English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For  December 30/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
When he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 02/19-23/:”When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 29-30/2025
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
Lebanon Signs Deal to Purchase Natural Gas from Egypt
Riyadh governor receives Lebanese ambassador
Trump: Hezbollah has been behaving badly, we'll see what happens
Aoun: Army is Lebanon's only savior
Saudi and Qatari ministers discuss Lebanese file
Egypt, Lebanon to sign energy deal as minister visits Beirut
Report: Lebanon wants positive Israeli step in order to begin North Litani disarmament
US ambassador meets with several Lebanese ministers
Lebanon draws growing regional attention as talks span Doha to Cairo
Rifts surface: Netanyahu seeks Trump's backing as disputes emerge over Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria
Lebanon increases Housing Bank capital from LBP 100 billion to LBP 150 billion
Lebanon signs memorandum with Egypt to purchase natural gas
PM Salam: Lebanese Cabinet sends financial gap law to Parliament
From Cabinet to Parliament: Financial gap bill sparks fresh political tensions in Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 29-30/2025
Netanyahu hands Trump Israel’s highest civilian honor, after Nobel snub
Trump tells Hamas to disarm or ‘hell to pay’, warns Iran against resuming nuke program
Iranian shopkeepers protest, shut stores as currency hits record low
Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest
Three Turkish police officers killed by ISIS militants as authorities step up raids over winter holidays
Death Toll in Attack in Syria's Latakia Rises to 4, 108 Injured
Syria Secures Assad-Era Mass Grave Revealed by Reuters and Opens Criminal Investigation
Syrian Army Enters Latakia, Tartus after Attacks by Regime Remnants
Hamas Armed Wing Refuses to Surrender Weapons, Confirms Spokesman Killed by Israel in August
Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland
Iraq’s Newly Elected Parliament Holds First Session
Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker
Will STC Keep its Gains in Yemen or Prepare for a Major Confrontation?
Trump Hints at Land Strike as Venezuela Pressure Mounts
UN Chief Says ‘Get Serious’ in Grim New Year Message

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 29-30/2025
No Peace Plan Will Stop the Terrorists' Jihad Against Israel/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/December 29/2025
In the Court of the First Quarter of the 21st Century/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 29/2025
Don’t sell out Burma’s persecuted Christians and activists/Daniel Swift/The Washington Post/December 29/2025
Airstrikes only first step to stop Islamic terrorists on march through Africa/Edmund Fitton-Brown/New York Post/December 29/2025
On US-Iran Policy, There Is No Path Out of the Desert/Behnam Ben Taleblu/National Interest/December 29/ 2025
Selected Face Book & X tweets for /December 29/2025Habeeb Habeeb

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 29-30/2025
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

Lebanon Signs Deal to Purchase Natural Gas from Egypt
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Lebanon said Monday it plans to purchase natural gas from Egypt, seeking to reduce its reliance on fuel oil for its ageing power plants in a country hamstrung by regular electricity cuts. The electricity sector has cost Lebanon more than $40 billion since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war, and successive governments have failed to reduce losses, repair crumbling infrastructure or even guarantee regular power bill collections. Residents rely on expensive private generators and solar panels to supplement the unreliable state supply. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's office said in a statement that the memorandum of understanding between Lebanon and Egypt sought "to meet Lebanon's needs for natural gas allocated for electricity generation". It was signed by Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi and Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi, according to AFP. "Lebanon's strategy is first to transition to the use of natural gas, and second, to diversify gas sources," Saddi said, adding that "the process will take time because pipelines need rehabilitation". Lebanon will "contact donor agencies to see how they can help finance the rehabilitation" of the Lebanese section of the gas pipelines, he said, adding that repair work would take several months. President Joseph Aoun said the memorandum of understanding was "a practical and essential step that will enable Lebanon to increase its electricity production". A statement from Cairo's petroleum and mineral resources ministry said that "Egypt is fulfilling its role in supplying Lebanon with natural gas, with the aim of supporting energy security for Arab countries". In 2022, Lebanon signed a deal to import natural gas from Egypt and Jordan via Syria to boost power supply, but the contracts were never implemented due to financing issues and US sanctions on Syria.
Washington recently lifted it Syria measures following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last year. In April, Lebanon signed a $250 million agreement with the World Bank to modernise its electricity sector.

Riyadh governor receives Lebanese ambassador
Arab News/December 29, 2025
RIYADH: Riyadh Gov. Prince Faisal bin Bandar received the Ambassador of Lebanon to Saudi Arabia Ali Karanouh at Al-Hakam Palace in Riyadh on Monday. Prince Faisal welcomed the ambassador and wished him success in his new duties, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Madinah Gov. Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz received Shakhawat Hossain, the consul general of Bangladesh in Jeddah, in Madinah on Monday. The parties discussed various topics of mutual interest.

Trump: Hezbollah has been behaving badly, we'll see what happens
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Hezbollah "has been behaving badly," following talks in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We're gonna see about that. We'll see about it. The Lebanese government is a little bit of disadvantage if you think about it with Hezbollah, but Hezbollah has been behaving badly, so we'll see what happens," said Trump in response to a reporter's question on whether Israel "should strike Hezbollah again."

Aoun: Army is Lebanon's only savior
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
President Joseph Aoun on Monday hoped the new year will witness “a new birth of Lebanon, so that it becomes a state of institutions, away from the state of sects.”
“History has proven that the Lebanese Army has saved Lebanon many times, and the future will prove that it is Lebanon's only savior, because it is the only institution that works in the country's best interests, free from political, partisan and sectarian considerations,” Aoun told an Army Command delegation that visited him to offer season’s greetings. "You are the backbone of Lebanon, and no one can erase your achievements, despite some people's attempts to criticize and lecture the army and the military establishment. The institution is performing its role and duties excellently, across the entire country, with complete integrity and dedication, and in coordination with all security agencies,” the president added. “The proof of this is the army's achievements in the south, where the military institution offered 12 martyrs while carrying out its missions," Aoun went on to say, emphasizing that the army will remain “an institution that does not compromise on sovereignty and is loyal only to the nation.”He considered the army's protection of the borders a crucial guarantee, adding that “its resilience in the face of adversity is what gives the Lebanese people hope for a better tomorrow.”Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal for his part affirmed that the army is strong, cohesive, and ready to carry out all its missions, while bearing in mind that its primary mission is maintaining internal security and stability. He added: "The army has worked and continues to work conscientiously to preserve national unity."

Saudi and Qatari ministers discuss Lebanese file
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
Following a U.S. mediation, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have agreed to open a new chapter of cooperation between them, especially in files related to Lebanon and Syria, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday. Doha had on Sunday witnessed a meeting over the Lebanese file between State Minister at the Qatari Foreign Ministry Mohammad al-Khulaifi and Saudi envoy for Lebanon Prince Yazid bin Farhan. Al-Akhbar quoted sources as saying that the talks were part of a series of meetings between the two men over Lebanon, especially that al-Khulaifi has become in charge of the Lebanese file. “The two sides deliberately publicized the meeting for several purposes, including refuting the rumors about a Saudi-Qatari rift over the Lebanese file, and making the Lebanese parties sense the seriousness of the coming period and the dangerous challenges it will carry ahead of the meeting between the enemy’s (Israel’s) PM Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump,” the sources said. The two men also discussed “means to support the Lebanese Army to enable it to extend its authority in the expected second phase of the plan to monopolize arms in the hands of the Lebanese state,” the sources added.

Egypt, Lebanon to sign energy deal as minister visits Beirut
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
War and crisis-hit Lebanon will sign Monday a deal with Egypt for energy cooperation that will allow Lebanon to increase its electricity production. Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi was in Beirut Monday and met with President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Aoun lauded the energy deal with Egypt after meeting Badawi. He said that Egypt will provide crisis-hit Lebanon with natural gas to increase its power production. Egypt is also diplomatically working to de-escalate tensions between Lebanon and Israel. Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa said Monday that Egypt's main goal is to de-escalate tension between Lebanon and Israel and that Egypt has delivered "no threats or warnings" but just called on all parties to implement Security Council Resolution 1701 and a November ceasefire deal. "We are coordinating with our partners, especially the United States, to achieve this goal." Despite the November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems "strategic".According to the agreement, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River and have its military infrastructure in the vacated area dismantled. Earlier this month, Egypt's PM Mostafa Madbouly visited Beirut and vowed that Egypt will "spare no effort" to prevent further escalation between Lebanon and Israel. His visit also focused on bolstering energy cooperation and exporting gas to Lebanon.

Report: Lebanon wants positive Israeli step in order to begin North Litani disarmament
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
Despite Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s announcement about the readiness to begin arms monopolization north of the Litani River, the Lebanese state has not taken such a decision in the current period, a media report said. “Not moving to cleaning out North Litani does not stem from a negative stance from Lebanon, but the Lebanese state wants Israel to withdraw from the occupied points, hand over the captives, and take positive steps so that the Lebanese state manages to make a step forward regarding Hezbollah’s arms,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper added. “The state does not fear a renewal of the war if it does not carry on with the arms monopolization plan, because it has received U.S. guarantees that the war will not expand, and accordingly the file of arms will witness a freeze north of the Litani, where the state will not take any step in this regard before Israel makes acceptable steps,” the daily said.

US ambassador meets with several Lebanese ministers
Naharnet/December 30, 2025
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa has met with a number of Lebanese ministers in recent days, the U.S. Embassy said on Monday. “Economic and financial reforms are critical – alongside peace and security -- to secure Lebanon’s stability and restore international confidence,” the Embassy said in a post on X about Issa’s meeting with Economy Minister Amer Bisat. Issa underscored “the importance of advancing reforms that will support Lebanon’s path to recovery and renewed prosperity,” the Embassy added, noting that the meeting was “constructive.”Issa also met with Minister of Social Affairs Haneen Sayed to discuss the Ministry’s initiatives to strengthen transparency and efficiency in providing social services and protection programs across Lebanon. They also reviewed the Ministry’s “key role and ongoing engagement alongside U.N. partners in the refugee return program,” the Embassy added. Issa also reviewed with Minister of Energy and Water Joe Saddi his Ministry’s plans to provide improved and sustainable services for all Lebanese. “Reliable energy and water infrastructure are critical drivers of economic revival, job creation, foreign investment, and long-term stability across Lebanon,” the Embassy said.

Lebanon draws growing regional attention as talks span Doha to Cairo
LBCI/December 30, 2025
Regional diplomatic activity surrounding Lebanon has intensified in recent weeks, mainly driven by discussions over the future of Hezbollah's weapons and, linked to that issue, international support for Lebanon's struggling economy. In this context, talks were held in Doha between Saudi envoy Prince Yazid bin Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Farhan and Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi, with the Lebanese file topping the agenda. The meeting followed highly confidential discussions in Doha days earlier between a Hezbollah delegation and Qatari officials. According to information obtained by LBCI, the communication channel is being handled through the group's top leadership. However, sources cautioned that it is too early to speak of concrete outcomes, noting that the process is lengthy and complex. On a parallel track, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate phone calls with his Qatari and Saudi counterparts, during which the situation in Lebanon was also discussed, reflecting Tehran's continued engagement in the evolving regional dialogue. Meanwhile, Egypt has continued its efforts to de-escalate tensions in Lebanon, moving beyond political mediation to economic initiatives. Lebanon and Egypt have signed a memorandum of understanding to supply Lebanon with Egyptian natural gas to help meet its electricity generation needs. The path to such an agreement had previously been fraught with obstacles before recent regional shifts. Details regarding the implementation timeline and the method for delivering Egyptian gas are expected to be discussed in future meetings of a joint committee to be formed for that purpose. Beyond the gas agreement itself, some observers believe the step brings Lebanon closer to joining the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, a regional grouping that includes Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Italy, and France. Overall, Lebanon's file remains under active consideration across multiple regional channels, with tangible results still dependent on developments in the coming phase.

Rifts surface: Netanyahu seeks Trump's backing as disputes emerge over Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria
LBCI/December 30, 2025
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads into talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, he is seeking to persuade Washington to endorse Israel's strategy of sustaining military pressure across multiple fronts. Israeli officials in Tel Aviv acknowledge growing disagreements with Washington on several key files, expressing concern over Trump's ability to impose his own vision, particularly regarding Gaza and Syria. Despite these differences, Netanyahu's top priority remains securing a U.S. green light for a strike against Iran. Lebanon is also high on the agenda, with the talks taking place days before the end of the first phase of a plan aimed at disarming Hezbollah. In this context, leverage and bargaining tools abound. Washington is encouraging a diplomatic track with the Lebanese government before Israel considers launching a major military operation against Hezbollah. Keen not to alienate its U.S. ally, Tel Aviv is pursuing a dual approach. On one track, Israel is pushing for a statement by the Lebanese government expressing a willingness to pursue peace with Israel. On the other hand, it is maintaining a military posture that includes refusing to withdraw from five positions it occupies, keeping Lebanese airspace open to Israeli warplanes, and seeking possible U.S. approval for a large-scale attack on Lebanon. The Syrian front remains equally complex. Israeli officials have said talks with Damascus have reached a dead end, as Israel tightens its grip on Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights and steps up what it describes as support for the Druze community in Sweida under the banner of protection. Netanyahu's approach to Syria is expected to put him at odds with Trump, who is seen as backing Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Adding to the challenges is what Israel views as the Turkish front, which Tel Aviv considers among the most sensitive issues to emerge from the Trump-Netanyahu talks. Israeli officials believe the discussions will draw strategic lines that will define the period before and after the meeting in Florida. At stake is a significant test for both allies: Israel's drive to maximize its strategic gains, and the United States' effort to close as many fronts as possible opened by the Al-Aqsa Flood war more than two years ago, with no clear end in sight.

Lebanon increases Housing Bank capital from LBP 100 billion to LBP 150 billion
Lebanon News
LBCI/December 30, 2025
Lebanon's Cabinet has approved a capital increase for the Housing Bank, raising its capital from LBP 100 billion to LBP 150 billion, the bank's chairman, Antoine Habib, announced. Habib described the decision as a "significant step reflecting hope for the younger generation seeking opportunities to buy or renovate homes" amid a scarcity of commercial bank loans. He said the move aims to meet the housing needs of a broader segment of Lebanese citizens, including those with low and middle incomes and people with disabilities. In a statement, Habib praised the government's support, calling it a "strong vote of confidence" in the Housing Bank and its achievements over the past few years. He expressed gratitude to President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, and Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed, noting their roles in facilitating the issuance of the decree. The measure, he said, ensures the sustainability of housing loans and the continuation of the bank's projects despite Lebanon's ongoing social and economic crisis.

Lebanon signs memorandum with Egypt to purchase natural gas
LBCI/December 30, 2025
Lebanon has signed a memorandum of understanding with Egypt to purchase natural gas, a move aimed at addressing the country’s chronic electricity shortages, the Lebanese prime minister's office said. The agreement was signed under the patronage of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and is intended to meet Lebanon's needs for natural gas used in electricity generation. The memorandum was signed on behalf of Lebanon by Energy Minister Joe Saddi and by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi for Egypt. Speaking after the signing, Saddi said Lebanon’s energy strategy is based on transitioning to the use of natural gas and diversifying its supply sources, whether overland or by sea. He said the government aims to gradually shift the energy sector away from fuel oil toward natural gas, noting that gas is less costly and more environmentally friendly. Saddi added that the memorandum is designed to enable Lebanon to import natural gas from Egypt when supplies are available, stressing that technical and commercial details, including pricing and contractual arrangements, will be addressed in the coming weeks. He noted that the process will take time, as existing pipelines will require rehabilitation before gas deliveries can begin.

PM Salam: Lebanese Cabinet sends financial gap law to Parliament
LBCI/December 30, 2025
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that the government's financial gap law will be submitted to Parliament on Monday, with a public version to be published on the official government website for citizen review. Salam emphasized that the law aims to return depositors' funds in full, while imposing penalties on those who transferred money abroad or benefited from financial engineering schemes. He called on lawmakers, representatives of economic bodies, and civil society to unite in prioritizing the national interest. "We are open to any proposals that improve the bill, but we cannot accept criticism without alternatives, as that contributes to wasting depositors' money, paralyzing banks, and undermining the economy," he said.The prime minister underlined that the government's approach balances the need to compensate depositors fairly with the economic imperative of restoring Lebanon's financial order. He stressed that returning deposits in stages is preferable to indefinite delays, which would erode funds and deprive the country of a chance to recover.Salam concluded by reaffirming the government's commitment to transparency and reform. "We do not sell illusions to the Lebanese people, nor do we hide the facts. We have named ourselves the government of reform and rescue, and this goal is non-negotiable," he noted.

From Cabinet to Parliament: Financial gap bill sparks fresh political tensions in Lebanon
LBCI/December 30, 2025
Lebanon's government has sent the long-awaited financial gap bill to parliament after Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pushed for its approval before the end of the year, setting the stage for a contentious legislative debate over the fate of depositors' funds. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has strongly opposed the bill, describing it as a plan that would effectively "execute deposits rather than restore them," according to remarks reported by the Al-Joumhouria newspaper. Several MPs have said their top priority will be protecting depositors' rights and have pledged to introduce amendments to the draft. However, questions persist over whether lawmakers will be allowed to reshape the bill as parliamentary elections draw closer freely, or whether political or external pressures will dictate its final form. Previous financial legislation offers a precedent. The law lifting banking secrecy was amended twice after its passage at the request of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In contrast, the bank restructuring law approved in July is currently under review for further changes, also following IMF demands. As the financial gap law moves forward in the legislative process, many are questioning whether it will follow a similar path of revisions after passage, underscoring the uncertainty surrounding one of the most sensitive economic reforms in Lebanon's ongoing crisis.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 29-30/2025
Netanyahu hands Trump Israel’s highest civilian honor, after Nobel snub
AFP/December 30, 2025
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will receive Israel’s highest civilian honor in 2026, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that his country will break with decades of tradition to recognize a non-citizen. Speaking after a cordial Florida meet-up with Trump, Netanyahu said the move reflected “overwhelming sentiment” in Israel in appreciation of the US president’s support for the country. “President Trump has broken so many conventions to the surprise of people, and then they figure out, ‘oh, well — maybe, you know, he was right after all,’” Netanyahu said to reporters. “So we decided to break a convention too or create a new one, and that is to award the Israel Prize.”Netanyahu hailed Trump as Israel’s “greatest friend ever” in October — praise that followed militant group Hamas freeing the last 20 surviving hostages taken in the October 7 2023 attacks, under a Gaza peace deal brokered by Trump and his team. “I have to say that this reflects the overwhelming sentiment of Israelis across the spectrum,” the Israeli leader said of Trump’s award. “They appreciate what you’ve done to help Israel and to help our common battle against the terrorists and those who would destroy our civilization. So again, that’s an expression of thanks and appreciation.” Normally, the Israel Prize is reserved for Israeli citizens or residents, with the lone loophole being a category for “special contribution to the Jewish people.”The only other non-Israeli to have received this version of the honor is Indian conductor Zubin Mehta, in 1991. Trump, clearly tickled, said the award was “really surprising and very much appreciated,” hinting that he might jet to Israel for the ceremony, traditionally held on the eve of the Middle Eastern country’s Independence Day. For Trump, the accolade is another jewel in his self-styled crown as a global peacemaker. In speeches and interviews, he regularly claims — falsely — that he has “stopped eight wars,” portraying himself as uniquely capable of imposing order on global conflicts through his force of personality and deal-making. Trump has long insisted that the Nobel Peace Prize stakes do not faze him — he dusted down the nonchalant refrain when he missed out again in 2025 — while also voicing frustration at being overlooked. This latest award follows Trump recently being granted the FIFA Peace Prize, another nod to his diplomatic ambitions via symbolic validation that still falls short of the Nobel honor he openly covets.

Trump tells Hamas to disarm or ‘hell to pay’, warns Iran against resuming nuke program
AFP/December 30, 2025
PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump is urging Hamas to disarm or would have “hell to pay” and warNed that the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs. “If they don’t disarm as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them,” Trump told a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida. Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase. Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory. During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the militant group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences. “They have to disarm in a fairly short period of time,” he said. Trump publicly threw his support behind Netanyahu, who has taken a hard line on moving to the next stage of the Gaza ceasefire plan.
“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel’s doing,” Trump said. “I’m concerned about what other people are doing or maybe aren’t doing. But I’m not concerned. They’ve lived up to the plan.”
Iran’s weapons program
Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive US strike in June. “I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a press conference. “We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month. Netanyahu said last week that Israel was ‌not seeking a confrontation with ‌Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran’s activities with Trump.
A second phase in Gaza?
Trump said ​he wanted ‌to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid ‌Israeli reluctance to move forward. The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a November 17 UN Security ‍Council resolution. While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally — between Israel and ‍Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon — Netanyahu is wary of Israel’s foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars. Overall, Trump’s comments suggested ‍he remains firmly in Netanyahu’s camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel’s wars in both places. Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges — a conversation Herzog’s office immediately denied took place. Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting ​Trump the country’s Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis.
Next steps in Gaza Ceasefire plan
Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war ultimately calls for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory and Hamas to give up its weapons and forgo a governing role. The ⁠first phase of the ceasefire included a partial Israeli withdrawal, an increase in aid and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian detainees and prisoners. An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s circle said that the prime minister would demand that the first phase of the ceasefire be completed by Hamas returning the remains of the last Israeli hostage left in Gaza, before moving ahead to the next stages. The family of the deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, joined the prime minister’s visiting entourage. Israel has yet to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, also a condition of Trump’s plan, saying it will only do so once Gvili’s remains are returned.Trump said that he and Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was.
Turkey, Syria also discussed
Before the meeting, Trump told reporters he would talk to Netanyahu about the possibility of stationing Turkish peacekeepers in Gaza. That is a fraught subject — while Trump has frequently praised Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Israel and Turkiye have a much more circumspect relationship. While the fighting in Gaza has abated, it has not stopped entirely. Although the ceasefire officially began in October, Israeli strikes have killed more than 400 Palestinians — most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials — and Palestinian militants have killed three Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was keen to ensure a peaceful border with Syria, and Trump said he was sure Israel would get along with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, ‌who took power after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was deposed last year.

Iranian shopkeepers protest, shut stores as currency hits record low
FRANCE 24/December 29/2025
Iranian traders and shopkeepers staged a second day of protests Monday after the country’s currency plummeted to a new record low against the US dollar. Videos on social media showed hundreds taking part in rallies in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran as well as in the Shush neighborhood near Tehran's main Grand Bazaar, which played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought Islamists to power. Witnesses told The Associated Press that traders shut their shops and asked others to do the same. The semiofficial ILNA news agency said many businesses and merchants stopped trading even though some kept their shops open. There was no reports of police raids though security was tight at the protests, according to witnesses. On Sunday, protest gatherings were limited to two major mobile market in downtown Tehran, where the demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans. Read moreLooking back at Israel and Iran's ‘12-day war’: Direct conflict breaks out between arch-enemies. Iran's rial on Sunday plunged to 1.42 million to the dollar. On Monday, it traded at 1.38 million rials to the dollar. The rapid depreciation is compounding inflationary pressure, pushing up prices of food and other daily necessities and further straining household budgets, a trend that could worsen by a gasoline price change introduced in recent days According to the state statistics center, inflation rate in December rose to 42.2% from the same period last year, and is 1.8% higher than in November. Foodstuff prices rose 72% and health and medical items were up 50% from December last year, according to the statistics centre. Many critics see the rate a sign of an approaching hyperinflation. Reports in official Iranian media said that the government plans to increase taxes in the Iranian new year that begins March 21 have caused more concern ran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that lifted international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on Iran’s nuclear programme. That deal unraveled after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from it in 2018.
There is also uncertainty over the risk of renewed conflict following June’s 12-day war involving Iran and Israel. Many Iranians also fear the possibility of a broader confrontation that could draw in the United States, adding to market anxiety. In September, the United Nations reimposed nuclear-related sanctions on Iran through what diplomats described as the “snapback” mechanism. Those measures once again froze Iranian assets abroad, halted arms transactions with Tehran and imposed penalties tied to Iran’s ballistic missile programme. (FRANCE 24 with AP)

Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest
Damascus : Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
The Syria TV website said Iran has been working since early December to mobilize remnants of the Fourth Division, which was linked to Iran and previously overseen by Maher al-Assad, the brother of fugitive President Bashar al-Assad, to inflame the situation in Syria. Citing regional security sources, the website reported that Iran is utilizing Ghiyath Dalla, the former commander of the Fourth Division, along with Maj. Gen. Kamal Hassan, a former head of military intelligence, and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Bilal, who previously served in the Fourth Division’s command.
According to the sources, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has over recent months kept dozens of officers from the Fourth Division and military intelligence in camps it controls along the Iraqi border, in Lebanon’s Hermel area, and in areas under the control of formations linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party in eastern Syria, is pushing for their return to Syrian territory and the mobilization of former Assad regime elements for a new wave of security operations. The New York Times recently published a report based on interviews with participants in those moves and a review of correspondence between them, showing that the former leadership figures are determined to reassert their influence in Syria, which remains gripped by tensions more than 13 years after the outbreak of civil war. The newspaper said it had received credible information that some former figures in the Assad regime are working to build an armed insurgent movement from exile. One of them is backing a lobbying campaign in Washington, estimated to cost millions of dollars, in the hope of securing control over Syria’s coastal region, the stronghold of the Alawite sect to which Assad and many of his senior military and security commanders belong. Returning to the information cited by Syria TV, Iran has several objectives in fueling tensions in Syria. Chief among them is easing US pressure on Iran in the Iraqi arena along the Iranian border, where the US envoy to Baghdad is pressing Iraqi factions to disband. Escalation in Syria would serve as a distraction and diversion from those efforts. The report said pressure is also expected to intensify on Lebanon’s Hezbollah to complete the process of disarming, with the possibility that it could face new military operations, alongside a potential new Israeli attack on Iran. Mobilizing remnants of the Assad regime and extending their presence in Syria would give Tehran and Hezbollah greater room to maneuver, rather than remaining confined to a defensive posture. They could also be used in intelligence operations to track future Israeli movements preemptively.

Three Turkish police officers killed by ISIS militants as authorities step up raids over winter holidays
Gul Tuysuz, CNN/December 29, 2025
ISIS militants opened fire on police during an overnight raid in Turkey’s western Yalova province on Monday, killing three people and injuring eight others, according to authorities. Turkish authorities said six ISIS members were killed and five other people were detained in the operation which lasted more than seven hours in the village of Elmalik, 62 miles (100 kilometers) from Istanbul. The raid came as law enforcement authorities stepped up raids ahead of what they say are planned attacks against minorities during the winter holidays. Social media videos of the operation showed a nighttime gunfight as police raided a suspected ISIS safehouse. Footage shot later showed smoke billowing from the area of the raid and fire trucks racing to the scene. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the raid was conducted with “a great deal of care because there were women and children at the address.” The five women and six children at the address were taken to safety, he said in his televised press briefing. Electricity and natural gas to Elmalik were cut during the raid, the Turkish state broadcaster reported. Schools in the area were canceled for the day. Turkey routinely launches wide-ranging counterterrorism sweeps around the country against ISIS as well as other groups like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that it designates as terrorist organizations. Authorities step up raids particularly around the end-of-the-year holidays since a 2017 ISIS attack on the Reina nightclub during New Year celebrations killed 39 people. The last ISIS attack in Turkey was in January 2024 when armed men attacked a church in Istanbul, killing one person. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation into the raid has been launched and five state prosecutors have been assigned to the case. Yerlikaya said that over the past month, 138 terror suspects were detained and 97 were placed under judicial control measures. Turkish security forces have been carrying out coordinated raids across the country over alleged plots linked to Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, according to a statement by the Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday. “Information was found that the ISIS armed terrorist organization was planning to carry out actions targeting our country, especially non-Muslim individuals, within the scope of the upcoming Christmas and New Year events,” the statement said.

Death Toll in Attack in Syria's Latakia Rises to 4, 108 Injured
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 29/2025
Authorities in Syria's Latakia province announced on Monday that the death toll has risen to four from the armed attack carried out by remnants of the ousted regime on Sunday. It added that 108 people were injured in the violence. The Syrian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday the deployment of military forces in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus in wake of the attack against security forces and civilians during protests. State television said a member of the security forces was killed and others were injured while they were protecting protests in Latakia. Head of the security forces in the Latakia province Abdulaziz al-Ahmed said the attack was carried out by terrorist members of the former regime. Al-Ahmed added that masked gunmen were spotted at the protests and they were identified as members of Coastal Shield Brigade and Al-Jawad Brigade terrorist groups, reported the official SANA news agency.

Syria Secures Assad-Era Mass Grave Revealed by Reuters and Opens Criminal Investigation
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 29/2025
Syria’s government has ordered soldiers to guard a mass grave created to conceal atrocities under Bashar al-Assad and has opened a criminal investigation, following a Reuters report that revealed a yearslong conspiracy by the fallen dictatorship to hide thousands of bodies on the remote ​desert site. The site, in the Dhumair desert east of Damascus, was used during Assad’s rule as a military weapons depot, according to a former Syrian army officer with knowledge of the operation. It was later emptied of personnel in 2018 to ensure secrecy for a plot that involved unearthing the bodies of thousands of victims of the dictatorship buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus and trucking them an hour’s drive away to Dhumair. The plot, orchestrated by the dictator’s inner circle, was called “Operation Move Earth.”Soldiers are stationed at the Dhumair site again, this time by the government that overthrew Assad. The Dhumair military installation was also reactivated as a barracks and arms depot in November, after seven years of disuse, according to an army officer posted there in early December, a military official and Sheikh Abu Omar Tawwaq, who is the security chief of Dhumair. The Dhumair site ‌was completely unprotected over ‌the summer, when Reuters journalists made repeated visits after discovering the existence of a mass grave ‌there. Within ⁠weeks ​of the ‌report in October, the new government created a checkpoint at the entrance to the military installation where the site lies, according to a soldier stationed there who spoke to Reuters in mid-December. Visitors to the site now need access permits from the Defense Ministry. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters since late November show new vehicle activity around the main base area. The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reactivation of the base is part of efforts to “secure control over the country and prevent hostile parties from exploiting this open strategic area.” The road through the desert connects one of ISIS’ remaining Syrian strongholds with Damascus.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
In November, police opened an investigation into the grave, photographing it, carrying out land surveys and interviewing witnesses, according to Jalal Tabash, head of the ⁠al-Dhumair police station. Among those interviewed by police was Ahmed Ghazal, a key source for the Reuters investigation that exposed the mass grave.“I told them all the details I told you about the ‌operation and what I witnessed during those years,” said Ghazal, a mechanic who repaired trucks ‍carrying bodies that broke down at the Dhumair grave site. Ghazal confirmed ‍that during the time of “Operation Move Earth,” the military installation appeared vacant except for the soldiers involved in accompanying the convoys. Syria’s Information Ministry ‍did not respond to requests for comment about the re-activation of the base or the investigation into the mass grave. The National Commission for Missing Persons, which was established after Assad’s ouster to investigate the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians who vanished under his rule, told Reuters it is in the process of training personnel and creating laboratories in order to meet international standards for mass grave exhumations. Exhumations at Syria’s many Assad-era mass graves, including the site at Dhumair, are scheduled for ​2027, the commission told Reuters. The police have referred their report on Dhumair to the Adra district attorney, Judge Zaman al-Abdullah. Al-Abdullah told Reuters that information about Assad-era suspects involved in the Dhumair operation, both inside and outside Syria, is being cross-referenced ⁠with documents obtained by security branches after the dictator’s fall in December 2024. He would not describe the suspects, citing the ongoing investigation. According to military documents reviewed by Reuters and testimony from civilian and military sources, logistics for “Operation Move Earth” were handled by a key man, Col. Mazen Ismander. Contacted through an intermediary, Ismander declined to comment on the initial Reuters report or the new investigation into the mass grave. When the conspiracy was hatched in 2018, Assad was verging on victory in the civil war and hoped to reclaim legitimacy in the international community after years of sanctions and allegations of brutality. He had been accused of detaining and killing Syrians by the thousands, and the location of a mass grave in the Town of Qutayfah, outside Damascus, had been reported by local human rights activists. So an order came from the presidential palace: Excavate Qutayfah and hide the bodies on the military installation in the Dhumair desert. For four nights a week for nearly two years, from 2019 to 2021, Ismander oversaw the operation, Reuters found . Trucks hauled corpses and dirt from the exposed mass grave to the vacated military installation in the desert, where trenches were filled with bodies as the Qutayfah site was excavated. In revealing the conspiracy, Reuters spoke to 13 people with direct ‌knowledge of the two-year effort and analyzed more than 500 satellite images of both mass graves. Under the guidance of forensic geologists, Reuters used aerial drone photography to create high-resolution composite images that helped corroborate the transfer of bodies by showing color changes in the disturbed soil around Dhumair’s burial trenches.

Syrian Army Enters Latakia, Tartus after Attacks by Regime Remnants
Damascus: Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
The Syrian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday the deployment of military forces in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus in wake of an armed attack against security forces and civilians during recent protests.Syrian television said the deployment was happening after "outlawed groups" carried out attacks against security forces and the people. The military will work on preserving security and restoring calm in cooperation with the internal security forces, it added. Earlier, local media reported that three people were killed and 48 wounded when gunmen affiliated with the ousted regime opened fire at civilians and security forces during protests in Latakia and Tartus. State television said a member of the security forces was killed and others were injured while they were protecting protests in Latakia. Head of the security forces in the Latakia province Abdulaziz al-Ahmed said the attack was carried out by terrorist members of the former regime.
The protests in Latakia were called for by Ghazal Ghazal. Al-Ahmed added that masked gunmen were spotted at the protests and they were identified as members of Coastal Shield Brigade and Al-Jawad Brigade terrorist groups, reported the official SANA news agency. The groups were responsible for bombings on the M1 highway and extrajudicial killings, it added. A member of the groups was arrested in the Jableh countryside during a security operation, announced the Interior Ministry. Three other members were killed, while explosives and various weapons and ammunition were seized during the operation. The Al-Jawad Brigade is affiliated with Suheil al-Hassan, a notorious former Syrian military officer. In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the group was involved in assassinations, bombings and attacks against the Interior Ministry forces and the army.It was planning attacks on New Year celebrations, it revealed. The detainee also revealed the locations of weapons caches used by the group.

Hamas Armed Wing Refuses to Surrender Weapons, Confirms Spokesman Killed by Israel in August
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Hamas's armed wing reiterated on Monday that it would not surrender its weapons, a key issue expected to feature in talks later in the day between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a video statement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades also confirmed the death of their longtime spokesperson, months after Israel announced he had been killed in an air strike in Gaza on August 30. "Our people are defending themselves and will not give up their weapons as long as the occupation remains," said the group's new spokesman, who has adopted the nom de guerre of his predecessor, Abu Obeida. The statement came just hours before Trump and Netanyahu were scheduled to meet in Florida. Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said Netanyahu would discuss the second phase of the Gaza truce deal, which includes ensuring that "Hamas is disarmed, Gaza is demilitarized". Rejecting that demand, the new Abu Obeida instead called for Israel to be disarmed of its weapons. "We call on all concerned parties to work toward disarming the lethal weapons of the occupation, which have been and continue to be used in the extermination of our people," he said. In the same statement, he confirmed the death of his predecessor, and also announced the deaths of four other Hamas commanders in Israeli attacks during the war. "We pause in reverence before... the masked man loved by millions... the great martyred commander and spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida," he said. During the war, Abu Obeida, whose real name was Hudhayfa Samir al-Kahlout, emerged as a central figure eagerly awaited by Gazans, as well as by Arab and international media, for official statements from Hamas's military wing, particularly those related to hostage-prisoner swaps.
Born on February 11, 1985, and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Obeida joined Hamas at an early age before becoming a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He later became the group's spokesman, delivering video statements in military uniform with his face consistently concealed by a red keffiyeh. He survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts over the years. Hamas officials have described him as a symbol of "resistance", known for fiery speeches that often included threats against Israel or announcements of military operations. "For many years, only a very small circle of Hamas officials knew his true identity," a Hamas official told AFP. Israel has decimated Hamas's leadership, saying it seeks to eradicate the group following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war.

Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Somalia's president is to visit Türkiye on Tuesday following Israel's recognition of the breakaway territory of Somaliland, Türkiye’s presidency said. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will hold talks "on the current situation in Somalia in the fight against terrorism, measures taken by the federal Somali government towards national unity and regional developments", Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency's communications directorate, said on X. Türkiye on Friday denounced Israel's recognition of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic, calling it "overt interference in Somalia's domestic affairs".
Somaliland declared independence in 1991. The region has operated autonomously since then and possesses its own currency, army and police force. It has generally experienced greater stability than Somalia, where Al-Shabaab militants periodically mount attacks in the capital Mogadishu.
Diplomatic isolation has been the norm -- until Israel's move to recognize it as a sovereign nation, which has been criticized by the African Union, Egypt, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The European Union has insisted Somalia's sovereignty should be respected. The recognition is the latest move by Israel that has angered Türkiye, with relations souring between the two countries in recent years. Ankara has strongly condemned Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has opposed Türkiye’s participation in a future stabilization force in the Palestinian territory.

Iraq’s Newly Elected Parliament Holds First Session
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Iraq's newly elected parliament convened ​on Monday for its first session since the November national election, opening the ‌way for ‌lawmakers ‌to begin ⁠the ​process ‌of forming a new government. Parliament is due to elect a speaker and ⁠two deputies ‌during its first meeting. ‍Lawmakers ‍must then ‍choose a new president by within 30 days of ​the first session. The president will subsequently ⁠ask the largest bloc in parliament to form a government, a process that in Iraq typically drags on for ‌months.

Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Iraq's parliament on Monday elected a new speaker following overnight talks to break a political deadlock. Haibet Al-Halbousi received 208 votes from the 309 legislators who attended, according to The AP news. He is a member of the Takadum, or Progress, party led by ousted speaker and relative Mohammed al-Halbousi. Twenty legislators did not attend the session. Iraq held parliamentary elections in November but didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority. By convention, Iraq’s president is always Kurdish, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker is Sunni. The new speaker must address a much-debated bill that would have the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units become a formal security institution under the state. Iran-backed armed groups have growing political influence. Al-Halbousi also must tackle Iraq’s mounting public debt of tens of billions of dollars as well as widespread corruption. Babel Governor Adnan Feyhan was elected first deputy speaker with 177 votes, a development that might concern Washington. Feyhan is a member of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a US-sanctioned, Iran-backed group with an armed wing led by Qais al-Khazali, also sanctioned by Washington.

Will STC Keep its Gains in Yemen or Prepare for a Major Confrontation?
London: Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
Yemen's eastern provinces of Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra are passing through a critical phase amid the unprecedented unilateral military escalation carried out by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) that has been met with widespread regional and international condemnation. Observers have said the STC cannot be allowed to impose a new status quo through the use of force no matter its justifications or claims. They said the situation is not a passing development that can be ignored by the Saudi-led Arab coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen and its supporters. Rather, this is a multifaceted political and security test where southern interests, the war against the Houthis and regional peace collide. At the moment, the STC is opting to maneuver under pressure instead of leading the challenge head-on. In its recent statements, the council has resorted to political claims to justify its actions on the ground, speaking of "coordination" and "understanding concerns", reflecting a growing realization that its room to maneuver is shrinking and that it must take the right decision. Saudi Arabia has made clear warnings over the situation, starting with a political warning, followed by an airstrike on Hadhramaut. The stern response means that a firm decision has been taken to prevent Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra from being dragged into an internal conflict or becoming an arena where agendas are imposed by force. The STC is aware that ignoring the warnings puts it in a direct confrontation with a regional heavyweight - Saudi Arabia. The council does not have the political or military means to come out on top, so it has been advised to seriously deal with the warnings and avoid resorting to stalling tactics if it is considering taking the option of minimal losses to the gains it has amassed over the years.
Failing to heed the warning will mean it will have to come to heel through force, which will end in its major defeat. The observers said the STC has landed itself in an unprecedented crisis. The council has justified its unilateral military actions as aimed at "protecting the southern cause" and that it was meeting the demands of the people. It also claimed that it sought to block Houthi smuggling routes and fight terrorist groups. Despite everything, it is not too late for the STC to salvage the situation, as stated by Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman on Saturday. The STC can still end the crisis while taking minimal losses by immediately withdrawing its forces from Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra. Should it stand its ground, the STC does not have the means to consolidate its presence in the two provinces, especially amid wide popular opposition, notably in Hadhramaut. Moreover, the STC lacks regional cover and international support that is a main condition for creating any security changes in critical areas. So, it would seem that the best and easiest scenario would be for the STC to withdraw its forces, under such pretexts of "redeployment" or "security arrangements", to minimize its political losses, said the observers.
Should it ignore the warnings and choose to continue to escalate the situation, then the STC will lose its partnership with the legitimate Yemeni authorities, transforming into an obstacle in efforts to restore stability in the country. International sanctions may even be imposed on its leaders. On the military level, the Arab coalition was clear in stating that it will not allow a new status quo to be imposed by force in eastern Yemen. Any escalation may be met with direct deterrence, meaning casualties on the ground that the STC cannot justify. On the ground, the STC does not enjoy the support of the people in Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra and the continued escalation will deepen opposition to it in the south. The southern cause will transform from an issue that enjoys consensus to one that causes division.

Trump Hints at Land Strike as Venezuela Pressure Mounts
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
A throwaway remark last week by President Donald Trump has raised questions about whether US forces may have carried their first land strike against drug cartels in Venezuela. Trump said the US knocked out a "big facility" for producing trafficking boats, as he was discussing his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an interview broadcast Friday. "They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from," Trump said in an interview with billionaire supporter John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York. "Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard."Trump did not say where the facility was located or give any other details. US forces have carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing more than 100 people. The Pentagon referred questions about Trump's remarks to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP. There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government.Trump has been saying for weeks that the United States will "soon" start carrying out land strikes targeting drug cartels in Latin America, but there have been no confirmed attacks to date. The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, accusing the Venezuelan leader of running a drug cartel himself and imposing an oil tanker blockade. Maduro has accused Washington of attempting regime change.

UN Chief Says ‘Get Serious’ in Grim New Year Message
Asharq Al Awsat/December 29/2025
The United Nations urged global leaders Monday to focus on people and the planet in a New Year's message depicting the world in chaos. "As we enter the new year, the world stands at a crossroads. Chaos and uncertainty surround us. Division. Violence. Climate breakdown. And systemic violations of international law," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message. In 2026, as war rages in Ukraine and elsewhere, world leaders must work to ease human suffering and fight climate change, he added. "I call on leaders everywhere: Get serious. Choose people and planet over pain," said Guterres, criticizing the global imbalance between military spending and financing for the poorest countries. Military spending is up nearly 10 percent this year to $2.7 trillion, which is 13 times total world spending on development aid and equivalent to the entire gross domestic product of Africa, he said. Wars are raging at levels unseen since World War II, he added. "In this New Year, let's resolve to get our priorities straight. A safer world begins by investing more in fighting poverty and less in fighting wars. Peace must prevail," said Guterres, who will be serving his last year as secretary general.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 29-30/2025
No Peace Plan Will Stop the Terrorists' Jihad Against Israel
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/December 29/2025
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22151/gaza-terrorists-jihad
Since the announcement of Trump's plan, Hamas... has dismissed the idea of laying down its weapons. It has also made it clear that the role of any international force should be limited just to monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire with Israel. According to Hamas, the proposed International Stabilization Force should be stationed at the borders of the Gaza Strip, and not in areas controlled by the terror group. "The Palestinian people have the right to all resistance [meaning: terrorism against Israel]." — Hamas statement, palinfo.com, December 12, 2025.
These statements by Hamas and the other Palestinian terror groups show that they have no intention of honoring Trump's plan. They view the Trump plan as nothing more than a temporary ceasefire that allows them to regroup, rearm, and pursue their Jihad to annihilate Israel. It is simply nonsensical to believe that any peace plan would end the terrorists' Jihad against Israel. Unfortunately, there is no alternative to a total defeat and eradication of Hamas and its allies.
It is nonsensical to believe that any peace plan would end the terrorists' Jihad against Israel. Unfortunately, there is no alternative to a total defeat and eradication of Hamas and its allies. More than two months after the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip went into effect, the Iran-backed Hamas terror group seems more determined than ever to stay in power and continue its armed struggle to destroy Israel. On December 14, Hamas marked the 38th anniversary of its founding by praising its October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel's southern communities as a "gigantic milestone and landmark in the struggle for freedom and independence and the defeat and elimination of the occupation [Israel]." On that day, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, and thousands wounded. Another 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is still holding the remains of one hostage.
Hamas has no regrets over the massacre it committed on October 7 and the ensuing war, which claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed large parts of the Gaza Strip. Instead of apologizing to the Palestinians for bringing death and destruction on them, the terror group issued a statement offering "greetings to the Palestinians for their legendary steadfastness."
Hamas seized the opportunity to repeat its "categorical rejection of any form of trusteeship or mandate over the Gaza Strip."This is a reference to US President Donald J. Trump's plan for peace in the Gaza Strip. The plan calls for the establishment of an international body, the "Board of Peace," to help with the administration, reconstruction, and economic recovery of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war. The plan, in addition, calls for the deployment of an "International Stabilization Force" (ISF) and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
Since the announcement of Trump's plan, Hamas has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the presence of a non-Palestinian governing body in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, the terror group has dismissed the idea of laying down its weapons. It has also made it clear that the role of any international force should be limited just to monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire with Israel. According to Hamas, the proposed International Stabilization Force should be stationed at the borders of the Gaza Strip, and not in areas controlled by the terror group.
Hamas said in its latest statement: "The Palestinian people alone decide who governs them, and they have the legitimate right to resist, liberate their land, and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital... Hamas affirms its commitment to its principles since its inception and its loyalty to the blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices of the prisoners, until liberation and the return [of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their former homes inside Israel].... Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque will remain the focus of the conflict. The Palestinian people have the right to all resistance [meaning: terrorism against Israel]."When Hamas says that it remains committed to its principles, it is referring to its 1988 charter, which quotes Imam Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, as saying: "Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Hamas describes itself as "one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine" and states that "initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas]."
Hamas, in other words, has not given up its dream of eliminating Israel.
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official living comfortably in Qatar, said in a speech marking the anniversary of the founding of his group that "the Palestinian people's resistance is still alive, and [the Hamas] leadership is steadfast and firm." Al-Hayya argued that the two-year war in the Gaza Strip has "proven that [Israel] can be defeated and that the liberation of Palestine is possible if it is based on careful planning and unified efforts." He praised the October 7 massacre as a "model of what could happen if the [Muslim] nation's efforts were combined" against Israel.
The Hamas leader boasted that the war "complicated and set back" efforts by the US to normalize relations between Israel and some Arab and Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Al-Hayya emphasized Hamas's rejection of "all forms of guardianship or mandate over the Palestinian people" and said that the mission of Trump's "Board of Peace" should be limited to overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire, funding, and supervising the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Regarding the International Stabilization Force, al-Hayya stressed that its role should be limited to maintaining the ceasefire without any interference in the internal affairs of the Gaza Strip. The weapons of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, he added, are "a legitimate right guaranteed by international laws, and this right is linked to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."
Another senior Hamas official, Hossam Badran, said that his group "will continue its struggle and Jihad in confronting the Zionist project in Palestine," adding:
"Since its founding, Hamas has waged direct military battles against the [Israeli] enemy. We need to combine efforts and unite all energies for the greater role of liberating Palestine." "Liberating Palestine" is a euphemism for destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state. It is worth noting that several Palestinian terror groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, "congratulated" Hamas on the 38th anniversary of its founding and vowed to support the Jihad against Israel. Needless to say, the terror groups also voiced support for the October 7 atrocities.
These statements by Hamas and the other Palestinian terror groups show that they have no intention of honoring Trump's plan. They view the Trump plan as nothing more than a temporary ceasefire that allows them to regroup, rearm, and pursue their Jihad to annihilate Israel. It is simply nonsensical to believe that any peace plan would end the terrorists' Jihad against Israel. Unfortunately, there is no alternative to a total defeat and eradication of Hamas and its allies.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute.

In the Court of the First Quarter of the 21st Century
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 29/2025
The first quarter of the 21st Century was catching its breath like a weary warrior firing his last shots. Judges were hastily called to a meeting. They feared that the first quarter would leave behind deadly mines for the years to come. They were alarmed at how international laws were reviled and how major countries resorted to force and intimidation to get their way. They paused to observe maps that have been torn apart by civil wars, separatist agendas and the folly of militias.
The first accused walked in. His name is Vladimir Putin. He appeared calm, collected, and confident with a mocking smile beginning to take shape. The judge told him: "You are accused of poisoning the international climate, invading a sovereign country and insisting on annexing parts of its territory. The conflict you launched on February 24, 2022 has returned Europe to war and restarted the arms race."
The accused replied: "Your honor, what happened that day is tied to a horrific crime that took place in the final decade of the previous century. The crime was tantamount to a third world war even though not a single bullet was shot. Imagine, your honor, that your enemy managed to kill your parents. What would you do if you had to face your suddenly widowed mother, who almost came to suffer the same horrors as those in Sudan's el-Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces? My father's name was the Soviet Union and my mother's name is Russia. I cannot bring my father back to life, but I can avenge my mother so that she does not suffer the same dark fate."
"Also, your honor, how is it that the United States had the right to invade far-off Iraq and hang Saddam Hussein with the noose of his enemies, while Russia does not have the right to embrace its sons who have been forced to live abroad when Ukraine followed others in choosing to betray the Soviet Union. Yes, I said 'betrayal' and I mean it. I saw the countries that lived off Russia's riches as they danced with joy at its humiliation."
"I know that you are hinting at our nuclear arsenal. Without this, NATO would have come up with greater dreams to deepen the humiliation of the Russian army, the way the Red Army was humiliated when it returned from Afghanistan. Ukraine is an artificial country that was born from collecting the territories of others. Diminishing its size prevents Russia from being surrounded and rockets from reaching deep into its territories. Moreover, Europe deserves to be punished. It tries to weaken Russia whenever it feels powerful. Arrogant Napoleon tried to invade us, but we turned him back defeated. Hitler tried to do the same, and we chased him down and divided his country.""The world is lucky that the master of the White House is dreaming of the Nobel Peace Prize. I am not like that. I want to go down in history, to stand proud with my ancestors, like Peter the Great and Stalin."
Another accused was summoned before the judge. He approached, with his red tie and arrogant smile. His name is Donald Trump. The judge told him he is accused of stirring chaos in the world as if he were trying to reshape the global order. He doesn't care about the United Nations or other international organizations. He uses intimidation in international relations, moving fleets or threatening to impose sanctions and tariffs.
Trump said: "I thought you were summoning me to honor me as a peacemaker and to grant me the highest honors because I stopped and contained major wars and did not dispatch the American army to Iraq and Afghanistan. I treat the czar of the Kremlin as a friend. I have approached King Il-sung's grandson in the hopes of reining in his hostility and easing his fears."
"The US is a beautiful wealthy woman whose rights, dignity and riches have been exploited by several parties. This woman is my mother and I have taken the decision to restore the grandeur that was taken away from her by foreign evils and weak local actors. The court does not have the right to blame me for ordering the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, who had booby-trapped maps with tunnels and militias. Soleimani and his allies have shed the blood of Americans from Beirut to Baghdad."
"The court should be thanking me for bombarding Iranian nuclear facilities. The world will be hellish if the Iranian supreme leader is allowed to develop a nuclear arsenal. Does the court have the right to criticize me for pursuing ISIS across continents? Does Chavez's successor have the right to send drugs to poison Americans, while I don't have the right to strangle his economy in return? Who would have reined in Netanyahu's determination to continue the war had I not stepped in?"
A third accused was summoned to the court. Xi Jinping entered, calm and collected. The judge accused him of using intimidation as an official policy towards Taiwan and neighboring countries. He accused him of seeking to achieve what Mao Zedong failed to accomplish."
Xi said: "We never sent fighters to other countries. In China, we fought hunger and helped hundreds of millions of people get out of poverty at our own expense. We are practicing our right to scientific and technological progress. Our military arsenal is defensive in nature. If Russia has the right to reclaim parts of Ukraine, then why should China be prevented from reclaiming Taiwan? Its return is inevitable."The fourth accused walked in, smiling broadly. Kim Jong Un said he does not recognize international testimonies. He stressed that his only duty is to continue the legacy of his father and grandfather, adding that the world is a jungle where in order to survive one has to have fangs. He said that exporting rockets helps serve just causes and weak nations. It is a humanitarian duty. He declared that he was proud that comrade Putin found no other ally than him to come to his aid in the Ukrainian trap where the blood of North Korean soldiers merged with that of Russian soldiers. This is a badge of honor and security policy. He did not deny that his love for the rockets was like the love a father shows to his children.
The judges were alarmed with what they heard. The second quarter of the 21st Century will not be easy. They decided to adjourn the session.

Don’t sell out Burma’s persecuted Christians and activists
Daniel Swift/The Washington Post/December 29/2025
Ending temporary protected status hands the murderous junta a victory and endangers thousands.  The Department of Homeland Security has announced the end of temporary protected status for a group of nearly 4,000 Burmese nationals — mostly persecuted Christians and democracy advocates. This action will send them back to a junta bent on punishing them. DHS’s decision rests on a dangerously flawed understanding of Burma. In announcing the move, DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem claimed that “Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability, including the end of its state of emergency, plans for free and fair elections, successful ceasefire agreements, and improved local governance contributing to enhanced public service delivery and national reconciliation.”
That description bears no resemblance to reality. Since seizing power in 2021, Burma’s military junta — which insists on calling the country Myanmar — has waged a brutal civil war marked by indiscriminate airstrikes, mass displacement and systemic repression. Far from stabilizing, the country is fragmenting. Fighting continues and next month’s election is a sham. The “ceasefire agreements” DHS cites are largely the result of Chinese pressure to stabilize small areas adjacent to its border, not national reconciliation. Forced conscription has expanded and the country’s economy is collapsing. Most opposition parties are banned, and thousands of political prisoners remain in detention under inhuman conditions.
Many of the Burmese nationals protected by TPS are long-suffering Christians. Burma’s junta has a strong streak of Buddhist nationalism. As a result, the junta has targeted Christians as enemies of the state, hitting them with airstrikes and burning their villages. Since the 2021 coup, more than a hundred Christian religious buildings and churches have been destroyed in Chin state alone. The junta has also arrested, indefinitely detained and shot pastors and aid workers helping civilians — the killing and mutilating of Baptist pastor Cung Biak Hum is a stark example. Returning Burmese nationals who have fled junta violence, whose churches were shelled and whose pastors were targeted is unconscionable. It places them directly in the path of an anti-Christian military government that is fighting a conflict that is worsening not easing. Other Burmese nationals covered by TPS are ethnic Burmese pro-democracy activists. Sending them home would deliver them to the notorious Insein Prison. Letting them stay in the United States would help ensure that when the junta falls, Burma has a cohort of highly trained and U.S.-aligned technocrats to rebuild the country. My friend, Bo Bo Nge, was imprisoned in Burma after the 1988 uprising. There, he taught himself English from individual book pages smuggled into the prison; he often joked that he had started thousands of books without finishing them. He later gained asylum in the U.S. and earned a PhD in economics, eventually returning to Burma as a central bank deputy governor after the democratic 2015 elections. After the coup, however, the junta sent him back to prison and he has not been heard from since. Effectively sentencing people like Bo Bo Nge to prison to lower the number of people living in the U.S. under TPS — a total of roughly 1.3 million — is both shortsighted and wrong.
There is also a larger national security cost. Russia and China both prop up and feed off Burma’s ruling junta. Beijing is treating the country as an exclusive Chinese outlet to the Indian Ocean and is supporting Burma in launching a yuan-based digital payment system that threatens to undermine U.S. financial sanctions. Cyberscam centers in Burma steal billions of dollars from everyday Americans. And sanctioned Russians earn revenue from aircraft and munitions sales to the junta. Ending TPS for this group hands Burma’s generals an easy win against their political opponents that they cannot secure on the battlefield or at the ballot box. More fundamentally, it puts innocent lives needlessly at risk. The U.S. should stand with persecuted religious minorities and reject a diabolical military dictatorship that presents itself as a stabilizing force while dropping bombs on civilians.
Daniel Swift is a senior research analyst for the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Airstrikes only first step to stop Islamic terrorists on march through Africa
Edmund Fitton-Brown/New York Post/December 29/2025
Thursday’s strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria signal an intensifying American fight against jihadist expansion across Africa. ISIS maintains a presence across the African continent, but its most dangerous concentrations lie in the west — particularly in northeastern Nigeria and the tri-border area connecting Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. To the east, ISIS fighters actively terrorize populations in Somalia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where US special forces have previously conducted counterterrorism operations. Local cooperation is paramount for success in such operations, and it’s notable that yesterday’s strikes were conducted in consultation with Nigerian authorities in Abuja. The Russians and Iranians are mainly interested in Niger’s critical mineral reserves. Of particular concern to the US, given its opposition to the Iranian nuclear program, Niger is the world’s seventh largest producer of uranium.
The Nigerian government has not always been as effective as it should be in protecting Nigerian Christians and in fighting the twin jihadi menaces of Boko Haram and ISIS. Any plan for counterterrorism in Africa must also consider Al Qaeda, which has multiple franchises in the continent and is arguably just as dangerous as ISIS. In Somalia, Al Qaeda affiliate Al Shabaab is threatening to do what the Taliban did in Afghanistan and take control of the country. While ISIS murders Christians, Muslims and others within African states, Al Qaeda threatens to transform entire nations into terrorist safe havens, creating breeding grounds for operatives who will eventually target Western interests directly. Effective counterterrorism in Africa demands reliable local partners — and Western allies, too. The UK, France and Germany all share concerns about stability in Africa and are keen to help. They have vested interests in stemming conflict and poverty in African nations to head off more mass migration and security threats in Europe. Despite Abuja’s uneven record of protecting Christians, Nigeria remains a counterterrorism ally. Without American boots on the ground, Washington depends on Nigerian forces to exploit the intelligence gained from airstrikes and maintain pressure through ground operations. The US also has a long history of helping African countries, which has resulted in the kind of strong relationships that facilitate effective operations like Thursday’s strikes. In some cases, this has gone wrong: In Niger, a military coup in 2023 led to the expulsion of US forces the following year, when the ruling junta turned instead to Russian mercenaries and Iran as preferred foreign partners.
But President Donald Trump is someone African partners cannot ignore.
The Nigerian authorities agreed to this week’s strikes, and to work with the United States on countering violence against Christians, for fear of alienating him. He should capitalize on this leverage to secure local support for decisive counterterrorism action while deterring cooperation with adversaries like Iran and Russia. Trump will also want to use the huge network of influence that US development assistance has created to stabilize countries at risk of collapse from the effects of conflict. He has rightly focused on bringing peace to the eastern DRC, ending the conflict there that also affects Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, and provides fertile ground for ISIS’ Central Africa Province to murder and plunder the local populations. Sometimes the US and its allies may want to work around areas that are already lost to jihadi control. But that strategy is necessary to strengthen governments in the coastal states that border Mali and Burkina Faso to stop cross-border contagion. Likewise, working with autonomous regions like Somaliland and Puntland limits the strategic damage if Al Shabaab defeats the Somali government in Mogadishu. The Nigeria strikes represent a necessary tactical action. Turning those tactical strikes into long-term strategic success demands the kind of sustained commitment and clear-eyed prioritization that have too often eluded Western policy in Africa in the past. Edmund Fitton-Brown is a former UK ambassador to Yemen and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

On US-Iran Policy, There Is No Path Out of the Desert
Behnam Ben Taleblu/National Interest/December 29/ 2025
Iran’s setbacks in 2025 should not lull US policymakers into thinking that Tehran is finished with destabilizing the region. President Donald Trump’s newly released National Security Strategy (NSS) is right-sizing the Middle East for American foreign policy thinking, claiming it is no longer a “constant irritant.”Throughout 2025, the Trump administration pursued a combination of sound domestic energy policy, hard-nosed regional diplomacy, and prudent military action to bring about this reframing. Nowhere is this clearer than with Iran, which is only mentioned three times in the entire document. Unsurprisingly, one of those references is to Operation Midnight Hammer, President Trump’s historic use of force against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The operation—which came near the end of the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran this summer—brought about what no combination of negotiations, deals, sanctions, or sabotage was able to achieve: the first cessation of all uranium enrichment at known Iranian nuclear sites since 2006. As a reminder, this is what numerous UN Security Council Resolutions sought, and failed, to attain.
But post-Operation Midnight Hammer, one question lingers.
freestar
If “the region’s chief destabilizing force,” per the NSS, remains the Islamic Republic of Iran—a terrorist state that has threatened the life of the president—how can “partnership, friendship, and investment” be meaningfully pursued in the Middle East absent a larger strategy to deal with Iran? Here, some may take solace in the policy of Maximum Pressure, which was revived early in 2025 to reduce Iran’s oil exports and curb its access to revenue. But hope that economic coercion could substitute for strategy appears increasingly misplaced.  For the past three months, Iran’s oil exports have hovered at just over 2 million barrels per day. This is despite Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seeking to limit Iran’s exports to 100,000 barrels per day. While the administration deserves credit for raising the issue of sanctions adherence globally and continuing to target tankers and their associated shipping companies, these numbers look like the opposite of maximum pressure. Moreover, if sanctions are intended to hobble Tehran’s economy and prevent it from building back better, then enforcement must be significantly stepped up to augment the handicapping effect sanctions can have on sectors that support Iran’s military industries or illicit weapons procurement networks.
But there’s another reason to worry about slippage. The vast majority of Iran’s oil is sold at a discount to America’s near-peer competitor, China. In fact, China has been the largest importer of Iranian oil for over a decade and is a major sanctions buster. Yet the administration appears hesitant to nest the Iran problem into the larger China challenge. This is despite the administration’s focus on China and great power competition in both the 2017 and 2025 NSS. And while Beijing did not rush to defend Tehran during the 12-Day War, it has shipped dangerous chemicals both before and after the war to help Iran reconstitute and grow its ballistic missile arsenal. These missiles have not just been fired at Israel, but at US bases in the region in 2020 and 2025. To therefore disconnect the dots between Tehran and Beijing is strategic malpractice. Faced with this record, others may take solace in the administration’s preference for burden-sharing, empowering partners through arms sales as the next-best backstop against Iran. That’s where Israel enters the picture.
freestar
Israel’s military performance against the Iranian threat network and the regime itself certainly offers room for optimism. But studied closely, Israel’s battlefield successes vindicate the utility of a military option, rather than pointing to a military solution for the region’s challenges. Case in point is Hamas. Despite being the weakest of Iran’s proxies, Hamas continues to cling to power, causing chaos even after two years of war in Gaza. While there can be no doubt that Israel’s strikes have set back Iran’s proxies considerably, Tehran does not appear sufficiently deterred to let its network atrophy. In fact, less than a month after the 12-Day War, the Islamic Republic resumed shipping missile and drone components to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. And despite losing the “land bridge” that ran through Assad’s Syria to support Lebanese Hezbollah, the regime is reportedly diversifying its supply routes to make sure its most important proxy can limp along.
Put simply, the failed states these groups find themselves in remain fertile ground for the reconstitution of armed anti-American and anti-Israel terror. Iran’s proxies are therefore down, but not out. This brings the focus back to Washington. While Trump has promised to use force again if Iran reconstitutes its nuclear program, there has been very little said about where the red line will be drawn, as well as what to do about Iran’s non-nuclear threats in the interim. Apathy or indifference on Iran policy fostered by an assumption that sanctions are “working” or that Israel has things “under control” risks replicating the mistakes of previous administrations, which President Trump himself has critiqued. Indeed, the last time an administration sensed calm and the potential for regional transformation was just days before the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel that launched the Middle East into its latest cycle of violence.
Should a strategy not be devised now against the Islamic Republic—when it is weaker than ever before—the chief regional destabilizer is almost certain to return with a vengeance as an irritant both to headlines and to policymakers in the near future.
***Behnam Ben Taleblu is the senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, DC. For well over a decade, Behnam has supported FDD’s Iran program as a senior fellow, research fellow, and senior Iran analyst. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think tank in Washington. Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Persian-language skills, Behnam closely tracks a wide range of Iran-related functional and regional topics, including nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles and drones, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics.

Selected Face Book & X tweets for /December 29/2025Habeeb Habeeb
https://x.com/i/status/2005242820827775060
MUST READ (watch the video if you know Arabic). YES, thank you Israel. The Arabs are worthless.
Translation: "Question from a journalist of the Saudi channel Al Arabiya to the Druze sheikh Abou Salman Fadi Badriya:
"Do you not see that your call to the Israeli enemy and the fact of relying on it constitute a betrayal of Syria?"
Response from the Druze sheikh:
"We called for help in all Arabic dialects. We called all the states of the world for help. None responded to our cry of despair, except for the State of Israel, which struck the tanks of the transitional government. I myself filmed one of these tanks bombarding civilian areas with my phone. What do you want me to say to Israel, which put an end to this bloodbath? I will show you a video of a government troops' tank crushing an injured civilian as he was heading to the public hospital" (he shows the footage). "Dear sir, you are addressing an injured man, who speaks on behalf of thousands of other aggrieved people, and you reproach him for having called on Israel for help. It is a shame for the entire Arab world and for the international community to reproach us for Israel's support, which saved us, while they did nothing. Our duty is to thank all those who saved us."
The journalist: "You are thanking Israel?"
Sheikh Abou Salman: "I thank all those who saved us. Who saved us? Since it is Israel that saved us, then thank you. And thank you also for the support of the Israeli Druze, who put pressure on the State of Israel..."

Charles Elias Chartouni
ALPAC (American-Lebanese Public Action Committee)
ALEF (American-Lebanese Educational Foundation), Keep the records.
Nailing Hezbollah to the Wall: The series of bills targeting Hezbollah at the US Congress.
These are the most recent series of bills introduced and passed by US Congress, the biggest one - The Hezbollah Accountability Act backed by the American-Lebanese Political Action Committee "(ALPAC) yet to come.
S. 2237 – Hezbollah Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2023. Introduced on July 11, 2023, this bill imposes stricter sanctions on entities aiding Hezbollah’s money laundering, especially via drug trafficking. It mirrors the HAA’s Magnitsky Act enforcement focus but is narrower, targeting financial systems rather than military or political influence in Lebanon.
H.R. 3358 – Lebanon Security and Accountability Act of 2023
Introduced on May 16, 2023, this bill conditions U.S. aid to bolster Lebanese security forces and reduce Hezbollah’s influence. It shares the HAA’s goal of countering Hezbollah in Lebanon but emphasizes military support over broad sanctions or political overhaul.
S. 2935 – Designating Hezbollah as a Transnational Criminal Organization. Introduced on September 27, 2023, this bill seeks to classify Hezbollah as a transnational criminal organization, enabling law enforcement actions against its drug and smuggling networks. It echoes the HAA’s drug cartel focus but omits Lebanese political dynamics.
H.R. 1844 – PAGER Act. Introduced on March 28, 2023, this bill blocks funds to Lebanon’s military until it cuts ties with Iranian proxies like Hezbollah and dismantles their strongholds. It closely aligns with the HAA’s goals of reducing Hezbollah’s military power and influence in Lebanon.
As to lackeys still hiding behind Hezbollah better run…,. Coming after you too.