Morning Update: USA Questions Women in the Military, Israel's Expanding Apartheid Tactics and More

Good morning everyone, we have a rather packed news update for you this morning. Both the USA and Israel are expanding their expansionist tactics against neighbouring states, while Palestinians in the West Bank face a new level to the apartheid that they are forced to live with. Elsewhere, violence is taking hold in Syria and Iran, where protesters have now taken their first city.

In the USA the regime is continuing their abuse of the White House website, while they also begin to question the presence of women in some military roles, we also take a look at another story that shines a light on the widening gap between the USA and their European allies.

Israel approves electronic tagging in West Bank

Israel has approved the use of electronic tagging in the occupied West Bank, authorising the military to fit individuals under movement restriction orders with GPS tracking devices. The system, approved by the IDF and Shin Bet, can be imposed on people without charge or trial under military law. Officials claim the measure can apply to both Palestinians and Israeli settlers, though in reality, Israe’s system of apartheid has always punished Palestinians at a dysproportionate rate to Israelis, as evidenced by how few Isreali settlers end up in Israeli prisons, and how over 99% of Palestinians are convicted, a rate that confirms foul play by the justice system.

The move also deepens an apartheid system with separate legal regimes, unequal movement rights, and surveillance practices applied along ethnic and national lines. This electronic tagging will now alongside checkpoints, permit systems, administrative detention, and military courts that govern Palestinians while settlers live under civilian law.

Lebanon attack approved by Trump

According to reporting in Israel, Donald Trump has authorised Israeli military action framed as targeting Hezbollah, but Israel’s own military history makes clear that this translates into attacks on Lebanon, not Hezbollahd. Strikes carried out inside Lebanon are attacks on a sovereign country, regardless of the justification offered. The authorisation comes after over 10,000 documented Israeli ceasefire violations along the Lebanese border, a record that severely undermines claims of defensive necessity and places the burden of escalation firmly on Israel rather than Hezbollah.

Trump’s reported assurance that the US would back Israel if the Lebanese army fails to disarm Hezbollah effectively removes the last remaining political restraint on cross-border action. In Monday’s update, we covered the Israeli parliament’s approval of a new military action against Lebanon, this is very like the action that Trump has approved. Naturally, the approval of the attack and the planning of the attack have been ignored by much of Western media, much like they have ignored the continued ceasefire violations.

Morning Update: BBC Censors Journalists Again, Israel Attacks on Gaza, Venezuela Fallout and More

US Military to review women in combat roles

The Pentagon is reviewing women’s participation in combat roles, in what they say is as a neutral assessment of “readiness”. However, this happening under the regime of Donald Trump is obviously going to be linked to the backwards mindset of many in charge, who seem to believe in an idea of women that most people believe should have remained in the past.

Reviews like this are political tools, and will almost certainly be used to roll back the position in the U.S. military, notably, there is no review of the position of men in combat roles. After nearly a decade of integration, the burden of proof should be on those claiming the policy is a problem, not on women who have already met the standards and served.

USA got the Venezuelan oil they wanted

Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela’s interim authorities will “turn over” between 30 million and 50 million barrels of crude oil to the United States, to be sold at market price with the proceeds under US control, amid an ongoing US naval blockade that has trapped Venezuelan oil cargo, in direct violation of international law.

This deal follows the US military’s capture of Nicolás Maduro, who had already signalled his openness to work on negotiating with the USA, including offering access to Venezuelan oil before the USA attacked the country and killed over 80 people. The deal is obviously the result of the USA’s illegal activity in the South American country, but absolutely no one seems ready or willing to prevent the authoritarian Trump regime.

Netherlands pulls out of US-led counter narcotics operations

The Netherlands will no longer participate in US-led counter-narcotics operations beyond its own territorial waters, pulling back from joint missions in the Caribbean amid growing concern over Trump’s increasingly militarised approach to the mission.

Dutch officials have made clear they will continue law-enforcement-based drug interdiction under Dutch jurisdiction, but will not be involved in US operations on the high seas that involve disabling or attacking suspected vessels without judicial process. This comes follows mounting criticism of US naval campaigns that have resulted in dozens of deaths based on intelligence assessments rather than arrests, marking a rare but significant break with American enforcement tactics and drawing a legal line the Netherlands is no longer willing to cross.

The move to pull out of joint operations is just the latest chink in the armour of US-Europe relations, as we covered yesterday, the threats towards Greenland, sympathy towards Russia and increased authoritarianism is driving a wedge between NATO allies that may be tough to repair.

Morning Update: USA-Europe Relationship Continues Breaking, Miller Warns USA Will Continue Expansion, Arson Attack in Germany and More

White House rewrites January 6 history

On the fifth anniversary of the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, the White House published a new official webpage that openly reframes one of the most violent breaches of the US Capitol as a “peaceful protest,” advancing a partisan narrative that blames Democrats, congressional leaders, and even law enforcement for the attack itself.

The White House website now claim January 6 rioters were ‘unfairly targeted’

The White House website has become the home of a lot of pro-Trump propaganda since the tyrant took office in 2025, in clear violation of the Hatch act. We have covered some of this in the past, when the website created a list of the president’s political opponent and attacked other presidents in an attempt to justify the destruction of the East Wing to make way for Trump’s ballroom.

White House Website Attacks Trump’s Political Opponents In Attempt To Justify East Wing Destruction

The White House Published a Political Hit List, During a Historical Spike in Right-Wing Violence

USA ‘discussing options’ on Greenland

The White House has confirmed that the United States is “discussing options” regarding Greenland, including possible military action. The comments have prompted an immediate and unified response from Denmark, Greenland’s government, and European allies, all of whom have reiterated that Greenland is not for sale and that its future can only be decided by its people. Greenland is a self-governing territory, and any suggestion that its status is open to negotiation by USA has been flatly rejected by those who actually hold sovereignty. The USA also recognised Danish sovereignity over all of Greenland when they purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917.

As pointed out by Anders Vistisen, a Danish member of the European Parliament, the USA previously had over 20 military bases in Greenland, and the number reduced to just one over time. The USA did not need to annex Greenland before the installation of any of the bases in the Arctic territory.

Iran protesters take control of towns

Protests across Iran have escalated sharply, with reports indicating that demonstrators briefly took control of at least one city. While independent verification of sustained control remains difficult, multiple sources confirm intense clashes between protesters and state forces, including incidents involving armed civilians.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has now also deployed armed units to several cities where armed protesters have been reported. This is a new step, as the regime had previously relied on policing and crowd control, rather than militarised containment. The IRGC’s involvement signals that authorities likely view the situation as existential rather than manageable, and that command responsibility has moved beyond local police structures into the regime’s most powerful security institution.

Separately, Iranian security forces have opened fire on protesters in Fars province. The USA’s ruling regime had warned that the Iranians would face an attack on the level that Venezuela experienced, should any protesters be killed. With the death of at least 36 protesters already occuring, there is no sign yet of U.S. intervention.

Violence between SDF and Syrian forces

Deadly clashes have erupted between the Syrian government’s armed forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern city of Aleppo, marking one of the most serious bouts of violence since efforts to integrate the Kurdish-led group into the national army stalled. At least five people have been killed in renewed fighting, which has involved shelling, gunfire and shifting control of contested neighbourhoods such as Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, and comes amid ongoing high-level talks that have so far failed to yield progress on a merger deal. Both sides are trading blame over who initiated the latest round of fighting, with residents reporting casualties among civilians as the clashes envelop residential areas.

The Syrian army has declared key Kurdish-held districts “closed military zones,” imposed curfews and opened humanitarian corridors for civilians to evacuate ahead of continued operations, while accusing the SDF of indiscriminate attacks on security positions. The SDF denies responsibility for civilian deaths and, in turn, accuses government-aligned forces of shelling Kurdish neighbourhoods and deploying heavy weapons against civilian areas. The violence reflects deeper fractures in Syria’s post-Assad transition, as multiple instances of unrest have already erupted in the year since Assad’s removal.