30 people, according to a 2018 investigation by Foreign Policy magazine.

The collapse of the US spying network was linked in part to a botched communication system.

These are the key developments from day 1,450 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Friday, February 13 :

Fighting

• Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks on Thursday, officials reported, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was “hesitating” about another round of United States-brokered talks on stopping the war.
• Russian forces launched 219 drones and 24 ballistic missiles on Thursday night, causing injuries, deaths and damage to energy infrastructure in Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro, President Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
• Two people were killed and six more wounded in an attack on the railway hub of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, local prosecutors said.
• Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that close to 2,600 high-rise apartment buildings were left without heating following the latest Russian attacks, particularly in the capital’s Desnyanskyi, Dniprovskyi, Pecherskyi and Solomyanskyi districts.
• The attack on the capital came as 1,100 high-rise buildings in the Dniprovskyi and Darnytskyi districts were already “without heat after the previous shelling”, Klitschko said, as temperatures in Kyiv are forecast to fall as low as -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.
• ⁠More than 220,000 people in Russia’s ⁠Belgorod region ⁠have been left without electricity after a Ukrainian ‌attack caused an accident at a substation, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov ⁠said.
• In Odesa, the State Emergency Service said that Russian drones hit a nine-storey residential building, an outdoor market and a supermarket, causing multiple fires to break out. The drone attack also damaged energy infrastructure, the emergency service added in a post on Facebook.
• Ukraine’s General Staff said that, according to preliminary reports, Ukrainian forces hit an oil refinery in Ukhta in Russia’s Komi Republic, about 1,750km (1,087 miles) from the border with Ukraine, causing a fire to break out.
• A Russian attack last month on the Ukrainian branch of ⁠the Soviet-built Druzhba oil pipeline halted the transit of Russian oil to eastern Europe, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. Despite its war with ⁠Russia, Ukraine continues to transport Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary even though it stopped the transit of Russian gas last year.
• Ukraine said the bodies of two Nigerians fighting for Russia have been found in the east of the country. Hamzat Kazeem Kolawole and Mbah Stephen Udoka both served in the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, according to a statement by Ukrainian intelligence.

Military aid

• Ukraine’s allies have pledged about $35bn in military aid to Kyiv this year, British Defence Minister John Healey said. The figure includes new commitments by individual countries, but also previous promises of weapons made by Ukraine’s allies, including the 11.5 billion euros ($13.6bn) already announced by Germany, a diplomat told the Reuters news agency.
• German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said his country was ready to deliver five new PAC-3 interceptors for Ukraine’s air defence, provided Ukraine’s other allies deliver at least 30 more of their own.
• Norway announced it was buying a “large volume” of French glide bombs as part of a bilateral agreement to support Ukraine militarily against Russia’s invasion.
• The United Kingdom announced it will “urgently provide” air defence missiles and systems worth more than 500 million British pounds ($681m) “to protect Ukraine from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal attacks on energy sites and homes”.
• US military aid to Ukraine fell by 99 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank based in Germany. “European military aid rose by 67 percent above the 2022–2024 average” in 2025, the Kiel report found.

Peace talks

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that another round of talks on ending the war in Ukraine was expected “soon” but gave no further details.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha said that Russia’s more recent overnight attacks on Ukraine further undermined efforts to end the war through dialogue. “Each such strike is a blow to peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Russia must be forced to take diplomacy seriously and de-escalate,” Sybiha wrote on X.

Regional security

• Estonia is to buy 12 more Caesar self-propelled howitzer artillery pieces from France to strengthen its defence capabilities.
• European Union leaders broadly agreed Thursday on a plan to restructure the 27-nation bloc’s economy to make it more competitive as they face antagonism from US President Donald Trump, strong-arm tactics from China and hybrid threats blamed on Russia.
• Ukraine will begin exporting weapons, including drones, in the coming weeks, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a news conference, according to Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency.

Energy

• Power plants in Ukraine that have been damaged by Russian missile and drone attacks continue to produce far too little electricity to supply the country’s citizens, Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told a parliamentary energy committee.

Politics and diplomacy

• French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no rush to open dialogue with Russian leader Putin, stressing the need for Europeans to fine-tune their objectives. Macron raised the prospect of reviving dialogue with Putin in an interview published on Tuesday by several newspapers.
• Six more Russian and Ukrainian children are being reunited with ⁠their families, Washington and Moscow said. One child would return to Russia, and five children would be reunited with their families in ‌Ukraine, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said in a post on Telegram.
• Ukraine has accused Russia of abducting thousands of children, and the International Criminal Court has called for the arrest of President Putin and Lvova-Belova on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children.
• ⁠US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ⁠said he would have a chance to ‌meet Zelenskyy at this week’s Munich Security Conference.

Sport

• Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after he was barred from competing in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The skeleton racer was banned over a dispute concerning a helmet he wanted to wear in the event to honour Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement: “[The decision] was taken by the jury of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) based on the fact that the helmet he intended to wear was not compliant with the rules.”
• Zelenskyy reacted to the decision, accusing the IOC of playing “into the hands of aggressors” as Ukraine’s Sport Minister Matviy Bidnyi said Ukraine would go through legal channels to reverse the decision.
• “We are proud of Vladyslav and of what he did. Having courage is worth more than any medal,” Zelenskyy said.

Syria’s defence ministry says its forces have taken control of the strategic base amid coordination with the US.

Syrian ⁠forces ⁠have taken control of the strategic al-Tanf military base near the border with Iraq and Jordan, the Syrian defence ministry has said, amid the withdrawal of a longstanding United States troop presence at the base.

The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Syrian Arab Army units had taken control of al-Tanf, securing the base and its surroundings, “through coordination between the Syrian and American sides”.

Army units had “begun deploying along the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian” border nearby, the ministry said, while border guards would be deployed in the coming days.

The base was established during Syria’s civil war in 2014 as a ‌key hub for operations by the global coalition against ISIL (ISIS), which at the time controlled large areas of Syria and Iraq until the group was vanquished in 2017.

The US withdrawal from the base comes months after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of the armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who the US once deemed a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”, joined the anti-ISIL coalition in November.

The US military has not officially commented on the pullout, but Trump has expressed an interest in withdrawing US troops from Syria since his first term.

Syrian government expands control

The pullout also follows ⁠a US-brokered deal to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces – a key US partner in the fight against ISIL – into Syrian government institutions, an agreement the US hailed as a major step towards national unity and ⁠reconciliation in Syria.

Last month, as al-Sharaa’s government pushed to expand its control over the country, Syrian government forces captured large areas of previously Kurdish-held territory in northeast Syria, amid deadly clashes with the SDF.

A ceasefire was later struck between the sides.

Amid the advance of Syrian forces, the US military has been transferring thousands of ISIL prisoners from jails previously run by the SDF in northeastern Syria, as the facilities were transferred to Syrian government control.

US drawdown

While the size of the US deployment in Syria has fluctuated over the years, with precise figures often unclear due to the classified nature of many operations, a Pentagon announcement in July 2025 said there were about 1,500 American soldiers in Syria.

The size of the deployment currently stands at 900, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier this month, an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground reported that US military personnel appeared to be drawing down their presence from watchtowers surrounding a military installation in the al-Shaddadi area in northeastern Hasakah province.

Soldiers were also seen lowering the US flag from one tower, while equipment used to manage aircraft takeoffs and landings at the base’s airstrip was no longer visible.

The US carried out a round of “large-scale” attacks against ISIL in Syria in January following an ambush that killed two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter in the city of Palmyra in December.

WASHINGTON — A grand jury in Washington refused Tuesday to indict Democratic lawmakers in connection with a video in which they urged U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders,” according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into the video featuring Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and four other Democratic lawmakers urging U.S. service members to follow established military protocols and reject orders they believe to be unlawful. All the lawmakers previously served in the military or at intelligence agencies.

Grand jurors in Washington declined to sign off on charges in the latest of a series of rebukes of prosecutors by citizens in the nation’s capital, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. It wasn’t immediately clear whether prosecutors had sought indictments against all six lawmakers or what charge or charges prosecutors attempted to bring.

Grand jury rejections are extraordinarily unusual, but have happened repeatedly in recent months in Washington as citizens who have heard the government’s evidence have come away underwhelmed in a number of cases. Prosecutors could try again to secure an indictment.

Spokespeople for the U.S. attorney’s office and the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The FBI in November began contacting the lawmakers to schedule interviews, outreach that came against the backdrop of broader Justice Department efforts to punish political opponents of the president. President Trump and his aides labeled the lawmakers’ video as “seditious” — and Trump said on his social media account that the offense was “punishable by death.”

Besides Slotkin and Kelly, the other Democrats who appeared in the video include Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who represents Michigan, said late Tuesday that she hopes this ends the Justice Department’s probe.

“Tonight we can score one for the Constitution, our freedom of speech, and the rule of law,” Slotkin said in a statement. “But today wasn’t just an embarrassing day for the Administration. It was another sad day for our country,” she said.

Kelly, a former Navy pilot who represents Arizona, called the attempt to bring charges an “outrageous abuse of power by Donald Trump and his lackies.”

“Donald Trump wants every American to be too scared to speak out against him,” Kelly said in a post on X. “The most patriotic thing any of us can do is not back down.”

In November, the Pentagon opened an investigation into Kelly, citing a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court-martial or other punishment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has censured Kelly for participating in the video and is trying to retroactively demote Kelly from his retired rank of captain.

The senator is suing Hegseth to block those proceedings, calling them an unconstitutional act of retribution. During a hearing last week, the judge appeared to be skeptical of key arguments that a government attorney made in defense of Kelly’s Jan. 5 censure by Hegseth.

Richer and Tucker write for the Associated Press.

These are the key developments from day 1,448 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, February 11:

Fighting

• A Russian attack killed four people, including three small children, in the Ukrainian city of Bohodukhiv, west of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app early on Wednesday.

• “Two one-year-old boys and a two-year-old girl died as a result of an enemy strike,” as well as a 34-year-old man, Syniehubov said. A 74-year-old woman was also injured, he added.
• Russian attacks on energy infrastructure left the Lozova community in the Kharkiv region without electricity, local official Serhii Zelenskyy said. Syniehubov later declared an energy emergency, citing “constant enemy fire” across the region.
• A Russian missile attack killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, and injured 16 people, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on Facebook.
• Five people were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Vasylivka, in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Moscow-appointed local official Natalya Romanichenko told Russia’s TASS state news agency.
• A priest was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a funeral procession in Skelki, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, according to TASS, citing Russian officials who widely condemned the attack.
• Ukrainian attacks caused power outages in Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhia and heating outages in Enerhodar, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed officials said, according to TASS.
• One of two external power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russia, has been cut as a result of a Ukrainian attack, the Russian-installed management of the power station said on Tuesday.
• A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a van in the Shebekinsky district of Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
• Russian air defence systems shot down three guided aerial bombs and 72 Ukrainian drones in one day, TASS reported.

Military aid

• The US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said in an online briefing that 21 NATO allies and two partners have pledged to buy more than $4.5bn in US weapons through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. Whitaker said he expects more announcements of pledges to buy weapons for Kyiv when defence ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.
• Ukrainian forces received an additional injection of 4.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnias ($104.5m) to order drones and electronic warfare systems over the past month, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Politics and diplomacy

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his country’s support for efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the president’s office said. The Kremlin also confirmed that the two leaders discussed the war.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that France has not officially re-established relations with Russia, but that Moscow had “noted Mr Macron’s statement on the need to restore relations with Russia”, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are impressed by such statements,” Peskov added.
• Moscow’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it would further restrict the Telegram platform in Russia, saying the messaging app was not “observing” Russian law, that “personal data is not protected”, and that the app has “no effective measures to counter fraud and the use of the messaging app for criminal and terrorist purposes”.
• Telegram’s Russian-born founder, Pavel Durov, defended the app, which is used widely in Ukraine and Russia, saying Telegram would remain committed to protecting freedom of speech and user privacy, “no matter the pressure”.

Sanctions

• The management of the PCK Schwedt refinery in Germany, controlled by Russia’s Rosneft energy company, made an “urgent appeal” to German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, saying the threat of US sanctions could harm fuel supply to Berlin and the region. Berlin had secured a sanctions exception for the refinery, but it is set to expire on April 29.

United States President Donald Trump has continued to threaten Iran with possible military attacks if Tehran does not accede to his demands on issues ranging from nuclear enrichment to ballistic missiles.

In comments to the Israeli outlet Channel 12, published on Tuesday, Trump hinted at aggressive actions if no deal comes together with Iran.

“Either we reach a deal, or we’ll have to do something very tough,” Trump told the news outlet.

The remarks come as Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani meets with the sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, to discuss the results of talks between US and Iranian officials last week.

In recent weeks, Trump has touted an increase in US military forces in the region, having sent a “massive armada” to nearby waters. That deployment includes the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier.

Channel 12 and the news outlet Axios reported on Tuesday that Trump is also thinking about sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

That military build-up has spurred fears of an impending US strike against Iran. Critics fear such an attack could destabilise the region.

Already, on Monday, the US has issued guidelines to US-flagged commercial ships, warning them to stay “as far as possible” from Iranian territorial waters.

‘With speed and violence’

Since January, Trump has heightened US pressure on Iran, warning that his country’s military is “locked and loaded and ready to go”.

Trump has also compared Iran’s situation to that of Venezuela, where a US military operation on January 3 resulted in the abduction and removal of deposed President Nicolas Maduro.

“Like with Venezuela, [the US military] is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal,” Trump wrote on social media on January 28.

Late last month, his administration issued three overarching demands. They include an end to Iran’s uranium enrichment, a requirement to sever ties with regional proxies, and limits on the country’s ballistic missile stockpiles, a goal long sought by Israel.

During his first term, Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 deal that placed strict limits on Iran’s nuclear activities, in exchange for sanctions relief.

Now, Trump has resumed his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran since taking office for a second term in January 2025.

That campaign has included severe sanctions and pressure to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for civilian energy purposes only.

Already, last June, Trump authorised a military strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities, as part of a 12-day war between Iran and Israel.

Focus on anti-government protests

Trump’s renewed threats in January have coincided with a recent wave of anti-government protests in Iran.

The government in Tehran reacted to those demonstrations with a violent crackdown that reportedly killed thousands of people, drawing widespread condemnation from rights groups.

Reports have found that state security forces opened fire on crowds of protesters as the country was under an internet blackout.

On January 2 — one day before his military operation in Venezuela — Trump threatened to intervene on behalf of the protesters and “come to their rescue“, although he ultimately declined to do so.

Some analysts have pointed out that the proposed strikes on Iran would do little to aid the protesters, but would align with longstanding US and Israeli goals of reducing Iran’s military capacity.

The Iranian government has argued that the protests included the violent targeting of security forces by armed groups, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of officers. It has also accused outside powers like the US and Israel of backing the anti-government demonstrations.

Details around the protests and their crackdown remain difficult to verify, but Iranian officials have conceded that the government’s response killed thousands of people.

Somalia has signed a “military cooperation” agreement with Saudi Arabia, weeks after inking a similar deal with Qatar, as Mogadishu seeks regional support against Israel’s recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on Monday between Somali Minister of Defence Ahmed Moallim Fiqi and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, in Riyadh.

The agreement “aims to strengthen the frameworks of defense and military cooperation between the two countries, and includes multiple areas of common interest, serving the strategic interests of both parties”, Somalia’s Ministry of Defence said.

Prince Khalid confirmed the agreement in a post on X.

But neither country provided further details.

Last month, Somalia signed a defence pact with Qatar, aimed at “strengthening military ties and security collaboration”, according to the Somali state news agency.

The pact with Qatar “focuses on military training, the exchange of expertise, the development of defence capabilities, and enhanced security cooperation, in support of efforts to promote regional security and stability”, it said.

Doha said the agreement was “aimed at strengthening areas of joint cooperation in a way that serves mutual interests and enhances defense partnerships”.

The diplomatic offensive by Somalia comes amid growing tensions in the Horn of Africa region following Israel’s world-first recognition of Somaliland in December. Mogadishu has warned that Israel plans to set up a military base in the breakaway region, which could be used to launch attacks on neighbouring countries.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Al Jazeera last week that Mogadishu “will never allow” the establishment of an Israeli base in Somaliland and will “confront” any such move.

“We will fight in our capacity. Of course, we will defend ourselves,” he said. “And that means that we will confront any Israeli forces coming in, because we are against that and we will never allow that.”

A Somaliland official told Israel’s Channel 12 in January that an Israeli military base is “on the table”, though terms were still being negotiated.

Separately, Somalia also cancelled all agreements with the United Arab Emirates last month – including port operations, security and defence deals – citing “harmful actions” that undermine its “national unity and political independence”.

The move came amid reports that the UAE had facilitated Israel’s recognition of Somaliland’s independence.

The Gulf state, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords, has cultivated deep economic and security ties with Somaliland. These include a 30-year concession at the strategic Berbera port held by the UAE company DP World.

The UAE declined to sign a joint Arab-Islamic statement condemning Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, but it released a joint statement with the African Union in January pledging “support for Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and stability”.

Somalia’s break with the UAE coincided with a deterioration in Saudi Arabian-Emirati relations.

Tensions erupted in December when Saudi forces bombed what Riyadh described as a UAE weapons shipment to the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also backed a call by Yemen’s internationally recognised government for Emirati forces in the country to withdraw.

The UAE denied the allegations.

Separately, Abu Dhabi has also been accused of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, which has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces for nearly three years.

Saudi Arabia, an ally of Khartoum, condemned the RSF on Saturday over attacks in Sudan’s Kordofan region, which have killed dozens of people, including women and children.

Riyadh also denounced “foreign interference” by unspecified parties in Sudan, saying the “continued influx of illegal weapons, mercenaries and foreign fighters” was prolonging the continuation of the nearly three-year-old war.

It did not name the parties.

Sudan, meanwhile, filed a case against the UAE at the International Court of Justice last year, accusing it of “complicity in genocide” allegedly committed by the RSF against the Masalit community in West Darfur state.

The UAE slammed the move as “nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt” and said it would seek the “immediate dismissal” of the case.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on the United States to respect his country as the two nations look ahead to another round of nuclear negotiations next week following mediated discussions in Oman.

“Our reasoning on the nuclear issue is based on rights stipulated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but cannot withstand the language of force”.

Pezeshkian described the indirect talks held in Oman on Friday as a “step forward” and said his administration favours dialogue.

Iranian officials are highlighting sovereignty and independence and are signalling eagerness for nuclear-only negotiations, while rejecting a military build-up in the region by the US.

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, the country’s chief diplomat Abbas Araghchi pointed out that the Islamic Republic has always emphasised independence since overthrowing US-backed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in a 1979 revolution.

“Before the revolution, the people did not believe their establishment to have possessed true independence,” Araghchi said.

The messaging comes as the anniversary of the revolution approaches on Wednesday, when state-organised demonstrations have been planned across the country. Iranian authorities have in previous years exhibited military equipment, including ballistic missiles, during the rallies.

Araghchi said during the event in the capital that Iran is unwilling to forego nuclear enrichment for civilian use even if it leads to more military attacks by the US and Israel, “because no one has the right to tell us what we must have and must not have”.

However, the diplomat added that he told US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Muscat on Friday that “there is no way but negotiations”. He said China and Russia have also been informed of the content of the talks.

“Being afraid is lethal poison in this situation,” Araghchi said about Washington amassing what US President Donald Trump has called a “beautiful armada” near Iran’s waters.

‘Push the region back years’

Iran’s top military commander on Sunday issued a new warning that the entire region will be engulfed in conflict if Iran is attacked.

“While being prepared, we genuinely have no desire to see the outbreak of a regional war,” Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi told a gathering of air force and air defence commanders and personnel.

“Even though aggressors will be the target of the flames of regional war, this will push back the advancement and development of the region by years, and its repercussions will be borne by the warmongers in the US and the Zionist regime,” he said in reference to Israel.

According to Mousavi, Iran “has the necessary power and preparedness for a long-term war with the US”.

But many average Iranians are left in limbo without much hope that the talks with the US will lead to results, including for the country’s heavily declining economy.

“I was 20 when the first negotiations with the West over Iran’s nuclear programme were held about 23 years ago,” Saman, who works at a small private investment firm in Tehran, told Al Jazeera.

“Our best years are behind us. But it’s even more sad to think that some of the youth who were born at the start of the negotiations were killed on the streets during the protests last month with many hopes and dreams.”

‘They never returned’

Iran is witnessing tense time and threats of a massive US military strike. But the Islamic Republic has not overcome anti-government protests that shook the nation, denouncing the collapse of the national currency, soaring prices and economic hardship.

State television continues to broadcast confessions of Iranians arrested during the nationwide protests, many of whom are accused by the state of working in line with the interests of foreign powers.

In a report aired late on Saturday, a woman and multiple men with blurred-out faces and in handcuffs could be seen saying they were led by a man who allegedly received weapons and money from Mossad operatives in neighbouring Iraq’s Erbil.

“He only wanted more people to die; he shot at everyone,” one of the confessing men said about what allegedly transpired during unrest in the Tehranpars district in the eastern part of the capital, backing the state’s claim that “terrorists” are responsible for all deaths.

Iranian authorities have accused the US, Israel and European countries of instigating the protests.

But international human rights organisations and foreign-based opposition groups accuse state forces of being behind the unprecedented killings during the protests, which were carried out mostly on the nights of January 8 and 9.

The Iranian government claims 3,117 people were killed, but the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has documented nearly 7,000 fatalities and is investigating more than 11,600 cases. The United Nations special rapporteur on Iran, Mati Sato, said more than 20,000 may have been killed as information trickles out despite heavy internet filtering.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify these figures.

Amid numerous reports that dozens of medical staff were arrested for treating wounded protesters and remain incarcerated in harsh conditions, Iran’s judiciary issued a rejection of the allegations late Saturday. It claimed that only “a limited number of medical personnel were arrested for participating in riots and playing a role in the field”.

A large number of schoolchildren and university students were also reportedly among tens of thousands arrested during and in the aftermath of the nationwide protests. The Ministry of Education claimed last week that it did not know how many schoolchildren were arrested, but could confirm that all have since been released.

The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations on Sunday released the four-minute video below, titled “200 empty school desks”, which shows the schoolchildren and teenagers confirmed killed during the protests. Many were accompanied by their parents when killed.

One month after the killings, countless families are left grieving and continue to release videos commemorating their loved ones online.

A message on Instagram calling on the international community to keep talking about the people of Iran has now been shared more than 1.5 million times.

“One month ago today, thousands woke up and ate breakfast for the last time without knowing it, and kissed their mother for the last time without knowing it,” the message reads. “They lived for the last time and never returned.”

Iraq launches investigations into ISIL detainees from Syria, with 7,000 expected to arrive in total.

United States forces have transported a third group of ISIL (ISIS) detainees from Ghwayran prison in Syria’s Hasakah province to Iraq by land, as activity around a US military base in the region points to possible operational changes, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports.

The transfer on Saturday forms part of a trilateral arrangement, which has emerged as part of a painstaking ceasefire after deadly clashes involving the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), under which detainees held in northeastern Syria are being relocated to Iraqi custody. US forces are the third party to that agreement.

Earlier, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the start of a broader operation to move detainees from facilities across the region, with officials outlining a plan to transfer about 7,000 prisoners.

Iraq has launched investigations into ISIL detainees from Syria over atrocities committed against its citizens.

Security developments in northeastern Syria have accelerated in recent weeks in the wake of government forces sweeping across the north and SDF retreats.

On Saturday, SDF governor-designate Nour Eddien Ahmad met a Damascus delegation at the Hasakah government building before a Syrian national flag-raising ceremony.

The meeting carries political significance as the agreement between Damascus and the SDF allows the group to nominate the governor of Hasakah, with Ahmad expected to be formally appointed by the Syrian government.

The visiting delegation includes senior government security officials, underscoring Damascus’s expanding administrative control in the province. The raising of the Syrian national flag over the government building signals the reassertion of central government authority in Hasakah.

Syrian government forces entered the city of Qamishli earlier this week, one of the remaining urban strongholds of the Kurdish-led SDF, following a ceasefire agreement reached on Friday last week.

The accord ended weeks of confrontations and paved the way for the gradual integration of SDF fighters into Syrian state institutions, a step Washington described as an important move towards national reconciliation.

The agreement followed territorial losses suffered by the SDF earlier this year as government troops advanced across parts of eastern and northern Syria, reshaping control lines and prompting negotiations over future security arrangements.

Separately, an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground reported that US personnel vacated most watchtowers surrounding a military installation in the al-Shaddadi area of Hasakah province, leaving only the western tower staffed.

Soldiers were also seen lowering the US flag from one tower, while equipment used to manage aircraft take-offs and landings at the base’s airstrip was no longer visible.

No combat aircraft were present at the facility, although a large cargo aircraft landed at the base, remained for several hours, and later departed.

The US established its formal military presence in Syria in October 2015, initially deploying about 50 special forces personnel in advisory roles as part of the international coalition fighting ISIL. Since then, troop levels have fluctuated.

Reports in mid-2025 indicated that roughly 500 US troops withdrew from the country, leaving an estimated 1,400 personnel, though precise figures remain unclear due to the classified nature of many deployments.

US forces continue to focus on countering ISIL remnants, supporting the Syrian government now, providing intelligence and logistical assistance, and securing oil and gas infrastructure in Hasakah and Deir Az Zor provinces.

The US carried out another round of “large-scale” attacks against ISIL in Syria in January, following an ambush that killed two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter in the city of Palmyra in December.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi slammed the double standard allowing Israel to expand its military while other countries in the region are demanded to reduce their defensive capabilities. Araghchi spoke at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, a three-day event focusing on geopolitical shifts in the Middle East.

Ukraine braced for more attacks on its energy infrastructure this week as winter temperatures continued to fall to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit), and sought to adapt its defences against Russian drones.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyal, warned Ukrainians to prepare for more power blackouts in the coming days as Russian air attacks continued.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia had struck energy infrastructure 217 times this year. Shmyal said 200 emergency crews were working to restore power to 1,100 buildings in Kyiv alone.

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian power stations, gas pipelines and power cables since mid-January, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without heat or electricity at various points.

On January 29, US President Donald Trump told a cabinet meeting that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for a week, something the Kremlin confirmed.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump said.

It was unclear when that conversation happened, exactly, but on Tuesday this week, Russia unleashed one of its biggest strikes ever on energy infrastructure in Kyiv and Kharkiv, deploying 71 missiles and 450 drones.

Ukraine’s Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said Ukraine had only managed to shoot down 38 of the missiles because a very high proportion of them were ballistic.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed it was targeting storage sites for unmanned aerial vehicles, defence enterprises and their energy supply.

The strike coincided with a visit to Kyiv by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and came a day before tripartite talks among Russia, Ukraine and the US resumed in Abu Dhabi.

“Last night, in our view, the Russians broke their promise,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his news conference with Rutte. “So, either Russia now thinks that a week is less than four days instead of seven, or they are genuinely betting only on war.”

The strike also came just as Kyiv had managed to reduce the number of apartment buildings without heat from 3,500 three days earlier, to about 500.

At least two people, both aged 18, were killed as they walked on a street in Zaporizhzhia, southeast Ukraine.

Even on relatively quiet days, Russia causes civilian deaths. On Sunday, February 1, Russia killed a dozen miners when a drone struck the bus that was taking them to work in Ukraine’s central Dnipro region.

Evolving drone tactics

During the few days in which it did observe the moratorium on energy-related strikes, Russia focused on striking Ukrainian logistics instead and made attempts to extend the reach of its drones.

Ukrainian Defence Ministry Adviser on Technology and Drone Warfare Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov reported that Russian drones were striking Ukrainian trucks 50km (31 miles) from the front line. He also said Russia had adapted its Geran drone to act “as a carrier” for smaller, first-person view (FPV) drones, doubling up two relatively cheap systems for greater range.

Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne said Russia had begun these new tactics in mid-January.

Ukraine’s Air Force has managed to down about 90 percent of Russia’s long-range drones, and a high proportion of its missiles – almost 22,000 targets in January alone.

Zelenskyy recently demanded better results, however, and one of the Ukrainian responses to Russian tactics has been a new, short-range “small air defence” force that uses drones to counter drones.

“Hundreds of UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] crews have already been transferred to the operational control of the Air Force grouping – they are performing tasks in the first and second echelons of interception,” wrote Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii on Wednesday this week.

Ukraine’s second response has been to disable Russian Starlink terminals, which Russia uses extensively on the battlefield, and has recently begun mounting on UAVs.

Starlink uses low-orbit satellites and is impervious to jamming, allowing Russia to change a drone’s intended target while it is in mid-flight.

Ukraine’s newly installed defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has been creating a “white list” of Starlink terminals used by the armed forces of Ukraine, and sent them to Starlink owner Elon Musk, asking him to keep these operational while shutting down all others in the Ukraine theatre.

“Soon, only verified and registered terminals will operate in Ukraine. Everything else will be disconnected,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

“Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorized use of Starlink by Russia have worked. Let us know if more needs to be done,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Fedorov and Beskrestnov have been asking Ukrainian soldiers and civilians to register any Starlink terminals they acquire privately on the white list.

More sanctions on the way

On the day of Russia’s large strike, Zelenskyy appealed to the US to pass a bill long in the making that would impose more sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. China is the biggest, followed by India.

The previous day, Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop buying Russian oil. “He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine,” he wrote on his social media platform.

A Russian government source told Reuters that an assumed 30 percent drop in oil sales to India, and lower sales to other customers, could triple Moscow’s planned budget deficit this year from 1.6 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent or 4.4 percent. Government data released on Wednesday showed the Kremlin’s revenues from energy at $5.13bn in January, half the level of January 2025.

Zelenskyy also discussed a 20th sanctions package under preparation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We can already see what is happening to the Russian economy and what could follow if the pressure is applied effectively,” he said.

Russia has made little headway in its ground war in the past three years, a fact repeatedly documented, most recently by a CSIS report. Despite this, its top officials continued to insist last week on terms of peace that would force Ukraine to give up control of four of its southeastern regions, cut down its armed forces and agree not to join NATO – terms Ukraine refuses.

The resumed talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday yielded only a prisoner-of-war exchange of 157 a side.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

US says two people were killed in strike on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean, continuing a campaign denounced as illegal.

The United States military has said that it killed two people in its latest attack on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees US military operations in Latin America, said on Thursday that “two narco-terrorists were killed during this action”.

SOUTHCOM did not provide any evidence to support its claim that the vessel and the two victims were involved in drug trafficking.

US strikes on vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean, which have killed at least 126 people in 34 attacks since the first recorded incident in September 2025, have been widely denounced as illegal under international law.

The latest strike appears to be the first conducted by the Trump administration in 2026, according to records of the strikes tabulated by the watchdog group Airwars.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow shortly.

Kremlin spokesperson says Russian forces would continue fighting until Kyiv makes necessary ‘decisions’ to end the war.

The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed on the battlefield as a result of the country’s war with Russia is estimated to be 55,000, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that a “large number” were also missing.

President Zelenskyy’s remarks on Wednesday came in the run-up to the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid crucial ceasefire talks in Abu Dhabi, where negotiators are trying to end Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

“In Ukraine, officially the number of soldiers killed on the battlefield – either professionals or those conscripted – is 55,000,” said Zelenskyy, in a prerecorded interview with France 2 TV.

Zelenskyy, whose comments were translated into French, added that on top of that casualty figure was a “large number of people” considered officially missing.

The Ukrainian leader did not give an exact figure for those who are still missing.

Zelenskyy had previously cited a figure for Ukrainian war dead in an interview with the United States television network NBC in February 2025, saying that more than 46,000 Ukrainian service members had been killed on the battlefield.

In the middle of 2025, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, estimated that close to 400,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded since the war began.

Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that Russian attacks had killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 in Ukraine in 2025, almost a third higher than the number of casualties in 2024.

Russia has also incurred heavy losses in the ongoing war.

In January, Ukraine’s military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, was quoted as saying that in 2025 alone, almost 420,000 Russian soldiers were killed and wounded while fighting against Ukrainian forces.

An October 2025 estimate by British defence intelligence put the overall number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded in the war at 1.1 million.

Both Ukraine and Russia rarely disclose their own casualty figures in the war, though they actively report enemy losses on the battlefield.

Analysts say both Kyiv and Moscow are likely underreporting their own deaths while inflating those of the other side.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia would keep fighting until Kyiv made the “decisions” that could bring the war to an end, while in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian and Russian officials wrapped up a “productive” first day of new US-brokered talks, Kyiv’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has been pushing both Kyiv and Moscow to find a compromise to end the fighting, although the two sides remain far apart on key points despite several rounds of talks.

The most sensitive issues are Moscow’s demands that Kyiv give up land it still controls and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which now sits in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine.

Moscow has demanded that Kyiv pull its troops out of all the Donbas region, including heavily fortified cities regarded as one of Ukraine’s strongest defences against Russian aggression, as a condition for any deal to end the fighting.

Ukraine said the conflict should be frozen along current front lines and rejects any unilateral pullback of its forces from territory it still controls.

Russian forces occupy about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region seized before the 2022 invasion.