English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 28/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2025/english.december28.25.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God
“Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 01/01-18:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being. in him was
life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all
might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify
to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the
world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the
world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not
accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power
to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the
flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived
among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full
of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I
said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’)
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was
given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever
seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has
made him known.”
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on
December 27-28/2025
Dear Family members & Friends...Merry Christmas/Elias Bejjani/December
25/2025
Fear of Saying “Merry Christmas” is a Shame Upon the Peoples, Institutions, and
Nations of the Secular West/Elias Bejjani/December 24/2025
Israeli Expert Sounds Alarm Over Qatar’s Double-Game | The Caroline Glick Show
Video-Link from ILTV Youtube Platform/Very importan, educational and awakening
interview with Professor Dr. Dan Schueftan: Israel should not expect peace or
tranquility in the Middle East
UN force in Lebanon says peacekeeper wounded by Israeli fire
Report: Trump to ask Netanyahu to continue diplomacy with Lebanon
France condemns Israeli army gunfire near UNIFIL patrols
MP Kassem Hachem: We will confront any attempt to make depositors bear losses
and demand repayment within reasonable timeframes
UNIFIL: Israeli gunfire near peacekeeping patrols violates UN Resolution 1701
UNIFIL says peacekeeper wounded by Israeli fire
Videos and reports point to detentions near Syria-Lebanon border
Lebanon faces growing H3N2 flu cases as temperatures drop
Lebanon reports seasonal flu wave driven by H3N2 strain, Health Ministry urges
precautions
Hezbollah: Is the Company Joud Licensed by the Lebanese State?
Mohammad Chatah and the Lebanon That Refused to Die/Makram Rabah/Now
Lebanon/December 27/2025
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on
December 27-28/2025
Egypt, Trump Reaffirm Strategic Alliance in 2025 amid Regional Turmoil
Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results
Terrorist Attack on Mosque in Syria’s Homs Draws Wide Condemnation
Israeli forces’ assault on Qabatiya continues into second day
Chilly Gaza braces for more winter rain and word of any progress in ceasefire
talks
Netanyahu to Meet Trump in US on Monday for Talks on Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah,
Syria
The risks of carving up Yemen
Saudi Defense Minister: Time for STC to Withdraw from Yemen's Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra
Iran Wants Iraqi PM Who ‘Takes into Consideration’ Interests of Both Countries
Italian Authorities Arrest 9 for Allegedly Funding Hamas Through Charities
Egypt Warns of Moves to Derail Gaza Deal, Fragment Reconstruction
Trump Says Does Not Back Recognizing Somaliland after Ally Israel
Iran’s President Says His Country Is in a Full-Scale War with the West
Arab Coalition: We Will Deal with Military Moves that Violate De-escalation
Efforts
Saudi Arabia Carries out Warning Strike on Yemen’s Hadhramaut, STC Says ‘Open to
Coordination’
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Vows to Fight Any Israeli Use of Somaliland
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on
December 27-28/2025
How Iran's
Sanctions-Evasions and Willing Support Retinue Keep It Alive/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute/December 27/2025
MAGA: Mending Fences or the End of a Coalition?/Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
The year that could be/Lea Ypi/Arab News/December 27/2025
Saudi Arabia is not exceptional/Prince Turki Al-Faisal/Arab News/December 27,
2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on
December 27-28/2025
Dear Family
members & Friends...Merry Christmas
Elias Bejjani/December
25/2025
I extend to you my warmest Christmas greetings, wishing you happy and blessed
days with the birth and incarnation of the Lord. I join you in prayer for our
beloved Lebanon to reclaim its freedom and independence, and for the peoples of
the world to return to the roots of faith so that peace may prevail throughout
the earth. Merry Christmas to you all!”
Fear of Saying “Merry Christmas” is a
Shame Upon the Peoples, Institutions, and Nations of the Secular West
Elias Bejjani/December 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/12/150449/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ISc0vPkZw
Remaining silent about saying “Merry Christmas” on the anniversary of the
Nativity of the Incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and replacing it
with “Season’s Greetings,” is no longer a mere social courtesy. Instead, it has
become a malicious, undeclared policy, cultural submission, and a public
concession by many Western nations and institutions that claim secularism and
courage. In reality, fueled by cowardice, ignorance, and a lack of faith, they
practice a form of “Dhimmitude” and deception under the guise of “neutrality.”
What is happening today in secular Western countries is not spontaneous. It is a
political decision disguised to empty public opinion of the Name of Christ, to
domesticate Christianity, and to turn it into a silent heritage that is
forbidden from speaking Christ’s Name or naming Christian feasts openly and
without complexes.
What we witness with anger and sorrow is the majority of Western nations
disowning their roots—the values, civilization, progress, peace, and coexistence
that grew from and with Christianity. They intentionally blind themselves to
this history, erasing the mention of Christ Himself. In a cowardly duality, they
desire the Christmas holiday while denying the Feast itself; they want the
decorations but disown His Name; they want the traditions and the joy, yet they
falsify the truth.
This duality regarding Christmas is absolute political hypocrisy and a
deep-seated hostility toward Christian values, teachings, and symbols.
Certainly, Christian teachings stand against the “fearful state.” What these
practitioners of dhimmitude fail to realize is that the Holy Gospel does not
know the language of “general greetings,” nor does it recognize the gray,
lukewarm, and evasive discourse imposed by governments, corporations, and
educational institutions.
In this clear, courageous, and direct context, we highlight the following Gospel
verses:
“Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the
evil one.” (Matthew 5:37)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be
ashamed when he comes in his glory.” (Luke 9:26)
What we say and believe regarding the absence of the phrase “Merry Christmas” is
not just an opinion, but a direct condemnation. The shame Christians feel toward
Christ in the public sphere is not “smart policy”; it is spiritual betrayal,
ignorance, and a lack of faith. Christianity is not a timid minority, nor is it
a guest in the West; it is the force that built its language, civilization,
laws, calendar, and ethics.
Treating Christianity as a potential threat is not progress, but civilizational
suicide. Therefore, saying “Merry Christmas” is not just a greeting; it is an
act of faith, a testimony to the Truth and history, and a moral and political
resistance against evil, the misguided, and those institutions that fear the
Truth. It is a stand against a distorted discourse that wants a Christianity
without Christ.
We call upon Christians, rulers, and institutions in the West to name Christian
feasts by their proper names without shame. They should do so just as they
interact with all other religions that name their feasts with pride and without
restriction:
The Muslim says: “Ramadan Mubarak” “Adha Mubarak.”etc
The Jew says: “Happy Hanukkah” and names all his feasts.
The Hindu says: “Happy Diwali” and names all his feasts.
This is the case for all other faiths, and no one in the West asks them to
change their names or apologize for them.
In summary, The fear of saying “Merry Christmas” is a disgrace to a West wrapped
in a secularism that is supposed to respect religions. It is shameful that this
phrase has become a source of fear in countries that claim freedom and
pluralism. Ultimately, these are two simple words that carry no weapons or
threats, yet they are avoided and replaced by meaningless phrases like “Season’s
Greetings.” This cowardly concealment is not respect for others; it is fear and
a lack of faith.
In conclusion, our duty is to reject humiliation and compromise, and to say with
absolute freedom: Merry Christmas.
*The author, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author’s Website:
https://eliasbejjaninews.com
Israeli Expert Sounds Alarm Over Qatar’s Double-Game | The
Caroline Glick Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD3iOBOhtn8
Premiered on Jan 19, 2025
Yigal Carmon, founder and president of the Middle East Media Research Institute
(MEMRI), joins JNS senior contributing editor Caroline Glick for an exclusive
interview that exposes Qatar’s corrosive influence on western society.
Learn about Doha's campaign to weaken Western powers and increase Islamic
influence while simultaneously benefiting from economic cooperation.
Carmon and Glick discuss what should and can be done to defeat this new
adversary on this episode of "The Caroline Glick Show!"
Video-Link from ILTV Youtube Platform/Very importan, educational and awakening
interview with Professor Dr. Dan Schueftan: Israel should not expect peace or
tranquility in the Middle East
رابط فيديو مقابلة بالغة الأهمية، تعليمية وتوعوية مع البروفيسور الإسرائيلي
الدكتور دان شوفطان: إسرائيل لا ينبغي أن تتوقع سلامًا أو هدوءًا في الشرق الأوسط
وما نريده من لبنان أن يكون قوياً.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/12/150556/
UHaifa Professor Warns: Quiet in the
Middle East Means Trouble Ahead
Premired on December 22, 2025 on the ILTV Youtube Platform
Israel should not expect peace or tranquility in the Middle East, warns Dr. Dan
Schueftan of the University of Haifa. In this interview on the ILTV Podcast with
Maayan Hoffman, Schueftan explains why quiet on Israel’s borders often signals
preparation for future conflict, why cooperation matters more than
normalization, and how Israel’s hard power underpins its regional influence. He
addresses Western criticism of Israel’s military actions, the shared threats
facing Israel and Arab states, and why smart optimism means getting stronger
even as challenges grow.
**Dr. Dan Schueftan is one of the best analysts and also possesses the ability
to explain complex topics simply and sometimes humorously
UN force in Lebanon says peacekeeper wounded by Israeli fire
AFP/December 27, 2025
UNIFIL reiterated its call to the Israeli army to “cease aggressive behavior and
attacks on or near peacekeepers working for peace and stability along the Blue
Line”
BEIRUT, Lebanon: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said an Israeli
attack near their position in the country’s south wounded a peacekeeper on
Friday, reiterating a call for Israel to “cease aggressive behavior.”It is the
latest incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL
acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s
army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“This morning, heavy machine gunfire from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions
south of the Blue Line impacted close to a UNIFIL patrol inspecting a roadblock
in the village of Bastarra. The gunfire followed a grenade explosion nearby,”
UNIFIL said in a statement. The force added that “the sound of the gunfire and
the explosion left one peacekeeper slightly injured with ear concussion.”
Also on Friday, UNIFIL said “another patrol carrying out a routine operational
task also reported machine gunfire from the Israeli side in immediate proximity
to their position” in Kfarshuba, south Lebanon. The peacekeeping force said it
had informed the Israel army of its activities in these areas. Earlier this
month, UNIFIL said Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
Last month it said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while
Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning
shots. In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli
grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of
its kind in just over a month. “Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious
violations of Security Council resolution 1701,” the peacekeeping force added,
referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024
truce. UNIFIL reiterated its call to the Israeli army to “cease aggressive
behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working for peace and stability
along the Blue Line.” Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the
truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to
Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming. It has also kept troops in five south
Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
Report: Trump to ask Netanyahu to continue diplomacy with Lebanon
Naharnet/December 27/2025
U.S. President Donald Trump will ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
in their upcoming meeting to continue the path of diplomacy with Lebanon, a
media report said.President Joseph Aoun and the Lebanese state have learned from
Washington that Trump will call on Netanyahu to "carry on with the diplomatic
solution and to develop negotiations with Lebanon instead of resorting to a
military solution in this period, especially if negotiations would lead to the
handover of Hezbollah's arms," the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. "The
progress of negotiatons would cast out the specter of war, and this explains
President Aoun's remarks from Bkirki on Christmas Day's morning when he talked
about this point, in which he relied on the U.S. reassurances first as well as
the atmosphere of the Mechanism meeting and the international and Western
contacts, especially with the Vatican and Washington," the daily added.
France condemns Israeli army gunfire near UNIFIL patrols
AFP/December 27/2025
France condemned gunfire by the Israeli army on December 26, 2025, near United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols. France called on Israel to
halt violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and to respect the
cease-fire issued on November 26, 2024, which binds all parties. It also
reminded that the protection of peacekeeping forces, as well as the safety and
security of U.N. personnel, property, and facilities, must be guaranteed under
international law.
In this context, France praised the courage, professionalism, and dedication of
UNIFIL personnel, reaffirming its support for the full implementation of the
force’s mandate.
MP Kassem Hachem: We will confront any attempt to make depositors bear losses
and demand repayment within reasonable timeframes
LBCI/December 27/2025
MP Kassem Hachem of the Development and Liberation Bloc said the government’s
draft law on financial order—the so-called financial gap law—failed to address
the deposits crisis in the way depositors had hoped, noting that many
immediately viewed it as unfair and are counting on a better law than the one
produced. He added that no one can outbid his bloc on
its stance toward the deposits crisis, stressing that since the very first days
of the file, the bloc has insisted that deposits are sacrosanct, a position
repeatedly stated by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hachem said discussions were guided by this principle to safeguard rights and
ensure that those responsible for bringing the situation to this point bear full
responsibility. He concluded that the decision of the
bloc’s ministers was consistent with the final approach they intend to adopt
during parliamentary debates on the law, with the aim of amending what needs to
be amended to return deposits to their owners. Otherwise, he said, they will
confront any attempt to impose losses on depositors and will push for the
recovery of deposits within reasonable timeframes.
UNIFIL: Israeli gunfire near peacekeeping patrols violates
UN Resolution 1701
LBCI/December 27/2025
UNIFIL announced that heavy machine-gun fire from Israeli army positions south
of the Blue Line landed near a patrol of the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Friday morning as it was inspecting a road barrier in the
village of Bastara. The gunfire followed the explosion of a hand grenade in the
nearby area.In a statement, UNIFIL said that while no damage was caused to its
property, the sound of the gunfire and the explosion resulted in a peacekeeper
sustaining a minor injury, suffering from ear concussion. In a separate incident
later in the day in the town of Kfarchouba, another peacekeeping patrol carrying
out a routine operational mission reported gunfire from the Israeli side in
close proximity to its position. UNIFIL noted that the Israeli army had been
informed in advance of the activities in those areas, in line with standard
procedures for patrols operating in sensitive areas near the Blue Line. The
force stressed that attacks on or near peacekeepers constitute serious
violations of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. The statement concluded by
renewing UNIFIL’s call on the Israeli army to cease aggressive behavior and
attacks against peacekeepers working to maintain peace and stability along and
near the Blue Line.
UNIFIL says peacekeeper wounded by Israeli fire
Agence France Presse/December 27/2025
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said an Israeli attack near their
position in the country's south wounded a peacekeeper on Friday, reiterating a
call for Israel to "cease aggressive behavior."It is the latest incident
reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer
between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon's army to support a
year-old truce between Israel and Hezbollah. "This morning, heavy machine
gunfire from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions south of the Blue Line
impacted close to a UNIFIL patrol inspecting a roadblock in the village of
Bastarra. The gunfire followed a grenade explosion nearby," UNIFIL said in a
statement. The force added that "the sound of the gunfire and the explosion left
one peacekeeper slightly injured with ear concussion."Also on Friday, UNIFIL
said "another patrol carrying out a routine operational task also reported
machine gunfire from the Israeli side in immediate proximity to their position"
in Kfarshouba, south Lebanon. The peacekeeping force said it had informed the
Israeli army of its activities in these areas. Earlier this month, UNIFIL said
Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
Last month it said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south,
while Israel's military said it mistook blue helmets for "suspects" and fired
warning shots. In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an
Israeli grenade dropped near a U.N. position in the country's south, the third
incident of its kind in just over a month. "Attacks on
or near peacekeepers are serious violations of Security Council resolution
1701," the peacekeeping force added, referring to the 2006 resolution that
formed the basis of the November 2024 truce. UNIFIL reiterated its call to the
Israeli army to "cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers
working for peace and stability along the Blue Line." Israel carries out regular
attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and
operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming. It has also
kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
Videos and reports point to detentions near Syria-Lebanon border
LBCI/December 27/2025
A video circulated over the past several hours alongside reports claiming that
Syrian border guard units carried out an arrest operation late Friday into
Saturday, detaining 12 individuals described as former officers and members
linked to the previous Syrian regime. According to the reports, the group was
apprehended while attempting to cross the Syrian-Lebanese border illegally in
the Talkalakh area of western Syria. The claim was accompanied by another video
showing 12 men identifying themselves by name, including one who said he was a
former colonel in the Syrian army. Lebanese and Syrian sources said the group
crossed illegally through smuggling routes or unofficial crossings in the Al-Noura
area of northern Lebanon, heading toward the Syrian village of Halat, located in
the Tal Kalakh region.
The sources said the purpose of the group’s illegal movement has not yet been
determined. The reports come days after The New York Times published an
investigative report indicating that former officers from the Assad-era Syrian
military are working from abroad to reorganize their ranks, with the aim of
destabilizing Syria’s new government and potentially carving out areas of
influence inside the country. The investigation was based on intercepted phone
calls and text messages, as well as interviews and extensive analysis. According
to The New York Times, former Brig. Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, known as “The Tiger,”
documented and registered more than 168,000 fighters in Syria’s coastal region.
The communications reviewed by the newspaper indicated that al-Hassan was not
acting alone and had received financial support from Rami Makhlouf, a powerful
businessman and cousin of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The report
said al-Hassan signed his correspondence with the phrase “Your servant, ranked
as a fighter,” addressing someone he described as “the commander-in-chief of our
army and armed forces.” Strong evidence cited by the newspaper suggests the
reference was to Makhlouf.
Lebanon faces growing H3N2 flu cases as temperatures drop
LBCI/December 27/2025
A new H3N2 influenza strain has been detected in Lebanon, causing concern as
cases rise. H3N2 is a seasonal influenza A virus, similar to H1N1, but with more
severe symptoms and different treatment protocols. This year, the strain has
spread widely across Europe, North America, Asia, and parts of the Middle East,
including Lebanon. Health authorities have noted an increase in cases coinciding
with colder temperatures and the holiday season, when close contact accelerates
transmission. The virus can spread from person to person before symptoms appear.
The standard flu vaccine may not fully prevent infection but can reduce the
severity of illness and the risk of complications. Symptoms of H3N2 include
runny nose, cough, fatigue, headache, loss of appetite, and fever. In some
cases, patients may experience shortness of breath.
Lebanon reports seasonal flu wave driven by H3N2 strain,
Health Ministry urges precautions
LBCI/December 27/2025
The Ministry of Public Health announced in a statement on seasonal influenza
that, like many countries, Lebanon is currently experiencing a wave of seasonal
flu characterized by relative severity and rapid spread among the population.
Scientific data indicate that the predominant strain is influenza A(H3N2).
The ministry emphasized that this strain has been scientifically known
for many years and is not a new or emerging virus, contrary to rumors.
However, this season it has mutated in a way that makes it more capable of
causing severe infections and spreading faster compared with some previous
seasons. It is well known that influenza viruses undergo continuous annual
mutations, which in some years can result in more severe symptoms or higher
transmission rates. The ministry explained that
influenza is a highly contagious respiratory viral disease that can lead to
health complications in certain groups, especially the elderly, children,
pregnant women, and individuals with chronic illnesses or weakened immune
systems. This underscores the need to raise health awareness and adhere to
necessary preventive measures.
It also stressed that annual influenza vaccination remains one of the most
effective ways to reduce the risks and complications of the disease,
particularly for high-risk groups, noting that currently available vaccines
cover circulating strains and help lower hospitalization rates and severe cases.
In this context, the Ministry of Public Health urged citizens to follow these
guidelines:
* Maintain personal hygiene, especially regular handwashing with soap and water
or using alcohol-based sanitizers.
* Cover the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, use tissues, and dispose
of them properly.
* Wear masks in enclosed or crowded spaces, especially when experiencing
respiratory symptoms.
* Avoid close contact and gatherings when feeling unwell, and consult a doctor
immediately if severe or unusual symptoms appear.
* Receive the annual influenza vaccine, particularly for those most at risk of
complications.
The ministry also affirmed its continued close monitoring of the epidemiological
situation and the implementation of necessary measures in coordination with
relevant authorities, urging citizens to obtain information only from official
sources.
Hezbollah: Is the Company Joud Licensed by the Lebanese State?
This is Beirut/December 27/2025
Hezbollah’s newly established company, Joud, linked to its financial arm Al Qard
al Hassan, has reportedly obtained official Lebanese licensing despite several
of its leaders being under U.S. sanctions, according to an investigation by
Saudi channel al-Hadath. As part of a strategy aimed at circumventing both
Lebanese laws and international sanctions, the institution is officially
specialized, according to al-Hadath, in the buying and selling of gold on an
installment basis, also serving as an alternative to the gold-backed lending
mechanisms used by AQAH.
The channel reported that Joud opened its first office last September in
Beirut’s southern suburbs, followed by a second branch in Nabatieh in November.
A third opening in the Bekaa is planned by early 2026. To facilitate its
financial operations, Hezbollah allegedly relied on opening accounts at Bank
Saderat of Iran, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2003 and operates
three branches in Lebanon. The investigation states
that ownership of Joud is registered in the names of two individuals who do not
publicly claim affiliation with Hezbollah, but whose links to the militia have
been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Ali Mohammad Korneib, a
former procurement official at AQAH, and Mohammad Nayef Majed Ali, both
sanctioned by the U.S., are among the company’s supervisors. Korneib was
specifically sanctioned on July 3 for acquiring tons of gold on behalf of
Hezbollah. Strategic oversight of Joud is reportedly
handled by Ali Daamouche, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, known as “Hajj
Sultan,” who is responsible for companies affiliated with the militia. On the
AQAH side, according to the investigation, Adel Mansour serves as executive
director. He has been under U.S. sanctions since 2022. Sitting alongside him is
Samer Hassan Fawaz, also sanctioned, who is said to have joined the structure
last July.
Mohammad Chatah and the Lebanon That Refused to Die
Makram Rabah/Now Lebanon/December 27/2025
The assassination of Mohammad Chatah was not simply an act of political
violence. It was an attempt to assassinate an idea: that Lebanon could be
governed by reason rather than fear, by institutions rather than militias, and
by sovereignty rather than submission. Chatah’s killing was meant to close the
door on the possibility of a state-centered Lebanon—and to warn others against
dreaming of one. Chatah represented a political
tradition that has been systematically targeted in Lebanon. He believed in
diplomacy over intimidation, accountability over impunity, and the primacy of
the state over all armed or ideological projects. His vision was neither
abstract nor naïve. It was grounded in the basic premise that countries survive
when decisions of war and peace belong to institutions, not factions; when
citizens are protected by law, not exposed to it.
The message behind his assassination was clear: ambition would be punished,
moderation silenced, and sovereignty redefined as betrayal. Lebanon, we were
told, must accept a permanent condition of exception—where violence is
normalized, responsibility diluted, and collapse treated as fate rather than
choice. It was an effort to impose exhaustion as political realism.
Yet that effort failed.
Mohammad Chatah did not disappear with the explosion that killed him. He remains
present as a political idea and a moral standard against which Lebanon’s current
condition is measured—and found wanting. His legacy exposes the bankruptcy of
those who replaced statehood with intimidation, governance with paralysis, and
politics with coercion. They may still dominate the scene, but they do so
without legitimacy, vision, or historical credibility.
Lebanon today stands at the consequences of abandoning the path Chatah embodied.
A hollowed-out state, a collapsed economy, a traumatized society, and a
political system unable to protect its own people. These are not accidents of
geography or history. They are the results of deliberate choices—made by those
who rejected the very principles Chatah stood for.
Commemorating Mohammad Chatah is therefore not an act of nostalgia. It is an act
of clarity. It forces a reckoning with what was lost—and why. More importantly,
it reasserts that Lebanon’s crisis is not inevitable, and that alternatives have
existed, and still do. The struggle in Lebanon has
never been between different opinions or sectarian preferences. It is a struggle
between two projects: one that sees life, sovereignty, and institutions as
values to be protected; and another that treats them as expendable tools in
service of power. Chatah stood firmly on one side of that divide.
On the anniversary of his assassination, remembrance must be more than
mourning. It must be a refusal—to normalize political murder, to accept
permanent collapse, and to surrender the idea of Lebanon as a sovereign state.
Mohammad Chatah lives on not because he was killed, but because the Lebanon he
believed in remains unfinished—and still worth fighting for
**Makram Rabah is the managing editor at Now Lebanon and an Assistant Professor
at the American University of Beirut, Department of History. His book Conflict
on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites and Collective Memory (Edinburgh
University Press) covers collective identities and the Lebanese Civil War. He
tweets at @makramrabah
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Reports And News published
on
December 27-28/2025
Egypt, Trump
Reaffirm Strategic Alliance in 2025 amid Regional Turmoil
Cairo: Fathiya al-Dakhakhni/Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
After months of speculation over the trajectory of Egyptian-US relations, fueled
by persistent talk of strain and an impending rift, a high-level meeting between
President Donald Trump and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh
reaffirmed the resilience of the strategic alliance between Cairo and
Washington, even as the region remains in turmoil. The meeting followed a
turbulent period marked by Trump’s adoption of a proposal to relocate Gaza’s
population, an idea firmly rejected by Sisi and one that prompted warnings of a
diplomatic crisis between the two longtime allies. The subsequent signing of a
Gaza peace agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh sent a clear signal that, despite sharp
disagreements over policy, the foundations of the bilateral relationship remain
intact. Early in Trump’s second term, media reports said Sisi had scrapped plans
to visit Washington. As the year draws to a close, speculation has said that the
visit may happen. Trump has acknowledged Sisi as a friend and said he would be
happy to meet him as well. Trump’s election victory late last year raised
Egyptian hopes of strengthening the strategic partnership. Sisi voiced that
expectation in a congratulatory post on X, stating that he looked forward to
working together with Trump to achieve peace, preserve regional peace and
stability, and strengthen the strategic partnership. Those hopes were tested
when Trump floated a plan to “clean out Gaza” and relocate its residents to
Egypt and Jordan. Cairo rejected the idea outright, mobilized international
opposition, unveiled an alternative plan for Gaza’s reconstruction and hosted an
emergency summit on the issue in March.
Limited public engagement
David Butter, a research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at
Chatham House, noted that the striking feature of Egypt-US ties over the past
year has been their low public profile. Aside from Trump’s appearance in Sharm
el-Sheikh, there was not much happening in the open, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Amr Hamzawy, an Egyptian political scientist and director of the Middle East
program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described the first
year of Trump’s second term as difficult for bilateral relations. He said it
began with talk of displacement and a “Middle East Riviera” in Gaza, but
Egyptian diplomacy succeeded in shifting the trajectory. Trump’s peace plan, he
said, ultimately signaled rejection of displacement and spoke of security and
political tracks for Gaza and a broader political process for the Palestinian
issue, though details remain unclear. Hamzawy added that the year opened from a
tough starting point that followed what he called President Joe Biden’s hesitant
stance on Gaza, when displacement was first discussed. After nearly a year of
Egyptian political and diplomatic effort, he said, displacement dropped from
Washington’s agenda, even if it remains a risk that cannot be ignored.
Historically, Egypt has been a pivotal state for US national security, given its
geography, demographic weight and diplomatic role, according to a recent report
by the Congressional Research Service.
Gaza, the main test
The Gaza war shaped Egyptian-US relations during Trump’s first year back in
office. Washington backed Egyptian-Qatari mediation to halt the war. US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Cairo after a truce was reached between
Israel and Hamas in January. When hostilities resumed, however, Egypt faced
complex diplomatic choices with both Washington and Israel. It rejected Trump’s
call to resettle Gaza’s population, while its reconstruction plan failed to gain
US or Israeli acceptance. Cairo also drew criticism from Trump for declining to
join US strikes against Yemen’s Houthis, the Congressional Research Service
(CRS) revealed. Butter noted that ties with the Trump administration were
strained over Gaza after Sisi canceled a Washington visit early in the year,
following Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” remarks, which left contacts at a
minimum. He said Trump’s Sharm el-Sheikh visit, the signing of the Gaza
agreement and the celebration of his plan’s success offered a chance to reset
relations. Egypt, he added, has become indispensable to Trump’s administration
in Gaza. Hamzawy said Gaza dominated the first year of Trump’s term, giving
Egypt a chance to restore its standing with US and European decision-makers as a
key mediator. Cairo put its vision on the table, he said, shifting US thinking
toward parallel security and political tracks and from talk of disarmament to
limiting weapons. Throughout the year, Egypt publicly counted on Trump to end
the Gaza war. In July, Sisi urged him in a televised address to press for a
halt, saying Trump was capable of doing so. Analysts Daniel Byman and Jon
Alterman wrote in Foreign Policy that Egypt is indispensable to international
responses to the Gaza war, even if it remains a difficult partner for Washington
and Israel. The conflict, they said, restored diplomatic focus on Egypt and
strengthened its leverage. Sara Kira, director of the European North African
Center for Research, said relations in Trump’s second term differ from his
first. The earlier term saw broad alignment and personal warmth from Trump,
particularly on counterterrorism, she said. The second term has been marked by
divergence. That surfaced in April when Trump called for free passage for US
commercial and military vessels through the Suez Canal in exchange for US
efforts to protect the waterway.
Positive signals despite differences
Despite disagreements over Gaza, there were positive signs elsewhere. Early in
the year, the US State Department froze new funding for most aid programs
worldwide, exempting humanitarian food programs and military aid to Israel and
Egypt. Washington did not include Egypt on a travel ban list issued in June.
Trump said Egypt was a country with which the United States dealt closely and
that things there were under control. Egypt was also spared higher US tariffs.
Cairo has repeatedly stressed the depth and resilience of the strategic
relationship. Kira said Egypt exerted maximum pressure to achieve peace and stop
the Gaza war, eventually convincing Washington of its approach and reaching a
peace agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh. She said Egypt acted pragmatically and
astutely, reading Trump’s personality and US interests. As talks on the second
phase of the Gaza agreement stall, Egypt continues to rely on the Trump
administration to advance its plan. Cairo remains in contact with Washington and
is working with it to prepare a donor conference for Gaza’s reconstruction,
which has yet to receive sufficient momentum from the Trump administration. The
dialogue extends beyond Gaza to Libya, Sudan, Lebanon and Iran, as well as water
security, led by Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Egypt
fears could affect its Nile water share. In mid-June, Trump stirred controversy
in Egypt when he wrote on Truth Social that the United States had “stupidly”
funded the dam Ethiopia built on the Blue Nile, triggering a severe diplomatic
crisis with Egypt. In August, the White House released a list of Trump’s foreign
policy achievements, which included a purported agreement between Egypt and
Ethiopia over the dam. Trump has repeatedly spoken of his administration’s
efforts to resolve the dispute, but those claims have yet to translate into
concrete action. Hamzawy said there is an opportunity for Washington to mediate
and revive an agreement reached near the end of Trump’s first term. Charles
Dunne of the Arab Center Washington DC wrote recently that Trump’s stance may
please Cairo but could also produce adverse outcomes if Washington does not
assume a mediation role. The United States hosted talks with the World Bank in
2020 during Trump’s first term, but they failed after Ethiopia refused to sign
the draft agreement.
Military ties endure
Military cooperation continued largely as usual. Since 1946, the United States
has provided Egypt with about $90 billion in aid, with a sharp increase after
1979, which successive administrations have framed as an investment in regional
stability, according to the CRS. For more than a decade, Congress has imposed
human rights conditions on part of Egypt’s aid. Between fiscal years 2020 and
2023, the Biden administration and Congress withheld approximately $750 million
in military funding. Trump’s technical annex to the proposed fiscal 2026 budget
seeks $1.3 billion in military assistance for Egypt without conditions, the CRS
said. Hamzawy said the administration is far from imposing conditionality,
noting that relations rest on mutual interests between a major power and a
positively influential middle power. Since the Gaza war, the Biden and Trump
administrations have accelerated US arms sales to Egypt. The State Department
notified Congress of military sales totaling $7.3 billion. In July, the Pentagon
announced that the State Department had approved the sale of an advanced air
defense missile system to Egypt, valued at approximately $4.67 billion. Egypt
also hosted the Bright Star military exercises in September. Kira said ties with
Washington are driven by interests and that Cairo has positioned itself as a
core regional player. Hamzawy said Egypt occupies a central place in US Middle
East thinking, as Washington needs a spectrum of allies, with Egypt at the heart
of that network.
Syrian Foreign Ministry:
Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results
Damascus: Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
A source from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the talks with the
Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over their integration into state
institutions “have not yielded tangible results.”Discussions about merging the
northeastern institutions into the state remain “hypothetical statements without
execution,” it told Syria’s state news agency SANA. Repeated assertions over
Syria’s unity are being contradicted by the reality on the ground in the
northeast, where the Kurds hold sway and where administrative, security and
military institutions continue to be run separately from the state, it added.
The situation “consolidates the division” instead of addressing it, it warned.
It noted that despite the SDF’s continued highlighting of its dialogue with the
Syrian state, these discussions have not led to tangible results. It seems that
the SDF is using this approach to absorb the political pressure on it, said the
source. The truth is that there is little actual will to move from discussion to
application of the March 10 agreement. This raises doubts over the SDF’s
commitment to the deal, it stressed. Talk about rapprochement between the state
and SDF remains meaningless if the agreement is not implemented on the ground
within a specific timeframe, the source remarked. Furthermore, the continued
deployment of armed formations on the ground that are not affiliated with the
Syrian army are evidence that progress is not being made. The persistence of the
situation undermines Syria’s sovereignty and hampers efforts to restore
stability, it warned.
Terrorist Attack on Mosque in Syria’s Homs Draws Wide
Condemnation
Riyadh: Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
Condemnations poured in across the Arab world and international community of the
terrorist attack that targeted a mosque in Syria’s Homs city on Friday. An
explosion killed at least eight worshippers with the extremist group Saraya
Ansar al-Sunna claiming responsibility. In a statement on Telegram, the group
said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin
Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city. Syria's interior ministry said in a
statement that “a terrorist explosion” targeted the mosque and that authorities
had “begun investigating and collecting evidence to pursue the perpetrators of
this criminal act.” The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack,
stressing the Kingdom’s “categorical rejection of terrorism and extremism in all
their forms, including attacks on mosques and places of worship and the
targeting of innocent civilians.”It expressed the Kingdom’s “solidarity with
Syria in this tragic incident and its support for the Syrian government’s
efforts to uphold security and stability.”Türkiye slammed the attack, saying it
stands by Syria and its efforts to support stability, security and unity
“despite all the provocations.”The Iraqi Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the
“heinous terrorist attack,” saying Baghdad rejects all forms of terrorism,
violence and extremism regardless of their motives. It slammed the attack
against civilians and places of worship, saying they aim to create instability
and sow strife in society. The ministry underlined Iraq’s support for regional
and international efforts aimed at eliminating terrorism and drying up its
sources of funding. The United Arab Emirates condemned the attack, saying it
rejects all forms of violence and terrorism that aim to undermine security and
stability. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry slammed the attack, voicing its full
support to Syria in its reconstruction process “based on principles that ensure
its territorial unity, sovereignty, security and stability.”In Beirut, President
Joseph Aoun slammed the Homs attack, saying Lebanon stands by Syria in its war
on terrorism. He offered his condolences to the Syrian people. Qatar slammed the
attack, saying it fully stands by the Syrian government and all the measures it
takes to preserve security. France said the blast was an “act of terrorism”
designed to destabilize the country, while United Nations Secretary General
Antonio Guterres condemned the “unacceptable” attack and said the perpetrators
should be brought to justice.
Israeli forces’ assault on
Qabatiya continues into second day
WAFA/December 27, 2025
RAMALLAH: Israeli troops questioned residents, searched homes and damaged
buildings and roads in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on
Saturday as their operation in the town continued for a second day. Some
residents were forced to evacuate as soldiers took over a number of properties,
including a school, to use as a base and to hold and question people, the
Palestine News Agency WAFA reported. Bulldozers were used to dig up streets and
create roadblocks at key access points, while the electricity supply to several
neighborhoods was cut off.
Also on Saturday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles at the entrance
to the town of Bil’in, west of Ramallah, but there were no reports of any
injuries to people or damage to property, WAFA said. The Wall and Settlement
Resistance Commission reported that Israeli forces and settlers carried out
2,144 attacks in November, mainly in the governorates of Ramallah and Al-Bireh
(360), Hebron (348), Bethlehem (342) and Nablus (334). Since early Saturday,
Israeli forces have closed entrances to several villages and towns north and
west of Ramallah, including Ni’lin and Kharbatha Bani Harith, causing traffic
congestion and making it hard for Palestinians to move around. Israeli soldiers
also closed the Atara military checkpoint, making it harder for Palestinians to
travel, especially for those going to and from villages northwest and west of
Ramallah and from northern areas. A report by the Wall and Settlement Resistance
Commission in October said that the number of permanent and temporary
checkpoints, including iron gates, across the Palestinian territories had risen
to 916. Israeli authorities have erected 243 iron checkpoint gates since the
start of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023. On Dec. 20, Israel's military said that
they killed a person in Qabatiya who “hurled a block toward the soldiers.” It
later said that the killing was under review, after Palestinian media aired
brief security footage in which the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is
shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything. An Israeli
reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man as he prayed on a
roadside in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after earlier firing shots in
the area, the Israeli military said. "Footage was received of an armed
individual running over a Palestinian individual," it said in a statement,
adding the individual was a reservist and his military service had been
terminated. The reservist acted "in severe violation of his authority" and his
weapon had been confiscated, the military said.
Chilly Gaza braces for more
winter rain and word of any progress in ceasefire talks
AP/December 28, 2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Barefoot children played on chilly sand as Gaza ‘s
thousands of displaced people prepared threadbare tents on Saturday for another
round of winter rain. Some families in the central town of Deir Al-Balah said
they had been living in tents for about two years, or for most of the war
between Israel and Hamas that has devastated the territory. Fathers braced
fraying tents with old pieces of wood or inspected the ragged edges of holes
torn in tarps. Inside the dim homes, daylight through tiny holes shone like
stars. Mothers battled the damp, slinging clothing over poles or cord to dry in
the wind between the downpours that turn paths into puddles. One mother pulled a
tiny child away from a mildewing patch of carpet. “We have been living in this
tent for two years. Every time it rains and the tent collapses over our heads,
we try to put up new pieces of wood,” said Shaima Wadi, a mother of four
children who was displaced from Jabaliya in the north. “With how expensive
everything has become, and without any income, we can barely afford clothes for
our children or mattresses for them to sleep on.” Gaza’s Health Ministry, part
of the Hamas-run government, has said dozens of people, including a two-week-old
infant, have died from hypothermia or after weather-related collapses of
war-damaged homes. Aid organizations have called for more shelters and other
humanitarian aid to be allowed into the territory. Emergency workers have warned
people not to stay in damaged buildings. But with so much of the territory
reduced to rubble, there are few places to escape the rain. “I collect nylon,
cardboard and plastic from the streets to keep them warm,” said Ahmad Wadi, who
burns the materials or uses them as a kind of blanket for loved ones. “They
don’t have proper covers. It is freezing, the humidity is high, and water seeps
in from everywhere. I don’t know what to do.”
Ceasefire talks
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington in the
coming days as negotiators and others discuss the second stage of the ceasefire
that took effect on Oct. 10. Though the agreement has mostly held, its progress
has slowed. The remains of the final hostage taken during the Hamas-led attack
on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war are still in Gaza. Challenges in the next
phase of the ceasefire include the deployment of an international stabilization
force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and
further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory. Both Israel and Hamas have
accused each other of truce violations. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that since
the ceasefire went into effect, 414 Palestinians have been killed and 1,142
wounded. It said the bodies of 679 people were pulled from the rubble during the
same period as the truce makes it safer to search for the remains of people
killed earlier. The ministry on Saturday said 29 bodies, including 25 that were
recovered from under the rubble, had been brought to local hospitals over the
past 48 hours. The overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has
risen to at least 71,266, the ministry said, and another 171,219 have been
wounded. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and
civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains
detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
West Bank operation
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement Saturday that a
military operation continued in a town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank a day
after police said a Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then
stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both.
The statement said the army had surrounded the town of Qabatiya, where Katz said
the attacker was from, and was operating “forcefully” there. Authorities on
Friday said the attacker was shot and injured in Afula. He was taken to a
hospital. It’s common practice for Israel to launch raids in the West Bank towns
that attackers come from or demolish homes belonging to the assailants’
families. Israel says that it helps to locate militant infrastructure and
prevents future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective
punishment. AP video on Saturday showed Israeli bulldozers entering the town and
soldiers patrolling. “They announced a strict curfew,” resident Bilal Hanash
said, as he and others described main roads being closed with dirt barriers, a
practice that has grown during the war in Gaza. “So basically, they’re punishing
30,000 people.”
Netanyahu to Meet Trump in US on Monday for Talks on Iran,
Gaza, Hezbollah, Syria
Asharq Al Awsat/December 26/2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald
Trump in Florida on Monday, an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a
crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan. It will be
Netanyahu's fifth visit to see key ally Trump in the United States this year.
His trip comes as the Trump administration and regional mediators push to
proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the
Gaza Strip. An Israeli official on Saturday said Netanyahu would leave for the
US on December 28 and meet with Trump a day later in Florida, without providing
a specific location. Trump told reporters in mid-December that Netanyahu would
probably visit him in Florida during the Christmas holidays. "He would like to
see me. We haven't set it up formally, but he'd like to see me," Trump said
before leaving for his Mar-a-Lago resort. Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper
reported on Wednesday that a wide range of regional issues was expected to be
discussed, including Iran, talks on an Israel-Syria security agreement, the
ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the next stages of the Gaza deal.
'Going nowhere' -
Concerning Gaza, the timing of the meeting is "very significant", said Gershon
Baskin, the co-head of peacebuilding commission the Alliance for Two States, who
has taken part in back-channel negotiations with Hamas. "Phase one is basically
over, there's one remaining Israeli deceased hostage which they (Hamas) are
having difficulty finding," he told AFP. "Phase two has to begin, it's even late
and I think the Americans realize that it's late because Hamas has had too much
time to re-establish its presence and this is certainly not a situation that the
Americans want to leave in place," he added. Progress in moving to the second
phase of October's Gaza ceasefire agreement, which was brokered by Washington
and its regional allies, has so far been slow. Both sides allege frequent
ceasefire violations and mediators fear that Israel and Hamas alike are
stalling. Under the next stages, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its
positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory
instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force (ISF) is to be
deployed. It also includes a provision for Palestinian movement Hamas to lay
down its weapons -- a major sticking point. On Friday, US news outlet Axios
reported that the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu was key to advancing to
the next steps of the deal. Citing White House officials, Axios said that the
Trump administration wanted to announce the Palestinian technocratic government
for Gaza and the ISF as soon as possible. It reported that senior Trump
officials were growing exasperated "as Netanyahu has taken steps to undermine
the fragile ceasefire and stall the peace process"."There are more and more
signs that the American administration is getting frustrated with Netanyahu,"
said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at London-based think-tank Chatham
House. "The question is what it's going to do about it," he added, "because
phase two is right now going nowhere."
Iran tops agenda -
While the Trump administration is keen for progress on Gaza, analysts said the
prospect of Iran rebuilding its nuclear program and ballistic missile
capabilities was likely to top the agenda for Netanyahu. "All the news that
we've heard in the Israeli media over the last two weeks about Iran building up
its missiles and being a threat to Israel is all part of a planned strategy of
deflecting attention from Gaza to the issue that Netanyahu loves to talk about
which is Iran," said Baskin. In June, Israel launched strikes on Iranian
military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas. Iran responded with
drone and missile strikes on Israel, and later on in the 12-day war, the United
States joined Israel in targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. Mekelberg shared
the view that Netanyahu could be attempting to shift attention from Gaza onto
Iran. With Israel entering an election year, Mekelberg said with regards to the
Trump meeting, Netanyahu would be "taking a defensive approach, to minimize what
can be difficult for him coming back home". "Everything is connected to staying
in power," he said of the long-time Israeli premier.
The risks of carving up
Yemen
Arab News/December 27, 2025
RIYADH: Concern is mounting that Yemen is sliding toward a de-facto partition,
with rival authorities consolidating control over separate regions. In the
south, the Southern Transitional Council has expanded its footprint, while
Iran-backed Houthi forces remain firmly entrenched in the north. Those fears
have intensified in recent weeks, driven by the STC’s latest military operation
and the widening Red Sea conflict. Together, they raise a central question: Will
Yemen’s decade-long war end in reconciliation, or fracture into competing
statelets? On Dec. 23, Rashad Al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership
Council, the executive body of Yemen’s internationally recognized government,
warned that unilateral actions by the STC were pushing the country toward a
dangerous tipping point. Speaking to Yemeni diplomats, Al-Alimi said the group’s
actions threatened internal stability and undermined the security of neighboring
states, according to the state-run SABA news agency. “These actions reached a
dangerous stage this week,” he said at the time, citing pressure on state
institutions to endorse the division of the country and adopt political
positions beyond their authority. Such steps, he added, jeopardize the unity of
decision-making and the state’s legal standing. Al-Alimi stressed that “under no
circumstances can partnership in governance turn into rebellion against the
state or an attempt to impose reality by force.”He also warned that the STC’s
moves could complicate regional security commitments and international efforts
to protect maritime corridors, energy supplies and commercial shipping in the
Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Saudi Arabia echoed those concerns. On Dec. 25, the Kingdom said recent STC
military movements were carried out unilaterally, resulting in an “unjustified
escalation” that harmed the interests of Yemenis, the Southern cause and the
coalition’s efforts. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the
foreign ministry said Riyadh has consistently prioritized Yemen’s unity and
spared no effort to pursue peaceful solutions in the affected governorates,
Hadramout and Al-Mahra. Within that framework, the statement said, Saudi Arabia
worked with the UAE, Al-Alimi and the Yemeni government to contain the
situation. A joint Saudi-Emirati military team was dispatched to Aden to arrange
the return of STC forces to their previous positions outside the two
governorates and to hand over camps to the Nation Shield Forces and local
authorities under coalition supervision. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid
bin Salman said on Saturday that in response to the request of Yemen’s
legitimate government, the Kingdom has “brought together brotherly countries to
participate in a coalition supporting legitimacy” to restore “the Yemeni state’s
control over all of its territory.”In a post on X, Prince Khalid urged the STC
to respond to Saudi-Emirati mediation efforts and withdraw from the two southern
governorates and “hand them over peacefully to the forces of the National Shield
and local authorities.”
“The southern issue will remain present in any comprehensive political
settlement and must be resolved through consensus, honouring commitments and
building trust among all Yemenis, not through adventurism that serves only the
enemy of all,” he added. For his part, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that a
resumption of fighting in Yemen could reverberate across the Red Sea, the Gulf
of Aden, and the Horn of Africa. Unilateral actions will not clear a path to
peace,” he said on Dec. 17. “They deepen divisions, harden positions, and raise
the risk of wider escalation and further fragmentation.”Until recently, Yemen’s
battle lines had largely stayed frozen. Major frontlines had been stable since a
nationwide ceasefire in 2022. Although the truce formally expired after six
months, large-scale fighting did not resume. But that balance shifted on Dec. 2,
when the STC launched a military offensive in the south and clashed with Yemeni
government units and tribal-aligned forces.
Within days, the group seized control of two non-Houthi governorates that
together account for nearly half of Yemen’s territory — Wadi Hadramout and Al-Mahra.
Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia and holds an estimated 80 percent of Yemen’s oil
reserves, while Al-Mahra borders Oman. Both regions had largely escaped direct
clashes between government forces and the Houthis for more than a decade. The
offensive was a turning point. By extending its authority over most of the
territory that once formed South Yemen — an independent state until unification
in 1990 — the STC, despite being part of the internationally recognized
government, appeared to move closer to its longstanding goal of independence.
The latest development has deepened concerns in the region that Yemen’s conflict
is hardening into a divided reality that may be difficult to reverse. “With
every crisis, calls for secession between southern and northern Yemen
resurface,” a seasoned analyst of Middle East politics told Arab News. “The
current phase is decisive, as the STC is taking concrete steps to prepare for
the separation of the south.”In response, the analyst said, the PLC has warned
against the creation of a parallel authority and the division of the country.
That position, he added, has found open support among politicians and officials
affiliated with the STC, particularly in Hadramout and Al-Mahra, who have
aligned themselves behind STC President Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, who also serves as
a vice president of the PLC. The analyst noted that some observers see parallels
with the Houthis’ consolidation of power in northern Yemen, arguing that the
STC’s approach risks repeating the same model of domination. “This requires a
political proposal that reassures the rest of Yemenis, as well as the most
important neighbor, Saudi Arabia,” the analyst said, noting that Yemen’s fate
has historically not been determined without Riyadh’s involvement. Some Yemeni
media outlets have reported that the STC’s secessionist moves were coordinated
with the Houthis under an alleged arrangement that would leave the south to the
STC and the north, including Sanaa, to the Iran-aligned group.
“While such claims remain unverified, analysts broadly agree that Yemen is
heading toward deeper division — a prospect widely feared across the country,”
the analyst said. Rather than signaling an end to the conflict, he added,
partition could lead to renewed flare-ups and the emergence of new actors,
“particularly given that STC-controlled areas such as Hadramout and Al-Mahra are
oil-rich regions holding the bulk of Yemen’s natural resources,” which is
“likely to intensify competition rather than stabilize the country.”
In a widely discussed recent column, Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, former general
manager of Al Arabiya and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, used the
term “geographic determinism” to describe what he said continues to shape
Yemen’s trajectory. “Forces in the south, and likewise in the north, cannot
succeed in their political projects without the major northern neighbor — even
if they succeed temporarily,” he said. “This has been true since the 1960s and
remains so today.”
Even the Houthis, he argued, operate within structural limits despite Iranian
backing. “They are an Iranian proxy with an ideological project, not a national
Yemeni component,” Al-Rashed wrote, adding that the militia has begun to realize
that its reliance on Tehran could threaten its survival. Strategically, he
added, geography and demography favor long-term regional influence. More than
two million Yemenis live in Saudi Arabia — a vital economic and social lifeline
that will shape Yemen’s future for decades. The STC’s rise, he warned, threatens
not only to divide Yemen, but also to fragment the south itself, which has
experienced multiple state entities over the past century. “Its rapid,
unilateral expansion, particularly into Hadrami areas, risks provoking rival
southern forces and deepening instability, mirroring the dynamics that empowered
the Houthis,” Al-Rashed said. Al-Rashed said the STC’s vision of restoring an
independent southern state can succeed only under two conditions: broad Yemeni
acceptance through an inclusive political project; and Saudi support.
“Without that,” he wrote, “the Transitional Council will not go far or last long
and may ultimately undermine the very idea of southern unity that depends on its
relationship with Riyadh.” Yemen has endured decades of civil war. The Houthis
control much of the populous northwest, including the capital, Sanaa. The
conflict has killed thousands and triggered one of the world’s gravest
humanitarian crises, according to the UN, leaving an estimated 21 million
people, nearly half the population, dependent on aid and more than 4.5 million
displaced. Amid the political turmoil, the Houthis and the Yemeni government
reached an agreement on Dec. 23 to conduct a large-scale prisoner exchange, a
rare humanitarian step aimed at de-escalation. Abdulqader Hasan Yahya Al-Murtadha,
head of the Houthi National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, said the deal
included the release of 1,700 Houthi detainees in exchange for 1,200 prisoners
held by the other side.Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed the prisoner
exchange deal reached in Muscat, Oman, and hailed the role of the UN special
envoy for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross. While the
Houthi war with the Yemeni government and rival factions has largely stalled, it
has drawn renewed international attention since October 2023, when the militia
escalated attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea in response
to the war in Gaza. In response, the US and Israel carried out strikes in Sanaa,
reportedly killing dozens of civilians and political figures as they sought to
curb Houthi attacks. This added yet another layer of volatility to an already
fractured country.
Saudi Defense Minister: Time for STC to Withdraw from
Yemen's Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra
Asharq Al Awsat/December 26/2025
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Saturday it “was time
for the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen to listen to reason and
prioritize public interest and unity of ranks and respond to the Saudi-Emirati
mediation to end the escalation.”In a post on the X platform, he called on the
STC to withdraw its forces from the eastern Hadhramaut and al-Mahra provinces
and restore control to the National Shield and local authorities. Prince Khalid
said Saudi Arabia formed the Arab coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen to
help the country reclaim control over all of its territories. The liberation of
southern provinces was a pivotal development towards that goal, he stressed.
Saudi Arabia “views the southern issue as fundamental” to Yemen and it will not
“exploit it in conflicts that do not serve” the nation, he added. The Kingdom
had brought together all Yemeni components to the Riyadh conference to come up
with a clear path for a comprehensive political solution, including the southern
issue, he went on to say. The conference paved the way for a “just solution to
their cause through dialogue and without the use of forces.”“Saudi Arabia
approved the decision to move the base of power so that the southerners could
have a greater role in state institutions. It consolidated partnership instead
of elimination or imposing a status quo through forces. Saudi Arabia also
presented Yemen with economic support, as well as development and humanitarian
initiatives that helped ease the suffering of the people,” Prince Khalid added.
“Saudi Arabia and its partners in the coalition offered sacrifices with their
Yemeni brothers in liberating Aden and other provinces,” he noted. “The Kingdom
has always sought that these sacrifices be made in the name of reclaiming
territories and restoring the state, not as a path towards new conflicts.” It
had hoped that these sacrifices would have been “invested in the security of all
Yemeni people, not exploited for petty gains, whereby the unfortunate
developments in Hadhramaut and al-Mahra since the beginning of December 2025
have led to the division in ranks that should be united against the enemy.”“The
developments have laid waste to the sacrifices of our sons and Yemeni people and
have harmed the just southern issue,” stressed Prince Khalid. He noted that
several southern leaderships and figures have exhibited “awareness and wisdom in
supporting efforts to end the escalation in Hadhramaut and al-Mahra and prevent
the secure southern provinces from being dragged into futile conflicts.”“They
are aware of the major challenges facing Yemen and will not allow saboteurs to
achieve their goals in the country and the region,” he remarked. He declared
that the “southern issue will remain part of any comprehensive political
solution. The cause will not be neglected or marginalized. It should be resolved
through consensus, adhering to commitments and building trust between all Yemeni
segments, not through adventures that only serve everyone's enemy.”
Iran Wants Iraqi PM Who ‘Takes into Consideration’
Interests of Both Countries
Asharq Al Awsat/December 26/2025
Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem Al-e Sadegh said on Friday that the
armed Iraqi factions that proposed limiting the possession of arms to the state
have reached a point where they can take decisions by themselves, denying that
they are Tehran’s “proxies.”Speaking to Dijlah television, he added that
describing those factions as “proxies” insults them. Moreover, the fact that
Iran supported them during the war on ISIS does not mean that they are working
on its behalf. A heated debated is raging in Iraq over the future of the armed
forces and their arsenal amid internal and foreign pressure to impose state
monopoly over weapons, especially as pro-Iran factions have been gaining
influence. Commenting on the Iraqi parliamentary elections that took place in
November, the ambassador said the rise in seats held by the factions is the
“choice of the people.”On who should be appointed prime minister, Al-e Sadegh
stressed that the choice to rename Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to the post is a
“purely” Iraqi decision. He added, however, that Tehran backs the formation of a
government that is based on “partnership, consensus and balance,” hoping that
the new PM will “take into consideration” Iraq and Iran’s interests. Al-e Sadegh
slammed the role of the United States in Iraq, saying American jets “are spying
on Iran from Iraqi skies.” He also described as “unjustified” Washington’s
appointment of a special envoy to Iraq. The ambassador underscored the strength
of relations between Baghdad and Tehran, saying he can never imagine that they
could be severed. Some 35 percent of Iraqis live in areas bordering Iran, so
people from both countries enjoy deep social and tribal ties, he explained.
Italian Authorities Arrest 9 for Allegedly Funding Hamas Through Charities
Asharq Al Awsat/December 26/2025
Italian authorities arrested nine people linked to three charitable
organizations on suspicion of raising millions of euros in funds for the
Palestinian group Hamas, anti-terrorism prosecutors said in a statement
Saturday. The suspects are accused of sending about 7 million euros ($8.2
million) to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel,
owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas,” the statement said. Among those arrested
was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy,
prosecutors said, describing him as the “head of the Italian cell of the Hamas
organization.” The European Union has Hamas listed on its terror list. According
to Italian prosecutors, who collaborated with other EU countries in the probe,
the illegal funds were delivered through “triangulation operations” via bank
transfers or through organizations based abroad to associations based in Gaza,
which have been declared illegal by Israel for their ties to Hamas. Interior
Minister Matteo Piantedosi wrote on X that the operation “lifted the veil on
behavior and activities which, pretending to be initiatives in favor of the
Palestinian population, concealed support for and participation in terrorist
organizations.” There was no immediate comment from the suspects or the
associations. In January 202, the European Council decided to extend existing
restrictive measures against 12 individuals and three entities that support the
financing of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Egypt Warns of Moves to Derail Gaza Deal, Fragment
Reconstruction
Cairo: Mohamed Mahmoud/Asharq Al Awsat/December 26/2025
Efforts by mediators to advance the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement
are intensifying, as Egypt issues fresh warnings that the process could be
obstructed just days before it is due to take effect in January. Egypt’s
position, which rejects fragmenting reconstruction, dividing the Gaza Strip, or
accepting Israeli conditions regarding stability forces in the enclave, carries
important messages aimed at pressuring Israel ahead of a meeting between US
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 29,
experts told Asharq Al-Awsat. They expect Washington to press for the launch of
the second phase in light of those Egyptian messages. German Foreign Minister
Johann Wadephul said on Friday that Germany would not take part, for the
foreseeable future, in an international force for stability in Gaza under the
enclave’s peace plan, which is expected to be deployed next month. The move has
reinforced Egyptian concerns voiced by Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State
Information Service, who accused Netanyahu of trying to reframe the second phase
and confine it to a demand to disarm the resistance, something not stipulated in
the agreement and well understood by the United States. He pointed to Israeli
efforts to involve a stability force in roles beyond its mandate, such as
disarmament, which participating countries would not accept. Rashwan said on
Thursday, according to state-owned Al Qahera News television, that Netanyahu’s
attempts could delay or slow implementation but would not succeed in stopping
the second phase. He added that Netanyahu was seeking by all means to avoid
moving to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement and to push
Washington into a confrontation with Tehran, which could reignite Gaza and
derail the second phase.
On Thursday, Israel’s Ynet news site quoted a military source as saying
Netanyahu would brief Trump on intelligence about the threat posed by Iranian
ballistic missiles during their expected meeting before the end of the year. The
source said Israel might be forced to confront Iran if the United States fails
to reach an agreement to curb Iran’s ballistic missile program. Mokhtar Ghobashy,
Secretary-General of the Al-Farabi Center for Political Studies, stated that the
Egyptian statements were clear and explicit, conveying messages to Israel and
Washington ahead of the anticipated visit. He said that when Egyptian anger
reaches the level of direct messaging, Washington considers the need to reach a
point of convergence between Cairo and Tel Aviv. Palestinian political analyst
Nizar Nazzal said the Egyptian statements carry genuine messages and concerns
about Israel entrenching the status quo from a security rather than a political
perspective, in the hope that Washington would move seriously to put an end to
it.
Egypt’s position extends beyond expressing concern to include explicit warnings.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Thursday in an interview with
Egyptian television that there were two red lines in Gaza. The first is
rejecting any separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which he said
was impossible as both constitute an indivisible unit of the future Palestinian
state. The second red line is rejecting any division of the Gaza Strip. He added
that talk about dividing Gaza into red and green zones, or about areas under
direct Israeli control receiving food, water and reconstruction while 90 percent
of Palestinians elsewhere are denied basic needs under the pretext of Hamas’
presence, is absurd, will not happen and will not be agreed to. Ghobashy
stressed that when Egypt declares red lines, it marks a firm boundary, noting
that there are unacceptable violations on the ground from Cairo’s perspective.
He said Cairo was deliberately sending these messages at this time in the hope
of strengthening the mediators’ path toward launching the second phase soon,
especially since Washington can impose its will if it chooses, particularly when
it comes to pressuring Israel to halt actions obstructing the agreement. Israel
Hayom newspaper reported on Thursday that the anticipated meeting between
Netanyahu and Trump would conclude with a statement on progress toward the
second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Rashwan said that all indicators
show the US administration has settled on starting the second phase in early
January. He added that Trump’s reception of the Israeli prime minister on Dec.
29 likely signals the actual launch of the second phase without ambiguity.Nazzal
expects Netanyahu, in his meeting with Trump, to try to push a narrative of
maintaining Israel’s presence along the yellow line, dividing Gaza and starting
reconstruction in the part under Israeli control. But he said Egypt’s warning
messages are a preemptive step to avert any new obstacles or US-Israeli
alignment that could disrupt the agreement’s course.
Trump Says Does Not Back Recognizing Somaliland after Ally
Israel
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
President Donald Trump said he opposed US recognition of Somaliland in an
interview with the New York Post published Friday, after Israeli Prime Minister
and prominent Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would become the first
country to recognize it. "No," the president told the Post when asked about US
recognition of Somaliland, adding: "Does anyone know what Somaliland is,
really?"On Friday, Israel formally recognized the northern region of Somaliland
as an "independent and sovereign state" -- the first country to do so.
Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has for decades
pushed for international recognition, which has been the key priority for
president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi since he took office last year. But a
Somali foreign ministry statement warned the decision was a "deliberate attack"
on its sovereignty that would undermine peace in the region. Several other
countries also condemned Israel's decision.
Iran’s President Says His Country Is in a Full-Scale War with the West
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country is in a full-scale
war with the US, Israel and Europe ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu ’s meeting Monday with US President Donald Trump. Pezeshkian said in
an interview published on the website of the country’s Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei on Saturday that the war is worse than Iran's deadly war with Iraq in
the 1980s. “We are in a full-scale war with the US, Israel and Europe; they
don’t want our country to remain stable,” he said. Pezeshkian said the West's
war against Iran is “more complicated and more difficult” compared to the
1980-1988 war with Iraq that left more than 1 million casualties on both sides.
The remarks came two days before a planned meeting between Trump and Netanyahu
during Netanyahu's visit to the US Iran is expected to be a key topic in the
talks. Israeli and US strikes on Iran that came during a 12-day air war in June
killed nearly 1,100 Iranians including senior military commanders and nuclear
scientists. Retaliatory missile barrages by Iran killed 28 in Israel.
Arab Coalition: We Will Deal with Military Moves that
Violate De-escalation Efforts
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
Spokesman of the Arab coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen Brigadier General
Turki al-Malki said on Saturday that “any military moves that violate
de-escalation efforts will be dealt with directly to protect lives and ensure
the success of Saudi and Emirati efforts.”The statement is in response to a
request by Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi,
who called for immediate steps to protect civilians in the eastern Hadhramaut
and al-Mahra provinces in wake of the “grave and horrific” violations by members
of the Southern Transitional Council (STC). It is also in continuation of the
strenuous joint efforts by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to
de-escalate the situation and ensure the withdrawal of STC forces, who have been
demanded to cede control to the National Shield forces and allow the local
authorities to carry out their duties. Malki underlined the Arab coalition’s
continued firm support for the legitimate Yemeni government. He also urged all
sides to assume their national responsibility, exercise restraint and comply
with efforts to reach peaceful solutions that preserve security and stability.
Saudi Arabia Carries out Warning Strike on Yemen’s Hadhramaut, STC Says ‘Open to
Coordination’
Riyadh: Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
Saudi Arabia called for calm in eastern Yemen, urging an end to unilateral
military moves and for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces to return
to their former positions outside of the Hadhramaut and al-Mahra provinces.
Riyadh, meanwhile, demonstrated its stance on the ground by carrying out a
warning air strike, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. The strike sought to
deliver a message that it will not allow a new status quo to be imposed on the
ground by force and that it will not allow the violation of institutional
frameworks that handle security in the eastern provinces. It warned that any
further escalation will be met with firmer measures. Meanwhile, the STC, in an
attempt to justify its military moves, said they were in “response to calls from
residents of the south” and an attempt to confront terrorist threats and block
Houthi smuggling routes. The STC added that it was “open to any coordination or
arrangements with Saudi Arabia”, questioning the airstrike, which it said “does
not serve understandings.”Observers told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudi Arabia will
welcome the coordination and arrangements if they helped end the escalation, led
to the withdrawal of the STC and allowed the National Shield forces and the
local authority to take over Hadhramaut and al-Mahra without needing to resort
to force. They stressed that the strike will lead to delivering the clear
message that Riyadh may impose red lines by force to prevent any escalation.
Sourced told Asharq Al-Awsat that any future settlement over restoring the unity
of Yemeni ranks will condition a return to the former status quo.
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Vows to Fight Any Israeli Use of Somaliland
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab vowed Saturday to fight any
attempt by Israel "to claim or use parts of Somaliland" following its
recognition of the breakaway territory. "We will not accept it, and we will
fight against it," Al-Shabaab said in a statement. Its spokesman Ali Dheere said
in the statement that Israel's recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state
showed it "has decided to expand into parts of the Somali territories" to
support "the apostate administration in the northwest regions". Israel said
Friday it was officially recognizing Somaliland, a first for the self-proclaimed
republic that in 1991 declared it had unilaterally seceded from Somalia.
Mogadishu immediately denounced a "deliberate attack" on its sovereignty, while
Egypt, Türkiye, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Saudi-based
Organization of Islamic Cooperation all condemned Israel's move. Regional
analysts believe that a rapprochement with Somaliland could allow Israel to
secure better access to the Red Sea. In addition, press reports a few months ago
said Somaliland was among a handful of African territories willing to host
Palestinians expelled by Israel, but neither the Somaliland authorities nor the
Israeli government has ever commented on those reports. "It is humiliation of
the highest level today, to see some Somali people celebrating a recognition by
the Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu" when "Israel is the biggest
enemy of the Islamic society". The territory of Somaliland is roughly a third
the size of France and corresponds more or less to the former British Somaliland
protectorate. It has its own money, army and police and enjoys relative
stability compared to its neighbors. But, until now, Somaliland had not been
publicly recognized by any country, which has kept it politically and
economically isolated despite its location on one of the world's busiest trade
routes connecting the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. Somalia has been battling
Al-Shabaab for nearly 20 years and while security has significantly improved in
Mogadishu, the war still rages 60 kilometers from the capital.
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s
Homs after deadly mosque bombing
AP/December 27, 2025
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a
mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight
people and wounded 18. The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly
from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices
were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect. A
little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility
for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it
indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an
offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates. The
same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman
opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church
in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers
prayed on a Sunday. A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by
the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he
was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”He and
other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it,
he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and
scattered body parts on the floor. While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite,
he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray. “It’s
the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever
asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”Mourners were unable to enter
the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so
they prayed outside. Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in
reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims
consider to be his rightful successor.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published
on
December 27-28/2025
How Iran's Sanctions-Evasions and Willing Support Retinue Keep It Alive
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/December 27/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/12/150563/
The regime has learned that sanctions are only as effective as their
implementation. Over time, the regime has institutionalized sanctions evasion,
embedding it into state policy and delegating it to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated economic networks. This has turned evasion
from an improvised response into a permanent survival machine.
Iran's continued oil exports depend on countries that are prepared to ignore
sanctions, interpret them loosely, or exploit enforcement gaps. The central role
in this system is played by China, which purchases large volumes of discounted
Iranian oil, assuring China of a steady flow of oil and Iran of a steady flow of
cash. So long as demand exists, Iran will try to find ways to supply it.
Grounding Iranian airlines would sever a key logistical lifeline for sanctions
evasion and regional influence. This requires sanctioning not only Iranian
carriers but also foreign companies and governments that provide aircraft parts,
maintenance, insurance, fuel, and airport services. Without these inputs, Iran's
aviation network cannot function.
Equally important is imposing consequences on countries and companies that
enable Iran's oil exports. Sanctions must extend beyond Iranian entities to
include buyers, refiners, shippers, insurers, and financial institutions that
knowingly facilitate these transactions. Enforcement must be multinational,
leaving no safe jurisdiction for intermediaries. If oil-sanctions evasion
becomes costly and risky for buyers and service-providers, Iran's primary
revenue source will shrink dramatically.
As long as the Iranian regime can evade sanctions, it will continue to
strengthen and project power. Sanctions that are porous cannot seriously weaken
the regime. To truly constrain Iran, the focus must shift to stopping the
mechanisms that allow it to freely operate — its aviation network, oil exports,
front companies, and all the regime partners that obligingly enable it.
Iran's aviation sector is not merely civilian infrastructure but a strategic
tool used to sustain the regime politically, economically, and militarily.
Iranian airlines allow Tehran to move money, equipment, personnel, and goods
across borders while bypassing traditional trade channels that are heavily
sanctioned.
No matter how many sanctions are imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran, its
regime continues to survive, adapt and expand its influence. This endurance is
not the result of economic strength or internal legitimacy, but of a carefully
constructed system designed to evade restrictions, exploit loopholes, and rely
on foreign actors willing to ignore or undermine international enforcement.
As long as the Iranian regime can breathe through these openings, sanctions
alone will not weaken it; instead, the regime will continue to fund repression
at home, empower militant proxies abroad, and project dominance across the
region.
At the heart of Iran's sanctions survival strategy is a clear understanding of
global enforcement limits. The regime has learned that sanctions are only as
effective as their implementation. Over time, the regime has institutionalized
sanctions evasion, embedding it into state policy and delegating it to the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated economic networks. This
has turned evasion from an improvised response into a permanent survival
machine.
Iran's aviation sector is not merely civilian infrastructure but a strategic
tool used to sustain the regime politically, economically, and militarily.
Iranian airlines allow Tehran to move money, equipment, personnel, and goods
across borders while bypassing traditional trade channels that are heavily
sanctioned. Iran exploits gaps in international oversight to keep its fleets
operating despite restrictions on aircraft sales, spare parts, insurance, and
maintenance.
Iranian airlines also function through a web of front companies, falsified
registrations, and indirect procurement networks. Aircraft parts and services
that should be blocked under sanctions are often acquired through third parties,
shell corporations, or intermediaries operating in countries with weak oversight
or political sympathy toward Tehran.
Aviation is, in addition, crucial to Iran's external alliances, particularly
with sanctioned or anti-Western regimes; Flights to countries such as Venezuela
exemplify how Iran uses air routes not simply for commerce but for strategic
cooperation among isolated states. These routes provide channels for the
exchange of goods, expertise, and financial arrangements that, under sanctions,
would otherwise be impossible. By maintaining these aviation links, the Iranian
regime ensures that isolation is never absolute and that alternative
geopolitical ecosystems remain open.
Beyond aviation, oil exports remain the single most critical source of income
for Iran's regime. Even though sanctions are explicitly designed to cut off this
revenue stream, Iran has repeatedly demonstrated that, without full global
compliance, oil embargoes are only partially effective. Tehran has constructed a
shadow oil economy that relies on concealment, mislabeling, ship-to-ship
transfers, and complex logistics networks that disguise the true origin of its
crude. Tankers, to obscure accountability, may sail with transponders turned
off, change names and flags, or transfer oil at sea.
These practices succeed only because Iran has willing buyers. Iran's continued
oil exports depend on countries that are prepared to ignore sanctions, interpret
them loosely, or exploit enforcement gaps. The central role in this system is
played by China, which purchases large volumes of discounted Iranian oil,
assuring China of a steady flow of oil and Iran of a steady flow of cash. So
long as demand exists, Iran will try to find ways to supply it.
Iran has also increasingly coordinated with other sanctioned or semi-isolated
states, including Venezuela, to exchange crude oil, refine products, or share
logistical infrastructure. In this parallel economic system, sanctioned regimes
support one another, reducing the impact of Western pressure, undermining the
value of sanctions as a deterrent and normalizing defiance of international
norms.
Another core element of Iran's survival strategy is its extensive use of front
companies and shell corporations, designed to conceal ownership, disguise
transactions, and create plausible deniability for businesses and governments
that interact with Iranian interests. Front companies often appear as legitimate
trading firms, logistics providers, or financial intermediaries, but in reality
are controlled directly or indirectly by the Iranian state or the IRGC. Through
these structures -- frequently based in jurisdictions that offer secrecy, lax
regulation, or political reluctance to confront Iran -- the regime conducts
trade, secures financing, and moves money across borders with reduced
visibility.
Iran's aviation industry uses similar corporate networks, which are instrumental
in weapons smuggling and military procurement. Dual-use goods, missile
components, drone technology, and conventional weapons are acquired through
civilian trade channels that mask their final destination. Iran's ability to arm
its proxies depends on these covert supply chains. They blur the line between
economic activity and military logistics and enable the flow of weapons and
technology.
To stop this cycle, sanctions enforcement must shift from symbolic -- fictitious
-- pressure to the systematic suffocation of the Iranian regime. One of the most
urgent steps is to focus aggressively on Iran's aviation sector. Grounding
Iranian airlines would sever a key logistical lifeline for sanctions evasion and
regional influence. This requires sanctioning not only Iranian carriers but also
foreign companies and governments that provide aircraft parts, maintenance,
insurance, fuel, and airport services. Without these inputs, Iran's aviation
network cannot function.
Equally important is imposing consequences on countries and companies that
enable Iran's oil exports. Sanctions must extend beyond Iranian entities to
include buyers, refiners, shippers, insurers, and financial institutions that
knowingly facilitate these transactions. Enforcement must be multinational,
leaving no safe jurisdiction for intermediaries. If oil-sanctions evasion
becomes costly and risky for buyers and service-providers, Iran's primary
revenue source will shrink dramatically.
As long as the Iranian regime can evade sanctions, it will continue to
strengthen and project power. Sanctions that are porous cannot seriously weaken
the regime. To truly constrain Iran, the focus must shift to stopping the
mechanisms that allow it to freely operate — its aviation network, oil exports,
front companies, and all the regime partners that obligingly enable it.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22150/iran-sanctions-evasion
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and
board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on
the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
**Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.
MAGA: Mending Fences or the End of a Coalition?
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2025
“AmericaFest” wrapped up in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday. It was the first
Turning Point USA conference held since Charlie Kirk, who had founded the
organization in 2012, was killed earlier this year.
Turning Point is a major force in American domestic politics and a key power
broker in the American right that has a massive network of volunteers across the
country, allowing the organization to shift the balance of primary elections in
states where they are held early and where grassroots mobilization is
particularly crucial.
Did this year’s conference seek to mend the fences following the splits that
have emerged within MAGA, as now former members of the movement, like
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticize President Trump for prioritizing
foreign affairs? To a large extent, yes. Beneath the surface, however, it was
also an early opportunity to campaign for Vice President JD Vance as the
Republican candidate for the coming presidential elections and to put the
dogmatic face of America on display. Internal disagreements and conflicts among
MAGA celebrities cast a shadow over the combative speeches of its biggest stars:
Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump Jr., and Erica Kirk,
Charlie’s widow. Erica’s presence and force of personality were the backbone of
the event, which was presented as a celebration of faith, freedom, and Charlie
Kirk’s shared legacy.
The dividing lines within MAGA, especially among young conservatives, were
evident. It is striking, and perhaps alarming, that skepticism of Israel has
become a central subject of contention. Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Candace
Owens are pushing back against US support for Israel, if not showing outright
hostility to Tel Aviv, while figures like Ben Shapiro defend conservative
politics and reject conspiracy theories.
The three broad wings of the American right openly jostled to shape the
narrative at the Turning Point conference: an ultra-hard right bordering on
fanaticism, a conservative right that could be considered relatively moderate,
and a heritage right.
The heritage wing seems to be the most dangerous threat to the American dream as
conceived by the MAGA-led right. This issue was taken up in the speech of former
presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican of Indian origin
campaigning to become the Governor of Ohio.
The notion of “heritage Americans” is extremely dangerous, and it is spreading
like wildfire in pockets of the right, especially online. The fundamental
premise of this faction is that Americans who do not have an Anglo-Saxon
background are essentially not fully American. The racial hierarchy it promotes
ranks Americans along ethnic lines in a manner that would inevitably fuel civic
strife. Tucker Carlson attempted to downplay the rise of this idea, dismissing
it as delusion, but many believe it is gaining ground.
Vice President J. D. Vance succeeded in presenting himself as an embodiment of
America’s contemporary melting pot, notably by stressing that anyone who “loves
America” has a home in MAGA. "We don't care if you're white or black, rich or
poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little bit boring, or
somewhere in between."Erica Kirk presented Vance as the man capable of taking
Trump’s America First vision forward, but it is clear that Vance is opposed by
Republican Party figures who see his Trumpian approach as a deviation from the
traditional principles of limited government, pro-trade policies, and low
taxation, which have defined the GOP for generations. Did a theme that concerned
many Americans and deepened the unresolved debate over the identity of the
United States, whether it is a secular or a civic state, run through the
conference?Vance delivered a dogmatic speech, presenting himself as a shepherd
and concluding that America is a Christian nation, striking a tone that enthused
the audience, especially the youths in attendance. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon,
Trump’s former adviser, declared that America must be re-baptized, while Tulsi
Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, delivered a speech with a
Huntingtonian tone, warning of the threat that Islam poses to the United States.
Will the divisions exposed at the conference give rise to a debate that
strengthens the MAGA movement or fuel infighting that tears its coalition apart,
paving the way for a Democratic victory in the upcoming midterm elections and a
subsequent return to the White House?
The year that could be
Lea Ypi/Arab News/December 27/2025
Every December in recent years, I think back to the time when Jeremy Corbyn,
then the leader of the opposition Labour Party in my adopted country, the UK,
quoted from a new year’s speech that had a familiar ring to it. “This year will
be tougher than last year,” he said.
Corbyn’s words were familiar because he was quoting Enver Hoxha, the infamous
communist leader of my native country, Albania, who added: “On the other hand,
it will be easier than next year.” The comment caused an uproar, with some
seeing it as evidence that Labour had turned into a Marxist cult, while others
decried its insensitivity to the traumas left open by Albania’s communist past.
Under “Uncle Enver,” the Albania of much of my childhood was one of the most
isolated places on Earth, cut off from both the “revisionist” East and the
“imperialist” West. It existed in its own time capsule, a harsh reality forged
through loyalty, propaganda, surveillance and the repression of dissent. Its
sense of the future was shaped by past myths of heroic sacrifice and
self-reliance, embedded in conspiracies of imminent foreign aggression.
Every new year brought with it new paranoias, new shortages, new disciplinary
measures, new calls for endurance. The only consistent investment the state made
was in bunkers. How could one even remotely compare it to what was going on in
the West?
Yet, for all the dark humor that Albanians and many others failed to appreciate
at the time, Corbyn’s speech — and that quote — turned out to be oddly
prescient. It captured the creeping gloom and dread with which much of the left
has greeted each new year since 2016. Back then, Brexit seemed like the ultimate
catastrophe. “Taking back control,” the triumphant slogan of Britain’s departure
from the EU, sent a shudder through cosmopolitan elites across the West.
As many rushed to stockpile goods in the event of a “no-deal” Brexit, I remember
being asked whether the sight of half-empty supermarket shelves reminded me of
Albania under Hoxha (they did not). Yet with hindsight — after US President
Donald Trump’s first election, a global pandemic, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza,
and Trump’s return to the White House — even die-hard opponents of Brexit might
now concede that their panic was somewhat overblown.
Control, we are now told, is impossible, owing to the threat posed by foreigners
and those deemed incapable of ‘integrating’
Or was it? Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote — certainly
an important symbolic milestone in the current age of globalization. The
referendum signaled a return to a world in which states are increasingly
isolated from one another, institutions are held hostage to the arbitrary will
of individuals and the rule of law seems irreversibly in decline.
The year ahead is unlikely to be different. The Brexiteers’ call to “take back
control” — once carrying at least a veneer of intellectual honesty, insofar as
it invoked legitimate debates about sovereignty — has degenerated into a
full-blown conspiracy narrative. Control, we are now told, is impossible, owing
to the ever-present threat posed by foreigners and those deemed incapable of
“integrating.”
The future seems to offer only a blend of dread and paranoia. What else is to be
expected in a world where the only reliably expanding markets belong to the
military sector and where technological innovation appears increasingly devoted
to perfecting the art of mutual destruction? Amid all this, where can one still
find hope?
In his 1784 essay “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose,”
the German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to identify a standpoint from which
one could interpret history as more than a sorry spectacle of violence,
injustice and irrationality, and identify a pattern conducive to the development
of moral dispositions. It was difficult, Kant thought, because humans do not
always pursue what is in their rational self-interest. They have a free will
that enables them to recognize what is right but still leaves them susceptible
to error.
Paradoxically, Kant identified in war — more precisely, in the irrationality of
war — a key path to hope. He believed there would come a time when war would
become not only utterly destructive and uncertain, but also economically
unsustainable — a source of runaway debt and ruin. As he saw it, the escalating
conflict between states’ interests and the expansion of global trade would
eventually make “the influence of every shake-up in a state in our part of the
world on all other states so noticeable” that a new political configuration
would have to emerge. He envisioned a future cosmopolitan federation, the likes
“of which the past world has no example to show.” Eventually, the world did
produce such an example, though an imperfect one. Kant had predicted that “after
many devastations, reversals and even complete exhaustion of their powers,”
nature would “drive humans to what reason could have told them even without much
sad experience.” His prophecy seemed to be borne out when, in the nightmarish
conditions of the Ventotene prison camp, where Mussolini had exiled his
democratic rivals, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi in 1941 wrote a manifesto
arguing for a federal Europe in which states would be bound together not by
conquest, but by cooperation.
The Ventotene Manifesto later became the inspiration for the European Coal and
Steel Community and, eventually, the EU — a historically unprecedented attempt
to transform shared economic interests into a moral and political project. In
the mid-2000s, that project was still very much alive. University seminars
buzzed with talk of Europe’s future as a supranational institution, divided by
the question of how to turn the existing union’s functional integration into
something more ambitious: a political body founded on “right,” not “might.” It
was a time when Europeans could still conceive of a constitutional convention
for “We, the people of Europe.” It was a moment of hope. Paradoxically, the only
place nowadays where that dream still lives is Albania, which seems to have
ended up in yet another time capsule, an alternative reality that reminds me of
the Bulgarian novelist Georgi Gospodinov’s “Time Shelter,” where people get to
choose the historical epoch they wish to inhabit. For Albanians, the ideal epoch
is the EU of the mid to late 1990s, roughly from the signing of the Maastricht
Treaty to the constitutional project. Albanian elections are fought and won on
the promise of joining the EU; legislation is passed overnight to align with the
“acquis communautaire” (the EU’s body of law). But there is a price. On the
Albanian coast, in the towns of Shengjin and Gjader, detention centers built by
Italy to accommodate deported asylum seekers are a reminder of the temporal
order in which the rest of Europe, and much of the world, now lives. There we
find a liminal space between cosmopolitan ideal and future dystopia.
Today’s Europe bears a far closer resemblance to the vision of Meloni’s party
than to that of Europe’s early federalists
In a speech delivered to the Italian parliament in March, Prime Minister Giorgia
Meloni articulated this new order better than anyone else has. Unsurprisingly,
she also took aim at the Ventotene Manifesto, whose authors wrote: “The problem
to solve in the first instance, failing which all other progress will only be
superficial, is the definitive abolition of the division of Europe into
national, sovereign states.”To that end, Spinelli and Rossi advocated (among
many sensible provisions) the separation of powers, the importance of
democratizing the economy, the role of cultural inclusion and the political
necessity of mobilizing a broad coalition of progressive parties. To this,
Meloni countered, “I don’t know if this is your Europe, but it is certainly not
mine,” adding that she hoped those who were defending the document had not read
it.
Yet almost nobody noticed outside Italy. Perhaps that is because today’s Europe
bears a far closer resemblance to the vision of Meloni’s party, the Brothers of
Italy, than to that of Europe’s early federalists. The European elite’s
contribution to imagining the future now consists largely of applauding Meloni’s
model of “migration management” or engaging in lavish flattery of Trump in the
hope of securing meager trade concessions. As for European Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen’s latest call to “rearm Europe” — that, I confess, does
remind me of Albania’s bunker-building campaigns.
As I think about the year ahead, I find myself returning once more to Kant and
his reminder that, in human affairs, no one can truly predict the future. A
“conjectural history,” he wrote, differs from natural history because the course
of human events depends on freedom, not necessity. The only prophecy that can
come true is the one that the prophet helps to bring about. So, rather than
speculate about what is likely to happen, I would rather speak of hope – the
kind Vaclav Havel described as hope without optimism: a moral duty, sustained
even when outcomes seem bleak. It is the hope of seeing the ideas that once
animated Europe’s institutions return to its streets in defense of migrant
rights and against the machinery of war. Progress is never guaranteed but it is
always possible, provided we act as if it were. Thinking in this peculiar mode
of conjectural history, we could do worse than revive the spirit of resistance
that gave us the cosmopolitan socialism of the Ventotene Manifesto.
• Lea Ypi is Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and
the author, most recently, of “Indignity: A Life Reimagined” (Allen Lane, 2025)
and “Free: Coming of Age at the End of History” (Penguin, 2022). Copyright:
Project Syndicate
Saudi Arabia is not exceptional
Prince Turki Al-Faisal/Arab News/December 27, 2025
Nation states always prioritize the welfare of their citizens by providing
security for them. American and European literature about Saudi Arabia
frequently refers to the Kingdom’s concern for its security as if it is an
exception to that rule.
They imply that insecurity drives its policy options. However, in the Middle
East, the Kingdom has been the most secure country.
While the process of unifying the Kingdom by King Abdulaziz started at the turn
of the 20th century, when all of the Arabian Peninsula suffered from insecurity,
by the time of the actual unification in 1932 the Kingdom had got over the
threats that impinged on her security.
The external threats from the Sharifi Kingdoms in Jordan and Iraq had receded.
The threat from Yemen, although not yet diminished, was solved in 1934 when a
peace agreement was reached with the Imam Yahya.
Internally, the state had successfully pacified the tribal disturbances that
plagued the Kingdom in the twenties, and peace and tranquility reigned. The
initial agreement with Great Britian signed in 1915 had been amended by the
Jeddah agreement in 1927 certifying full independence for the Kingdom.
Various other agreements were signed with Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, and the Gulf
states which were under British protection. A new term in international
relations was introduced (the neutral zone) to apply to the borders with Iraq
and Kuwait to delineate what territories between them and the Kingdom were
amicably agreed to remain undelineated.
The discovery of oil by American companies in 1937 heralded the start of
engagement with the US government. The income from oil was interrupted by the
Second World War, at the end of which King Abdulaziz met with President
Roosevelt and an agreement between the two countries was signed soon after.
American and European authors continue to this day to describe it as an oil for
security agreement, whereas in fact it stipulated not only mutual defense and
the training of Saudi Defense forces but also the cooperation in economic,
agricultural development and education.
When the war ended and with the rise of communist threats around the world, US
insecurity led to the strengthening of the ties between the two countries.
The Kingdom, as the center of the Islamic world, where the two Holy Cities of
Islam, Makkah and Madinah are located, was considered by the US government a
bulwark against the idolatrous communist ideology. Although the Soviet Union had
been the first country to recognize King Abdulaziz as the ruler of Nejd and
Hijaz even before the declaration of Saudi unification in 1932, because of
Stalin’s internal purges in the thirties the then Soviet ambassador to the
Kingdom was purged and the embassy staff were recalled to Moscow.
It took over 50 years before Saudi-Russian relations were restored. Developments
in Palestine and the decolonization of the rest of the Arab World in the 1950s,
60s, and 70s impacted the overall security of the Middle East, not only in Saudi
Arabia, but also in the position of the US vis-a-vis Soviet Russia.
Socialist and communist ideology expanded in the world during those years
causing deep anxiety and insecurity for the US and its allies, including Saudi
Arabia.
The Kingdom, as the center of the Islamic world, where the two Holy Cities of
Islam, Makkah and Madinah are located, was considered by the US government a
bulwark against the idolatrous communist ideology.
Several Arab countries went through military coups leading to the spread of
Soviet influence in them and the signing of strategic agreements between those
countries and the USSR. Egypt, Syria and Iraq became treaty partners with the
Soviet Union, and socialist and communist ideology spread in these counties and
in the independence movements among Palestinian and Yemeni parties.
In fact, a declared Marxist regime was established in what was previously a
British protectorate in the south of Arabia, the People’s Democratic Republic of
Yemen, along with communist parties in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia,
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Nicaragua and Venezuela coming to power.
The American debacle in Vietnam led to a US retreat from challenging the Soviet
expansion. At the request of American officials, the Kingdom tried to provide
help in Vietnam, Somalia, and Nicaragua. In 1974 Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran,
Morocco, and France formed a unified intelligence unit titled “African Safari”
to deal with Soviet expansion in Africa. Cuba was one of the USSR’s surrogates
in expanding its influence worldwide. As early as 1966, Havana hosted what was
called the Tricontinental Congress that focused on anticolonial issues.
There were 500 delegates from all parts of the world, and it called for
revolutions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It opposed globalization and
neo-colonialism, as well as the Vietnam War.
It supported the civil rights movement in the US, it condemned apartheid in
South Africa and Rhodesia, and highlighted the question of Puerto Rico. It
founded the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa, and
Latin America.
In fact, Cuba was the conduit of Soviet support for all of the revolutionary
movements in the world, from the Tupamaros in Uruguay, to the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, to the Japanese Red Army faction, the Red Brigades
in Italy, the Baader Meinhof group in Germany, and many others.
The Soviet menace threatened all non-communist countries. By the 70s, Soviet
expansion included Somalia, Mozambique, Angola, and Ethiopia. With the retreat
of America from Vietnam, Southeast Asia fell into the communist fold, with South
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos hoisting the red flag.
This communist surge was crowned by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
The Kingdom was not the only country to feel insecure. With the fall of the Shah
in Iran, although not a communist takeover, nonetheless, inimical forces to the
Kingdom and the West dominated a lot of the World.
The insecurity today comes from the terrorist groups who hoist the flag of
independence for Palestine to rally support from those who oppose the Israeli
occupation of Palestine.
To single out Saudi insecurity is to ignore the alarm bells that rang in the US,
Western Europe, and non-communist countries. The Kingdom worked with Arab allies
and Western friends to defend its interests and succeeded in scoring victories
with her friends against Soviet encroachment not only in Afghanistan but also in
the Congo, where Cuban troops invaded the Congolese province of Shaba from the
newly communist regime in Angola. The late President Sadat, having expelled
Soviet advisers from Egypt in 1972, also marked another retreat for Soviet
influence in the Arab world. By 1990, the Soviet Union was dissolved and
communist ideology retreated everywhere, including from China, one of the main
bastions of that ideology. The insecurity today comes from the terrorist groups
who hoist the flag of independence for Palestine to rally support from those who
oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
They commit acts of terror worldwide. Russian aggression in Ukraine, the
continued colonization and assault on Palestine and its people, the divide
between rich nations and poor ones, and the decline in the universal respect for
the rules-based order and international humanitarian ideals by the countries in
the West who proclaimed those ideals are the main contributors to insecurity.
• Prince Turki Al-Faisal is the former director general of Saudi Arabia’s
intelligence agency and a former ambassador. He is also the founder and Trustee
of the King Faisal Foundation and Chairman of the King Faisal Center for
Research and Islamic Studies.
Selected Face Book & X tweets for
/December 27, 2025