World

US to evacuate some diplomats from Haiti after recent gang attacks: Reports

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2024

US to evacuate some diplomats from Haiti after recent gang attacks: Reports

The United States embassy in Haiti is preparing to evacuate some of its non-essential diplomatic staff as a powerful gang coalition tightens its grip on Haiti’s capital, according to US media reports.

Gunman targeted two of the US embassy’s vehicles this week, though no personnel were injured, the US Department of State confirmed on Friday.

One of the targeted vehicles had its windshield shattered and another, which was not struck, belonged to the chief of mission, The Miami Herald reported. Photographs obtained by Al Jazeera from a security source appeared to confirm the extensive damage to the vehicles.

Other foreign officials have also come under fire in Haiti. On Thursday, a marked UN helicopter with 18 people on board was hit by gunfire while flying over the capital, Port-au-Prince, the UN’s human rights office in Haiti told Al Jazeera.

The helicopter was hit but no one was injured and it was able to land safely.

Due to the deteriorating security situation around the embassy, some 20 non-essential diplomatic staff are expected to leave the country in the coming days, according to reports by CNN and The Miami Herald.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, a State Department spokesperson declined to share details of its staff adjustments in Haiti, adding that the embassy would remain open. The spokesperson reiterated the US’s “strong condemnation against ongoing gang violence aimed at destabilising Haiti’s government”.

Earlier this year, Haiti’s international airport was shut down for nearly three months after gangs swarmed the perimeter and fired at planes on the tarmac.

In March, the US military had to airlift non-essential embassy personnel from the Caribbean country after a state of emergency was declared.

It also brought in additional personnel to boost security at the embassy.

Surge in violence

The blitz of attacks on foreign officials comes amid a steadily worsening security situation in the Americas’ poorest country, where a powerful gang coalition commands control of much of the capital and its outskirts.

The coalition, called Viv Ansanm (Live Together), this week ramped up attacks on numerous towns outside the capital, setting homes aflame, seizing farmland and blocking off roads.

In one attack earlier this month, more than 100 people were slaughtered in a gang attack on the town of Pont-Sonde, the UN said.

The latest assaults have displaced another 10,000 Haitians in the last week, the UN estimated, adding to more than 700,000 already pushed out of their homes. Thousands more have been killed during the conflict.

“The situation in Haiti is very critical, especially in the capital,” said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the country Ulrika Richardson. “Many neighbourhoods are completely under the control of gangs, which use brutal violence.”

Haiti’s gangs, accused of recruiting child soldiers into their ranks, have long clashed with national police and civilian self-defence groups. But their latest attacks on foreign vehicles – and surge into areas beyond the capital – have heightened security concerns.

The conflict is fueling famine-level hunger in swaths of the nation, as people forced to flee their homes can no longer depend on steady income for food.

While the UN authorised an international police force to help Haiti’s police take back control from the gangs, the 400-strong Kenya-led mission lacks resources and has produced scant results.

Haiti’s leadership has requested the UN to convert the force into a formal peacekeeping mission to shore up resources, an initiative that was blocked last month by China and Russia.

The UN’s independent human rights expert for Haiti, William O’Neill, said there are “simply not enough” security forces to keep in check the gangs, allowing them to have a stranglehold over Port-au-Prince, and isolating the city from the rest of the country, except by air.

“The whole southern peninsula of three million people held hostage by a gang of maybe 1,000, half of them teenagers. Crazy,” O’Neill told Al Jazeera.

Click to comment

World

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

6 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET