By Maria Abi-Habib, Leila Medina, Rebecca Suner, Devon Lum, Pablo Robles and Stephanie Swart

February 24, 2026

MEXICO CITY: Firsthand accounts are emerging from Americans trapped by this week’s cartel-related violence in Mexico following the death of cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.”

As news spread of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) cartel boss’s murder, reports described armed clashes between rival criminal organizations and Mexican security forces, as well as coordinated vehicle burnings and temporary highway blockades. Mexican authorities say that such operations are often linked to internal cartel disputes or targeted law enforcement actions.

With the situation improving, Americans in the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta and beyond shared their experiences of the violent scenes they were caught up in.

“My group was seven people, and we were on our way to the main port in Puerto Vallarta with a local shuttle driver when we saw a bus stopped horizontally across the road in front of us. At first, we thought it was an accident, but then we saw people running full speed away from the bus,” Colorado resident Scott Posilkin told Fox News Digital.

“As we were trying to register what was happening, we saw a man with a gun come around the far side of the bus. He waved it at us and gave us a hand signal to turn around, which we immediately did. We tried to head in the opposite direction, but we encountered another burning car, which left us essentially trapped between the two.”

He continued, “We went down to the only beach we could access. One of the locals advised us that the safest place for us would be out on the water. We took a tender boat out to the snorkeling boat we were supposed to be on and stayed there for a few hours. From the water, we could see what looked like much of the town burning.”

Posilkin said, “Getting a boat back to shore took a long time, and at one point we even considered swimming because there was no one on the beach to come get us. The captain said he had never seen the beach empty like that in his life, and he grew up there. We eventually flagged down a passing tender that brought us to shore. There were cartel members on a motorcycle who yelled ‘Viva Mexico’ at us, but we did not feel that they were threatening us in any way. Both our shuttle driver and the locals assured us that the cartel was not interested in harming Americans and that it was still safest for us to get home that way.”

Posilkin gave credit to the locals for their help and support. “I want to emphasize how above and beyond the locals went to help us during an incredibly stressful situation. Everyone we interacted with — from our boat captain to our shuttle driver — had grown up here, and none of them had ever seen anything like this before… More than anything, I feel bad for the locals. Tourism is their livelihood, and I worry about the impact this will have on them. This experience hasn’t changed my love for travel or for Mexico, though it was a serious ordeal.”

TROOPS REINFORCE PUERTO VALLARTA AS UNREST SHOWS SIGNS OF EASING FOLLOWING EL MENCHO’S DEATH

Rodolfo Flores, an American citizen and executive in the energy sector talked to Fox News Digital: “Although it wasn’t one of the worst-affected areas, on Sunday I saw a convenience store in Querétaro that had been burned down with a Molotov bomb.”

He said, “On the way to Mexico City, we saw cars and trucks that had been set on fire. This is just one example of how vulnerable we are, and it’s astonishing how these criminal organizations can terrorize the population. The authorities are to blame for allowing them to grow and expand with highly effective criminal cells.”

Security analysts note that cartel violence often intensifies following high-profile arrests, internal leadership disputes, or shifts in territorial control. Public displays of force — such as coordinated blockades or attacks on infrastructure — can serve as demonstrations of operational capacity.

Another American, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Fox News Digital, “I left Coalcoman Michoacan on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. when the chaos began. As I left town, I saw them burning cars and trucks, pulling people out of their vehicles, and setting them on fire. Luckily, I managed to escape and cross the mountains; it’s a mountainous region. All along the way, I kept seeing burning cars and armed people. I was fortunate that they didn’t stop me,” he said.

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“I made it all the way to Colima and then to Guadalajara. Later, things got worse in my town. I heard they started burning gas stations and set fire to a supermarket. They closed off the town so people couldn’t get in or out.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico posted an update stating that “U.S. citizens are no longer urged to shelter in place.” 

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Islamabad, Pakistan – When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped off the plane in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for his second visit to Israel, and the first by any Indian premier since his own landmark trip in 2017, the symbolism was unmistakable.

He was given a red-carpet welcome by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a head of government who is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant and prosecuting a war in Gaza that much of the world has condemned as genocide.

Yet Modi’s visit signalled not hesitation, but a wholehearted endorsement to expand India’s strategic embrace of Israel.

Days before his arrival, Netanyahu announced at a cabinet meeting what he described as a “hexagon of alliances”, a proposed regional framework placing India at its centre alongside Greece, Cyprus and unnamed Arab, African and Asian states.

Its declared purpose was to counter what he called “radical axes, both the radical Shia axis, which we have struck very hard, and the emerging radical Sunni axis”.

In a region where Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been among Israel’s most outspoken critics, and where Saudi Arabia and Pakistan formalised a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in September 2025 – all three Sunni-majority nations – the outline of what Tel Aviv may view as this “axis” is not difficult to discern.

Against that backdrop, India’s deepening alignment with Israel directly impacts – and could reshape – Islamabad’s strategic calculus in an already volatile region, say analysts.

Expanding defence and technology ties

The India-Israel relationship has accelerated sharply since Modi’s 2017 visit. India is now Israel’s largest arms customer, and the agenda this week spans defence, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cybersecurity.

A new classified framework is expected to open exports from Israel of previously restricted military hardware to India. Among the systems reportedly under discussion is Israel’s Iron Beam, a 100kW-class high-energy laser weapon inducted into the Israeli army in December 2025. Cooperation on Iron Dome missile defence technology transfer for local manufacturing is also under consideration.

For Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to both the United States and the United Nations, the visit marks a decisive moment.

“News coming out suggests they are going to sign a special strategic agreement, one that could be seen as a counterpart to the agreement signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia last year,” he said. “Israel already has such special agreements with countries like the US and Germany.”

Masood Khalid, a former Pakistani ambassador to China, pointed to this military dimension.

“We saw how Israeli drones worked in the India-Pakistan conflict against us last year,” he said, referring to India’s use of Israeli-origin platforms during the May 2025 strikes against Pakistan, when the South Asian neighbours waged an intense four-day aerial war. “Public statements from both sides speak of strengthening strategic cooperation – particularly in defence, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and AI.”

India’s defence ties with Israel are no one-way street any more. During Israel’s war on Gaza in 2024, Indian arms firms supplied rockets and explosives to Tel Aviv, an Al Jazeera investigation confirmed.

Umer Karim, an associate fellow at the Riyadh-based King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, sees the partnership as part of a wider recalibration.

“It is clear that India has entered into a strategic partnership with Israel, and at a time when both governments have been criticised for their actions, this bilateral relationship has become increasingly important for both,” he told Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu’s ‘hexagon’ and Pakistan

Netanyahu’s hexagon proposal remains undefined. He has promised an “organised presentation” at a later date.

While Israel believes it has weakened what the Israeli PM described as the “Shia axis” through its 2024-2025 campaign against Iran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, the “emerging radical Sunni axis” is less clearly articulated.

Analysts suggest it could refer to states and movements aligned with strands of political Islam and sharply critical of Israeli policy, including Turkiye and countries that have strengthened security ties with Riyadh and Ankara, as Pakistan has. Pakistan is also the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons – something that has long worried Israel: In the 1980s, Israel tried to recruit India for a joint military operation against a nuclear facility in Pakistan, but backed off the plan after New Delhi abstained.

Karim was convinced about Pakistan’s place in Netanyahu’s crosshairs.

“Absolutely, Pakistan is part of this so-called radical Sunni axis,” he said, arguing that Pakistan’s strategic agreement with Riyadh and its close ties with Turkiye directly affect Israel’s calculations. “In order to counter this, Israel will increase its defence cooperation and intel sharing with Delhi.”

Khalid pointed to longstanding intelligence links.

“Intelligence sharing between Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad dates back to the sixties. So their strengthened interaction in this domain should be of serious concern for us,” he said, referring to the external intelligence agencies of India and Israel.

Others urge caution. Gokhan Ereli, an Ankara-based independent Gulf researcher, argued that Pakistan is unlikely to be an explicit target within Israel’s framing.

“In this context, Pakistan is more plausibly affected indirectly, through the alignment of Israeli, Indian and Western threat narratives, than being singled out as a destabilising actor in its own right,” he told Al Jazeera.

Khan, the former ambassador, agreed.

“I don’t perceive a direct threat, but the latent animosity is there. And when Modi is in Tel Aviv, he will try to poison Netanyahu and other leaders there to think about Pakistan in a hostile way,” he said.

Muhammad Shoaib, assistant professor of international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, echoed that assessment.

“India’s close relations with Israel are likely to negatively impact Tel Aviv’s perception and statements on Pakistan,” he said.

The Gulf balancing act

Perhaps the most complex arena for Pakistan is the Gulf. For decades, it has relied on Gulf partners for financial support, including rolled-over loans and remittances that form a crucial pillar of its economy.

After signing the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia last September, discussions have intensified about Turkiye joining a similar framework. Yet the United Arab Emirates, one of Pakistan’s closest Gulf partners, signed a strategic agreement with India in January 2026.

Khalid called for deeper economic integration to underpin these ties.

“Pakistan is doing well to strengthen its bilateral ties with key Middle East countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait,” he said, “but apart from GCC, Pakistan also needs to promote regional cooperation, particularly with countries of Central Asia, Turkiye, Iran and Russia. Geoeconomics through greater trade and connectivity should be the basis of this regional cooperation.” The Gulf Cooperation Council consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Complicating matters further is Iran’s central role in current regional tensions. With Washington threatening potential military action against Iran, and Israel pressing for regime change in Tehran, Pakistan has quietly sought to ease tensions by arguing for diplomacy.

“But there are two main parties – Iran and the US – and then, most importantly, Israel, which doesn’t just limit its demands to a nuclear deal,” Khan, the former diplomat said. “It wants to expand to Iran’s missile defence capabilities and regional alliances, and that may well be a sticking point. Pakistan’s aspiration is to contribute to efforts to find a diplomatic solution.”

Strategic contest

Ultimately, Pakistan’s policymakers must assess whether ties with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are strong enough to offset the expanding India-Israel partnership.

Modi and Netanyahu frame their security doctrines around countering what they describe as “Islamic radicalism”. New Delhi has repeatedly accused Pakistan of fomenting violence against India.

Yet Khan argued that Islamabad is not without leverage.

“We have built a firewall around us by pushing back Indian aggression in May 2025, and by strengthening our ties with the US over the last year,” he said.