Pope Leo XIV has once more reaffirmed the Vatican’s call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it the “only solution” that can ensure justice for both sides.
Leo made the remarks as he flew from Turkiye to Lebanon on Sunday for his second and final international trip as pope.
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The pontiff was questioned by reporters on the plane about the conversation he had with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, when they first met in Ankara, and whether they had ever spoken about the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Leo confirmed that they had, claiming that Turkiye has an “important role to play” in putting an end to both conflicts.
He reiterated the Holy See’s long support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. The only way to end the decades-old conflict is to establish a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza, which has long been held internationally as the only option.
Israel may not agree with this solution at this time, but we believe it to be the only option available to them, according to Leo. We work with both sides to provide a mediating voice that can bring them closer to a solution that brings justice for all, adding that we are also friends with Israel.
While visiting Turkiye, the pope has stayed away from making any direct reference to Israel’s genocidal conflict there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond right away. He has long argued that establishing a Palestinian state would reward Hamas, which would eventually create a larger Hamas-run state on Israel’s borders.
Netanyahu asserted earlier this month that neither Israeli opposition to a Palestinian state has “changed a single thing” and is not threatened by pressure from outside or inside. He claimed, “I don’t need anyone to give me affirmations, tweets, or lectures.”
A “glimmer of hope”
Later in the afternoon, the American pontiff arrived in Beirut and will meet with Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, the only Christian head of state, in a speech addressed to authorities and diplomats at the presidential palace.
He is expected to meet Lebanese officials on the side of the road leading to the presidential palace. He’ll also attend a massive mass in Beirut’s center, according to Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, who is there. He then travels to several cities nationwide.
Lebanon’s population is predominantly Muslim, with roughly half of them coming from the Shia and Sunni branches, while only 30% of its population is Christian.
Popes have increasingly sought to meet local Catholics, spread the faith, and conduct international diplomacy as a result of their efforts to travel abroad.
Pope Leo XIV arrives in Lebanon [Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters]
For the sake of peace
Leading Druze cleric Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna said Lebanon “needs the glimmer of hope represented by this visit” and that Lebanon’s diverse communities were appreciative of the papal visit.
Prior to Leo’s arrival, reinforcements from the Lebanese army and internal security forces were stationed at the airport.
His convoy will pass through southern suburbs of Beirut, a region where Hezbollah controls control and where the terrain was hampered by Israeli airstrikes last year. As the convoy passes, Imam al-Mahdi Scouts from Hezbollah will hold a welcome ceremony by the side of the road.
Leo’s schedule includes a prayer at the Beirut port site of the devastating explosion that killed 200 people and damaged $ billion worth of damage in 2020.
He will also visit a psychiatric hospital, one of the few mental health facilities in Lebanon, where residents and staff members are eagerly awaiting his arrival. He will also lead an outdoor mass on the Beirut waterfront.
Leo won’t travel to the south, where Israeli attacks are likely to take place. Israel continues to bomb southern Lebanon almost daily despite a US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024.
According to Beirut resident Farah Saadeh, the pope “is coming to bless us and for the sake of peace.” We must wait and see what will happen after he leaves, Saadeh said, “we hope nothing will occur after his departure.”
In response to months of military expansion in the Caribbean, President Trump declared on Saturday that Venezuelan airspace had been “closed” without providing any further information. This caused tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Venezuela has accused the US of a “colonialist threat” in Latin America, as millions of people in the country remain on edge. Prior to this, President Nicolas Maduro had warned that Washington was using false information to justify military intervention in Venezuela.
Venezuela has been conducting regular drills over the past few weeks and has announced a large-scale mobilisation in preparation for any possible attack.
Since launching a number of strikes on alleged drug boats in early September, the Trump administration has massive naval assets deployed in the Southern Caribbean. Washington has not provided any proof that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking. In those attacks, at least 83 people have died.
Ramping up pressure on Maduro last week, Washington designated what is known among Venezuelans as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns in English, as a “foreign terrorist organization”.
In a bid to combat drug trafficking, the Trump administration claims to be targeting Venezuela. However, political analysts and human rights observers warn Washington against laying the groundwork to unlawfully remove Maduro from power.
Will Trump then launch an offensive against Venezuela after it announces the end of its airspace? Can the US military action be legally justified? What is the cause of Trump’s hostile attitude toward Maduro?
Will the US go to war against Venezuela?
Trump has increased his rhetoric against Maduro, blaming Caracas for drug trafficking and the flow of Venezuelan immigrants, since taking office in January.
Within a few weeks into his second term, Trump nixed Venezuelan oil concessions granted by his predecessor, Joe Biden, imposed 25 percent tariffs on countries buying oil from Venezuela, and doubled the reward for the arrest of Maduro to $50m, designating him a “global terrorist leader”.
Trump’s administration deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, other warships, thousands of troops, and F-35 stealth jets to the Caribbean in recent weeks, as confirmation that he has authorized the CIA to conduct secret operations there.
Last Thursday, Trump said land strikes inside the country could come imminently.
Prior to the start of sanctions against Cartel de los Soles, Trump reportedly spoke with Maduro last week, according to reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
On November 25, Trump, on board Air Force One, was asked by reporters if he planned on speaking with Maduro. I might speak with him, I say. We’ll see. However, we’re talking about that with the various staffs. We might talk”, Trump told reporters.
When asked why he wanted to speak with a member of the “foreign terrorist organization,” he answered with a moral compass.
“If we can save lives, we can do things the easy way, that’s fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that’s okay, too,” he said.
Can the US military action be legally justified?
The Trump administration’s military actions, in addition to international law, are in conflict with the US Constitution, according to critics. Rights observers and legal scholars have said the deadly boat strikes amount to “extrajudicial killing” and violation of human rights.
According to a report in The Washington Post, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the military to kill every passenger on board a ship suspected of having drugs.
Hegseth has rejected allegations, calling the report “fake news”. He claimed that the “fabricated and inflammatory” report was intended to “discredit our incredible warriors fighting the homeland.”
The defence secretary has said the strikes in the Caribbean are “lawful”.
Meanwhile, the US Congress set forth an investigation into the incident on Saturday. “At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings”, Republican Senator Rand Paul told Fox News Sunday in October.
Expert on US constitutional law, Bruce Fein, backed Paul.
“Trump is acting extra-constitutionally and committing murder”, said Fein, who served as associate deputy attorney general under Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Fein argued that only Congress has the authority to impose offensive military use, not to mention that Trump’s executive orders in this regard do not have legal authority. “The victims are engaged in warfare against the United States, except in Trump’s fantasyland – a page from George Orwell’s 1984”.
The Trump administration claims that this isn’t a war between two countries that necessitates congressional declaration, but rather a counterterrorism operation against a non-state actor by designating the Cartel de los Soles, which Washington now refers to as the Venezuelan state.
Cartel de los Soles emerged in the 1990s when Venezuelan generals and senior officers were investigated for drug trafficking and related crimes. It is not a cartel in Venezuela, but rather a frequent reference to military personnel engaged in corruption and other illegal activities.
Maduro delivers a speech while holding the Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar’s ‘ Sword of Peru ‘ during a military ceremony in Caracas on November 25, 2025]Federico Parra/AFP]
What has the president of Venezuela said?
Caracas has denounced Trump’s announcement that effectively closed the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela.
Trump’s statement, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sought to “affect the sovereignty of]Venezuelan airspace, creating yet another extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”
Meanwhile, Maduro, whose win in July’s election was not recognised by Washington, has called for peace, rejecting war, and advocated for harmony as he continues to appear frequently on state television broadcasts. No war, yes peace, forever, as Maduro put it in a mix of Spanish and English.
On November 15, Maduro invoked singer John Lennon’s peace anthem “Imagine” during a rally of supporters. As John Lennon once said, “Do everything for peace.” Imagine all the people”, he said.
Maduro later retorted the use of force or military threats and said, “Dialogue, call, yes. Peace, yes. No, not war. Never, never war”.
However, Maduro pledged to protect the nation from any “imperialist threat” last week as tensions continue to rise. He addressed a crowd at the Fuerte Tiuna military academy, in full martial dress, waving a sword that belonged to Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s national hero.
[Photo by Alex Brandon/AP Photo] Trump leans in to a question as he speaks to reporters on Air Force One, November 25, 2025.
What’s driving Trump’s hostile policy against Maduro?
According to foreign policy analysts, Trump’s aggressive actions toward the Venezuelan government are rooted in Caracas’s oil holdings, which are the largest proven reserves in the world, and establish US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
Salvador Santino Regilme, a political scientist who leads the international relations programme at Leiden University, said Washington wants Venezuela to align firmly with US strategic preferences instead of China, Russia, or Iran.
In the 1970s, Venezuela was viewed as a trustworthy US ally during the Cold War. But when the founder of the governing United Socialist Party and former president, Hugo Chavez, was elected in 1998, relations with Washington began to sour.
Following a failed coup attempt in 2002, Chavez resigned from his position as president of the United States and fired US military advisers. He also pushed out US oil majors ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips after nationalising the oil sector, further straining the ties. Another US oil tycoon, Chevron, is still based in Venezuela.
Chavez was critical of the US involvement in Latin America and cultivated ties with regional left-leaning countries such as Cuba and Bolivia under former socialist President Evo Morales. Additionally, he improved communication between Russia and China regarding the economy.
After Maduro took over from Chavez in 2013, relations worsened. Trump supported Maduro’s political rivals during his first term, recognizing Juan Guaido as the interim president in 2019.
The US’s so-called “war on drugs” here functions as a political technology that strips alleged traffickers and small-boat crews of their humanity, argued Regilme, “so that lethal force and regime change look like law enforcement rather than war”.
Regilme cited the Trump administration’s use of Maduro’s state as a “criminal syndicate” to “delegitimise not just the regime but the entire political-economic model that resists this kind of restructuring.”
Adolfo Franco, a lawyer and Republican strategist, told Al Jazeera that while Trump has not explicitly laid out the next steps, he clearly wants regime change in Venezuela.
Everything is on the table for President Trump, according to the statement. The desire here, from my experience in government, is forcing Maduro to exit, either peacefully, which I think might be a tall order”, Franco said.
Because of the large number of forces and signals we’ve been sending to the region, he continued, “The negotiation part is challenging.” “I can’t imagine it being business as usual with Maduro running the Venezuelan government. That is not a table,”
Two homeless people share a dose of fentanyl in an alley in Los Angeles, August 18, 2022. [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo] Use of fentanyl, a potent opioid, is on the rise in the US.
Is Venezuela the main source of drugs going to the US, as Trump claims?
The Trump administration has promoted the idea that Venezuela is connected to “narco-terrorist” networks. But the fentanyl crisis that claims the most American lives has hardly any connection to Caracas.
Mexico is consistently cited by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of State as the country’s top producer of synthetic opioids using precursors from China, in particular the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
Venezuela does not even serve as a significant transit corridor for the drug that overwhelmingly enters the US through legal ports of entry, along the southwest land border rather than via the Caribbean maritime routes currently being targeted by the US Navy.
Venezuela appears to be a transit hub for cocaine, but it is not the main producer or the main trafficker.
Colombia remains the world’s leading cultivator of the drug. The majority of the cocaine that travels through Venezuela is exported to Europe.
In March 2020, the US estimated between 200 and 250 tonnes of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela each year, representing 13 percent of the estimated global production.
The Trump administration’s attacks on the Caribbean have also been met with resistance from the US allies in Europe.
At a Group of Seven foreign ministers ‘ meeting in Canada’s Niagara region, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the strikes “violate international law” and were concerning France’s territories in the wider region.
Marco Rubio, the US’s top diplomat, was present. Before departing, he told reporters that drugs are also shipped via Venezuela to Europe, so the US should be thanked for killing the alleged smugglers.
Rubio claimed that the European Union does not have the authority to define what international law is. “They certainly don’t get to determine how the United States defends its national security”.
Colombia, which has a 2, 219km (1, 378-mile) border with Venezuela, has vehemently opposed US actions. Bogota already hosts millions of Venezuelan refugees who have fled the country due to a debilitating economic and political crisis.
Gustavo Petro, the president of left-wing Colombia, effectively ended security cooperation with the US following the boat strikes. He refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election in January.
Petro has described Trump as a “barbarian” who “wants to frighten us” in interviews in the US media. He referred to the US military’s expansion in the Caribbean as “unquestionably an aggression against Latin America.”
Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has taken a more diplomatic but equally firm stance, telling reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa, “no president of another country should make assumptions about what Venezuela … will be like”.
In televised remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the US strikes as “unacceptable” and said, “This is how lawless countries generally act, as well as those who consider themselves above the law.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a late November letter to Maduro, reaffirmed the two nations as “intimate friends, dear brothers, and good partners”, saying “China resolutely opposes the meddling of external forces in Venezuela’s internal affairs under any pretext”.
Trump dances onstage as the Village People prepare for a rally in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2025 [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
Are Venezuela’s actions dividing Trump’s MAGA base?
Trump won back to power this year, rising in his campaign pledge to avoid “forever wars,” which appeared to be deeply in line with his Make America Great Again (MAGA) goals.
Many in his camp are sceptical of extended military engagements abroad, viewing them as costly distractions from domestic priorities and a drain on US resources. When the US bombed Iran earlier this year amid tensions between Tehran and Israel, that fear was at the center of the discussion.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the most vocal faces of MAGA, had a public falling-out with Trump over his administration’s focus on foreign conflicts at the expense of the pressing economic issues, including the cost-of-living crisis, facing Americans. She has since decided to leave the Congress.
However, some MAGA-aligned voices have backed pressuring Venezuela’s government by sanctions or low-scale operations amid public opinion against any military intervention in the country.
Rubio, who is also the country’s national security adviser, has pushed for a tough Venezuelan policy, which serves his supporters in Florida, where there are many Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants.
Confronting an “authoritarian socialist narco-regime” plays well domestically for Trump as well, said Regilme, the foreign policy expert, adding that it ties “together anticommunism, border security, and the promise to be tough on crime”.
A kinetic strike on Venezuela is both a real option and a bargaining tool, according to Regilme.
At least 13 people were killed by Israel in Beit Jinn, a town in Damascus that is rural, on Friday, including two children.
Locals attempted to stop an Israeli military assault on Beit Jinn, which sparked clashes, with the most recent air raids.
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Israel asserted that it was pursuing members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Jamaa al-Islamiya in Lebanon.
The organization claimed, however, that it was not active outside of Lebanon and refuted the Israeli claim.
Everything you need to know about the Beit Jinn attack and its context is here.
What transpired?
In the early hours of Friday morning, the 55th Reserve Brigade of the Israeli army claimed to have taken three Syrian residents who lived in Beit Jinn, claiming they were Jamaa al-Islamiya members and posed a “danger to Israel.”
However, the incursion did not go as planned. The Israeli army claims that the locals resisted, and that three of the six Israeli soldiers suffered serious injuries as a result of the clashes.
Then, Israel delivered its warplanes.
Iyad Daher, a wounded resident from Damascus’ al-Mouwasat Hospital, reported to the AFP news agency that “we were asleep when we were woken up by gunfire at three in the morning.”
The Israeli army was present in the village, soldiers and tanks, Daher said, “and we went outside to see what was happening.” The air force arrived, and the shells started falling after they withdrew.
Since the Assad regime’s fall, Israel has carried out the most deadly strikes against Syria.
Why did Israel’s forces invade Syria?
Israel has previously occupied Syrian territory.
After the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Israel has attempted to use force in other nations to create buffer zones around itself, in the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Lebanon, according to Israeli officials and government-aligned media.
Israel has carried out frequent airstrikes across Syria and ground incursions in its south since the Assad regime’s fall last December. It established numerous checkpoints in Syria, detained Syrian citizens who had vanished from Syria, and held them in Israel without permission.
Since signing the two nations’ 1974 disengagement agreement, it has established bases around Jabal al-Sheikh (Mount Hermon in English).
The new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, promised to adhere to the accord of 1974.
In 1967, Israel took control of the Syrian Golan Heights. Later, a demilitarized zone was established, but Israel invaded to seize control of Syrian-held territory after President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster and his army were completely destroyed.
What was said by the Syrian government?
that the attack was a war crime.
An Israeli occupation army patrol carried out a criminal attack on Beit Jinn, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement. After their failed incursion, the occupation forces’ attack on Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling constitutes a full-fledged war crime.
What claims Israel makes?
The operation was described as an “arrest raid” aimed at Jamaa al-Islamiya members, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
Three members of the Israeli army were “arrested,” according to a spokesperson for the army.
Israel asserts that the organization is operating in southern Syria to “recruit terrorists” and is involved in the “northern front,” or northern border, between Israel and Lebanon.
Osama Bin Javaid of Al Jazeera reported from Syria that Israel has not provided any evidence that the individuals targeted by the group were connected to the group.
Describe Jamaa al-Islamiya.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Lebanese branch is represented by the organization.
Although it has never been as well-liked as some of its regional counterparts, it has remained stable in Lebanon since it was founded in 1956.
It has one member of parliament, which was founded by former prime minister Rafik Hariri in the past.
However, in recent years, the organization has reportedly gotten more politically connected to Hezbollah and Iran. In 2023 and 2024, its armed wing, the Fajr Forces, conducted some operations against Israel.
The organization claimed in a statement on Friday that it was “surprised” Israeli media had been involved in what transpired in Beit Jinn following Israel’s claims that it had been involved in southern Syria.
It denounced the attack, claiming that Lebanon has no “no activities” there.
The organization further stated that it abides by and commits to the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire agreement from November 2024.
Has Israel previously claimed to be attacking this group?
Yes.
Seven emergency relief volunteers were killed when Israel attacked al-Habbariyeh in southern Lebanon in March 2024.
It referred to a member of the group as a “significant terrorist” and claimed that the attack had taken place.
In a tense race involving voter fraud in Hondurans, the impoverished Central American nation is going to the polls to elect a new president.
The first results are anticipated late on Sunday night, with polls opening at 7 a.m. local time (13:00 GMT) for 10 hours of voting.
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Three of the five candidates, Rixi Moncada, former prime minister of Tegucigalpa, Nasry Asfura of the ruling right-wing National Party, and Salvador Nasralla of the center-righteen Liberal Party, are currently in a virtual tie with each other in the majority of polls.
The three top candidates are accusing each other of plotting fraud as the results of the elections, which will also feature the 128 members of Congress, hundreds of mayors, and thousands of other public officials. She has suggested that the official results won’t be accepted by Moncada.
Legislation prohibits incumbent President Xiomara Castro of the LIBRE party from reserving office for a term.
The opposition parties have accused the Honduran Attorney General of planning to conduct voter fraud, which they deny. The opposition party aligns with the ruling party.
An investigation into audio recordings that purport to show a senior National Party official talking about plans with an unidentified military officer during the election are being conducted by the prosecution.
Moncada’s campaign has focused on the alleged recordings, which the National Party claims were made using artificial intelligence.
Mistrust of the general public
A growing public distrust of the electoral process and the electoral authorities in general has resulted from political tensions. Additionally, the delivery of voting materials has been delayed.
Jennifer Lopez, a 22-year-old law student in Tegucigalpa, expressed hope that there won’t be any fraud and that the elections will be peaceful. This would make our nation a significant step closer to democracy.
6. 5 million Hondurans will support the Liberal or National parties in the tumultuous environment, choosing between sticking to Castro’s left-wing social and economic agenda or moving to a conservative one.
Castro has increased social spending and public investment as Honduras’ first woman leader. Although both poverty and inequality remain high, both have declined while the economy has grown moderately. Her government’s prudent fiscal management has received praise from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Violence persists despite the country’s lowest homicide rate in recent memory.
US position
The Organization of American States has expressed concerns about the electoral process, and members of its extraordinary session this week urged the government to hold elections that were free of intimidation, fraud, and political interference.
Christopher Landau, the US’s deputy secretary of state, also issued a warning on X that the country would “swiftly and decisively respond to anyone who undermines the integrity of the democratic process in Honduras.”
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has backed Asfura, saying on social media that “the country will not throw good money after bad money.”
In 2009, a coalition of right-wing military figures, politicians, and businessmen overthrew Manuel Zelaya, the current president’s husband, in Honduras, where six out of ten citizens are living in poverty.
As desperate people search for food and water in Indonesia, a tally released by the national disaster agency revealed a death toll of 442.
Authorities raced to parts of Sumatra island’s hardest-hit area, where thousands of people were stranded without necessary supplies, as 402 others are still missing, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) on Sunday.
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The organization claims that there are still 402 missing in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh, Indonesia’s three provinces.
As Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia are flooded with heavy monsoon rain, at least 600 people have died in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the deluges caused landslides, damaged roads, and cut communication lines.
In Meureudu, in the Pidie Jaya district of Indonesia’s Aceh province, people walk through mud and debris.
At least two cities on Sumatra island are still unreachable on Sunday due to the floods that have displaced thousands of people in Indonesia. Authorities claimed that to provide aid, they had two warships escorted from Jakarta.
Central Tapanuli and Sibolga are two cities that require full attention because of their isolation, according to BNPB head Suharyanto in a statement.
He claimed that Monday was the day the ships arrived in Sibolga.
Situation desperate
Rescue efforts were also hampered by the challenging weather and the lack of heavy equipment.
The Central Tapanuli district of North Sumatra and the hardest-hit city of Sibolga have both experienced slow aid delivery.
People are seen rushing past crumbling barricades, flooded roads, and broken glass in social media videos trying to get food, medicine, and gas.
Some even reached damaged convenience stores by wading through waist-deep floodwaters.
Heavy rain is frequently a part of the annual monsoon season, which typically occurs between June and September, causing flash floods and landslides.
The flooding tolls in Indonesia and Thailand are among the highest in those countries in recent years due to a tropical storm that has exacerbated the conditions.
In order to promote “national unity,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a formal pardon from President Isaac Herzog in connection with his long-running corruption cases. Netanyahu must admit guilt and resign, according to Israel’s opposition.
