In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main U.S. ally whose fighters are currently guarding 45,000 ISIS militants and their families at camps and prisons in Eastern Syria, said the Turkish military and its allied forces continue to attack his Kurdish forces, despite a U.S. brokered ceasefire deal Wednesday. 

‘We are still under constant attack from the Turkish military and the Turkish-supported opposition which is called SNA,’ Gen. Mazloum told Fox. ‘Eighty drone attacks a day we have from the Turkish military. There is intensive artillery shells. This situation has paralyzed our counterterror operation.’ 

The attacks by the Turkish military on the SDF have increased since Bashar Al Assad’s fall on December 8. Gen. Mazloum warned that if his Kurdish fighters have to flee, ISIS would return.

Gen. Mazloum said half of his fighters guarding the ISIS camps had to withdraw in recent days.

‘All of the prisons still are under our control. However, the prisons and camps are in a critical situation because who is guarding them? They are leaving and having to protect their families,’ said Gen. Mazloum in an interview from his base in Eastern Syria. ‘I can give you one example like the Raqqa ISIS prison, which contains about 1,000 ISIS ex-fighters. The number of guards there have diminished by half which is putting them in a fragile position.’ 

A chilling warning from one of America’s staunchest allies. The U.S. has 900 troops in Eastern Syria, and they would likely have to withdraw if the allied Kurdish fighters retreat under attack from Turkey’s military, which views the Kurds as a terrorist threat.

‘We don’t want to see that happen. So we’re in very close touch with our SDF partners to try to maintain that focus on counter-ISIS missions. And we are just as importantly in touch with our Turkish counterparts,’ said National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby during a White House press briefing Thursday.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Turkey today meeting with President Recep Erdogan to discuss how to bring stability to Syria.

Secretary Blinken ‘reiterated the importance of all actors in Syria respecting human rights, upholding international humanitarian law, and taking all feasible steps to protect civilians, including members of minority groups,’ State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement following the meeting with President Erdogan. ‘He emphasized the need to ensure the coalition can continue to execute its critical mission to defeat ISIS.’ 

CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla met with Gen. Mazloum and the SDF in Syria on Tuesday, two days after the U.S. military carried out extensive airstrikes targeting dozens of ISIS positions in Eastern Syria. The operation struck over 75 targets – camps and operatives – using U.S. Air Force B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s, according to a statement released by U.S. Central Command.

‘There should be no doubt – we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,’ said Kurilla. ‘All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way.’

On Wednesday, the SDF announced a truce with Syria’s Turkey-backed rebels in northern Manbij following U.S. mediation ‘to ensure the safety and security of civilians,’ Gen. Mazloum said early on Wednesday.

‘The fighters of the Manbij Military Council, who have been resisting the attacks since November 27, will withdraw from the area as soon as possible,’ Gen. Mazloum added. 

And new indications suggest a ceasefire late Thursday has tentatively been agreed to in Aleppo and Deir Ezzor south of Raqqa along the Euphrates River.

Gen. Mazloum worries about what would happen if the U.S. pulled its forces out of Syria right now.

‘We saw that the Russians – they have no further leverage in the country – same for the Iranians. So if now U.S. troops withdraw from Syria that will bring a vacuum.’

He added the following warning: ‘We expect those Islamists, different factions to unite, to fight with ISIS and that will bring back tougher extremists, terrorist organizations back to the country.’

The SDF Commander fears another bloody civil war could start if the new Syrian government in Damascus does not include different minority groups, like the Syrian Kurds.

‘So any new government in Syria needs to be representative, needs to be inclusive and contain and include all different parties of Syria. So if not that takes us to a bloody civil war in the country and that will put us in huge stage of escalatory path that no one can predict the fate of that,’ Gen. Mazloum told Fox.

Facing the Turkish fighter jets, the SDF mistakenly shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone in Syria on Monday, the result of ‘friendly fire,’ a U.S. defense official told Fox News. ‘The U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who are under attack from the Turkish military misidentified the drone as a threat,’ the official said.

A top conservative grassroots group is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support the swift confirmation of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

The $150,000 static digital ad campaign will target nine states with a ‘soft appeal’ to voters who might, in turn, contact their senators and express how Trump ‘has a mandate from the American people,’ Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said Thursday.

Walker said the $150,000 is the first tranche of $1 million the group has allocated through Inauguration Day to push for Americans to ask their senators to support the nominees.

The first ad of the campaign sought to bolster Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth, and the overall initial ad buy will last through Dec. 31.

Other ads have or will highlight former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Kash Patel and former Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi – all of whom are Trump Cabinet nominees.

This initial buy, Walker said, focuses on Alaska, Maine, Louisiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.

While most similar advertising campaigns may seek to appeal to voters in ‘swing states’ or in a particular region of the country, the states included here have a unique link, Walker said.

Some of the states included in the first ad buy are home to senators who either appear on the fence or have not stated a solid commitment for or against nominees like Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel.

Alaska and Maine are represented by two high-profile moderate Republicans – Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, respectively. 

Both women voted to impeach Trump, but both also were supportive of some of the president-elect’s policies as well. 

‘[Trump has] really about 18 months to get a substantial amount of his agenda through before the midterms. And time is of the essence in getting these folks, these Cabinet nominees, in a timely manner,’ Walker said.

‘Uniting the Republican conference around them is what we’re trying to accomplish here.’

Walker said Heritage Action is focusing on public commentary from senators in the target states, and also is very much in tune with which nominees are in the news or spending time on Capitol Hill on certain days.

Last week and this week, Hegseth made the rounds seeking support for his confirmation, so the campaign began with the former Fox News host, Walker suggested.

Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to visit Washington for the same purpose, and the advertising campaign is ready to pivot to focus on the Democratic Party scion if necessary.

‘We want to remain flexible in this campaign to be able to highlight in different states… or different nominees, depending on what the conversation is in the Senate,’ Walker said, adding a direct-text-message campaign will also follow this initial advertising endeavor.

‘Then we’re likely to do a television ad,’ he said, adding he hopes to air it on national media on Inauguration Day.

Heritage Action also employs grassroots activists nationwide to forward conservative principles at the state-government level.

President Biden slammed Republicans for not understanding how advancing women’s health not only improves the lives of women but also the prosperity of the entire nation. He made the remark during a first-of-its-kind conference on women’s health research at the White House Wednesday afternoon.   

‘The fact is, the health of our moms, and grandmothers, sisters and daughters, friends and colleagues, affects not just women’s well-being but the prosperity of the entire nation,’ Biden said at the conference. ‘That’s a fact – we haven’t gotten that through to the other team yet. I mean it – across the board.’

Republicans, meanwhile, questioned whether Democrats understand the need to protect women, citing, in particular, Biden administration policies that sought to allow transgender women to use biological women’s spaces and play on women’s sports teams.

‘Is any Democrat willing to stand up and defend girls and protect girls in private, in their private spaces, and protect girls in sports – not to force girls to participate in sports against men?’ asked Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of the conservative nonprofit Moms for Liberty. ‘The idea that Democrats protect women or respect women is just absolutely nonsense.’ 

Justice pointed to Biden’s appointment of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, ‘who was unwilling to define what a woman was’ when pressed on the matter during her confirmation hearings.

The Heritage Foundation’s Sarah Perry, a civil rights attorney who has extensive experience litigating Title IX issues, noted that Biden’s remarks had an underlying tone of ‘abortion is health care,’ which was a hot-button issue for Republicans during this year’s election.

‘This is an administration that has made a name for itself in advancing the most radical ideologue policies,’ Perry said. ‘I mean, he’s got a man in a dress at HHS telling us what health care is. That is the specious nature of those kinds of representations.’

Colin Reed, a GOP strategist, added that the electoral success seen last month by Republicans was an indication that the American people reject these sorts of arguments from Democrats.

‘The Democratic Party has become a one-trick pony trying to speak to voters facing across-the-board challenges,’ he said. ‘Until Democrats start meeting voters where they are at, they will continue losing elections.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Karoline Leavitt, Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman, noted that Trump campaigned on ‘making ALL Americans’ healthy again, including women, adding that Trump ‘will deliver on that promise.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.

Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘ready to do a deal’ to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday. 

‘I got the sense from the prime minister he is ready to do a deal,’ Sullivan told reporters during a Tel Aviv press conference, according to multiple reports. ‘The prime minister indicated he wants to get it done.’

Biden’s national security adviser, who met with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, was pressed on whether Netanyahu was stalling cease-fire negotiations with Hamas in a move to wait for the incoming Trump administration, to which Sullivan said, ‘No, I do not get that sense.’

‘We want to close this deal this month. I wouldn’t be here today if I thought this is waiting until after Jan. 20,’ he said. 

Sullivan’s comments came just two days after he met with the family members of American hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 430 days following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. 

Hope that a hostage deal could finally be on the horizon after more than a year since the last hostage release was agreed to in November 2023, resurfaced late last month after Jerusalem and Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire under a 13-point deal. 

A report this week by the Wall Street Journal further suggested that Hamas has conceded on two key Israeli demands and reportedly told mediators the terrorist network would allow Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to remain in Gaza during a pause in the fighting.

The group also apparently agreed to drop its demands for a permanent end to Israel’s campaign and handed over a list of hostages, including Americans, who would be exchanged under a ‘cease-fire pact.’

It remains unclear how many hostages Hamas would hand over or which of the seven Americans still in Gaza – three of whom are still believed to be alive – were on this list.

Families of the hostages, both in the U.S. and in Israel, have been calling on Netanyahu for months to seek a truce and secure the release of the hostages. This plea became increasingly urgent after a cease-fire deal collapsed in late summer, and ultimately failed to secure the release of American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who, along with two other Israelis shortlisted for release, were killed alongside three other hostages by Hamas in August. 

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday issued a sweeping demand that Israel and Hamas reach a cease-fire agreement and that all hostages be freed from captivity. 

The resolution, which was adopted with 158 votes in favor of the 193-member body, called for an ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire, to be respected by all parties, and further reiterates its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.’

Though U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not binding, they are significant as they portray the international position regarding an issue. 

Nine countries voted against the resolution, including the U.S. and Israel, while 13 other nations abstained.

In an address to the assembly following the vote, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said, ‘The draft resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas that there’s no need to negotiate or release the hostages.’

‘Even as the Gaza resolution before us today does nothing to advance a realistic diplomatic solution, the United States will continue to pursue a diplomatic solution that brings peace, security, and freedom to Palestinian civilians in Gaza,’ he added, saying now is the time to put more pressure on Hamas.

Sullivan on Thursday reportedly said Hamas’ ‘posture at the negotiation table’ had shifted since the cease-fire in Lebanon was agreed to last month, effectively showing the terrorist network it could no longer rely on assistance from Hezbollah. 

The White House national security adviser is expected to travel from Israel this week to Qatar and then to Egypt, where he will meet with top officials to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday declared himself a ‘proud feminist’ as he lamented Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Trump in the 2024 presidential election as just one recent example of a setback for women’s progress.

Trudeau delivered remarks in Ottawa at a gala for Equal Voice, an organization that works to improve gender representation in Canada’s politics. 

‘We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, march towards progress,’ Trudeau said. ‘And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president.’

‘Everywhere, women’s rights and women’s progress is under attack, overtly and subtly,’ Trudeau continued. ‘I want you to know that I am, and always will be, a proud feminist. You will always have an ally in me and in my government.’

Trudeau’s remarks come as relations between the U.S. and Canada grow tense over immigration and the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.

Trudeau jetted into Mar-a-Lago unannounced on Nov. 29, just days after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products. Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over failures by both nations to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from those countries into the U.S. 

Both Trump and Trudeau called the meeting ‘very productive.’

Sources later told Fox News that Trudeau had told Trump he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the Canadian economy completely. Trump retorted by asking, so your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion? 

Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously, sources told Fox News.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Former FBI source Alexander Smirnov has struck a plea agreement with the office of special counsel David Weiss, agreeing to plead guilty on several counts.

The document notes that Smirnov is agreeing to plead guilty to ‘Count Two of the indictment in United States v. Alexander Smirnov … which charges defendant with causing the creation of a false and fictitious record in a federal investigation … ‘ and agreeing to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion.

Smirnov is accused of providing false information to the FBI.

He signed off on a statement of facts in support of the plea agreement, which echoes allegations that had been made against him in an indictment.

Smirnov allegedly ‘provided false derogatory information to the FBI about Public Official 1, an elected official in the Obama-Biden Administration who left office in January 2017, and Businessperson 1, the son of Public Official 1, in 2020, after Public Official 1 became a candidate for President of the United States of America.’ 

The allegation apparently refers to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, though the two are not specifically identified by name.

Smirnov had served as a ‘confidential human source’ with the FBI.

The material also alleges that Smirnov ‘claimed executives associated with Burisma, including Burisma Official 1, admitted to him that they hired Businessperson 1 to ‘protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,’ and later that they had specifically paid $5 million each to Public Official 1 and Businessperson 1, when Public Official 1 was still in office, so that ‘[Businessperson 1] will take care of all those issues through his dad,’ referring to a criminal investigation being conducted by the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General into Burisma and to ‘deal with [the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General].”

‘The events Defendant first reported to the Handler in June 2020 were fabrications. In truth and fact, Defendant had contact with executives from Burisma in 2017, after the end of the Obama-Biden Administration and after the then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General had been fired in February 2016 — in other words, when Public Official 1 could not engage in any official act to influence U.S. policy and when the Prosecutor General was no longer in office,’ the statement of facts asserts. 

‘Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against Public Official 1, the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against Public Official 1 and his candidacy.’

China is denying a new report linking it to four bases in Cuba that a think tank says allows the CCP to spy on the U.S. 

The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report last week detailing facilities in Cuba that it claims China may be using to gather signal intelligence (SIGINT) on the U.S. 

‘The cooperation between China and Cuba is aboveboard, not targeting any third party, and does not allow any malicious slander from third parties,’ Chinese foreign minister Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday. 

Cuban foreign minister Carlos de Cossio claimed reports of Chinese spying hubs in Cuba originate from ‘Cuba’s enemies’ in the U.S. ‘as a way of justifying the criminal policy of economic aggression. It is absolutely false.’

CSIS analyzed over a dozen ‘sites of interest’ in Cuba and four stuck out as most likely to be supporting China and its spying ambitions. 

‘These sites have undergone observable upgrades in recent years, even as Cuba has faced increasingly dire economic prospects that have drawn it closer to China,’ the report’s authors said. 

Each of the four sites had ‘observable SIGINT instrumentation,’ clear physical security infrastructure and other signs of intelligence collection. 

One such station located on a hill overlooking Havana, Bejucal, has been suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence for years. The complex gained notoriety for housing Soviet missiles during the Cuban missile crisis. 

During the 2016 presidential debates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called on Cuba to ‘[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.’

According to CSIS findings, satellite imagery shows that the site was active as of March 2024 and had been for some time. There are at least five entrances to underground facilities at the base, but what the facilities contain could not be discerned by satellite imagery. Antennas dot the ground, including satellite antennas used for intercepting satellite communications. 

With Havana situated just 100 miles off the coast of Florida, the site could potentially be used to collect data on U.S. rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

The U.S. and China are locked in a space race and rocket launches that deliver U.S. satellites to space will likely garner a high level of interest within the CCP. 

On another site on the opposite side of the island, east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, a large radio signal finding technology project is under construction, one capable of detecting signals between 3,000 and 8,000 nautical miles away. 

Cuba has a history of allowing U.S. adversaries to use its soil to snoop on U.S. communications. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union operated a SIGINT facility at the Lourdes Signals Intelligence Complex near Havana. That site monitored U.S. satellites and intercepted sensitive military and commercial telecommunications. 

In recent decades, the alliance between China and Cuba has grown – and China has provided around $7.8 billion in development financing to the island nation. 

The House passed a once-bipartisan bill on Thursday that authorizes 63 new permanent district judgeships over the next 10 years, 22 of which President-elect Trump can fill during his next term. 

The White House released a statement earlier this week that President Biden would veto the bill if it came to his desk. 

The Senate in August passed the ‘Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act’ or the ‘JUDGES Act of 2024,’ which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. 

But now key Democrats are backing away from the bill after Trump won the presidency, decrying how it wasn’t voted on until after Election Day. 

‘Today, the House passed the JUDGES Act to authorize additional federal judges to ensure the American people receive timely and fair justice,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. ‘This important legislation garnered broad, bipartisan support when it unanimously passed the Senate in August because it directly addresses the pressing need to reduce case backlogs in our federal courts and strengthen the efficiency of our judicial system.’ 

‘At that time, Democrats supported the bill – they thought Kamala Harris would win the Presidency,’ he added. ‘Now, however, the Biden-Harris Administration has chosen to issue a veto threat and Democrats have whipped against this bill, standing in the way of progress, simply because of partisan politics. This should not be a political issue—it should be about prioritizing the needs of the American people and ensuring the courts are able to deliver fair, impartial, and timely justice.’

The proposal passed the House on Thursday by a 236 to 173 vote, with 29 Democrats voting in favor of it. 

The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor in the House, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a floor speech Thursday before the vote that he now opposes the measure. 

‘You don’t get to pick the horse, after that horse has already won the race. But that’s exactly what my Republican colleagues are seeking to do today,’ he said. 

On Tuesday, the White House said while ‘judicial staffing is important to the rule of law,’ the JUDGES Act is ‘unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.’ 

‘The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies,’ the statement said. ‘Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now. In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships.’

‘Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated,’ the White House added. 

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Todd Young, R-Ind., co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed its annual defense spending bill Wednesday, including a key culture-war caveat: a ban on transgender medical treatments for minor children of U.S. service members.

The provision in the 1,800-page bill states that ‘medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,’ referring to the transgender children of military personnel. 

Republicans argued that taxpayer dollars should not fund potentially experimental and harmful procedures for minors.

House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the passage of the defense measure, though it now heads to the Senate for approval in the Democrat-run chamber.

‘Our men and women in uniform should know their first obligation is protecting our nation, not woke ideology,’ Johnson said in a statement after the measure passed.

While the provision was a win for Republicans that could further push President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda, the measure did not incorporate several other Republican-backed provisions related to social issues. Notably absent were efforts to ban TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering transgender treatments for adults and a proposal to overturn the Pentagon’s hotly-debated policy of reimbursing travel expenses for service members seeking abortions stationed in states where the procedure is restricted.

Democrats were largely outraged by the provision to strip TRICARE from service members’ transgender children, with the House Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith, vowing to vote against the bill on Tuesday despite helping on other portions of the package. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not advise his party members to vote for or against it.

The measure also drew the ire of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (HRC), which called it an ‘attack’ on military families.

‘This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children,’ HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

The Senate’s response to the transgender treatment provision will be pivotal in determining the final content of the defense policy for the upcoming fiscal year. If it passes, it would align with Trump’s criticisms of the military’s ‘woke’ policies. 

The Supreme Court also heard oral arguments last week for a first-of-its-kind case involving Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical procedures for minors, which could place further restrictions on the procedures.

The $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policies for the Defense Department, was passed in a 281-140 vote, with 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting against it. 

Other provisions also place limits on diversity, equity and inclusion-based recruitment and the teaching of critical race theory in military-run schools. Other policies include a 14.5% pay boost for junior enlisted troops, expanded child care access and enhanced job assistance for military spouses, reflecting a year of bipartisan focus on addressing record recruitment struggles.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.