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Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump signs order authorising military action against cartels: Reports
President Donald Trump has secretly signed an order directing the military to take action against drug-smuggling cartels and other criminal groups from Latin America, according to a report in The New York Times. The newspaper's report on Friday appeared to confirm statements earlier in the week from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who signalled the US military had approval to take aggressive action against cartels. 'It allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever … to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,' Rubio said on Thursday. 'We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organisations, not simply drug-dealing organisations.' The news, however, has spurred concern that the military could be deployed within the US and abroad to combat sanctioned criminal groups like the Sinaloa Cartel, Tren de Aragua and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The Trump administration has designated such entities as 'foreign terrorist organisations', putting them in the same category as groups like al-Qaeda, ISIL (ISIS) and Boko Haram. But a US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the news agency Reuters that no military action appeared imminent. Mexico responds to intervention fears Still, during a Friday morning news conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum faced questions about the risk of US intervention on her country's soil. She acknowledged that her government had received information about the coming order from the Trump administration. But Sheinbaum denied that the result would be the US military operating on Mexican territory. She emphasised that her country is not at risk of US intervention. 'There will be no invasion of Mexico,' Sheinbaum said. 'We were informed that this executive order was coming and that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military personnel or any institution in our territory.' The Mexican leader has previously warned that any US military activity on Mexican territory would be a serious violation of the country's sovereignty. The possibility, however, has been raised in the past, particularly by politicians on the US right. In 2023, for instance, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — then a candidate for president — repeatedly pledged to authorise use of force against drug cartels on Mexican soil. Other Republican politicians, like Representative Dan Crenshaw, also proposed legislation to greenlight military action against the cartels. Such claims have been met with anger in Mexico, where a long history of US intervention has contributed to a strong belief in the need to uphold national sovereignty. Still, in May, Trump confirmed that, earlier this year, he offered to send US troops to help combat drug trafficking in Mexico. For her part, Sheinbaum said she firmly rebuffed the idea. 'I told him, 'No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, our sovereignty is not for sale,'' she said at the time. Wide consequences for the region Trump's heavy-handed approach has also caused frustration in other parts of Latin America, as well as thorny legal and ethical issues. Since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has repeatedly stretched the bounds of executive power by claiming that the US faces an 'invasion' of criminal immigrants, thereby authorising him to take extreme action. But legal experts say it is unclear what the US military might be able to do within the constraints of domestic and international law. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the military from being used as a domestic policing force. Local and federal law enforcement are, therefore, the entities that helm operations on domestic soil to disrupt and arrest gangs. International laws, meanwhile, restrict military actions abroad except in instances of self-defence. The United Nations charter, for instance, includes language that calls on its members to refrain from 'the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state'. Attacking people outside of combat situations might also infringe upon international humanitarian law. Critics have also questioned the efficacy of taking such a strong-armed approach to gangs, drug cartels and other groups. After Trump designated many such groups as 'terrorist organisations', human rights groups pointed out that civilians who live in gang-controlled territory could inadvertently be sanctioned, as they are often forced to pay the gangs through coercion. Reports that Trump signed the authorisation for military action also come at a tense time for US-Latin American relations. The US president recently placed high tariffs on Brazil, in an effort to end a trial against his right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro over his alleged involvement in a coup plot. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Trump's actions 'unacceptable' and described them as an effort to interfere in the sovereignty of another country.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
CAIR urges US to probe the death of father killed in Israeli settler attack
A Muslim American group has sent a letter to the administration of President Donald Trump urging it to investigate the death of United States citizen Khamis Ayyad in a settler attack in the occupied West Bank. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Ayyad's family has 'no confidence in any investigation conducted by Israeli authorities'. The letter, penned by CAIR and its Chicago chapter, was sent on Wednesday, almost a week after Ayyad's death on July 31. Addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi, it underscored legal provisions, including the US-Israel Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), that would enable Washington to investigate Ayyad's death. 'The Department of Justice has previously relied on these very statutes to investigate the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, which killed several Americans. Yet it has failed to apply them when the perpetrators are Israeli,' the letter read. 'This double standard is indefensible and is a CLEAR act of discrimination. American citizenship must not be selectively protected based on the identity or political alliances of the killer.' Ayyad, a Chicago area resident and father of five, was one of two US citizens killed in settler attacks in the West Bank in July. According to Ayyad's family, settlers torched cars outside his home in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah, last week. Ayyad woke up to put out the fire, but then the Israeli army showed up at the scene and started firing tear gas in his direction. The family believes that Ayyad died from inhaling tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles. Earlier in July, Israeli settlers also beat to death 20-year-old Sayfollah Musallet, a Florida native, near the West Bank village of Sinjil. The US government has acknowledged Ayyad's death but stopped short of denouncing it or even calling for an investigation. 'We can confirm the death of a US citizen in the town of Silwad in the West Bank,' a US State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera last week. 'We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them. We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank.' According to CAIR, US officials have not reached out to Ayyad's family. William Asfour, the operations coordinator for CAIR-Chicago, said the State Department's statement shows that 'Palestinian lives are not valued' by the US government. 'This statement from the State Department seems more like formalities than any actual concern,' Asfour told Al Jazeera. 'We want to see direct action. Holding the terrorist settlers accountable is a step in the right direction.' After Israeli soldiers or settlers kill American citizens, the US usually calls on Israel to investigate. But Israel rarely prosecutes anyone for abuses against Palestinians. Rights advocates have long argued that Israel is not equipped to investigate its own crimes. For example, no charges have been brought in the case of Musallet's fatal beating nearly one month later. The CAIR letter stressed that Israel has a 'well-documented and deeply troubling history of distorting facts, fabricating narratives, and systematically exonerating its soldiers and illegal settlers'. Since 2022, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 US citizens. None of the cases have resulted in criminal charges. 'The murder of Khamis Ayyad must mark a turning point. The time to stop hiding behind legal technicalities and political convenience is now. Inaction is complicity,' the CAIR letter said. On Monday, Congressman Chuy Garcia, who represents a district in the Chicago area, also called for the US to launch its own probe into Ayyad's death. 'I join his family in urging a full US investigation into the incident and demand the accountability of those involved,' Garcia wrote in a social media post.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Cambodia and Thailand agree to deploy ASEAN ceasefire monitors
Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to allow observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to monitor a fragile ceasefire that ended five days of deadly border clashes last month. Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha and Thailand's acting Defence Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit concluded four days of talks in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday aimed at thrashing out the terms of the Malaysia-brokered truce, with a joint pledge to continue a freeze on border troop movements and patrols. The two countries have quarrelled for decades over their 817km (508-mile) undemarcated land border, the latest dispute breaking out after a landmine explosion on the border wounded five Thai soldiers last month, with the resulting fighting killing at least 43 people. According to a joint statement of the so-called General Border Committee, each country will set up its own interim observer team comprised of defence officials from the ASEAN regional bloc and coordinated by current chair Malaysia, pending the deployment of a formal observer mission. The United States welcomed the developments as an 'important step forward in solidifying the ceasefire arrangement and establishing the ASEAN observation mechanism', said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement on Thursday. 'President Trump and I expect the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their commitments to end this conflict,' Rubio noted. The July 28 ceasefire followed economic pressure from US President Donald Trump, who had warned the nations that he would not conclude trade deals with them if the fighting persisted. Washington subsequently lowered tariffs on goods from the two countries from 36 percent to 19 percent at the beginning of this month. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, lauding him for his 'extraordinary statesmanship' and his 'visionary and innovative diplomacy' in a letter addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. 'This timely intervention, which averted a potentially devastating conflict, was vital in preventing great loss of lives and paved the pay towards the restoration of peace,' he said. Shaky deal Implementation of the deal was initially bumpy, with both Thailand and Cambodia accusing each other of violating international humanitarian laws and breaching the truce in the first few days of its implementation. While both sides have now extended the shaky deal, the issue of 18 Cambodian soldiers captured just hours after the ceasefire took effect remains a sticking point. Cambodia had accused Thailand of mistreating the captured men, who initially numbered 20, with two wounded members repatriated on Friday. Thai authorities called the group 'prisoners of war' and said they would only be freed and repatriated following an end to the conflict. The joint statement did not directly mention them, but it noted that the captives should be 'immediately released and repatriated after the cessation of active hostilities'. Tensions have been growing between the two countries since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a confrontation that created a diplomatic rift and roiled Thailand's domestic politics.
