INTERNACIONAL
Australia terror attack exposes ISIS resurgence as experts warn of global jihadist networks
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The terror attack in Australia has renewed urgent warnings from intelligence officials and counterterrorism experts that global jihadist networks are intensifying their reach, even as Western governments continue to frame groups like ISIS as weakened or in retreat.
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and one of the longest-running trackers of jihadist movements, said the Australia attack highlights a persistent miscalculation in Western capitals.
«We’ve always been quick to declare terrorist organizations defeated and insignificant, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,» Roggio told Fox News Digital.
Roggio, who is also managing editor of The Long War Journal, said ISIS remains far from dismantled despite the collapse of its territorial «caliphate.»
FAMILIES MOURN LOVED ONES LOST IN BONDI BEACH TERROR ATTACK: ‘NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE THE PAIN’
People gather around a tribute for shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
«This attack in Australia is absolute proof that the Islamic State hasn’t been defeated,» he said. «These groups are still able to recruit and indoctrinate people. They still have safe havens.»
He pointed to ISIS’ enduring presence in Afghanistan. «I just read the U.N. report. There are 2,000 ISIS fighters there, according to the United Nations,» Roggio said. «That’s not what a defeated group looks like.»
Police inspect at the scene of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 15, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli officials say the threat revealed in Australia is part of a broader global pattern. Over the past year, they said, plots have been attempted or disrupted across Europe, North America, and elsewhere — signaling an escalating jihadist resurgence rather than isolated bursts of violence.
Corri Zoli, a research associate at Syracuse University’s Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, said Western governments cannot ignore the indicators.
«Governments are on notice that there is a steep rise in the terrorist targeting of religious minorities, particularly those from the Jewish faith community and Israelis worldwide — a trend intelligence agencies say has accelerated in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, which killed more than 1,200 people in Israel,» Zoli said.
Roggio agrees the Israel–Hamas war has supercharged radicalization and emboldened extremists worldwide.
«With Israel’s war against Hamas, it’s given new life for people to attack Jews worldwide,» Roggio said. «It’s a further reason to radicalize.»
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Intelligence officials told Fox News Digital that extremist actors across ideological lines are leveraging the conflict to inspire supporters, amplify propaganda and justify attacks in the West. Terrorist organizations, they said, are adapting quickly — merging digital incitement with on-the-ground recruitment networks.
«Analysts at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center warn these networks are probing for openings in Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States, exploiting ideological ecosystems that can radicalize individuals far from traditional battlefields,» Zoli said.
GLOBAL WAVE OF TERROR PLOTS SPARKS NEW ALARMS OVER THE WEST’S GROWING VULNERABILITY
A masked Islamic State terrorist poses holding the ISIS flag in 2015. (Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Zoli also noted that Australian authorities had acknowledged that the attacker’s family had been on the radar of domestic intelligence. «The son, Naveed Akram, was known to Australian officials for his extremism since 2019 and his association with extremist imam Wissam Haddad, a habitual violator of Australia’s racial hatred laws at the Al Madina Dawah Centre and a prominent figure in the Street Dawah Movement. Akram also maintained close ties to Isaac El Matari, who claimed to be an Australian ISIS commander and is currently serving jail time for insurgency and firearms offenses,» she said.
Roggio rejects the notion that individuals like Akram should be viewed as «lone wolves.»
«I disagree with that whole ‘lone wolf’ terminology,» he said, arguing that extremist ecosystems continue to provide ideological motivation, guidance and validation even when attackers act alone.
A senior intelligence source put it even more starkly: «Today is ISIS, tomorrow is Iran.»
PHILIPPINE AUTHORITIES GIVE UPDATE ON BONDI BEACH GUNMEN’S MOVEMENTS AMID SPECULATION ABOUT TERROR TRAINING
ISIS has long waged a recruitment and propaganda war online. (Reuters) (Reuters)
Roggio also stressed that the threat is not confined to ISIS but spans an interconnected web of jihadist actors.
«This isn’t just the Islamic State. It’s al Qaeda,» he said. «We were quick to declare al Qaeda defeated in Afghanistan. You read the U.N. reports, they’re still there. They’re in bed with the Taliban.» «These groups aren’t defeated,» he added. «They’re just operating differently.»
Morgan Murphy, a national security expert and former Trump White House official, and current U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, told Fox News Digital that «Because of an unprecedented influx of unvetted, Islamist, fighting-age male migrants into both Europe and the United States, the West now faces a threat from within. That internal risk undermines our global leadership and drains resources that should be used to defend freedom abroad. This is a national security disaster created by the shortsighted policies of leaders like President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who welcomed so-called refugees without considering the long-term consequences for Western society.»
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A photo provided by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), showing an ISIS flag among the belongings of a Hamas terrorist. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Just because we want to declare the war against terror over doesn’t mean it’s over,» Roggio said. «We wanted to end our involvement in these wars, but the enemy gets a vote. That’s what we just saw in Australia.»
isis,australia,terrorism,al qaeda,afghanistan,syria
INTERNACIONAL
Controles, registros y la amenazante presencia de los “colectivos” chavistas: así se vive hoy en Caracas
El estado de conmoción exterior vigente en Venezuela desde el sábado llevó a un visible aumento de la seguridad en distintos puntos de Caracas. Hay alcabalas, puestos de policía en las salidas de las ciudades, y registros aleatorios. Esta es la situación, aunque los venezolanos buscaban retomar su vida normal y activistas de derechos humanos negaban una nueva ola represiva en el país.
Un despliegue masivo de fuerzas de seguridad se observó en especial durante la noche del lunes y la madrugada de este martes tras el confuso episodio reportado en los alrededores del Palacio Miraflores, sede de gobierno, con disparos de artillería ante la supuesta aparición de drones no identificados.
Leé también: El ala militar chavista se alinea con Delcy Rodríguez, pero pone condiciones para garantizar gobernabilidad
Además, hoy permanecía cerrado el popularmente conocido como Parque del Este, en el barrio de Altamira y cercano al aeropuerto militar de La Carlota, por razones de seguridad, según anunció el Instituto Nacional de Parques.
Una decena de venezolanos residentes en Caracas, cuya identidades se reserva, dijeron a TN que las alcabalas y registros mermaron un poco este martes.
“La vida está relativamente normal. En algunas barriadas pobres, los ‘colectivos´ (fuerzas paramilitares armadas por el chavismo), mantienen un férreo control de la gente, incluyendo alcabalas, aunque la gran mayoría se levantó“, dijo una activista opositora.
Cómo se vive hoy en Caracas
La tensión se palpa aún en las calles tres días después de la incursión militar estadounidense y la captura de Nicolás Maduro. Activistas de derechos humanos dijeron a TN que “hay cuerpos de seguridad en la calle, parando gente y revisando, pero no hay oleada represiva más allá de la detención y posterior liberación el lunes de 14 periodistas“.
Un docente universitario contó que el lunes, en una conocida autopista que une Caracas con la vecina ciudad de La Guaira, se topó con un grupo de más de 200 motorizados que iban en sentido contrario al suyo y que pararon el tráfico.
“Son civiles armados y con pasamontañas, los famosos ´colectivos´“, comentó. Según admitió, borró de su teléfono celular todos sus mensajes en las aplicaciones de mensajería para evitar problemas si es retenido en uno de los registros policiales. Un vendedor ambulante de frutas en Caracas (Adriana Loureiro Fernandez/The New York Times)
Mientras tanto, en Caracas y alrededores ya no se ven largas colas en comercios ante el temor de un desabastecimiento. “Pero aun no llegan los alimentos frescos. Eso es normal en la primera y segunda semana de enero. Y como hubo compras nerviosas el sábado y domingo, quedan pocos vegetales disponibles. Pero el resto, hay”, resumió una caraqueña.
Cerca del Fuerte Tiuna, atacado en la incursión militar estadounidense, la situación es normal.
“Por ser época de vacaciones escolares y en muchos trabajos vacaciones colectivas, se observa poco tráfico en las calles. Los comercios y el transporte público están funcionando, en particular el Sistema de Metro y Metrobus está normalizado”, dijo una mujer residente en la zona sur, cerca de esa instalación militar.
Leé también: Tras la captura de Maduro, la oposición venezolana se reorganiza mientras Corina Machado se aferra a Trump
En esa área, según testimonios recogidos por TN, no hay alcabalas ni registros de ningún tipo, como sí lo hubo en la llamada Cota Mil, la emblemática autopista de Caracas que bordea a 1000 metros de altura el Parque Nacional El Ávila y desde donde se ve toda la ciudad.
También se reportaron registros de este tipo en la zona de Boleíta y en la tradicional avenida Rómulo Gallegos, ubicadas en una zona industrial y comercial en el municipio Sucre, en el estado Miranda, vecino a Caracas. “Paraban los carros y hacían registros”, contó una vecina.
La mujer, que trabaja en un geriátrico, comentó que se suspendieron todas las actividades y las visitas “hasta saber qué va a pasar”.
Vista de la barriada de Propatria, en Caracas (Foto: REUTERS/Maxwell Briceño)
Además, los venezolanos se preguntan si el lunes se retomarán normalmente las clases tras el período vacacional. “Hay mucho silencio en las calles. La gente empieza a retomar sus trabajos. Ya no hay colas interminables y las gasolineras están abiertas. El transporte trabaja a medias”, comentó la mujer.
Otro vecino del acomodado barrio de Altamira, de Caracas, dijo que “la cosa pareciera estar normal”, aunque “ha habido poca afluencia de público en la calle”.
Leé también: Cuba reveló las identidades de los 32 custodios de Maduro que murieron durante el ataque de EE.UU.
En la vecina ciudad de La Guaira, puerto marítimo y capital del estado Vargas, los habitantes comienzan a retomar sus actividades. Un vecino contó a TN que en el sector Los Corales la vida se está normalizando. “Hay transporte púbico y mucho movimiento de carro”, afirmó.
Sin embargo, dijo que hay poca gente en las playas, que es la principal actividad turística del lugar. “Hubo mucha presencia policial en la ciudad. Los policías salen en caravana en motos y carros y recorren la ciudad de una punta a otra. Pero no hay alcabalas”, señaló.
Otros vecinos contaron que la autopista Caracas – La Guaira cerró uno de sus carriles. “Había un solo canal de ida y vuelta. Cerraron un canal de la autopista”, indicó un lugareño.
Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Delcy Rodriguez
INTERNACIONAL
Pro-Maduro groups protesting Trump’s actions in socialist country include Soros-backed organization
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One of the groups organizing protests against President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro is a group funded by the George Soros-tied Open Society Foundation.
Trump’s invasion of Venezuela’s capital city, Caracas, and subsequent arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Saturday, garnered quick condemnation from a handful of groups, including some calling themselves the No War on Venezuela Coalition.
In a flyer posted by the Soros-funded Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), the coalition called for global protests at U.S. embassies, military bases, city halls and other sites to «defend Venezuelan sovereignty and right to resist.»
The AFGJ flyer stated that «We, the undersigned anti-imperialist and anti-war organizations, condemn the U.S. violent attacks on the rights of Venezuelans, and violations of Venezuela’s sovereignty.»
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Protestors rally outside the White House, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Washington, after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a military operation. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
The coalition urged «mass resistance» against the administration’s actions, telling people to «take to the streets, organize rallies and teach-ins on your university campuses, mobilize in your unions to demonstrate solidarity and shut down the supply chains of imperialism, including resolutions, pickets and protests outside of arms factories and ports that are providing the weapons for this aggression.»
It especially urged those outside the U.S. to target «U.S. embassies, U.S. military bases and diplomatic installations around the world.»
According to the website of the Open Society Foundation, a philanthropic network founded by Soros and currently led by his son, Alex Soros, the group donated $250,000 to AFGJ in 2020.
The description listed for the donation on the website was «to catalyze Black communities into the global movement for climate justice.»
AFGJ has been a staunch critic of the Trump administration. In a Tuesday statement, the group wrote that the «War against Venezuela is against Us All.»
MADURO’S WIFE SUFFERED ‘SIGNIFICANT INJURIES’ IN DRAMATIC CAPTURE, ATTORNEY ALLEGES
George Soros, Founder of the Open Society Foundations arrives for a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, 2017. (Olivier Hoslet/AFP via Getty Images)
In the statement, AFGJ drew a line between the administration’s actions in Venezuela and its deployment of National Guard troops to major U.S. cities «occupying our streets as part of a hemispheric repression of resistance.»
«In his first press conference following the January 3 invasion, Trump specifically referenced Washington, DC, Memphis, and other US cities that have been occupied by federal troops. He knows full well that these are connected,» AFGJ continued, adding that «People of color, immigrants, all those who resist are designated as internal enemies, and international solidarity movements are targets of the hybrid war.»
«The strategies of war and repression against Venezuela are united in a single strategy not only toward other nations, but here at home. Memphis or Caracas—to the Pentagon, we’re all the same,» the group wrote.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
MADURO’S SON GIVES ‘UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT’ TO NEWLY SWORN IN INTERIM VENEZUELA PRESIDENT
Nicolas Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026, in New York City (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
Following months of U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, Trump authorized a military strike on Caracas that resulted in Maduro and his wife being apprehended and transported to New York City to stand trial.
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Maduro and his wife have since been charged in U.S. federal court with conspiracy to traffic large quantities of cocaine into the country and related crimes, including narco-terrorism and weapons offenses. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Fox News Digital also reached out to AFGJ and the Open Society Foundation for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
venezuelan political crisis,donald trump,south america,us protests,george soros
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The United States, Israel and Syria announced Tuesday that senior Israeli and Syrian officials met in Paris under U.S. auspices, marking a renewed diplomatic push that includes plans for closer security coordination and potential economic engagement.
A joint statement released by the three governments described the talks as being part of President Donald Trump’s broader vision for advancing peace in the Middle East. The discussions focused on respect for Syria’s sovereignty and stability, Israel’s security and prosperity for both countries.
According to the statement, Israel and Syria reaffirmed their commitment to pursue lasting security and stability arrangements and agreed to establish a joint fusion mechanism, described as a dedicated communication cell. The mechanism is intended to facilitate ongoing coordination on intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement and commercial opportunities, under U.S. supervision.
«The United States commends these positive steps and remains committed to supporting the implementation of these understandings, as part of broader efforts to achieve enduring peace in the Middle East. When sovereign nations cooperate in a respectful and productive way, prosperity will be unleashed. This joint statement reflects the spirit of today’s great meeting and the Sides’ determination to turn a new page in their relations for the benefit of future generations,» the statement concluded.
WHY SYRIA PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN TRUMP’S PLANS FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 29, 2025. (Israel Government Press Office)
In a separate statement, Israel’s Prime Minister’s office emphasized the need to ensure the security of its citizens, prevent threats along its borders, promote regional stability and advance economic cooperation for the benefit of both countries. The sides also agreed to continue the dialogue while safeguarding the security of the Druze minority in Syria.
The announcements follow U.S.-mediated talks held in Paris, which focused primarily on security arrangements along the Israeli-Syrian border. The talks were aimed at easing tensions and reviving elements of the 1974 disengagement agreement, which established a U.N.-monitored buffer zone between the two countries. A Syrian official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Damascus is seeking the reactivation of the 1974 agreement and a withdrawal of Israeli forces to positions held before December 2024. The official described Syria’s position as centered on restoring sovereignty and preventing further escalation. A French diplomat also confirmed to the AP that the Paris talks took place under U.S. mediation, with French diplomatic involvement.
While the Paris discussions were framed publicly as security-focused, Israeli Channel 12 News reported that the Trump administration has also put forward an American proposal for expanded Israel-Syria economic cooperation, potentially signaling a broader diplomatic agenda.
According to the reporting, the proposal envisions a joint economic zone along the existing demilitarized strip, which would remain demilitarized. The zone would include energy infrastructure such as wind power facilities, a crude oil pipeline, data centers and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. The plan also includes the development of a ski resort.
TRUMP WELCOMES SYRIAN PRESIDENT TO WASHINGTON IN HIGH-PROFILE VISIT AS SHUTDOWN DEAL TAKES SHAPE
President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Nov. 10, 2025. (Syrian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The proposal could generate an estimated $4 billion in GDP growth for Syria, roughly 20% of its current output, along with an 800-megawatt increase in power capacity, 15,000 new jobs and a 40% reduction in pharmaceutical dependency. Israel, under the plan, would gain the opportunity to transform a buffer zone into a «dynamic economic corridor,» potentially reducing long-term military spending along its northern border.
Israeli and U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed the details of the proposed economic zone, and the Prime Minister’s Office statement did not reference specific economic projects.
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Israeli soldier monitors an area near Israel’s border with Syria. (Israel Defense Forces)
The renewed talks followed an understanding reached last week during a meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Florida. According to a Channel 12 report, the United States proposed establishing a joint American-Israeli-Syrian operations room in Amman, Jordan, aimed at managing security in southern Syria and serving as a framework for negotiations on demilitarization and a potential Israeli troop withdrawal from areas seized after the collapse of the Assad regime.
israel,syria,donald trump,middle east,politics,geopolitics
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