World
Iran remembers Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a 'martyr' and 'model for the youth and children'
Hours after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces, Iran remembered Sinwar as a martyr whose vision for a liberated Palestine would be carried forward.
Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which prompted the ongoing war between the Jewish state and terror group in the Gaza Strip, was killed Thursday by Israeli forces in Rafah.
“He told you he was a lion, but in reality, he was hiding in a dark den, and he was killed when he fled in a panic from our soldiers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised message announcing Sinwar’s death.
In a statement, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations compared Sinwar’s demise to the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was captured by U.S. forces in 2003 and subsequently convicted of crimes against humanity.
WHO IS YAHYA SINWAR?
Yahya Sinwar, terrorist leader, speaks at a podium while at a rally. Israel said Thursday Sinwar was killed by its forces in Gaza. (Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed,” the statement said.
“However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield — in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy — the spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” the mission said. “He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine. As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration.”
ISRAEL’S HUNT FOR HAMAS TERROR LEADER YAHYA SINWAR: ‘DEAD MAN WALKING’
A demonstrator holds a sign about the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a protest calling for a cease-fire deal and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas Thursday, Oct. 17, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
Hamas is considered a proxy of Iran, similar to Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, and other terrorist groups with American blood on their hands. Both groups receive funding and training from Tehran.
Israel has killed top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, which began launching airstrikes targeting Israel’s north more than a year ago in solidarity with Hamas.
Israel vowed to kill Sinwar at the start of its military campaign against Hamas. Before Sinwar was elevated to the top leader of the group, his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an apparent Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran.
1 YEAR AFTER HEZBOLLAH STRIKES, ISRAEL REINFORCES TROOPS AND QUESTIONS MOUNT OVER ‘LIMITED’ OPERATION
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech during a program held after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack and subsequent Iranian strikes at the Imam Khomeini Husseiniyah in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 2, 2024. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In response, Iran launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel. The Jewish state has vowed to respond. For more than four decades, the Iranian regime has meticulously constructed a “Ring of Fire” around Israel, employing various terror groups to extend its influence across the Middle East.
Amnon Sofrin, former head of the Intelligence Directorate at Mossad, told Fox News Digital, “In central Tehran, there is a huge clock that was set up in 2015, showing how much time is left for Israel, indicating that, by 2040, Israel should no longer exist. They have been preparing for this moment. Some of the Iran-backed militias conducted reconnaissance with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and claimed they would assist once the [Israel Defense Forces] IDF entered Lebanon.
“However,” Sofrin added, “we are already inside Lebanon, and no pro-Iranian militia has yet provided help. Iran isn’t giving the order to its other proxies in the region to join the ground war — at least not yet.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu vowed to bring an end to “the reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and on the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.”
Hezbollah Radwan terrorists training in Southern Lebanon close to the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
Earlier this month, drones loaded with explosives were launched by pro-Iranian militias from Iraq against an Israeli military base in the Golan Heights, killing two Israeli soldiers and injuring 24.
Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.
Pope Leo XIV left the Canary Islands for Rome on Friday in a Falcon plane offered by Spanish King Felipe VI after his original aircraft suffered a technical glitch, according to reporters at the scene.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The flight took off just after 6:00 pm and is expected to arrive in Rome at around 11:00 pm. The pope wrapped up a week-long visit to Spain on Friday.
The pontiff’s departure from Tenerife was delayed earlier on Friday by a technical problem with the plane which led him to disembark, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, who had just said goodbye to the pontiff on the runway, boarded the Iberia airline plane and both disembarked and returned to the terminal.
About 80 journalists remained on the jet, along with Vatican officials and members of the clergy.
“The departure of the papal flight has been delayed by half an hour due to a technical problem with the aircraft,” the communications service for the papal trip in Spain said in a brief statement.
The pilot initially told passengers there was a technical fault but later specified a “startup failure of the engine,” which he said was likely caused by wind conditions.
“Our maintenance team suggests towing the aircraft, positioning it into the wind, and attempting a new engine start,” the pilot told those on board.
“We will try this. If it is successful, we can depart.”
The glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
Pope Leo XIV pressed his migration message and also inaugurated the new tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica.
It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to change planes.
Veteran Vatican reporters, some of whom were on the Iberia plane, recalled a few plane-related incidents during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.
During a 1986 return trip from India, John Paul II’s plane was forced to land in Naples because of a snowstorm in Rome. The passengers and pope took a special train back to Rome.
In 1988 en route to Lesotho, bad weather forced the late pope’s plane to land in South Africa, a country he had excluded from his African trip at the time because of apartheid. He was later driven into the kingdom.
Typically on papal trips, the Italian national carrier ITA Airways brings the pope to his destination and that country’s national carrier brings him home, with ITA sometimes doing the round trip if the voyage is particularly long or to a place that doesn’t have the capacity.
The flights are charters, with the pope, Vatican delegation and security occupying the front of the plane and the 70 or so journalists seated in coach.
Iberia had proudly provided video earlier in the trip of Pope Leo XIV seated in the cockpit, smiling broadly as the plane carried him from Madrid to Barcelona and then Barcelona to the Canary Islands.
In both cases, Spanish military aircraft provided an airborne escort, a sign of respect for visiting dignitaries and in one clip of the video the pope is seen waving to the escorting pilot.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
World
War, latest news. Trump: agreement with Iran to be signed soon. Tehran media: approval likely from top officials
Oxfam: ‘Over 540 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first few months of 2026’
A new analysis by Oxfam highlights the exponential rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces in the occupied West Bank: in the first few months of 2026 alone, there were over 540 incidents and “in three years, the number of Palestinian civilians killed has exceeded that of the previous 17 years”, mainly children. According to the report, based on an analysis of data provided by the United Nations, “it is clear that Israel’s annexation plan is accelerating, with mass forced displacements, increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and an unprecedented escalation of violence by settlers and the army”. A plan of ethnic cleansing and annexation that, since 2023, has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of over 925 barriers that impede the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. In particular, between 2006 and 2022, Oxfam points out, there were 1,036 victims, including 225 children, whilst since 2023 alone, 1,244 have been recorded, with 268 children killed. This means that, over the last 20 years, one in five killings involved a child, around 22 per cent. By contrast, in the first 17 years under review, 86 Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinians, including 12 children, whilst there were 43 victims, including 10 children, between 2023 and 2025. “The massacre of civilians we are witnessing is painful and disturbing,” said Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for humanitarian crises at Oxfam Italia – “Whilst the eyes of the world were rightly focused on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, an unprecedented wave of violence was unfolding across the West Bank, which has now escalated into a systematic plan of ethnic cleansing. In this context, we are therefore launching an urgent appeal for all necessary diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to halt the ongoing annexation plan,” concludes Pezzati.
US: third Iranian oil tanker breaching the blockade neutralised
The US Central Command stated on X that it had intercepted an oil tanker, the third in a week, accused of violating the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it struck the M/T Jalveer, flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau, “as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”. “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly refused to obey orders from US forces,” Centcom said.
Meloni: the Council should reflect on the direction of relations between the EU and Israel
“Not only because of what is happening in Lebanon, but also given the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is clear that the European Council will need to reflect on the direction of relations between the European Union and Israel.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Chamber of Deputies, in her address ahead of the EU Council meeting. “On this,” she added, “I would like, for once, to see a debate here that goes beyond the emphasis on facile polemics, which certainly yields an immediate return in terms of visibility, but does not reflect the strategic importance that the issue holds for Italia.”
World
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to 30 years over North Korea drone flights
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison Friday in a case that accused him of ordering drone flights over North Korea in an effort to justify his declaration of martial law.
Yoon, 65, was sentenced alongside former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ousted president was previously sentenced to life in prison for leading an insurrection following his declaration of martial law in December 2024.
North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets on three occasions in October 2024.
SOUTH KOREAN LAWMAKERS SUPPORT SUSPENDING PRESIDENT’S POWERS AFTER SHORT-LIVED MARTIAL LAW DECLARATION
South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2025. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
Then-Defense Minister Kim initially issued a vague denial before South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
Although tensions between the two Koreas escalated following the incident, the drone flights did not lead to any military clashes.
Prosecutors accused Yoon of attempting to create a crisis with North Korea while plotting an authoritarian power grab aimed at removing political opponents and consolidating control.
SOUTH KOREAN COURT RULES EX‑PRESIDENT YOON SUK YEOL GUILTY IN INSURRECTION TRIAL
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside the Seoul High Court in Seoul on April 29, 2026. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
Before declaring martial law, Yoon delivered a televised address accusing liberal lawmakers of sympathizing with North Korea.
Yoon has argued that he possessed the constitutional authority to declare martial law and said the move was intended to draw attention to what he viewed as obstruction by opposition parties.
His attempt to impose martial law lasted roughly six hours before lawmakers voted to overturn it amid mass public protests.
Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and continues to face multiple criminal proceedings.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at Seoul Central District Court in Seoul to attend his trial on charges related to declaring martial law on Dec. 3, 2025. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The insurrection verdict has been appealed by both Yoon and prosecutors, who had sought the death penalty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-
Business5 minutes agoParamount’s $111-billion Warner Bros. acquisition clears key hurdle
-
Entertainment8 minutes agoESPN’s coverage of 2026 NBA Finals is setting ratings records for ABC
-
Lifestyle13 minutes agoHow to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Fred Armisen
-
Politics20 minutes agoTrump’s quiet crackdown: Fewer ICE raids, harsher rules push immigrants to leave
-
Sports28 minutes agoShohei Ohtani held out of starting lineup a day after leaving game with knee inflammation
-
World38 minutes agoPope leaves Spain on plane offered by king after technical glitch
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoMLB to screen Hollywood classic at drive-ins nationwide
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoDetroit at Le Mans: Cadillac favorite, Ford poised for 2027
