INTERNACIONAL
Why Syria plays a key role in Trump’s plans for Middle East peace
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting most U.S. sanctions on Syria, in a move experts say reflects growing recognition inside the administration that Syria, long a battleground for Iranian influence and Islamist terror, may now offer the U.S. a rare opportunity to reclaim regional leverage, counter enemies, and support allies like Israel and Jordan.
At a White House press briefing Monday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, «This is another promise made and promise kept by this president,» she said, referring to Trump’s recent meeting with Syria’s new transitional leader Ahmed al-Sharaa during a trip to Saudi Arabia. «He’s committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors.»
«The sanctions did their job,» David Schenker, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told Fox News Digital. «They were crippling by and large. There’s zero economic life in the country. But Trump is giving Syria a chance to succeed.»
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER LIFTING SANCTIONS ON SYRIA
President Donald Trump meets with members of the Juventus soccer club in the Oval Office of the White House, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Javed Ali, former senior official at the National Security Council and professor at the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital, «It’s a strategic calculation. A Syria that no longer hosts Iranian proxies, cooperates on counterterrorism, and integrates with Arab neighbors serves U.S. interests on every front.»
According to Schenker, Syria has taken steps the U.S. has long demanded: allowing inspections by the IAEA and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, sharing intelligence on ISIS, and cooperating with American liaison officers on counterterrorism. «These groups have declared al-Sharaa an infidel. They themselves are being attacked by ISIS,» he noted.
President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this photo released on May 14, 2025. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via Reuters)
For the U.S., the stakes extend far beyond sanctions relief. Schenker said a stable Syria focused on education and social services, rather than military buildup, would be far less fertile ground for ISIS or Iranian influence.
Ali described the current moment as part of a broader Trump strategy: «Now with Assad gone, it’s another blow to the Islamic Republic of Iran. This creates an opportunity to coalesce the Sunni Arab states – either around the Abraham Accords or a growing anti-Iran coalition.»
The U.S. military still maintains a small but critical footprint in Syria – approximately 1,000 troops across three to four bases in the northeast – providing vital intelligence and rapid strike capability. «That footprint has been one of our most important counterterrorism outposts,» Ali said. «We’ve seen multiple targeted operations this year alone.»
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei greets Syrian President Bashar Assad in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2019. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
TRUMP ASKS SYRIA TO JOIN ABRAHAM ACCORDS, NORMALIZE TIES WITH ISRAEL IN RETURN FOR SANCTIONS RELIEF
He said, however, that deeper U.S.-Syrian cooperation could bring new complications. «There’s always a risk that as ties deepen, either the U.S. could reduce its presence – or al-Sharaa might ask us to scale back,» Ali said. «That could impact our ability to monitor jihadist activity or manage the tens of thousands of ISIS detainees still in camps guarded by SDF forces.»
Meanwhile, the diplomatic implications of Trump’s move are drawing global attention. Syria’s new leadership has publicly distanced itself from Iran, reportedly blocked Hezbollah weapon shipments, and dismantled multiple Iranian military posts across the country.
«The president is genuinely focused on expanding the Abraham Accords,» said Schenker. «He sees Syria as the next possible candidate.»
NSC spokesman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. «President Trump is working towards lasting peace in the Middle East, which includes supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors. The President is empowering Syria’s success by lifting sanctions on export controls while maintaining sanctions on terrorists and all other potential threats to the United States. The President made a promise to give Syria a chance to rebuild and thrive by lifting sanctions, and this President keeps his promises.»
A masked Islamic State terrorist holds the ISIS flag in 2015. (Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Still, normalization with Israel remains politically fraught. Syria remains officially at war with the Jewish state, and while Sharaa has hinted at accepting the pre-1974 ceasefire lines, jihadist factions and Islamist groups within Syria remain staunchly opposed. «There have already been reported assassination attempts on Sharaa,» Schenker said. «It’s going to get harder if he moves from non-belligerency to full normalization.»
Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital, «Syria has always been an open wound in the center of the region – an engine of instability… But if it stabilizes now, it unlocks a path for broader regional integration. It connects Israel and Jordan to a more secure arc and reduces the need for heavy U.S. military involvement.»
Syrians gather at Umayyad Square to celebrate the collapse of 61 years of Baath Party rule in Damascus on Dec. 9, 2024. (Murat Sengul/Anadolu via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Despite encouraging signs on the diplomatic track – such as reported back-channel talks and reduced rhetoric – Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory have continued, with hundreds launched this year alone. Syria’s new leadership has not responded militarily, but tensions remain high.
«The facts on the ground don’t yet reflect the progress being made behind closed doors,» Lister said. «We just have to hope that those two dynamics meet in the middle, and things calm down on the ground as well.»
INTERNACIONAL
Los hijos de Bolsonaro acusaron al juez Alexandre de Moraes de querer “matar” al ex presidente brasileño
Tres de los hijos de Jair Bolsonaro cargaron este sábado con dureza contra Alexandre de Moraes, el juez de la Corte Suprema que dictó la orden de prisión preventiva del ex presidente brasileño, al acusarlo de querer “matar” a su padre.
“El objetivo de Alexandre de Moraes es bien simple: matar a mi padre”, escribió en sus redes sociales el diputado Eduardo Bolsonaro en un extenso mensaje en el que tachó al magistrado de “psicópata”.
Eduardo se encuentra desde marzo pasado en Estados Unidos, donde ha mantenido reuniones con representantes del Gobierno de Donald Trump en busca de ayuda para intentar tumbar el proceso por el cual el ex mandatario fue condenado a 27 años de cárcel por golpismo.
El Supremo ya imputó al legislador por su actuación en EEUU, que se tradujo en aranceles del 50% sobre los productos brasileños, la revocación de los visados a varios jueces del alto tribunal y funcionarios del Ejecutivo, y sanciones financieras contra De Moraes.
“Cualquier régimen de excepción busca eliminar físicamente a sus disidentes; Alexandre de Moraes simplemente sigue el ejemplo de todos los tiranos psicópatas que lo precedieron”, expresó Eduardo.
“Nada de esto nos hará retroceder ni rendirnos. El martirio de mi padre solo encenderá la llama de la justicia en nuestros corazones. Todos los involucrados en el actual intento de Alexandre de Moraes de asesinar a mi padre rendirán cuentas”, prometió.
En la misma línea, el senador Flávio Bolsonaro manifestó que su padre “nunca hizo nada malo” y que la prisión preventiva se basa en una decisión judicial “frágil” construida a partir de “hipótesis”.
“¡Si le pasa alguna cosa, Alexandre de Moraes, es culpa tuya! ¡Si mi padre muere allí dentro, la culpa es tuya! ¡¿Quiere matar a Bolsonaro, Alexandre de Moraes?!”, exclamó en un directo en redes sociales que finalizó entre lágrimas mientras pronunciaba una oración.
Por su parte, el concejal de Río de Janeiro Carlos Bolsonaro insinuó que los problemas judiciales del ex gobernante, quien también está inhabilitado para cargos electivos, forman parte de un plan para acabar con su carrera política y disipar el movimiento de extrema derecha que encabeza en el país.
“El objetivo no cambia: quieren a Jair Bolsonaro enterrado vivo. O muerto, como ya intentaron”, aseguró.
El ex jefe de Estado (2019-2022) fue detenido preventivamente este sábado en su residencia de Brasilia, donde desde el pasado 4 de agosto cumplía prisión domiciliaria por incumplir varias medidas cautelares impuestas en el marco de la causa de golpismo.
Un equipo de agentes condujeron al ex gobernante hasta la sede de la Superintendencia de la Policía Federal de Brasilia, donde permanecerá bajo custodia hasta nueva orden.
Su arresto se produjo en vísperas de que el Supremo ordene la ejecución de su condena de 27 años y tres meses por su papel en la trama que intentó revertir el resultado de las elecciones de 2022.
El Supremo Tribunal Federal lo consideró responsable de “liderar” un plan para desconocer la victoria de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. El proceso reunió registros de reuniones con altos mandos militares, discursos que cuestionaron sin pruebas el sistema de voto electrónico y documentos que describieron escenarios para activar un Estado de Sitio sin base constitucional.
El juez Moraes fundamenta la prisión preventiva en tres hechos recientes. Primero, la convocatoria de Flávio Bolsonaro a una “vigilia por la salud de Bolsonaro y la libertad de Brasil”. La Policía Federal advierte que un tumulto cerca de la vivienda podía facilitar una fuga. Segundo, la ruptura registrada de la tobillera electrónica a la madrugada del sábado. El magistrado interpreta el episodio como una señal de intento de evasión. Tercero, la fuga de Alexandre Ramagem, exdirector de Inteligencia y condenado por golpismo, que escapa desde Roraima hacia Estados Unidos.
La justicia menciona además la proximidad entre la casa de Bolsonaro y la zona de embajadas, incluida la de Estados Unidos.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara apologized to the Somali community for a comment he made connecting «East African kids» to crime.
«The Somali community here in Minneapolis has been welcoming and has shown love towards me, and I appreciate it,» O’Hara said at a news conference on Thursday. «Over the last three years we have been working together to try and address some of the real serious problems that we have in our community.»
«We have to be honest at times with the problems that we’re having in our community, and we need our community to help us fix those problems together because it’s real and it’s serious. At the same time, if people have taken anything that i have said out of context in a way that’s caused harm, I apologize, and I’m sorry for that because that’s not my intention at all,» O’Hara added.
In an interview with WCCO earlier this month, O’Hara was speaking about a deadly Halloween shooting as well as juvenile crime plaguing the city when he made the comment. Alpha News reported that the Dinkytown area, where the shooting took place, has seen a series of crimes including assaults, robberies, shootings and auto thefts.
TRUMP TERMINATES DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR SOMALI NATIONALS LIVING IN MINNESOTA ‘EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY’
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara speaks during a press conference regarding the Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 28, 2025. (Tim Evans/Reuters)
During the interview, he stated that the young people committing the crimes were not «poor kids from Minneapolis,» but rather kids that come from out of town who take «mommy’s Mercedes-Benz to Dinkytown, and they don’t know where they are.»
«Groups of kids, groups of East African kids that are coming from surrounding communities and not just one community, kind of all over the place,» O’Hara told WCCO.
After the interview, a petition on Change.org demanded an apology from O’Hara, saying that the East African community of Minneapolis «has already been carrying the weight of unfair scrutiny for years» and that the chief’s comment would «deepen that burden.»
The Minneapolis Somali community has faced scrutiny on a national level in recent days after a bombshell report revealed a series of alleged financial schemes that ended with terrorists getting taxpayer dollars. Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute found that Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization in Somalia, was receiving funds that could be traced back to Minnesota.
«Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities, in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way,» a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force told Thorpe and Rufo.
Women walk along a tree-lined street in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the U.S. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Following the report, President Donald Trump announced he was ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota.
The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country for TPS if nationals cannot return safely or if the country «is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.» Countries currently under TPS are Burma, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.
«Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately the Temporary Protected Status (TPS program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!,» Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Rufo, one of the authors of the bombshell report, said Trump’s announcement was a «great start» but that there is still more work to do.
«Canceling TPS for Minnesota Somalis is a great start. Next: review all asylum, refugee, and citizenship applications for any hint of fraud or technical error; then initiate denaturalizations and mass deportations up to the furthest limits of the law. They have to go home,» Rufo wrote on X.
Women walk along a tree-lined street in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the U.S. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
MINNESOTA TAXPAYER DOLLARS FUNNELED TO AL-SHABAAB TERROR GROUP, REPORT ALLEGES
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn, who praised Trump’s decision, wrote a letter on Friday to U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen demanding an investigation. The letter was also signed by Emmer’s fellow Minnesota Republicans, Rep. Pete Stauber, Rep. Michelle Fischbach, and Rep. Brad Finstad.
«It is alleged that Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the nation, has been sending millions back to Somalia via the hawala network, an informal money trafficking network which is notorious for funds ending up in terrorist networks, and in this instance, Al-Shabaab,» the letter reads.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) speaks during a press conference with members of the Republican Study Committee and other members of House Republican leadership, on the 28th day of the government shutdown in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The lawmakers cited the various cases involving members of the Somali community, including the Feeding our Future fraud scheme, fraud in the Housing Stabilization Services program, Child Care Assistance program and Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program.
«It is bad enough that these individuals are defrauding our state, taking services and funds away from children and the most vulnerable, but now there is a good reason to believe that Minnesota taxpayer dollars are going straight into terrorists’ hands. These new allegations present not only a serious betrayal of taxpayer trust, but also a grave threat to our national security,» the letter states.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
politics,minnesota,homeland security,terrorism,crime,minneapolis st paul
INTERNACIONAL
Señales de alerta para Donald Trump: el caso Epstein desnuda las grietas en el Partido Republicano
Tensión interna
Donald Trump aceptó la apertura de los archivos del caso Epstein. Foto: REUTERS El caso Jeffrey Epstein
La legisladora republicana Marjorie Taylor Greene renunció tras un fuerte encontronazo con Donald Trump. Foto: REUTERS 
Pablo Quirno explicó en Sudáfrica las razones por las qué Argentina no respaldó el documento final del G20
Destrozo al Mónaco en el regreso de Pogba 779 días después
Cerró en Buenos Aires el evento anual de Ethereum, la segunda mayor cripto del mundo: en 2026 se hará en la India
Homura: The Crimson Warriors y más juegos concretan sus estrenos en Nintendo Switch – Nintenderos
Tras ser designada como ministra de Seguridad, Alejandra Monteoliva le agradeció a Bullrich: “Tu forma marcó un rumbo”
Los hijos de Bolsonaro acusaron al juez Alexandre de Moraes de querer “matar” al ex presidente brasileño
La Justicia limitó las visitas a Cristina Kirchner en su prisión domiciliaria
Frávega cierra sucursales y empleados temen por despidos masivos
Milei prometió acelerar las reformas, pero advirtió sobre la reactivación económica: «La mejora en el bolsillo va a ser paulatina»
Por qué para Claudio Zuchovicki el escenario económico que enfrenta la Argentina “es un penal sin arquero”
POLITICA3 días agoMilei prometió acelerar las reformas, pero advirtió sobre la reactivación económica: «La mejora en el bolsillo va a ser paulatina»
- ECONOMIA3 días ago
Frávega, en crisis: : cierra más locales y es de las empresas más denunciadas de Argentina
- POLITICA21 horas ago
Tras la orden de decomiso de los bienes de CFK, la Justicia evalúa avanzar sobre el departamento de San José 1111
