Two of the U.S. military’s top leaders will visit Puerto Rico on Monday to meet with troops and express gratitude for their work supporting missions across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Pentagon officials announced the visit in a memo on Sunday, saying the trip will include meetings with service members stationed in Puerto Rico and sailors operating in the Caribbean.

"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and SEAC David L. Isom are visiting Puerto Rico on November 24, 2025, for the second time to engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions," the media advisory read. "They will also visit and thank Sailors operating at sea for their dedicated, unwavering service in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility."

Caine and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth marked the first visit in September, when they stopped by on behalf of the Trump administration to show support for troops training on the island.

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The meeting took place at Muñiz Air Base in Carolina, outside San Juan, and drew top brass including Puerto Rico National Guard Adjutant General Carlos José Rivera-Román, Public Safety Secretary Brig. Gen. Arthur Garffer, and other senior military leaders.

Hegseth spoke to nearly 300 soldiers at the base, thanking and describing them as "American warriors." The secretary of war also affirmed that those serving in the Armed Forces will be the best equipped and prepared in the world.

The latest visit comes amid rising tensions in the Caribbean Sea, as the U.S. military expands its naval footprint near Venezuela, part of President Donald Trump’s push to choke off drug flows from Latin America.

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Earlier this month, Hegseth announced the official launch of Operation Southern Spear, a mission targeting narco-terror networks across Latin America.

Hegseth said on X at the time that U.S. Southern Command and Joint Task Force Southern Spear will lead the mission to defend the homeland and dismantle narco-terrorist networks across the Western Hemisphere.

"This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people," Hegseth said.

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Since early September, U.S. military forces have carried out numerous lethal strikes against narcotics vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, destroying dozens of ships tied to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional. The attacks have killed an estimated 82 suspected narco-terrorists, with three survivors.

The campaign began Sept. 2 with a strike that killed 11 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and continued through October and November with a series of targeted operations that eliminated dozens more across known trafficking routes.

U.S. forces have hit submersibles, fishing boats and high-speed vessels, including one ELN-affiliated craft that drew criticism from Colombia’s president after three men were killed.

Several strikes took place near Venezuela’s coast, while others occurred in the eastern Pacific, where most recent operations have been concentrated.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released a video showing what it describes as one of Hamas’s "most complex" underground infrastructures extending beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

According to the IDF, the seven-kilometer-long "root tunnel" runs roughly 25 meters underground, contains about 80 rooms and was used for command operations, weapons storage and sheltering Hamas operatives. 

The video shared on X on Nov. 20 travels through reinforced concrete passageways and large chambers, showing the sophistication and scale of Hamas’s underground network. 

The Israeli military claims the tunnel originated beneath a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound and stretched beneath civilian sites.

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"IDF troops uncovered one of Gaza’s largest and most complex underground routes, over 7 km long, ~25 meters deep, with ~80 hideouts, where abducted IDF officer Lt. Hadar Goldin was held," the post read.

Israeli analysts say the demolition of this tunnel marks a strategic blow to Hamas and "paves the path to its defeat."

"The destruction of this tunnel as well as many others like it or similar… as well as other terror facilities pushes Hamas to the edge," said Professor Kobi Michael, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Misgav Institute.

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"It is one of the longest and [most] complicated tunnels that have been discovered, but it is not the only one," he told Fox News Digital.

Michael explained that Hamas’ root tunnels form the backbone of its underground warfare system. 

"This is an example of a root tunnel, a strategic one that feeds many tactic tunnels and is used for strategic purposes [such] as command and control, weapon storage, manufacturing platforms of weapon[s] and strategic logistics," he said.

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"Such a tunnel is usually manned by hundreds of militants and commanders."

The IDF believes this particular tunnel network may have been connected to the area where Lt. Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier abducted during the 2014 Gaza war, was held captive. Hamas returned Goldin’s remains earlier this month – after more than a decade. 

The tunnel’s exposure sheds new light on the extent of its underground operations.

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"I have no idea about the cost but if you take into consideration the amount of the building materials, labor and facilities and its length, it is a matter of millions of INS," he claimed. "Hamas chose routes under sensitive civilian and humanitarian facilities in order to prevent the IDF from attacking the tunnel."

As Israel continues operations in Gaza, the destruction of Hamas’s tunnel networks remains central to its strategy to dismantle the group’s military capabilities and prevent future attacks.

In 2014, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to destroy the tunnels, which Hamas militants used to infiltrate Israeli territory, "with or without a ceasefire."

According to a 2023 investigation by Reuters, Hamas had said it had been using the tunnels to hide hostages seized in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Israel’s military said its ground forces had uncovered around 1,500 Hamas tunnels and shafts throughout the Gaza Strip, per the report.