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Peace Abroad, War Next Door: Pakistani Airstrikes Devastate Afghan Civilians Funeral for civilian victims of Pakistani airstrikes held in Khost on June 11. Photo: Mohammad Zaman Nazari. In the village of Mana, located in Afghanistan’s Khost province, close to the Pakistani border, men who normally pass their days farming instead spent the morning of June 10 digging fresh graves for their murdered relatives and neighbors. The night before, shortly after midnight, Pakistani drones and fighter jets flattened the neighboring homes of two brothers, Siraj and Babri. Nine members of a single family were killed, most of them women and children. The two brothers’ homes stood beside one another in Mana. Neighbors worked through the night dragging the dead and the wounded out of the debris. Across the two households, ten more people were wounded, several of them in critical condition. The survivors were rushed first to a small district hospital, before being transferred to the largest provincial hospital in Khost. A doctor at the hospital, who asked not to be named because medical staff have been warned against speaking to journalists, told Drop Site that 11 bodies were brought in after the strike, including women, children, and men—every one of them a civilian. Among the wounded survivors were three children. These are not isolated tragedies—they are the latest episodes in a campaign that Drop Site has been documenting along the border since the winter, one in which Pakistan, while presenting itself to Washington and Tehran as an indispensable peacemaker, has bombed Afghan villages, hospitals, schools and markets, emptied entire districts along the border, and blockaded roads until clinics ran out of medicine. By the United Nations’ own conservative count, Pakistani operations had already killed hundreds of Afghan civilians this year before the June 10 strikes. What plays in Islamabad’s conference halls as “counterterrorism operations,” appears, from Khost and Paktika, like indiscriminate punishment of Afghans living along the border demarcation line. By April 1, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had verified at least 372 civilian deaths from Pakistani operations in Afghanistan, though the actual death toll in an area largely sealed off to independent monitors is likely higher. The attack on Mana was not the only deadly incident in the region that night. Pakistani aircraft also struck a series of buildings in neighboring Paktika province. Taken together, the bombardment of Khost and Paktika killed or wounded at least 23 civilians in a matter of hours, locals said. By the following morning in Mana the bodies had been washed, wrapped, and carried into the open for a mass funeral. At the ceremony, hundreds gathered under chants of “Allahu Akbar,” as they prepared to bury the victims, the majority of whom were children and women. The crowd was furious. Mourners called for international human rights organizations to open an impartial investigation into the killings and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice. Noor Badshah Khan, a tribal elder from the area, addressed the crowd and blasted Pakistan for waging a merciless campaign against ordinary Afghans. “When will these crimes stop? When will they stop slaughtering the children of this soil?” he asked. The attack on Paktika killed three more children: 10-year-old Nazam Khan, his younger sister Khadeja, and their cousin Mozdalafa. The three had spent the evening counting the stars and bickering over the number before they drifted off to sleep in the open air, family members told Drop Site. The blast destroyed the house, killed the family’s livestock, and hurled the children’s father, Sher Mast, some 60 feet through the air. He and his wife survived the attack that killed their children, though both were badly wounded. A neighbor who reached the wreckage within half an hour gathered what remained of the three children by torchlight. The next day they were lowered into three small graves dug side by side, the eldest boy’s shroud still wet with blood. [Subscribe now][1] ## **The War After the War** Along this stretch of border, the drones that fly overhead day and night have their own nickname. Villagers call them “bangana,” the Pashto word for a buzzing wasp. For the children of Khost and Paktika, that sound is now woven into their daily lives. War has become a tragic constant of life in the region. The same valleys were bombed during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s, and again during the two-decade long U.S.-led war and occupation. Now, the hostile aircraft overhead are operated by a Pakistani regime that enjoys close ties with Washington. The drones inflict a particular type of psychological torment on residents of the region. Locals describe a feeling of helplessness—they can hear the machines, but never reach them, and their own government has no capacity to to stop them. The grief inflicted by the recent attacks in Khost and Paktika has eroded long-standing cultural traditions in the area. By custom, after a death, neighbors cook for a bereaved family for three days. This time, villagers said, no one could bring themselves to eat after the massacres. Without a responsive government, or the attention of international media, many Afghans have turned to social media in a desperate attempt to inform the world of their plight and demand accountability. Afghans in Khost prepare to bury victims of Pakistani strikes on June 10. Photo: Mohammad Zaman Nazari. In the hours after the strikes, Afghans filled online platforms with appeals to the United Nations and the international community to hold the Pakistani military to account, describing the bombardment as a direct assault on Afghanistan’s national sovereignty. While Pakistan has justified its attacks as a response to terrorist attacks on its soil blamed on the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), locals say that the justifications are an attempt to mask the real motives for the ongoing attacks on a border zone that has long been disputed between the two countries. “This is indeed a continuation of the War on Terror in Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Zaher, a local from Khost. “It was clear that it would not stop after the first drones reappeared after the U.S. withdrawal.” ## **“Precise and Calibrated”** Islamabad tells a different story about its attacks. Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, [described the operation][2] as “precise and calibrated,” claiming the Air Force had destroyed four militant targets and killed 26 TTP fighters. The gulf between the reported casualty figures, with Kabul recording 13 civilian dead, and Pakistan claims that double that number were killed, all terrorists, has by now become a familiar feature of the information war that accompanies the armed conflict. Residents from the region who spoke to Drop Site rejected the Pakistani account of the strikes, stating that none of the victims had any ties to armed groups. Pakistan’s escalating attacks on its neighbor come as the country is embracing a new international identity as a peacemaker mediating the war between Iran and the United States. Field Marshall Asim Munir, the Pakistani military’s chief of staff, has emerged as a close ally of President Donald Trump, who has praised Munir as an “exceptional human being,” while ignoring his brutal crackdowns on dissent inside Pakistan, as well as his escalating killings of Afghan civilians. Trump’s praise for Munir as a mediator stands in stark contrast to the brutal reality of Pakistan’s military campaign against its neighbor. Islamabad declared “open war” on the Afghan Taliban government in February after a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in Islamabad blamed on the TTP. Since that time, Pakistani airstrikes have shifted from rural areas on the border to attacks on Kabul itself, including the [bombing][3] of a rehabilitation clinic in the heart of the capital that killed hundreds in March. Residents described the attacks on roads and local transport infrastructure as a de facto siege—depriving markets and clinics of basic goods like flour and medicine. Locals from the region told Drop Site they believed the aim of Pakistani operations was to depopulate the frontier and carve out a buffer zone, with the terror wrought by the recent bombings in Khost and Paktika helping achieve the same goal by encouraging flight from the area. While the newest phase of the war between the two neighbors has been justified as a counterterrorism operation, Afghans note that Pakistani animosity towards Kabul has continued across many different regimes over the decades—with nationalist, communist, democratic, and Islamist governments all targeted by Islamabad in a bid to ensure that its neighbor remains too weak and unstable to assert its own territorial claims. “This is an endless cycle and you don’t need any educated analyst, military expert or historian to understand it,” said Ali Khan, a resident of Kabul and former soldier of the U.S.-backed Afghan army that collapsed in 2021. “You just need to talk to the people who have been affected by these policies for decades.” Pakistan’s confrontation with Afghans is increasingly taking place on both sides of the border. After years of hosting a large refugee population, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have recently been deported from Pakistan back to Afghanistan—in many cases placing them back in the same border villages and provinces that are currently under attack by Pakistani drones and aircraft. “Afghans are a population to be managed, leveraged, and disposed of, never quite people”, said Ali Khan. Because of his own affiliation to the former army of the Afghan Republic, he himself fled to Pakistan, and then Iran during the last four years, before he ultimately returned home to Kabul earlier this year. “It’s better for me to hide in Kabul, see my family and live with some level of dignity instead of being beaten and deported by our neighboring countries,” he said. *Afghanistan-based journalists Fazelminallah Qazizai and Mohammad Zaman Nazari contributed to this report.* [Subscribe now][4] [Leave a comment][5] [1]:

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[2]:

Al Jazeera

Pakistan claims killing 26 Afghan fighters; Taliban says civilians killed

Pakistan targets TTP fighters across Afghan border, as the Taliban says 11 children among those killed in air attacks.

[3]:

Afghans Search for Missing Family Members After Strike on Rehab Center Kills At Least 400

Story by Fazelminallah Qazizai and Emran Feroz

[4]:

Subscribe to Drop Site News

Independent news on politics and war. Click to read Drop Site News, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

[5]:

Peace Abroad, War Next Door: Pakistani Airstrikes Devastate Afghan Civilians

While Pakistan presents itself as a mediator between Iran and the United States its attacks on Afghan civilians are ravaging border villages.

Peace Abroad, War Next Door: Pakistani Airstrikes Devastate Afghan Civilians

While Pakistan presents itself as a mediator between Iran and the United States its attacks on Afghan civilians are ravaging border villages.

Drop Site News (RSS/Atom feed) 10 hours ago

Over 425,000 Kids in U.S. Face Deportation Hearings Without Lawyers As a reader-funded independent news outlet, we operate free from the influence of governments, advertisers, and corporate backers. This is essential to our mission: to report on what matters most, beholden only to the truth. In that spirit, we made a commitment to ensure that our journalism is free for everyone, not locked behind a paywall. But that means we rely on the voluntary support of our community of readers. Please consider making a[ tax-deductible donation to support our work today][1]. [Subscribe now][2] A child plays on the floor in the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City, on March 05, 2026. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images. In April, a 10-year-old Venezuelan boy named Wilfredo Hoyos-Gomez appeared in immigration court in Texas, unaccompanied and without a lawyer. His mother, Nexoli Anyis Gomez Bracho, was arrested during a traffic stop and has been in ICE custody in Houston since December. Wilfredo entered the U.S. three years ago with his mother. She has a work permit, and their asylum cases are pending. They have no other family in the U.S., and Gomez’s former employer has been looking after Wilfredo while he faces deportation hearings alone. “I was nervous because it was my first time going to a court,” Wilfredo told Univision after his hearing. The DHS is seeking to deport him to Ecuador, a country where he knows no one and has never been. Wilfredo is one of hundreds of thousands of children facing pending immigration cases without legal representation nationwide, according to federal immigration data. His case offers a rare glimpse into a system operating outside of public scrutiny. While technically open by law, immigration hearings for children are effectively blocked from public access. A new analysis of federal immigration data, conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice in response to questions from Drop Site News, shows that children like Hoyos-Gomez are not an anomaly but part of a wider pattern. More than half of all children facing pending immigration cases are doing so without legal representation, according to data from the Department of Justice. The analysis shows that legal representation appears to be one of the most important factors shaping children’s outcomes in immigration court. Of 751,861 children with pending removal cases, 57%—or 425,093 children—lacked legal representation, according to the most recent data. This rate is slightly higher than that of adults, 54% of whom are unrepresented in immigration court in pending cases. Nearly two thirds of children’s cases that are still pending were initiated by the federal government in 2023, under the Biden administration. The gap widens in completed cases. Last year, 64% of children’s completed immigration cases went forward without legal representation. The data, from the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), indicates that children under the age of 18 are increasingly appearing in immigration court without lawyers at a time when deportation orders are surging as the Trump administration attempts to deport more than a million people annually and immigration relief is becoming harder to obtain. The Vera Institute analysis could not determine how many of these children are unaccompanied, because EOIR data does not distinguish between accompanied and unaccompanied children. Former judges, attorneys, and advocates interviewed by Drop Site describe an immigration court system under mounting pressure to move cases quickly, straining due process protections for the most vulnerable. “The scale is alarming,” said Neil Agarwal, the principal data scientist who led the analysis at the Vera Institute of Justice. These figures reflect the administration’s coordinated effort to pursue its “mass deportation scheme,” he added. The Justice Department and ICE did not respond to requests for comment. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security claimed that ICE does not separate families. “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates,” a DHS spokesperson said, adding that the U.S. encourages voluntary departures and if people don’t choose to do so they will be arrested and deported. “The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now.” “Any possible way to be harsh and unforgiving is being utilized by the government at this point,” said former immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks, who presided over cases for more than three decades in San Francisco. “It makes me ashamed.” “I don’t know if I could remain on the bench today…because my hands would be tied,” she said. “I think there was a very small amount of due process before and there was more ability of immigration judges to try to find a way to craft a reasonable solution for children in the court,” she added, “and now it’s non-existent.” ## **A Clear Pattern ** Last year, 7% of children with an attorney in completed cases were allowed to stay in the country with some form of legal relief, either by being granted asylum or some other federal protection, including a change in status or cancellation of removal, compared with less than 1% of children without legal representation. The pattern has continued into 2026. So far this year, 3% of represented children have avoided deportation and received some form of protection, compared with less than 1% of those without lawyers. This year, 25% of represented children’s cases resulted in an outcome allowing them to remain in the country without protections such as asylum, compared with 11% of unrepresented children. Meanwhile, 73% of represented children were either deported or opted for voluntary departure, versus 89% of unrepresented children. Over the past two years, final court decisions that allow children to remain in the United States have declined, while removal orders have increased. Tania Cohen, legal director of the New York-based Safe Passage Project, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal representation to migrant and refugee children facing deportation, said she has seen more migrant children heading to hearings alone after parents were detained or deported. “It’s alarming and unsurprising,” said Cohen. “I have seen an uptick of youth seeking representation who entered with a parent, but now that parent has been deported or is in detention.” The youngest child the group has recently represented was just an infant. “We are concerned that the immigration court system is speeding up cases at the expense of due process,” said Jennifer Podkul, chief of global policy and advocacy at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a nongovernmental organization providing free legal counsel to unaccompanied refugee and migrant children. The true number of children navigating immigration court may be even higher. Roughly 11% of people in the EOIR dataset lacked birthdate information and could not be categorized by age, meaning some children may not have been included in this analysis. ## **Hearings Behind Closed Doors** Because public access to minor immigration hearings is restricted, judges and legal aid organizations are among the few sources of information about these proceedings. “An immigration court proceeding involving an unrepresented two or three year old can be exactly as nonsensical as it sounds,” said Jason Boyd, the vice president of U.S. federal policy and an attorney at KIND. “The hearing may conclude and a child doesn’t comprehend what just happened.” For five years, former immigration judge Elizabeth Young presided over thousands of cases on the juvenile docket in San Francisco. Young said she vividly remembered a case involving a four-year-old girl with her father. She had fallen asleep in her father’s arms, exhausted in the middle of a noisy courtroom at the beginning of the hearing. As Young began to read out names, she looked to the government attorney to introduce themselves, and saw they were silently weeping. She decided to grant the family a continuance, or extra time, to prepare for a case and secure counsel. Last year when KIND’s Podkul was in a courtroom observing the juvenile docket, there was a child she recalled “running around a tiny car, zoom-zooming on the floor,” she said. “They’re treating these kids as if it’s a regular case, like they’re an adult.” “Just the other day, one of our colleagues had to hold a baby in her arms that she was a lawyer for,” Podkul told Drop Site. ## **Violations of Due Process** Attorneys and former judges interviewed by Drop Site say immigration courts can be difficult for adults to navigate, let alone children. “This is a due process crisis,” said Boyd. ”It’s virtually impossible for an unaccompanied child to navigate the complex and adversarial U.S. immigration system without an attorney at their side, federal data makes that very clear.” In the past, unaccompanied children were more likely to receive extra time to prepare their cases, often two to three months, according to KIND. In recent months, they’ve observed continuances no longer than two to three weeks, which is insufficient time, Boyd said. Legal aid and advocacy groups and former judges told Drop Site that due process is being challenged under the Trump administration by “mega masters,” or mass hearings with multiple cases involving children and adults being heard back to back. There are sometimes about 100 people scheduled for a morning, Cohen said. Marks, the former immigration judge, says these hearings are detrimental for children. “They should have a judge who is able to spend as much time as needed explaining things, making the child feel comfortable enough to be able to tell their story, giving enough time for the judge to be able to assess whether the child is suffering from post-traumatic stress or some of the effects of a dangerous journey to the United States,” she said. Immigration judges are also working under pressure to move quickly through cases—not only from their supervisors but also from attorneys who appear for the Department of Homeland Security in court, Marks said. “There’s just a push to get the cases done,” said Young, and the administration has made it clear “they want it done in a way that results in a lot of deportations.” Boyd observed another “disturbing” trend with judges routinely “ordering the removal of unaccompanied children” who had already been granted special immigrant juvenile status, a form of protection guaranteed by Congress for children who experienced parental abuse or abandonment. “By judges ordering those kids removed from the United States, potentially to the very abuse that they fled,” he said. Over the last year the Trump administration has reduced the number of immigration judges [by 25%][3]. “It feels like there is no due process,” Cohen said. “Judges are being fired for following the law, and then being fired if they do not take enough of an anti-immigrant stance in their decision making.” ## Disruption to Legal Aid In February 2025, the Trump administration issued a “stop-work” [order][4] to legal service providers such as KIND that are funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. That order disrupted support for nearly 26,000 children before it was [rescinded][5] three days later. The following month, HHS abruptly [terminated][6] major federal grants that supported legal representation for unaccompanied minors. A federal judge soon [ordered][7] the administration to restore these funds, but legal aid organizations say the funds have not been fully restored. They are now being provided in three month increments while the government appeals the case. KIND, which [relied on federal funding][8] to cover 68% of its budget to represent more than 4,000 unaccompanied children, has [reduced its staff][9] to work within a strained budget. The organization is currently operating under these three month increments, according to Podkul. “As an organization that’s trying to hire attorneys into representation for children, that’s really hard to do at three month increments,” Podkul said. “You can’t say to a kid, well I can help you now, but I don’t know if I’m going to be here in 89 days.” While there are laws in place to offer protection to children in these cases, the impact of these new policies reshaping the immigration system will be felt for years to come, according to legal aid service providers. “We have laws that Congress passed that provide an avenue for relief and this administration is trying to find all the ways to cut off those avenues,” Cohen added, “I think that it’s a huge miscarriage of justice.” [Leave a comment][10] [Share][11] [1]:

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[2]:

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[3]: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/23/g-s1-110911/trump-immigration-judges-dismissals-numbers [4]:

Redirect Notice

[5]: https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/update-trump-administration-rescinds-stop-work-order-that-halted-legal-services-for-unaccompanied-immigrant-children/ [6]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/migrant-children-legal-representation-funding.html [7]: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5348831/judge-trump-administration-legal-aid-to-migrant-children [8]:

KIND

Statement of KIND President Wendy Young on the Organizational Shifts Following Termination of Federal Funding for Unaccompanied Children’s Legal Services - KIND

KIND responds to the end of federal funding, pledging to protect unaccompanied children and adapt programs to ensure continued legal support and sa...

[9]:

KIND

Statement of KIND President Wendy Young on the Organizational Shifts Following Termination of Federal Funding for Unaccompanied Children’s Legal Services - KIND

KIND responds to the end of federal funding, pledging to protect unaccompanied children and adapt programs to ensure continued legal support and sa...

[10]:

Over 425,000 Kids in U.S. Face Deportation Hearings Without Lawyers

A new analysis of federal immigration data found that 57% of children with deportation orders in the U.S. do not have access to an attorney.

[11]:

Over 425,000 Kids in U.S. Face Deportation Hearings Without Lawyers

A new analysis of federal immigration data found that 57% of children with deportation orders in the U.S. do not have access to an attorney.

Over 425,000 Kids in U.S. Face Deportation Hearings Without Lawyers

A new analysis of federal immigration data found that 57% of children with deportation orders in the U.S. do not have access to an attorney.

Drop Site News (RSS/Atom feed) 11 hours ago

House to vote on foreign aid to Israel; SCOTUS allows Trump to strip Haitians and Syrians of status; Thousands still missing in Venezuela *After attack on vessel, International Maritime Organization [pauses][1] Strait of Hormuz evacuation. Day of [debate][2] about tolls in Strait of Hormuz. Iran calls U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council joint statement “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative.” Iran [projects][3] $40B annual revenue in Hormuz fees. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright [discusses][4] sanctions relief. Israeli forces [continue][5] operations across south Lebanon amid fragile “ceasefire.” Israel, Lebanon [extend][6] U.S.-mediated talks after failing to reach withdrawal deal. Killed and wounded. Two Palestinians [killed][7] after Israeli strike in northern Gaza. Fire [hits][8] Al-Shifa medical complex. Israeli forces, settlers [storm][9] Hebron mosque, block prayers. U.S. House of Representatives to [vote][10] on foreign aid to Israel, House Dems panic. Supreme Court [allows][11] Trump to nix protected status for Haitians and Syrians. Michigan senatorial candidate Mallory McMorrow [criticizes][12] frontrunner Abdul El-Sayed for campaigning with Hasan Piker, says she isn’t dropping out. New York City freezes [rents][13] on rent-stabilized apartments. Rep. Summer Lee [hints][14] at Senate run. Newly elected New York Democrats [diverge][15] on Hakeem Jeffries’s speakership. Federal judge [orders][16] Department of Justice to release more unredacted Epstein records by July 2. 63-year-old man [dies][17] at Laredo ICE facility, fifth Texas detention death this year. FBI [used][18] technology from Israeli firm Cellebrite to secretly extract data from Spokane ICE protesters’ phones, investigation finds. Venezuela earthquake death total rises to 589. Canada [looks][19] to restore ties with Venezuela and Iran. U.S. sanctions Rwandan gold network. Yemeni journalist Mohammed Ayda [killed][20] in car bombing. RSF drone strike [kills][21] two civilians at Rabak fuel station. South Korea to [train][22] 500,000 “drone warriors,” produce up to 60,000 drones by 2029. German military recruitment drive stalls. Ukraine hits Russian chemical plant for the second time in two weeks.* **From Drop Site:** * **[Israel bombs Palestinians in beach tents in Gaza][23]** * **[Trump Claims Victory in Colombia as Right-Wing Populist Wins Presidential Election][24]** Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. **[Join the channel here.][25]** **This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. **We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. [Subscribe now][26] 🛒 Get your “[Drop [Site] News/Not Bombs][27]” Hoodie here: [Get Your Hoodie][28] Police members tend a victim amid debris of demolished buildings as rescue efforts continue after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela on June 25, 2026 in La Guaira, Venezuela. Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images. [Subscribe now][29] # Iran and Ceasefire * **After attack on vessel, International Maritime Organization pauses Hormuz evacuation: **On Thursday, a cargo vessel was struck on its starboard side by an [unknown projectile][30] about 7.5 nautical miles southeast of Dahit, Oman, damaging the ship’s bridge, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). There were no casualties reported. The International Maritime Organization [announced][31] a suspension of its systematic evacuation of ships out of the Persian Gulf “until further clarity” on Thursday. * A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the vessel was hit by an Iranian drone, though no one from Iran’s military or government claimed responsibility for the attack. * The incident comes after Iran’s IRGC said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is only possible via routes approved by Iran, and the IRGC warned that ships that used any “unauthorized routes” would be “dealt with by its navy.” * Oman and the UN-affiliated International Maritime Organization (IMO) had announced a southern temporary shipping corridor in Hormuz on Tuesday. * **Day of debate about tolls in Strait; Oman says it is against transit fees: **Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi [said][32] that his country would not support the imposition of transit fees through the Strait of Hormuz during a joint meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the United States. * Oman, which borders the strait, has a special responsibility to support international efforts to safeguard maritime navigation in accordance with international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Albusaidi said. * U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the meeting that “no country on Earth has the right to charge for the use of international waterways,” adding that fees or tolls for shipping would not be part of any deal, a key Iranian demand. * In a joint statement following the GCC meeting, however, the U.S. and the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman, [rejected][33] all “tolls” or “fees” on the Strait, among discussions of the MOU, Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. * **Iran calls U.S.-GCC statement “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative”: **Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed the recent U.S.-GCC joint statement as “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative,” accusing Washington of distorting reality by portraying itself as a guarantor of Gulf security. The ministry said the Strait of Hormuz would be managed in accordance with the recently signed MOU. * It called on Gulf states to prevent their territories from being used for any unlawful acts against Iran, urged them not to adopt the U.S. narrative on Tehran’s “peaceful nuclear program,” and instead support a “nuclear-weapon-free Middle East.” * The statement also criticized the GCC for joining Washington and Israel in describing Palestinian and Lebanese resistance groups as “Iranian proxies,” arguing that Israel is the region’s only “proxy.” * The ministry added that regional security should be maintained by countries in the region rather than through reliance on foreign powers whose interventions have “repeatedly undermined” stability. * **Iran projects $40B annual revenue in Hormuz fees:** Iran estimates it could [generate][34] $40 billion annually by charging for security, safety, navigation, and environmental services in the Strait of Hormuz under a proposed postwar management framework, according to a Wall Street Journal report. * The proposal reportedly envisions revenue being shared with participating regional states, and the report says Iran has pitched the idea to its Persian Gulf neighbors and as far afield as China and Egypt, according to Iranian and mediating officials. * **Vance brags about “new relationship” with Iran**: In an interview with UnHerd aboard Air Force Two on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance [described][35] a quasi-normalization of relations with Iran emerging from the war. * Vance claimed Iran is offering nuclear concessions beyond those in the JCPOA. He said Tehran is proposing “a much more rigorous inspection regime” and the elimination of its enriched uranium stockpile. Iran has consistently denied this. * Calling the UAE “by far the most hawkish, by far the most pro-Israel country” in the GCC, Vance said Emirati officials are holding unprecedented talks with the IRGC over what Iran would need to do to become “investable.” * **Energy Sec discusses sanctions relief: **U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright discussed the impact of lifting sanctions on Iran at an event in Idaho, [saying][36] Iran will now “be back to exporting similar volumes” of petroleum as during the Biden years—putting production and export capacity at 1.5-2 million barrels a day. * Wright said dollars from new oil sales go straight to Iran with no restrictions, but insisted any released frozen funds would be “tightly controlled.” * **South Korean vehicles leave Strait of Hormuz: **Eight more Korean-linked vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz have now [exited][37] the waterway, the country’s maritime ministry announced on Friday via the Korea Times, with 21 of the 26 ships with ties to the nation and which had been trapped in the Strait since February having passed through. * Maritime traffic is continuing to recover, with Kpler recording 70 confirmed Strait of Hormuz crossings on June 24, up 105% from the previous day. Commercial shipping accounted for 53 transits as demining efforts progressed and more operators used the Omani route. # Lebanon * **Killed and wounded: **At least 4,230 people have been killed, and 12,179 wounded, in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. In its Thursday report, the ministry said 38 people were killed, most from wounds sustained in earlier attacks, and that eight had been injured over the previous 24 hours. * **Israeli forces continue operations across south Lebanon amid fragile “ceasefire”: **The Israeli military [dropped][38] leaflets over al-Mansouri, a town in southern Lebanon, on Friday ordering residents to “stay away” and stating that approaching Israeli forces would put them “in danger,” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the first forced displacement order given since Friday’s “ceasefire.” Israeli troops, backed by military vehicles and bulldozers, also [advanced][39] from Hadatha toward the outskirts of Haris in Bint Jbeil district. In Markaba, Israeli forces continued bulldozing and burning homes, while warplanes carried out two [airstrikes][40] on the outskirts of Nabatieh Al-Fawqa. * One person was also killed and another critically injured after an unexploded ordnance detonated in the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri on Friday. * **Artillery strikes on Barashit and Beit Yahoun after four Israeli soldiers injured: **Israeli forces launched several attacks on southern Lebanon on Thursday, with Lebanon’s National News Agency reporting around 10 artillery strikes and machine gun fire targeting the outskirts of Barashit and Beit Yahoun. * The attacks followed reports of a “security incident” involving Israeli troops near Beit Yahoun. The Israeli military later [said][41] that four Israeli soldiers were wounded—one moderately and three lightly—in an attack in Beit Yahoun on Thursday night, according to the Times of Israel. * **Israel, Lebanon extend U.S.-mediated talks after failing to reach withdrawal deal: **Israel and Lebanon [extended][42] their U.S.-mediated talks in Washington to a fourth day after failing to reach an agreement on a partial Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon during Thursday’s negotiations, according to the Times of Israel. The fifth round of talks had been expected to conclude with a framework agreement under which Israeli forces would partially withdraw from the “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese army in designated “pilot zones.” # Palestine * **Two Palestinians killed after Israeli strike in northern Gaza: **Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike Friday on Jabaliya Al-Balad, northern Gaza Strip, according to Al-Jazeera. A Palestinian man also [died][43] on Friday from wounds sustained in an Israeli strike a day earlier in the Al-Nasr neighborhood west of Gaza City, WAFA reported. Separately, another Palestinian was shot by Israeli forces near the Austrian cemetery west of Khan Younis, with Israeli forces opening fire and shelling the eastern areas of the city. * **Fire hits Al-Shifa medical complex: **A massive fire [broke out][44] inside Al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza City on Thursday, tearing through the only surgical operations building operating in northern Gaza. * The fire was completely controlled, with no injuries [reported][45], according to a statement from Gaza’s Health Ministry, which said an investigation was underway. * Civil defense crews reportedly [battled][46] the fire with worn-out equipment, with the conditions inside the hospital characterized as “catastrophic.” * **Israeli forces, settlers storm Hebron mosque, block prayers: **Israeli forces, accompanied by settlers, [raided][47] the Al-Ras mosque in the Al-Jaabari neighborhood of Hebron’s Old City before dawn on Friday, assaulting those inside and preventing worshippers from holding prayers, according to WAFA. They raised Israeli flags over the mosque’s entrances, broadcast songs through its loudspeakers, and forced two Palestinians who had been staying inside the mosque to leave before sealing the site. Settlers had also seized a plot of land belonging to the mosque around six months ago and converted it into a playground. * **Palestinian prisoners’ group says journalist’s case reflects Israel’s “slow execution” of detainees:** Photos of Palestinian journalist Mujahid Bani Mufleh circulated on Thursday, showing the severe impact of his [detention][48] by Israel without charge in June 2025. Two days after his release in January 2026, Bani Mufleh suffered a severe brain hemorrhage linked to an illness he contracted in Israeli prison, rights groups say. He was hospitalized in critical condition and underwent multiple surgeries that left part of his skull removed and, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, still faces a long and complex recovery. * The group says his case reflects Israel’s systematic torture, abuse, and denial of medical care to Palestinian prisoners. The group characterized the fate of those like Mufleh as a “slow execution” by his former Israeli captors. # U.S. News *By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [Julian@dropsitenews.com][49].* * **House to vote on foreign aid to Israel, House Dems panic: **The House Rules Committee voted Tuesday to allow Rep. **Thomas Massie**’s amendment to strike $3.3 billion in foreign aid from the State Department’s 2027 funding bill and prohibit any aid to Israel through that bill to advance to the floor for a vote. Now, all members of Congress will be put on record as to whether they support continuing to fund Israel’s genocidal project in the Middle East. Punchbowl News [reported][50] that Democratic members of the House “expressed alarm” in a closed meeting and were “begging for leadership guidance” on how to vote as the Democratic base sours on the U.S.-Israel relationship. * **Supreme Court allows Trump to nix protected status for Haitians and Syrians: **The U.S. Supreme Court [ruled][51] 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration to allow the federal government to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. * In the majority opinion for the consolidated cases (*Mullin v. Doe* and *Trump v. Miot*), Justice **Samuel Alito** stated that federal law grants the executive branch unreviewable authority to terminate TPS designations, effectively barring federal judges from intervening or second-guessing those decisions. * The conservative majority also rejected claims that the administration’s actions were unconstitutionally driven by racial animus. Alito declined to reprint Trump’s past remarks about Haitians while ruling they were not “overtly racial.” * In dissent, Justice **Elena Kagan**, joined by Justices **Sonia Sotomayor** and **Ketanji Brown Jackson**, reproduced Trump’s statements, including his claim that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating the pets” and his description of Haiti as a “shithole country.” The statements, Kagan wrote, “fairly shout” that race shaped the decision to expel them. * The decision takes effect in 32 days, barring narrow district court interventions. Affected Haitian and Syrian nationals will lose their legal residency, work authorization, and driver’s licenses, rendering them subject to detention and deportation. * While this ruling targets Haiti and Syria, the precedent imperils roughly 1 million more TPS holders from countries including Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Honduras, Nepal, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen, all now in litigation. * **McMorrow criticizes El-Sayed for campaigning with Hasan Piker, says she isn’t dropping out: **Rep. **Mallory McMorrow**, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, [told][52] CNN on Thursday that she is not dropping out of the race despite weak polling, and criticized progressive frontrunner **Abdul El-Sayed** for campaigning with **Hasan Piker**, seeming to allege a connection between Piker and an attack on a synagogue in Michigan. McMorrow has consistently declined to describe Israel’s assault on Gaza as genocide. * Separately on Wednesday, Maryland Sen. **Chris Van Hollen** endorsed El-Sayed, becoming the second senator after **Bernie Sanders** to do so, calling him the “strongest” candidate for a seat the Democrats desperately need to win to flip the Senate. He praised El-Sayed’s willingness to “take on the Democratic establishment that has not fought hard enough for working people.” * **New York City freezes rents on rent-stabilized apartments:** New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 on Thursday to [approve][53] a 0% rent increase for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, delivering on one of Mayor **Zohran Mamdani**’s signature campaign promises. * The freeze applies to both one-year and two-year lease renewals beginning October 1. Tenant advocates hailed the vote as a major affordability victory, while landlord groups signaled that they would mount legal challenges against the measure. * **Rep. Summer Lee hints at Senate run: Summer Lee**, the progressive Pittsburgh-area congresswoman, [posted][54] on Thursday that, “2028 can’t come fast enough for PA,” a remark many interpreted as a shot at Sen. **John Fetterman** and a hint that she might run against him. * Fetterman was the lone Senate Democrat to oppose the Iran war powers resolutions and has become an increasingly isolated figure in his party over his unconditional support for Israel, his defense of ICE, and his broader willingness to align with Trump. * **Newly elected New York Democrats diverge on Hakeem Jeffries’s speakership: Darializa Avila Chevalier**, who [won][55] the Democratic primary to represent New York’s 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, declined to commit to supporting House Minority Leader **Hakeem Jeffries** for speaker during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press NOW. * She said she would consult with her “coalition and community” about how best to deliver for New Yorkers before making a decision. * Her remarks follow comments from **Brad Lander** on Thursday, who won a primary in the city’s 10th district, who committed to “helping elect Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker,” even though Jeffries endorsed his primary opponent. * **Federal judge orders DOJ to release more unredacted Epstein records by July 2: **U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan [ordered][56] the Justice Department on Thursday to release additional unredacted **Jeffrey Epstein** records by July 2 or explain why it cannot, granting a preliminary injunction in media legal analyst **Katie Phang**’s lawsuit, which alleges the department failed to comply with last year’s Epstein Act. * Phang’s case claims that acting Attorney General **Todd Blanche**’s DOJ improperly redacted sender and recipient names in at least eight email exchanges referencing a “torture video” and alleged sexual activity involving minors, and withheld 36 materials mentioning President **Trump**, including FBI interview notes from a woman who alleges Epstein introduced her to Trump as a 13-year-old and that Trump assaulted her. * Rep. **Thomas Massie** told Drop Site’s Julian Andreone that the Oversight Committee’s work on the files was “an absolute total joke.” “We basically just bring people over there and give them almost a whitewash,” Massie said. “Once they do some perfunctory testimony there in the Oversight Committee, they check the box. It says, ‘I’ve shown up and done something.’” **Video** **[here][57]**. * **Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii’s “vampire rule” on carrying guns onto private property: **The Supreme Court [ruled][58] 6-3 on Thursday to strike down a Hawaii law requiring concealed carry permit holders to obtain a property owner’s permission before entering with a firearm, finding the measure violates the Second Amendment. The ruling will likely affect regulations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California. * Justice **Alito** wrote for the majority that the rule, dubbed the “vampire rule,” imposed “severe restrictions” on permit holders’ daily activities. * Justice **Kagan** dissented, arguing the law mirrored colonial-era restrictions on carrying firearms onto private property without consent. * **Johnson says he’ll send housing bill to Trump: **House Speaker Mike Johnson [said][59] he would formally transmit a bipartisan housing bill to President Donald Trump, a day after Trump abruptly canceled its signing ceremony and demanded the Senate first pass the SAVE America Act, an unrelated voter-restriction measure. * Transmitting the bill starts a constitutional 10-day clock for Trump to sign or veto it, after which it becomes law without his signature. * Trump has called the housing legislation “of minor importance” even as fellow Republicans tout it as a key win on living costs ahead of November’s midterms. * **63-year-old man dies at Laredo ICE facility, fifth Texas detention death this year: **Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, [died][60] at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo on June 19, about an hour after being rushed to the emergency room, according to a notification ICE sent to Congress, marking at least the fifth death in Texas ICE detention this year—a quarter of the nationwide total. * The Webb County medical examiner said Alcorta died of “natural causes.” An autopsy is pending. * The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general [announced][61] that it would launch two reviews into Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s handling of detained migrants, one examining a rise in detainee deaths and another assessing whether ICE facilities meet use-of-force standards. * Detainee deaths have increased every fiscal year since 2022, with 20 deaths recorded so far in 2026 compared with 33 in all of 2025 and 11 in 2024, according to ICE. * **GEO Group claims qualified immunity to fight forced-labor lawsuit over ICE detention work: **GEO Group, a major ICE contractor and one of the world’s largest private prison companies, is invoking qualified immunity—the legal doctrine that typically shields police officers from civil rights lawsuits—to fight a forced-labor case brought by detainees at one of its Colorado facilities, according to a new investigation from The American Prospect and The Lever. Read more about the case in the full piece from the Lever and TAP [here][62]. * **FBI used Cellebrite to secretly extract data from Spokane ICE protesters’ phones, investigation finds: **The FBI used forensic software from Israeli firm Cellebrite to [extract][63] data from the phones of at least a dozen protesters arrested at a June 2025 demonstration outside an ICE field office in Spokane, Washington, according to a new investigation from Mother Jones. * Spokane police seized 23 phones during the protest and transferred them to the FBI. One of these protesters, Thalia Ramirez, was part of the **Spokane 9**, all charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure” officers at the protest. * One surveillance expert warned of the danger of the action’s precedent, saying, “Your mere proximity to somebody else can be used to justify an invasive search into your entire digital life.” * Read Mother Jones’ full investigation [here][64]. # Other International News * **Venezuela earthquake death total rises to 589: **The death toll from two earthquakes that hit Venezuela on Wednesday has risen to 589, with thousands more reported missing as rescue crews continue to search for survivors. The health ministry reported at least 4,300 people were injured. * The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) [called][65] on Thursday for the U.S. and other countries to fully lift sanctions on Venezuela. CEPR says existing sanctions would severely hinder humanitarian relief by discouraging banks, aid groups, and businesses from operating in Venezuela. It urged the UK and Portugal to release frozen Venezuelan state assets as well, so that the funds might be used for emergency response and reconstruction. * **Canada looks to restore ties with Venezuela and Iran: **Canadian PM Mark Carney said on Thursday that Canada should [restore][66] diplomatic representation in Iran and in earthquake-ravaged Venezuela, citing the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and saying, “Engagement is not endorsement.” * He said a decision on both countries had not yet been reached, but it is what Canada “needs to do.” * **U.S. sanctions Rwandan gold network: **The U.S. State Department announced sanctions on Thursday against a network it says smuggles minerals out of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to fund the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group. * The targets are Gasabo Gold Refinery in Kigali, three other Rwandan mining companies, and two men who run the refinery. * At least 60 kilograms of gold moved from eastern DRC to the Gasabo refinery in early 2026, escorted by Rwandan forces and M23 fighters, according to the Treasury Department. * The State Department says the move enforces the Washington Accords, the Trump-brokered DRC-Rwanda deal, and its framework for “fully licit” mineral supply chains. That same framework, Drop Site has reported, is opening the door for U.S. and Emirati investors to capture Congo’s copper, cobalt, and coltan trade, the prize beneath a war that has displaced more than 7 million people. **More on the Congolese mineral industry—in which an Epstein-linked Israeli network plays a pivotal role—is [here][67].** * **Yemeni journalist Mohammed Ayda killed in car bombing: **Mohammed Ayda, a correspondent for Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, was [killed][68] Wednesday evening when an explosive device detonated in his car while he was driving along al-Seen Street in Mukalla, the capital of Yemen’s Hadhramaut province, according to the New Arab. * Ayda, who had covered Yemeni politics and security since 2019, had reportedly been warned of threats to his life; no group has claimed responsibility. * **RSF drone strike kills two civilians at Rabak fuel station: **A Rapid Support Forces drone strike [killed][69] two civilians and injured several others at a fuel station in Rabak, the capital of White Nile State, on Thursday morning, local sources said—part of an intensified RSF campaign targeting fuel stations in El Obeid and along the highway connecting it to White Nile State in an apparent bid to cut off fuel supplies. * Separately, the Sudanese army said its air defenses shot down an RSF drone over El Obeid on Thursday as it attempted to target the city’s Airport neighborhood. * **South Korea to train 500,000 “drone warriors,” produce up to 60,000 drones by 2029: **South Korea’s Defense Ministry [said][70] it will train 500,000 “drone warriors” and distribute tens of thousands of unmanned systems across frontline units to counter North Korea, according to Reuters. * Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the military plans to produce about 60,000 drones by 2029—revised down from an initial 110,000 figure—including roughly 11,000 in 2026. * Ahn said the goal is to make drones “a universal combat tool” used by individual soldiers like a “second personal weapon,” with all components domestically produced rather than sourced from China, citing lessons from Ukraine and the Middle East, where low-cost drones have reshaped battlefield tactics. * **German military recruitment drive stalls: **Germany’s Defense Ministry reported that it has sent nearly 300,000 questionnaires to 18-year-olds since January as part of a new effort to promote voluntary military service, but only around 530 of those contacted have so far given enlistment offers for service this year—roughly 0.18% of those contacted. The failure to recruit soldiers comes as the German government has promoted a national push for military readiness amid the weakening of NATO, fears of a future conflict with Russia, and increasing calls for mandatory conscription. * **Ukraine hits Russian chemical plant for second time in two weeks:** Ukraine struck an industrial facility in Russia’s Tula region overnight, with Russian and Ukrainian reports identifying the target as the Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk, roughly 125 miles south of Moscow. * The site, Russia’s largest producer of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers, has been described by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as important to Moscow’s explosives production and was previously hit on June 14. The strike came during one of Ukraine’s largest drone barrages of the year, with Russia’s Defense Ministry claiming it downed 660 drones across 12 regions and occupied Crimea. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. 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