BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday sought to encourage Spain’s young people to persevere in their faith, as he presided over an evening rally that was notable for its frank discussion of depression, domestic violence and “toxic” family relationships.

The U.S.-born pope received a raucous welcome at the Olympic stadium in Barcelona, the second stop of his weeklong visit to Spain that has drawn huge crowds despite the country’s strong secular bent.

The crowd, estimated at 40,000, erupted in cheers when Leo emerged from the stands in his popemobile and looped around the grounds. He thrilled sections of the crowd each time he stopped to bless babies or to do the “6-7” hand gesture that has now become a signature.

The event featured several nods to Catalan culture, including a demonstration of the region’s famed human tower acrobats, known as castellers. The eight-level tower drew an appreciative applause from the pope after the smallest child reached the top, waved, and then quickly shimmied down.

Leo also spoke in Catalan, more than initially foreseen, during the prayer vigil that featured a question-and-answer session with young adults. Such exchanges are scripted in advance and are typical features of papal trips. But Tuesday’s edition was particularly raw given the subject matter Leo covered.

One young woman told Leo of a suicide attempt and the “darkness” she had experienced with bouts of depression. Another spoke about her father’s attempt to kill her mother and a childhood spent in juvenile detention. She asked how she could ever forgive her father.

Leo thanked the youths for their honesty and willingness to share their stories publicly. He blamed the malaise on what he said was a society that demands perfection of its youth and silences “moments of darkness and suffering.”

He compared the “silent illness” of depression among young people to the suffering of Christ on the cross.

“In those dark hours, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus shared our pain and revealed to us the face of a compassionate God, who bears our sorrows, who suffers with us, weeps our tears and remains at our side with his presence full of love and mercy,” Leo said.

But he also identified abusive families where domestic violence is normalized as being behind many problems facing today’s young people.

“So many crime reports, even today, reflect a toxic climate in family relationships marked by abuse and oppression and, in particular, by violence against women, which unfortunately often leads to femicide,” Leo said.

Leo urged young people to find solace in their faith. And he drew applause when he demanded better health services and care for mental health problems and domestic violence.

“We are all called to address this dramatic reality, both personally and as a society, because we are responsible for confronting it in all its dimensions,” he said.

Leo has been emphasizing a message of hope for youths in Spain, a once overwhelmingly Catholic country that experienced a religious crisis after its 20th century dictatorship ended and democracy took root.

Recently, church officials and sociologists alike have pointed to indications that young Spaniards are showing an increasing interest in their spiritual lives, with anecdotal reports of rises in conversions among young adults.

Patricia Garzón, a 25-year-old who attended the prayer vigil with her friend, said her faith helps her every day.

“I believe that it is more difficult (for young people) today because before social media didn’t exist, and today we are constantly comparing ourselves with one another (online),” she said. “And we need someone from above to help us, to help us see that he loves us for who we are, not how others want us to see ourselves.”

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Spain comes Wednesday when he inaugurates the soaring central Tower of Jesus Christ on Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

SAO PAULO (AP) — More than 100 Cuban migrants attempting to enter Brazil on its northern border with Guyana were rescued from human smugglers, Brazilian police said.

The 108 migrants were in custody in Roraima state while authorities regularize their immigration status before referring them to social services workers, police said Tuesday.

Police also said they arrested five people on migrant smuggling charges. Known as “coyotes,” the smugglers charged abusive fees while promising a safe crossing to Brazil, police said.

“In reality, the route imposed by them ignores any standard of human dignity or road safety. Foreigners are subjected to exhausting journeys in vehicles that are not properly maintained,” police added.

The operation, carried out Monday, was the largest humanitarian rescue recorded in the state. Authorities said they have rescued 297 Cuban migrants attempting to enter Brazil illegally through Roraima since June 2024.

As Cuba’s economy collapses during a deepening economic crisis and escalating U.S. sanctions, a growing number of its citizens are migrating to Brazil. Cuban migration to Brazil has surged since 2022, according to official data.

In 2025, Cubans surpassed Venezuelans as the leading nationality seeking refugee status in Brazil, with more than 40,000 applications, the Ministry of Justice said in its annual migration report published in May.

“If geopolitical tensions between Cuba and the United States worsen, migration flows toward Brazil could increase,” the ministry said. It added that regularization through refugee status recognition could be an alternative.

According to officials, more affluent migrants tend to fly to Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city. Those in more fragile economic situations often travel overland, entering through the northern Amazon states of Amapa and Roraima, which together account for nearly 60% of migrants’ places of residence.

President Trump Says US Must Retaliate After Downing of Apache Helicopter Linked to Iran  

By The Media Line Staff  

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the United States must respond after an investigation determined that Iran was responsible for the downing of a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.   

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he had been briefed by military officials on the findings.   

“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” President Trump wrote.   

The president added that the two crew members aboard the aircraft survived the incident.   

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”   

 The helicopter went down Monday night near the Strait of Hormuz. Two sources cited by The New York Times said both crew members were rescued without injury.   

At the time of the incident, it was not clear whether the helicopter had been brought down by hostile fire or suffered a malfunction. President Trump had publicly addressed the crash shortly after it occurred, but the investigation subsequently concluded that Iran had targeted the aircraft.   

The helicopter came down during a period in which hostilities between Iran and Israel had halted following a recent escalation.   

The specific mission being carried out by the Apache at the time of the incident was not disclosed. According to the US Central Command website, Apache helicopters are used for precision strikes, close air support and aerial reconnaissance.   

President Trump did not specify what military, diplomatic or other measures the United States might take in response.   

His comments marked a contrast with remarks he made Monday night regarding negotiations with Iran. Speaking at JFK Airport, President Trump described ongoing talks as being in their “final throes” and said a diplomatic agreement could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within “two or three days.”   

“We are very close to having a very, very good strong, powerful deal,” President Trump said at the time, adding that there were no major unresolved issues preventing an agreement.   

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that President Trump had indicated he would consider ending the Iran ceasefire if Iranian attacks resulted in the deaths of American troops. 

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A cholera outbreak in northeastern Nigeria has killed 74 people and infected more than 7,000 others since it started in early May, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday.

The outbreak, reported in 14 of Borno state’s 27 local governments, is unfolding in communities with health systems made fragile by nearly two decades of violent extremism from the Boko Haram insurgent group.

The illness is endemic and seasonal in the country, where only 14% of Nigeria’s population of more than 200 million have access to safely managed drinking water supply services, according to government data from 2020.

The situation is sometimes worse in Borno, both in Maiduguri, the state’s capital, which is densely populated, and in remote communities with poor sanitation and hygiene due in part to being out of the close reach of health authorities.

The medical group said that it has treated 7,439 cholera patients at its facilities, representing an average of 185 admissions per day. It said that it recorded 500 patients last week on Friday, a single-day record in the outbreak.

“Open defecation is making it worse also, and there is less partners (on the ground),” said Jessie Kurnurkar, a project coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF.

“By the time we know the cases in the community, the local transmission has happened, and it is difficult to respond, because the spread has become more,” Kurnurkar said.

Patients at an MSF treatment center in Maiduguri spoke to The Associated Press about their experiences in the outbreak.

Aisha Ibrahim, a cholera patient at the facility, said that she has been defecating nonstop since she became ill with cholera and had been in admission for more than four days.

“When they discharged me, the vomiting stopped, and when I got home, I started stooling again, and it became severe (so) I was rushed back to the center,” Ibrahim said.

TORONTO (AP) — A former Air Canada pilot has been charged after flying for years without a proper license, Canadian police said Tuesday.

Geoffrey Wall, of Barrie, Ontario, is alleged to have operated as an airline captain between 2009 and 2025 without a license to fly large commercial passenger planes, according to Peel Regional Police.

Police said he piloted more than 900 flights domestically and internationally without the required license. Air Canada confirmed that one of its pilots held a valid commercial pilot license, but was promoted to captain without the required airline transport pilot license.

Deputy police chief Nick Milinovich alleged that 59-year-old Wall “has been flying for years misrepresenting himself and his credentials to his employer and regulatory officials using fraudulent licensing documents.”

“This is similar to a doctor that is licensed to practice family medicine but is doing brain surgery in their office,” Milinovich added.

The airline said a pilot was removed from active duty once it was discovered that he did not have the correct license, which was voluntarily reported to Transport Canada, the regulator. The pilot is no longer employed by the airline.

Police said anomalies were detected in a documentation check. Transport Canada contacted police earlier this year.

Air Canada claimed safety was not compromised and an audit of its pilots found no other instances of non-compliance.

“Safety was not compromised by this incident because all pilots at Air Canada undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying competency, including a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every 12 months,” the airline said in a statement.

“However, appropriate licensing is an essential layer of the airline industry’s multilayered approach to safety, so Air Canada takes this matter with utmost seriousness.”

The airline declined to comment further due to privacy law and an active criminal investigation.

The airline, which did not name the pilot, said he has been fined by Transport Canada for not having the correct license to be an aircraft captain.

Police also say the accused filed a false report to police about allegedly stolen pilot documentation.

Wall made about $2.9 million Canadian ($2.1 million) during his time as captain, police said.

A lawyer for Wall couldn’t be reached immediately.

Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said the federal government would review the case and ensure improvements, “if there are any,” would be made. Despite the lengthy alleged fraud, he said the system to detect such issues had worked.

“I am gratified that we were able to detect this issue and get it dealt with,” he said.

Karim Khan Faces ICC Vote After Suspension Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations  

By The Media Line Staff  

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has been suspended while member states consider disciplinary measures following findings from an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.  

The move follows an 18-month inquiry into claims that Khan engaged in non-consensual sexual relations with a female lawyer working in his office. Khan has denied the allegations.  

Reuters reported that a diplomatic source said the ICC’s governing body concluded Khan had engaged in inappropriate and serious conduct. The final outcome now rests with the court’s 125 member states, which will vote on the matter during a future session that has not yet been scheduled.  

Details from the investigation were also reported by the Associated Press, which reviewed a copy of a report prepared by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services.  

According to the report cited by the AP, Khan had “nonconsensual sexual contact with (the aide) in his office, at his private residence, and whilst on mission.”  

The ICC’s bureau announced that it had reached a decision regarding disciplinary proceedings involving Khan and had referred the matter to the Assembly of States Parties. The bureau did not disclose the substance of its decision.  

“The decision of the Bureau and the related documentation will remain confidential,” the bureau said in a press release.  

Khan’s legal team challenged both the findings and the suspension process.  

“The decision is unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence,” the attorneys’ statement said.  

The case now moves to the Assembly of States Parties, whose members will determine whether   

Among the actions taken during his Karim’s  tenure were arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant in connection with the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. 

Why Isn’t the War That Was Supposed To Be Over, Over?  

After Iranian missiles, Israeli strikes, and President Trump’s ceasefire push, analysts say the conflict has shifted form, exposing a fight over deterrence, diplomacy, and Israel’s war strategy  

By Gabriel Colodro / The Media Line  

Over several hours from Sunday night into Monday, Iran fired a number of missile barrages at Israel after warning that it would respond to Israeli strikes in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, unsettling a fragile ceasefire framework that had not resolved the underlying conflict.  

Israel later struck targets inside Iran, including military and economic sites, and said that missiles aimed at its air bases had been intercepted. President Donald Trump publicly called on both sides to stop firing, said final negotiations on what he described as “peace” were continuing, and pressed for an immediate halt to the exchange.  

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and former head of the research division in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence, told The Media Line that the operation, which took place up to the ceasefire on April 8, had ended, but the war had not, because there had been no formal agreement to end it.  

He said the renewed fighting reflected dissatisfaction on both sides rather than a random collapse of the arrangement. Iran, he argued, is under pressure from the US blockade, sanctions, economic hardship, and the weakening of its proxies. Israel, meanwhile, remains unwilling to accept a reality in which Hezbollah can rebuild or operate from Southern Lebanon while Iran attempts to deter Israeli action there.  

“Mostly the Iranians are worried because the situation is putting a lot of pressure on them. Their proxies are suffering heavily.” Kuperwasser observed. He added that Israel is also not satisfied because “we want the threat from Hezbollah to be much lower and better dealt with.”  

The immediate trigger was Lebanon. Israel’s strike in Dahiyeh was limited, targeting two buildings after recent Hezbollah attacks. But Iran had already warned that any Israeli action in Dahiyeh would bring direct retaliation. When the Iranian missiles came, they appeared to confirm that Tehran was trying to connect two arenas that Israel and the United States have tried to treat separately: Lebanon and the direct Israel-Iran front.  

Dr. Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told The Media Line that Tehran has been trying for weeks to emphasize the link between developments in Lebanon and those in Iran. He said Iran had made clear that it would not accept a durable arrangement with Washington while the Lebanese arena remained outside the deal.  

Zimmt said the move reflected Iran’s ideological and strategic commitment to Hezbollah. “Iran, from both its ideological point of view, but also on the strategic level, finds it very important to make sure that everyone realizes that it doesn’t want to leave its allies in the region alone.”  

That is precisely the equation Israel says it cannot accept. Kuperwasser said Iran’s threat could not become an “immunity card” for Hezbollah. “We made it clear that we are not going to let Hezbollah deploy in the south. If they operate from the south, there’s going to be a price for that,” he said. “The Iranians were trying to prevent us from doing that by their threat.”  

For Kuperwasser, the central issue is not whether Israel should fire another round or wait another day. It is whether Iran will be allowed to make itself a direct veto player over Israeli operations in Lebanon. “The most important thing is, of course, that our ability to take action in Lebanon is not limited and compromised,” he said. “We should not accept Iran becoming a player in Lebanon. That’s unacceptable.”  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the escalation in similar terms after the Israeli strikes. According to Israeli press reports, he said Iran and Hezbollah had tried to impose an “equation” on Israel, in which Hezbollah could fire from Lebanon, and Iran could respond directly, while Israel’s freedom of action was constrained. “This equation is intolerable and unacceptable to me,” he said.  

Netanyahu said Hezbollah fire into Israeli territory led him to order strikes in Beirut, and that after Iran attacked Israel, he instructed the IDF to strike military and economic targets across Iran.  

By Monday afternoon, Israeli press reports said Israel had agreed, at Trump’s request, to halt its strikes inside Iran, while continuing operations in Southern Lebanon “at full force.”  

“At the moment, the fire on this front is halted,” Netanyahu confirmed, while warning that Israel would respond forcefully if Iran attacked again.  

The distinction was important. Israel was prepared to pause direct attacks on Iran, but not to accept any limit on its campaign against Hezbollah, including future strikes in Dahiyeh if attacks on northern Israeli communities continued. Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel would not accept any Iranian attempt to link the Lebanon front to the direct Israel-Iran arena. “The fate of Dahiyeh in Beirut is the fate of the northern communities,” Katz said, according to Israeli press reports.  

Inside Israel, the renewed exchanges were felt not only through missile alerts but also through the rapid return of wartime procedures. Israel raised its national alert status to orange, restricted press access on security grounds, and canceled nearly all committee meetings. The exceptions were politically telling: a discussion on establishing a government-backed political inquiry, rather than a state commission of inquiry, into the October 7 failures, and a committee session dealing with immunity for Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who faces charges over allegations that she disclosed the identity of a Shin Bet officer married to protest activist Shikma Bresler.  

That contrast, national emergency on one side, domestic political business on the other, sharpened the criticism from the opposition. During his Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset on Monday, opposition leader Yair Lapid said the war itself had been justified and had proven Israel’s military power. But he argued that the government had failed to translate battlefield achievements into a strategic or diplomatic result.  

Lapid said that after the announcement of the ceasefire in April, it became clear that the government “did not know how to turn victory into achievement,” did not define objectives for the diplomatic phase, did not advance the nuclear issue, did not address the ballistic missile threat or the Lebanon front, and did not coordinate adequately with the Americans or with regional allies.  

“The government sent civilians back to shelters, schools are closed, the economy is paralyzed, without all this having any strategic goal that someone can understand, including inside the security establishment,” Lapid said at the faction meeting. He warned that Israeli citizens could bear almost anything if they knew there was a serious and defined objective. “But we are not given a clear and secure goal of any kind,” he said.  

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, by contrast, framed the moment before Israel’s retaliation as a test of sovereignty and deterrence. In a post written the night of June 7, before Israel struck Iran, Bennett said Israel faced “a moment of truth” over whether it was a sovereign state capable of defending itself. “A weak or symbolic response will signal to our enemies that the blood of our citizens has been spilled with impunity,” he wrote, adding that Israel had to act “with strength and effectiveness.”  

The two opposition figures were not saying the same thing. Bennett’s message was that Israel had to hit back hard enough to prevent a dangerous precedent. Lapid’s was that military power without a political end state produces recurring rounds of escalation. Together, they captured the two competing pressures now confronting the government: the demand to preserve deterrence and the demand to explain where the fighting is supposed to lead.  

Dr. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, offered a pointed criticism of Israel’s current course. He said the latest escalation has produced “frustration and disappointment” because, unlike earlier stages of the war, many Israelis struggle to understand the immediate purpose.  

“In the past, for example, during the last war with Iran, you could find most Israelis explaining that it was a kind of existential war and we knew, we understood what was the reason and what was the cause was,” Milshtein told The Media Line. “Right now, I think that even right-wing supporters, it is hard for them to really explain, okay, what are we doing exactly?”  

Milshtein said Iran appeared more confident after the latest clash than many in Israel expected. “They are not deterred. They are full of influence. They are full of confidence,” he said of Iran. He argued that Tehran had managed to show it was prepared to take risks for Hezbollah and Lebanon without triggering the full-scale war Israel might have hoped would restore a clearer deterrence balance.  

“I assess that the Iranians have much more achievements from the last clash than Israel,” Milshtein said. He described the Israeli strike in Dahiyeh as largely symbolic and questioned whether it provided real security benefits to residents of northern Israel or to soldiers operating in Lebanon. He noted that Israelis are looking for strategic explanations when the real answer is political.  

Milshtein’s broader critique was that Israel’s military achievements have repeatedly outpaced its political planning. “Actually, there is no strategy for Israel,” he said. “There were fantastic military achievements, but because of the fact that no one wanted to speak about the end strategy, calculating the moves, we find ourselves in a situation that we are being forced by Trump to accept a settlement, a kind of political settlement.”  

The question of President Trump’s role now sits at the center of the crisis. The American president has urged restraint, pressed Iran to return to negotiations, and signaled that a broader deal remains possible. President Trump said Monday that both sides were looking for an immediate ceasefire and that final negotiations on “peace” were proceeding. But Israel’s initial response showed that Jerusalem was still prepared to act militarily when it believed deterrence was at risk. The later decision to halt strikes in Iran at President Trump’s request showed the other side of the equation: Israel may insist on operational freedom, but Washington still has influence over the boundaries of escalation.  

Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel and vice president of Republicans Overseas, told The Media Line that he does not see the latest events as evidence of a serious rupture between Washington and Jerusalem. “I don’t believe the war ended,” he said. “The war continues, but it’s in a different form.”  

Zell said President Trump is trying to manage several tracks at once—the battlefield, the American public, global energy markets, and the possibility, however slim, of a diplomatic arrangement. In Zell’s view, the American president must show voters that he is trying to end the fighting, while also maintaining pressure on Iran through military and economic means.  

“He’s got to send a message to the American public and to the electorate about his efforts to put an end to the war,” Zell said. “… He’s also got to send, and he has been sending, messages to markets, domestic and global markets, with respect to oil and stock markets, capital markets generally.”  

Zell rejected the idea that President Trump and Netanyahu are fundamentally at odds. “Of course, we can talk about disagreements. These are two vibrant, robust democracies,” he said. “I happen to believe that there are no real, substantive, material disagreements between the United States and Israel.” He added that Washington and Jerusalem may not agree “eye-to-eye on all the objectives of the fighting,” but said they agree on the essentials: Iran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, and its proxy network.  

Kuperwasser drew a similar distinction, saying that the disagreements visible this week are tactical rather than strategic. “At the end of the day, we want the same thing, and we operate together, and we fight together shoulder to shoulder in a very impressive way,” he said. “We exchange intelligence, and we are working very closely together. They take part in our defense. It’s very impressive. I don’t think that there is a strategic disagreement.”  

But Kuperwasser also suggested that Trump may believe a deal is closer than Israeli officials do. “It seems that President Trump is under the impression that he’s close to having a long-sought deal,” he said. “I’m not sure that we are under the same impression …”  

That gap may be exactly what Tehran is trying to exploit. Zimmt said Iran’s current leadership believes Trump does not want to return to full-scale war and that he may pressure Netanyahu to avoid a broader escalation. “The Iranian leadership really thinks, and I think they’re right, that President Trump doesn’t want to go to a full-scale war with Iran,” he said. “They look for any opportunity to put more pressure on Trump, assuming that when and if he reaches the conclusion that the status quo is unsustainable and unstable, he might be more willing to accept the Iranian conditions.”  

From that perspective, Iran has become “a very self-confident player” since the war and especially since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran believes it can survive confrontation with the United States and Israel, Zimmt said, while using its leverage over energy routes, regional proxies, and missile capabilities to force recognition of its position.  

Zimmt said it was increasingly clear that Iranian leaders believed they could not only survive a confrontation with the United States and Israel but also turn it to their advantage.  

“It became more and more evident that the Iranian leadership has reached the conclusion that not only can it survive this confrontation with the US and Israel, but can actually use that in order to create a better situation and perhaps even some kind of regional architecture which would recognize Iran’s leverage and Iran’s ability to inflict major pain, not just to its regional neighbors, but also to the global economy,” he said.  

For Zimmt, the only stable way out would be a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran. But he warned that any such arrangement would still face major unresolved issues, including the nuclear issue, frozen Iranian assets, and the broader question of security guarantees. “If there is no MOU, then both the developments in Lebanon and the ongoing sporadic incidents between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf can certainly escalate again and again,” he said.  

Milshtein said Israelis should focus above all on the nuclear question, not on slogans about regime change or claims of total victory. “The Israelis should ask themselves only one question, and this is what is going to happen to the nuclear threat. All the rest are not so important ….”  

Kuperwasser also said the goals of the war must be understood precisely. He rejected the idea that Israel had formally declared regime change as the goal. “We never said that the goal of this war is to change the regime,” he said. “We said that we would like to create the conditions that would enable the Iranian people to change the regime.”  

He said Israel and the United States achieved tangible military results, including damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile production infrastructure, leadership, and military assets. But he acknowledged the limits of air power. “We cannot put an end to their ability to launch missiles. We cannot take away their highly enriched uranium [with] the use of air power. We cannot change the regime by the use of air power,” he said.  

Israel, Iran, and the US are left in an unfinished phase. The ceasefire remains a framework, not a settlement. Lebanon remains outside the core arrangement, Iran is trying to link Hezbollah’s fate to its confrontation with Israel and Washington, and Israel is trying to preserve freedom of action in Lebanon while avoiding a broader direct war with Iran as Trump presses for a deal.  

For Israelis, the return to shelters, the orange alert level, the cancellation of school and other educational activities, the restrictions on access to the Knesset, and the sudden halt to most normal legislative work made the stakes less abstract. President Trump is trying to keep negotiations alive. Iran has shown it can still impose costs. Israel is trying to preserve deterrence without losing Washington’s diplomatic framework. The ceasefire appears to have survived the latest exchange, but what it restrains is still being tested.  

60,000 Attend Walk With Israel in Toronto, Largest Crowd in Event’s 57-Year History  

By The Media Line Staff  

The UJA Federation, which organized and sponsored the march, said this year’s turnout was the largest in the event’s 57-year history.  

Participants gathered at Temple Sinai Congregation before proceeding along Bathurst Street. Marchers carried Israeli flags as well as Lion-and-Sun Iranian flags during the event. Organizers said fundraising efforts generated more than $670,000 Canadian, falling short of a goal of $780,000 set to mark 78 years since Israel’s independence.  

The event took place under extensive security measures. Toronto police officers were deployed on foot, on bicycles, and on horseback along the route and in nearby neighborhoods. The security arrangements had been outlined during a Friday briefing by Toronto Police Service Deputy Chief Frank Barredo.  

Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger, 98, participated in the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon marking the start of the walk.  

Toronto-St. Paul’s Member of Parliament Leslie Church commented on the event in a post on X, writing that the turnout demonstrated “resilience, solidarity, and joy in the face of resurgent antisemitism.”  

At the same time, anti-Israel demonstrators gathered near Earl Bales Park for a separate event known as the Walk Against Israel.  

Police reported six arrests during the day. According to the information provided, a group of protesters left the designated demonstration area, leading to at least one confrontation with law enforcement.  

Authorities identified one of those arrested as 35-year-old John Eusebio, who allegedly spat at a police officer during the incident. 

‘Entirely Baseless’: Azerbaijan Rejects Claims It Hosted Israeli Operations Against Iran 

Azerbaijan’s strategic ties with Israel, long border with Iran, and growing value to Europe have placed Baku under sharper scrutiny as regional tensions reshape the Caspian security map 

By Giorgia Valente / The Media Line 

Azerbaijan has been pulled into one of the most sensitive questions surrounding the Israel-Iran war: whether its territory played any role in Israeli operations against Iran. 

Baku has rejected recent reporting that Israel deployed elite military and intelligence units in Azerbaijan as part of a network of covert sites used to facilitate operations against Iran, calling the claim “entirely baseless” and saying it has never allowed its territory to be used for military operations, intelligence activities, or hostile purposes against another state. 

The dispute is explosive because Azerbaijan shares a border with Iran, maintains deep security and energy ties with Israel, sells gas to Europe, works closely with Turkey, communicates with Russia, and has spent years trying to avoid a direct rupture with Tehran. In a region where geography can be a leverage or a liability, Baku is trying to turn proximity to conflict into diplomatic influence without being pulled into the wars around it. 

That is the central difficulty of Azerbaijan’s position: Its cooperation with Israel is open and long-standing, but the claim that its territory was used for military or intelligence operations against Iran remains disputed and officially denied. The debate has placed fresh scrutiny on a country whose strategic value has grown because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the crisis around the Strait of Hormuz, and the US-Israel confrontation with Iran. 

Fuad Shahbazov, an independent researcher and political analyst based in Baku, strongly disputed the CNN report about alleged Israeli activity in Azerbaijan, saying it relied on anonymous sources and lacked physical evidence. 

“CNN failed to refer to any serious or credible source, just reframing it to anonymous sources familiar with the situation,” he said. “The satellite imagery failed to provide any physical evidence of Israelis in Azerbaijan’s side,” he added. 

John Roberts, a UK-based energy, security, and geopolitical analyst specializing in Caspian, Middle Eastern, and Russian energy issues, took a more cautious position. He said Azerbaijan would be deeply unhappy if such information had emerged publicly, but he did not dismiss the reports. 

“There were reports concerning just what use Israel may have made of observation points. In order to see how things were developing in Iran,” Roberts said. “I think the Azerbaijanis would be very upset that the information came out, but I have no reason to doubt the information,” he added. 

The broader Israel-Azerbaijan relationship goes well beyond crude oil. Shahbazov described Israel as one of Azerbaijan’s most important strategic partners, while stressing that Baku rejects the idea that cooperation with Israel means hostility toward Iran. 

“Azerbaijan pursues quite a pragmatic multivector diplomacy, because the country has long sought to maintain productive relations with competing powers simultaneously, rather than joining geopolitical blocs,” Shahbazov said. “Baku consistently argues that cooperation with Israel does not mean hostility towards Iran or Turkey or another Muslim country, because it’s mostly energy and security cooperation,” he added. 

Israel views Azerbaijan as a rare Muslim-majority partner with close political, economic, and security ties to the Jewish state, Shahbazov said. Azerbaijan’s border with Iran and its location between the Middle East, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Basin make it strategically valuable to Israel. 

Roberts said Israel and Turkey were two key external actors that contributed to Azerbaijan’s military success in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

“Turkey, which taught them how to use, operate, and manufacture drones for them. Nagorno-Karabakh was an early use of drones in warfare. And Israel, because it taught some of the elite Azerbaijani troops,” Roberts said. 

Shahbazov was even more direct about the defense relationship. “We do not refute those allegations that we have a very, very deep security partnership with Israel,” he said. “This includes intelligence sharing, this includes military technical, defense industry, procurement, weapons supply, even experience exchange with military officers,” he added. 

For Israel, Azerbaijan is not a direct gas supplier, but it is a significant oil partner and an increasingly important energy and security counterpart. Shahbazov said Azerbaijan remains Israel’s second main oil supplier and has continued deliveries despite the war. 

“Azerbaijan contributes to Israel’s energy security through oil exports,” he said. “Azerbaijan is the second main oil supplier of Israel, even despite the war since 2003. Azerbaijan still systematically and consistently supplies Israel with oil with no interference or with any interruptions,” he added. 

Roberts framed the oil relationship in commercial rather than strategic terms. Once Azerbaijani crude reaches Ceyhan in Turkey, he said, it enters the open market, and Israel is one of the nearest customers. 

The Israeli connection is also what makes the Iranian dimension so sensitive. Azerbaijan shares a border with Iran and has significant ethnic, historical, and cultural overlap with the Azerbaijani population in Iran. Roberts said Baku has been careful not to make territorial claims or provoke Tehran. 

“Azerbaijan is very careful not to make claims over Iranian territory,” he said. “It tried to have good trade relations. It tried to work with the Iranian government over issues like the Caspian. It tried to improve road and rail links with Iran. In no way does Azerbaijan want to upset Iran.” 

Both experts said Iran-linked security threats have made Azerbaijan’s position more difficult. In March 2026, Azerbaijan said it had foiled Iran-linked plots against the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Israeli Embassy, an Ashkenazi synagogue, and a Mountain Jewish community leader. A day earlier, Azerbaijan accused Iran of launching four drones at Nakhchivan, injuring four civilians and damaging airport infrastructure; Tehran denied responsibility. 

Shahbazov said Azerbaijan also faces the challenge of Iranian sympathizers and possible sleeper cells inside the country. 

“It’s quite a complicated question, because there is no specific guideline on how the government will be handling this sleeper cells or Iranian sympathizers issue,” he said. “Since Azerbaijan is a Shia-majority Muslim country, and we have quite a number of Iranian sympathizers, who are not exactly members of Iranian cells, but personally they do sympathize for the regime,” he added. 

He also warned that the war had not destroyed the Iranian regime but had strengthened the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

“IRGC became more powerful and more authoritarian than it was before the war,” Shahbazov said. “So I expect that the IRGC will take control over the country in all spheres, including civilian, diplomatic, and military spheres. So IRGC will be quite a serious problem, even a greater problem than it was one or two years ago,” he added. 

Roberts also saw Iran as a revolutionary actor willing to use calibrated escalation across the region. 

“It would appear that Iran has a governmental structure that really is quite genuinely revolutionary,” he said. “That fervor is still there.” 

Iranian attacks beyond its borders can serve a deterrent function, Roberts said, but sustained escalation against Azerbaijan would carry risks for Tehran because Azerbaijan has recently won a war and has capable armed forces of its own. 

Shahbazov pointed to Azerbaijan’s border security capacity, noting that it has received support from the United States and Israel. “Azerbaijan is one of those regional states that has a quite effective border security service.” 

He said infiltration attempts from the Iranian side continue, but mostly involve smuggling. “There are still some attempts of infiltration from the Iranian side, but mostly those are smugglers, drug smugglers, or the people who are carrying some guns,” he said. “None of them successfully managed to infiltrate into Azerbaijan.” 

The dispute over alleged Israeli activity is only one piece of a larger Azerbaijani strategy: staying useful to competing powers without becoming captive to any of them. Baku’s value has grown because it can talk to Israel, Turkey, the European Union, the US, Russia, and Iran, even as many of those actors are increasingly at odds with one another. 

That diplomatic flexibility is also visible in Azerbaijan’s approach to Moscow. Roberts said Baku’s policy toward Russia is based on caution, distance, and realism. 

“The point about their relationship with Russia is keeping Russia at a distance, being polite, not being unnecessarily inimical, but no full trust in Russia,” Roberts told The Media Line. “Azerbaijan will not go to try to deliberately upset Russia, but it will do things in its own interest that Russia may not be happy with,” he added. 

Energy has made that caution more valuable. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Europe accelerated its search for alternatives to Russian gas. Azerbaijan had already been supplying Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer route carrying gas from the Shah Deniz field through the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline across Turkey, and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline through Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. 

The European Commission says Azerbaijani gas supplies to the EU through the corridor increased by more than 40% between 2021 and 2024. It also says the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan supplied gas to 14 countries in 2025, while Reuters reported that Azerbaijan began gas deliveries to Germany and Austria in January 2026. 

Shahbazov described the war in Ukraine as the turning point that heightened Azerbaijan’s value in European calculations. 

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine elevated Azerbaijan’s importance in European energy security calculations,” Shahbazov told The Media Line. “Because before 2022, Azerbaijan was already supplying gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor. But after the war, the EU began actively seeking reliable non-Russian suppliers as a part of isolating Russia from and trying to diminish its role in the global energy market,” he added. 

Still, both experts warned against overstating Azerbaijan’s capacity. Shahbazov said Azerbaijani gas can help Europe diversify but cannot fully replace Russian volumes. 

“But still, Azerbaijani gas cannot fully replace Russian gas, because it’s technically impossible, given also the size of gas reserves that Russia has,” he said. “Russia simultaneously supplies Asia and the European markets, which Azerbaijan cannot do, of course. But Azerbaijan can be quite an important contributor in terms of global uncertainty,” he added. 

Roberts said Azerbaijan has already done much of what it can without major new upstream investment. Additional European exports would require pipeline upgrades, added compression capacity, and long-term commercial certainty for companies such as BP. 

The same geography that makes Azerbaijan useful as an energy supplier also strengthens its role as a corridor state. Turkey is central to that position. The partnership is strategic, military, cultural, and infrastructural, and it gives Azerbaijan energy access to Europe through the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline. In June 2026, Turkey’s energy minister said Ankara and Baku were looking beyond oil and gas toward electricity transmission and green energy corridors with Georgia, Bulgaria, and southeastern European states. 

Azerbaijan’s links to Turkey, Israel, Europe, Russia, and Iran have made ambiguity a strategic tool. Shahbazov described this as a deliberate “multivector” foreign policy, while Roberts argued that Azerbaijan is unlikely to abandon that approach. 

“I would be absolutely astonished if Azerbaijan at any point showed all its cards and took a definite side,” Roberts said. “It enjoys very good commercial relations with the West, with Europe, and with the United States. Look at the development of its oil and its gas and the markets it serves. It is well aware of how important those commercial ties are,” he added. 

Beyond energy, Azerbaijan is also positioning itself at the center of the Middle Corridor, which links China and Central Asia to Europe through the Caspian and the South Caucasus while bypassing Russia and Iran. Roberts said Azerbaijan is central to this geography. 

“Azerbaijan is absolutely essential because it is the country between Iran and Russia that constitutes the gateway at the Caspian through to Europe,” he said. 

A final peace treaty with Armenia, Roberts added, could open additional routes into Turkey and Europe while reducing dependence on the Black Sea during the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Shahbazov framed Azerbaijan’s future in even broader terms, saying its importance is no longer tied only to hydrocarbons. “Azerbaijan increasingly sees itself as a connectivity state linking multiple regions.” 

He described the country as becoming “the hub of both energy and transportation at the same time,” combining geography with political flexibility. 

“What makes Azerbaijan particularly significant is that it combines geography with political flexibility, so it’s not simply an energy exporter,” Shahbazov said. “It’s becoming a regional platform for diplomacy, for strategic cooperation.” 

That stability is becoming a strategic asset. Azerbaijan sits near the Iran-Israel front, north of the Persian Gulf crisis, west of Central Asia, south of Russia, and east of Turkey. It has emerged from its own war with Armenia stronger, while neighboring Georgia and Armenia face political uncertainty, and the Black Sea remains affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Roberts warned against assuming there is a single coherent regional plan behind these shifts. “I would be very careful about using words like a ‘bigger plan or picture.’ I think an enormous amount of what happens in the Middle East is unplanned. It’s accidental, it’s coincidental, it’s mistaken, and it’s not planned.” 

That uncertainty may be precisely why Azerbaijan’s position matters. It is not large enough to replace Russia in Europe’s energy market or powerful enough to dictate the outcome of the Iran-Israel confrontation. But it is geographically placed at the intersection of several crises and politically agile enough to talk to actors that are increasingly unable or unwilling to talk to one another. 

For Europe, Azerbaijan is a tool for diversification. For Israel, it is a rare Muslim-majority security and energy partner. For Turkey, it is a strategic brother-state and corridor partner. For the US, it is a useful Caspian actor at Iran’s northern edge. For Russia, it is a neighbor that must be managed but no longer fully constrained. For Iran, it is both a sensitive border state and a potential source of suspicion. 

Baku’s challenge is that the same geography that gives it influence also exposes it. Its future role will depend on whether it can continue to convert proximity to conflict into diplomatic and economic leverage without being pulled into the wars surrounding it. 

Vatican Reaffirms Syria Presence With New Envoy to Damascus 

By Rizik Alabi / The Media Line 

[DAMASCUS] Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has received a copy of the credentials of the new apostolic nuncio to Syria, Archbishop Luigi Roberto Cona, in a move that reflects the continuity of diplomatic relations between Damascus and the Holy See and brings renewed attention to the Vatican’s role in the Syrian file throughout the years of conflict. 

The development is widely viewed as a reaffirmation of the Vatican’s commitment to maintaining its diplomatic presence in Syria. Unlike many Western countries that closed their embassies and withdrew from the country during the conflict, the Holy See kept its Apostolic Nunciature in Damascus operational throughout the war. 

Since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the Vatican has consistently advocated for political dialogue and opposed military solutions. 

As violence escalated in 2013, Pope Francis voiced deep concern over the massacres and widespread suffering in Syria, calling for an immediate halt to hostilities and urging dialogue and negotiations over military escalation. He also designated a global day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria and across the Middle East. 

The Holy See’s approach has always focused heavily on the humanitarian dimensions of the crisis, repeatedly appealing to the international community to support refugees and displaced people and to contribute to rebuilding what years of conflict have destroyed. 

Beyond humanitarian concerns, the Vatican has paid particular attention to safeguarding Syria’s historic Christian presence and preserving the country’s religious and cultural diversity. In this context, the Holy See has continued to advocate interfaith dialogue and promote a culture of coexistence among Syria’s various communities. 

The accreditation of the new Holy See’s representative in Damascus comes at a time of significant political and regional shifts, potentially giving the Vatican’s diplomatic mission an expanded role in supporting stability and encouraging reconciliation and dialogue initiatives. The appointment also reflects the longstanding relationship between Syria and the Holy See, which dates back to the 1950s. 

Archbishop Cona is expected to formally present his credentials and officially assume his duties in the coming weeks. Religious and diplomatic circles will be watching closely to see whether the Vatican can continue the role it has played over the past decade in promoting peace and stability in Syria.