Israel vowed Hezbollah will “pay the price” after blaming the Lebanese militant group for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children, touching off fears once again that an all-out war would envelop the region.

Hezbollah says it “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, the deadliest to hit Israel since the October 7 attacks.

Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory” and along the border overnight Sunday, according to a statement from the military on Sunday morning. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties from those strikes.

And on a visit to the town of Majdal Shams near the Syrian and Lebanese borders, where the rocket attack left children and teenagers dead on Saturday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged a heavy response.

“Hezbollah is responsible for this and they will pay the price,” Gallant said. In an earlier statement from his office, he added: “We will hit the enemy hard.”

The Saturday attacks on the region involved “approximately 30 projectiles” crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, in a barrage Israel’s military quickly blamed on the Iran-backed militant group.

Among the sites hit in the attack was a soccer field where children and teenagers had been playing, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

Some 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, an area Israel seized from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. Considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, the area is also home to about 50,000 Israeli Jewish settlers. Most Druze there identify as Syrian and have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading rocket fire on a near-daily basis since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, and those exchanges have become increasingly volatile, sparking fears on several occasions that Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza would spiral into a conflict on multiple fronts across the Middle East.

While Hezbollah admitted striking the Golan Heights on Saturday it rejected responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.

“We confirm that the Islamic Resistance has no connection to the incident whatsoever and firmly denies all false claims in this regard,” a statement read.

Israel’s initial overnight response appeared to stop short of the kind of attack that would launch an all-out war, but it gave rise to an incredibly tense day in the region.

Iran on Sunday warned Israel against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon, in a statement issued by foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani. The statement said Israel “does not have the minimum moral authority to comment and judge about the incident that happened in Majdal Shams area, and the claims of this regime against others will not be heard either.”

A very specialized part of the world’s largest naval drills off the northern Hawaiian island of Kauai is gaining attention on both sides of the Pacific.

Earlier this month, the US and allies practiced taking out a large surface ship with long-range weapons, including, for the first time, a US Air Force B-2 bomber.

In one test that analysts called “very significant” in what it could mean for the calculus of any future, hypothetical conflict between the US and China, a B-2 stealth bomber hit a decommissioned amphibious assault ship with an inexpensive guided bomb.

The test of the weapon, dubbed QUICKSINK by the US Air Force, occurred on July 19, when a B-2 participated in the sinking of the ex-USS Tarawa, a retired 820-foot-long, 39,000-ton amphibious assault ship, a vessel the size of a small aircraft carrier.

It showed the US military can use one of its most survivable weapons platforms, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, to sink a major surface ship with a low-cost guided bomb.

“This capability is an answer to an urgent need to quickly neutralize maritime threats over massive expanses of ocean around the world at minimal costs,” said a press release from the US Navy’s 3rd Fleet, which led Rim of the Pacific 2024 (RIMPAC), the exercise that included the sinking of the ex-Tarawa.

The B-2 bomber is the US military’s most sophisticated aircraft. The Air Force says its stealthy characteristics allow it to penetrate heavily defended areas and also fly with a small chance of being detected by radar at high altitudes. That gives the B-2’s sensors the ability to get a view of the battlefield not possible in lower-flying planes.

Mating it up with relatively cheap and demonstrably effective precision-guided bombs with warheads of up to 2,000 pounds could give the Air Force bombers the “anti-ship lethality” of a submarine-launched torpedo without the liabilities of a submarine, according to a US Air Force website.

“A Navy submarine has the ability to launch and destroy a ship with a single torpedo at any time, but by launching that weapon, it gives away its location and becomes a target,” the Air Force Research Lab says.

QUICKSINK could provide “a low-cost method of achieving torpedo-like seaworthy kills from the air at a much higher pace and over a much larger area than covered by a lumbering submarine,” it says.

The Air Force first tested QUICKSINK in 2022, when an F-15 fighter jet released a GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that destroyed a full-scale surface target in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an Air Force statement.

Analysts say QUICKSINK launched from a B-2 would give China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) much to consider in the event of any possible conflict in the western Pacific, including around hotspots like Taiwan, the Philippines and the southern islands of Japan.

“It is very significant,” said Carl Schuster, former head of the US Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Center.

“The B-2’s demonstrated anti-maritime capability will constrain if not deter PLAN operations east of Taiwan or off the Philippines.

“You cannot ignore a weapon that can sink a 25,000-plus-ton ship with one hit,” Schuster added.

In any conflict close to its home shores, China, on paper, holds distinct advantages.

It has thousands of missiles on the Chinese mainland, the world’s largest navy to dominate nearby seas and the ability to provide air cover to those ships from land-based aircraft.

But the B-2, and other systems tested at RIMPAC, could negate some of China’s advantages with long-range fire, analysts said.

“It extends the range at which potential enemies can be held at risk through advanced weapons whilst retaining a considerable degree of stealth. It basically says, you are not safe no matter where you are in this vast theater,” said Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King’s College in London.

Anti-ship missiles

Long-range missiles were also fired from aircraft and ships during RIMPAC.

A US Navy F/A-18 also hit the ex-Tarawa with a Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRSAM), “a precise, stealthy, and survivable cruise missile,” the Navy’s 3rd Fleet press release said.

This missile can hit targets up to 230 miles (370 kilometers) away with a 1,000-pound warhead while navigating semi-autonomously to its target.

And the Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Sydney struck the ex-Tarawa with a Naval Strike Missile (NSM), an achievement Vice Adm. Mark Hammond, Australia’s chief of navy, said “represents a significant increase in the lethality of our surface fleet.”

“Multi-domain strike capabilities including Naval Strike Missile are foundational to deterring any potential adversary’s attempts to project power against Australia,” he said.

The Naval Strike Missile, developed by Norwegian defense company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, can challenge an adversary’s defenses by flying at sea-skimming altitudes and making evasive maneuvers in flight at a range of 115 miles (185 kilometers).

A US Navy destroyer, USS Fitzgerald, also tested a Naval Strike Missile during RIMPAC, and the weapon has previously been fired from a US littoral combat ship and land-based versions have been successfully tested by the US Marine Corps.

The ex-Tarawa was one of two surface vessels sunk during RIMPAC. On July 11, the ex-USS Dubuque, a 17,000-ton amphibious transport dock was sent to the bottom of the Pacific, also off Kauai.

‘Real-world experience’

Besides the US and Australian units, forces from South Korea, Malaysia and the Netherlands participated in ship-sinking exercises.

“Sinking exercises give us a chance to sharpen our skills, learn from one another, and get real-world experience,” US Navy Vice Adm. John Wade, RIMPAC 2024 Combined Task Force commander, said in a statement.

“Using advanced weapons and seeing the professionalism of our teams during these drills shows our commitment to keeping the Indo-Pacific region safe and open.”

John Bradford, a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs fellow, said the RIMPAC tests show what kind of conflict the US is preparing for in the region.

“We can fully expect a major power naval conflict in the Pacific to be predominantly a fight of long-range weapons,” Bradford said.

“The US is investing in readiness for this sort of combat,” he said.

View from China

China was taking note of the RIMPAC plans even before the ship-sinking exercises took place.

A commentary in the state-run Global Times on June 27, the day RIMPAC began, said, “the only country deemed as ‘enemy’ by the US that operates a 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship in the Asia-Pacific region is China.”

The PLA Navy has three Type 075 amphibious assault ships, which displace around 36,000 tons, in service with a fourth being readied. A bigger successor, the Type 076, is also under construction.

Global Times has previously cited Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, as saying the Type 075s could be called into action in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea if the situation dictated it.

“The choice of the USS Tarawa as the sinking target reflects the concern of the US and its allies about the development and strength of China’s maritime power, especially regarding the mainland’s military deterrence on the Taiwan island,” the Global Times commentary said.

But it said sinking the ex-Tarawa, which was commissioned in 1976, had little relevance in 2024.

“Such an outdated ship cannot be compared with modern military equipment,” Global Times said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold a trilateral meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo on Sunday local time, the first of its kind in 15 years, a senior US defense official said.

The trilateral meeting came nearly one year after President Joe Biden held the first stand-alone summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David in August 2023. Following the summit, Kishida announced that annual recurring summits will be held among several of the nations’ highest officials, including the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, and national security advisers, along with the financial, industry, and commerce ministers.

“We’ve made enormous progress, trilateral since the Camp David summit, with early warning missile data sharing real time with a trilateral exercise plan,” the US senior defense official said.

According to the defense official, Secretary Austin is expected to announce the US intends to reconstitute US Forces Japan (USF-J) as a joint force headquarters to serve as a counterpart to Japan’s Joint Operations Command (J-JOC). Details of this implementation will be figured out in working groups led by US Indo-Pacific Command. There is no intention to integrate Japanese forces into the US commands, according to the official.

“The intent here is for USF-J to become a standalone three-star joint force headquarters. Eventually separate and apart from 5th Air Force,” the official said.

“We view this as a historic announcement among the strongest improvements to our military ties in 70 years. Bottom line is that this is a transformative change. And that’s because when this transition is complete, USF-J will have a direct leadership role in planning and leading US forces in both peace time and potential crises. And they’ll be doing that side by side with Japanese forces like never before.”

At least 11 people have been injured after projectiles were reportedly fired from Lebanon into Majdal Shams, Golan Heights on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s national emergency service.

“A short while ago, sirens sounded in the area of Majdal Shams. One projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area. A hit was identified in the area. Injuries were reported,” the IDF said, adding that “approximately 30 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.”

A spokesperson for Magen David Adom (MDA) said that five people are in critical condition and six in serious condition in Majdal Shams, according to initial reports.

Searches of the area continue, the spokesperson said.

A large team from MDA has been sent to the scene. Paramedics are treating victims they say are aged between 10 and 20 years old.

Some are being treated at the scene and others have been transferred to local clinics. Evacuation helicopters, ambulances and intensive care vehicles have also been dispatched to the scene.

Idan Avshalom, a senior medic from MDA said, “We arrived at a soccer field and saw destruction and objects on fire. Injured people were lying on the grass and the sights were dire. We immediately began triaging the injured, some of the injured were sent to local clinics and our teams were also directed to the clinics. During the incident there were additional alerts and the medical treatment of the injured is still ongoing.”

Israeli police said that munitions have fallen in “multiple sites in the northern Golan.”

Police are “securing the area and searching for additional remnants to eliminate any further risk to the public,” the Police Spokesperson’s Unit said.

At least 30 people have been killed and over 100 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Deir-al Balah, central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The Israeli military it had launched the strike in order to destroy a Hamas command and control center inside the compound.

Most of the victims from the school arriving to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the aftermath of the attack were women and children, according to Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, a spokesperson for the hospital. More than 4,000 displaced people were housed in the school, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.

The strike came soon after Israeli’s military issued fresh evacuation orders further south, in the city of Khan Younis, where Israel launched a fresh offensive earlier in the week which has killed dozens of Palestinians.

Residents in southern neighborhoods were told to leave after being warned that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would “forcefully operate” in the area.

Fighting has been ongoing on Gaza for months, and the renewed offensive shows Israel’s challenges in achieving its goal of eliminating Hamas. Israel said that about 100 militants had been killed during recent fighting.

The United Nations estimated that about 150,000 people fled Khan Younis on Monday alone, intensifying pressure on meager supplies of food and water, and places to seek shelter.

Signaling another campaign was imminent, the IDF wrote on Telegram it was “about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the southern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi.”

The statement said the move was in retaliation to “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire” emanating from southern Khan Younis. It added that the location previously defined as a humanitarian area “will be adjusted.”

Al-Mawasi has come under repeated Israeli attacks, including a strike on July 14 which reportedly killed 90 people and injured 300 more.

Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 after Hamas attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli military action in Gaza has since killed 39,090 Palestinians and injured another 90,147, according to the Ministry of Health there. As of early July, nearly 2 million people had been displaced in Gaza – almost the entire population, according to figures from the UN.

Aid agencies working in Gaza have warned previously that new rounds of evacuation orders are making the delivery of emergency rations even more difficult.

“People in Gaza are exhausted, living in inhumane conditions, with no safety at all,” the UN Relief and Works Agency posted on X on Monday.

On Thursday, the IDF said it had recovered the bodies of five Israeli hostages the previous day from a tunnel in an area of Khan Younis which it had previously designated as a “humanitarian area.”

Despite the fighting, US and Israeli officials expressed optimism this week over the possibility of a ceasefire and hostage deal being reached.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the different parties are “inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line.”

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would likely dispatch a negotiation team to talks in Rome next week.

Netanyahu was in Washington this week and met with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, who urged him to seal an agreement.

“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” said Harris. “So to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

France is still facing travel disruption a day after saboteurs targeted high-speed railway lines in an attack coinciding with the start of the Olympics. As operators try to get service back to normal, a key question remains – who was responsible?

Authorities are investigating what outgoing French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called a “coordinated” effort. He said that intelligence services and internal security forces are involved in inquiries and urged caution over jumping to conclusions.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but given their scale, timing and precision, it is clear they are more than just random acts of vandalism.

There are many possible culprits – the opening day of the Olympic Games is one of the most watched events in the world, a tempting target for anyone seeking to cause chaos and disruption in the limelight.

Here’s what we know.

Extensive knowledge of railways

High-speed trains connecting southwestern, northern and eastern regions of French were all impacted on Friday, in what authorities described as a methodical pattern of attacks hitting key arterial routes.

The perpetrators have extensive knowledge of the network, according to Axel Persson, a leader of the CGT rail union. They must have had access to very “precise information,” he added.

Employees had implemented a failsafe plan in preparation for the Olympics, allowing some passengers to use alternative lines that would slow down traffic, but at least travelers would get to their destination, Persson added. “France is disrupted but not paralyzed,” he said.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, the CEO of state-owned rail company SNCF, told journalists that cables – which are there to ensure the security of train drivers – were set on fire and taken apart but again stressed authorities “don’t know who is behind it.”

An act of protest?

France is no stranger to widespread strikes or political demonstrations that manifest into blocked transport links across the country.

The parliamentary election held just weeks ago attracted large scale protests and rallies. However, such events tend to be announced in advance and those behind them are keen to make their cause known.

Environmental activists have previously blocked traffic to bring attention to the climate crisis. But these groups have mostly staged bold and striking demonstrations focused on fossil-fuel intensive transportation, such as on airports and highways, and also make it known when they are behind such protests.

The last major act of vandalism on high-speed train lines in France was in 2008, when steel rods were placed on overhead power cables. Police arrested individuals from an alleged anarchist group from Tarnac village but 10 years later, after a lengthy investigation, they were all acquitted and cleared of sabotage.

Foreign actors?

Recently, France has been one of several countries impacted by a wave of suspected Russian sabotage attacks against infrastructure and other targets.

French President Emmanuel Macron has remained a staunch ally of Kyiv throughout the fighting. Just in May, he suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to use their weapons against targets inside Russia from which the Kremlin attacks Ukraine.

Earlier this week, French authorities detained a Russian citizen in Paris, accusing him of preparing destabilizing events during the Games. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not have any information on the arrest.

The most senior diplomats from China and the United States began talks in Laos on Saturday as the two global powers try to maintain lines of communication despite their deepening rivalry and regional tensions in Asia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Laos as part of a visit to Asia against the backdrop of a fierce US presidential election campaign, which has renewed regional scrutiny over what the world will look like with a new administration in the White House.

Blinken is meeting his Chinese counterpart Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meetings in Laos – the first leg of a week-long trip which also includes stops in Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.

Tension between the US and China has persisted in recent months, even as President Joe Biden’s administration has sought to stabilize rocky relations between the two global rivals.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as China’s increasingly assertive moves in the South China Sea and threats toward Taiwan, have in recent years soured the Washington-Beijing relationship.

Earlier this week the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska in what a US defense official said was the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.

China’s continued support of Russia more than two years into Moscow’s invasion has been a persistent point of tension for the US, its allies and the Ukrainians.

When NATO leaders met earlier this month a joint declaration labeled Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine, citing China as giving “large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”

The US and the European Union in recent months have accused China of bolstering Russia’s defense sector with the export of dual-use goods, and sanctioned dozens of companies in Hong Kong and mainland China for evading the extensive measures imposed on Russia. Beijing has denied supplying weaponry and maintains it keeps strict controls on such goods.

Beijing has sought to position itself as a neutral peace broker in the conflict, despite its deepening political, economic and military ties with Moscow and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s openly close friendship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this week, Wang told visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Beijing “supported all efforts that contribute to peace” – the first time China has hosted a top Ukrainian official since Moscow’s invasion began nearly two and half years ago.

In contrast, both Putin and Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov have been greeted in Beijing multiple times since the invasion.

Kuleba also visited Hong Kong and urged the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s government to prevent Russia from using the Asian financial hub to bypass Western sanctions.

On Thursday, Wang also met with foreign ministers from Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan, as well as Lavrov.

Wang told Lavrov that, in the face of a turbulent international situation and external interference and resistance, “China is willing to work with Russia… to firmly support each other and safeguard each other’s core interests,” according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.

Lavrov hailed Russia and China for “jointly upholding a fair and just international order” and “injecting positive energy into the construction of a multipolar world.”

“Russia will work with China to support the central role of ASEAN and prevent sabotage and interference by foreign forces,” Lavrov said, according to the statement.

ASEAN, a grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries, has increasingly found itself nervously eyeing the growing tensions between China and the US in recent years.

Regional scrutiny

Among the countries Blinken will visit on his trip are the Philippines and Japan, both of which have a mutual defense treaty with Washington.

The Philippines has tacked closer to the US since the election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. against a backdrop of increasingly violent clashes between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea.

Before speaking with Wang on Saturday, Blinken urged Southeast Asian countries to work together to address challenges – including Beijing’s “escalating and unlawful actions taken against the Philippines in the South China Sea” – at a meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers.

But he also applauded Manila’s diplomacy with Beijing over the contentious issue, noting that the Philippines on Saturday completed unimpeded a resupply trip to troops stationed on a navy ship grounded at the hotly contested Second Thomas Shoal.

Such resupply missions had been the source of months of escalating tensions between the Philippines and China, which reached an interim deal last week to smooth deliveries.

“We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas Shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached between the Philippines and China,” Blinken said.

“We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward.”

During his presidency, Biden has pushed to deepen relations with the Philippines, Japan and South Korea, another mutual treaty ally, with Blinken a mainstay on the diplomatic circuit.

Beijing has bristled at such efforts, seeing it as part of Washington’s campaign to encircle China and contain its rise.

Asia is therefore watching closely for what might come next, especially given recent bombshell developments in the US election campaign.

Republican candidate Donald Trump, who recently survived an assassination attempt, has often viewed Washington’s alliances more transactionally than Biden does. His running mate JD Vance has advocated halting military aid to Ukraine in favor of focusing on Taiwan’s defense.

Meanwhile the Democratic Party’s campaign was upended by Biden’s decision not to seek re-election, and Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the party’s presumptive nominee.

Israel’s military issued an evacuation order to residents in the southern part of Khan Younis, warning it would “forcefully operate” in the embattled Gazan town, according to a statement on Saturday morning.

Khan Younis has faced intensifying bombardment recently, and a fresh Israeli ground assault earlier this week killed dozens of Palestinians there. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned on Monday it would reduce its so-called humanitarian zone in the eastern part of the city, due to intelligence that militant group Hamas had embedded in the area.

Tens of thousands have been displaced over the past week. Israel said Friday that about 100 militants had been killed during recent fighting.

“The IDF is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the southern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi,” the military wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

The designated humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi has come under repeated Israeli attacks, including a strike on July 14 which reportedly killed 90 people and injured 300 more.

The statement said the move was in retaliation to “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire” emanating from southern Khan Younis. It added that the location previously defined as a humanitarian area “will be adjusted.”

Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 after Hamas attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.

The military said on Saturday that “the calls for the temporary evacuation are being communicated to residents through SMS messages, recorded voice messages, phone calls, media broadcasts in Arabic and flyers,” adding that the early warning to civilians was “being made in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population.”

The United Nations estimated that about 150,000 people fled the area on Monday alone, following evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, intensifying pressure on meager supplies of food and water, and places to seek shelter.

Aid agencies working in Gaza have warned previously that new rounds of evacuation orders are making the delivery of emergency rations even more difficult.

“People in Gaza are exhausted, living in inhumane conditions, with no safety at all,” the UN Relief and Works Agency posted on X on Monday.

On Thursday, the IDF said it had recovered the bodies of five Israeli hostages the previous day from a tunnel in an area of Khan Younis which it had previously designated as a “humanitarian area.”

Federal agents arrested two Mexican alleged cartel bosses on Thursday, including Joaquin Guzmán López, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement in recent years.

The two detained men belong to the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world’s most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, thought to be responsible for the trafficking of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.

Investigators exploited a rift in the cartel and used the help of Guzmán López to lure the other suspect, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, onto a flight bound for El Paso, Texas, where they were eventually arrested. Zambada is a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel.

“‘El Mayo’ and Guzmán López join an increasingly long list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates whom the Department of Justice holds accountable in the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Here are some of the men they join on that list:

José Antonio Yépez, “El Marro” (August 2020)

José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, arrested in August 2020 in Guanajuato, was considered by authorities to be the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

At the time, Mexico’s Secretary of Security Alfonso Durazo confirmed Yépez’s arrest via his official Twitter account, noting that “El Marro” was detained under a warrant for “organized crime and fuel theft.”

In January 2022, a court in Guanajuato sentenced Yépez to 60 years in prison for kidnapping, according to the State Attorney General’s office.

The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has generated most of its income through fuel theft and extortion, according to Mexican authorities. “El Marro” had been sought for months, with authorities targeting his family and close associates amid a surge in violence in Guanajuato, an area controlled by the cartel.

Rafael Caro Quintero (July 2022)

Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested in July 2022 by the Mexican Navy, having been on the run since 2013.

Born in 1952, Caro Quintero founded the now-defunct Guadalajara cartel in the 1970s with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers, according to the US State Department. He is allegedly responsible for the cultivation, shipment, and distribution of large amounts of marijuana in Mexico.

An extradition order to the United States is pending against him. However, in July 2022, a judge temporarily suspended the extradition process. Caro Quintero is accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

Ovidio Guzmán “El Ratón” (January 2023)

Ovidio Guzmán López, another son of “El Chapo,” is believed to play a significant role in the Sinaloa cartel, according to the US Department of the Treasury.

Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the US in September 2023, as confirmed by the US Department of Justice. He faces charges in the US for conspiracy to import and distribute drugs, along with his brother Joaquín Guzmán López.

In 2019, the Mexican government captured Guzmán in Culiacán, Sinaloa, but later released him amid a tense situation between government forces and armed groups loyal to his organization. In October of that year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador admitted his government had ordered the release, stating that it had prevented “a bloodbath.” Guzmán López was later recaptured on January 5, 2023, in a raid in Sinaloa, according to Mexican authorities.

His defense has requested additional time to review documents presented by US prosecutors during a recent hearing concerning the charges against him. According to the case file, the defendant’s lawyers sought a review under Rule 16, which mandates information exchange between attorneys and prosecutors for trial preparation. Consequently, a new hearing has been scheduled for October 1.

Néstor Isidro Pérez “El Nini” (November 2023)

Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was arrested in November 2023 in Culiacán and subsequently extradited to the United States. The US considers him one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and linked with the security apparatus of Los Chapitos, a faction of the cartel associated with the children of El Chapo.

Pérez faces charges in two federal indictments. The first, in the District of Columbia, includes cocaine and methamphetamine importation, firearm possession, and conspiracy to obstruct justice through murder.

The second, in the Southern District of New York, accuses him of leading a criminal enterprise responsible for multiple deaths – including of a DEA informant – fentanyl trafficking, obstruction of justice through the murder of an informant, kidnapping with fatal outcomes for eight people, including a minor, and money laundering.

On May 30, Pérez pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in New York.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López (July 2024)

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in El Paso, Texas, alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, son of El Chapo. Both are in US custody, according to the Department of Justice.

Zambada is considered by US authorities to be the current leader of the Sinaloa cartel. His name has appeared in drug trafficking files for years, but there are no known charges against him in Mexico.

The US Department of Justice stated that both face several charges “for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”

Authorities had been searching for Zambada for years, and in 2021 increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million.

On July 26 Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in the United States.

The final lick of paint was barely dry on the newly built, white-tiled Al-Hasanat home when the war in Gaza erupted in October.

For three-year-old Ayten, the apartment in central Gaza was a source of immense pride. “This is our beautiful house,” she would say to anyone who would listen, her father, Ahmed Al-Hasanat, recounted.

But two weeks after the family moved into their new home, they were forced to flee the besieged Al-Mughraqa neighborhood, said Al-Hasanat. When they returned in November, they found their apartment badly damaged by Israeli strikes. A doll belonging to Ayten lay among the rubble, peeking out from behind a broken door.

“She said, ‘Daddy, my doll died.’”

From neatly organizing letters while staying in labyrinthine tent camps, to keeping branches from family olive trees, some say they are doing all they can to keep memories alive. For many, repeated displacement means reliving the trauma of generations uprooted by al-Nakba, or “the catastrophe,” when roughly 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes in historic Palestine, during the creation of Israel in 1948.

Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli strikes in Gaza have since killed more than 39,000 Palestinians and injured another 90,000, according to the Ministry of Health there.

“We are being subjected to the biggest genocide. Every moment must be documented for the sake of other generations.”

Ahmed Al-Hasanat, a Palestinian father

A box of memories

Before the war, Fadi Adwan was studying for an electrical engineering degree at the Islamic University of Gaza, his dream since he was a teenager. These days, he fiddles with a navy and gray scientific calculator inside a tent in Rafah, in the south.

Israeli strikes destroyed several of the university’s buildings in the early days of the war, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

“Since I was in the 10th grade, I always had a calculator in my hands,” said the student, in his early 20s. He and his family have been displaced at least five times since October, he added. “I was thinking that we would go home after a month or so, but things were not the same in this war as previous wars.”

As her family prepared to flee, Ismail instructed her three sisters to fill a small box with their most treasured possessions. Her younger sister, Dina, contributed a necklace and some handwritten letters from close friends.

“Dr. Refaat’s voice is what keeps ringing in my head whenever I see my notes,” said Ismail. “He made us aware of the power of words and writing in delivering messages to the world, so we as Gazans will be heard.”

Cycles of displacement

Ismail wonders if she will relive the plight of her grandparents, whose lives were uprooted in 1948, when they were children. Her only living grandparent – her paternal grandma, who has Alzheimer’s disease – still remembers the horrors of al-Nakba, Ismail said.

“I hate it when I realize that I am reliving the exact wretched fate my grandparents once lived… I too will be traumatized and attached to my past life for as long as I live,” Ismail said.

Cycles of repeated displacement – without the promise of return – are embedded within Palestinian communities, according to Rochelle Davis, an associate professor of anthropology at Georgetown University.

“I used to wonder why they were leaving their homes in 1948,” said Adwan, the electrical engineering student. “But when this war happened, I understood why they left their homes; because of the horrific massacres that took place and because of the blood that was shed.”

Longing for ‘Palestine’

Small green leaves cling to a withering olive branch which 19-year-old Raghad Ezzat Hamouda took in October from a tree which had been planted by her father in their home in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.

Having been displaced at least six times, Hamouda has preserved the branch – and a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf worn by many Palestinians, that belonged to her grandmother, Tamam – as they remind her of her “beloved homeland,” she says.

“Our ancestors were displaced by Israel in 1948, and the scene today in 2024 is repeated,” she added.

“The Palestinian keffiyeh is a symbol of my identity, which is Palestine.”

Raghad Ezzat Hamouda, 19, displaced Palestinian

Once a marker of Palestinian life, Hamouda says her black-and-white fishnet-patterned keffiyeh is now a symbol of loss.

She said 85-year-old Tamam, a Nakba survivor, was injured when Israeli tanks opened fire as the family fled from northern to western Gaza in December. She was pushing her grandmother in her wheelchair at the time, she recalled. The teenager said her grandmother bled to death before they could get her to a hospital. “My grandmother was very affectionate and loved her grandchildren very much,” she said. “She loved to smile and gave us hope, especially during times of war.”

Along with house keys, some Palestinians will also have passports and land deeds from the 1940s testifying to pre-existing ownership of land in what is now Israel, according to Dr. Scott Webster, an academic from the University of Sydney. At least 70% of residents in Gaza are refugees, those who were displaced from their homes during the creation of Israel and their descendants, Amnesty International says.

“The house key is important because it brings with it all the memories, memories of the house and the garden around it, and the grapevines,” said Adwan, who has held onto his keys while being forced to flee multiple times, including from the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital.

“My father and mother have been working hard for 30 years to be able to build this house… It was partially destroyed in 2014. We built it again and it was destroyed again,” he said. “We are people with lives and memories… Maybe one day someone might care about our cause and help end our suffering.”

‘I am no longer me’

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 15,983 children, the Government Media Office reported on July 7.

Guardians may use personal objects – including toys – to provide emotional support for displaced children, said Davis, of Georgetown University. Meanwhile some adults hide their psychological trauma because they do not want to overload younger generations, according to Dr. Samah Jabr, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and head of the mental health unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

For Al-Hasanat, saving Ayten’s doll from the wreckage of their home was an attempt to soothe his daughter’s psychological trauma.

“She used to always laugh and spread happiness,” he said, explaining that she has now developed anxiety-related habits.

“I want to look for a safe place for the sake of my children, and for the sake of a happy life for Ayten, who needs a lot to return to the way she used to be,” he added. “The pain is indescribable. We have become without feeling or sensation.”

Since their visit in November, Al-Hasanat said, their apartment has been completely destroyed by bombing. “Nothing remains of the house,” he said.

Ismail, the literature student, says the stress of war has made her feel like “a stranger in my own life.”

“That’s how I and all Gazans feel after being snatched out of our lives and being forced to evacuate,” she said. “I am exhausted, counting days waiting for this all to end. I feel I am no longer me.”