According to the US Department of State, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has urged India and Pakistan to work together to calm the country’s tensions following the recent attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
According to the State Department, Rubio and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke on different calls on Wednesday, saying they supported India in fighting “terrorism” and asked Pakistan to assist with the investigation of the attack.
The Pakistani leader urged Washington to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly,” according to Sharif’s office in a statement.
He expressed regret over India’s decision to “weaponize water” by abdicating the Indus Waters Treaty, which forbids unilateral reversals of its commitments to control river flows in disputed Kashmir.
Islamabad made the claim after it claimed to have “credible intelligence” that India planned to attack it in retaliation for the 26 men’s deaths last week in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s deadly attack.
After accusing Pakistan of supporting the attack in the Kashmiri town of Pahalgam, which Islamabad denies, the two nuclear-armed rivals have escalating tensions to their highest level since a suicide car bombing in 2019, India has taken action to punish Pakistan.
On Wednesday, New Delhi’s government announced that it would no longer airspace Pakistani airlines. Days prior, Islamabad had forbid Indian airlines from flying over its territory. According to a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), the government’s ban on Pakistani aircraft will take effect from April 30 to May 23.
Over the past six nights, Pakistani and Indian troops have engaged in small-arms fire, which New Delhi claims was started by the Pakistani side crossing their de facto border into Kashmir. There were no reported injuries.
India, a country with a majority of Hindus, accuses Pakistan of funding and supporting armed groups in Kashmir, which is a Himalayan territory that both countries claim is entirely owned by but largely governed by each of them. Islamabad claims that it only offers moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiris’ request for self-determination.
In separate phone calls with Indian and Pakistani officials, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the necessity of “avoiding a confrontation that could have tragic consequences.”
After Israel launched airstrikes on a town near Damascus where government forces and other groups had engaged in bloody battles, Syrian authorities have decried “foreign intervention” in Syrian affairs.
At least four Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday targeted security personnel in Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a source from the Syrian Ministry of Interior, according to a source familiar with the matter.
In a statement, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates rebuffed “all forms of foreign intervention,” but did not specifically accuse Israel of carrying out the attacks. The Foreign Ministry continued in its statement that Syria “affirms its unwavering commitment to protect all aspects of the Syrian people, including the children of the honorable Druze community.”
Israel acknowledged that it had carried out a strike in Syria against alleged “extremists” who had attacked Druze people, and that it had followed through on a promise to defend the minority group.
Three Syrian Druze citizens have been taken out of Syria, according to the military, to be treated in Israel.
Following two days of deadly fighting between members of the Syrian government loyalists and members of the Druze military council, the strikes were launched.
Hussam al-Tahhan, the country’s director of security, disclosed to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency that a security operation had been launched there and that reinforcements had been dispatched to ensure the return of “security and stability” to the area’s neighborhoods.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 16 security forces and six fighters were killed on Wednesday. On Tuesday, at least 17 people were killed, including 10 members of the security forces.
Extreme panic
The strike on Ashrafieh Sahnaya, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a “stern message” to the new government in Syria, led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
He claimed that Israel hoped that they would stop the Druze community from suffering.
In the event that the Druze community is the subject of additional violence, Israel’s head of armed forces later gave the military instructions to get ready to attack Syrian government targets.
Leaders of the Syrian Druze have consistently resisted Israeli intervention and pledged to support a united Syria.
In the largely Druze-dominant area of Jaramana, clashes between Druze and Sunni groups erupted on Tuesday, which were sparked by an audio clip that was posted on social media attacking the Prophet Muhammad.
A Druze leader was responsible for the recording. The Druze community’s spiritual leader in Jaramana criticized the recording, claiming that it was made to “incite division and division among the people of the same nation.”
Despite calling for inclusiveness and national unity, Syria’s new rulers, former opposition fighters who led the rebellion that overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, have struggled to maintain security for the country’s minorities.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes into Syria since al-Assad was overthrown in December, stepping up attacks it had carried out regularly in previous years, and has deployed troops. to the occupied Golan Heights in a buffer zone designated by the UN.
Following deadly clashes southeast of Damascus, Syria, a member of the Syrian security forces stands next to a vehicle [Yamam Al Shaar/Reuters].
With minorities already enthralled by the horrifying bloodshed last month, the most recent incidents only serve to heighten sectarian tension in Syria.
In a wave of vigilante attacks in the northern regions of Tartous and Latakia governorates, hundreds of people were killed in clashes with security forces in March.
Extreme panic
Sahnaya residents reported intense street fighting on Wednesday.
Elias Hanna, who resides on the edge of Sahnaya, described the indiscriminate shelling as making us feel extremely anxious and fearful.
We worry that the massacres against the Druze on the coast in Sahnaya will continue, he said.
UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he is “deeply concerned” by the violence there, particularly in the Homs and the suburbs of the capital Damascus.
He demanded immediate action to stop civilian casualties from being incited and prevent communal tensions from being sparked.
Israel must stop its aerial assaults on Syria, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Marco Rubio, the secretary of state of the United States, President Donald Trump’s administration may disagree with a judge’s request to release information about efforts to return an El Salvadorian man who had been deported without permission.
The top diplomat was asked if he had requested Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Rubio responded, “I’ll never tell you that,” adding. And who else would I never tell, exactly? A judge”.
He continued, noting that the court’s order does not bind him. Because the executive branch and the president of the United States are in charge of our foreign policy, not some judge.
The statements emphasized the Trump administration’s defiance of judicial controls over its authority.
US District Judge Paula Xinis had mandated that government attorneys provide updates on the steps the Trump administration had taken to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US. She made a promise to ask administration officials to provide sworn testimony regarding those efforts on April 15.
However, Xinis halted the directive at the administration’s request for a while last week.
She has set new deadlines in May for administration officials to testify ostentatiously about the retrieval of Abrego Garcia because the pause ends at 5 p.m. on Wednesday (21:00 GMT).
Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, has been imprisoned in El Salvador since March 15 when he was one of the immigrants who had been taken into the maximum-security facility known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who was in Abrego Garcia’s custody, claims that he has since been moved to another facility.
A judge’s 2019 deportation order for him was violated because he would face persecution from local gangs, so the deportation was unlawful.
Abrego Garcia and his family claim that he fled El Salvador when he was 16 years old when gangs pursued him for recruitment. Without any documentation, he arrived in the US.
The US government initially acknowledged that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was the result of an “administrative error” in light of the protection order’s 2019 status.
The Trump White House has since reaffirmed its claim that Abrego Garcia belongs to the MS-13 gang and will never be able to reside in the US in the wake of the public outcry the case has sparked.
Nothing can ever change the fact that Abrego Garcia will never be a Maryland father. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated earlier this month that he would never ever reside in the United States of America.
Although Abrego Garcia has not been charged with any crimes, MS-13 experts have questioned whether his tattoos support gang affiliation.
Additionally, the administration has made references to alleged gang activity against Abrego Garcia in New York, a state he has never resided in, in which an anonymous informant has previously claimed. Garcia’s attorneys contend that these claims are false.
Judge Xinis initially told the US government to “facilitate and effectuate the return of” Abrego Garcia no later than April 7th.
The US Supreme Court ruled in an appeal, but it did not specify the minimum requirements for complying with its order. However, the Trump administration was required to “facilitate” rather than “effectuate” the return.
Additionally, the high court agreed with Xinis’ claim that Abrego Garcia had been denied access to justice while he was deported.
Trump’s supporters have, however, stated on numerous occasions that their appeal had been supported by the Supreme Court. Additionally, they assert that President Nayib Bukele, the country’s leader, has the authority to appoint Abrego Garcia, a prospect that he had previously rejected.
How do I bring him back to the United States? At a sit-down earlier this month in the Oval Office, Bucele said.
Should I enter the country illegally? I’ll not do it, of course. The query is absurd. How does one enter the United States through smuggling? He cannot be returned to the United States, but I can’t.
Trump has, however, sent contradictory statements regarding the position of his government and whether he is actually able to demand Abrego Garcia’s release.
The US president was questioned about whether he could unilaterally resign Abrego Garcia in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday. Trump responded, “I could.”
Trump continued, “And I would do that if he were the gentleman you say he is.” He is not, though.
However, the president objected when asked on Wednesday during the cabinet meeting whether Abreu would request that Bukele release Abreu Garcia.
He said, “I really don’t know, but I am aware of how great a friend our country has been.”
Residents of Islamabad are hopeful that a devastating conflict can be avoided because of the live fire exchanges that have taken place across Pakistan and India’s disputed border.
The Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants held in Guantanamo Bay have few protections, according to a federal judge in the United States.
District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued a ruling on Thursday, saying that the government must allow immigrants to voice concerns about the safety of the nations they are deported.
The decision is the most recent development in concerns about Trump’s expansive interpretations of executive power and immigration law.
The decision is a victory for immigrant rights advocates who claimed that the administration had flown four Venezuelans to El Salvador from the US military base in Cuba in violation of a previous court order. However, it is still to be seen how the White House will respond.
The administration argued that the order only applied to the DHS, not the DHS, which was in charge of the flight.
The Tren De Aragua gang has frequently made similar claims with little supporting evidence, despite the Department of Justice’s assertion that three of the four Venezuelans who have been sent to El Salvador belong to the administration, which has frequently accused them of being held in Salvadoran prisons, where abuse and torture are frequently alleged.
In extreme isolation and without legal counsel, according to immigrant rights organizations, migrants are being held in Guantanamo Bay, which was previously a detention facility and torture site during the so-called “global war on terror.”
A lawsuit brought on behalf of two Nicaraguans being held in Guantanamo states claims that “officers at Guantanamo have created a climate of extreme fear and intimidation where immigrant detainees are afraid to communicate freely with their counsel.”
As the case aims to challenge Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation, a judge in the United States has ordered his release.
US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued a ruling on Wednesday that Mahdawi could leave the Northwest State Correctional Facility, where he had been detained since being detained by immigration authorities earlier this month.
As supporters greeted him with cheers and with both hands in the air, Mahdawi flashed peace signs as he left the court.
He addressed President Donald Trump, whose administration has repressed student protesters who have criticized Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
Mahdawi addressed Trump, “I’m not afraid of you.” He addressed the Palestinian people and tried to dispel the myths that the student protest movement was peaceful.
“We support peace and oppose war,” Mahdawi said. To my Palestinian neighbors, “I see freedom, I feel your pain, and I see your suffering.”
Mahdawi, a legal resident of the US and a participant in the Columbia University protests, was detained on April 14 while undergoing a citizenship interview. Social media users quickly saw a video of him being escorted away in handcuffs.
His arrest was a part of the Trump administration’s wider campaign to target permanent residents and visa holders for their pro-Palestine advocacy. Trump has also pressed top universities to halt pro-Palestine demonstrations in an effort to combat anti-Semitism.
Critics, however, claim that rationale is an excuse to stifle opposing viewpoints and exert greater control over academia.
A Vermont federal judge just released Mohsen Mahdawi on bail. pic. https://twitter.com/sgtNyfeYmU
What exactly is in the ruling?
Judge Crawford ruled that the student activist posed no risk of flight and could be let go to his New York City graduation the following month.
Mahdawi’s release may be subject to an appeal by the US government, but the judge’s ruling allows him to leave Vermont and contest his deportation from a detention facility.
However, his release was opposed by the Trump administration. According to its attorneys, Mahdawi’s detention was a “constitutionally acceptable component of the deportation process.”
Mahdawi’s attorneys have argued that his arrest violates his right to free speech under the Constitution.
Mahdawi’s lawyer, Lia Ernst, who represents him in the American Civil Liberties Union, stated in a statement following his release that “Mohsen has committed no crime, and the government’s only supposed justification for holding him in prison is his speech.”
The US Supreme Court may decide in the end, however, that the Trump administration has taken the general position that only US citizens are protected by constitutional speech protections.
Government lawyers have cited the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as the legal justification for Mahdawi’s deportation in court filings.
The secretary of state has “reasonable grounds to believe]they would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” under a rarely used section of the law that allows the US to deport foreign nationals.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to deport Mahdawi and other pro-Palestinian student protesters using that provision. Israel plays a significant role in the Middle East for the US.
[File: Jeenah Moon/Reuters] Demonstrators in New York City carry placards that read “Free Mohsen” to urge Mohsen Mahdawi’s release.
advocacy is under attack.
Mahdawi was detained a few weeks after Mahmoud Khalil, a fellow permanent resident of the US, was detained.
Immigration officials detained Khalil at the beginning of March. At the prestigious Ivy League university, the pair co-founded the Palestinian Student Union.
Since his arrest outside of his apartment, Khalil has been held in immigration custody in Louisiana. A judge in immigration court earlier this month upheld Khalil’s deportation, supporting government attorneys.
Secretary of State Rubio ordered the 30-year-old to be kicked out of the US for “his role in antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which create a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States,” according to a two-page letter from the court.
In what critics have called an effort to silence freedom of speech, the Trump administration has generally described nearly all pro-Palestine advocacy as “anti-Semitic.”
Rubio’s accusations against Khalil are unsupported, and the student leader has been indicted for a crime. Even though a permanent resident’s beliefs, associations, or statements are “otherwise legal,” Rubio’s letter asserted that his department could revoke them.
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Khalil can file a lawsuit against his arrest and detention based on the allegations that he was targeted for his political views.
Both Mahdawi and Khalil have separate court cases, one challenging the justification for their arrests and the other seeking deportation.
Democrat Senator Peter Welch, a US senator, visited Mahdawi while he was detained, who had previously called the arrest of the student “unjust” and anti-democratic.
According to a video posted on Welch’s X account, Mahdawi said at the time, “I’m staying positive by reassuring myself of the ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy.”
