#usa #iran #israel #lebanon : #middleeast / #threatofwar / #threat / #militaryattack / #hezbollah / #dangerofescalation / #internationallaw
„Lebanon has been warned that any involvement by Hezbollah in a potential #confrontation between the United States and Iran could trigger Israeli strikes on critical infrastructure in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said on Tuesday.“
https://xhnewsapi.xinhuaxmt.com/share/news?id=1182730461720576
Ukraine reportedly hit a key Russian state-owned missile factory in Udmurt Republic with drones and cruise missiles, causing injuries and damage. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/ukraine-strikes-a-key-industrial-site-deep-inside-russia-wyn5luod?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Ukraine #Russia #MilitaryAttack #DroneStrike
#lebanon #israel : #war / #hezbollah / #ceasefire / #militaryattack / #internationallaw
„Israel's military confirmed the incident in a statement on the same day, saying it has eliminated a "terrorist" in Hanin, who was allegedly involved in efforts to re-establish Hezbollah infrastructure, describing the activity as a violation of ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon.“
https://xhnewsapi.xinhuaxmt.com/share/news?id=1179837438861312
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims
„Medics said an Israeli air strike on a tent encampment housing displaced families killed at least four people, while health officials said another strike killed five in Khan Younis in the south.“
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #photo
„Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Smoke, dust, and flames rise from an Israeli military strike on a building in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on February 6, 2026.“
#lebanon #israel : #war / #hezbollah / #ceasefire / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims
„H. Jaber, a police officer, & his child, Ali, were on foot when the strike on Monday hit a passing car in the center of their town, Yanouh, relatives said. Lebanon’s health ministry said the boy was 3 years old. Both were killed at the scene along with the car driver, A. Salami, who the Israeli military said in a statement was an artillery official with the Lebanese militant group.“
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims / #family
„The strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including an apartment building in Gaza City & a tent camp in Khan Younis, said officials at hospitals that received the bodies. The casualties included 2 women & 6 children from 2 different families. Another airstrike hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director M. Abu Selmiya said.“
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260201/p2g/00m/0in/020000c
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack
„Israeli fire killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday, health officials said, in the latest violence rattling a fragile ceasefire as Hamas and Israel looked to implement the second phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan.“
Original URL but deleted by Reuters without comment:
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-fire-kills-two-gaza-truce-deal-moves-next-phase-2026-01-29/
#lebanon #israel : #war / #hezbollah / #ceasefire / #militaryattack
„The Israeli military said it struck four crossings along the Syria-Lebanon border on Wednesday that were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, after earlier launching fresh strikes on the militant group in Lebanon.“
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260121-israel-launches-wave-of-fresh-strikes-on-lebanon
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims / #lowintensitywarfare
„Israeli forces on Wednesday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two 13-year-old boys who were collecting firewood, three journalists and a woman, hospitals in the war-battered enclave said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of the incidents.“
Iran Escalates Crackdown on Protests as Trump Threatens to Launch Military Attack
Iranian activists have warned that foreign intervention would only increase internal repression, says Narges Bajoghli.#israel #lebanon : #war / #ceasefire / #hezbollah / #militaryattack
»Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between it and Hezbollah. The Israeli army announced on Sunday it had carried out strikes 'in response to Hezbollah's continuous violations of the ceasefire understandings.'«
"Trump🚨said he's CXL a fresh military attack on #Venezuela, saying the 2 countries “are working well together,” on rebuilding: oil & gas infra.
GOP MOC🚨are complicit in #theft, #murder... They say they're ppl of faith, but have allowed Trump to STEAL a sovereign nation, while KILLING >200 ppl from #BoatStrikes & a #MilitaryAttack in VZ.
#DHS is forcing IMMs into for-profit #detention facs *resp for 32 deaths in 2025 & IMM enf has harmed & KILLED ppl.
#Imperialism #USPol
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/trump-says-hes-cancelled-attacks-on-venezuela-touts-100bn-oil-investment.html
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims / #lowintensitywarfare
„Attacks bring total number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 425 since October ceasefire took effect.“
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianvictims / #militants
„Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, hours after the military said it had hit the site of a failed militant rocket launch, the latest violence to jeopardize the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.“
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/child-killed-north-gaza-israeli-fire-ceasefire-9.7037704
#israel #lebanon : #militaryattack / #escalation / #ceasefire / #hezbollah / #disarmament
„Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement Tuesday condemned the attacks as counter to both international efforts to deescalate hostilities and Lebanon’s efforts to extend the government’s authority into areas long dominated by Hezbollah and to disarm militants.“
#israel #palestine : #war / #gaza / #truce / #militaryattack / #civilianwarvictims
„Israel killed at least two Palestinians including a girl, and wounded four others including other children, in an airstrike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, officials at the city's main Nasser Hospital said.“
Civil Discourse – Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next – Joyce Vance
AI image by WordPress, 2026.Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning
By Joyce Vance, Jan 03, 2026
This morning, Donald Trump explained, in a rambling press conference along with others in his administration, that the overnight strike in Venezuela was executed to arrest President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. In other words, it’s not the kind of new hostilities, if you buy the administration’s line, that would require notice to or a declaration from Congress.
This approach, although it’s what I suggested in this morning’s post we should expect, leaves me with a major question: if the U.S. was just going in to Venezuela to arrest a defendant in a criminal case, which has now been done, why is it necessary to stick around to run the country? That is exactly what Trump said this morning that we’d be doing. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” the President said.
Senator Chuck Schumer tweeted: “The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”
Tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. ET, I’ll host a Substack Live with Jake Sullivan, who served as Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025, and Jon Finer, Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor. We’ll answer your questions about what comes next. Make sure you’re subscribed to Civil Discourse to get a notice when we go live—a free subscription will work for that. And leave any questions you have for us in the comments. Jake and Jon have a fantastic new podcast, The Long Game, that drops every Friday.
The new indictment:
The superseding indictment against Maduro, Flores, and four others was unsealed this morning. It contains three counts and a hefty amount of narrative. It is, as prosecutors say, a speaking indictment:
You can read the superseding indictment here. It’s signed by Trump’s new U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, which means it was obtained no earlier than August of this year. It involves fewer defendants than the original 2020 indictment, which named 15 defendants, including Maduro. That could mean that some of the original defendants have become cooperators. We don’t know the details yet, but we will likely learn more in the course of detention hearings, which should follow shortly on the heels of the arraignment.
The superseding indictment adds additional allegations against Maduro and names his wife as a defendant for the first time. The basis for the indictment remains the same: Maduro and his co-defendants used government power to protect and promote drug trafficking crimes. The government alleges that “This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States.”
To prevail on the “narcoterrorism” count (that label doesn’t appear in the statute), the government will have to prove that the defendants trafficked in illegal drugs, “knowing or intending to provide, directly or indirectly, anything of pecuniary value to any person or organization that has engaged or engages in terrorist activity.” This begs the same question raised by Trump’s earlier efforts to deport Venezuelans, who he claimed were part of the Tren de Aragua gang (it turned out many of them weren’t), and the justification for so-called kinetic strikes that have killed more than 100 people to date. The administration’s justification is that drug cartels are terrorist forces attacking the United States. Now we’ll see how that holds up in court.
Even if the government prevails on the legal argument, the indictment doesn’t offer much insight into how the government intends to tie Maduro to Tren de Aragua and other cartels and gangs. It offers more detail about FARC activity from 2018 and 2019. But prosecutors aren’t required to reveal all of their evidence in an indictment, simply enough to put a defendant on notice of the charges they have to defend against. Assessment of the strength of the government’s case will have to wait until defense lawyers file preliminary motions.
Maduro could be facing life in prison if he is convicted. The two drug counts carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years on Count One and 10 years on Count 2. The firearm charges carry a 30-year minimum prison term.
Will Congress do anything?
A Senatevotewill take place next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution to block Trump from engaging in further hostilities against Venezuela. It was already in the works, but there will be an increased sense of urgency around it now. Along with Schumer, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, and California Senator Adam Schiff, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul has signed on as a co-sponsor. The resolution is privileged, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune will not be able to prevent it from coming to the floor. The resolution only needs a simple majority to pass the Senate.
Delaware Democrat Chris Coons, the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Defense Appropriations, issued a statement that read, “This military action is the next stage in President Trump’s incoherent and arguably illegal Venezuela operation. In recent briefings to Congress, senior administration officials said they were focused on combatting (sic) drug trafficking, not regime change, and made clear they had no plan for what would happen if Maduro was removed or overthrown. This was clearly false, and furthermore, a military operation to capture and overthrow a president – even an illegitimate one – is an act of war that must be authorized by Congress. Not only has the Trump administration not sought congressional approval, they did not even notify members of either party in Congress until after the strike had concluded. Protecting democracy should not be done through illegal means.”
Editor’s Note: The featured image at top was generated by WP AI. Below is also the embedded column/article for easy access. –DrWeb
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next by Joyce Vance
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning Read on Substack
Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next by Joyce Vance
And, a very special Substack Live Sunday morning
Read on Substack #CiliaFlores #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Illegal #January32026 #JoyceVance #Kidnapping #Maduro #MilitaryAttack #PressConference #SouthernDistrictOfNewYork #SovereignNation #Substack #SundayLiveEvent #USDistrictCourt #Venezuela
Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernandez said Nicolás Maduro and his wife were seized from their residence inside the Ft. Tiuna military base after a bombing. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/venezuela-crisis-nicolas-maduro-first-lady-kidnapped-from-home-yks7cs9j?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Venezuela #NicolasMaduro #UnitedStates #MilitaryAttack
