Map: PCL

The scandal centers on leaked audio recordings obtained by the outlet Diario Red, which allegedly capture conversations between JOH, current Honduran President Nasry Asfura, and Vice President María Antionieta Mejía discussing a plan to undermine progressive governments in the region through a media disinformation campaign. The recordings appear to indicate that Israel played a direct role in the scheme.

JOH—who had been sentenced to 45 years in US federal prison on drug trafficking charges before being pardoned by Trump in late November, a move widely interpreted as interventionin Honduras’ elections—apparently claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helped secure his release. The scheme reportedly sought to create a JOH-led media channel to spread fake news against left-wing leaders in the region while opening up Honduran land to foreign investment. Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei, who has described himself as “the most Zionist president in the world,” was also allegedly involved.

The scandal unfolded just as Herzog embarked on a highly successful diplomatic tour of Central America. After stopping in Panama, Herzog attended last week’s inauguration of Costa Rican President Laura Fernández, whose right-wing government appears poised to deepen ties to Israel. Fernández held the first official meeting of her presidency with Herzog and pledged to move Costa Rica’s embassy to Jerusalem, crossing a long-standing diplomatic red-line given that much of the city remains occupied territory and is not internationally recognized as Israel’s capital. Herzog also met in Costa Rica with Chilean President José Antonio Kast, who vowed to restore diplomatic ties with Israel after his predecessor Gabriel Boric recalled Chile’s ambassador in protest of the war in Gaza. Herzog likewise met in Costa Rica with Asfura, an ardent Zionist of Palestinian descent who has already visited Israel and affirmed his intention to strengthen diplomatic ties with Israel.

The trip underscored a broader regional shift. In the immediate aftermath of Israel’s genocidal response to the October 7 attacks, Latin America’s progressive governments emerged as some of the strongest international critics of the Israeli state. Leaders from Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras and Chile either withdrew their ambassadors from Israel or suspended diplomatic ties entirely. But many of the region’s new right-wing governments are now reversing those measures, weakening what had been a significant international front of opposition to Israel’s war.

At the same time, Israel’s violence continues to reverberate directly in the region. Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was detained by Israeli forces after participating in a humanitarian aid mission bound for Gaza. The flotilla set sail from Spain weeks ago, but after 22 boats were stopped near Crete on April 30, Israeli forces transferred 168 activists to Greece while taking Ávila and the Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to Israel for further interrogation. Both men were released last week after investigations into alleged ties with terrorist organizations, but they claim they were tortured during their detention—and described the far worse conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s treatment of Ávila reignited calls within Brazil for President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva to move beyond critical rhetoric to a fully sever ties with Israel. As Israel deepens relations with Latin America’s ascendant right wing, accountability for the ongoing destruction in Gaza appears increasingly out of reach.

From NACLA Update, May 15. Lightly edited, internal links added.

Map: Perry-Castañeda Library

Mass abductions of youth also continue. On May 17, gunmen kidnapped more than 50 children from three schools in the town of Mussa, Borno state. Apparent bandits used the youths—some only toddlers—as human shields while fleeing on motorbikes after a raid on the village, preventing security forces from opening fire. (NYT, TNH, BBC News, LWJ)

Map: Wikipedia

Syria’s Interior Ministry announced May 8 the arrest of deposed regime brigadier Khardal Ahmad Dayyub (Dioub), a former head of Air Force Intelligence in Daraa, for his involvement in systematic human rights violations committed against civilians. Dayyub is accused of running an “assassination committee” in Daraa, as well as involvement in the chemical attacks on Eastern Ghouta during his later service in the Damascus regional branch. He is also said to have had a key role in coordination with Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria that were introduced to back up the Bashar Assad dictatorship. (SANA)

Despite some confusion in the reportage (e.g. Anadolu Agency), Dayyub appears to be implicated in the 2018 chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta, not the far deadlier 2013 chemical attack in Ghouta, which resulted in threats of US military intervention.

Photo: SANA

See our last report on Hong Kong’s National Security Law.

Photo: antha26/Pixabay via JURIST

Since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship in December 2024, Israel has seized and occupied large areas of eastern as-Suwayda, and is believed to have dropped arms to Druze fighters in the region. The province has been effectively divided since fighting broke out last year between Druze militia and central government forces and their local Bedouin allies. (ToI)

The new fighting came one day after Jordan carried out air-strikes on as-Suwayda, ostensibly targeting a depot storing arms and illicit drugs “controlled by rebel groups” in the village of Shahba. Contraband trade in the drug captagon has long been a source of revenue for warring factions in Syria. (AFP)

Syria’s transitional government continues to face other challenges. Damascus on May 5 announced that its forces had foiled a Hezbollah plot to assassinate members of President Ahmad al Shara’s government, with security forces seizing weapons and explosives in raids across the country. The raids, in which at least 11 people were detained, were the most extensive yet against Hezbollah since the fall from power of the group’s former patron Bashar Assad. (The National, UAE)

Map: Google

See our last report on the Assad regime’s crimes.

Photo: SNHR

Map: PCL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that the strike was deliberate, pointing to the drone’s low flight altitude as evidence. A criminal investigation has been opened under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—violation of the laws and customs of war.

Zelensky also announced that he held a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi on the 40th anniversary of the disaster. “I emphasized the unacceptability of formalizing and legitimizing Russia’s presence at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he wrote on the X social media platform. (World Nuclear News, Chosun, AA Energy Terminal, The Guardian, BelSat,

Russian forces briefly occupied the Chernobyl site at the start of the war in 2022, but later withdrew. Russia continues to occupy and have operational control of the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Strikes across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia killed at least 16 people on the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The greatest toll was in Dnipro, where Russian drone and missile strikes on the city killed at least nine. (AP)

See our last reports on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear plants.

Photo: Wikipedia

The Sudzha gas pipeline is also still carrying Russian hydrocarbons to European markets through Ukrainian territory.

Image: Soviet postage stamp celebrating oil pipeline. Via Wikipedia