Iran has sent the Lebanese militia Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year via money exchanges and other businesses in Dubai, as Tehran seeks new ways to funnel money to its ally, people familiar with the matter said.
Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, is in desperate need of funds to rebuild and rearm its militia and pay other costs stemming from its bruising fight with Israel last year, the people said. Its smuggling routes through Syria were disrupted by the fall of the Iran-aligned Assad regime a year ago, and Lebanese authorities have made strides cracking down on couriers bringing suitcases of cash through the Beirut airport.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan praised Pope Leo’s stance on the Palestinian issue after meeting him in Ankara on Thursday, and said he hoped his first overseas visit as Catholic leader will benefit humanity at a time of tension and uncertainty.
“We commend (Pope Leo’s) astute stance on the Palestinian issue,” Erdogan said in an address to the Pope and political and religious leaders at the presidential library in the Turkish capital Ankara.
“Our debt to the Palestinian people is justice, and the foundation of this is to immediately implement the vision of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. Similarly, preserving the historic status of Jerusalem is crucial,” Erdogan said.
Pope Leo’s calls for peace and diplomacy regarding the war in Ukraine are also very meaningful, Erdogan said.
In September, Leo met at the Vatican with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and raised the “tragic situation” in Gaza with him.
Turkey has emerged as among the harshest critics of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, in its conflict there with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Daren Butler)
BEIRUT — When Pope Leo XIV visits the Middle East this week, he comes to a conflict-weary region struggling to find peace even as the specter of war stalks it once again.
In his first international trip since assuming the papacy in May, the Chicago-born pope will travel Thursday to Turkey, where he will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed — a foundational declaration of Christian belief and unity — was written in AD 325.
But perhaps the real test of Leo’s international debut lies in Lebanon. His coming fulfills a promise to visit the country made by his boldly charismatic predecessor Pope Francis, who raised the papacy’s international profile with dozens visits abroad and a propensity for frankness in his commentary that endeared him to the faithful, especially in the Middle East.
But Christians — estimated to be about 30% of Lebanon’s population — are not the only ones looking forward to Leo’s arrival.
A view of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, which Pope Leo XIV will see during his visit to Turkey, which begins Nov. 27, 2025.
(Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)
Many here hope his visit will be a portent for peace, bringing attention to this tiny Mediterranean nation as it contends with a Job-like succession of crises: First the economy, which crashed in 2019, tanking the banking system and the currency with it; then the port explosion in 2020; and the war between the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which flared in 2023 before intensifying late last year and left thousands dead and wide swaths of Lebanon’s south and east pulverized.
Despite a ceasefire brokered last November, Israel has launched near-daily attacks on its northern neighbor, justifying its strikes as a bid to stop Hezbollah from reconstituting itself, even as the United Nations tallied more than 10,000 air and ground violations in Lebanese territory and 127 civilians killed in the year since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel’s attacks have also paralyzed reconstruction efforts, meaning most residents of Lebanese border towns — whether dominated by Christians, Muslims or Druze — have been unable to piece back their prewar lives. The U.N.’s human rights office says around 64,000 Lebanese remain displaced.
The Israeli army launched more than 10 airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih in southern Lebanon, causing extensive damage, on Oct. 11.
(Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Safety concerns for the pope have been paramount in people’s minds for months. In October, in what appeared to be a hot mic moment, Jordan’s Queen Rania asked the pope during a photo-op at the Vatican whether it was safe to go to Lebanon. “Well, we’re going,” Leo gruffly replied.
Alarms were raised again over the weekend when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, barely two miles away from where the pope would be landing on Sunday. The attack, the first one in months near the capital, killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and coincided with a general uptick in Israeli strikes and drone activity in recent weeks — all indicators, observers say, of an impending all-out assault.
Nevertheless, the trip is still on, Lebanese officials say.
For Oumayma Farah, development director of the Order of Malta Lebanon, which aids communities of all religions and nationalities through humanitarian projects, that’s a “sign of courage and resilience to the Lebanese population and Christians in the region as a whole.”
“Whatever happens, the pope will come,” Farah said.
“The Church teaches us to not be afraid, so he’s the first example.”
A woman walks her dog past a billboard in Beirut touting Pope Leo’s upcoming visit to Lebanon.
(Anwar Amro / AFP/Getty Images)
Like most of the countries where Christianity first took hold, wars and economic lethargy — not to mention a relatively easier path to emigration — have dwindled Lebanon’s Christian population over the decades.
Across the Middle East, the number of Christians has gone from 20% of the population to a mere 5%; Lebanon remains the Arab country with the highest proportion, with Christians making up about 30% of the population, according to estimates from various research groups and the U.S. State Department.
The pope’s insistence on coming to Lebanon, Farah said, was “re-centering the importance of this country” and a “wake-up call” for its politicians. After spending three days in Turkey, the pope will arrive in Lebanon on Sunday and depart Tuesday.
In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other areas on the pope’s itinerary, signs abound of furious logistical activity and preparations: Police and security personnel have intensified their presence. A two-day holiday was announced to allow participation in public prayer events, even as parishes and schools across the country have been involved in bringing the faithful to attend Mass near the site of the Beirut port blast, which was deemed an accident caused by negligence, and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, roadworks and maintenance, all but abrogated in recent years due to the government’s financial woes, have been in full swing. The joke around town is that people want another papal visit if only so the government finishes repaving all the country’s pothole-stricken streets. A bitter corollary is another joke that the refurbished roads will last only till the pope leaves — because they’ll be destroyed in a new Israeli campaign.
Along with visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Pope Leo will travel to the Turkish city of Iznik, ancient Nicaea, to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
(Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)
The gallows humor reflects the uncertainty of the moment, with the U.S. and Israel pushing the Lebanese army to fully disarm Hezbollah, even as the group insists it will disarm only in the country’s south.
Lebanon’s government, in turn, says that it cannot persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms so long as Israel keeps occupying Lebanese territory, and that doing so by force would lead to civil war.
The hope is that the pontiff can help break the logjam. But though few expect change to come so quickly, the visit is still important, said a Maronite parish priest, Father Tony Elias, from Rmeish, a village located just across the border from Israel.
“When the pope visits a country that has been in pain for so long, this is truly enough to lift that pain,” Elias said.
Rmeish, which maintained a resolutely neutral stance during the war, is relatively unscathed, an exception in the wasteland that has become Lebanon’s border area after years of Israeli bombardment.
Elias said he would have wanted the pope to visit the south, but he wasn’t disappointed, as he and about 200 others from the village would travel to Beirut and join the pontiff.
“If he can’t come to the south, we can come to him,” Elias said.
ANKARA (Reuters) -A maritime demarcation deal signed between Lebanon and Cyprus violates the rights of Turkish Cypriots on the island and is therefore unacceptable, Turkey said on Thursday.
Lebanon and Cyprus on Wednesday signed the long-awaited deal, which aims to pave the way for potential exploration of offshore gas fields and deepen energy cooperation in the Mediterranean.
Turkey, a NATO member, does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government on the ethnically-split island of Cyprus, and is the only country to recognise the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It has repeatedly complained that Greek Cypriots were disregarding and usurping Turkish Cypriot rights.
‘NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO ACCEPT’
“It is not possible for us to accept any agreement in which the rights of the TRNC are disregarded,” the Turkish Defence Ministry said at its weekly press briefing, using an acronym for the Turkish Cypriot government.
“We evaluate that this accord, which disregards the TRNC’s rights, is also in violation of the interests of the Lebanese people, and tell our Lebanese counterparts that we are ready for cooperation on maritime issues,” it added.
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oncu Keceli said the deal was another example of Greek Cypriots disregarding the rights of Turkish Cypriots, and said the Greek Cypriot administration was not the sole representative of the island and therefore did not have the authority to take decisions concerning the whole island.
“We call on the international community, namely countries of the region, not to support these unilateral steps by the Greek Cypriot Administration and not to become instruments in attempts to usurp the legitimate rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriots, who are sovereign and equal elements of the island,” Keceli said on X.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. The last round of peace talks between the two sides collapsed in 2017, with efforts to revive them at a stalemate since.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Conor Humphries)
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO ANKARA (Reuters) -Like many Americans on the annual holiday of Thanksgiving, Pope Leo was travelling on Thursday, flying from Rome to Turkey for his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church.
While the first U.S. pope may not have a chance to enjoy a meal with turkey, stuffing and the other traditional dishes this year, several journalists aboard his papal flight from Rome tried to make sure he had a taste of the annual feast.
As Leo greeted journalists aboard his three-hour flight to Ankara, two members of the press handed him pumpkin pies, home-made and carried through the airport and on to the plane just for the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
The journalists, Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service and Elise Allen of Catholic website Crux, suggested Leo could share the desserts with his travelling entourage.
The pope, smiling, responded: “I’ll share some.”
Leo is visiting Turkey, the country, for three days before heading on to Lebanon, for a trip where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.
Speaking to journalists at the beginning of his flight, Leo told them he was grateful this year for the work they do in covering the Church and the first months of his papacy.
“To the Americans here, Happy Thanksgiving,” said Leo. “I want to begin by saying thank you to each and every one of you, for the service that you offer … to the whole world.
“It’s so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs.”
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Daren Butler and Alex Richardson)
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey’s defence ministry said on Thursday that a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia must be achieved first before any discussions can take place on possible troop deployment for a potential reassurance force.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the force would have French, British and Turkish soldiers. Ankara, which has maintained cordial ties with both Moscow and Kyiv during the war, has said it was open to discussing such a deployment but only if its modalities were set.
“First, a ceasefire must be established between Russia and Ukraine. Afterward, a mission framework must be established with a clear mandate, and the extent to which each country will contribute must be determined,” the ministry said at a press briefing when asked about Macron’s comments.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
ISTANBUL—After a low-profile start to his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV is stepping into the limelight.
The first American pope begins his first foreign trip on Thursday, touring Turkey and Lebanon. It is a chance for him to set out his spiritual and geopolitical vision after six months as pontiff, notable for its relative quiet after years of turbulence in the Catholic Church.
The meeting is said to have included Turkey and Egypt’s intelligence chiefs, as well as Qatar’s prime minister, according to reports.
“During the meeting, [they] also agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil Military Coordination Center to eliminate all obstacles to ensure the continuity of the ceasefire and to prevent further violations,” a Turkish source told Reuters, adding that they also discussed countering Israeli ceasefire violations.
Red Cross personnel wait to head towards an area within the so-called “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire in Gaza City on Nov. 12, 2025.(Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)
Despite Hamas and Israel accusing each other of violating the U.S.-brokered agreement, mediators are still looking to move to the next stage.
The second phase of the deal involves the deployment of an international stabilization force and the development of an international body to govern Gaza. It also includes the disarmament of Hamas. Additionally, Israel will move further from the so-called “yellow line” ahead of the international force taking over, according to The Times of Israel.
An Israeli soldier looks out at destroyed buildings, as seen from a guard position at an Israeli military outpost within the borders of the “yellow line” in the Shujaiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on Nov. 5, 2025. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
On Tuesday, Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for the remains of Israeli hostage Dror Or. Israel has said that Or and his wife, Yonat Or, were killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Kibbutz Be’eri.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that as their house caught on fire, Dror and Yonat evacuated their children through a window in the safe room, saving their lives. The couple split up in an attempt to escape, but they were both murdered by the terrorists. Two of their children, Noam and Alma, were taken hostage.
On Nov. 25, 2023, Noam and Alma were released in the first hostage exchange, exactly two years before their father’s remains would be returned to Israel.
This undated photo provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum shows Israeli hostage Dror Or, who was abducted and brought to Gaza in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.(Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP)
The remains of two hostages — one Israeli, Ran Gvili, and one Thai national, Sudthisak Rinthalak — are still in Gaza.
Hamas has committed to upholding its end of the deal and returning both, but did not give a timeline on when that may happen, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -Heavy rain caused flooding in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, swamping the tents of thousands of homeless Palestinians facing the prospect of harsh winter storms without sturdy shelter.
The large majority of Gaza’s 2 million people were forced from their homes during Israel’s two-year ground and air war in the small, crowded enclave triggered by Hamas’ October 2023 attack, with many now living in tents and other basic shelters.
A ceasefire has broadly held since mid-October but the war demolished much of heavily built-up Gaza, including basic infrastructure, leaving grim living conditions for most people.
“This suffering, this rain – and the low-pressure weather systems haven’t even started yet. It’s only the beginning of winter, and we’re already flooded and humiliated,” Um Ahmed Aowdah said outside her tent as rain pelted down on Tuesday. “We haven’t received new tents or tarps. Our tarp is two years old and our tent is two years old – they’re completely worn out.”
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, said there was an urgent need for at least 300,000 new tents to house the roughly 1.5 million people still displaced from their homes.
The Palestinian Civil Defence Service said thousands of tents housing displaced families had been inundated by rainwater or damaged by torrential rainstorms over the past week.
Some tents completely washed away as floodwaters rose 40 to 50 centimeters above ground level in some areas of the coastal enclave, while a field hospital had to suspend operations due to flooding, medics and witnesses said.
The United Nations said on Monday that while it was working to bring winter supplies into Gaza, the number of trucks able to enter the enclave was limited by Israeli curbs on aid groups.
Hamas-led Gaza authorities say Israel is not letting in as much aid as was promised under the ceasefire deal. Aid agencies say Israel is preventing many essential items from entering.
Israel says it is complying fully with obligations under the truce deal and does not stop any aid entering Gaza, and that aid agencies have been inefficient in distributing it or failed to prevent theft by Hamas militants. Hamas has denied stealing aid.
(Reporting by Mahmoud Issa in Gaza City, Ramadan Abed in Khan Younis, Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, and Pesha Magid in Jersualem; writing by Pesha Magid; editing by Mark Heinrich)
GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israel military since a ceasefire nearly a year ago, and called for an investigation and for the truce to be respected.
“Almost a year since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was agreed, we continue to witness increasing attacks by the Israeli military, resulting in the killing of civilians and destruction of civilian objects in Lebanon, coupled with alarming threats of a wider, intensified offensive,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, at a Geneva press briefing.
He said the number included deaths it had verified based on its own strict methodology but that the real level could be higher.
(Reporting by Emma FargeEditing by Madeline Chambers)
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with a Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday, a sign that talks to end the war in Ukraine have hit a new phase involving direct negotiations with the Russians.
Driscoll, fresh off peace talks in Kyiv and Geneva with Ukrainian officials, landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday to meet with the Russians, according to U.S. officials. After holding initial meetings, he planned to conduct more substantive engagements with the delegation on Tuesday, the officials said.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo will embark on his first trip outside Italy on Thursday, travelling to Turkey and Lebanon. Here is a history of papal foreign visits, which have become a major part of the agenda for the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
POPE PAUL VI (1963 to 1978)
Pope Paul VI was the first leader of the Church to leave Italy in 150 years. He made nine foreign visits, with the first a trip to Israel and Jordan in 1964. He travelled to the U.N. headquarters in New York in 1965, where he addressed the General Assembly in French, pleading: “No more war, never again war!”
POPE JOHN PAUL II (1978 to 2005)
Pope John Paul II, whose pontificate spanned nearly 27 years, made 104 foreign visits, logging well over one million km (600,000 miles) and visiting 129 countries. Elected pope at age 58, he was known for energetic, non-stop itineraries and for emphasizing international diplomacy. On a trip to Asia in 1984, he made a stopover in Alaska, where U.S. President Ronald Reagan travelled to welcome him and discuss world issues.
POPE BENEDICT XVI (2005 to 2013)
Pope Benedict XVI, from Germany, made 25 foreign visits, largely to European countries. On a trip to Germany in 2006 he caused widespread anger among Muslims by suggesting Islam was violent, quoting a passage by a 14th-century Byzantine emperor. Later that year, he made a trip to Turkey to foster reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. Benedict’s last visit was to Lebanon, in September 2012.
POPE FRANCIS (2013 to 2025)
Pope Francis made 47 foreign visits to 66 countries, often choosing places with non-Catholic populations to highlight people and problems in what he called the “peripheries” of the world. He was the first pope to visit Mongolia, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Iraq, among others. A visit to the Philippines in 2015 included the largest papal event to date, with crowds estimated as high as seven million for a Mass in Manila.
POPE LEO XIV (Elected in 2025)
Pope Leo, 70 and in good health, is widely expected to undertake many foreign visits. A trip to Peru, where he served as a missionary for decades, is all but certain during 2026. Leo said he would also like to visit Portugal, Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina, in comments on November 18.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo will embark on his first trip outside Italy as the leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday, travelling to Turkey and Lebanon, where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the region and urge unity among long-divided Christian churches.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, will give his first speeches to foreign governments and visit some sensitive cultural sites as part of a crowded itinerary during the November 27 to December 2 trip.
His predecessor Pope Francis had planned to visit both countries but was unable to because of his worsening health. Francis died on April 21 and Leo, originally from Chicago, was elected pope on May 8 by the world’s cardinals.
“A pope’s first foreign trip is an opportunity to capture and hold the world’s attention,” said John Thavis, a retired Vatican correspondent who covered three papacies.
“What’s at stake for Pope Leo is his ability to connect with a wider audience, in a region where war and peace, humanitarian needs and interfaith dialogue are crucial issues,” said Thavis.
PAPAL VISITS DRAW WORLD ATTENTION
Leo goes first to Turkey, from November 27 to 30, where he has several joint events with Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians, who is based in Istanbul.
Peace is expected to be a key theme of Leo’s visit to Lebanon, which has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East.
On Sunday, Israel killed the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah’s top military official in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut, despite a U.S.-brokered truce a year ago.
Leaders in Lebanon, which is also host to one million Syrian and Palestinian refugees and is struggling to recover after years of economic crisis, hope the papal visit might bring global attention to the country.
An off-the-cuff moment in October raised possible security concerns about Leo’s visit in Lebanon. Queen Rania of Jordan, visiting Leo at the Vatican, asked the pope if he thought it was safe to go to the country. “Well, we’re going,” Leo responded.
Travelling abroad has become a major part of the modern papacy, with popes attracting international attention as they lead events with crowds sometimes in the millions, give foreign policy speeches and conduct international diplomacy.
Francis, who made 47 foreign visits over his 12-year tenure, often grabbed headlines during his trips with surprise comments.
The late pope was also known for giving unusually frank answers during traditional in-flight press conferences with his travelling press corps, one of the few times the leader of the Church interacts at length with journalists.
Leo has a more reserved style and tends to speak from prepared texts. He has only given one exclusive interview in his six months as pope.
“What we’ve seen so far is a pope who’s very careful when he speaks,” Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and commentator, said. “But every trip is a risk. There can always be mistakes or fumbles.”
In Turkey, Leo and Bartholomew will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of a major early Church council, which took place in Nicaea, now Iznik, and created a creed that most of the world’s 2.6 billion Christians still pray today.
Orthodox and Catholic Christians split in the East-West Schism of 1054, but have generally strengthened their ties in recent decades.
Rev. John Chryssavgis, an adviser to Bartholomew, said the event is “especially meaningful as a sign and pledge of unity in an otherwise fragmented and conflicted world”.
Several other Orthodox Christian leaders are expected to attend the anniversary, but the Vatican has not said which.
The Moscow Patriarchate, an Orthodox community closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin that severed ties with Bartholomew in 2018, is not expected to take part.
POPE TO COMMEMORATE BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION
Leo will also visit Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, his first visit as pope to a Muslim place of worship, and will celebrate a Catholic Mass at Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.
Rev. Nicola Masedu, pastor of Istanbul’s Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, said interest in the new pope’s visit led organizers to move the Mass from the cathedral to the arena, which can hold around 5,000 people.
Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation, has about 36,000 Catholics out of a population of around 85 million, according to Vatican statistics.
Leo’s schedule in Lebanon includes a prayer at the site of the 2020 chemical explosion at the Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage.
The pope will also host an inter-religious meeting and lead an outdoor Mass on the Beirut waterfront. But Leo, visiting five towns and cities in the country, will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli strikes.
Rev. Michel Abboud, who leads the Catholic Church’s charity network in Lebanon, told the Vatican’s media outlet the pope’s visit was one of “solidarity.”
“The people will know that, despite all the difficult situations they have gone through, they must not feel abandoned,” he said.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; additional reporting by Daren Butler in Istanbul and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Dr. Qanta Ahmed of Independent Women’s Forum joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss an ISGAP report that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated multiple American agencies and Gov. Greg Abbotts’ R-Texas., designation of CAIR as a terrorist organization.
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to begin designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The order, invoking the Immigration and Nationality Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, cites the group’s involvement in violence across the Middle East, including rocket attacks on Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.
The move begins a 30-day review led by the State and Treasury Departments to identify Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon for possible designation, which could freeze assets, restrict travel, and criminalize material support for affiliated entities.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond,” Trump’s executive order reads. “Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.
Supporters of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood take part in a protest in the village of Sweimeh, near the Jordanian border with the occupied West Bank, on May 21, 2021.(Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)
“For example, in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel,” the order continues. “A senior leader of the Egyptian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, on October 7, 2023, called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests, and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas.
“Such activities threaten the security of American civilians in the Levant and other parts of the Middle East, as well as the safety and stability of our regional partners,” the order noted.
Trump signaled over the weekend that he was planning to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization after several groups stepped up warnings in recent months that the Islamic group was gaining a foothold in the U.S.
“It will be done in the strongest and most powerful terms,” Trump told Just the News over the weekend. “Final documents are being drawn.”
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on Nov. 24, 2025, to begin the process of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.( Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The president’s comment came shortly after Texas declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and just days after the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), a prominent global research center, released a comprehensive 200-page study warning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s growing influence in the U.S.
The Islamist organization founded in Egypt, has gained access to government agencies, been involved in advising American civil rights policy, infiltrated educational institutions, and created a vast social media footprint, the report states, while outlining the belief that the group has allegedly targeted U.S. government agencies for infiltration, including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice, through career appointments and advisory roles.
“We welcome President Trump’s statements and the growing recognition that the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideology and network pose a serious challenge to the United States and democratic societies,” Charles Asher Small, executive director of ISGAP, said in a press release after Trump’s interview with Just the News.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
HASAKAH, Syria—In a wing of the notorious Al Sina prison in northeastern Syria, where some of the world’s most dangerous inmates are held, guards wearing balaclavas stood along a corridor lined with cells. A prisoner pressed his face to a small, square hole in one of the cell doors. Behind him, some 20 other prisoners in brown jumpsuits sat barefoot on the floor.
“Is Biden still the U.S. president?” he asked a visiting journalist. The prisoner, a British Islamic State member, didn’t get an answer.
BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Israeli military on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, in a strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital that came despite a year-long ceasefire.
His killing was announced by Israel’s military. Hezbollah has not commented on his fate, although Lebanese security sources confirmed he was the target of Israel’s strike.
Israel had already eliminated most of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s leadership during a war that raged between October 2023 and November 2024, when a U.S.-brokered truce was agreed.
But Tabtabai, who was appointed as the group’s chief of staff after its recent war with Israel, was killed in a rare post-ceasefire operation against a senior Hezbollah figure.
MILITARY LEADER ROSE THROUGH HEZBOLLAH’S RANKS
Tabtabai was born in Lebanon to a father with Iranian roots and a Lebanese mother, according to a senior Lebanese security source. He was not a founding member of Hezbollah but was part of its “second generation,” deploying with the group to fight alongside its allies in Syria and Yemen, the source said.
Israel’s military said Tabtabai joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and held several senior posts, including in its Radwan Force, an elite fighting unit. Israel killed most Radwan figures last year ahead of its ground invasion into Lebanon.
During last year’s war, Tabtabai led Hezbollah’s operations division and rose in rank as other top commanders were eliminated, the Israeli military’s statement said.
Once the ceasefire came into force, Tabtabai was appointed chief of staff and “worked extensively to restore their readiness for war with Israel,” according to the statement.
The Lebanese security source confirmed Tabtabai was swiftly promoted as other top Hezbollah officials were killed, and had been appointed chief of staff over the last year.
The Alma Center, a security research and teaching organisation in Israel, said Tabtabai had survived other Israeli attacks both in Syria and during the war in Lebanon.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by David Holmes)
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would have a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss peace efforts in Ukraine, adding that he would also ask him to restart a deal for the safe passage of grains via the Black Sea.
NATO member Turkey has maintained cordial ties with both Kyiv and Moscow during the war, providing military help to Ukraine but refusing to join Western sanctions on Moscow. It has hosted three rounds of peace talks between the warring parties in Istanbul and offered to host a leaders’ meeting.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday after a G20 summit in South Africa, Erdogan said the 2022 Black Sea grain deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, aimed to pave the path for a peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine.
“We were able to succeed in this up to a certain point and it did not continue after. Now, during the discussions we will have tomorrow, I will again ask Mr. Putin about this. I think it would be very beneficial if we can start this process,” he said.
He added that he would also discuss how to “end the deaths” during the call, and that he would share with European and U.S. leaders and allies the outcomes of his conversation with Putin.
Erdogan did not comment directly on Washington’s 28-point draft plan to end the war. Kyiv and European allies have voiced alarm over what they see as major concessions to the aggressor Russia, as officials meet in Geneva to discuss it.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was inked in July 2022 to allow the safe export of nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, despite the war.
Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023, complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced serious obstacles. It has also complained of restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance as a barrier to shipments.
Last week, Erdogan hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ankara, and on Sunday discussed the war in Ukraine with the leaders of France and Italy, according to his office.
He called for all diplomatic efforts to be utilised to reach a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine, saying the resumption of talks in Istanbul could help this effort.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Ros Russell)
